Duncan's 71 "Oz" Goon

[Duncan]

I was talking about replacing one or two springs in the pack with truck leafs.  Wasn't planning on flipping any leafs.  Apparently, they are the the same size as the wagon leaf, but thicker with a higher spring rate. 

 

I need to ask someone who has the composite spring if the spring rate is the same or higher.  As I recall, the composite springs were around $500-ish.  They look cool, but that's a bit spendy for my budget..

 

Folks flip a leaf to lower, but perhaps not stiffen. Also there was a composite leaf spring option. Was it

http://www.flex-form.com/products.asp

??

 

This also begs the question:  Has anyone found a source for new shackle bushings?  I found one Chinese-made rubber replacement, but not the other.  It appears one of them was put on a later model Nissan..

[Duncan]

View in new home minus car cover.  (Looks pretty much the same as before) Lots of room for painting.

 

 

Started cleaning and removing undercoating from the rear wheel wells. ugh. 

 

 

All of these welds were from fixing holes in the rear fender wells.  I still don't get why there were so many of them.  There are many more that don't show from this angle.

 

More fun facts: To keep overspray off the freshly cleaned and painted under carriage, I need to mask off the bottom of the car before it's painted..

[mrbigtanker]

You are an animal.

[Duncan]

I do question my sanity a lot...

 

You are an animal.

 

I just want to make sure I can get my car into JCCS in 2017 :)

 

Seriously, I was just kidding about JCCS, okay?!?!?!  Don't need the drama here...

[Charlie69]

View in new home minus car cover.  (Looks pretty much the same as before) Lots of room for painting.

 

 

Started cleaning and removing undercoating from the rear wheel wells. ugh. 

 

 

All of these welds were from fixing holes in the rear fender wells.  I still don't get why there were so many of them.  There are many more that don't show from this angle.

 

More fun facts: To keep overspray off the freshly cleaned and painted under carriage, I need to mask off the bottom of the car before it's painted..

Just take the body off and save the money on masking supplies!  LOL

[Duncan]

After doing my speedometer cable repair a few weeks ago, I noticed the charge light was not coming on at all. The oil light was intermittent as well.   A quick check with the volt meter showed my alternator went bad.  Along with the alternator going bad, there was a small problem with the harness, it needed new indicator bulbs, and there was a problem with loose pins with the multi-connector on the back of the instrument panel. 

 

Holy shit, that was a lot of little stuff all at once.  I replaced the alternator and the battery measured 14 volts when running, so I just worked backwards from there.

 

 

Was a bit nervous soldering these pins.  It's easy to damage the pcb trace by overheating, and you don't want to get a solder bridge between the traces, shorting out the circuit.   Anyway, another full day chasing the problems down and repairing them.  The two idiot lights work fine now.

 

Got the wheel wells stripped and they are ready for paint.  When I see these photos, I still can't believe how many holes were in the wheel arches.  I have found a LOT of weird things that were done to this car...

 

 

Tuesday, I am back down in San Diego, and the rear axle, rear wiring, and anything else in the way is coiming out for more cleaning and painting.  Fortunately, this is going faster than I expected.   

[mrbigtanker]

Your an animal.

[Duncan]

Thanks, I guess :thumbup:

 

This is my last resto.  Getting too old for this shit anymore...

 

Your an animal.

[Duncan]

Some spring cleaning today.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The mounting plate is too intricate (too many nooks and crannies) to do manually, so it's in the hot tank for 24 hours, then sandblast and paint along with the spring pack.

[Duncan]

I'm really getting some work done here..

 

 

Got EVERYTHING pulled out today, and got some stripping and cleaning started.  If you look in the corner, you can see my rear axle, exhaust, fuel tank, etc, etc..

[mrbigtanker]

I hope your buried in this wagon. Man you are going to infinity and beyond. Bravo Mark bravo

[Duncan]

Question for you Wagon Masters:  On an original wagon, does the back of the folding rear seat come painted the same as the body color?  I ran across an original paint goon on ebay, and I noticed this one matched the body color.  Are they all matched to the body color?  

 

Mine needs to be repainted, and it's one of those things I have never thought about until I saw this one..

 

 

 

Thanks!

[tr8er]

I think they are grey. But the vinyl floor covers it. Am I right? I seem to recall the vinyl floor covering the seat rear.

[mrbigtanker]

Question for you Wagon Masters:  On an original wagon, does the back of the folding rear seat come painted the same as the body color?  I ran across an original paint goon on ebay, and I noticed this one matched the body color.  Are they all matched to the body color?  

 

Mine needs to be repainted, and it's one of those things I have never thought about until I saw this one..

 

 

 

Thanks!

 

 

No they are exposed as far as I know and my 2 wagons both had the same off white greyish color. And are you bidding on that wagon.I am watching it on ebay Mark..lol

[mrbigtanker]

edit they have a a rubber or vinyl that rus from tyhe far back to the chrome trim piece on top of that seat. My white wagon that was at johns shop was bone stock and thats how it came.

[Duncan]

Thanks Ray.  Both the seat back and seat pan on mine has been spray painted a darkish grey.  It's pretty fugly, and the paint is on there real thick.  The seats are being redone in black to match the BMW seats, so I just might spray them in a semi-gloss black.  The carpet is going to be black as well, so the off white might stick out too much.

 

And are you bidding on that wagon.I am watching it on ebay Mark..lol

 

One 510 wagon is enough for me, thanks!  I would buy a clean 610 wagon if I could find one.  Clean 610 wagons are very rare these days. 

[Duncan]

Only because I didn't feel like stripping so many leafs at one time, I'm cleaning up my springs one at a time.  (Easier to remember how they go back together, too.)

 

Stripped, primered and painted.  I also have new urethane pads that go in between the leafs.

 

 

I also found new rubber shackle bushings for these that are made in China.  The bushings were $20 for all 8 of them, but the shipping was Mr BigTanker money.  I'm doing a Hail Mary on these and hope they are correct.  Arguing with customer service in China over return shipping costs would probably be a lose/lose proposition.  We'll see when they arrive..  

[mrbigtanker]

Only because I didn't feel like stripping so many leafs at one time, I'm cleaning up my springs one at a time.  (Easier to remember how they go back together, too.)

 

Stripped, primered and painted.  I also have new urethane pads that go in between the leafs.

 

 

I also found new rubber shackle bushings for these that are made in China.  The bushings were $20 for all 8 of them, but the shipping was Mr BigTanker money.  I'm doing a Hail Mary on these and hope they are correct.  Arguing with customer service in China over return shipping costs would probably be a lose/lose proposition.  We'll see when they arrive..  

 

 

Big tanker money is going away. need to sell newspapers to make ends meet.lol 

[Duncan]

Big tanker money is going away. need to sell newspapers to make ends meet.lol 

 

 

Wait until you retire, then you have to tighten up the wallet a bit :crying: :w00t:

[Duncan]

Well, no worries about spending the bucks on the bushings.  The Chinese supplier asked if they could send me a refund because the parts are NLA, and the same happened with a domestic online Nissan supplier. (as I kind if suspected)  They list the parts, but can't deliver..  If I can find suitable material (maybe Delrin or Urethane) I can make my own if I have to.  I'm hitting my spring shop on Thursday.  Maybe they have something that's close I can make work. I much prefer rubber bushes, though..

 

I've also got the center floor section done and ready for paint.  All that is left is underneath the flat cargo floor.

 

Not the best photo, but nice and clean..

 

 

To quote Datsunfreak "It's was hot as balls" today. 

 

I can't figure out that weird skinny bracket on the left.  The weld doesn't look factory to me.  Was thinking parking brake, but mine runs along the right side of the car.

[mrbigtanker]

Exhaust bracket is secondary that was welded in for added support.

[Duncan]

Putting this up for future reference.  I went to the spring shop I have been dealing with forever to see if they could match up something close to use for my small end leaf spring bushings.  The same ones are also used on the shackles as well.

 

I don't know that this part number is correct, but the 8 bushings I needed were in this package.  These are an exact match and fit perfectly.

 

 

I always prefer rubber, and these are urethane.  They are pretty pliable, and I can compress them enough by hand, so I'm hopeful these will be okay.  I don't have a choice if I want to use new ones.  The old ones were really worn out..  

[INDY510]

I also have new urethane pads that go in between the leafs.

Everything looks great!! ... :cool: ... do you have a link for the urethane pads between each leaf spring?

[Duncan]

Everything looks great!! ... :cool: ... do you have a link for the urethane pads between each leaf spring?

 

Most spring shops should carry them.  Just in case, here's where I got them.  I'll stick up a photo of them tomorrow. 

 

http://www.deaverspring.com/

 

They cost about $.50 each and were loose, so no part number.

[Duncan]

Indy, here's the pad for the springs. Looking around that shop, it seemed like if the spring had dimples in them, (like the Datsun) they were all close to the same size.  I think most spring shops would carry something that would work.  

 

 

The original bushings that go on the large eye of the spring were in amazingly great shape.  They don't appear worn at all and are still rather soft and pliable.  I plan on reusing them

 

Since I was grabbing a photo, here's the replacement bushing vs the original. The originals were all in similar shape.