yenpit's 1970 510 4 door beater!

[yenpit]

Here's my latest project! I got the car out of IA, from a forum member in PA, who didn't want to see it go to the crusher (thanks Mario!). It's a basically unmolested original car, that was apparently used as a "tow behind" car on a motorhome. One of the tow bar brackets is still on the car, the other one rusted off! She is a rusty one, but once I got it home, I decided to see if it would run (probably sat for 10+ years in an old barn), then decided to see if it would drive, then decided to build a beater! The last number of cars that I have built, over the last 20 yrs, have been mid-to-full restorations, so this project was a BLAST!!

 

 

 

 

I had a used 32/36 Weber, a used SSS single point distributor, all new tune up parts, a black wrinkle valve cover (just had to do it!), changed the oil, new battery cables, yanked off all the emission stuff & the A/C stuff, and fired it up! I had to patch up one of the automatic oil cooler lines, changed the trans fluid, and it shifts good (ZX 5 speed is ready to go in).

 

 

Interestingly enough, literally all of the electrical & lights worked, but I still soaked the fusebox and all of the relays in vinegar, just to be halfway safe! LOTS more l'il things to do, but it runs & drives just fine!

[yenpit]

I dropped all of the suspension out, and scrapped off all of the "peeling" factory undercoating. I have never seen a car with the factory undercoating falling off in huge sheets! I decided to get the rest off, and it just "flaked off" with a light touch of a scraper. I decided NOT to re-apply any undercoating at this point, but I may go back later. Again, I'm trying to get used to NOT making everything pretty!!

 

 

The whole underside of the car looked like it had been under water, with a light tan dusting of dirt/silt, dark brown rust speckles & heavy rust pitting EVERYWHERE! My guess is that it sat on a dirt floor and/or in the grass. The rear suspension assembly was soooooooo freakin' rusty, that I just dropped the whole thing out, and put in another assembly from a clean Colorado parts car. This pic is of the original unit. While there, I put in a Subbie 4.11 OPEN diff (only replaced the side stub axle seals, didn't even clean it!), all new brakes & brake hard lines (the original hard lines were completely "pitted" thin with rust!), cut the original springs (always been a no-no to me!), Tokico Blue shocks, Z finned alum drums, and "flipped" & welded the big forward subframe mounting washers.

 

 

For the front suspension, I used 280ZX struts, with 510 spring perches sitting on top of a "split collar" for adjustment, cut 510 springs, an old set of the Moog upper camber plates, a new set of bump steer spacers, a mix of new & used bushings, rebuilt calipers, turned rotors, and repacked the wheel brgs. All this time, I tried to use old nuts, bolts & hardware whenever possible.

 

[fisch]

Subscribed yen pit! Look forward to following progress. 4-doors rock.

[speeder]

Looks killer! I drove a baby blue 4 door just like this for six years all though college in Colorado. It was a kick ass car.

 

This one is a good one for Ratsun!

 

In keeping with this kind of build, I recommend driving this car very very hard in the midwestern snow, gravel, and dirt.

[TENDRIL]

great start man! lol my wagon was pretty similar with the silt/dirt except i had about an inch of it in the car! and about three inside of the doors! lookin good tho :cool:

[fourfiveten]

Can we get a close up oic of that grill? looks different.

[yenpit]

Hahahaha! :huh: Funny thing is that I had to go look at the grille myself, cuz I really haven't spent much time looking at things on this car!! Nothing out of the ordinary. It is a stock 70-73 grille, and still has the factory polished slats and the blacked out slats........so many of them were completely polished or completely blacked out by owners.

[yenpit]

Like I said, she's a rusty one! Both of the forward frame rails, ahead of the sway bar, are rotted out on the outward facing side..........the other three sides of the "box sections" are scaling with some rust, but they seem solid. When the fab guy welded the tow bar brackets right to these frame rails back in the day, my guess is that they did not treat the areas properly, with rust preventative or even paint . No wonder they rusted out! I'm gonna try to clean up the INSIDE the rails as best I can, treat with Chassis Saver (POR15), cut out & weld in patches, and then load the crap out of the inside of the rails with WaxOyl or some other oil-based rust inhibitor!

 

 

 

Both of the front floor pans are rotted out too, so I'll make some patch panels, and weld 'em up! Now that's a big hole!!

 

 

The rear of the rocker panels are rotted & full of bondo, as are the rear lower 1/4 panels behind the wheels, but they are holding together. I think I'll leave all of that alone, to maintain the patina!!

 

 

[datzenmike]

Good going TJ. Nice to see you on here.

 

I did about the same thing on my 710 but with '84 Maxima struts. Moog plates, cut the spring one coil, split collars.....

 

One other thing I did do was replace the old strut oil with thicker 20w motorcycle fork oil to firm up the damping with the increased spring rate. $17 a liter (does 3 struts) for it but you can use $5 a gallon hydraulic jack oil as well. Better than strut cartridges and nice and firm.

[yenpit]

Hey Mike, great to hear from you! I cheated with the struts, and installed new Tokico Blues all the way around. More to come, but it's beer o'clock here on eastern time.............

[datzenmike]

Michigan??? Beer and ice fishing. Brrrrrrrr. Rain and wind for me.

[hang_510]

impressive.

 

 

i had a 4dr that was towed. rock blasted front.

then i rolled it.

 

wonder how they towed w/the auto trans?

[yenpit]

Hey hang_510! Everybody's over here on Ratsun, huh!!?? Wow.

 

Towing an AUTOMATIC - I was holding out with pics & description, until I sandblast "the mechanism", which allowed them to tow this car. I was blown away when I saw it! Here's a hint - look very closely where the driveshaft attaches to the diff.................:P more to come!

[yenpit]

This is what the previous owner did, to allow flat towing with the automatic. It bolts to the bottom of the front snout of the diff, has what I say looks like a synchro slide hub assembly (inside a manual transmission), and is actuated by a pivot fork, again, just like a synchro slide hub. It even has brass "synchro rings"! On the pivot fork, there are two square TEFLON sliders, that ride in the goove of the slide hub. Once disengaged, there is a big bearing, which allows the "freewheeling" rotation, without spinning the driveshaft, thus the transmission. The mechanism was actuated by a simple "push-pull" cable, like a choke cable, mounted right under the front seat. It's all rusted solid now,and I'll loosen it up, but I won't use it on my car, cuz I drive too hard, and I would fear the lock hub movin' around! It's been a great conversation piece, over a few beers!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[yenpit]

Here's the unit cleaned & sandblasted........................

 

 

 

[datzenmike]

Wa hahahahaha Looks like with the pull of a lever you can disconnect the drive shaft ahead of the rear end.Very much like a synchronizer hub in a transmission.

[yenpit]

hahahahaha I knew you'd get a kick out of it, Mike!! :lol: I won't scrap it, but if anybody thinks they can use this thing, let me know!!

[ggzilla]

I've never before even HEARD of one of these, let alone seen one. Something new all the time.

thanks.

 

is there some kind of bearing INSIDE the driveshaft tubing?

[datzenmike]

is there some kind of bearing INSIDE the driveshaft tubing?

 

Got to be.

 

Great anti theft.

[yenpit]

Yup, a big bearing. Still spins perfectly smooth!

[Dirttrack510]

I'd love to have that whole set up for my 2dr. race car project. That would be awesome for when I tow it to California for the JCCS. :D

[yenpit]

It's set up for a AUTOMATIC, so you might still have to cut it to suit your trans combo, but I would think that you would have the cutting & welding done at the front yoke. PM sent!! :D

[banzai510(hainz)]

TJ

I had 2 brand new odd heater cores but gave them to Frank and Jeff(Icehouse)

Find out one was a hard to get one that he needed.

[yenpit]

I finally dug the car back out, and moved it to my workspace! I've been gathering parts for the 5 speed swap, the exhaust, and a few other things.

 

 

 

[yenpit]

Pedals are ready to go in.......................

 

 

 

Manual steering column, lightened & balanced steel flywheel & clutch kit, and slave cylinder.........................

 

 

Now I just need to decide on using a 280ZX 5 speed, which will require a mod'd driveshaft, BUT is a standard shift pattern.............

 

 

 

 

OR use a Dogleg 5 speed, with the odd shift pattern, but I can use a stock 4 speed driveshaft.............