Dobos 610 Oz style budget build

[dobo]

Hi all, thought i would join what seems to be a great community of datsun lovers and share my story.

First a little history....

When i was 16 and starting to learn to drive my grandfather said he had a car in the back shed i could have. He'd bought a new car 7 years earlier and just parked this down the back. After washing off an inch of dust this is what i found.

It was a great car to learn in, and not fast enough to get in trouble with. Then this happened

and you couldnt wipe the smile off my face!

it even hauled a 700kg (~1500lbs) trailer pretty well.

Its been i 2 accidents so far. First i hit a roo (big problem in the country, really stupid animals). lucky the bumper took most of the hit and i only needed to pull out the rad support a bit and get a new grille and headlights.

Next was a bit worse, my brother was driving and someone pulled out in front of him.

once again out came the panel beating hammers and with a new radiator, bonnet, bumper and a schweet jdm sss grille she lives again.

 

you guys like pictures yeah? :P

 

And so wanting something to work on i started looking for another datsun. i wanted something that i could take to the track if i wanted and seeing as 1200s & 1600s fetch a high premium over here i settled on the 610 as it also had the irs and looked pretty badass. enter the 2 180b's

 

The first one was from ebay for $180. 1972 autotragic. my main consern was rust which it didnt have any. Having browsed ratsun a fair bit, i didnt mind the look of "unrestored" paintwork. :thumbup:

great fun trailering it home. first time iv towed anything so heavy

my mate also thought id be cool to get a 180b so he found this one which is in much better condition, one owner blah blah. but wheres the fun in that?

He knows a guy in themiddle of nowhere with alot of cars and he just so happened to have this

another $200 later and this is my parts car. 1975 manual.

which i will be taking

seats

dash

manual gear

diff

struts

and my mates car needs the radiator, front bumper, heater and maybe the engine :rofl: (so much for his perfect granny spec)

and so it begins :D

[Tristin]

Great first couple of posts. Welcome to the site... Im excited to see more 610s on the site. I dont think Ill ever own one, but I do like the look. Seems like you got quite a sweet deal on all of them that you currenty have. Lucky!

 

 

Watch out for Bonvo... hes probably going to try and sweet talk you out of some of the parts off your car. Dont be fooled by his trickery.

 

 

You should get your buddy to sign up as well. Once again, welcome.

[Will]

Nice first post! Welcome!

 

(by the way, I did spot a 180B-SSS gauge cluster that just popped up on the Australian ebay - though the asking price is as much as the price of your parts car!)

[bonvo]

sweet i love the blue and the stance is just about perfect

 

tristin though it is true there are alot of nice 610 parts in the land of oz shipping would kill any deal

[dobo]

I've seen that cluster Will, still tossing up wether to bid or not. i do like the round gauges, but i dont really need it

 

thanks Bonvo and tristin, i Love the camber these things have(my tyres probably wont) I just bought a set of front and back lowered king springs. Atm its just chopped goodness. Wheels are 14x6.5 with 195 60s and i cant run my front ones because they hit in front of the panel when i turn. once the front drops ill see how close it is. i may need to get some lower profile tyres.

[nisman]

Nice b's the blue one looks good, not to sure on the other (vinyl roof, yuk. hidden rust spot)

oh and no bidding on the gauges (I WANT) LOL.

[Will]

oh and no bidding on the gauges (I WANT) LOL.

 

They're all yours - that gauge cluster is a bit too rectangular to fit into my 710!

[dobo]

yeah i don't think I'll be bidding on it. all yours nisman! cant justify spending that much on something i don't need to get the car on the road. I could just buy another parts car for that :rofl:

[ehime]

Cool to see your build, I know how much easier it is to find 180B stuff in Japan than across the pond here...

Won't lie, very jealous ;) Keep up the great work.

[Tristin]

 

[bonvo]

fail thats a b210 not a 610 though it is very nice

[Tristin]

Lol I know... for some reason what I typed didnt show up. Stupid phone.

 

What I originally typed was that his color 610 made me think of this clean b210.

[bonvo]

lol idk it makes me think of zerow's sedan more then anything

[Tristin]

Well yeah, he drives an actual 610 in that color lol.

[zerow]

lol idk it makes me think of zerow's sedan more then anything

Well yeah, he drives an actual 610 in that color lol.

Yes, yes he does...As a daily driver recently. :thumbup:

[dobo]

I wont lie i have looked more than once at zerows 4 door :P. Infact based on how awesome it looks im gonna paint my grille and j lines black

[zerow]

I wont lie i have looked more than once at zerows 4 door :P. Infact based on how awesome it looks im gonna paint my grille and j lines black

She doesn't mind being looked at...lol...

The black grille was an idea that I thought wouldn't have worked...boy I was way wrong.

The black J-lines are for the SSS models, so make sure you have a couple of SSS items to make it "authentic". :)

[dobo]

We didnt get 4 door SSS so i wouldn't want to go putting SSS badges on it. But it will defiantly be getting twin SU's and a 5 speed.

[Tristin]

Or you could have just imported one... then you could have any model you want.

[dobo]

JDM yo! yeah just slap some Bluebird-U badges on it

 

anyway bit has been done. Inside now looks like this

 

I put my new lowered springs in front and back, unfortunately the backs aren t as low as the ones that were in it. but uncompressed the old springs where nearly double the hight. Much better ride now, will only stay this height til rego, then the lowering kit comes out. :devil:

 

I was gonna buy seat covers for my old ratty front seats, but then i got these seats for $30, also pictured is my $5 3.7 open diff which will be welded up quick smart :thumbup:

 

and lastly based on tristans now old grille set up i was thinking about this

 

I've got 2 grilles and one is pretty far gone so i wouldn't feel bad about cutting it a bit. Thoughts?

[Tristin]

Your "grille picture" is a picture of your interior... might want to change that so I can see what I have inspired.

 

 

Edit: now i shows up for me. Maybe its just the internet at work.

[Tristin]

You should raise the lights up some so that they are centered vertically.

[dobo]

yeah photo bucket had the links messed up for bit. right in the middle you reckon? I'll reposition them and get a better photo. I think some period correct foggies would look better but they're all i've got atm.

[Tristin]

Yeah, if you can match styles that would be nice... and right in the center if you can. Im sure it will look great.

[dobo]

Grille now looks like this. Rattle can and some thinners on the chrome. Works a treat

 

picking these up tommorrow :thumbup:

 

Cost more than half the car, but should make it more than twice as fun to drive!