Project 510 Daily Driver

[ChevelleDude71]

Well I bought my 510 back in may of 2011. I guess I have some catching up to do if I'm going to have a project thread for it.

 

I bought the car from some guy in the Watsonville area. It ran but had worn piston rings and smoked horribly. The car looked like it had sat out in the mountians for a number of years. The car came with with a L16 and a stock 4-speed transmission, 4-point roll cage, webber carb and some aftermarket wheels that were originally NOT 4X114.3.....

 

Here are some pictures of what it looked like when I got it to my work (where is has lived ever since.)

 

 

 

I decided to rebuild the motor (as that would be the cheapest way to get this thing on the road.) So one lunch break I pulled the motor.

 

 

And pulled the pistons and crankshaft....

 

 

Next I cleaned up the block and resurfaced walls.

 

 

Installed the new bearings and rings...

 

 

Cleaned up block ready for paint.

 

 

After a freash coat of semi-gloss paint.

 

 

After installing the cylinder head, timing cain and camshaft.

 

 

Decided to rebuild the carb.

 

 

I then moved on to the next mess....

 

 

After a good amount of scrubbing and some more semi-gloss paint.

 

 

Dropped the motor in to start cleaing up the wiring.

 

 

I picked up some old Sparco seats (for free), not sure if I'm going to use them or have the stock seats redone, but they bolt right in and my daughter likes them.

 

 

I picked up a rebuilt 280zx 5-speed from Troy, it didn't come with a shifter. Being that I have had GM projects in the past I decided to see if i could get a T56 shifter to work in the nissan 5-speed. Sure enough with a little modifying the shifter works great, and has a solid feel to it.

 

 

After getting a transmission crossmember from a member on ebay I finally mounted up the transmission and cut out the metal needed for the shifter hole.

 

 

 

Picked up some rota RB's in 15X7 +4 offset. They should fit good with the 280zx struts and coil overs that i picked up after a little fender rolling.

 

 

Started to have some body work done on the car. ( I will not be doing any of this other then cleaing/sanding/painting the bumpers,door handles, grill, and any thing else that will be removed for the car to be painted. I'm not a body/paint guy I just do everything else, so lucky for me I know someone who is a body/paint guy and happens to need a motor for his eclipse. So here are some shots of the sanding/filling/metal replacement work.

 

 

Found some awsome graphics under the gray paint....

 

 

Here is what was one of the big rust sections on the car, about a foot long, now waiting for me to weld in the new metal.

 

 

Here is a smaller pach of rust that was cut out and pached with new metal. (also waiting for me to weld it in.)

 

 

Started rolling the fenders and after test fitting the wheels.....I will need to roll the rears a little more.

 

 

Dave got more of the body straightened out and layed some heavy primer on the body panels that he is done messing with, I'm stoked its starting to look better. I can't wait to see it in one solid color.

 

 

 

I'm sure I'm forgetting a bunch of stuff that I have done along the way but at least that gets me to where I'm currently on the project. There will be more to come if I ever find time to work on it.

[slingshot532]

Nice work so far!

[MicroMachinery]

Wow man, all that on your lunch break? You're awesome! ;)

[ChevelleDude71]

Well the lunch breaks over the past year...

 

I have all new steering linkages waiting to go on along with a 280z master cylinder that needs to be installed, maybe ill get around to it next week.

[banzai510(hainz)]

love those black ROTAS.

I think I woudl have gone with +15 offset

[ChevelleDude71]

I don't know if +15 would clear the coil overs. I have <2 mm from the tire to the strut as it is. (I have 280zx struts.) I could be wrong though.

[banzai510(hainz)]

could use a spacer up front if needed. like a 5/6mm key is if the treaded collar/perch is below the tire line.

My 510 i have 510 struts and +25mm Rotas and had about 8th or 16th inch but i bought 195 45 15 tires Nexens which are pretty flush. but my perch is above the tire and I used a 7in spring instead of the common 8in.

[ChevelleDude71]

Ya my struts have the collar welded in line with the rim lip, maybe a tiny but higher...

But oh well, if I was to redo it in the future I'd get the smaller springs and raise the collar like you mentioned, so I could run a little bigger tire. But for now it will work.

[ChevelleDude71]

Well I haven't had any time to install the master cylinder and the new steering.... but i did have time to clean up and paint a couple more items.

 

Dash Looks useable.

 

 

The nasty metal dash portion before.

 

 

And after sanding and paint.

 

 

I also to the time to paint some other items while they are off the car.

 

[ChevelleDude71]

Wow It has been too long since a update..

The body work on the drivers side is done which leaves only the passenger side and the tail panel.

 

Dave even started painting the window frames, I thought it would "cut" the Brightness of the green down a little.

 

Next I painted the underside of the hood and the trunk.

 

I also got the back seat back from getting recovered.

 

Next I picked up the back wheels .......drum roll please...... rota RB 15X8 +12 offset.

If anyone wants to get rota RB 15X8 that acutally fits the back of a stock quarterpanel car you'd better get them soon.

I bought 2 from RACING LAB in hayward. They told me that Rota will no longer be making the 15X8 with a +12 offset. I ended up getting the last 2 they had!!

So anyways here they are test fitting on the car.

 

Here is a shot of how close they get to the inner control arm. It's difficult to see in the photo but there is about 1/3 of a inch from the rim lip the the control arm.

 

Here is another shot from the back. there should be NO poke from this setup.

 

I'll be posting some pictures of the rims after I finish painting them semi gloss black and mount the 225/45/15 Hankook R-S3's on them.

[DAT510]

Where in the east bay are you?

[ChevelleDude71]

Where in the east bay are you?

 

Livermore/Dublin

[ChevelleDude71]

Decided to mount the wheels and mess with the ride height to make sure it is all going to work.......

 

 

Another angle showing the tire fitment in the rear, I love it!

 

 

I took all the parts removed for body and paint home and vacuumed out the car, I'll start sanding and painting the floors soon.

[ChevelleDude71]

Ripped out the windshield today, need to pull the rear window soon,,,,

 

[ChevelleDude71]

Update!

 

I got the seat back from being recovered

 

Fixed the stance in the front

 

I wont know if I get to keep it this low until I drive it around more. It looks like it will rub if I hit any big bumps while turning, but who knows it might be fine.

 

Any lower and I'd get worried about running over almost anything.

 

I welded up, sealed, and painted the floors (no pic yet the cell phone pic didn't turn out well, I'll take a better shot when I get to laying the fatmat and carpet.)

 

Dave got the rest of the body work done and started wet sanding the car.

 

The car should be painted within the next week or so.

[ChevelleDude71]

Paint!

 

And finally back at home in the garage. (For the first time lol)

[izzo]

Damn man, so fresh and clean. Do like

[Dirttrack510]

All I can say is WOW :thumbup: That's a big transformation so far. I LOVE THE PAINT!!! That color really pops, and it looks great on the car. Nice work so far, it looks like it'll be "done" in no time. That is... if there is such a thing as a "done" Datsun 510 :rofl:

[ChevelleDude71]

Thanks guys, its not perfect but for the cost of materials and a little of my time, I'm pretty happy with how it turned out. Now I need to fix two little runs in the clear and after 30 days buff and wax it. Then ill get to start putting it back together.

[aintnobiscuit]

:thumbup:

 

verrrrrrry nice!

[djk1505]

Thanks guys, its not perfect but for the cost of materials and a little of my time, I'm pretty happy with how it turned out. Now I need to fix two little runs in the clear and after 30 days buff and wax it. Then ill get to start putting it back together.

 

Man that looks sick, you know you are going to be out in the garage just staring at it watching the paint dry! LOL Nice job.

 

DJ

[blasta510]

You stole my color!

Looks great though!

Here is mine

[the510keeper]

I love seeing painted dimes

[ChevelleDude71]

Wow it's been too long since I have worked on this car, been busy with my new job I guess.

 

I had to use bricks, and wood boards as ramps to back it into the garage...

 

Then I cleaned the floors and put down sound deadener

 

 

Then put what seats I have back in...

 

I'll put the carpet in after we are done buffing out the paint (which will be next friday!!) then i will slowly start putting the rest of the car back together.

[aintnobiscuit]

looks awesome