Ditching your chassis: When do you call it quits?

[quesos510]

Whats up guys,

 

I was hoping to get some general advice as to when you call it quits on a chassis. It's no surprise that most unmolested Datsuns out there have some kind of rust or wear going on. It's common to see floors, quarter panels, rockers, etc. replaced and remade but when exactly do you guys say the car is a loss.

 

I'm currently building a 510 and have replaced the floors and straightened out the core support. I recently noticed that the entire front end was re welded on and they did a shitty job. Its even slightly crooked. :poop:

 

Anyways, I'm in debate about whether or not to ditch the chassis and hunt down another one with a better history. I just wanted to see how some of you experts on here make the decision.

 

Thanks for reading.

 

- Jason

[INDY510]

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I would need to see pics, , is the repair job in front of the strut towers?.. or behind, towards the firewall??? .. have you ever driven it?

[DanielC]

I think that is more of a question about your abilities, and tools available, and time you want to spend.

 

Sometimes you also have to consider how much you have already put into the project, and it makes sense to keep going. How easy will it be to find another shell to put your parts on? What about cost of registering another car? I have heard California wants you to pay registration on cars, even if they are not driven. In Oregon, I can skip registering a car for several, or many years, and just pay up when I want to start driving the car again, and I do not have to pay for past years.

[quesos510]

.

I would need to see pics, , is the repair job in front of the strut towers?.. or behind, towards the firewall??? .. have you ever driven it?

 

Definitely will post up pics when I get a chance. Yes I have driven it, cant really notice anything since I'm not making any serious power.. The front end looks like it was hit straight on, over on the driver side. The previous "repair" is at the front, behind the passenger strut tower, where the front end meets the firewall. The seam looks like it has been re welded. Also the left rail that comes up from the bottom to the core support look molested, the seam definitely isn't factory anymore.

 

I think that is more of a question about your abilities, and tools available, and time you want to spend.

 

Sometimes you also have to consider how much you have already put into the project, and it makes sense to keep going. How easy will it be to find another shell to put your parts on? What about cost of registering another car? I have heard California wants you to pay registration on cars, even if they are not driven. In Oregon, I can skip registering a car for several, or many years, and just pay up when I want to start driving the car again, and I do not have to pay for past years.

 

Thanks for sharing. I've given those things a lot of consideration and it seems money and time are always the question. I'm no welder and I don't plan on learning cause I don't have the time to practice. I rather it be done right by a professional with experience. Shells are always on craigslist in my area but good ones are rare to come by. Yeah, Cali makes you pay for non-operational vehicles. Sucks, but i'm in no rush.

 

 

 

Appreciate the responses guys. Its always hard to answer something like this cause it totally depends on me. I am not looking for you guys to answer this question for me. I'm just looking for some insight from anyone who's been in the same position.

 

thanks again

[Uber Deaf One]

Pics?

[MikeRL411]

There is no good answer to the basic question. On a strictly economic basis nothing beyond an oil change could be justified. On the other hand I have owned my 1967 RL411 since I bought it new in March of 1968 and would never let it go. My wife summed it up about 30 years ago "That's not your car, it's your hobby." Since then she has agreed that it might not be "The World's Cutest Car" but it does look good and attracts attention whenever we go for a drive. She and our 3 children learned to drive and took their driver's tests in it. If it could survive all that [plus "spirited" driving on the part of our son, that's another story about local BMW drivers] it has a lot of good things to say for the improvements Nissan Yokohama made to the original Pinin Farina body and Austin inspired drive train. After 44 years I know a lot about Pinin Farina design defects! Don't get me started. See me at the Queen Mary in September for an afternoon of reminisceses! My JCCS registration number is number 1, which means that despite that, my car is still an orphan and will be stuck in corner as you enter the exhibition grounds. I had the only "unmolested" 411 in the 2011 show and made the cover of a Japanese car magazine that was covering the show, so I should label my car the "Super Stock Sedan" instead of the "Super Sport Sedan". My Japanese family members in Tokyo were amazed that I still owned the car. My nephews took me to a model car show in downtown Tokyo last month and I came away with 3 model cars "Tomika Limited Vintage" of the 411 series, none of the RL411 4 door sedan unfortunately. I will bring them to the Queen Mary this coming September.

[DAT510]

I think I can save this...What do you guys think? some of the cancer runs up onto the firewall

[Master-O-Turbonics]

Oh GeeZ.

 

I replaced floors in a 280Z that had rust looking like that. Ended up cutting out the floors all the way from the back and cutting out the frame rail up to the T/C rod and rebuilding it all from scratch.

[DAT510]

Frame rails are shot.. But it just the floor pans. Thankfully