72' KA24DE Wagon Daily Driver

[Draker]

Nice man, they look good!

 

Jrock is gonna need those others probably sooner than expected......   :rofl:

[dakotahchore]

Nice man, they look good!

 

Jrock is gonna need those others probably sooner than expected......   :rofl:

 

I got J's flags boxed up to send tomorrow or Saturday, with the mounting hardware and gaskets and such. Definitely happy with the aesthetic side of the mirrors, gotta learn to adjust/use them now. And hope I put them on in the right spots! HUGE mounting hole, 3/4 inch.. 

[Draker]

I got J's flags boxed up to send tomorrow or Saturday, with the mounting hardware and gaskets and such. Definitely happy with the aesthetic side of the mirrors, gotta learn to adjust/use them now. And hope I put them on in the right spots! HUGE mounting hole, 3/4 inch.. 

 

That's pretty brave! They look good though.

[jrock4224]

Pm tristin for location he's got some solid info on locating fender mirrors.... They look good cant wait to see the flags show up

[datsunfreak]

And hope I put them on in the right spots! HUGE mounting hole, 3/4 inch.. 

 

It's easy to tell. Reach your hand up inside the fender in the area of the mirror. You'll feel a 1/2" deep divot in the upper frame rail. The mirror underbits should line up with that. If not, you missed.  ^_^

[dakotahchore]

[Draynor]

Looking good man  B) 

[831Sunny]

aye looks good

[dakotahchore]

So, I'm in a shitty spot with bodywork. Stuck fixing tons of exterior rust on the car, and making patch panels is NOT easy. Feel like I kind of got ripped off by paying so much for a car that needs both fenders, inner fender rails, both rear and front corners of cab, and drip rails patched up... Fucking bondo covering shit up. Learned a lesson to not buy someone else's bodywork next time. 

I was having electrical issues, car was instantly popping 30amp fuses setup for the ECU fusebox. Charge light was always on. Figured out they never connected the alternator into the wiring harness, and left the original voltage regulator (which was doing nothing). Did some searching, wired up alt properly, charge light went out and car has been running great. 

Anyways, some new goodies. 

6 1/2" Pioneer door speakers all around, wires stealthed. 


One BMW E30 Sport seat. On the hunt for another. 


Temporary dual 12" subs in ported box. NO, there aren't any rattles, even with ridiculous bass. That's what all the sound deadening was for. And yes, I know it's adding to the risk for my car being broken into or stolen, but I never park anywhere sketchy and my car is always with me at school being worked on. 


New Dash Cap and new JVC double din touch screen head unit. 

[dakotahchore]

Oh, and grip royal shift knob. 

[hang_510]

So, I'm in a shitty spot with bodywork. ... making patch panels is NOT easy...., inner fender rails, 

 

Learned a lesson to not buy someone else's bodywork next time.

would it be easier if you made a set? i need one ;)

 

i have a L side that could be used as a template

[dakotahchore]

Grippin on grain. 

[dakotahchore]

would it be easier if you made a set? i need one ;)

 

i have a L side that could be used as a template

Thanks for the offer, but I'm just a beginner bodyman... Maybe someday I can supply some patch panels for fenders cheaper than the 200$ ebay equivalents, but for now I'm stressing enough over making my own. 

[dakotahchore]

Sand, weld, grind, fill, paint. Forgot to grab pics before I filled, but there were 5 screw holes on each side+some thick bondo already... Made the best with what I could. Looks alright for rattlecan shit. 

[Tristin]

Sometimes I wish my paint was a basic color so that I can clean up a few areas. Wagon is looking good!

[dakotahchore]

Thanks! All paint work is basically temporary and practice. It's really not the best paintjob and there's a LOT of bondo on the car, sometimes in places that there's no reason for... 3 paintjobs does that I guess. I want to get the entire car stripped back to metal hopefully, as honestly I hate white. Turquoise is the goal color. 

[dakotahchore]

Just because... 

[dakotahchore]

Okay, time for a small rant and "to do list:

 

Trying to properly restore a classic car is fucking expensive. For the headliner alone. I'm in...

Windshield-200$ (My windshield has a rock embedded in it on the drivers side near the bottom corner)

Seal-100$

Headliner material-200$

Rear Cargo Seals- 250$

 

750$ in parts alone just to replace my headliner. Not counting sound deadening, since that's technically optional.. Not including the fact that I received my first windshield shattered and had to force the money out of the guys account through my bank, then drive an hour and a half to get a windshield from an awesome Ratsun member who actually had some glass for sale.. 

Now, I have to worry about what rust lies under the existing glass/seal because there is some bubbling around the seal. So factor that in as my time. Along with deciding to have a professional glue it in, as there's no point to spend all this time and money on getting everything together just to have a amateur job... 200$. Thus, 950$ just to replace my headliner. That's 95 hours of me working barely above minimum wage when I'm not at school most of the week. 

 

I really love my car, but sometimes it's easy to get put off by the sheer scale of the project for my first real classic. I have a high quality standard and want things done right the first time, so in the end it's all worth it to me. But yeah, I definitely got into it with some delusions of grandeur in terms of how affordable it would be. I have plenty of rust left to repair still, then god knows how much bodywork once I start removing the 3 paintjobs and previous bondo repairs that are on it. I still need to finish plenty of the interior. Over summer I want to pull the engine and weld up and repaint the engine bay so it doesn't look like shit with a huge rust hole behind the block where leaves built up in the water channel.

 

The tranny has synchro issues and needs a rebuild.

 

Suspension is still on hold, as I'm waiting for the traction bar setup to be available for wagons to avoid axle wrap and differential banging. Guess I'll find out after I get that installed with new dearched leaves if I really need to raise my transmission tunnel or not. 

Rust wise, I need to patch both lower fenders, inner and outer (Or get two new fenders). I need to do some very large patches on the inner fender rails on both sides. Both rear doglegs need patches, one has some bubbling under the paint and the other side they just patched directly over the original rust and used a lot of bondo... fucking awful "repair". The drip rails on both sides have multiple spots of bubbling as well as some strange rust on the inside where the door seal sits on the passenger side.
 
Bumpers have paint chipping off everywhere where they painted directly over rust without even bothering to wire wheel it. Gotta get both straightened and powder coated or chromed... $$$

Still need close to 500$ in weather seals, crunchy old leaky rear hatch seal and 1/4 windows and some miscellaneous ones. 

Drive train wise, it's been running fairly well since I basically rewired the entire charging system and fixed all the issues in the previous owner's swap setup. Having an issue where upon acceleration when the car is cold it seems like it's bogging down before it picks up. Needs full header/exhaust setup, I'm still getting some fumes seeping into the cabin where the exhaust ends only an inch or two past the rear axle. 

I guess I'm just a perfectionist, or too picky. Or both. But I'm in to "finish" this car hopefully by the end of the year, at least interior/exterior wise; as mechanicals will always be fun to upgrade. 
That's my rant, status update, and to do list. Back to work! 

[Draker]

It's easy to get discouraged.. but just take it one step at a time. I've got a 2 door shell that is basically a rust bucket.. and I'm going to attack it one step at a time. For now it's just slowing the rust while I work on other projects.

[DatMo]

how'd you do the speakers though?

and where'd you get your sueeges for your windows from?

I need to do all the rubbers with windows.

your car looks awesome!

i guess i over skimmed the part where it siad what fender mirrors you ended up going with but awesome. 

[dakotahchore]

Cut holes in the door panels where I wanted them, used self tapping screws into the door. The front ones I didn't have to cut anything, the rear doors I had to cut the door metal up a bit but not mangle it.  They are BARELY touching the windows rolled down, so minor that you barely even notice when rolling the window down... like 1/8th of an inch "clashing". There are no issues though. A VERY small spacer setup would solve this completely. 

I got the NOS Nissan Mirrors of eBay...  344$ :( 
All rubbers are from Datsunlandsocal. No real complaints since there are no alternatives for most of it. 

[DatMo]

Cut holes in the door panels where I wanted them, used self tapping screws into the door. The front ones I didn't have to cut anything, the rear doors I had to cut the door metal up a bit but not mangle it.  They are BARELY touching the windows rolled down, so minor that you barely even notice when rolling the window down... like 1/8th of an inch "clashing". There are no issues though. A VERY small spacer setup would solve this completely. 

 

I got the NOS Nissan Mirrors of eBay...  344$ :( 

All rubbers are from Datsunlandsocal. No real complaints since there are no alternatives for most of it. 

 

thanks. I'll only be running speakers in the front doors and the back because i have a sedan.

I'll get to fender mirrors one day. i needa go slower and just finish my interior for now.

how'd you hide the wires?

 

I gotta spend like $400 on rubbers from datsunland so cal.

 

edit: what do i need exactly for the windows, inner and outer squeegee. and what else?

 

thanks for the help 

[Laecaon]

squeegees and channel felt for side wind up/down windows.

[DatMo]

squeegees and channel felt for side wind up/down windows.

thanks. 

 

I calculated a lot of other junk. 

I thought I needed eyebrow trim and what not. 

 

in total, these? correct me if im wrong. thanks btw.

http://www.datsunlandsocal.com/mm5/merchant.mvc?Store_Code=DS&Screen=PROD&Product_Code=B009

 

http://www.datsunlandsocal.com/mm5/merchant.mvc?Store_Code=DS&Screen=PROD&Product_Code=B008

 

http://www.datsunlandsocal.com/mm5/merchant.mvc?Store_Code=DS&Screen=PROD&Product_Code=B010

[dakotahchore]

Yes, those are correct. 
Also, I'm now 800$ into seals from DLSC. Still not even finished. Fuck leaks and disintegrating seals. It's replacing the little things like that that make my car an enjoyable daily driver. 

Check out these speakers...  PIONEER TS-D1602R D-Series

They are awesome quality and you won't need to cut any metal, just self tapping screws and an ACCURATE hole in the door panel. Drill a hold in the door, and a hole in the A pillar section... Run speaker wire and seal with silicone or grommets.