bullitt210 Posted January 29, 2013 Report Share Posted January 29, 2013 A friend of mine recently sent me a craigslist ad for a '76 B210. Against my better judgement, I sent him an email for some pics and more info. He quickly replied, we got in contact by phone and he told me the story.... In 1980, a '76 Datto with 48K miles on it started smoking as the owner's wife who was driving it failed to do any maintenance. The guy got a spare engine out of a 25K mile car to replace it and had it waiting for chance to do the work. Then on New Year's day 1981, she lost control on a bridge, spun it around and around and damaged every corner to some extent. He sent it to a shop to get the body repaired. When it was done, he picked it up and put it in a rent by the month storage building to get the engine swap done. After pulling the engine out, he realized that the shop did a poor job on the body repairs so he halted the engine swap until he figured out what to do. Not long after, he got a divorce and lost the contents of the storage building, including the car and both engines. The owner of the storage building thought the car was pretty neat, so he locked it up and claimed the car, hoping to fix it up himself one day. Fast forward 33 years, the owner of the storage building finally realizes that he will never touch the car so he may as well sell it. Until 2 weeks ago, this car has not had seen direct sunlight, and was covered, literally in an inch of dust and dirt. It is completely rust free (not bondo free), but it is not bad. I have made contact with the original owner who claims to have kept the original title and keys and said he will hand them over to me when he locates them. He tells great stories, and I hope to hear more about the car when we meet. He affectionately refers to the car as the Flying Orange. So now, it will be my next project after I finish Volvo 242 / 302 Ford swap. It is close, so it shouldn't be too long before I get started on it. Well, I see that many swaps have been done into B210's since I owned my last one. I did a 4.3 Chevy/700R4 and later a KA24DE in the same car. Then a guy from Michigan offered to buy it and I took the cash. I always wished I had kept it. I never even got to drive it with the KA in it. I am since quite a Volvo fan as well. I enjoy the simplicity and ruggedness of the redblock engine and because of this (and the fact that I now just happen to have one lying around) it is my choice for the B210. At first, an n/a kjet car, and later a turbo intercooled transplant. Parts are cheap and very available in my area, and I doubt anyone has ever done this one!! I have already found much inspiration from some of the build threads I have seen in here. I am stoked to get started on my own Datty project again. I hope to make it a interesting ride for all of us! Stand by for pics!! Quote Link to comment
DeviousPsycho620 Posted January 29, 2013 Report Share Posted January 29, 2013 Standing by... :-) Quote Link to comment
Rays74 Posted January 29, 2013 Report Share Posted January 29, 2013 :angel: ......if only cameras werent so expensive 1 Quote Link to comment
Draker Posted January 29, 2013 Report Share Posted January 29, 2013 Even free cell phones have cameras now days? 1 Quote Link to comment
DeviousPsycho620 Posted January 29, 2013 Report Share Posted January 29, 2013 /\ /\ /\ True that! Quote Link to comment
Trophy24 Posted January 29, 2013 Report Share Posted January 29, 2013 Love the name "the flying orange"! Hmm picturing it in my mind.... Quote Link to comment
DottiBlue Posted January 29, 2013 Report Share Posted January 29, 2013 Found a photo 2 Quote Link to comment
Draker Posted January 29, 2013 Report Share Posted January 29, 2013 lol.. pretty close I'm sure! Quote Link to comment
bullitt210 Posted January 29, 2013 Author Report Share Posted January 29, 2013 Lol, you guys are great, this oughtta be fun! Reality is I had the pics on my computer at work so I had to wait to get here and upload them to photobucket. So....here they are: 1 Quote Link to comment
bullitt210 Posted January 29, 2013 Author Report Share Posted January 29, 2013 So I got it home and immediately started cleaning the interior. I have not yet taken a pic of the interior since cleaning it up but it looks fantastic! The seats need some soap and water with a scrub brush to get the settled in dirt out of the pattern in the vinyl. The carpet has just a little wear on the driver side but otherwise it all looks fairly new. The guy had taken it back to have the AM radio upgraded to an AM/FM and it is still here. He also had a/c added on at the dealer and had them put on the horrible side mouldings. I found some small treasures in the car when I was cleaning it (well, I thought they were neat). I found an old plastic Burger King hand puppet that is in good shape, a map of Six Flags Over Texas, an old pull tab Coke can and a vintage Milk Duds box. In the last pic, you can see the parts that came in the back of it. The original '76 grille was damaged beyond repair but he had acquired a '78 grille to replace it, and I like it better anyway. Oddly enough, the car was missing two hubcaps, and I had kept two hubcaps off of my '78. As if it were meant to be.... The more I look at these pics, the more I want to start work on it. But I have to finish the Volvo first. I am too close to get distracted now.... Quote Link to comment
canadianf10 Posted January 31, 2013 Report Share Posted January 31, 2013 lol, flying orange is a great name! i named my 78 f10 hatch orange thunder, when i got it it only had one of three original pinstripes left on it and sort of looked like an orange thunderbolt. also it was loud since the muffler was worn out, orange thunder just seemed to fit Quote Link to comment
Dguy210 Posted January 31, 2013 Report Share Posted January 31, 2013 Lol, you guys are great, this oughtta be fun! Reality is I had the pics on my computer at work so I had to wait to get here and upload them to photobucket. So....here they are: Looks sweet, and is that an uncracked dash?? :thumbup: Nice score. The long console option is not that common either. Quote Link to comment
bullitt210 Posted January 31, 2013 Author Report Share Posted January 31, 2013 It has one crack in it across the speaker grille. Didn't realize this was a rare-ish console, it's the same one I had in my 78 GX. Cool! Quote Link to comment
JoeCool Posted January 31, 2013 Report Share Posted January 31, 2013 (edited) Lol, you guys are great, this oughtta be fun! Reality is I had the pics on my computer at work so I had to wait to get here and upload them to photobucket. So....here they are: I have no idea what it is, but something seems to be missing in this picture! But seriously, that 210 has potential to be one nice looking ride! WTF?! Why does it keep doing my lines as quotes? This site is being retarded! Edited January 31, 2013 by JoeCool Quote Link to comment
datsunaholic Posted January 31, 2013 Report Share Posted January 31, 2013 I have no idea what it is, but something seems to be missing in this picture! Yes, the passenger-side strut tower cap is missing. Quote Link to comment
bullitt210 Posted January 31, 2013 Author Report Share Posted January 31, 2013 I got two engines with it!! I just had to strap them to the front of the trailer to get them home. Doubt I will use either one of them though. I am parting out a Volvo this weekend and going to hang on to that drivetrain instead. I think it will begin with a B23 block, my old 398 head with k-jet injection, Chrysler ignition and an M46 overdrive. If I can make that work, I will eventually dump a turbo intercooled B230FT in the same hole. I seriously cannot wait to work on this car!!! I am having to use a ton of willpower to finish my 302 engine swap first, but it's killing me! 1 Quote Link to comment
bullitt210 Posted October 28, 2013 Author Report Share Posted October 28, 2013 Well, the FO has been sitting waiting for my other project, the 302 powered Volvo 242, to get finished. The Volvo was up and running and then the throwout bearing grenaded into 5 pieces. I plan to get the motor back in this weekend and after that, the Datsun goes onto the front burner. I have been putting a lot of thought into the Datsun and have decided that it will be powered by the Volvo B23 with LH2.2 injection and an M46 manual transmission. I am currently having the axles redrilled to accept a vintage set of Volvo 262/GT wheels that will be painte cast coat gray. I will then set up Volvo 240 rear disc brakes and use a second set of brake calipers on a hydraulic brake handle. The front suspension will be swapped out with as much Volvo 240 suspension as possible with the Volvo vented disc brakes out front as well. These brakes will be an intense upgrade for the lightweight B210. I will take pics as I work my way through the project and keep this thread updated. I can't believe I have had this car for almost a year and have not done any more work than I have on it. i guess I have more willpower than I thought!! Quote Link to comment
]2eDeYe Posted October 28, 2013 Report Share Posted October 28, 2013 WTF?! Why does it keep doing my lines as quotes? This site is being retarded! Because you are typing inside one of the quotes :lol: Nice score. :cool: Quote Link to comment
Dguy210 Posted October 29, 2013 Report Share Posted October 29, 2013 2eDeYe" post="999344" timestamp="1382979845"] Because you are typing inside one of the quotes :lol: Nice score. :cool: I'm not sure if it has been reported but if you switch between bbcode mode and regular mode the quote tags can do weird things. For example: I started off in BBcode mode and when I switched to regular mode the quote tags disappeared. Quote Link to comment
Kirden Posted October 29, 2013 Report Share Posted October 29, 2013 Very nice score. Looks like the interior is pretty clean. $500 is a steal for a decent rolling chassis and two engines. Did either of those engines happen to come with a carb? I may know a buyer if so lol. Quote Link to comment
Mikeystoy Posted October 29, 2013 Report Share Posted October 29, 2013 .....you lucky bastard Quote Link to comment
tr8er Posted October 29, 2013 Report Share Posted October 29, 2013 Yes, the passenger-side strut tower cap is missing. Nailed it. Quote Link to comment
bullitt210 Posted October 29, 2013 Author Report Share Posted October 29, 2013 Very nice score. Looks like the interior is pretty clean. $500 is a steal for a decent rolling chassis and two engines. Did either of those engines happen to come with a carb? I may know a buyer if so lol. Both engines came with a carb. Rock auto has kits to rebuild them for $7 each!! Anyway, I would be willing to part with one. Contact me at bullitt210atgmaildotcom and maybe we can figure something out. Quote Link to comment
bullitt210 Posted November 1, 2013 Author Report Share Posted November 1, 2013 So....I had a dissappointing week. I picked up my axles from the shop where I had left them. He had done nothing but ruin on of them by using a die grinder to remove one of the bearing retainers. He cut too deep and left me with a .125" deep groove in one fo the axles. He didn't think it was a big deal and offered to weld it and grind it back down, when I declined due to safety reasons, he turned his back on me and continued working on another project. This got me to thinking a bit more about what I am doing and I came to the conclusion that it makes sense for me to try and use the Dana 30 (Volvo 1030) diff I have in the backyard. It was slated for another car but now that particular car is being sold so no bother. The only problem I foresee is the width of the axle which will force me to either narrow the Volvo axle or use flares on my car. I am not opposed to either option but I am more in favour of narrowing the axle. Now I will do some measuring and fitting this weekend to figure out how much would have to come out of the tubes and I need to start looking for a shop that could narrow it for me. If I have enough time, I also hope to figure out how much Volvo front suspension can be used as well. Quote Link to comment
bullitt210 Posted December 5, 2013 Author Report Share Posted December 5, 2013 Okay, I am going to step back into this project now and try to get some real work done. I got the 302 back in my Volvo and it is up and running so that cleared the working side of the garage out so I can get the FO over there. Since the issue with the Datsun axles arose I backed away to see what my next logical step would be. This means that the front suspension needed to be redesigned to determine wheel track for the rear. I am currently at the point where all of the Datsun's original suspension has been removed down to the crossmember. I jumped in with both feet and decided to mock up suspension from a Volvo 240. I dug out my spare control arms and strut assemblies and began mocking it up to see if it would be a feasible option. At first glance, it in fact does look like it will work quite well. The Volvo control arm bolt to the Datsun lca point and will just need a bracket built to capture the aft end since it is technically an "A" arm. That is the easy part. The Volvo strut assembly is very comparable in length to the Datsun part and since I wanted Volvo calipers and rotors anyway, it makes the transition easy. All I need is a coilover kit and I will have a sprung assembly. That brings me to the steering. I feel that I can use the Volvo rack as well (I mean why not, right?) but there is a challenge to build the proper brackets and make them attach to the stock crossmember. So in true overkill fashion, tonight I plan to take some measurements on a Volvo crossmember. If this is possible to bolt to the Datsun that would answer my rack mounting as well as my sway bar mounting. If this is the way it has to work, I am thrilled with it as it would also answer my engine mounting questions. But this also means the wheel track is going to be quite wide for the Datsun body making flares neccessary. I will start updating this thread as more work gets accomplished. I have one pic now mocking up my wheel choice that I will post soon. Quote Link to comment
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