1970 510 Wagon: Chunk

[vanmansam]

Trip was awesome.  Chunk did fine.  Not happy with the way shes running still but no time to dick with it.  If I get an exhaust put in I will have the muff shop weld in the o2 bung so I can have a better Idea of whats going on.
I really NEED to to replace clutch master and slave soon though; reverse is crunching like a mofo, and fluid is black.  

 

Did 80 most of the trip got 26 mpg, water temp was 180 the whole way, and I only bottomed out 3 or so times, lol.

Okay so, my buddy in the first pic bought a KTM 500 from a dealer in Savannah (reason for the trip) but his bike overheated 12 miles from home on the way back... So we limped it to the closest fire department for help since we had no tools, and firemen helped us a little, but to no avail. So one of the volunteers threw the bike in his truck and gave us a lift back to Base.  All in all pretty solid adventure and one I probably wont forget. 

 

Jeff knows the Ratsun salute.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 Hope this thread isnt getting dull or boring, but I love sharing my car with you guys.  Thanks for looking

[72O]

Still looks good.

[vanmansam]

Well, just an update.
 

Alternator went bad a few weeks ago.  Replaced with 65amp IR 280zx unit.  Kinda weird though, the alt wont put out voltage unless you blip the throttle above like 1500rmp or so. Normal?

 

Spent the day washing, buffing, and waxing. Car looks a lot better, but I really am craving a nice car.  I get a bonus from the Navy after I finish my school.  I think I will have my car's body work done then.

I lost my only key to the ignition though.  Going to locksmith tomorrow.


I have been searching for where to buy seals from.  I know datsunlandsocial and datsport are the places to go for wagon stuff, but dastunland has a reputation and datsport is in OZ.  I searched for the wagon hatch seal part numbers on nissanparts.cc and they have the part available, but I was wondering if anyone ever had luck from there?  I bought the bulk window felt there IIR, and it came out okay. Have not seen any installed example of datsun hatch rubber. Just dont want to waste money, and want a quality product.  Any input at all is appreciated in regard to hatch/cargo/door rubber.

[hang_510]

 

the alt wont put out voltage unless you blip the throttle above like 1500rmp or so. Normal?

I searched for the wagon hatch seal part numbers on nissanparts.cc and they have the part available,

 

Any input at all is appreciated in regard to hatch/cargo/door rubber.

 

 

 

normal alt.

 

most wagon specific seals are NLA from nissanparts.cc but a great source.

 

i have the DLsocal hatch seals and theyre fine. not like stock, just generic trim that works.

most of the rubber he has is the same as anyone else...

cust serv is severly lacking.

[vanmansam]

thanks hang510.

Just got back from Atlanta for thanksgiving.  600 mile road trip.  kinda buzzy, but she did alright, 70-75mph the whole way and about 24mpg.  

 

Almost done with my Navy Nuclear "A-school" so i will have some down time between a-school and my next set of classes that start valentines day to work on my car a little

 

I ordered some coco mats (like the kind that came in mercedes and vws and stuff).  I had to cut a pattern for them but hopefully they come out alright.  we will see.  Still working on getting one key for the whole car, got my spare but have the ignition lock out of the car ATM.  Proving to be a challenge getting matching keys but i will get it eventually.  

 

 

pic cause i know y'all are getting bored

[Eagle_Adam]

love the clean rims and patina paint!

[vanmansam]

Chunk's broke.

Well lost spark at least.
Dont have a multimeter, but I swapped around some spares with no luck.
Frustrated with working in parking lots and roadsides.
Gunna get an electronic distributor from a friend in AZ when I go on leave for Christmas, and ditch the points.

 

In the meantime i bought a wheeler for the woods/around town so I dont have to drive the Datsun so much.

[tr8er]

Spare coil? Or points? Would a ballast resistor fault cause loss of spark?

[vanmansam]

Internal resistor coil, and I had a spare new one i tried.  Swapped condensers with 3 spares I had.  Dont have a multimeter or even spare wire/lightbulb to check for power.  Might be ignition switch.  I go out of town in two days, so I will check stuff out again when I get back from vacation, but with an EI dizzy.

[jser12]

Curious to why you are only averaging in the mid 20s for mpg on the highway. Even my original (carbon built up) l16 got around 30 doing 70mph. What diff do you have in there?

[vanmansam]

Curious to why you are only averaging in the mid 20s for mpg on the highway. Even my original (carbon built up) l16 got around 30 doing 70mph. What diff do you have in there?

I dont have an l16 though, I have an l20b and dual carbs. Might explain it? Stock 3.9 diff.

Regardless I have 0 mpg at the moment.  Bought a multimeter but got yelled at by on base security for "working" in the parking lot, so I am still clueless as to why there is no spark. Definitely just gunna park it somewhere safe and worry about it when I come home from Arizona.

[datrod]

Dig the wagon. Engine bay looks great...

[71goonka]

loving this build, im in atlanta we should set up a SE meet sometime!!

[vanmansam]

Got some more history on my car: http://ramkitten.squidoo.com/100dollarcar

"...I sold the Datsun to a lookout tower guy for $600.00. He drove it daily for several fire seasons up 9,299-foot Mt. Elden and afterward to the East Pocket lookout, a 60-mile, unpaved round trip."
Explains all the dust under the dash.

Kinda makes me sad to see that the 510 isnt in AZ anymore, seeing as its and AZ car, but I know it will be back one day.

[71goonka]

my buddy is building his 240z right now hoping to be done late jan, and im working on rust and getting a new windshield. but def need to set something up!!

[vanmansam]

Mini update on chunk.
She lives!  Got a matchbox distributor from a friend in Arizona.
Still havent driven her much but thats ok, I need to kinda get some more little stuff sorted before i go crazy driving her.  Devolved an oil leak at the pan (about a drop a day), need to install matching set of locks i got, permanently mount new coil, lock tight alternator bolts ect ect..

also, chunk survived the great South Carolina blizzard of 2014..  :rofl: 

[vanmansam]

 

 

Front bumper brackets arent exactly straight but I dont own a hammer.

Rear bumper has no chrome left but its really straight.

Notice new antenna.

[hang_510]

why do the front ends on both vehicles look the same??? :rofl:

 

how do you NOT own a hammer???

i once realigned my bumper with a come along and concrete pillar.

[vanmansam]

how do you NOT own a hammer???

i once realigned my bumper with a come along and concrete pillar.

I just dont, okay, dont judge me  :( 

Military life separated me from my tools and garage.  Limited to small collection of hand tools I have in my truck box, and hammer just hasnt been on the no1 list of priorities. Its like being stuck in a hotel with only a tooth brush and a disposable razor.

 

Some surface rust has started to flake a little bit more than I am comfortable with in wheel wells, need to get some POR15 in there.  

Any suggestions for preserving the exposed sheet metal of the body parts without looking MORE like an unfinished bodywork primer-mobile?

[vanmansam]

edit: withdrawn

[vanmansam]

Moved off base. Bought a couple hammers and collected some better tools.
Zero progress on Chunk besides floor mats and general tune up type stuff.  Still collecting parts for paint, I have all new rubber for the windows a few new trim pieces ect.  Will probably remove all windows and headliner to rebond roof to support bows before I take to body shop. Still a little hesitant just cause I will be moving this summer. Oh well, I will keep this thread updated with progress. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Heres a cheesey little video of me cruising around. Got a gopro so more driving videos to come, future videos will be more exciting than this one hopefully.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eipS9dUq3SU

 

[vanmansam]

Navy sent me to Groton Connecticut on the USS Virginia.  Not a whole lot of time for cars these days. Anyone in New England with a 510 or any Datsun that wants to hang out, PM any time.
 
Chunk is still with me, towed her up here. She isnt in the best shape at the moment.  Need a LOT of little shit fixed. Havent driven regularly in about a year an a half, down to driving about once a month. So sad considering this used to be my daily.  Dont want to drive at all here, I am super afraid of the salted roads here, and that 4 salty winters are pretty dangerous.

The biggest things on the list to get done are a major electrical overhaul and unfucking a lot of halfway fixes I did since I have been in the Navy. A lot has gotten neglected namely charging system and electrical as there are multiple draws/shorts.  theres countless little shit that either broke or I tried to get fixed that ended up just becoming even more broken and un fixed. I need to reinstall the button for the hatch, need to put on window cranks, ignition switch needs fixed, wiper switch is broken, headlight switch is broken. I broke me e-brake cable so that needs replaced (have spare but not sure how to get old one out, its crimped in?).  Thankfully I have a set of choke cables I got last winter from yellowdatsun, since its already freezing here in CT.  Not sure really what to do at this point, especially since they moved me back into barracks so I dont have a garage anymore.  

Anyways just an update/bump for anyone who might be interested.

pic of NYC with chunk and my sea bag in the rear view, so that I dont leave you all hanging:

[vanmansam]

No longer in the Navy.  Living in Flagstaff AZ now.  Getting Chunk ready to drive to JCCS in October.
 

 

Quote

The biggest things on the list to get done are a major electrical overhaul and unfucking a lot of halfway fixes I did since I have been in the Navy.

let the games begin!

Just wrapped up "major electrical overhaul".  Repined the entire car using stock style connectors from vintageconnections.com.  Got every single connection I could replaced, I dont think there are any I missed besides the ones that I didnt have pins for like cluster connector and fuse box.  I replaced probably over 300 something connections. 

 

Stuff works now! Its nuts.  Both brake lights work again! That shit was a nightmare.  Culprit was a stock crimp splice in the harness on the engine side by the fuse box.  I figured out why the blue and black wire going to the ignition was fried, a previous owner had for some reason hooked it directly to ground at some point.  Replaced that wire and some others.  My dome light even works now after some new Niles door switches, but I need a replacement rear dome light, its crumbling apart.  Oiled my clock escapement, works great now.  Not sure if it keeps great time but it runs again.  Stock temp and fuel gauges work like a charm now.  Greased my wiper linkage and after a bunch of troubleshooting and a wiper motor "rebuild" I have functional wipers that are faster than they have ever been, which is still kinda slow haha.  Took apart and cleaning all 3 of my dash switches as well as the turn signal and hazard switches. Have some final small electrical stuff to wrap up, waiting on parts (electronic flasher, some bulbs, horn relay, new horns, license plate light ect). 

Non electrical stuff:  did handbrake cable a while back.   Got a hatch push button, no more gaping hole.  New speedo cable just now (old one touched exhaust, melted, seized the inner cable).  Brakes all around and front bearings along with several bushings about a year ago.   Got a stock-ish style air cleaner which I think was off a roadster that I modified and fitted up.  For the coming weeks I got a Koyorad aluminum radiator waiting to go in, and plans to fix the throttle linkage which I never got aligned properly to work after my L20B/SU carb swap.  Then it will be cleaning, painting, sprucing type work till JCCS. Engine bay looks kinda haggard compared to what it once did lol.  My coco-mats are fucked now too, all the dye washed out from rain leaking into the car haha.  I have a garage now though so car shouldnt get any worse at least.

Storytime from 2 weeks ago:  Driving to work oil light started to flicker.  stopped and checked oil.  good.  wiggle connection on sending unit.  kinda loose, probably the problem.  About 4 miles down the road realize im leaking oil, and theres a film of oil mist on the back glass.  Stop at auto parts store, the sending unit was blasting oil out between the electrical post and the plastic body.  Lost almost 4 quarts in 3-4 miles, barely had oil on the dipstick. Yikes.  Fixed it in the parking lot, had to buy a bigger crescent than I had in my tool box, but thankfully Harbor Freight is in the same plaza as an O'reilys here.  taped the sending wire on with some FLEXTAPE from my emergency kit since the old one was spade and the new one was bullet.  Drove the rest of the way to work. Ive since corrected the connector to bullet. Felt like an episode of RoadKill. 

Questions for the group:

-Horn: the rubber insulators that act as a kinda spring under the horn ring in the steering wheel are gone.  I packed a bunch of foam in there but worried about getting false horn signals.  Anyone got a good solution for stock steering wheel horn ring isolators?  rubber hose? 
-Brakes: Currently running a 1" master I believe, 280zx calibers, stock drums.  All in good shape, soft lines are probably 8 years old but good. Always struggled with spongy pedal on this car, but lately been thinking maybe I should I go back to a smaller master? or just try bleeding moar?  Could probably use a bleed on the master.

Pics in another post bellow vvv
 

[vanmansam]

My Deerhound puppy, Neil, getting dropped at daycare. (yes puppy, hes 6months old and already 80lbs)


Oil rupture casualty

https://photos.app.goo.gl/Q4G5jZXNknPGQ1s5A


The sands of time did a number on this engine bay since my build in 2013, but it may clean up some.


This will hopefully give a general look into the state of the wiring pre-overhaul.  Standard Datsun.

Here you can see the blue and black wire, expertly connected to a ground connection.   Thanks previous owner!!  Also my sweeeet IR alternator mod ahah, suffered from some battery acid at some point.


Before and after.  Most of the external connections were about like this one.  Amazed anything worked at all.

Interior harness mid-way though the job


Clock all lubed up


Most interior plugs were okay, but yellowed, some minor corrosion on a few


All done up

 

https://photos.app.goo.gl/4UubqMzxy8bb2tym6
https://photos.app.goo.gl/T1E544M5rDkrcDor8


Not beautiful, but tidy.

all the old shit:


Speedo cable



 

[banzai510(hainz)]

10 hours ago, vanmansam said:

Culprit was a stock crimp splice in the harness

This is common on the  wagons per Ichouse on here for the turn signals/ lights