1200 autocross project Texas

[KiloTango1200]

Part 2 of transport day The 510 is secure. Time to load Dimlight65's 1200 coupe on the trailer. No engine or transmission makes a super light car ultralight. Me, Mat, Datsunfreak and Dimlight65 push the coupe up the ramps onto the trailer. Bought a brand new come along and never used it. total of 4 minutes to load 2 non-running cars.

 

 

What a great car. 210 front suspension. That means I already have big brakes. Lots of race car upgrades already in place.

 

[url=http://s1290.photobucket.com/user/KiloTango1200/media/DSCN1724_zps8689b498.jpg.html]

 

Turbine wheels almost like my 1200 sedan has. And FENDER MIRRORS!!! Those are so cool!!! 14" wheels really look good on the car. Great feeling small diameter leather wrapped steering wheel and Auto Meter Gauges.

 

 

Main Instrument cluster. Speedometer, Tachometer, Turbo Boost Gauge (not needed at this time), and Digital Mixture Meter???

 

[url=http://s1290.photobucket.com/user/KiloTango1200/media/DSCN1725_zps53de6446.jpg.html]

 

Even has a racing seat

 

 

 

 

Depart Datsunfreak's shop at 1630. More Ft. Worth traffic. Arrive at my storage in Sanger TX at 1730. Unload the coupe and return to the Denton TX airport at 1800. 2 cars delivered. 10 hours driving, 12 hours total. 550 miles and $170.00 in gas. Glad it is over. NOW LET THE FUN BEGIN!!!

[mrbigtanker]

Score.

[datsunfreak]

Oh, if you don't like the flat bottom steering wheel I'll gladly trade you another for it.   :thumbup:

 

Tim is sad he let it go...   :rofl:

[KiloTango1200]

Score.

No, BIG SCORE!!! A great 1200 Coupe body to make my race car and still have my Dad's 1200 2 Dr. Sedan to do the resto job!!! BIG THANKS to the Ratsun community for your advise and support to make these projects all come together!!!

[KiloTango1200]

Oh, if you don't like the flat bottom steering wheel I'll gladly trade you another for it.   :thumbup:

 

Tim is sad he let it go...   :rofl:

Everything is negotiable.  The wheel fits my hands great. Will be in touch to see what you have.  

[KiloTango1200]

Got another wheel done for the Sedan, 2 down 2 to go.

 

[ggzilla]

Those look like the turbines I shipped to datsunfreak from Seattle. I got them at a garage sale from a guy that removed them from a zcar.

Turbine wheels almost like my 1200 sedan has.

[KiloTango1200]

Those look like the turbines I shipped to datsunfreak from Seattle. I got them at a garage sale from a guy that removed them from a zcar.

A couple of them have some chunks missing, but I can make them work and look good. Lots of experience filing and sanding rock chips out of aircraft propellers and working aluminum.  These turbines will take a lot more work than the ones on the Sedan, but will be worth the effort and I will have sort of matching wheels on both of my 1200s. Now I need 8 matching wheel center caps.

[datsunfreak]

Those look like the turbines I shipped to datsunfreak from Seattle.

 

These would be them sir.   :thumbup:

[KiloTango1200]

These would be them sir.   :thumbup:

Wow, the Ratsun community really is a small world. Glad I found it.

[KiloTango1200]

Unfortunately, 200 miles still separate my home from my Sedan's storage shed. The shed doesn't have electricity so I am somewhat limited in what I can get accomplished. However, I got a battery powered Dremel tool for Christmas and have been wanting to see how much metal is left around the rusted out trunk weatherstrip channel. I had an hour or so to kill, so I ground off as much rust as possible hoping I had enough metal left to weld in the donor channel from the rear clip. Yea! Got rid of most of the nasty stuff and there is plenty of metal left to attach the new channel.

 

 

Time to try the cut off wheels. They make short work of this thin metal. Didn't think that a battery powered hobby tool would be this effective. Took off the stainless trim and cut off the rusted out inner lip of the trunk weatherstrip channel. Also cut off any remaining rusty places.

 

 

Here is how much of a good metal lip is left to attach the new weather strip channel.

 

 

Here is the bottom of the lip looking up from the bottom of the trunk. Relatively rust free.

 

 

Here is the left side relatively cleaned up. Needs more grinding and sanding, straighten up the edge, and kill the rest of the rust to finish the prep work for the fix.

 

 

Untouched right side of the trunk channel. In much, much, much, better shape than the worked over left side!

 

 

The strip on the left is a Stainless trim piece attached to the inner lip of the trunk weatherstrip channel. Not really sure why it is there. The Sedan rear clip doesn't have the Stainless trim pieces. The strip on the right is what is left of the inner lip of the trunk weatherstrip channel. After the rust and other nasty stuff is cut away and neutralized, the donor channel should be an easy installation. The Stainless trim piece had a red silicone looking substance between the stainless trim and the trunk structure. If you know what this is for, post it here.

 

[datsunfreak]

I got a battery powered Dremel tool for Christmas... Time to try the cut off wheels. They make short work of this thin metal. Didn't think that a battery powered hobby tool would be this effective. 

 

 

1200 sheet metal is very thin. Rusty 1200 sheet metal is VERY thin.   :rofl:

[KiloTango1200]

1200 sheet metal is very thin. Rusty 1200 sheet metal is VERY thin.   :rofl:

 

1200 sheet metal is very thin. Rusty 1200 sheet metal is VERY thin.   :rofl:

My mouse is doing double hits. The metal is very, very thin. Fortunately for me, all the welding on this project will be done by my buddy Phil, AKA Mr. Metallurgy. He can run the most beautiful bead in Aluminum you have ever seen. He could probably weld 2 Juicy Fruit Gum wrappers together.

[KiloTango1200]

Sometimes LIFE gets in the way of your Datsun project. Finally things are starting to happen again. The Sedan's interior is the easiest to finish so I will work on that first. 15 years ago you couldn't find anything for this car. That's why it was put in storage. Now with the internet and Ebay you can find almost anything you need. I got a NOS E-Brake handle from California.

 

 

I also found some Nissan NOS window cranks in Kuwait.

 

Edited February 7, 2014 by KiloTango1200

[ggzilla]

15 years ago with the internet and eBay I could find everything I needed for my 1200. Even before that I could find everything, for example in 1992 that handle was about 4 dollars from Nissan. Unfortunately now Nissan USA no longer restocks anything and so we have to buy overseas.

 

Good to see your 1200 coming back yo life.

[boonedock saints]

Kilo Tango,

 super interested in this build, wanting to do a simular project next season...Ill may have questions now and then, but mostly watching, good stuff. :thumbup:

[KiloTango1200]

15 years ago with the internet and eBay I could find everything I needed for my 1200. Even before that I could find everything, for example in 1992 that handle was about 4 dollars from Nissan. Unfortunately now Nissan USA no longer restocks anything and so we have to buy overseas.

 

Good to see your 1200 coming back yo life.

15 years ago I didn't know where to look. I came to the party late, but at least I made it here.

[datsunfreak]

I came to the party late, but at least I made it here.

 

And we're glad to have you KT.   :hug:

[KiloTango1200]

The one thing I was able to find 15 years ago. This is for the Sedan. A set of good used front struts. Paid 200.00 for the set. The seller said they were off a 1200 2 dr. Sedan made into an electric race car. I believe they came off of White Zombie but I could be wrong. That was a long time ago. I haven't found another set of 1200 front struts until recently, B Projects put up a set on ebay for 750.00 each, but I haven't looked really hard either. The Sedan's struts are blown out and I will Soda blast and repaint these struts before installation.  I found 30mm (1.18 in.) drop King Springs in OZ and may try that. I am ultimately looking for a 3 in. drop using weld on coil overs and possibly composite rear springs. One step at a time.

 

[/url]

[datsunfreak]

Why not use something like 210 struts in it? Slight upgrade with minimal fuss. 

 

That's what's in your white coupe.  :thumbup:

[KiloTango1200]

These struts are paid for and I am going for as light as possible for the Sedan. You are the expert, I want the Sedan and the Coupe to be as nimble as possible. The Sedan with  an A14 should be relatively easy. The Coupe with a CA18DET, not so easy. But a hell of a lot of fun!!!

[datsunfreak]

These struts are paid for and I am going for as light as possible for the Sedan. You are the expert, I want the Sedan and the Coupe to be as nimble as possible. 

 

Then I would probably focus on just shortening the struts you have, and when funds allow get a pair of mklotz's caliper brackets.  :thumbup:

 

http://community.ratsun.net/topic/24226-1200-brake-upgrade-mklotz70/

 

On my 1200 coupe I also wanted the lightest possible set-up. So I shortened the stock struts and upgraded to those brakes. Big improvement, for very minimal weight gain.   B)

[KiloTango1200]

Then I would probably focus on just shortening the struts you have, and when funds allow get a pair of mklotz's caliper brackets.  :thumbup:

 

http://community.ratsun.net/topic/24226-1200-brake-upgrade-mklotz70/

 

On my 1200 coupe I also wanted the lightest possible set-up. So I shortened the stock struts and upgraded to those brakes. Big improvement, for very minimal weight gain.   B)

Great minds think alike. All the hydraulics need to be replaced to get the car back on the road. I was going straight to the mklotz brake upgrade since I am replacing the calipers anyway. Over the years I have gathered most of the parts needed to completely rebuild the front end. I have a set of new in the box Brembo discs for a 1200 that I found many years ago. I guess those will go straight to ebay.

[KiloTango1200]

Had some extra time to work on the Sedan this weekend. Even though it was 27 deg. in a storage unit with no electricity, I managed to get some things done. Since 90% of the rust is in the rear of the car, I decided to take off the tail lights and emblems to see what they were hiding. Tail light bezels removed. Left side was the worst, but not too bad. 5 - 8mm nuts. With a little penetrating oil, they hardly put up a struggle.

 

 

I thought that the tail light assembly was held in by the bezel. WRONG! It looks like the assembly is held in by 4 studs that are mushroomed at the end. My repair manual (Clymer) tells me how to change the bulbs (DUH!), but not how to remove the assembly. It has to come out for the paint job, but I don't want to screw anything up. It appears that the mushroomed studs need to be cut off to get the assembly off. I don't have a problem with that because I can weld threaded stock back in place of the studs. Throwing this out for suggestions because you guys collectively know everything about our cars.

 

[ggzilla]

Looks like its just surface rust.