The 64 Fairlady Daily Driver resto

[Master-O-Turbonics]

So my daily driver is a 2004 Nissan frontier, that reliably gets 17.5mpg and is eating me alive... I have been searching for a small car for quite a while to use as a daily driver. 

 

Been watching craigslist for anything of interest below $2000 and had not found anything... 

 

Then up came this craigslist ad for a 1965/1964 Datsun roadster about 10 miles away. HAD to go look at it and at least get some pictures.

 

 

 

 

Moss and/or lichen with flowers.....

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The car has PERFECT patina. Its been sitting in a field for 20+ years.... The tires have tubes in them and 3 hold air and it takes a few days for that one to bleed down. The choice was not hard. 

 

 

I have an SD22 that I restored for another project but changed direction... Great running engine. Also have a stubby 71B 5 speed that I rebuilt with new bearings and synchros. Perfect to go in a roadster behind the SD22!  

 

 

So the plan is set. Fix rust, pull body(if I have to, might be able to fix frame enough with the floors out), then replace body with all its lovely patina intact and SD22 installed and drive it! Oh yeah, the car needs rewiring, and I have no intention of keeping a positive ground electrical system!

 

Back to the first through inspection once I got the car to its restoration place...

The only horror I was awaiting was to see how much rust there really was once I dove in... and there was no lack of rust,

 

 

 

 

 

Started out by pressure washing the car..... Beautiful!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Goodbye Lichen!

 

 

 

 

 

To the rust....

 

Awesome w/ jump seat in back.

 

 

 

 

 

Then started pulling and cutting what was about to fall off....

 

 

LOL

 

 

 

Started cutting away back to "good" metal... looks like the frame is going to need some attention.....

 

 

At this point there is hardly anything attaching the front of the rocker to the forward body mount area..... Its going to be a little labor of love.

 

 

 

And that's about all so far.....

[wayno]

I just recently seen a 64 fairlady with a stock air about it, it was a beautiful car, it took first place roadster I believe at the Canby meet.

Is the engine toast in your 64?

I cannot recall what engine it had, my guess would be a G15, that engine if not toast is worth something to another 64/65 owner, so don't toss it if rebuild-able, save the tranny also.

Don't throw anything away.

The SD22 is a much heavier engine than the stock engine, this might be an issue, it likely weighs twice as much as the stock engine.

Save the jump seat, keep it in the car, it is the single major difference, I believe it was a one year thing, but I could be wrong.

Don't throw anything away!!

Have fun with your new project, keep us updated.

[jalen]

Slam it and our flares on it! And would be the coolest roadster in the states!!

[67411sss]

What kind of hardtop is that?

[Master-O-Turbonics]

What kind of hardtop is that?

 I have no idea, and would like to know as well.

 

Slam it and our flares on it! And would be the coolest roadster in the states!!

body is going to be stock no mods. Not really going to lower it either. Maybe if it was a late roadster, but this needs to stay the way it appears.

 

I just recently seen a 64 fairlady with a stock air about it, it was a beautiful car, it took first place roadster I believe at the Canby meet.

Is the engine toast in your 64?

I cannot recall what engine it had, my guess would be a G15, that engine if not toast is worth something to another 64/65 owner, so don't toss it if rebuild-able, save the tranny also.

Don't throw anything away.

The SD22 is a much heavier engine than the stock engine, this might be an issue, it likely weighs twice as much as the stock engine.

Save the jump seat, keep it in the car, it is the single major difference, I believe it was a one year thing, but I could be wrong.

Don't throw anything away!!

Have fun with your new project, keep us updated.

Thanks Wayno, 

The engine is the G15 with twin SU carburetors. The 63 had the same engine with a single SU and made about 9hp less. 

I know the SD22 is quite heavy, but I think it will be OK once I reinforce the frame. I'm not building a race car, just a cool daily driver to get 40+mpg!

I love the jump seat! I don't think I'm even going to get it reupholstered, its in such great shape. 

[MikeRL411]

And!  You have the 4 original "Porthole" wheel covers.  Nice.

[wayno]

 I have no idea, and would like to know as well.

 

body is going to be stock no mods. Not really going to lower it either. Maybe if it was a late roadster, but this needs to stay the way it appears.

 

Thanks Wayno, 

The engine is the G15 with twin SU carburetors. The 63 had the same engine with a single SU and made about 9hp less. 

I know the SD22 is quite heavy, but I think it will be OK once I reinforce the frame. I'm not building a race car, just a cool daily driver to get 40+mpg!

I love the jump seat! I don't think I'm even going to get it reupholstered, its in such great shape. 

 

The frame is built like a tank, it's everything connected to it that will give you issues.

Height wise, the U20(which barely fits under hood) and the SD22 are about the same height, but as I said, the diesel engine is much heavier, way heavier than a G15, one of the really funny things is that IF the G15 has the same bolt pattern as the R16/U20 for the transmission, and the starter is on the driverside also, your SD22 engine will likely bolt right to that transmission, it's freaking hilarious.

[Master-O-Turbonics]

And!  You have the 4 original "Porthole" wheel covers.  Nice.

 

Yeah I know! they are sweet!

 

 

 

The frame is built like a tank, it's everything connected to it that will give you issues.

Height wise, the U20(which barely fits under hood) and the SD22 are about the same height, but as I said, the diesel engine is much heavier, way heavier than a G15, one of the really funny things is that IF the G15 has the same bolt pattern as the R16/U20 for the transmission, and the starter is on the driverside also, your SD22 engine will likely bolt right to that transmission, it's freaking hilarious.

The main thing I'm concerned with is the throttle body intake cap and if it will clear the hood(sticks above the valve cover). The valve cover looks very short and should clear.

The G15 has the driver side starter and looks like the same bolt pattern as the SD22, but I really think I'm going to swap in my freshly built stubby 71B 5 speed instead of just bolting the engine in. 

I think the engine has to come out to get the transmission out on a roadster, unfortunately.

[wayno]

Yeah I know! they are sweet!

 

 

 

The main thing I'm concerned with is the throttle body intake cap and if it will clear the hood(sticks above the valve cover). The valve cover looks very short and should clear.

The G15 has the driver side starter and looks like the same bolt pattern as the SD22, but I really think I'm going to swap in my freshly built stubby 71B 5 speed instead of just bolting the engine in. 

I think the engine has to come out to get the transmission out on a roadster, unfortunately.

 

Yes, that will be an issue, it sticks up fairly high.

I have been playing around with the idea of making the inline injection pump a mechanical throttle, some guy on the diesel forum did it in Australia, I figured out how he did it, but I have not figured out how to do it so that the engine shuts off with the key, that is a lot more complicated, I already can control the throttle, but have not actually tried it on an engine, look on page 2 of my thread in the link below, you can see I drilled and threaded the diaphragm so that the oil can still be in the cavity, but is controllable mechanically, if it can be figured out how to shut it off with the key, then turbocharging is the next step.

If you can figure it out, then that throttle body can be removed, as all you will need is some way to filter the air.

I have lost interest in the project, as I have the mechanically controlled VE type injection pump now, so other than having an inline pump in the 521KC diesel, which goes down the hiway fine, so I have no plans ATM of changing it.

Page 2 has the info if your interested.

http://community.ratsun.net/topic/42317-my-1980-datsun-720-diesel-dually/

[mattyhacks71]

That paint is so awesome

stoked for this  :thumbup:

[wayno]

This is the 1964 fairlady at Canby.

[Master-O-Turbonics]

Went to Pep-boys and purchased some electrical components for the Fairlady. Converting to negative ground to make everything better, and so the SD22 starter will spin in the proper direction.

 

on/off switch

battery tie-down kit

a gallon of vapo-rust

variety pack of colored heat shrink

battery terminals

 

 

Need to find a good modern fuse box and a cheaper source for 16ga wire.

[p411]

WOW! AWESOME CAR CONGRATS!! If you ever want to sell that top let me know!! LOL

[Master-O-Turbonics]

I think I'm keeping the top. hehe.

 

Thanks, By the way.

[Master-O-Turbonics]

Sd22 is in the engine bay with the G15 motor mounts bolted on. Dpc module has to be removed.

[Master-O-Turbonics]

Right side motor mount, where the DPC normally resides. 

 

Left side motor mount. plugged the oil drainback for the alternator as it interfered with the motor mount.

 

Alternator to steering shaft clearance.

 

I might try to swap the G15 oil pan onto the SD22 as it doesn't dip down like the SD22 pan does. 

 

Sitting in there!

 

 

 

Ride height with SD22 but no transmission.

 

[Master-O-Turbonics]

Got some new electrical parts in!

 

10 circuit fuse box, 10 Ga cable for power to fuse box, 70A relay for radiator fan, and a cool starter switch

[wayno]

Since you likely are not going to have power brakes on this build, you can just use a normal alternator on this build, that way you don't need the vacuum pump.

Or you can just remove the pump off the back of the alternator, but it seems like a waste of a good diesel alt.

I would not run that pump without the drain, as it is moving in there, and if it actually worked that way, Nissan would not have put the drain in the system.

[Master-O-Turbonics]

Since you likely are not going to have power brakes on this build, you can just use a normal alternator on this build, that way you don't need the vacuum pump.

Or you can just remove the pump off the back of the alternator, but it seems like a waste of a good diesel alt.

I would not run that pump without the drain, as it is moving in there, and if it actually worked that way, Nissan would not have put the drain in the system.

I was planning on putting an L series alternator on and putting the SD22 alternator with vacuum pump on my 521 rock crawler, that could probably use a vacuum pump. I actually have a brand new SD22 alternator in a box, just no pump with it. 

[wayno]

I was planning on putting an L series alternator on and putting the SD22 alternator with vacuum pump on my 521 rock crawler, that could probably use a vacuum pump. I actually have a brand new SD22 alternator in a box, just no pump with it. 

I would use the alternator of the wiring harness you are planning to use, that is the easiest way in my opinion, 720 harness, 720 alt.

[Master-O-Turbonics]

Its a start from scratch wiring harness. The SD22 is fully mechanically controlled, no controller. The fairlady was positive ground and its harness is junk. Just building my own.

 

The Fairlady engine mounts bolt up to where the SD22 engine controller used to be, and perfectly lines up in the chassis. Looking for a Roadster 1600 or 2000 oil pan to replace the SD22 oil pan, that hangs down a little bit, since they are somewhat based off of the same block.....

 

 

 

 

 

[wayno]

That is amazing that the SD22 engine has the holes in it to use the G15 mount hardware, you are very lucky it worked out like this.

From the side view, it looks like nothing is above the hood, did you remove the air filter hardware?

You could make an adapter that bolts onto the intake manifold that relocates the throttle body to a different spot that is lower, it will work anywhere, it just needs to be lower, if your good at fabricating manifolds, you could make something that turns it into a side draft throttle body.

[Master-O-Turbonics]

I won't know the location of the rear of the engine until I have a transmission installed, but when it was mocked up with the hood closed it had just under half an inch of clearance to the hood. May need to massage the intake cap slightly to clear but I think it will be just fine.

 

I wonder if an sd22/25 short block could have a gas 1500/1600 head bolted onto it....

[wayno]

I won't know the location of the rear of the engine until I have a transmission installed, but when it was mocked up with the hood closed it had just under half an inch of clearance to the hood. May need to massage the intake cap slightly to clear but I think it will be just fine.

 

I wonder if an sd22/25 short block could have a gas 1500/1600 head bolted onto it....

I don't know about that, but it would not surprise me if the H20 wasn't just a diesel crank in a R16 block.

[Master-O-Turbonics]

The main journals are larger in the sd22 than the roadster engines. Some of the roadster guys had already looked at the sd22 crank as a possibility for a hybrid engine and decided it would not work because of the journal sizes.