67 Roadster frame off resto-mod KA SWAP

[Discopotatoes14]

Dec. 1st I picked up a 67 Datsun Roadster 1600. It came in peice's was just the complete rolling chassis with engine. Engine is coded R  21012 < dont really know what it is, nor have I bothered to check.

 

 Bought the car with the intention of putting a KA24DE in it to drive it to school come january..

 

After picking up the roadster I immediatly started assembling the car to notice that ALOT was missing that was supposed to go with the car. missing interior panels, dash foam missing, whole interior is pretty much shot.

 

I then to top it off went to get out of the car and pulled myself out of the car holding onto the windsheild corner.. windsheild makes a popping sound and i noticed i just cracked the windsheild. FML...

 

 So all in all , so far everything has gone wrong.

 

So after assembling the car completly with the few parts i had,  I decided last wednesday the 4th to start dissassembly. took the fenders, hood, and doors off to start , then pulled the engine and trans out with the body on the frame still... What a pain in the A**.

 

After i pulled the engine i noticed that the body's frame mount was filled with spray foam... covered with regular light fill bondo. not even fiberglass shit. and painted black to hide the getto ass job they did.

 

From Friday to now I removed the body off the frame. Called a blasting guy to get a quote for the roadster body and frame with misc parts... 2,000 said F*** that guy im gonna do this work myself for that price.

 

I wire wheeled the frame to knock the rust scales off found some rust where the horse hair pads sit with the body and on the front of the frame was the worst. Went to town and picked up a 4 pack of wirewheels and decided to fully restore the metal work to new again.

 

Made patch panels for the rusted area's a total of 4 patch's made out of 14 guage steel to restrengthen the frame in those areas.

 

I made my 16 gallon fuel cell mount and welded it to the frame. made of 1x1x 1/8th inch angle and 1x1 x 1/4inch thick square tubing. It seems stronger then everything on the rear of the frame.

 

I then jumped full steam ahead making conversion mounts to then scrap that plan because i had mounted the engine too far backwards.

 

I started fiddeling with the driveshaft and for giggles i wondered if the shaft was the same for the KA trans... success once realizing i didnt have to make a custom driveshaft i then changed the plan to merely locate the engine to where ever the driveshaft lets the motor fall.

 

I made the trans mount out of 2in flat stock that was 1/8th in thick. and permanently welded it to the chassis. my transmission mount bushing i then milled out of a block of 6061 aluminum to the correct height. Its not finished but serves as a bushing just fine for now.

 

I then decided to make the engine mounts unique. my body mount on the frame was useless so i decided to repurpose them as engine mount locations. I had some hockey pucks and decided to use them as my bushing and build my engine mounts around them out of all 4130 chromoly 1 3/4 in pipe that is 1/8th thick.

 

... Im tired of typing for tonight ill update some time soon with many pictures to further explain this roadster.

 

 but as of today i just finished the frame completly sandblasted and POR 15 'ed

 

 

 

[Trophy24]

Sounds like a lot of progress. Keep going strong an post some pictures!

[jalen]

All those words are meaningless without pictures...just saying..

[jalen]

All those words are meaningless without pictures...just saying..

[Discopotatoes14]

Sounds like a lot of progress. Keep going strong an post some pictures!

 

Havent stopped... no camera available right now

All those words are meaningless without pictures...just saying..

 i have no access to a camera and with the 12 hour days i put into this myself i just dont have the time to update this page really frequent with no access to a computer just my

 

xbox 360 gamertag Discopotatoes14 for those of you that have one and play live i only have time at night to get on before i pass out.

 

today i took it easier feels like i pulled my back lifting the frame.

 

basically just worked on the diff to prep it for POR 15 and all the front wheel assemblies.

 

really want to install thicker front and rear sway bars to aid in handling.{ need to develop some money to add that before jan. }

 

If anyone is interested in any stock roadster parts just let me know to name a few parts im getting rid of ;

dash and all guages original datsun guages

stock original fuel tank

the original seats are torn up

complete engine set for sale with the twin carbs no idea what it is besides the stamps reading R and 21012

harnesses im not sure if im going to keep the heater box right now.

and the last thing is the stock grill.

 

when i do post pictures ill post pics of them as well.

 

if interested in trading some parts i need ;

 1/4 windows for my doors

a door handle i would accept as trade in any condition

also a front windsheild not cracked any shape

the front cowl grill peice in front of the windsheild

any t3/t4 turbo thats in good working condition id trade for the engine set with trans.

intercooler piping.

8k rpm tach

thats pretty much it.

 

i want to modify the body some . I had a dream of the car the way i wanted it and put it down on paper. im building it to those parameters.

 

right now my main goal ive been working on is just giving everything its custom little tweak to get the KA engine set fitting .

 

but as of right now im having header issues with the steering shaft so . im sleeping on that tonight.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 didnt come with much interior panels just 1 door panel.

[Discopotatoes14]

it will probably be sunday when i have access to a camera. car number is spl311-07792 says on frame body vin and title nice to notice never checked till today

 

in the mean time ill just post what ive managed to finish.

 

and so far the trans mount is final and the pass engine mount is final but my driverside mount needs to be modified to sit a 1/2 inch higher

 

i managed to degrease and sand blast the rear end a little bit along with the front wheel assemblies but their is still alot of work to be properly preped for some POR so the frame isnt rolling just yet just painted with POR

 

bent up new fuel hard lines to the ka and mounted the fuel cell. along with the fuel pump on the frame.

 

tom. starts a new day 

[Discopotatoes14]

://342.photobucket.com/user/streamsilvia95/library

 

^ Direct access to the pictures for some reason their not posting to the forum from my computer I have the car assembled in the pics partially from what I managed to get put back together today.
 

Working out finishing the Trunk and Interior currenly then working on the hard top.

[Icehouse]

Fist use any browser but Internet Explorer. 

 

 

Step 1.  Put pointer over your picture in photobucket

Step 2.  rightclick copy image address/location

Step 3.  In your ratsun reply box click the thingy that looks like a picture of a tree

Step 4.  Paste linky in there

Step 5.  okay sit back and enjoy.

 

 

 

[Discopotatoes14]

Bassically went into hibernation the past few days from Saturday -Monday sleeping most of the days away

( I never slept more then a few hours)  in between buying the car and Saturday which was almost 2 weeks.

 

Today I just kind of cleaned up the garage to start on the body Rust repair and interior rust repair and new trunk floor which I have to build since I cut out the bottom of the trunk to accommodate the 16 gal fuel cell

 

It's 8:20pm, I started this morning at 11am and have started officially working on the body at 6pm The pictures I updated to the photo bucket are all current to now what im working on.

 

Front rocker panels were pretty bad. Have a pic of my to do list.

 

From there I'm tackling the rest of the floor boards. I want to try to have it sand blasted and Painted by Friday. Interior/trunk/firewall. I decided I'm leavingthexterior alone for now to save time and money.

 

I'm Posting pics on photobucket now and ill update with a picture post if I can figure it out.

 

I'm feeling pretty Beast Like because of the insomnia and muscle head thoughts running threw my mind as I complete this project.

All in all I just want to Drive this car already but street driveability is a long way away I'm missing stupid parts like 1/4 vent windows for my doors which I have NO LUCK FINDING anyone who can help there let me know.

[Discopotatoes14]

Allright It's Officially my computer Once I put the link into the box it won't let me OK it to post it in my reply .

 

If anyone would help by posting the newest 24 pictures I would appericiate it. I unfortunately can't until I get my labtop fixed.

[Discopotatoes14]

Last night after I posted Picture's I finished Cutting out the front rocker panels on both side's. ( Since the neighbor got irritated with the cutoff wheel and grinder at 1AM)

 
Last night I finished making patch panels for the entire Floor boards. about 18 patches Total. (Not yet welded)

 

I then took the car apart down to the bare body and trunk lid.

 

While it was apart I went ahead and removed the stock brake/clutch pedal assembly and master cylinders (anyone who is looking for < these LMK)

Accelerator pedal got me pissed and I cut it off so it's *garbage*
 

Mounted the new Willwood Reverse Swing Pedal Assembly:

7/8" clutch master cylinder Marked C

1" Front Master Cylinder Marked F

1" Rear Master Cylinder Marked R

 

Finished the pedals and called it a night at 5 AM

 

Now this is where I got carried away with my power tools.... at like 10am today

For shits and giggle's I knew this car had a lot of bondo and I was hesitant at first but I decided to say fuck it and rip off the paint.
 
I'm trying to just prep just the rear half of the car , as I go I notice More and more rust damage and GALLONS OF BONDO (Lightweight Fill) and Not Duraglass over rust... ??? WTF??? WHY???
 
So pretty much where ever they put bondo over the rust it sped up the decaying process. Passenger side wheel well / Quarter Panel looks HORRIBLE. Lots of rot behind wheel and in front of wheel leading into the rocker panel.
 
Tail light panel was deffinatly in an accident on the Driverside. Noticed about a 1/2inch - 1 inch of bondo over the entire area.

 

Gonna knock off the remaining paint off the quarter panels below the trim and probably weld the trim line shut (have other plans for the side trim)

 

Anyone local to the Orlando, Fl area and down for some help let me know. I can offer free roadster/620 parts

 

 

 

All pictures are in the photobucket album

[Discopotatoes14]

Just downloaded Firefox. Didn't realize it was because of internet explorer... Enjoy the picture reel I'm posting.

 

^ New Pedal mount

 

^ what the car looked like before I started Today

 

^ I started chizeling the inner quarter and pretty much that's how i found all the damage,  I noticed Bondo spooge coming threw the panel covered in bedliner spray threw the holes ?...

My fingers are at the bottom corner by the bottom of the wheel well

[Discopotatoes14]

 

After I already beat the tail light panel almost strait ... The bondo in this area is that peice I'm holding up. and it's just one peice of many ... I'm gonna scale everything i chip off and weigh it to see what people are willing to put on their car's to make it look nice. because the paint on the car was awsome but crap underneath...

 

 

 

^ Passenger side rear inner wheel well.

^ Passenger Rear Wheel Well inner

 

 

Passenger Quarter Panel... blahhh

Driverside front rocker panel.... Rot.

Same rocker different angle

Again different angle to show damage.

Pass Rocker panel

 

what the rear of the car used to look like....

 

 

NOW BACK TO WORK>>> !!!! Will update tonight with what i managed to finish

[Discopotatoes14]

welded a few things; (for my own personal touch or rust repair

• trunk decal mount welded shut
• tail light panel hammered and dolleyed then seam welded for strength
• 4 rust holes on tag panel patched up

 

i then started fabricating the passengrer side rear wheel well corner that got rotted out.

their were some pinholes where i removed all of the rust on the bottom with the sand blaster. i also wirewheeled the insides of the trunk bottom.

 

vaccumed the car and por 15ed the entire rear trunk area on the inside and out after everything got blasted.

also has some por left over so i applyed it on the insides of the rockers from the back forward whatever i could reach.  since i cut everything open and its all accessable i might as well ensure some real longevity...

 

then painted the interior wheel wells rear deck panel and the insides of the quarter panels where the doors are all the way to the trunk on both sides.

 

I pretty much just got there and got way to tired to continue after only sleeping for 2 hours yesterday ( feels like im watching overhauling)

 

things lerft to do is patch up the front rockers where the fenders mount . also replacing the bolts that normally go there with a easy to find m8 1.50 thread bolts .

 

also so far all the bolts and nuts since the car came with none are 316 stainless.

 

I need to make patch panels for the passenger rear rocker panel due to some excessive rust that went crazy because of the bondo.

 

floor boards have like 26 holes between the 2 and im welding the seat holes shut so i can just mount my own seats and drill new holes.

 

fuel system is 95% complete just needs gas and wiring up a positive.

 

brake system is confusing as F*š@ k and i want 300zx brakes on the front of this thing... before i plumb the brakes. since the pedals are now mounted.

 

to top it off while im inside im doing the upolstry except for the seats because i dont have enough material.

 

anyone have tips on the best places to get weatherstripping for the exterior? Ive looked at a few places like datsunparts and another but they seem hella high prices 980 for a gasket set? for a 67? WTF

 

 so im deffinatly holding off and just getting the just painted kit. i also need to pick up some new lenses but im redoing the housings...

 

my goal is to be done in 3 days but thats slightly unrealistic considering on saturday i have an LS1 swap to do... so im going to try and get some crazy ammount of work done on the car tomorrow hopefully have the whole body por15 ed.

 

Oh and a GReat tip *** for you people who have shitty cars with tons of bondo and want it off cheap to start fresh... tap what you can on the inside with aq rubber mallet to loosen things up. then break out qa hammer and chizel and knock off what comes off easy then do the remaining with a wire wheel cup cuts threw an inch pretty quick when id miss a spot. this saved me a ton of time

 

 

 

 

im hoping to have the main rust repair done by tomorrow since its my last day working on the car.. Disco out.

[Ranman72]

wow was that 1/2 inch thick bondo ??? 

car looked great bondo is amazing for a while till the rust rusts more and the bondo starts to crack and peel 

 

nice progress 

[Discopotatoes14]

wow was that 1/2 inch thick bondo ??? 

car looked great bondo is amazing for a while till the rust rusts more and the bondo starts to crack and peel 

 

nice progress 

 Yeah everything is between 1/2- and inch barely anything thin... I Weighed the bondo i chipped off it weighed in at 9lbs just on the trunk and 26lbs overall between the tail light panel and the passenger quarter panel.

[Discopotatoes14]

 All the bondo i chipped off just the rear tail light panel... 8.8lbs ... took me like 15 minutes with my hammer and chizel... the light bondo that was left i just wire wheeled off the car till it was bare metal.

after chipping and wire wheeling the tail light panel... Still have to chip out another 1lb of bondo from the tag area from them filling it with bondo as well.

Inner passengerside trunk rust after patching up the inner wheel well

Front pic of the KA24DE mounted Still deciding but probably going to move it back 2 inches... to locate the shifter back . I think its too close to the heater panel. when i have the seat in the car. Also have a hydraulic rear e brake going in....

inner quarter panel where the rocker rot was i Por 15ed after scraping as much as i could.

Pic of same area of the interior area POR-15

 Bottom rocker panel i por 15ed the whole inside to try and prevent as much future rust as possible before i finish sealing the car up in this corner of the rear passenger side

Driver side por 15ed

Passengerside rear quarter panel ... still has Minor rust holes where i just left them and finished getting everything down to the bare metal. before i por 15ed it all

I'm not painting the car any time soon is why when i preped the panel i por 15ed it all... Unless i change my mind and paint sooner...

Driverside inner quater panel trunk area missed some area's due to me painting at night and painting black everywhere... got dark pretty fast but covered all the area's in the pictures after bringing everything down to bare metal or very close.

 

passenger inside rear wheel well pic por- 15ed almost everything inside here.

After welding everything i could before i ran out of gas i por 15ed it all

 

Passengerside area por15ed obviously i missed here on the inside by the trunk more I'm going to duraglass the qtr panel then seam seal everything

Driverside inner wheel well pic almost got everything in here.

Pic of the trunk with the fuel cell... Going to do something here and mount the battery and spare in the trunk.

Taillight panel por-15ed

You can see the walbro GSL392 on the left frame rail fuel filter is right off the fuel tank I'm putting a 300zx fuel filter closer to the engine.

 

Haven't started working on the car yet today... Going to chill and relax I'll start again monday probably.

[bikeracer]

nice work.. I'm interested in that dash setup if you still have it.

[Mirrorimg]

I really like these roadsters, but the amount of body work you're having to do would scare the crap out of me. Keep it up, cant wait to see this finished!

[Discopotatoes14]

I really like these roadsters, but the amount of body work you're having to do would scare the crap out of me. Keep it up, cant wait to see this finished!

 

yeah when i first got into body work i would flinch at the sight of this car. now i just kind of expect the worst and work towards solutions.

 

trying to have it driving before school if the engine works out well.

 

nice work.. I'm interested in that dash setup if you still have it.

yes still do private message me your  #

[Discopotatoes14]

So today was the start of working on the car since the last time.

 

woke up at around 9am to start cleaning up my work space since i had been moving parts and stuff and got alot of thing misplaced.

 

1. i bent all the hardlines for the front 300zx brake lines and secured them to the frame
2. and bent rear hardlines for the 240sx rear brakes and secured them to the frame
3. welded a new steering setup thats just going to be permanent.
4. started moding the hubs to fit 240sx wheel studs 14.3 knurl
5. ReDrilled the 300zx 5 lug rotors 4x114.3 to fit the front hubs (have to lathe the inside to fit as well)
6. removed the rear drum hardware and am about to cut the backing plate off after i find a set of 240sx rear brakes
7. mounted the driver seat
8. finished securing the fuel hardlines

i need to cut my pass engine mount down a half inch to help my header clear the steering columb.

 

super tired passing out and starting again in the AM

[Discopotatoes14]

well today im trying to finish plumbing the brakes front are done and i cant find 240sx rear brakes so going no e brake for now and just putting a set of front 240sx brakes on the rear only thing holding me up is i need a set of 4 lug rotors but just to finish making the caliper brackets im going to redrill my 5 lug rotor , 4x114 so i can make the mounts today and finish the brakes.

 

hydraulic ebrake is installed in the place of the stock e brake in a verticle position.

 

moving the clutch and brake pedal back 3 inches and down 2 inches to fit it in its final resting place.

 

after all this im going to start on the exhaust from the tip to the header flange im hoping to not have to cut the header and make a new one but having bad fitment and clearance issues at the moment since i moved the motor back 2 inches

 

tomorrow im milling the front hubs and redrilling for new style 50mm studs and milling the 300zx brake rotors to press fit onto the hubs like stock :thumbup:

 

everything seems to be running smoothly so far if al goes well ill start on the engine tom night.

 

my race motor is a secret but with its new update will be getting new piston's and 2 valves <dropped them at 8700rpm on cyl #4 no damage done to anything else compression will now be 8.9:1 ... engine had 1600 miles on its build before the valves dropped.

 

also welding the stock open differential to be a locker.

 

hopefully the car will start by sunday.

[Discopotatoes14]

Disco signing in....

 

engine is finaly built but a felpro gasket set wont be in till jan 9th... :( wel might as well build the trans in the mean time.

 

Im waiting on 240sx front rotors to finish off the rear brakes should be in jan 6th

 

tom ill hook up the battery relocation to the trunk

 

If anyone has any 1/4 window vents its the only thing im missing from this car . please point someone in my direction i really need those

[wayno]

I believe your looking for part# 802-37

http://www.datsunroadster.com/SUB_SECTION_DIRECTORIES/weatherstripping.htm

[Discopotatoes14]

I started on the Brake conversions today...

Mods include having to mill stock 300zx rotors for the stock front spindles and doing the same for the rear just to save weight .

I will try to take as many pictures as possible but ... their going to look crappy. and technically im not allowed to take pictures lol....

I am hoping to have the full brake system complete before next weekend i basically only have Saturday's to work on the car Will start updating again starting either next weekend or the following.

 

This Project isn't dead. It's just getting started. I've had the car now for 2 months. and invested 190hrs of my own work over a period of 3 weeks so far... not much left till the first few test drives... hoping for before feburary to have all the footwork done to he able to tackle the New engine install.

 

Also started on the hard top today... Won't be revealing those pictures till the end. =) Surprize!

 

AGAIN IF ANYONE KNOWS ANYONE WITH 1967 1/4 VENT GLASS WINDOWS I NEED THE FULL ASSEMBLY TO COMPLETE MY DOOR I'M MISSING THAT HOLE PART AND I CAN'T SEEM TO FIND IT ON EBAY AND AROUND ON GOOGLE.