B310 of Maximum Zootness

[dukerollo]

I've finally made some progress worthy of posting on this thing so I figured I'd throw up a build thread for you guys to giggle at. Hopefully this will keep me a little more organized and force me to take better pictures as well.

 

It's an 80 210 2 door sedan. It has been extensively modified in the genre of Arkansas Skank. It's previous owners seemed to have owned stock in blue Krylon and grey primer, everything was covered in it. The wiring is horrible, and most of the interior is missing or broken. It did run well and seemed solid and rust free (wrong). A pretty good blank canvas really.

 

Pics up as soon as I organize them, cuz pics or ban.

[dukerollo]

When I got it

 

 

 

[dukerollo]

Hella flush. This includes the custom grade 2 washers used as wheel spacers....

 

 

Custom exhaust

[dukerollo]

As I said , it ran well, so I did this

 

Mostly because of this

That is looking up inside the fender under the battery box.

 

Up top

 

I pulled out the a15 and the auto to prep for surgery.

[dukerollo]

The rust was far worse than first appeared, it extended down into the frame rail and core support, the front bolt for the tension control rod bracket was held in by hopes and dreams. Basically everything in front of the strut tower on the passenger side was fooked.

 

Make some cuts

 

Some more

 

More again

[dukerollo]

Started gluing it back together

 

 

 

It won't be confused for factory, but I care not. I mini tubed the arch for more tire clearance and because it was easier than trying to replicate the factory junk. It is all seam welded behind the strut towers, but I can't find pics of that now. I also did frog braces to the a pillars and tubed and braced the driver's side to match.

[Lockleaf]

Lol, Arkansas skank. That is awesome. Cool project.

[dukerollo]

Thanks man. It keeps me off of the street corner.

 

That brings us to here

 

Threw on some paint

 

 

The driver's side headlight support dingus was also pushed back and down from a prior accident. I straightened that out and re welded the torn spot welds. Everything that showed any signs of corrosion that was not replaced was pickled and etch primed before paint.... I just hope the fenders bolt back on. Lol.

[Abe Froman]

I was maybe a little scared at first with all the rust and cutting, but I really like the finished product. Nice job !

[dukerollo]

Thanks!

I was scared when I saw the bottom of the frame rail and that that tension rod mount had disintegrated and I had driven it home like that. Lol.

[dukerollo]

Here is a shot of the inner fender all back together and seam sealed. I also did a "frog brace" (that's what the Miata guys call thief bolt in ones)

 

[tr8er]

Amazing comeback. That "frogbrace" is a mud collector. Keep it clean.

[dukerollo]

Thanks, and yes it will be. I sealed the shit out of it, but there will be no inner fenders so I will keep a close eye on that area.

[dukerollo]

Still down here in the 7th circle of bodywork hell...

 

I turned this:

 

Into this:

 

I also filled the rear marker light hole. I left the badge holes because I am not sure if I want to run Sunny badges there or not.

[MicroMachinery]

Nice work so far! Keep it up!

[datzenmike]

Still down here in the 7th circle of bodywork hell...

 

I turned this:

 

 

Into this:

 

 

I also filled the rear marker light hole. I left the badge holes because I am not sure if I want to run Sunny badges there or not.

 

Weld those holes and smooth over. Badges can be put on using two sided tape just like they do with new cars.

[dukerollo]

Good point. I'll bust out the torch again. Do you know a cheap source for them? The repro ones I have seen are silly expensive.

[dukerollo]

Nothing too exciting to report.....I straightened out the rocker seams that had been smashed flat by assholes with floor jacks. Three of the four corners are now acceptable. The passenger front will need to have the rocker cut open and and the rocker itself will need to be straightened, should be fun.

 

Does anyone have any thoughts on adding some torque boxes between the rockers and the "frame rails"? I think it would be beneficial to the rigidity of the floppy old girl and would be easy enough to fab up.

 

I patched up a couple more holes; this should do it for the passenger side except for the hole in the door. The patch on the right is pretty pourus because I ran out of shielding gas and was too dumb to stop welding. It will be easy enough to touch up though.

 

 

I can't wait to be done fixing, so that I can start modifying and swapping engines and fun shit like that.

[flatcat19]

Cool stuff. Love the 210 2dr sedan. 

[dukerollo]

Thanks mang. It should be a riot once finished. I'm hoping to kind of capture the feel of my old ae86, cept this car will be better because it will be lighter, more powerful, and is a Datsun!

[dukerollo]

Fell down to page 3, I've been slacking.

 

I finished the rest of the rust repair around both rear wheel wells, no pics because it is boring and looks like the ones I just posted.

 

In other news, I picked up some dry ice to remove the sound deadening from the floor boards to see what I was dealing with there. I was pleasantly surprised by the lack of rust I discovered. The dry ice made quick work of the sound deadening on the rear and passenger side floor, but on the driver side there is this mystery tar goo that could be used to armor a tank. I resorted to using oven cleaner to soften it enough to chisel it off. I still have more to chip off, but I only found one little rust hole that needs attention, so I am a happy boy.

 

You can see the super tar that is still left in this pic

 

Passenger side is rust free!

 

 

I was bored between jobs, so I painted my brake booster bass boat style. It looks like Ke$ha puked on it. I dig it. The potato camera doesn't capture the color or the flake well, but it looks pretty crazy in real life.

[dukerollo]

I finally got all of the tar off of the floor. I had to resort to a knotted wire wheel on my angle grinder, not a pleasant experience, but necessary so that I could do this:

I banged the floor back flat and cut it open over the frame rail. I then made that a good approximation of flat and plated the bottom with some .050 18-8 stainless.

It still needs to be sealed, and I hate welding on my back under a car on stands, but I am pleased with the result. I painted the inside of the rail with some restolium and drilled a drain hole. I'll cap it back up in the next couple of days and then will start the passenger side, which is much worse. This car must have seen some field car duty judging by how many places the pans and rails are pushed up. It will be made good again!

[dukerollo]

Body work sucks, still doing it....it's boring, no picks. The floor is almost all buttoned up, I can see the light at the end of the tunnel, could be a train though...I want to have the shell in paint before the weather gets too cold here to stop me. That brings me to the next bit of fiddle assing I've been doing; I need to figure out what needs to be done to fit the 15x8s I just ordered under the rear quarters before paint is laid.

 

14x7s fit about perfect with a fender roll. On the bump stops:

 

13s fit like such:

 

 

And with the shocks (bump stops) removed and sitting on the pinion snubber:

 

15x8 ain't gonna fit, not without a little effort anyway, they should be about perfect for what I have in mind.

 

As an aside, this car has a shitload of travel and even sitting on the pinion snubber, each side of the axle still has some up travel and there is still plenty clearance above the tire.

 

I figure I am going to run a 3"X11" spring in the rear along with Ae86 rear shocks. I'm not going to pull the trigger on those until I have the wheels in hand and can double check my measurements.

[dukerollo]

The brown Santa dropped a couple of boxes off today. I'm super stoked about the wheels, I wish I was a better photographer and had a higher quality camera to do them justice.

 

 

They are super hella flush, but I'm not after that look

 

 

I slapped some flares on that I had on the shelf, but they are a little wide and don't quite look right.

 

 

I need some opinions on the flares and what needs to happen for them to jive. I think they need to extend down further, maybe?

[Rhino13]

The point of running flares is so you can have wider tires. You just got tires flush with the body, they need to stick out past the body to make the flares look right. You could look into spacers, although they're usually not the best choice.