armallya Posted September 27, 2016 Report Share Posted September 27, 2016 The 1981 Datsun 210 was my wife's first car when we moved to California, I had the 81 Toyota Tercel which I'm also restoring, she drove it for years and then gave it to her Dad who drove for many more years. After he passed away it came back to us and sat in my driveway, I almost gave it away twice but it was not be be and my good Karma that I did not. I have over time fixed many of the exhaust, chassis and last year had engine overhauled. Both my wife and I got to work on the interior and I fixed many of the small electrical problems. Last Saturday I completely cleaned up the engine by removing years of grease and grime and as you can see the engine is sparkling clean, almost like it was when we bought it in 1981. It is one of the first few Japanese cars which came to US during the big gas crunch starting in 79 and has many of the Japanese components still in place, it clean and comfortable and fun to drive around. There is more work to be done on the body to remove rust spots, scratches and dings which I will do soon and then get it painted. I also took time to clean out the trunk and painted the wheel wells. See attached URL for photos of the car in process of being restored. Quote Link to comment
Draker Posted September 27, 2016 Report Share Posted September 27, 2016 Sounds cool. Are you gonna post a picture of it? Quote Link to comment
armallya Posted September 27, 2016 Author Report Share Posted September 27, 2016 Draker, I just did a Flickr link to the photos of the car Quote Link to comment
Draker Posted September 27, 2016 Report Share Posted September 27, 2016 Damn.. that thing is spotless!! wow Quote Link to comment
armallya Posted September 27, 2016 Author Report Share Posted September 27, 2016 I have slowly put time to restore it, It will need a paint job and remove some dings, rust spots near the bottom front and scratches. I plan to do it myself in the coming months Quote Link to comment
datzenmike Posted September 27, 2016 Report Share Posted September 27, 2016 The 210 (B-310) isn't really one of the first cars from Japan, there have been hundreds of thousands if not millions brought here. Japanese cars have been coming to the US since '58 in one form or another. 410/411 of the 60s and there are more I just don't know much about cars this far back The '66-'69 Roadsters '68-'73 510 '70-'73 1200 '75-'78 B210 '78-81 B310 '73-'76 610 '74-'77 710 '77-'79 S10 '78-'82 A10 '70-'78 240/260/280z '78-'80 810 Quote Link to comment
dat521gatherer Posted September 27, 2016 Report Share Posted September 27, 2016 Very nice. I love the color combo red car with black interior. Quote Link to comment
datzenmike Posted September 27, 2016 Report Share Posted September 27, 2016 Find colorbox a member here. She has a beautiful award winning 210 called Stanley. Quote Link to comment
Cleopatra Jones Posted September 28, 2016 Report Share Posted September 28, 2016 THAT is a beautiful 210. Keep it! Quote Link to comment
armallya Posted September 28, 2016 Author Report Share Posted September 28, 2016 Colourbox, As you see the back quarter panel emblems are missing on my car, I used a molding to cover it up for now. Your car looks nice in great condition. Quote Link to comment
armallya Posted September 28, 2016 Author Report Share Posted September 28, 2016 The 210 (B-310) isn't really one of the first cars from Japan, there have been hundreds of thousands if not millions brought here. Japanese cars have been coming to the US since '58 in one form or another. 410/411 of the 60s and there are more I just don't know much about cars this far back The '66-'69 Roadsters '68-'73 510 '70-'73 1200 '75-'78 B210 '78-81 B310 '73-'76 610 '74-'77 710 '77-'79 S10 '78-'82 A10 '70-'78 240/260/280z '78-'80 810 Yes I agree, need too correct that statement, however the big break the Japanese car companies got was from 79 onward when there was the gas crunch, prior to that the Japanese cars were just a novelty Quote Link to comment
armallya Posted September 28, 2016 Author Report Share Posted September 28, 2016 Very nice. I love the color combo red car with black interior. Thanks that is the original color the right side has a few scratches and dings, need to fix that and get it repainted Quote Link to comment
datzenmike Posted September 28, 2016 Report Share Posted September 28, 2016 Yes I agree, need too correct that statement, however the big break the Japanese car companies got was from 79 onward when there was the gas crunch, prior to that the Japanese cars were just a novelty Look up the OPEC oil embargo of '73. Five dollars a barrel to 12. Gas shortages not just the increase in price. This is what got me into Jap tin with a 7 year old 510 and that same year a new '76 B-210. Everyone was going smaller back then and the Big Three helped by offering Pintos, Vegas which were absolute shit quality and mileage. People flocked to Nisan dealerships. Quote Link to comment
armallya Posted September 30, 2016 Author Report Share Posted September 30, 2016 Kingrat, Yes I remember I bought my 72 Ford LTD for $400 excellent car but a gas guzzler, drove it around in college days. I would like to see your car photos. Quote Link to comment
datzenmike Posted September 30, 2016 Report Share Posted September 30, 2016 By mid '70s people were really feeling the pinch and their new car was a few years old and time for a new one. Every year more and more people were looking to Japan. There was absolutely NO comparison between Japanese quality and the Big three. NONE. If that wasn't enough they would drive rings around the Vega and the Pinto and get over 10MPG better mileage. GM and Ford? Arrogance and POS economy cars. You know, the advertisements made impossible mileage claims. No one EVER got near what was claimed ...by the time they realized that people were not buying their junk it was too late for them. Only twice was I able to drive the shit out of my B-210 long enough to get the mileage below 30 for a whole tank. Yes it was Imperial gallons but still no Pinto made even got 30 MPG. 1 Quote Link to comment
Cleopatra Jones Posted September 30, 2016 Report Share Posted September 30, 2016 Colourbox, As you see the back quarter panel emblems are missing on my car, I used a molding to cover it up for now. Your car looks nice in great condition. I'm still hunting down the emblems. I think they might be at my mom's place. I put them in a safe place....which means I hid them from myself. LOL! I'll be at my mom's pad this weekend so I'll see if I an locate them then. Quote Link to comment
Cleopatra Jones Posted October 1, 2016 Report Share Posted October 1, 2016 Found them! I didn't look through one of my boxes completely. I'll PM you pics tomorrow. Quote Link to comment
hosestop@msn.com Posted October 1, 2016 Report Share Posted October 1, 2016 Some guy has a factory service manual in classifieds ! Quote Link to comment
Cleopatra Jones Posted October 1, 2016 Report Share Posted October 1, 2016 Service manuals are all over ebay as well as the owner's manual. I picked mine up there. I also have a PDF in a thread here somewhere. If you need it I'll track it down but you can probably search for 210 manual and find it. Quote Link to comment
armallya Posted October 2, 2016 Author Report Share Posted October 2, 2016 Thanks, you have a pdf of the manual? Quote Link to comment
Cleopatra Jones Posted October 3, 2016 Report Share Posted October 3, 2016 Yup. There's even a brochure in there. http://community.ratsun.net/topic/49640-1981-datsun-210-manual-pdfs/ Quote Link to comment
hosestop@msn.com Posted October 5, 2016 Report Share Posted October 5, 2016 Not as cool as a FSM. clean enough for your coffee table , and don't use it , anyway obo. Quote Link to comment
Three B's Racing Posted October 6, 2016 Report Share Posted October 6, 2016 I loved the embargo, it created gas lines with hot chicks in them for the pickin 8>) and my Datsun Truck got great milage :thumbup: Quote Link to comment
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