Matt's 70 2 door 510 take 2.

[mbunzel]

So the story goes something like this. First off big datsun fan, I have always wanted a 510 and a 620. When the time came 2.5 years ago to get one i ended up getting a 79" 620 and took it all the way down to the frame and then back up with many upgrades including a ka24de. This is pretty close to what it looks like right now.

Flash forward to this year, surfing craigslist find a guy selling a 69 2 door 510 rolling shell that appeared to be in decent shape. Ended up picking it up and tearing right into. Found a bunch of stuff i wasnt happy about and after sandblasting the car decided the car had to much cancer to continue on with. Lets just say it was an expensive learning lesson and I should have had a magnet or a tweeker with me to investigate better. Ended up getting rid of that one which brings us to thanksgiving time.

Picked up this 70 510 the Saturday after thanksgiving. My plans for the car are to yank the l16 out and put in a rebuilt l20B i have from my 620. Then address all the suspension and bushings and eventually when the time and money are there do all the body work and paint. 

FIrst day:


The car only needed a clutch master to be able to move under its own power but i figured while i was at it i would replace the full clutch hydraulic system and the brake master at the same time, which snowballed to well if im going to yank the motor for the l20b i might as well hold off on the clutch and brake system and clean up the engine bay all at once. So out came the motor.


Then the motor was out and found a little bit of rust on the firewall, and also found that the car had been in an accident once on the passenger side.

Last edited by mattbunzel on 13 Dec 2016 20:51, edited 1 time in total.

 

[mbunzel]

I then started to fix the rust on the firewall and strip the paint in the engine bay. 


I also broke most of the fender bolts and a couple other bolts when disassembling the front end. Only had to drill out three and was able to use pb and heat and vice grips to get the rest. 


Then did some paint stripping, but eventually it was to cold out for the paint stripper to work right so ended up wire wheeling for six hours or so. 

[mbunzel]

Then decided to drop the front crossmember and suspension so i could get to the area on the engine bay around the steering box. 

Assembly all out 


After taking a closer look at all the bushings and suspension bits i decided that now is the time to replace everything i want, why do it twice when you can do it right once.

[mbunzel]

Have been slacking lately. Engine bay is about 80% ready for paint, kind of just waiting for a warmer day. I also pulled the front cross member assembly apart and wire wheeled and painted the cross member and control arms. Oh and to my surprise a previous owner has already beefed up the tie rods with heim joints, and they put spherical bearings in the control arms. They dont seem to have any play in them so i guess ill run them and see how they perform, they are welded in so unless i want to get other control arms they will have to do.




I also worked on the inner fenders for a bit. I ran out of undercoating about halfway through. Also has a little bit of damage up front. Not excited about it but nothing is tweeked and my measurements side to side are pretty dang close.

[mbunzel]

Also my Christmas present to myself came in the other day.

And when i was cleaning out my garage out realized i ended up with a bunch of quarter windows. 

In some of the stuff that came with the car i found some cool Nissan wheel chalks, never seen these before.

[mbunzel]

 I ended up getting a little bit done over the holidays. Manage to finish the engine bay prep and laid down some primer and color and started to build the coilovers, still waiting for one insert to show up though. 



Its hard to tell in the picture but the last picture is the color which is a battle ship grey. In the first picture the primer is white but the lighting makes it hard to tell the two apart. And because it has been so cold i have been having to use a 60,000 btu heater to heat the car up for about an hour or so before and painting to make sure the paint cures right and then while its drying babysitting the paint and strategically moving the heater around to keep it all as close to 70 degrees as possible. 

[sebpv]

i like what im seeing

[Draker]

Niceee!!!

[KoHeartsGPA]

Hit the floor running here :thumbup:

[The Taterhead]

You've jumped right in didn't you.

 

That's a good looking 620. Done just right.

[HOGIE]

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Well done sir!

 

 

 

 

 

 

I'd suggest laying down some fresh seam sealer at the firewall before finishing off the bay with top coat

[mbunzel]

Well done sir!

 

 

 

 

 

 

I'd suggest laying down some fresh seam sealer at the firewall before finishing off the bay with top coat

Right along the firewall to fender seam? I was kind of thinking that but wasnt sure if it was a good idea or not. I have heard that adding seam sealer to tight areas that you really cant properly clean out is actually a bad thing cause your trapping what ever is in there in potentially causing a future rust issue. If anybody has any input about this that would be great. I still have one coat left to paint when the temperature warms up a bit so its not to late.

[HOGIE]

 I have heard that adding seam sealer to tight areas that you really cant properly clean out is actually a bad thing cause your trapping what ever is in there in potentially causing a future rust issue.

 

You just primered over those same "whatever is in there." Same difference. 50 year old seam sealer lets water leak into your cab and new seam sealer give a nice finish $0.02

 

 

 

I was mainly thinking of the seams that go to the cab...

[mbunzel]

You just primered over those same "whatever is in there." Same difference. 50 year old seam sealer lets water leak into your cab and new seam sealer give a nice finish $0.02

 

 

 

I was mainly thinking of the seams that go to the cab...

No I used shop air to blow out any crap that was in there before I sprayed primer, but I get what your saying. 

[mbunzel]

So havent updated lately, been super busy with work and havent had time to update this thread. However I have been making head way on the car. I got all the front end suspension back together and on the car as well as the l20b in. I also made all new brake lines and decided to tuck the wiring harness. Wish i would have planned to tuck the harness before paint cause then i could have shaved some of the extra holes in the engine bay, oh well. Most recently i replaced the rusty floor pans. I had never replaced floor pans before, I think it turned out okay but im not jazzed on how it looks from the bottom but hey there is no more rust. 

 

 

Had some down time before parts came in so i refinished the headlights and brackets as well as the wiper motor 

Made these brake lines, still have to make the clutch line though

My dog giving me some moral support while i was setting up the harness for the tuck and fixing the rats nest from previous owners

Motor back in and back on the ground with the harness fully tucked only wiring you can see is the plugs for the headlights 

 

New floor pans in, kind of a pain in the ass but it had to be done. Next weekend i plan on wire wheeling the rest of the floor and painting

Also had to make a piece around the shifter cause a previous owner had done a poor patch that was riveted in. It dosent phase me anymore as to how people will fix things, i imagine i will continue to find things as i peel back the layers of this car.

[Draker]

Man this thread gets me excited to start on my other dime. Thanks for sharing.

[S30Jay]

Progress looks great!

 

That engine bay should help keep the motivation going.

[mbunzel]

Tax return came and ended up buying some wheels that I have been wanting forever. Its nice having so many options for wheels compared to my 620 where there just arent to many. 

 

Progress looks great!

That engine bay should help keep the motivation going.

These should help motivate me even more.....

[mbunzel]

Finished painting the floors last weekend, meanwhile my battery came in so I can start finishing up the wiring. I ended up going with the Odyssey pc680 and decided to mount it under the passenger seat.  I ended up making this bracket

and then using some rubber sheet between the floor and the battery for insulation.

This is the only picture of it I have mounted. I ended up having some clearance issues between the bottom of the seat and battery and had to do some trimming on the bottom of the seat to make it clear. This wiring has been a handful, between it being a 47 year old car and having Id imagine several owners who should not have been touching wiring I have been able to make progress fixing the wiring. I also found a throttle pedal assembly in a box of datsun parts i had that looked like it was going to work with the throttle cable for the l20b. I ended up making a relocation bracket so i could use the stock pedal mounting points but have the new pedal line up right. 

The pedal looks like it is touching the tunnel in this picture but it is just an illusion. 

[KoHeartsGPA]

Moving along! :thumbup:

[mbunzel]

Haven't been keeping up on most posting lately but I am still making progress. I restored my SSR mkII and mounted some tires up so i could get this thing rolling. Finshed on left and unfinished on right.

With the tires mounted up.

After putting the new wheels on I noticed my alignment was pretty bad so went to align it and found out that one some one had cut the threads on the heim jonts down so i couldnt get enough adjustment and two the heim joints were bent. Luckily there is a sprint car store 30 mins from my house that had what i needed in stock. Much nicer beefier heim joints. 

[mbunzel]

I've also been doing a little rust repair here and there. The area in the trunk for the jack and wheel chock was rusted from underneath so ended up cutting out the whole thing and making a patch panel. 

I also did a little bit of sheet metal work on the drivers side rear quarter. it appears a new skin had been installed at one time and they did a poor job on the inner fender leaving a gap all the way up the fender and poor fitment on the lip of the fender. I also managed to pick up a cage/hoop for the car from a fellow 510 owner for a good price so i couldn't pass that up. I ended up installing it the same day i bought it. I don't have any pictures of it installed, but this is what it looks like. 

 

 

[mbunzel]

After sorting some of the wiring the other day I ended up starting it up via jumping the starter solenoid for the first time. To my surprise it fired up right away. I had been starting it by jumping the solenoid because my igintion switch apparently had gone bad while sitting over the winter. Luckily the guy i bought the cage from had a couple ignition switches laying around so he sold me one for cheap and now I can use the key to start it. At this point it was still open header so last weekend I ended up making an exhaust using 2 1/4" piping and a vibrant resonator. It sounds nice and deep and the resonator cleans the sound up a bit. I also found out last weekend after getting the exhaust finished up that my transmission is not a 280zx trans like the PO told me but it is in fact a 200sx trans with the dogleg shift pattern. Not sure if I'm a big fan of the shift pattern but we will see when I start to drive it more. Now that its moving under its own power I turned my attention to making the body look a little bit better. Ive decided for the time being to leave it ratty on the outside sticking with the black and red worn/faded theme. The majority of the car is that color except for the doors,trunk lid, and hood. I decided I was going to try and replicate the paint. I started with the trunk lid first spraying a metallic red down and then a flat black over that. I then sanded the trunk to give it that destressed look and satin clear coated over that. It turned out pretty good in my opinion and matches the rest of the car well. 

Then I did both doors and now it looks like this. 

[hobospyder]

why no rear window?

[mbunzel]

why no rear window?

The rear window that was in the car when I picked it up was shattered. I do have another rear window and windshield but i haven't bought the seals for it yet.