"Zeke"- '72 510 2Dr

[Tedman]

They are Procar seats by Scat Enterprises. The houndstooth fabric is an option on the standard black vinyl Rally seat.

http://procarbyscat.com/seats/Rally-Houndstooth

 

[Tedman]

Progress for the day? Installed the headlamps!  Big whoop, I know, but I did find out that I had the driver's side low and high beam buckets were reversed, so there's that. Didn't know it mattered until now. A few gratuitous pics of Zeke after cleaning the dust off and washing the windows:

 

 

 

 

[Tedman]

Forgot to add that I finished the Integra/Del Sol wiper motor swap the other day. I tested it on my other running/driving '72 and it works perfectly, no cutting, welding or fabrication required. I posted the details on The Realm in this thread:

http://www.the510realm.com/viewtopic.php?f=32&t=29550

 

Here's the final installation on Zeke: 

 

[Tedman]

Been awhile since I last posted. I haven't stopped working on Zeke, but I'll admit to slacking off a bit over the last few weeks. Hey, it's summer!  So here's what's new-

 

Installed the T3 aluminum rear package tray and rear seat firewall.  I backed both pieces with Dynamat. Here's the firewall after Dynamat was applied.  

 

The firewall fit quite well, just had to make a small notch along the passenger side to clear a weld seam in the body at the wheel well.

 

The package tray didn't fit as well as I would have liked. When set flat on the rear shelf, the forward edge that bends down toward the firewall stuck out about 1/2"-3/4" and  interfered with the seatback to the point where I couldn't get the seatback to fit. The rear edge really needs to be trimmed by a similar amount to get the tray to lay flat and flush against the rear window bulkhead.  To get around this I tilted the tray up at the rear which allowed the forward edge to slide back far enough for the seatback to clear. I lined the rear edge with some plastic trim made for protecting your car door edges.  I'm wondering if T3 meant for this part to be used only without a rear seat?  Oh well, I think it will be fine this way.

 

I'm going to apply some Dynamat inside the quarter panels, then I can install the rear seat.

 

I finally dug out my old L20B and tore it down to a short block.  It's off to my mechanic for a bottom end refresh. Hopefully just bearings and rings. The cylinder walls look good, no ridges, and you can still see the cross-hatch.  Meanwhile I can disassemble and clean up the head and check the valvetrain. Hoping all that needs is fresh valve stem seals, but we shall see how the valves look. Here's the short block before I loaded it up for the trip to the engine shop.

 

I have also unwrapped the engine harness and removed all of the unneeded wires. I'll be working on getting that wrapped up and installed, along with prepping the head, and I still have to Dynamat the floors, and decide what to do about carpet... 

 

[KELMO]

This car really looks the goods. I am curious about what outside mirror choice you are going to use...fender or door.

 

 

 

And no, I don't think I have seen this whole thread.  How have I missed this until today.

[Draker]

Forgot to add that I finished the Integra/Del Sol wiper motor swap the other day. I tested it on my other running/driving '72 and it works perfectly, no cutting, welding or fabrication required. I posted the details on The Realm in this thread:

http://www.the510realm.com/viewtopic.php?f=32&t=29550

 

Here's the final installation on Zeke: 

 

 

How is the intermittent settings controlled with this setup? Externally somehow? 

[Draker]

How is the intermittent settings controlled with this setup? Externally somehow? 

 

Just re-read the realm thread. External module from 620/720 and different switch

[paradime]

My second 510 was from Downey Datsun. Had the original plate frame still on it when I got it. Really nice build man.  :thumbup:

[Lockleaf]

I'm using a 720 wiper motor, 720 intermittent wiper amp, and a 620 dash mounted wiper switch in my 510. Works great.

[Tedman]

@ Kelmo- I will be running a new Vitaloni Baby Tornado mirror on the driver's door. I actually mounted it a few weeks ago. I'm leaving it off the car for now so I don't keep bumping it- my garage is on the tight side. I also have a matching passenger side mirror but not sure I can bring myself to drill that door.  

 

@ Draker- I'm just running the stock wiper switch with the Del Sol/Integra motor, so no intermittent. Being in SoCal I won't be doing much rain driving in Zeke.

 

@Paradime- That is awesome. Too bad you don't still have those Downey Datsun plate frames- I'd offer to buy them off you!

 

 

 

[Tedman]

Today was a Dynamat day. I started with the rear quarter panels. After removing the rear seat trim panels, I cleaned the inside of the body panels with Simple Green, rinsed with water, let dry, then applied a slab of Dynamat on each side. The upper panel down through the Super Sonic line is relatively stiff, so I focused on the mid-to-lower part of the panel where the most significant improvement in damping could be achieved.  I also applied some foam rubber pads on the inner panel to hopefully keep the trim panels from buzzing. Here's the passenger side after applying the Dynamat.

 

With the interior trim panels back in place, I could finally install the rear seat! I will need to find or make the brackets that retain the rear seat bottom cushion since Zeke is missing those.  

 

Next, I cut and installed Dynamat to the rear portion of the  tranny tunnel and the rear footwells. My goal with the Dynamat is sound deadening, so I'm not being too anal about 100% coverage. Still debating on whether to do the area under the seats which is relatively stiff and not prone to oil canning.  

 

I got as far as the passenger footwell today. Will finish the driver's footwell this weekend. Initially I thought I would finish the whole job today but this is hard work!  

[Tedman]

Today I finished the Dynamat on the driver's footwell. Still debating whether to do the rest of the tranny tunnel which still has the factory mastic sound deadener on it.  

 

And here's a pic showing the side mirror installed. 

 

I debated whether to mount it up higher in the concave style line which is where it really should be for looks as well as strength and visibility, but the mirror base doesn't fit flush and would leave a gap. If I was really anal and had skills I would make an adapter matching the curvature, but instead I opted to mount it just below the crease which still provides good visibility and should also provide good rigidity. Nothing worse than an otherwise straight door panel oil canned at the mirror base, which happened more often than not with the factory mirror mounting location.

 

Speaking of anal, I recently noticed that my headlight finishers are mismatched.  The one on the driver's side has the upper middle and lower middle horizontal "bars" blacked out. Both finishers have what appears to be the original finish. 

 

I checked my other '72 2dr and both finishers match the one on the passenger side. I also found a single NOS finisher in my stash but it matches neither of these!  Here's the three styles of which I have one each, with the NOS one at top, followed by the two from Zeke:

 

I consulted the 510 Grill Guide published in Dime Quarterly (DQ 12.4). Near as I can tell, the upper finisher is for a '69, the bottom is for a '70-'73 4dr or Wagon, and the middle one appears similar to the '70 JDM style except mine has an unpainted center where the headlight rings are closest to each other. I guess I'll need to keep an eye out for some matching finishers...

 

 

 

[datsunfreak]

I guess I'll need to keep an eye out for some matching finishers...

 

Why not just strip and repaint? 

[Tedman]

With the short block out for rebuild, time to get busy on the top end. If all goes as planned, all I will need to do is decarbonize the combustion chambers and valves, and replace the valve seals.  This was a strong running head when I pulled the L20B for an SR20DE conversion in 2001. It is an A87 medium port peanut chamber head port matched to 1.5" Mikuni intake runners, with an Americam .480"/280 cam (O-65 grind), Americam HD valve springs, and stainless SI 44mm intake and 35mm exhaust valves.

 

I started by removing the rocker arms. Here I've removed the first two:

    

Then I removed the valve springs, retainers, and camshaft. Special thanks to my buddy Seth for loaning me his Datsun Comp valve spring compressor. This tool (seen at left) kept my cussing to a minimum.

 

Here's all the parts in a tray to keep things organized and make especially sure that the rockers go back on the correct cam lobes.

 

Did I mention it was a bit warm today? 100F in the shade on my patio. Probably a bit warmer at my workbench in the garage...

 

This head has been shaved quite a bit, as evidenced by the missing lower edges of the "Nissan Japan A87" script:

 

To compensate I was running a stock head gasket with a Felpro .020" copper head spacer shim which I'm finding no one currently has in stock and availability from Felpro is indefinite. If I can't find a new one, I may consider re-using the old one (I was careful removing it, so it may be possible to clean and re-use) or install cam tower "headsaver" shims and taller lash pads (have 0.180", would need 0.200"), or find a NISMO 87mm headgasket (0.060" thick vs 0.040" stock), or possibly use one of the NISMO 88.5mm headgaskets from my stash (not thrilled with the extra volume). First I will mock up with a used stock HG and see how much slack there is in the timing chain but I'm pretty sure I'll need to shim. Anyway, here is the head minus cam, valve gear and seals. This is as far as I really want to go with head teardown if I can help it.

 

Next up is the messy job of decarbonizing the combustion chambers and cleaning up the valves. I did a cursory check and none of the valves appear to be bent or burnt, and they pass the wiggle test in the guides, so that is all good. 

[Tedman]

Spent a few hours cleaning the head this afternoon. Scraped off all the old gasket residue on the manifold and head gasket faces, then de-carbonized the combustion chambers with a plastic scraper, brass wire brush and some BraKleen. 

 

Tried soaking the valves in paint thinner (strongest solvent I had on hand), but after a few hours it didn't seem to be doing much. Will leave them in overnight, but may need to get something stronger like acetone or perhaps gasoline?  I do have a bottle of Techron- maybe I should try that?

 

Once the valves are clean, I'm thinking I might also do a light lapping operation with the each of the valves on their seats to insure a good seal. Other than that, the head is pretty much ready for re-assembly. Oh yeah, while attempting to clean an exhaust valve I realized that it's a stock valve.  I had forgotten that only the intakes are tuliped SI valves on this head. 

 

[Edit 9/14/17- Upon closer inspection, exhaust valves are indeed SI, as confirmed by the faint "S.I." etched in the stem near the tip.] 

 

In other news, the Felpro engine gasket kit arrived, along with a new rear seal for the  280ZX tranny. Also got a shipment from Courtesy Nissan today with a new distributor drive spindle, and some new flywheel bolts. I will finally get to use one of the brass distributor drive gears that I picked up from Motorsports during one of their sales about 15 years ago. 

[Tedman]

Well, soaking the valves overnight in paint thinner didn't soften up the carbon deposits much at all. Wire wheel on my drill had virtually no effect either, but I was able to get the tops pretty clean by just scraping with a razor blade, then using the wire wheel. Here's the intakes:

 

The combustion chamber sides still look pretty rough, though. Gonna try soaking them in Techron and see how that goes. Those carbon deposits are hard as hell!

 

Decided to try and clean the old Felpro copper head spacer shim (21178SP).  After scraping off gasket residue with a blade, the wire wheel made quick work of it. Not too concerned about finding a new shim now. This one is perfectly serviceable.

 

 

 

 

[Tedman]

Continuing preparation for engine reassembly, I cleaned up the front cover today.  I had forgotten just how many gasket surfaces there on these suckers!  After carefully scraping all of the gasket surfaces with a blade, I went over them again with a wire wheel, then gave it a good scrub using Simple green and a scrub brush. This particular front cover still has remnants of a clear varnish-like coating on the outside.  This was a factory crate motor, and they must have sprayed the stuff on as a protectant. I like the bare aluminum look better, but not so much that I feel compelled to try and clean off the varnish. It's clean enough.

 

 

Also spent some time cleaning up the Comp oil pan. This pan's been around the block a few times and has a lot of staining in the external finish, but it's otherwise in good shape. This is about as clean as I could get it using Simple Green. I tried installing the new windage tray but it's going to need some minor trimming to fit, and I need to get some locknuts for it. 

 

 

Lastly, I dug out the exhaust manifold and head pipe I plan to use. I scoured both with a wire brush and more Simple Green. This is a true 4-into-2 manifold  similar to the SSS manifold. Fortunately, I still have the brass head pipe nuts, too. I plan to paint the manifold and head pipe with high temp gray BBQ paint. 

 

 

 

[Tedman]

Here's the exhaust manifold and head pipe painted with silver BBQ paint. Instructions on the can say it needs to "burn in" to fully cure, and to anticipate some smoke. Looking forward to the day when I get it hot enough to smoke!

 

While the short block is out for rebuild, and since JCCS is coming up in a little over 2 weeks, I decided to install a spare L20B short block and cylinder head as a mock up so that I can get the exhaust system fabricated. I'll be taking the car to the shop for exhaust work on Monday, so my main goal for this weekend is to get the mock up motor and 280ZX tranny installed.  Today I cleaned up the spare short block (grungy!), then set it up with a used head gasket, spare U67 head, the freshly painted exhaust manifold, and dropped it into Zeke without the tranny.  I believe this may be the first time Zeke has had an actual engine under the hood in more than 25 years! 

 

At this point I couldn't resist a quick fit check of the dual Mikuni 44's:

 

 

Tomorrow I plan to install the 280ZX tranny.  Since this car was originally a floor shift automatic, the tunnel shifter hole is already pretty much in the right spot, and should only need minor cutting for shifter clearance. Near as I can tell the original auto tranny mounting holes are shifted rearward relative to those in a manual car by the longitudinal hole spacing of the tranny mount, so I expect to be able to use the forward pair of holes with my DP Racing tranny crossmember (which was made to adapt to a 4speed car), and I expect to have to drill two new holes in the tranny tunnel forward of the existing forward holes. FWIW, here's the DP Racing 5spd tranny mount which I purchased in the early '90s. I believe I provided a 510 automatic tranny mount as a core, and they sectioned, welded and had it powder coated. It fit perfectly with the 280ZX tranny in my '72 2dr 4sp car.

 

 

Also received a new ITG air cleaner element from Coast Fabrication the other day. This is the JC50/65 which allows fitment of 2" air horns inside and clears the brake master cylinder using the "short" Mikuni manifold. 

 

Since the Dunlops on my 14" AR Libre wheels are pretty old and crusty, I ordered some fresh rubber today- Falken Azenis 615K+ in 195/60-14 size from Discount Tire. I've been running the previous generation 615K on my SR car with great results, so I'm looking forward to trying out the new K+ model. 

 

Oh man, JCCS is coming up fast! I really want to show Zeke to JCCS but it's going to be close...

[Tedman]

Sunday night I finished up with the tranny install. The rib along top of tail shaft needs to be ground down a little bit, but the tranny is in and it clears. Will need to drill two new holes in the tunnel forward of the existing holes for the tranny crossmember. You can see the two bolts protruding from the weld nuts that are holding it in now.

 

The next pic shows the S110 200SX tunnel closeout. I think it came off an auto trans car? I forget. Anyway, this will cover the tunnel gash nicely and allow the use of a 200SX rubber shift boot for a factory look. These parts are probably pretty hard to find today, but that's how we did it back in the day. 

 

Here's the inner 280ZX boot, which seals out the gear oil reek, and the 200SX manual boot that fits the closeout hole. 

 

Today I hauled the car off to my buddy's shop for exhaust system fabrication. It will be getting a 2 1/4" mandrel bent stainless steel system with v-band clamps on the center section to facilitate removal/replacement, a center section pre-silencer, and will terminate with a Borla muffler and tail pipe. 

 

Today I also took delivery of a new carpet set. With the car out for exhaust and the engine out for rebuild, there's still a ton of stuff to do. I still need to finish prepping the cyl. head, finish the engine room wire harness, do the trunk mount battery and cable install, etc. It's going to be tight for JCCS!

 

[tr8er]

Even if you don't make the show, right now it's motivating you. Keep trying till it's too late. Car is looking sick!

[Tedman]

@tr8er- Thanks for the encouraging words. 

 

Today I picked up my rebuilt short block from Sam's Datsun. Woohoo! He even painted it Datsun blue!

 

Here's it is on my engine stand after installing the head studs. He told me the crank and rod bearings are standard size and the new pistons are 0.010" over. The rotating assembly was balanced, and new brass freeze plugs were installed.

  

Time to get busy with reassembly!

 

Add- I noticed each piston is stamped "1.00" on top .

 

To me this means +1.00mm (0.040") overbore, not 0.010" (0.25mm) like I was told. My calipers seem to confirm this.  I'll have to check with Sam, but looks like the bore is now 86mm, which gives a displacement of 1998cc vs. the stock 1952cc, or 1964cc with a 0.010" overbore.  Oh well, there's  no replacement for displacement, right? Just did some compression ratio calculations and it should be in the 9.1 -9.2 range with the dished pistons, peanut head and copper head shim. It would have been around 0.1-0.15 points lower with the smaller bore, so I guess I'm not complaining.

[Crashtd420]

Watch which head gasket you use.... make sure it fits the 86mm bore....

The one you get at the part store cover the l16/18/20... but seem to be only up to 85mm...

I think there are some that fit the larger bore, the oem nismo would probably be your best bet... fits up to 88.5mm I believe....

Or was the copper shim your head gasket?

[Tedman]

@Crashtd420- Valid concern. I have previous experience with breaking pistons, possibly due to head gasket overhang.  :crying:  I wanted to minimize overbore on this motor so I could use the standard Felpro HG and not have to worry about that. Anyway, today I got ahold of a decent digital caliper and measured the Felpro HG minimum bore- it's right at 86mm.  The 0.020" thick copper shim measures just slightly larger at 86.3 mm.  The pistons are below deck height (I have not yet measured how far), but to be safe, I think  I'll plan on using the Nismo 88.5mm gasket. Since it is 0.060" compressed thickness, I can do without with the copper shim and maintain centered rocker cam wipe pattern without changing lash pads. 

[Crashtd420]

Ok, just put the info out just incase, enjoy assembling the motor ....

[Tedman]

Checked on exhaust system progress today at the my buddy's shop and it's coming along nicely but I forgot to take pics.

 

While I was there, he let me media blast my valves. Wow! Gotta say, this is my new favorite thing.  Talk about instant gratification! The valves almost look new!

 

 

Tomorrow I'll install them in the head and check how well they seal. Fingers crossed...

 

I dug out the Roadster clutch setup I had on my SR car before the SR conversion. The pressure plate and Motorsports disk look like they still have a lot of life left, so I plan to  re-use them for Zeke. Ordered a new TO bearing from my local NAPA and will pick that up tomorrow. I'll be running a Tilton 6-bolt 200mm aluminum 11 lb flywheel.

 

 

A few pics of the flywheel. That's an L20B automatic crank plate zip tied to the center so I wouldn't lose it. The crank plate keeps the flywheel bolts from galling the aluminum by spreading the load like a big washer. Good insurance against what could become a wobbly flywheel.