Draker's 1972 1200 Sedan - "The Pickle"

[Draker]

Work continues on the radio install. My goal has been to make the retrosound radio install appear completely stock. So far the mounting has been a success. Rather than buying retrosound knobs I wanted to use the stock knobs to complete the look. The good news is the outer black knob is a perfect fit. The inner chrome ring doesn’t work. The inner diameter is too big, but too small to create an adapter. I’ve been tossing a few ideas around and this is ultimately what I settled on.

 

 

I printed a jig to use to modify the knob

 

used the jig to widen the center hole and drill outside holes to fit the adapter

 

here’s the adapter that fits the shaft

 

here is the adapter press fit to the modified chrome ring.

here it is installed. I only have one knob, but have a line on another set. 

Edited May 19, 2022 by Draker

[Farmer]

Youre kicking ass on this. Can't wait to see it

[KELMO]

^^^What he said, only I'm a little geographically challenged to be able to ever see it.

[Draker]

40 minutes ago, KELMO said:

^^^What he said, only I'm a little geographically challenged to be able to ever see it.

Never say never!!! 🙂

[Draker]

This car hasn’t had reverse lights since I’ve owned it because the sockets are blown out. They are dry rotted and cracked. I’ve been kicking around the ideas of a repair for this.

 

After several attempts and adjustments I’ve modeled an adapter to fit in the socket which is made of 3 parts. A threaded inside plate, a spacer ring, and a female light socket plug. The outside piece threads to the inner and sandwich’s the housing. 



 

you can then replace the bulb with an LED and away you go. The LED is needed for two reasons, to keep the heat low, and because the outside diameter of the LED is small enough to pass through the adapter if it ever needs changed. Otherwise you could use a standard bulb but you’d have to pull the lens to change it. These are printed with PETG which should handle the heat, but not tested. Plus LEDs are way brighter.

Edited May 24, 2022 by Draker

[Draker]

Side note, you don’t need to pull the housing apart to install the inner ring either. I did for pictures. It can be passed through the light socket and then the outside adapter can thread on. 
 

I’m going to make one slight modification and it should also work on 510 housings.. and likely many others that use the same male socket pattern. 

[Draker]

Next up on the list of not important things consuming my time.. the fasten seatbelts dash light. This has never worked. It relies on the seat switch, door switch, seatbelt switch, and a buzzer to work. Most of that is long gone. I’ve never seen one that works. Since it came stock, and it’s still in the car I decided it needs to work.

 

I bought a timed relay module and designed/printed a case. Mounted it where the factory buzzer is located under the dash. 
 

 

 

Edited May 24, 2022 by Draker

[datsunfreak]

That is very clever.  😁

[datsunfreak]

7 hours ago, Draker said:

Otherwise you could use a standard bulb but you’d have to pull the lens to change it. These are printed with PETG which should handle the heat, but not tested. Plus LEDs are way brighter.

 

I would imagine since they'd never be on for more than 30-45 seconds the heat shouldn't be an issue. 👍

 

7 hours ago, Draker said:

This car hasn’t had reverse lights since I’ve owned it because the sockets are blown out. They are dry rotted and cracked.

 

I have owned around 40 Datsuns in my lifetime. The only one with functional reverse lights was the first one...  😄

[iceman510]

Nice detail work.

 

 

[Draker]

Lowered the front end 15mm and dialed in the alignment. I’ll drive it and recheck to see if I need to lower a bit more to level it out.

 

I’ve also been putting in some time trying to get the horns working again. What’s puzzling me is that the horn button should supply ground to the horn relay. But the steering column doesn’t appear be grounded? The horn button has continuity through to the relay. But the act of grounding that wire to the steering hub or column doesn’t result in body ground. Wtf?

[thisismatt]

I feel like I'm familiar with grounding being done through the turn signal switch on other models, but I could be mistaken.

[Draker]

5 hours ago, thisismatt said:

I feel like I'm familiar with grounding being done through the turn signal switch on other models, but I could be mistaken.

 

I did just swap out the turn signal switch.. let me explore this.

[svswan]

Just wanted to say killer thread! - thank you.  Lots of good ideas, products and websites.  Not to mention a nice car ;-}

[Duncan]

On 5/24/2022 at 6:44 AM, datsunfreak said:

I have owned around 40 Datsuns in my lifetime. The only one with functional reverse lights was the first one...  😄

 

That's funny.  I have owned one 510 and two B110's.  All three had backup lights that worked.    I did have to spend a small bit of time on the 510 to get them to work, but it wasn't all that tough to get them operational.

 

 

[Draker]

7 hours ago, svswan said:

Just wanted to say killer thread! - thank you.  Lots of good ideas, products and websites.  Not to mention a nice car ;-}

thank you! I’ve been enjoying this car a lot. 

[Draker]

Took this out to the Powerland car show this year. The suspension needs a little work, but it ran and drove without issue!