carterb Posted April 27, 2020 Author Report Share Posted April 27, 2020 On to the next thing then... I noticed that the left side headlight has a hole in it so I set about identifying the housing so I could order a replacement. There are a LOT of numbers on the Hella lenses. Right side: Left side: In the process of searching - I found most things led to a 7" motorcycle lens. Photos of for sale ads showed exactly what I had - every number matched. But 7"??? That doesn't sound right. Everything I could find says the 510 headlight is 5 3/4". Tape measure says that makes some sense. Well, certainly not 7" anyway. Fortunately, after contacting the PO who installed them in the first place, I got the p/n for the original Hella kit. The kit breakdown showed the exact Hella p/n for the housing (HLA-002850001). The Hella p/n for the housing was available from Summit Racing. https://www.summitracing.com/parts/hla-002850001 The info on the Summit Racing page says 5.315" . Huh?! What the heck? I guess if it's wrong, I can always return/exchange it. I added the fuel fittings I needed plus a couple cans of POR-15 for Corey's 4dr and submitted the order. I had to move forward with at least one thing I started! 2 Quote Link to comment
carterb Posted April 27, 2020 Author Report Share Posted April 27, 2020 Another thing the car desperately needed was a bath. I'd like to give the paint a good rub/polish as well so it was time for some deep cleaning: Before (I think) 44 Tried to clean all the nooks and crannies too - for some reason the inside of the truck, gas tank, etc was filthy so I took everything out and cleaned that as well. After: 3 Quote Link to comment
carterb Posted April 27, 2020 Author Report Share Posted April 27, 2020 Also tried a little dent removal. First with a suction cup on the left rear quarter under the bumper. As I started to pull the dent was coming out but the cup would pop off before the metal would fully give. I will try again later with a more powerful pump. On the right rear tail I had backside (trunk) access so I could take care of that one more conventionally. First I removed the taillight: Then with a little hammer and heat gun work. I was able to re-shape the panels and eliminate most of the deformation. Good enough for the time being anyway and a huge improvement - especially with the area cleaned and tail light re-mounted. Back to the front of the car - the left side door handle needed to be replaced: Done! Nice to finish at least one thing on the list. : ) 3 Quote Link to comment
carterb Posted April 27, 2020 Author Report Share Posted April 27, 2020 I submitted my Summit Racing order mid day Friday and a box arrived on my doorstep Saturday! Who says COVID19 is slowing down shipping. I guess they figured Datsun parts are essential! : ) Here is my new Hella H4 housing. Perfect fit! Very happy about that one... 3 Quote Link to comment
carterb Posted April 27, 2020 Author Report Share Posted April 27, 2020 (edited) Now to continue with the interior to do list... I need to find a replacement gauge pod with the little insert behind the headlight and wiper switches: And fix the disconnected blinker bulb/wire poking out in front of the temp gauge. And fix the cracked dash pad. To remove the pad, I would be removing all the dash parts so I could accomplish a lot of things in one shot here... Glove box out. Center section out. So many disconnected wires back there! Looks like it had a stereo at one point in time... Gauge pod removed. Oh yeah, that reminds me. The orange needle tach doesn't go with the white needle speedo and temp/fuel gauges. I'd like to fix that as well. Here is the cracked dash pad. It definitely was not gong to get any better... I thought this would be a good opportunity to try a dash cap. I have seen them installed before and they look WAY better than a cracked pad. Mine is from Accu-Form Another thing this dash needs is the light switch to the right of the heater control unit... Unfortunately - all of my dash parts are out of reach - hidden behind the paint-booth conversion in my garage... Hmm. I did find a white needle tach though in another hiding place. The orange needle has three wires - the white needle has four. It looks like the orange needle tach was modified? At the moment, the tach doesn't work anyway. I don't think the MSD tach adapter was wired correctly and it was making annoying buzzing noises so I disconnected it. This will have to be a job for later. I labeled the wires since my memory sucks. Plus, there are dozens of other wires behind the dash that are disconnected. What the heck?! Oh, and notice there are no red lenses in any of warning light arcs? I was able to grab some from the other gauge pod and fix that as well while I was in there. Matching needles looks much better: Let's hope I'm doing this right: Edited April 27, 2020 by carterb 4 Quote Link to comment
Lockleaf Posted April 27, 2020 Report Share Posted April 27, 2020 I painted all of my needles with a uv cured nail polish to make them all red since i had the same mismatch you did. 🙂 1 Quote Link to comment
MikeRL411 Posted April 27, 2020 Report Share Posted April 27, 2020 1 hour ago, Lockleaf said: I painted all of my needles with a uv cured nail polish to make them all red since i had the same mismatch you did. 🙂 Did that 40 years ago on my 411, damn that nail polish lasts ! 1 Quote Link to comment
carterb Posted April 28, 2020 Author Report Share Posted April 28, 2020 Found another gauge pod but even though it had the little rectangle backing plate - the rest of the unit looked worn compared to the original. I thought about removing the backing plate and transferring it but I'm sure I'd break off the pins in the process so for now, I'll wait 'till I find a better one. I went ahead and reassembled the dash with the new cap. It looks great! I'd do this again in a heartbeat. Matching needles look nice too. 2 Quote Link to comment
hang_510 Posted April 28, 2020 Report Share Posted April 28, 2020 23 hours ago, carterb said: I need to find a replacement gauge pod with the little insert behind the headlight and wiper switches: The orange needle has three wires - the white needle has four. It looks like the orange needle tach was modified? At the moment, the tach doesn't work anyway. I don't think the MSD tach adapter was wired correctly and it was making annoying buzzing noises so I disconnected it. This will have to be a job for later. i use MSD tach adapter #8925??? for inductive tachs(stock is the 4 wires). did the orange needle ever work? a machinist on IG makes those light bezels 1 Quote Link to comment
carterb Posted April 28, 2020 Author Report Share Posted April 28, 2020 8 minutes ago, hang_510 said: i use MSD tach adapter #8925??? for inductive tachs(stock is the 4 wires). did the orange needle ever work? a machinist on IG makes those light bezels Did the tach work? Ha! I honestly don't even remember now... : ) I think I have seen the machined bezels, thanks. --carter Quote Link to comment
Lockleaf Posted April 28, 2020 Report Share Posted April 28, 2020 Try cleaning the worn looking bezel with a product called 303 protectant. I assembled my very hashed dash with pieces from a couple of cars and that stuff brightened and cleaned all my dash plastic so it looked really nice and also uniform in color. Quote Link to comment
carterb Posted June 9, 2020 Author Report Share Posted June 9, 2020 I appreciate the advice but in order to help a friend find some 510 parts, I had to disassemble my paint booth which gave me access to the rest of my bins. I found a nice dash face and a set of orange needle gauges. I replaced them on Saturday morning and all orange needles makes my brain much more happy Next I started refreshing the paint with TR3 Man this stuff cuts through the oxidation fast. Just a *quick* rub by hand makes such a huge difference. Spend some time with an electric polisher and you will be dazzled! Half way through the job - I got a visit from the original builder of the car and his wife. It was really cool to talk and hear stories. He and his wife had their first date in this very car! He even brought a photo album with a bunch of early pictures of the car - as well as the car that donated its drive train to this shell. I got to take him out for a short drive as well. Very fun morning! Quote Link to comment
carterb Posted June 9, 2020 Author Report Share Posted June 9, 2020 After he left I finished rubbing the rest of the paint and took some pictures. It's coming along nicely! Brenda brought me some treasures from Walmart too! 4 Quote Link to comment
rosso Posted June 9, 2020 Report Share Posted June 9, 2020 Looking good! What about the rice wagon? I keep waiting for updates so I can figure out my wagon. No progress on mine in months - not going out anywhere and don't have expected income for parts and supplies. Once the covid thing is over I will get down to the Ridge and watch you guys tear it up! Love the reports from the pits. Quote Link to comment
carterb Posted June 9, 2020 Author Report Share Posted June 9, 2020 34 minutes ago, rosso said: Once the covid thing is over I will get down to the Ridge and watch you guys tear it up! Love the reports from the pits. Well you're not going to like the latest one! *smh* Quote Link to comment
carterb Posted June 9, 2020 Author Report Share Posted June 9, 2020 35 minutes ago, rosso said: Looking good! What about the rice wagon? I keep waiting for updates so I can figure out my wagon. Most of my time recently has been spent just keeping my current Datsuns on the road plus a new yet to be revealed project! Coming soon to a Ratsun thread near you! 1 Quote Link to comment
rosso Posted June 10, 2020 Report Share Posted June 10, 2020 21 hours ago, carterb said: Well you're not going to like the latest one! *smh* Ohh Nooo Mr. Bill... Quote Link to comment
datzenmike Posted June 10, 2020 Report Share Posted June 10, 2020 On 4/26/2020 at 8:34 PM, carterb said: One puller and one pusher - just as it was. \\ With a little luck - I might have even wired them in correctly. : ) Me too!!! One wasn't enough and the 2 Subaru ones wouldn't fit side by side so push/pull with maybe 3" overlap/ Quote Link to comment
carterb Posted June 13, 2020 Author Report Share Posted June 13, 2020 On 6/8/2020 at 7:38 PM, carterb said: Half way through the job - I got a visit from the original builder of the car and his wife. It was really cool to talk and hear stories. He and his wife had their first date in this very car! He even brought a photo album with a bunch of early pictures of the car - as well as the car that donated its drive train to this shell. I got to take him out for a short drive as well. Very fun morning! Forgot to mention, one of the things we talked about was me selling the car... We discussed an offer and he and his wife departed with an "I'll think about it" He texted later that day saying he'd like to buy it. There were a couple things I needed to do to get it ready. First was to collect all the goodies that went with the car: Rear 1/4 panel front cuts to repair the rust New battery, NOS door mirrors, FJ gasket kit, the O2 sensor kit, the fuel pressure gauge, etc Then I went digging and found a gas tank/trunk divider Cigarette lighter Dome light switch blanking plug And, while I was fixing/finishing things, I found a slow leak in the left rear tire. It held air for about a month but while Discount is still being good to me, I figured I'd take advantage of their awesome service. Dropped it off Monday morning on my way to work. And returned in the afternoon to some fine workmanship Quote Link to comment
carterb Posted June 13, 2020 Author Report Share Posted June 13, 2020 Now then, after going through all that work to get the orange gauge needles all matching, he says he wants the white needle set... Here we go again: I put together a white needle set with trip and tach. Probably about as rare as it gets. Then one last round of pictures before he showed up yesterday evening Oh yeah, included a windshield and sill trims I hope this was the right thing to do. May 1972. My birthday is 5 10 72. That's '72 510. This car and I could have literally been born on the same day! Quote Link to comment
carterb Posted June 13, 2020 Author Report Share Posted June 13, 2020 J.R. showed up with a trailer. It's in his hands now... I can see why people build trailer queens... It looks pretty good up there! And away they go... Best wishes you two!!! 2 Quote Link to comment
rosso Posted June 13, 2020 Report Share Posted June 13, 2020 Wow Carter, I hope you got well paid for taking a good 510 and making it an exceptionally clean and cool 510 !!!!🙂 Quote Link to comment
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