67 WRL411 SSS project in Texas

[Greaser2]

Thanks to my friend Mckae in California,I just got the 67 SSS. It will need everything gone through, has not ran in over 20years but a great starting point. A PPO did a poor restoration in the early 90s so will need to fix those issues.  Please feel free to give advise, will need lots of parts for sure so need your help.  Certainly need bumpers, perhaps a second dash, would be great to find rear lower fenders as that’s about the only rust on the car  

[MikeRL411]

Get a Honda battery and hold down quick ! The original battery is only used on the RL411 and the 1964 Corvair [I kid you not]. Also a oil filler cap.  Naval Jelly, Rustoleum, fiberglass cloth [use a boat glassing kit] and light weight Bondo is a quick temporary fix for lower rear quarter panel rust.  If you are usable to find patch metal, use light weight foam inside the void below the cardboard filler panels on top of the void behind the wheel wells.  The foam will seal against further rust intrusion.  Just before the foam finally sets, compress the top layer flat and you will have a paintable surface to finish the repair rather than cardboard inserts.

 

Somewhere in the "How To" section I posted a entry for fabing the heater firewall hoses and maybe the correct hook up fab for water pump to carb preheat connection.  Straight runs can be a cut and fit of standard hoses if you need the heater.

 

Bumpers are hard to find.   Especially the bumperettes/over riders.

 

Upper and lower radiator hoses can be cut from a single stock replacement hose or more easily from 2 separate hoses.  Take measurements to any auto parts store with hoses on display a pick and choose.

 

Check the lower portion of the rear portion of the front fender.  It is a known Pinin Farina design defect and quite vulnerable to rust.

[difrangia]

Nice old survivor and quite a rare bird over here in center part of the country. You and the Goon will be a hit at the car shows when you get to that point.  Be prepared to search and scrounge for parts from mostly the west coast. Ratsun 'Rats' have been very helpful to me over past seven years with knowledge and parts.

[reza]

Congratulations. 

 

[Eiles]

Looks in good nick.

Great find.

😁

[Greaser2]

Ok, issue number 1.  Starter is shot. I have a roadster starter but read it will interfere with the stearing box. Options for a starter?

[ppeters914]

Can't believe Nissan used a different starter on the R16 in a 411 vs a 311 (aka roadster). That said, many roadster owners switch to a forklift, starter, which is shorter. More info:

 

http://www.311s.org/pmwiki-311/pmwiki.php?n=TechSection.ForkliftStarter

[Greaser2]

They both mount Pete, the issue is the location of the solenoid, the 411 has the solenoid mounted on the engine side of the starter and the roadster starter has the solenoid mounted on the outside away from the motor. In the case of the 411, the starter is next/close to the stearing box and not enough room for the solenoid for the roadster starter.  I wounded if I can gut the roadster starter and put in the 411 starter case. 

[ppeters914]

So, identical other than solenoid location? Hmmm.... Swap innards. Sounds like a plan! Have you compared part numbers for the guts?

 

Can you post pictures of the two starters side-by-side? 

[Greaser2]

Left is the roadster and right is the 411. The roadster mounts and spins the 411 engine, out of the car.  

 

the barrels are different sizes and lengths so I don’t see swapping the guts. 

 

This is in my sedan, the starter is about an inch from the stearing box. 

[difrangia]

Bottom starter in the top/bottom view photo looks pretty much like the 320 pickup with floor-shift starter except the solenoid position. The 320 pickup with floor-shift has same starter as the 520 pickup with the J-Series engine. If you can find one of those you could possibly build a starter using the solenoid mounting casting from your old starter. The steel starter case is approximately 3 5/32" diameter on the pickup starter and length from surface that mates with the adapter plate between engine and trany and the front endplate that mounts the brushes is approx 6 1/4. Problem is that the pickup starters are as hard to come by as the sedan/wagon starters. If you have a good armature and field coils, you can find the solenoid, brushes, and drive unit new online. I have some good pics of the pickup starter if needed.

[ppeters914]

Is there a decent old school auto electric shop that could rebuild it? 

[Greaser2]

1 hour ago, ppeters914 said:

Is there a decent old school auto electric shop that could rebuild it? 

I’m sure there is, I’ll look into that. 

[Johnlorio]

Buy the high torque starter for the roadster, the solenoid is clocked correctly on that one for the SSS  I use it on mine

 

John Lorio

[MikeRL411]

17 hours ago, ppeters914 said:

Is there a decent old school auto electric shop that could rebuild it? 

 

Do it yourself.  The hardest part is replacing the brushes if they are too worn.  Go to a real hardware store and bring one of the worn brushes with you.  Among all the replacement brushes for drills etc. you will find a brush set with the right length, width and thickness, and lead length to fit.  I used ACE hardware to find the right brush set for mine.  Rock Auto may have brushes as a last resort.  "Standard Motor Products INC" make most replacement brushes.  Their part number JX-99 just may fit.   They are listed as Alternator parts with an extra long copper lead and look like RL411 substitutes to me.  I have a set but managed to rebuild my RL411 starter with out replacing the brushes so do not have first hand fit and function to relay to you.

[difrangia]

Here's a pic of some of the stuff that I scrounged from Ebay and other sources over the past 6-7 years to rebuild a couple 320 starters. I'm sure that your starter uses same stuff and maybe you can corss-referrence some of the numbers. As I remember that solenoid fits some US starters from 50's-60's. You can see the brushes are Lucas, so that's Austin/Morris .

Last time i looked those brushes were still available on US Ebay from Cyprus for about 7USD.

 

stuff.

Edited May 25, 2020 by difrangia

[]2eDeYe]

Nice wagon B)

[Greaser2]

3 days weekend so got some work done. Interior almost emptied. 

 

engine bay emptied cept the steering box

 

found some rust in the passenger floorboard 

[thisismatt]

Doncha just love PO black engine bay paint jobs?

[ppeters914]

21 minutes ago, thisismatt said:

Doncha just love PO black engine bay paint jobs?

 

<expletive deleted> NO! Black engine bays suck!

Edited May 26, 2020 by ppeters914

[banzai510(hainz)]

I got my HiTorq starter from TSI Automotive from Ohio but really came from sent California.      L motor

 

TSI is a British Car place so I assume the early Datsun might be the same J motors

Edited May 26, 2020 by banzai510(hainz)

[Fishorgolf]

Greg, I'm 100%  impressed with your project and progress so far, I'll send some pictures via e-mail, happy hunting Grant.

[Greaser2]

13 hours ago, thisismatt said:

Doncha just love PO black engine bay paint jobs?

All the rage in the 90s. Will be corrected. PPO also heated the springs to give some 70s rack. 

[bilzbobaggins]

On 5/25/2020 at 10:57 PM, thisismatt said:

Doncha just love PO black engine bay paint jobs?

 

Only when they spray everything black like the wiring, brake lines, relays.........

 

 

[Greaser2]

My first rust patch repair. Give myself a C+