CollinMB's RestoMod 521

[Stoffregen Motorsports]

I've always thought the Miata motor was a great looking one. Looks a lot like the Alfa and Fiat twin cam motors of the 60s and 70s.

[Icehouse]

Dude you guys need to make a good looking datsun roadster hard top.  That one looks so cool! 

[CollinMB]

haha, thanks. Unfortunately I don't think there would be a huge market for them.

[thisismatt]

2 minutes ago, CollinMB said:

haha, thanks. Unfortunately I don't think there would be a huge market for them.

Dude, you could totally sell at least 4, maybe 5

 

[Icehouse]

9 minutes ago, CollinMB said:

haha, thanks. Unfortunately I don't think there would be a huge market for them.

 

 

Probably true.  Sure would be cool to see though! 

 

 

 

[mainer311]

22 minutes ago, CollinMB said:

haha, thanks. Unfortunately I don't think there would be a huge market for them.

Are you kidding? The roadster community would go nuts for those.

[iceman510]

On 10/14/2021 at 11:10 AM, Stoffregen Motorsports said:

Oil vapor getting to you? or just old age?

 

Paint fumes from the red truck.

[CollinMB]

6 months later aint bad right?

So updates on the truck, we started working on getting the rear suspension sorted out:

 

I used a 6"Ø x 1/4" thick piece of pipe and a 3/16" plate to make the strut mount for the rear. This is pretty close to the Miata suspension geometry, but unfortunately I couldn't get it to sit inboard enough to run high offset wheels. Therefore, some new wheels were in order:

 

I ordered up a set of Rota Kyusha in 15x8 +0 offset. These were budget friendly and should work for the look I'm going for. One day the truck might get some nicer JDM wheels, but there is still a ton left to do.

Part of the reason we haven't been able to get much further than this is due to the rains in CA wreaking havoc on our work area. However, we were able to amass a bunch more parts thanks to winning an Ebay Motors sweepstakes:

 

 

Thanks to the sweepstakes, I now have:
 - Garret GT2860RS
 - Equal length manifold
 - Aluminum turbo pipes

 - Aluminum radiator w/ fans

 - 40mm throttle body

 - Limited slip diff

 - Exedy clutch

 - Harnesses

 

We also got some new tools:
 - 1200 DV Tig Welder

 - Roguefab tube bender & notcher

 - Portaband with a table

 

We also received a generous amount of Ebay credit that will be going to supplies, an eventual engine rebuild, ECU, and some new seats. Those things are still a ways off though.

 

Other updates, I picked up a slightly newer Datsun pickup as well:

 

 

My wife & I traded in her old car for a 2023 Frontier Pro-4x. I thought it only appropriate to get a 2nd green Datsun pickup.

 

Hopefully now I'll have an easier time getting metal supplies, transporting parts, wheels, etc.

[six2ohyea]

Nice! The wheels look JDM. IMO

 

whats eBay sweepstakes? I want in. Lol

[mainer311]

Oooo, a disco potato.

 

Those new frontiers are nice, but the prices are crazy nowadays. I had a 2008 and it was a great truck.

[CollinMB]

1 hour ago, six2ohyea said:

Nice! The wheels look JDM. IMO

 

whats eBay sweepstakes? I want in. Lol

 

They're JDM style, but they're reps. The sweepstakes was called My Modathon Sweepstakes and was a joint thing put on by ebay motor's instagram an a couple of youtubers: Here's a link to the IG

 

10 minutes ago, mainer311 said:

Oooo, a disco potato.

 

Those new frontiers are nice, but the prices are crazy nowadays. I had a 2008 and it was a great truck.

 

Yes and yes. I could only justify new because the cost from used to new wasn't very much and my work is chipping in as well.

[thisismatt]

Sick.  Congrats on the windfall! 

 

[CollinMB]

Just realized I missed my 6 month project update, so we're going with "New year, new me" Update.

 

Got the seats:


I got tires on the wheels and got them onto the chassis:

 

 

Then we cut the front end off the cab to make it easier to do custom mounts for the suspension:

 

Built a tube frame:

 

Decided we didn't like the tube frame:

 

Shortly after we started crunching some numbers on how expensive it was going to be to do the turbo engine build and it quickly started not making sense... Especially when I had a more powerful engine not being used. We just had to free it from it's body.

Sorry Z:

 

 

Hello VQ35:

 

 

The engine output is double straight out of the gate and has a much higher power threshold. in the end, it just made sense.

This was a pretty big change in and of itself, but it didn't stop there as some more build plans got hit by the project creep, which resulted in:
 

 

This may seem like a pretty drastic move, but this was always the "end goal" for the truck. The build direction is what I'm referring to as a "Mini Ultra 4" which may give some hints to some other future changes.

In addition to all the new parts, I've started to set some money aside to purchase a Plasma CNC to start making some custom brackets, as well as potentially designing some parts for resale.

I had to pump the brakes for a bit on this project due to my house starting to fall apart around me (a story for another time), but now I'm starting to build back up some momentum. Hopefully we can get some of the fab work going soon to get the new engine in and start working on the engine cradle, roll cage, and new suspension mounts.