A 510 goon named Cactus Peel

[Anonymous Waffle]

10 hours ago, demo243 said:

Props on doing that road trip solo! Amazing how many good people are out there and how an old Datsun can bring them together. 
 

Gotta ask about rolling those 260z fender- how? I tried with a roller on my 240z with no luck! Rear fenders are so thick it wasn’t making a dent - quite literally! Ended up stripping out the adjustment screw on the roller
 

Definitely was NOT easy, reminded me of rolling my maxima rears.. It just takes alot of time and pulling harder than youd think. Took me an hour to do the first one, and about 20 minutes for the second. You've got to use the leverage to apply some strong pull and roll. And youve definitely got to get the angle just right to start the initial roll, but one you get it it will get easier. Check for dirt just above the lip before rolling, and the hard parts to roll are the sections of the lip that are spot welded. 

To be honest, what would probably make the roll even easier is slicing the lip on every spot welded spot to make it easier to roll, but I fear that it might have issues with splitting the body panels. 

 

On 7/6/2024 at 11:52 PM, Icehouse said:

Such a rad trip!  I Didn't realize you lived in Vermont.  That's one hell of a drive! 

14 hours ago, iceman510 said:

Nice trip.  Cross country drives and meeting cool helpful people are some great adventures.  I'll have to put that SAC museum on my list.

 

He's not from Vermont Jeff, just his plates.  😉  That loophole is mostly closed now I hear.

 

Haha yup, im stationed in Missouri, but registered my goon in Vermont when I was still living in California. Sadly the loophole is closed 😞 

[shlammed]

Its been a while since Ive rolled fenders but lots of heat and a rubber mallet to get the fender started going the right way was important and reduced a lot of effort.  it didnt wave the fender because as you roll more and more the mallet marks should pull out when you stretch the inner metal.  but dont hit it with a hard or square edged mallet.  a soft worn out mallet with the edges gone is your friend. lol

[demo243]

5 hours ago, Anonymous Waffle said:

And youve definitely got to get the angle just right to start the initial roll, but one you get it it will get easier.

Definitely one of the issues I’m fighting- meant to do it before my coilover install… but forgot… now it’s too low to get a good angle. Got the camber slammed on the Z right now so I’m good, but when I put the sticky rubber back on it might be to wide and I’ll need to try again. 510 was much easier to roll. 

[Anonymous Waffle]

6 hours ago, demo243 said:

Definitely one of the issues I’m fighting- meant to do it before my coilover install… but forgot… now it’s too low to get a good angle. Got the camber slammed on the Z right now so I’m good, but when I put the sticky rubber back on it might be to wide and I’ll need to try again. 510 was much easier to roll. 

 

Thats the problem, its hard to roll Datsuns when theyve been lowered on coilovers, all the fender roller tools available dont work well on small lowered cars. Theres a company who makes rollers made for lowered jdm cars, but it is considerably more expensive. 
 

Parts Shop MAX sells the extremely low fender roller, but its like 240 USD 

 

Edited July 11 by Anonymous Waffle

[demo243]

32 minutes ago, Anonymous Waffle said:

 

Thats the problem, its hard to roll Datsuns when theyve been lowered on coilovers, all the fender roller tools available dont work well on small lowered cars. Theres a company who makes rollers made for lowered jdm cars, but it is considerably more expensive. 
 

Parts Shop MAX sells the extremely low fender roller, but its like 240 USD 

 

that’s pretty sweet but a tough pill to swallow when I probably only need it one more time… unless I find myself another 510 or 610 and can somehow con the mrs into letting me buy it 🤣

[Stoffregen Motorsports]

Seriously, use a baseball bat. Stick it in the fender and push the car. The tire will grab it and roll it along the fender. It takes a lot to move the fender lip so don't be shy.

 

I've done dozens of 510 fenders with a baseball bat.

[demo243]

8 minutes ago, Stoffregen Motorsports said:

Seriously, use a baseball bat. Stick it in the fender and push the car. The tire will grab it and roll it along the fender. It takes a lot to move the fender lip so don't be shy.

 

I've done dozens of 510 fenders with a baseball bat.

I don’t disagree but that requires me to go buy a bat 🤣

 

and I would still have to raise it up.  
 

but definitely in the potential tool box.

 

 

Edited July 11 by demo243

[shlammed]

just raise it up, let it droop.

 

if you need to unbolt the coilover and let it droop down onto a jackstand.

 

i have one of the amazon fender rollers and wouldnt feel bad about chopping the extension off either to make it "ultra low car" spec.

Edited July 12 by shlammed

[demo243]

2 hours ago, shlammed said:

just raise it up, let it droop.

 

if you need to unbolt the coilover and let it droop down onto a jackstand.

 

i have one of the amazon fender rollers and wouldnt feel bad about chopping the extension off either to make it "ultra low car" spec.

That’s the plan

[Plusnone]

I used this, the. resold it on craigslist for 3/4 the price

https://a.co/d/hjQ77PB

 

EDIT : sorry, actually reread the above anD saw your issue was that it is lowered.

I recall having the car on jack stands with the suspension in droop and not having any issue. maybe used the jack under an arm to keep it located. Do you not have enough travel?

 

Edited August 4 by Plusnone

[demo243]

5 hours ago, Plusnone said:

I used this, the. resold it on craigslist for 3/4 the price

https://a.co/d/hjQ77PB

 

EDIT : sorry, actually reread the above anD saw your issue was that it is lowered.

I recall having the car on jack stands with the suspension in droop and not having any issue. maybe used the jack under an arm to keep it located. Do you not have enough travel?

 

Yea not enough travel on the BC coils as they sit. Need to either extend them or as someone said above - drop the top hat and support the bottom with a jack. 

[Anonymous Waffle]

Lil update 🙂 I've been super busy with work, DoD loves to put me to work haha.

Been dailying the 510 still. Did a oil change at 6000, and did some work to try and keep the l20b alive just a little more longer. Ive been worried about the progressively worsening oil consumption and blow-by. Its not excessive, runing the spark plugs, but the l20b is really showing some age. 

 

This upcoming fall will finally be the prep and build of the LZ2(?) engine I picked up from a scrapper.. because of this awesome new update!! I've finally got a lil shop space to fuck around and have fun. Its local enough from base that its not a pain in the ass, and cheap enough for me for my needs. Electricity is paid for up to 300kwh, has a heater, and is very big to me. 40 x 20 x 14.. Plenty of room to store the wagon for the winter, and still plenty of room for storage and working on another car. My latest new car I just HAD to pick up. 

 

 

Always using the wagon as a truck.. But I do miss having a 620.. They were so fun. 

 

 

 

 

 

Im a menace on base lol. I actually sold that 240z not too long after this photo.
To buy this!

 

 

 

A 1991 Infiniti M30 "leopard" that im gonna call the Snow Leopard haha. Its a project, been off the road for about 6 years, due to a failed/given up 5 speed swap. I've now collected about 60% of the 5 speed swap parts I need. The hardest, being the crossmember and 30a transmission from both a d21 and a z32 300zx, now in my posession. The leopard has some slight rust issues, that need to be taken care of, so itll become the new daily and winter daily!

Its already on S13 suspension all around, and setup very similarly to how my Maxima is setup. Supposedly has a s14 lsd in it, but I doubt that very much. It was setup as a drift car, and I'm trying to source parts to turn it back into the comfortable sporty luxury coupe. This is probably one of maybe 10 M30's in the midwest lol. 

 

Edited September 1 by Anonymous Waffle

[WAGON JON]

Fantastic shop to play in. Stuff it full!!

[banzai510(hainz)]

I would flat black the hood to match the cargo top

[Anonymous Waffle]

Ive crested just over 8000 miles on the goon ever since I built it. Basically drive it everyday, since it is so easy to drive as a daily. 

Annoyingly, ive noticed that my new rubber tail light lens seals are all weather cracked. Maybe 2 years old now, and quite cracked.. I've been wanting to experiment with 3d printing TPU, maybe a tpu tail light gasket would do wonders... 

 

On 9/10/2024 at 9:42 AM, banzai510(hainz) said:

I would flat black the hood to match the cargo top

Hopefully soon I will be painting the hood and cowl to match the stock green like I did with the hatch! The cargo container up top is not holding up too well haha. 2/3 Latches and hinges have broken and is cracking real bad. Served its purpose although!