A 510 goon named Cactus Peel

[Stoffregen Motorsports]

I know he's checked in here, but don't think he's posted anything yet.

 

So, what's up with the Vermont plates on the wagon?

[Anonymous Waffle]

10 hours ago, Stoffregen Motorsports said:

I know he's checked in here, but don't think he's posted anything yet.

 

So, what's up with the Vermont plates on the wagon?

 

It was faster for me to register it in Vermont and get my name on a title, when the car was still not drivable. Now I'm curious as to how long I can keep it like this haha.

 

Also I did some photoshop work to test some different wheel colors.. can't really decide it a color is good or just keep it the grey it is now.

 

 

 

[Anonymous Waffle]

Also I started to replace all my front bushings after Christmas. Bought parts from z car depot mostly, found some stuff that doesn't work..

 

Found plenty of surprises, one I knew about, but this one was a good one. Driver lower control arm is loosey goosey. 

 

 

Known surprise is this completely destroyed sway bar bushing.

 

 

 

 

 

I was expecting press out bushings, these just fell out.. turns out that 68/69 have smaller, specially lower control arm bushings... Fuck. I bought poly replacements from zcardepot, fits 68-73, does not fit 68-69... 

 

 

Since I'm replacing my ball joint knuckles to the 70-73 14mm, I might as well find some 70-73 lower control arms anyway. 

 

Also found issues with finding the Passenger, inner tie rod, it's the long tie rod LH thread. Zcardepot is out of stock for that one rod, so I bought one on rockauto, turns out I got a RH long tie rod 😤😤😤 So I'll buy a driver LH shorty, and mirror the driver side steering components..

 

So for the time being, the car is like this in the garage.

 

 

 

 

Edited December 27, 2022 by Anonymous Waffle

[KELMO]

Holy Crap that LCA was scary. Was it like that on both side or just the one?

I may have a set of LCA's around here that may work if you can't find anything local. Just shoot me a PM.

 

I like all 3 color choices for the wheels. But in this order; 1. Grey 2. White 3. Gold. Just my 2 cents worth.

[Stoffregen Motorsports]

It will be nice to have all the steering and suspension brought up to par. You will definitely feel (and hear) the difference.

 

Wheel colors all look good, but I feel that the bronze color is a fad and will be gone soon.

 

I've been using a white color lately that I love. It's a standard RAL color, which means it's locked into the world of colors forever - RAL 1013,  oyster white - https://www.ralcolorchart.com/ral-classic/ral-1013-oyster-white

 

https://www.prismaticpowders.com/shop/powder-coating-colors/RAL-1013/ral-1013

 

Here it is on my OEM Cherokee wheels.

 

 

Edited December 27, 2022 by Stoffregen Motorsports

[Stoffregen Motorsports]

Here's the same color on a set of custom 17" steelies for a 1970 Jeepster project. These are getting small chrome hubcaps.

 

Edited December 27, 2022 by Stoffregen Motorsports

[Anonymous Waffle]

5 hours ago, KELMO said:

Holy Crap that LCA was scary. Was it like that on both side or just the one?

I may have a set of LCA's around here that may work if you can't find anything local. Just shoot me a PM.

 

I like all 3 color choices for the wheels. But in this order; 1. Grey 2. White 3. Gold. Just my 2 cents worth.

 

Just the driver side was that loose, passenger was fine. This non pressed in lca bushing doesn't really seem like the strongest design. I've got a guy local who's got lca's, appreciate the help!

 

1 hour ago, Stoffregen Motorsports said:

It will be nice to have all the steering and suspension brought up to par. You will definitely feel (and hear) the difference.

 

Wheel colors all look good, but I feel that the bronze color is a fad and will be gone soon.

 

I've been using a white color lately that I love. It's a standard RAL color, which means it's locked into the world of colors forever - RAL 1013,  oyster white - https://www.ralcolorchart.com/ral-classic/ral-1013-oyster-white

 

https://www.prismaticpowders.com/shop/powder-coating-colors/RAL-1013/ral-1013

 

Here it is on my OEM Cherokee wheels.

 

Also thank you both for yalls two cents on color choices, I'm also in between white and gray. I usually like bronze/gold snowflakes, but I think it would look better on a dark green dime. I need to shine up the paint and put the lower trim on and snag more photos to photoshop to get the full picture.

 

Thanks for the white color suggestion, that's the exact kind of white I was thinking! @Stoffregen Motorsports

[Anonymous Waffle]

It was quite an adventure to find components, but my front suspension and steering is all freshened up and brand new. I had to swing by a buddies place to buy a set of LCA and knuckles for a 70+ 510, after I learned my lca's wont work for the new bushings, and that the knuckles I bought from a swapmeet were completely wrong (I assume 240z knuckles). I basically converted all of my steering components and lca to 70+, and got rid of the smaller harder to come by components. 

 

 

Brand new idler

 

 

Here you can see how the bushings are much bigger for the 70+ model than the 69 (and probably 68)

 

 

 

 

You can see some of the differences in component design between the 69 and 70+ steering components. Basically everything is different in length, thickness, or size, except for the center link. Never knew about this until I found out in person, and with help from folks on the facebook groups. 

 

 

 

 

Takes forever to do multiple coats in the garage. Bought a propane heater just to keep working through the night and to aid in drying paint. 

 

 

 

All buttoned up and torqued up. In case anyone is worried, only the LCA and swaybar have poly bushings. I got new rubber bushings for the tension rods, and didn't do poly with those. I like my torsion bars in one piece lol.

 

The only things I did that isn't truly correct, is not change the pitman arm/steering box arm to the 70+ model, just because I didn't have the tool and didn't want to even try that. Secondly, I had trouble finding the correct passenger side, inner tie rod for a 70+ 510. Since I got impatient (and very irritated) I said fuck it, and bought the driver side components and mirrored it. So its not correct, but steers just fine. Ill most likely fix this later in the future with nicer tie rods, maybe the ones Troy Ermish sells. 

 

 

Shitty pic, but you can see the arm is very straight on the 69 model, vs dropped and slightly shorter on the 70+

 

 

I do NOT recommend buying these from zcardepot. I hoped that they would have good quality ones, and I'm very iffy on these. In fact, none of these are properly serviceable, and do NOT have a zerk fitting to grease them. So they wont stay for long. 

 

But shes on the ground and back on the road again. 

 

 

Edited January 7, 2023 by Anonymous Waffle

[Anonymous Waffle]

I managed to buy a 69 headlight switch, so I wired that into the goon. Had to pin it and compare it to the diagram to find which wires did what, so I could match it to the hacked up wiring on the dash side. Of course someone snipped the dash side wiring, so I chopped a spare 
"parts" harness for the connector, and made this work. 

 

 

I then finished up the rest of the wiring and made a mini loom to go to the wiper motor. Hooked it all up and flicked the switch, for nothing at all to happen. Tested power, found the grounding to the chassis was bad, cleaned all that up, tried again and I heard one chirp and dead. Tested all my power again, and ive got 12v feeding into the motor correctly in the corresponding wires, but I think the motor itself is dead.

Ill either clean the motor up, or install a honda unit.

 

 

After the last debacle with paint colors from automotive touchup, I order the other green paint they supply for 69 510's (besides the dark olive/forest green) and bought "DATSUN 164" from automotive touchup, which looks to be grey green 546. NOW, I think automotive touchup has their colors backwards. On their site, their "DATSUN 164" color is listed as 554, and their "DATSUN 152" is listed as 546. But 152 is actually kasumi green 554, and 164 I just bought really should be 546 Grey Green. 

 

 

But after testing this 164 paint, its definitely not close to my green. Its too white, and doesnt have enough gray in its paint. I tried both a black primer base, and a red oxide primer base, both with the same ending result. 

 

 

 

You can see its definitely too light compared to my green, and even kasumi green on the hatch. So either automotive touchup has their colors wrong, or my 510 is an even different green. Even though my goon has been painted before, the door panels inside are the original green and do not match. Whatever 😪

 

I bought a new shift boot cover and got that installed. Not perfect on the larger 720 shift boot, but I got it to fit. 

 

 

 

And I also picked up a spare rear end to rebuild, but Ill most likely just steal the center section out of it and install it, and rebuild the bad one out of my 510. I can't remember if I posted about this or not, but the pinion on my goon is a howler, and its pretty damn bad.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited January 7, 2023 by Anonymous Waffle

[Anonymous Waffle]

Here is a video of my pinion, and I don't think I posted this yet. I believe I did this in 4th gear, and you can hear how bad it is. 

 

 

[Anonymous Waffle]

 

Last thing I did was an alignment. Got it straight and true, camber is at -2.5 degrees, with plenty of adjustment to go more neutral if I want to, and caster was looking good too. Took it for a test drive and it was weird. It drove straight, steering wheel is straight, but if you make a left hand turn, and then go straight, itll start pulling left. You make a right hand turn, then go straight, and itll drive straight again. Checked the alignment again and it was all fine, but we found the rear end alignment is bad. 

 

The rear end has -.65 of a degree and .65 degree of toe. Basically from a top down perspective, or a toe perspective, the rear end is cocked. Not necessarily shifted over like a truck that crab walks, but the rear tires are pushing to one side of the car. Looking at my rear leaf spring bushings, and they are really rotten, and im willing to bet that one side of my bushings are completely trashed. And I hope its not the weird proprietary 510 shackle up front either. (Also my u bolts are nice and tight, I did check for that) So I need new bushings. I'm thinking of saving some money and just buying the T3 performance leaf spring setup to replace everything, since I do like their newly designed front shackle and adjustable rear shackle. I would have preferred to find new bushings and at the same time de-arch my rear springs, but if I can't find the bushings easily, I might as well just buy the T3 stuff.

 

Something a little different, but I've finally (nearly) finished my Honda ST90 build. Hopefully when the rain is gone, I can actually take it for a test ride, but I finally fired it up to hear the swapped in 150cc engine roar to life. Boy its loud, louder than I hoped for lol. I'll maybe grab a video later in the week after I fix the key switch issue I've got. 

 

 

 

I've got some weird taste when it comes to automotive technology haha. 

[datzenmike]

I get camber at 1⁰ for the 510.

Check the bearing pre-load on the front wheels.

Swap front tires see if pull changes to right side.

 

If the rear axle is turned to the right this would steer to the left.

 

Pinion bearing sounds growley.

 

 

 

 

[Stoffregen Motorsports]

If you need to pull the arms off the box and idler, I have those tools.

[Anonymous Waffle]

On 1/7/2023 at 6:45 AM, datzenmike said:

I get camber at 1⁰ for the 510.

Check the bearing pre-load on the front wheels.

Swap front tires see if pull changes to right side.

 

If the rear axle is turned to the right this would steer to the left.

 

Pinion bearing sounds growley.

 

 

 

 

Wheel bearings are good, I checked the torque and tightened them a touch when I hit 400 miles on the new bearings. 

 

I'll try swapping my front wheels, but I'm 90% confident it's a rear end turning issue. Especially since it was confirmed to have wonky alignment out back.

 

And yeah, that pinion bearing is kaput.

[Anonymous Waffle]

On 1/7/2023 at 10:12 AM, Stoffregen Motorsports said:

If you need to pull the arms off the box and idler, I have those tools.

That's appreciated, I'm not sure if I'll swap that out or not just yet. It turns pretty damn good besides that left steer issue. I'll message you if I need to borrow that tool or to borrow some help if I do, thanks

[damon]

On 12/27/2022 at 9:47 AM, Stoffregen Motorsports said:

It will be nice to have all the steering and suspension brought up to par. You will definitely feel (and hear) the difference.

 

Wheel colors all look good, but I feel that the bronze color is a fad and will be gone soon.

 

I've been using a white color lately that I love. It's a standard RAL color, which means it's locked into the world of colors forever - RAL 1013,  oyster white - https://www.ralcolorchart.com/ral-classic/ral-1013-oyster-white

 

https://www.prismaticpowders.com/shop/powder-coating-colors/RAL-1013/ral-1013

 

Here it is on my OEM Cherokee wheels.

 

 

The first time I ever drove a car, it was the exact twin to this! In around 1986 fireroads by Mt St Helen’s, it was my stepdads and we were out camping.

[Anonymous Waffle]

Some updates, I'm prepping to doing some work on the rear end and rear suspension. I've got two different sets of poly bushings on the way that I hope I can modify to replace the leaf spring bushings, and I'll be installing my spare rear end in hopes that it doesn't howl either. I also got a set of leaf springs that I will take to a local spring shop to de-arch them for more lows. 

 

Took it down the delta with the local club last weekend, drove awesome. Got 21 MPG driving spirited! Some of the club members did confirm that my wagon is on and off crabwalking though! 

 

 

 

 

 

 

On the drive back, a few of us went to the capitol to take some cool photos, and while we were there, a new 400z pulled up. First time I got to see one in person, its a great looking car in person. 

 

 

 

 

 

As another side note, I've been planning on re-designing the front leaf spring mount for the 510. I don't like the vulcanized clamped rubber design of the front mount, and I haven't seen anyone come up with a redesign, besides T3 with their performance spring kit. I was just planning on buying it from them, but they designed it for their aftermarket springs, and are not compatible with stock springs. So I spent a few hours making this. First time using the Sheetmetal side of fusion360, and I'm hoping I did this right. If anyone can chime in with any hints or if something doesn't seem right, please chime in. I want to get this water/plasma cut out of 1/4" steel, which I think is more than plenty for a little 510. 

 

 

 

I made this so it should work exactly like the stock mount, with the stock bushings and spring, but also bring the mounting position almost a 1" higher to the chassis, by getting rid of the two (three) piece design of the original mount. 

[Greaser2]

I've ordered two colors from Automotive touchup and neither was close enough in my opinion.  One was spray can and one was a pint can.  

[Stoffregen Motorsports]

On 1/26/2023 at 10:01 PM, Anonymous Waffle said:

 

 

 

 

 

I made this so it should work exactly like the stock mount, with the stock bushings and spring, but also bring the mounting position almost a 1" higher to the chassis, by getting rid of the two (three) piece design of the original mount. 

Toyotas use a bolt to hold the pin from rotating. You might consider this. For that matter, what about using a Toyota pin? I believe they are 18mm.

 

[datzenmike]

720 and D21 also used that method.

[Stoffregen Motorsports]

There you go. Buy some 720 pins.

 

I like the ones pictured above because they are greaseable. OME sells them with thread in pins, meaning the flange is fastened to the pin with threads and a lock nut. They too are greaseable.

[Anonymous Waffle]

On 1/28/2023 at 8:35 AM, Stoffregen Motorsports said:

Toyotas use a bolt to hold the pin from rotating. You might consider this. For that matter, what about using a Toyota pin? I believe they are 18mm.

 

 

On 1/28/2023 at 11:17 AM, datzenmike said:

720 and D21 also used that method.

 

On 1/29/2023 at 10:32 AM, Stoffregen Motorsports said:

There you go. Buy some 720 pins.

 

I like the ones pictured above because they are greaseable. OME sells them with thread in pins, meaning the flange is fastened to the pin with threads and a lock nut. They too are greaseable.

 

I appreciate the suggestions, I'll probably look into that, as I was originally just going to run the original style bushings. If the pins are the same size as stock pins, it wont have any issues with bushing replacement. I'll have to look and see if new 720/d21 pins are available to order, otherwise I'll look into another brand/generic. I could also modify the bracket I made to accept both a stock pin or a aftermarket bolt in pin as well. But this isn't something im planning on selling, its just something that I want to fix (in my mind) when I do all the bushings in the back of the goon. If it works out for me, I'll probably just publish the file if anyone else wanted the bracket design too, or I'll just hand it over to ]2edeye so he can make it if he wanted to. 

[Anonymous Waffle]

So I did finally manage to find my paint through automotive touchup, I wanted to find a paint that was close, and through their "datsun" catalog, I was able to find a color they called Datsun 803, and I gave it a shot. Turns out to be very very similar to the green of my wagon. Did some digging around and not too much information is out there for this exact color. There are a few paint code sites that list a 803 color as Leaf Green, and I found one website that lists the nissan catalog picture of said 803 color. Which is shown below. The few times I've found 803 on websites, its listed as a 67 color and a 69 color, but that's it. 

 

https://hdpaintcode.com/datsun/

 

Vs 546 which is just "green" according to this site. 

 

 

Obviously these pictures don't do a justice, but I personally dont own a color sample catalog, so I've got no clue if this is a wagon vs sedan color, or if theyre the same or different color at all. But I gave my rear bumper valence a spray in the automotive touchup paint and I'm quite happy with it. Its obviously a little brighter and a tad flatter than the goon, but its close enough for government work. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Better than the strip of red above the bumper like I had before. I also removed the bumper over-riders since I really don't like those. 

Edited January 31, 2023 by Anonymous Waffle

[Stoffregen Motorsports]

The color looks good from here!

 

I assumed you were going to use poly bushings for the springs. The pins I showed have a positive stop so they won't overtighten the bushing, and you don't need to use a sleeve either.

 

Does anyone sell poly bushings for the wagon springs? If not, Energy Suspension has a PDF of all their poly bushings by size, not application.

[Anonymous Waffle]

4 hours ago, Stoffregen Motorsports said:

The color looks good from here!

 

I assumed you were going to use poly bushings for the springs. The pins I showed have a positive stop so they won't overtighten the bushing, and you don't need to use a sleeve either.

 

Does anyone sell poly bushings for the wagon springs? If not, Energy Suspension has a PDF of all their poly bushings by size, not application.

 

Sadly no one makes a bushing kit for stock 510 leaf springs, annoying. The small rear shackle bushings are completely NLA, and the large front bushing is still kind of available, due to its use in the Nissan Vanette/Datsun 810, but they all have to be shipped from out of the states, ie, China, Saudi Arabia, Africa. 

 

So instead of waiting over a month to do this, I bought these two kits after some extensive research (and hope)

 

Kit KJ02007BK from Daystar that fits a 87-95 jeep YJ,

 

And kit 3.2125G 1-3/4" shackle bushings for chevy trucks. With a little bit of modification I should be able to make these fit.

 

I didn't really want to go with poly replacements for the leafs, but will do for now.