Rust revival

[Rustbin]

Happy 510 day! I have a 4 door project that I started in 1984 and a 2 door I've had since about 2000. I've been working on my 2 door 510 for a while and wanted to share this process. I've been reading the threads since 2009, learned a lot, so now it's time to help others. I'll be uploading pictures when I get things setup. 

[Rustbin]

Trying photo to upload  from 2014.

[Trophy24]

Keep trying we love project pictures!

 

[BrothersGarage]

On 5/10/2022 at 8:44 PM, Rustbin said:

Trying photo to upload  from 2014.

I've found the easiest way is to use a website like imgur.com 

Use the green "New post" button at the top left, and drag and drop the images into your browser. Once they're all uploaded you can right click on them to get their URL and come and paste the link to the image here on Ratsun and it will load the image. 

[edekalil]

 Can't wait to see the cars.

[Rustbin]

Trying with Imgur

 

 

 

[Rustbin]

I think I've got it.

 

 

[Rustbin]

That's how it was in 2014. I took it off the road just after the MSD died in 2002.  The car was loud and on my way home one night a cop pulled me over. I turned off the key before he got out of the cruiser and we did the license and registration bit, I was all legal then he asked me to start the car and it didn't. He hung around a little while I tried to get it going again then left. I had no spark so I walked home, next morning I found a stock distributor and walked back and installed it the drove it back. Between 2002 and 2011 I went through some financial and marital hard times and the car was basically neglected.

 

 

[Rustbin]

In 2019, after getting together with my present wife and building a shop and other home improvements I got the Datsun into the shop during the Christmas break to do some work to it.

 

 

 

I started with cleaning it out and pulling up the carpet to find rust.

 

 

 

 

 

[Rustbin]

I pulled out the seats to find more rust.

 

 

 

 

 

And more rust.

 

 

 

I was a little disheartened.

[Rustbin]

Many years before I hammered up some floor patches out of an old 720 hood but they were not going to work for this case.

 

 

I had looked online at Futofab and KlassicFab because of comments and links here and on the realm but I really didn't have the budget at the time. Last fall I was talking to my friend Gord about swapping the interior from his '72 to his '71 Riviera boat tail and the lack of available parts. So I went searching on the internet for Riviera info and somehow got onto the KlassicFab website and found 510 floorpans on sale if you buy the pair. I told my wife and she said happy birthday and bought them for me, the inner rockers as well.

 

 

 

I started planning.

[Rustbin]

I watched youtube videos to find out what I would need, two good sources were Fitzee's Fabrication and Make it Kustom, which confirmed that I would need a decent welder. My wife helped look online for welders and we saw one at Canadian Tire. I counted up my Canadian tire money and the stashed spare cash and bought a Lincoln 140 120V that was on sale. It is way better than the $300 dollar Canadian Tire that I got 15 years ago.

 

The welding (shopping) cart was given to me by my friend Gord for welding patches into the floor of his 71 Riviera. I also was on the lookout for sheet metal and found some shelves behind the health food store next to my wife's work, so I asked if I could take them, the owner said it was OK.

 

 

 

Then it was time to uncover the 2 door and figure out where to start.

 

 

 

 

 

[Rustbin]

First the roll bar had to come out, I remembered having trouble undoing the bolts so I cut the ones that  couldn't undo and as I got the bolts securing it to the wheel wells out it started falling through the floor. I had to jack it up to get it out.

 

 

 

 

The original plastic cover was pinched between the roll bar and the piece of rusted floor.

 

 

[Rustbin]

Where the floor pan meets the rear seat area is rusted away so I decided to start there so to make a pattern from my 4 door.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Now to put it to metal.

 

 

I'm going to trim off the excess when I'm welding it in as my pattern is taken above the floor and the flange sits beneath it.

 

 

[Rustbin]

Under the rear seat area is crunchy.

 

 

So making pattern and patch panels for this area is next.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Next to use the welder.

 

 

 

 

 

One more section is needed.

 

 

 

 

 

I'll trim and weld these pieces to the others when I'm fitting them into the car because things will shift after removing the old flanges.

[Rustbin]

Looking over the floor I decided to tackle the seat braces next because I had a old radio equipment case that was the same thickness as the stock ones. It would be a challenge without a break but I have bed angle and vise grips.

 

 

I removed the bottom and the cut the bent edges to replace the rusted bottoms of the front braces, then bent the center into the rear ones. Again I left them long to fit the tunnel side, I want to reuse the stock end where it curves upwards to avoid struggling to make the compound curve.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I think I may have used my air chisel with the hammer attachment that I just got at a garage sale a little while ago to bend it over the bed angle, the ball peen was taking a bit of time.

[Rustbin]

The left rear side was sitting a little lower than the right and knowing it was the rustier I took a look.

 

 

 

 

Cell phones are good for getting a view of places you can't really get your eyeballs in to look. I need to replace the underside piece too. time to clean out the four door and make more patterns.

Junk in the trunk.

 

 

So that's where the tray and grill trim piece was hiding.

 

 

With no diff or shock the rear subframe comes out easy.

 

 

Lots of cobwebs. Then I lifted it with my engine hoist and supported it with a sawhorse, triangulated with a 4x4 and 2x4, so it didn't wobble.

 

 

I scraped the underside the used chalk to draw around to help me see the edges.

 

 

I'm going to have to fix the four door too. There is a stepped flange I need to deal with.

 

 

Donor vehicle.

 

 

Rad support with metal of appropriate thickness.

 

 

 

Spot weld removal.

 

 

 

Back to the radio case for the flange.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Rustbin]

I guess I should state that I have a home based upholstery business and I have to keep things fairly clean and be watchful around the customers furniture. I've been doing what I can in my shop and the rest is done outside while dodging raindrops. I live in the Pacific northwest so weather is always sketchy.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

To get the right shape and angles I held the pieces up to the underside of the four door with a stick on the bottle jack and a screw through the side upright to tack it in place then fully welded it on my  sawhorse bench. Welding above it a real pain, I'm going to have to beg borrow or build some kind of rotisserie to weld together the two door. Anybody have any suggestions?

[Rustbin]

This is the engine bay of the two door,  post squirrels.

 

 

Is anybody familiar with these horns?

 

 

They were not operational when I got the car I didn't see how they would be hooked up.

 

 

 

 

 

[Ooph!]

1 hour ago, Rustbin said:

 

 

To get the right shape and angles I held the pieces up to the underside of the four door with a stick on the bottle jack and a screw through the side upright to tack it in place then fully welded it on my  sawhorse bench. Welding above it a real pain, I'm going to have to beg borrow or build some kind of rotisserie to weld together the two door. Anybody have any suggestions?

 

 I saw this idea in Noll's project Theseus 

 

 

Edited May 30, 2022 by Ooph!

[Rustbin]

Thanks Ooph. I enjoyed reading Noll's thread, I will probably doing something like this unless someone nearby has a nice rotisserie to loan me.

[carterb]

You are doing wonderful things!

Keep it up.

--carter

[Rustbin]

Thanks Carter, I'm set on driving this 510 again. I've been busy recovering an eleven foot long couch in white fabric that has been in my shop for the last three weeks. I had to wash and clean my whole shop before starting and if the fabric touched the floor it was a redo so I was afraid to even fart let alone do anything car related in there. Luckily it left Friday but the rain made it impossible to do anything outside till today. One of the first things I tried to make was some inner rocker panels for the four door but the shelving is a thicker gauge then I was used to working with so my first attempts at bending with the bed irons as a break was frustrating. On lighter gauge metal you can bend one side of the bead then bend the metal back clamping the other side of the bead then adjust it with cross peen hammer, this didn't work for me with this metal. Forward to Saturday with torrential downpours and a open shop so I picked up the pieces again and tried again with my new experience, a bigger hammer and made things work. I started with the front section and the jacking point with the hammer shrinking was very encouraging.

 

 

I built a bottom jig for the bead and tool to hammer the bead in.

 

 

 

 

I didn't take pictures of the processes on the first side because I was just trying things out but did of the second.

 

 

 

 

I needed to cut a slit along the part where seat belt bolt mounts to and will have to add some reinforcing metal to this area.

 

 

 I will have to find a nut to weld in and I know where to look.

 

[Rustbin]

Many years ago I bought a rusty 1980 510 wagon from a friend for very cheep thinking I would put the engine in the four door. The car ended up sitting in the back of the yard as a storage bin and slowly rusted even more. The sun broke through this afternoon so I started on getting the seat belt nuts.

 

 

It seems the squirrels found a way in.

 

 

 

 

This was their bedroom.

 

 

 

This is how much plant matter the squirrels brought into the car and I literally shoveled out and into the wheelbarrow.

 

 

A few cuts and I have eight nuts for the seat belts, I don't know why Nissan put in four per side on the inner rocker but it made my job quicker.

 

 

Clamping devise for wire brushing the rust off.

 

 

Then almost ready for welding, just need the backing plate.

 

 

I will try to get this finished this week and then start on the floor support if I can find some heavy enough gauge metal.

 

 

[Rustbin]

Finding the right thickness of metal leads to many adventures around the yard, I rummage through my old vehicles which is where I stash stuff that I might have a use for but I don't know what yet, to try to find what I need now. I found the remains of an old built in electric fire place but it was thinner than the backing piece for the seat belt mount, upon removing them from there resting spot I see the side table off a barbecue. I pulled it out and check and it is the right thickness! Someday I'm going to get a little gage or something so I don't have to lug the piece of metal to know if it's the right gauge.

 

 

I measured the size and cut.

 

 

I bent flanges on the edges.

 

 

Then measured and drilled the holes.

 

 

Luckily one afternoon this week the rain stopped, clouds parted and sun came out, perfect for welding. I finished the inner rockers even though I was late for dinner.

Back side.

 

 

Front side.

 

Both together.

 

 

 

Feeling happy with the job and very hungry for dinner.