Dastun 310GX 4 Door Hatchback

[cedratto]

Hello my name is Cedar, I am 19 years old, and this is my Datsun!

I bought it as a non runner in June of last year being told by the previous owner that there is a "vacuum issue" with the carburetor and that he had put a new battery and mechanical fuel pump in it but didn't have the time or money to continue working on it. Almost a year later and it's been sitting in my driveway basically untouched since trailering it home. As it is in beautiful original condition, my intention was to get it running and use it as my daily. The mechanical issues date back to the first owners who were planning on having it crushed before the guy I bought it from saved it. I've loved older cars since I was a lot younger but was never able to learn about them and work on anything myself so I'm unfortunately pretty clueless on where to start or what might need fixing. It is currently sitting dead as I accidentally left the roof light on one night and drained the battery. My starting plan is to get it jumped, tow it to a shop and get a general diagnosis. I'll try to update this post if and when I get stuff done to it! The hood is a little crooked from when a friend of mine closed it while still being opened and bent some things.

[bilzbobaggins]

Welcome.  Nice first post.   Tell us more about the cat

[datzenmike]

53194 shows built Jan '79. Is there a tag on the driver's door jam that has the build date??? 

 

'80 was the last year with the round headlights.

 

 

Not good to leave a battery discharged. I suggest getting an original Nissan factory service manual (FSM) and start learning. Having a garage do what you can do gets expensive. This is a 43 year old car with a carburetor. Most mechanic will know NOTHING about this so why pay them $100 an hour to learn??? and they get to keep this knowledge!! You might as well learn this for free!!! and you get to keep what you learn.  As you work on it and learn, buy the tools needed. 55K it should still have lots of miles left in it.

 

Beautiful tabby.

 

 

 

[powderfinger]

Really nice car you have there, gotta love that 70s/80s red interior lol.

[cedratto]

Thank you haha! His name is Rufus and he's almost a year old with a brother of a similar coat and a sister who's all black!

[cedratto]

4 hours ago, datzenmike said:

53194 shows built Jan '79. Is there a tag on the driver's door jam that has the build date??? 

 

'80 was the last year with the round headlights.

 

 

Not good to leave a battery discharged. I suggest getting an original Nissan factory service manual (FSM) and start learning. Having a garage do what you can do gets expensive. This is a 43 year old car with a carburetor. Most mechanic will know NOTHING about this so why pay them $100 an hour to learn??? and they get to keep this knowledge!! You might as well learn this for free!!! and you get to keep what you learn.  As you work on it and learn, buy the tools needed. 55K it should still have lots of miles left in it.

 

Beautiful tabby.

 

 

 

Thank you for the advice, I assume I can find those kinds of manuals on ebay? I'll do some looking around. Unfortunately the garage is our landlords and we don't have access to it but I agree that build a collections of tools as I learn will be a good idea and fun to finally get some hands on experience! As for the door jam plate- it didn't a specific date on it, but the numbers that are a little hard to read in the picture are "2/80" and "153194." Guess it would've been a good idea to put the date of the car in the title.

 

The cat love is very welcome, he's another of my feline babies.

[cedratto]

2 hours ago, powderfinger said:

Really nice car you have there, gotta love that 70s/80s red interior lol.

Thank you! The red interior and the shape it's in was a big factor in my love for the car when I first saw it- so cool!

[cedratto]

1 minute ago, cedratto said:

Thank you for the advice, I assume I can find those kinds of manuals on ebay? I'll do some looking around. Unfortunately the garage is our landlords and we don't have access to it but I agree that build a collections of tools as I learn will be a good idea and fun to finally get some hands on experience! As for the door jam plate- it didn't a specific date on it, but the numbers that are a little hard to read in the picture are "2/80" and "153194." Guess it would've been a good idea to put the date of the car in the title.

 

The cat love is very welcome, he's another of my feline babies.

Sorry, forgot to add the picture, still getting used to the forum!

[datzenmike]

HaH! I missed the 1 in 153,194!!!! Yeah that was built Jan '80 as you said.

 

17 minutes ago, cedratto said:

 

 

 

The cat love is very welcome, he's another of my feline babies.

 

Yeah I like cats, got 6 of them.

[cedratto]

1 minute ago, datzenmike said:

HaH! I missed the 1 in 153,194!!!! Yeah that was built Jan '80 as you said.

 

 

Yeah I like cats, got 6 of them.

We've got 5 including our seniors, turning 16 this year! And in looking for manuals I realized that when I bought the car the guy gave me a printed out service maunal along with a couple other original booklets. I just ordered a spare off ebay as I think the one I have is missing some pages and the printing is not the best quality and some spaces didn't come out right.

[datzenmike]

The little booklet that's usually in the glove box is just to tell you how to operate the car. You need the FSM maybe an inch and a half thick. NOT Chiltons or Haynes.

 

 

https://www.ebay.ca/itm/165108263091?chn=ps&norover=1&mkevt=1&mkrid=706-89093-2056-0&mkcid=2&mkscid=101&itemid=165108263091&targetid=1658564390151&device=c&mktype=pla&googleloc=9001614&poi=&campaignid=17297483408&mkgroupid=136441050403&rlsatarget=pla-1658564390151&abcId=9300871&merchantid=116372627&gclid=CjwKCAjw36GjBhAkEiwAKwIWyZo8FlUsZjmiDEYUMTXk5h7nCd0BXWwX1EgThyIS0EDqJIIiQUSmARoC_dUQAvD_BwE

 

Pays for itself the first time you use it. Keep in the bathroom and read every morning. Info in... garbage out.

[Stoffregen Motorsports]

Cool little car. It's so original...

[Motorvated]

Congrats on the purchase mate.

 

Thats a cool little Datto there. Never seen the 310 in hatchback form and that interior is EPIC!

 

I'm in the same boat. No previous experience wrenching, but doing it anyway. 

All the best for the build!