Lego's 71 510 wagon

[banzai510(hainz)]

Mesh in at least 15inch.

13 in stock hub cap.

the 15 in in later snowflake in stock Datsun is maybe the best.

If you live closer I have a set of Rota RB 7x15.

Rota has a mesh OS I think but they want alot of money now but when 1st came out was like 500/600 bucks

[iceman510]

3 hours ago, banzai510(hainz) said:

 

but the swastika wheels got to go. that wagon is to good for them. 

 

I don't know, I like those wheels.  😉

Edited September 30, 2024 by iceman510

[banzai510(hainz)]

One thing about a wagon is you can lower them only so much as the driveline hits the tunnel if you put 3inch blocks and  a hard pull. I think 2in block in back 3 inch drop in front with 15in wheels taking up the space so it look lower than it is.

[Legoman27]

Steering box is now refreshed
new seals, input shaft bearings, and new oil
should be back in the car in the near future

 

write up here

 

[Legoman27]

Car is back together again

Ended up with a bit of warp and a hotspot on my brake rotors, so I got them resurfaced

 

Made it out to a show with some people from work. Seems like there are plenty of people who have no idea what it is

 

Cleaned up more mismatched spray paint, mostly on the rear quarter

 

 

No life from the speedo so I pulled everything out expecting to find a wiped gear somewhere, but it all tested fine

I think the drive cable is a little worn, and the sheathing is starting to split anyway, so I've got a new one on the way

Figured I'd clean everything up while I'm in there

 

Found some files online for a 3d printed tach project, quite impressed with the models tbh

 

Need some paint, but it's looking good so far imo

[Legoman27]

Tach looks pretty alright with some spray paint & paint markers

 

 

[Z23T]

That tach came out pretty damn nice. Can you share some info about it, like where you found the print file, and what are you using for the electronics?

[Legoman27]

10 minutes ago, Z23T said:

Can you share some info about it, like where you found the print file, and what are you using for the electronics?

 

Files are here on thingiverse

https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:4948260

 

It uses a ~$20, 2" tach. Cheapest I've ever seen. We'll see how well it'll hold up

The link provided on thingiverse seems to have changed, but this one looks like it's exactly the same

https://a.co/d/chKRc5M

[KELMO]

That tach face looks like the one someone on here made, Aarondatsun maybe.

 

Yours came out looking good.

[iceman510]

I think you are right that was Aaron.  I was wondering how the tach sweep and face were calibrated to match accurately.

[Legoman27]

55 minutes ago, iceman510 said:

I think you are right that was Aaron.  I was wondering how the tach sweep and face were calibrated to match accurately.

The needle has to come off to install in the new face

If it ends up out of sync, it just pulls off, then you reinstall pointing to zero

[iceman510]

Sure, but the sweep has to match.  For example, if 8000 RPM range on the gauge face is from 8 o'clock around to 4 o'clock, the tach has to match that same sweep exactly or the information would be meaningless.  I'm just curious if he designed the face for a very specific tach.  You mentioned the link changing, which I thought possibly significant.

 

Great if it works for you, and it looks nice.

[Legoman27]

28 minutes ago, iceman510 said:

Sure, but the sweep has to match.  For example, if 8000 RPM range on the gauge face is from 8 o'clock around to 4 o'clock, the tach has to match that same sweep exactly or the information would be meaningless.  I'm just curious if he designed the face for a very specific tach.  You mentioned the link changing, which I thought possibly significant

Ah, my misunderstanding

In the description on thingiverse he says he designed the face to match the ~260 degree sweep of the linked tach

 

Wouldn't be too hard to redo the marks for the readout if necessary

 

32 minutes ago, iceman510 said:

Great if it works for you, and it looks nice.

Thanks, I'm quite happy with it for maybe $50 all in

[iceman510]

3 hours ago, Legoman27 said:

In the description on thingverse he says he designed the face to match the ~260 degree sweep of the linked tach

 

 

Ahh, I missed that.  Didn't look closely enough.  Makes sense.

[Legoman27]

 

replaced the intake / exhaust gasket
seems it was slathered in grey RTV at some point

 

discovered I had a spare hitachi carb for some reason, so I swapped over the base plate
throttle shaft seals were replaced at some point & the butterfly valves are in much better shape

 

Haven't tried it out yet since I managed to break the coolant bypass putting it back together
it was so plugged with rust that It probably wasn't doing much anyway

 

made a new one with some hard line & a few fittings
waiting on the right hoses to come in before I try it out

 

Still working on cleaning up paint in some places
slow going but it's progress

and stuck on a few badges

 

[Legoman27]

Started poking around at my door cards recently
4/7 should be okay with some small patches, maybe some fiberglass

the other 3 I'll need to make whole new panels

 

the vinyl on most of them is pretty badly sun damaged so no amount of cleaning is going to do much to help the color
Good news is 66-67 GM "M14 bright blue" is as close of a match as you can get.

 

with a little heat, the vinyl stretches back in to shape as well
The heat gun i've got is a small temp adjustable one for soldering, So I was able to be pretty delicate with it
not sure I'd try this with a larger one

so a few holes to patch along with re-gluing everything and I should have some pretty nice looking door cards


Unfortunately I also walked into my door mirror and just about broke it off the car
you can imagine how happy I was with myself 🙄

[Anonymous Waffle]

I applaud your go at repairing your door panels!! My 69 panels are in similar condition.. A few good panels, and a few bad panels.. I was thinking of making new panels entirely and going for a patterned look, but I do love the lines on a stock door card. Keeup us updated on how well the diy repair comes along

[rosso]

On 11/13/2024 at 4:51 PM, Legoman27 said:

Unfortunately I also walked into my door mirror and just about broke it off the car
you can imagine how happy I was with myself 🙄

 

Sorry to see that mirror get dinked - when I park my '72 wagon (in my very small garage) for any expected longer amount of time, I take the mirror off just to make sure I don't forget to avoid hitting it. Good luck with your continued  work.

 

[Legoman27]

really ought to update this more often 
poked at things here and there over the last year

pulled apart the passenger side to clean up the drip rail

 

   

 

and around the rear window

 

sat for a bit like that so it got some paint

 

pulled the windshield
not as bad as I expected, but needs work
   

 

will have to pull the dash to figure this out

backside of the passenger A pillar

 

decided to go ahead and pull the engine
hoist wouldn't fit under the car with both wheels on, so one it is

bores were pretty heavily worn on the 1.6 and one of the head bolts snapped during teardown
not sure what to do with it at this point
a good few bits will get robbed from it for my L20, but not much use otherwise

 

pulled to tackle all the rust in the front end 
rad support may as well be made of cheese

 

 

lots of crust

 

 

 

 

all cut out

 

decided I'm going to relocate the battery
probably under the rear seat

 

 

remade this inner panel for the bumper mount

 

and made this panel today

 

 

one of these days I'll have to get a real metal brake

Edited November 15, 2025 by Legoman27
fix img link, duplicate photo

[Legoman27]

finished one panel & started another 

 

Edited November 24, 2025 by Legoman27
rogue link

[Legoman27]

well I guess I found myself some motivation to get this thing back together
rebuilt L20b popped up an hour from me for a deal

 

got a little moisture in it at some point but seems like it'll clean up fine
I can see 050 stamped on some of the other pistons

 

came with an offenhauser intake, headers, a matchbox dizzy and a few other spares
needs an oil pump drive, otherwise looks complete

Guy I got it from bought it years ago with the intent to put it in his 620, but it sat.
According to him, it was used as someone's race motor in a 510
Not sure about that though, given the front sump pan that's on it
given the missing oil pump drive maybe they had some fancy high-flow setup they took off before selling
but who knows

I just need to get in gear and finish my rad support lol

[datzenmike]

11 hours ago, Legoman27 said:

Guy I got it from bought it years ago with the intent to put it in his 620, but it sat.
According to him, it was used as someone's race motor in a 510
 

 

Hope you got it cheap. Appears to have a truck oil pan on it so he got that far, or put it in and didn't like it, took it out. An L16 oil pan from a 510 will fit right on. Any L16/18 or L20B oil pump/distributor drive spindle will work but get the oil pump from any KA powered D21 Hardbody truck. They are common and have a high volume output. The internal rotors are 13% longer...

 

 

 N58 head? Not really one of the production heads that came on Datsuns. Could be from an import engine.

 

Are exhaust ports round or square? 

Do intake ports have small notches at the top for fuel injectors?

[Legoman27]

Yes N58

Round intake and exhaust 

Exhaust has liners like my w58

 

No notches

[datzenmike]

If it had W58 then '78-'80 engine. I have no info on N58 heads, they were not listed as used certainly not widely used, but you never know, the odd one may have got through as liners were the order of the day back in '78.

 

I assume the header has matching round ports?

[Legoman27]

Square ports on the header