Building my first 510

[Burabuda]

nah that box-flare car needs a vq (+ hoodscoop) :cool:

[831payupv8]

I think a vg33 with a vortech supercharger would be awesome. It would definitely be alot of work but it would be different. Its kind of an idea I've been tossing around with my four door I just picked up.

[lil89ram50]

funky cross member??????? tryn to think what oilpan is go n to fit that one.its eith front or rear sump. this put its still in the middle ,in the way!!!!!!!!!!

maybe its a ka with a dry sump

[oldschool80sguy]

Smoothing the engine bay:

Some parts going to powdercoat tomorrow: (The Sway bar must have weighed 20 lbs, its 1-1/4 thick) thinking Smurf blue for the suspension parts.

[oldschool80sguy]

worked on Headlights today out of drunken boredom. Need to figure out proper screw and plastic sizes. I can match the spring at the hardware store. off to powdercoat Monday.

[oldschool80sguy]

parts back from powdercoating: The cowl is just blasted to save me time, the seat rails black and the front sway bar Agean Blue, i will do all suspension parts in that blue.

[oldschool80sguy]

[oldschool80sguy]

[oldschool80sguy]

worked on the firewall / cowl pocket today, heard it was a hot spot for rust. They were right. All good now though!

[oldschool80sguy]

Awesome day at the Salvage yard:

Guage cluster

Glove box

All coat hooks and sun visor

heater controls

shifter surround

rear trunk lock / latch

Stock Crossmember

Stock Valve cover

And .......REAR SEAT COMPLETE!! (happier than a fat kid with a cupcake)

[oldschool80sguy]

cut out a swiss cheese section of the firewall with the help of a Navy Diver. Still have some finessing to do but it's better than filling 15 holes and a small patch. also here is another view of where the "Full Frame" meets the rear inside. the bars are 2in wide up top.

[oldschool80sguy]

To clear up an earlier point; Here are the two cross-members side by side. at first glance you can see the LCA points and engine mounting area are identical. when i took a closer look i noticed that other than the goofy bar in-between there is only one other difference. There seem to be a second Control arm stud location custom drilled above the stock one. what this does exactly to the suspension or the wheel location i am not sure.

[yellowdatsun]

First off, congrats on the box flared 510! Nice to see another one. Don't listen to the nay-sayers :-) I've currently got a VG30 in mine, and I'm the one building the VG34. Engine is at the shop as we speak. I also know places to get new flares, if you ever need any. I did very similar smoothing work on my firewall, cut and paste, comes out great. I had also removed the drain in the cowl, it's like you're copying me :-) That comes in very handy, because you can run the EFI wires up through there, and through the interior vent, making an EFI install look super clean. Save the funky crossmember, when you do an engine swap it may be easier to fix that one, than butcher another stock one. Keep me in mind if you've got questions, like I said, you're doing a lot of stuff that I've already done.

 

In addition, Since you'll be rewiring the car, don't even bother with a 40 year old POS harness, install a nice new functioning aftermarket one. Installing an aftermarket wiring kit is pretty easy, don't worry too much about it. The only hard part is making the aftermarket kit work with the factory lights and gauges. For the lights it will be easy, just make your own ends. The gauges will be a little harder, you'll need the round plastic pigtail that attaches to the back of the gauge cluster, so you can splice the aftermarket harness into it. Either find a junk harness, or have someone sell you the pigtail with about 12 inches of wire left on it. If you can't find one, let me know.

[oldschool80sguy]

First off, congrats on the box flared 510! Nice to see another one. Don't listen to the nay-sayers :-) I've currently got a VG30 in mine, and I'm the one building the VG34. Engine is at the shop as we speak. I also know places to get new flares, if you ever need any. I did very similar smoothing work on my firewall, cut and paste, comes out great. I had also removed the drain in the cowl, it's like you're copying me :-) That comes in very handy, because you can run the EFI wires up through there, and through the interior vent, making an EFI install look super clean. Save the funky crossmember, when you do an engine swap it may be easier to fix that one, than butcher another stock one. Keep me in mind if you've got questions, like I said, you're doing a lot of stuff that I've already done.

 

In addition, Since you'll be rewiring the car, don't even bother with a 40 year old POS harness, install a nice new functioning aftermarket one. Installing an aftermarket wiring kit is pretty easy, don't worry too much about it. The only hard part is making the aftermarket kit work with the factory lights and gauges. For the lights it will be easy, just make your own ends. The gauges will be a little harder, you'll need the round plastic pigtail that attaches to the back of the gauge cluster, so you can splice the aftermarket harness into it. Either find a junk harness, or have someone sell you the pigtail with about 12 inches of wire left on it. If you can't find one, let me know.

 

Well i appreciate your help and support. I have no harness what so ever so i will probably be going with a painless or EZ kit. I will definitely have questions for you in the future.

[oldschool80sguy]

boredom and beer led to the repair of the glove box today. all new hardware and i highlighted the badge for contrast. very happy with results. Tip: If you glove box door broke off, take it apart and bond it back together with Gorilla tape (make a sandwich of it) it's black, has a texture similar to the box and is strong and flexible.

[oldschool80sguy]

Yes, the skateboard is my Creeper.

[oldschool80sguy]

Thanks to GreenEggs&Ham's amazing work with Photoshop I have my paint plan. This is an original photo of the car that he modified. I am seriously considering tossing the wide body air dam for a modified Dobe front valance as seen in the picture:

[yellowdatsun]

Personally, I think a spook type air dam would look odd on a box flared car. I'd keep the matching air dam. If you do "toss" the wide body air dam, I'll take it.

 

You were talking about stiffening up the car, yet you cut out the spare tire well. That complex shape gives the back end of the car a lot of strength. Mine was removed when I got it, and 2 years ago I went to great lengths to find another and put it back in. The difference is noticeable. Unless it's really rotten, there's no good reason to take it out. Even if you were doing a fuel cell, that's not the place to put it.

[oldschool80sguy]

Personally, I think a spook type air dam would look odd on a box flared car. I'd keep the matching air dam. If you do "toss" the wide body air dam, I'll take it.

 

You were talking about stiffening up the car, yet you cut out the spare tire well. That complex shape gives the back end of the car a lot of strength. Mine was removed when I got it, and 2 years ago I went to great lengths to find another and put it back in. The difference is noticeable. Unless it's really rotten, there's no good reason to take it out. Even if you were doing a fuel cell, that's not the place to put it.

 

In the end i may use a stock tank and modify it for filling inside the trunk. My father is a chassis man and he brought up the same point. I will take it into consideration and also i will be welding in a cross member for support of the flat floor. it will go horizontally from the two beams underneath. I am doing this because i had heard of the fill pan alone causing a weird noise like a sheet metal music instrument and also because i want to be able to put things into the trunk without the floor buckling under the weight. Thank you for bring it up though. if you know anyone else who could use a perfectly cutout well just let me know. or else it's out to the scrap yard.

[oldschool80sguy]

Back from Powdercoating:

[yellowdatsun]

There's always a lot of people looking for a spare tire well. It's a really common rust area. If you post it in the for sale section with a decent price, it will be gone almost immediately.

 

The stock tank can actually work really well with EFI. Many of us, including me, have modified the tank for an in-tank pump. Not hard to do, you could do it yourself. The advantages are many, including keeping the tank in the safest place possible in the car. If you want ideas for that, let us/me know, a bunch of us can help with it.

[oldschool80sguy]

There's always a lot of people looking for a spare tire well. It's a really common rust area. If you post it in the for sale section with a decent price, it will be gone almost immediately.

 

The stock tank can actually work really well with EFI. Many of us, including me, have modified the tank for an in-tank pump. Not hard to do, you could do it yourself. The advantages are many, including keeping the tank in the safest place possible in the car. If you want ideas for that, let us/me know, a bunch of us can help with it.

 

Im not going EFI with the VG33 but i would be interested in any information on modding the tank, first things first i need to be able to fill it from inside the trunk. I am not cutting into my Wide Body Kit for a fuel door. thanks!

[yellowdatsun]

No reason to mod the tank then. If you're using a carb you can use the original factory lines from the tank. An in-trunk filler neck can be adapted to the stock filler pretty easily, you'll just need to figure out how to do it. A friend cut the filler off of a 300ZX tank, because they're all metal, and grafted his on inside the trunk.

[oldschool80sguy]

No reason to mod the tank then. If you're using a carb you can use the original factory lines from the tank. An in-trunk filler neck can be adapted to the stock filler pretty easily, you'll just need to figure out how to do it. A friend cut the filler off of a 300ZX tank, because they're all metal, and grafted his on inside the trunk.

 

i wasn't sure if the salvage yards kept the gas tanks in the car? I may have to find a fill neck somewhere else. the ZX idea is cool though.

[oldschool80sguy]

Ok, the trunk is finally getting somewhere. no pics just yet though. We will be modifying a stock tank to save some green. The spare tire well i cutout is still part of the plan so that when the car is viewed from the rear it will still have the clean (sort of) muscle car look. Wide tire-Rear diff-Wide tire. instead of viewing the well itself. we will be reinforcing the entire area using 1-1/2 square tubing (notched for the stock bars that run lengthwise in the car)and 1/8 sheetmetal. should look pretty sick. this will come together after payday so plan on pics to follow around the 16th.