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My sr20det Datsun 510 build saga...


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Well kids, Saturday night and I could be out chasing bottle rats and finding myself a nice wife (for the night), but instead I'm in the garage working on a near 50 year-old piece of history. Somehow I feel like this time is more rewarding and tangible. But, I digress...

 

Shall I remind you of the sorry state I last left you in??? Boom....

 

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8 dremel cutting blades later, I finally have a notable appearance of progress. I just turned on some good music and slowly worked my way through my misery. I did have a problem with the blade jumping around and hitting the wall of the rear axel stub connector walls. More on that later...

 

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A closer view because it took me hours to get here....

 

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Ah the joy that this little nub of shredded metal brought to me was monumental. I felt redeemed, slightly, for the massive screw up that put me here...

 

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About thirty minutes later this was the glorious end to this small battle. It took 12 dremel blades, vise grips, a hammer, a metal punch, and so damn much time. But, it was time to clean up, test fit and evaluate what needs to be plated and what is trash....

 

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Shortly after my glorious moment I had to face the reality that I may have done some damage. I am pretty sure that this is innocuous and won't make a difference, but I'll let someone with more experience tell me. And, I know it will not be visible at all once connected...

 

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Another angle...

 

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The worst of the fallout damage...

 

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And the completely broken down shot. Yay!!! Now I just need my press to arrive so I can remove the bushings. But, I am going to wait to have the adjustable rear camber bracket welded on before I remove them. What I need to know is what hardware I can get rid of and what needs to be coated and plated. I am assuming that the drum back plate and rubber stop can go. Everything else should stay right?? Do I need the brake line clips if I'm going braided lines???

 

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Then it was time for some motivation. I started test fitting brackets....

 

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Another angle...

 

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As sexy as it was, the moment was short lived. I have the same sized rotors for the front and rear. I had the front hubs machined to accept these rotors, but thought the rears would fit without any work. Apparently I was wrong. I may have to have my new rear stub axels machined down a slight bit now too. I'm also glad I picked up the longer ARP studs. That is going to be a nice safety precaution. Can I just lay a thin coat of flat black paint over the stub axels to make them look a little more clean? Overkill, but want them as fresh as possible. Also, need powder coating color options. Was going to go black, but may go a metallic gun metal grey...

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So, let me tell you first and foremost that a vibratory tumbler is a clean freak with OCD's best friend.  I love this damn thing.  It was all about cleaning this weekend.  Getting parts ready to be sent out and off to plating, welding, etc. Once out, I'll have time to research bearing installation, put together my new 20-ton press and start researching the front suspension.  Most of the front will not be used anyway since I have the Datsport SR20 retrofit kit.  So I hope, and hope is the key word, that it will be an easier workload.  The rear end has had a brutal learning curve to it.  Shall we jump back in to it?

 

First off it was time to lightly wash down the rear crossmember and control arms.  These dirty bastards had been leaving trails where ever I left them.  If I had to work on them, there was a large debris field of nasty dirt and grime in about a 5 foot radius around my work station.  Enough was enough!

 

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I just wanted these things clean enough to move around and put in my car to take to the machine shop.  I wil have them media blasted at some point and then powdercoated once the weld work has been completed.  I need to match these to the Datsport kit finish, so I am going to do mostly note taking tonight.  So after a good blue pad scrub with some Simple Green and a light towel dry, this is what I was left with....

 

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Then it was time to address the hardware.  This may be a stupid rookie question, but I can totally cadmium or yellow-zinc coat all this right?  I want to coat the rear of the stub axels too if that won't mess with the whole tongue and groove thing.  Otherwise I'll just give the exterior a thin coat of flat black.  Anyone have any input here??

 

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In to the vibratory tumbler it went.  After reading the instructions three times, I put my odds of screwing this up at approximately 40%.  The best odds I've had so far....

 

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Then it was time to do what all those informercials tell you to do all the time.  "Set it and forget it!"  So, I flipped the switch and went and marinated some chicken.  Those of you experienced car restoration guys may say "why the hell aren't you working on some of the many other parts of the car you will have to restore?"  To you I say, I'm a moron, if I add more parts to this picture I'm going to forget where everything goes.  There, I said it....

 

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I took a look inside at around the two hour mark.  To my surprise, it was actually working.  I did spring a leak at one point, but that was quickly fixed with a tighter bolt down. 

 

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I didn't polish anything.  I have another solution for that which goes with the glass media as well as another media type that does the fine work.  But, I didn't know if I should bother polishing this all up if I'm going to take it and drop it all off for a nice gold plated look.  Again, I ask you all for your experience and opinions here.  Help me boys and girls!! I know nothing and research on this had led me to a ton of silly opinions about .0002 nano-micro-meter-degrees and all sorts of other way too technical nonsense.  I'm more of a thumbs up or thumbs down kind of guy....

 

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These things came out great.  Inspect away..... please note, I intentionally did not show you guys the one I made look horrible in my whole cutting the rear stub axel conundrum.  Oops.  Anyway, hoping to get this plated too.  Thats right, overkill... Thumbs up?

 

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Then I snapped an nice artistic shot.  Thats right kids, I'm creative like that.....

 

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So, if you can't tell already, big dog needs some opinions regarding plating.  Fire when ready....

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Small update. Been doing a lot of researching on metal plating and machine shops in my area. Also trying to figure out the right direction to take everything so that there isn't too much unnecessary waiting. So hardware is off to platers and should be back in two to three weeks. The rear crossmember, rear control arms and adjustable rear brackets go off to the machine shop tomorrow. I'm going to plan on having them welded on the FutoFab brackets and open the exhaust hole to accept a 3" tube. Other the that, I may or may not have my rear hubs machined down to accept the Sentra GTR rotors.

 

So with the down time tonight I finally got my 20 ton shop press put together. It trips me out to think I started this project with a tool kit from ikea in a detached garage. Luxuries like a tv, radio, heat, good lightening, proper tools, a proper work bench and lots of space make this so much more enjoyable. I am not totally confident in my abilities, but I know that I am capable of knowing when to go slow, read, stop and find a way to do the right thing. Sometimes it is costly. Sometimes it is lengthy, but it will get done.

 

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  • 4 weeks later...

@bababooey - Thank you sir!

 

@Shagy - Long time. Thanks buddy.

 

@mrbigtanker - No kidding. The right tools can make or literally break your experience.

 

Still waiting on parts to come back for the rear suspension. I suppose I could move on to the front suspension while I wait, but I was hoping to have this serve as my initial test run to make sure I learned how to do things right the first time. If I screw anything up, it would only be on one section at a time. Meanwhile... James has started undoing some of the damage on Project Miracle Whip...

 

 

Most of the mangled front off....

 

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All of the mangled front off. Yay!!!!!!

 

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Man!!!....by far one of the best build threads out there! I give you mad respect for taking on this project man! Started from nothing and now you are so far along that it's unbelievable . I'm going to start a build just like yours on a 69 510 4 door hope it comes out as good as yours is coming along. Great motivation here man! A lot of good info too!

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Man I just caught up on the body work saga of your build. I can really feel your pain. If any good comes from this, no one else ever will go visit his shop or lack of it. I am pulling for ya though, I am sure you will get it back on the right track. It's just sad to see a nice working 510 go through that. It still look's very salvageable, you just need a good honest body shop. I'm sure you have a plan. Good luck.

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  • 2 months later...
  • 4 months later...

Wow, that was an adventure and a half. Fallen in love with this little car recently and making the moves towards grabbing a project one. This build thread has had me absolutely excited about the idea and then also thinking it might be the worst decision I've ever made. The ups and downs, wow. Hope progress is going well. I was actually so emotional hurt when I started reading those messages from the first panel shop and all those obvious fake excuses for why things weren't done. So glad someone else (and from what I read the best in the business) picked up the project to rescue you from that situation.

 

This story has been incredible and I hope the end is in sight for you, I noticed you said James had set a deadline of december so I hope it's coming along nicely for you.

 

It absolutely shocked me that you would be that quick the pull apart an engine and didn't want to do any body work yourself, I'm the exact opposite, happy to do any body work, and things like sub-frames, stripping the car etc. but terrified of going past stripping the rocker cover on a motor.

 

Thanks for the entertainment for the last 5-6 hours of reading this epic journey and for sticking with it for so long, you've absolutely solidified in my mind that these cars are worth the effort for the love you've been putting in.

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  • 4 months later...
  • 1 month later...
  • 1 year later...

For those of you who didn't catch James' body and paint thread on Project Miracle Whip, you really owe it to yourself to see how far he took this project.  I reviewed it again tonight and was truly astonished at what he was able to do.  I can't speak highly enough about his quality of work, professionalism and unmatched expertise with the Datsun.  Some things are truly worth the wait.

 

You can read about that here: http://community.ratsun.net/topic/66790-chris-68-4-door-bluh-bluh-bluh-datsun/

 

So where is she now and what has happened?  James' recommended and linked me up with Todd from Todd's Upholstery in Oregon.  A recommendation from James has not disappointed me yet.  I am still deciding on interior details, but wanted to get the headliner installed and moving.  Todd consulted with me and we elected to go with a black suede headliner, sun visors and rear panel deck.  Check it out:

 

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