Rice Wagon - VG33 510 wagon project

[Laecaon]

Nice information! Still contemplating if I want a VG in my car...

[blueridgespeed]

mr510 and CarterB - thanks for the Vg info - we're soaking it all up... Methinks this Vg wagon is going to be a pleasure to drive. Are you staying with the stock (3.9?) H190 rear end?

[carterb]

At this time, yes. Stock rear end.

My goal first time 'round is nice solid mechanical installation to make the car a driver. That's why I am not bothering with paint and body and other things that will slow me down, 7 years is slow enough!

Plus, something like an upgraded rear-end is something that I can put together in the garage while I am driving and then swap it over when complete.

[blueridgespeed]

At this time, yes. Stock rear end.

My goal first time 'round is nice solid mechanical installation to make the car a driver. That's why I am not bothering with paint and body and other things that will slow me down, 7 years is slow enough!

I can relate to "slow" projects. I did make casters for my rotisserie today - on which hangs my 68 tube frame 510 project - vg30et. Nice wagon!

[carterb]

I can relate to "slow" projects. I did make casters for my rotisserie today - on which hangs my 68 tube frame 510 project - vg30et. Nice wagon!

Thanks!

I think I saw pictures of your car from an East Coast 510 meet a year or two ago. Summit Point perhaps? Do you have a build thread?

--carter

[fo0manchu]

love the motor, want to trade for my ka24det? haha... i'm just dreaming about a turbo vg some day. So much more room for a radiator and intercooler when compared to a ka.

[Tomakze]

Fantastic build, I enjoyed reading it very much! I can relate to the slow progress, too. My roadster was supposed to have a KA in it by now, but instead has hit delay after delay. My dedication has not faltered, however, and slow but steady progress continues to happen. I have had mine since 2008...

 

Keep up the excellent work, I look forward to reading more!

[carterb]

Thanks Tomakze, tomorrow is Saturday. Let's see if I can make it three in a row!

--carter

[carterb]

I was able to get some time in the garage this morning. I was hoping to get the steering and front suspension installed so I could get it back down on all four wheels. Didn't quite go according to plan.

I was pretty sure that the steering box and shaft wouldn't fit back up the column with the motor and crossmember, but to check, I needed to separate the centerlink and tie rods from the pitman arm. This took way to long and I destroyed the tapered shaft on the centerlink in the process. That's not terrible since I will be replacing it anyway but still, I don't like to ruin parts or waste time.

Now that the steering box box and shaft were isolated, I tried to feed the shaft up the column but there was just no way with the box in place. It looked easiy enough to separate the shaft from the box. I loosened the bolt on the shaft clamp and was able to get it to slide off about 1/8" but then it stopped. I tried a number of things to break it free while still trying to be gentle on the box. Finally, as a last resort, I planned to remove the clamp bolt altogether and spread the clamp with the screwdriver. But when the screw was removed, it became obvious that the bolt itself was holding the shaft to the box by fitting in a notch in the shaft.

Many of you probably already knew this and I may have at one time as well but I forgot this morning anyway and so I wasted some more time. No problem. Now separated, the shaft went right in so I cleaned up the box and bolted it in place.

notch in the steering box input shaft

box cleaned up and ready to install

home again.

[carterb]

I was going to put the rest of the steering linkage in place next but realized that without the tranny properly bolted in, the motor was rocked back against the firewall and pinching the e-brake cable.

So, I changed gears (pun intended) and worked on the tranny mount.

First I measured the hole I'd have to cut for the gear shift box so I could raise the tranny up. Once I verified I cut the hole correctly and could lift the tranny up to where it belongs I fitted the tranny isolator and mount and bolted everything in place.

Here is the new tranny isolator mounted in place.

And now with the new crossmember. Except for some slight filing of a couple of these crossmember holes, so far the installation has been a true bolt-in affair.

Here is my tranny hole enlargement. I did have to unclip the hardlines from the top of the tunnel and push them aside to get the clearance I needed. And yes, I did remember to do this BEFORE cutting the tunnel. B)

 

Now I can get back to the steering linkage and front suspension...

Question for you guys, anyone have a source for 10mm header bolts?

[carterb]

No progress yet from last Saturday.

I did get make some headway on my remodel though. Does that count for anything?

I designed these stairs today to go from the 2nd story down to the patio in my backyard.

What do you think?

I'll be using concrete treads stained the same color as my patio.

--carter

[VintageRice]

NOOOOOOOOOOOO !!! CARB ! ! !

 

 

 

[carterb]

NOOOOOOOOOOOO !!! CARB ! ! !

 

I know, that's a great way to go. But I'm looking forward to the challenge of EFI this time 'round. That car sounds so awesome!!! I can't wait for that day to come!

[Tomakze]

+1 on the carb idea!!! Not that I am biased...

 

God that sounds good.

[DAT510]

That dizzy would be pretty hard to come by

[carterb]

That dizzy would be pretty hard to come by

It has been NLA for years now. Nissan p/n M-22100-V6402

Most recently, there was a guy down in California selling rebuilds but those are now dried up as well. There are other ways to control spark but this of course was the most elegant. If anyone is interrested in doing this though, Dave still sells the manifolds for it.

 

[jrock4224]

No progress yet from last Saturday.

I did get make some headway on my remodel though. Does that count for anything?

I designed these stairs today to go from the 2nd story down to the patio in my backyard.

What do you think?

I'll be using concrete treads stained the same color as my patio.

--carter

 

and u will be bringing me the landing and stair stringers to powder coat right.....got all excited about my snoflakes rushed the powder job and hated it....already half blasted back off....thats what i get for saying it only took twenty minutes ....blasting my own coating back off is a bitch....45 minutes a wheel...

[carterb]

The place that did my white snowflakes messed up and had to re-do them. They said they'd never do them again. That's why I'm sand blasting these myself.

I have a couple places up here in Mukilteo that we use for powder and these are big parts that will require fork-lift and a flat bed. You are all the way down in Olympia right? If you were closer I'd certainly look you up.

Did you not like the color you chose or did something else not work out for you?

--carter

[jrock4224]

The place that did my white snowflakes messed up and had to re-do them. They said they'd never do them again. That's why I'm sand blasting these myself.

I have a couple places up here in Mukilteo that we use for powder and these are big parts that will require fork-lift and a flat bed. You are all the way down in Olympia right? If you were closer I'd certainly look you up.

Did you not like the color you chose or did something else not work out for you?

--carterK

 

Cast wheels are notorious for gas out.....ruined my base silver.....

[DREWSDIME]

It has been NLA for years now. Nissan p/n M-22100-V6402

Most recently, there was a guy down in California selling rebuilds but those are now dried up as well. There are other ways to control spark but this of course was the most elegant. If anyone is interrested in doing this though, Dave still sells the manifolds for it.

 

would yhis be the same as one on V6 hard body with VG?

[jrock4224]

As far as size we do stuff that size and bigger all the time. I do a shit ton of middle schools right now and it seems we have done some stuff that's way big.... Me personally like the big jobs cause its more of a challenge.... Plus pays better.....

We do stair sets and landing all the time.... Lately it's been these 2.5 story spirals with twin landings.... There like handling a giant drill bit.....

[carterb]

would yhis be the same as one on V6 hard body with VG?

should be, yes.

From wikipedia:

VG30i

The VG30i is a 3 L (2,960 cc) engine produced from 1986 through 1989 for export markets only. It features a throttle body fuel injection system. It has a long crank snout, a cylinder head temperature sensor positioned behind the timing belt cover, and a knock sensor in the cylinder valley (on California models only). It produces 140 PS (103 kW; 138 hp) at 4,800 rpm and 226 N·m (167 ft·lbf) at 2,800 rpm.

Applications:

• 1986-1989 Hardbody Truck
  
• 1986-1989 Nissan Pathfinder
  

[carterb]

Okay, it's been far too long but I finally got back in the garage to work in the Rice wagon today. The next step is getting all the front suspension back on so I can roll the car into my other garage. I got the new drag link out of the box and since it was bare steel, I figured I'd better prime and paint it first. While the paint was drying, I un-boxed my new end-links and found those to be bare steel as well so more painting... While those were drying, I pressed the bushing out of my idler arm and installed the Experimental Engineering idler arm bushing kit. Next step is to get it all back on the car but Coery wanted to play a game and he comes first so I closed up the garage and will try again later. At least the ball is rolling again!

[carterb]

I got the steering linkage, LCA's, ball joints, and TC rods all bolted in tonight.

 

 

it is SO nice working with all new and/or freshly painted/powder coated parts!

Next step was to mount the coil-overs. Unfortunately, the masking job was not awesome so there was a bunch of powder coat in the threads at the top of the strut tube. I spent an hour cleaning the threads and trying various strut nuts and couldn't get one to thread in either strut.

 

Part of my problem is that I have nothing better than a pipe wrench to turn the nut so I can't put any axial pressure on it while trying to turn. I'll get a socket tomorrow. I'm also curious if anyone has come up with a tap for these threads. Seems I remember someone talking about cutting grooves in a strut nut to use as a thread chaser. Anone here try something like that?

 

I was hoping to get the car on the ground tonight but oh well, I can't complain too much. Icehouse came over for moral support and ended up polishing my engine bay with TR3. I paid him in Laffy Taffy.

[carterb]

Struts are in!