Another 72 Datsun 510 Build...

[Silver04rs]

Well I started this build a few months ago when I bought the car and stared a thread over on 510 Realm. As I have spent more and more time reading I find myslef here on Ratsun quite a bit more so I figured Id post up my build here as well. So...copy and paste time

 

Hello.

 

My Name is Travis, I'm a long time 510 fan and have been lurking around on this site for quite sometime. Im currently 29 and have wanted to build a 510 since I was a kid but its just never happened. At 16 I bought a chevy s-10 and dropd it chrome wheels thinking it was sooo cool. I went from that to a few other trucks and finally found my way to a Mazda Protege' 5 wagon... and thats when things clicked.

 

I had grown up riding and racing dirt bikes, going to the desert, offroading but had never really goten into fast car (or slow ones that handled well) So when I got my MP5 I got my first taste of what it was like to have a car that handled semi well.

 

I kept this for a couple years and then while living in Mammoth CA I sold it and bought a 2004 Subaru 2.5RS. For those of you not up on your Subaru's this was like a WRX but with no Turbo. I bought it as it was good in the snow and tons of fun to drive. I ended up spending more time on the mountain roads at night than I did snowboarding and this car really made me who I am today. When I moved back home to So Cal I hooked up with a team of guys that go by The Gravel Crew and they were a bunch of rally nuts that were really fun. I built my RS up to do Rally-X (Auto-X on dirt) and also just for going out and playing on dirt roads.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This one is at McKinny Motersports (kinda cool to me since they do a lot of Datsun stuff as well)

 

 

[Silver04rs]

I had this car for a few years and then went to work at Muellerized working with EVO's and other DSM's. The Pressure finally got to me and I parted way with my non turbo car rather than swapping it due to CA smog regulations. The result was a red EVO 9 GSR and it was a blast.

 

The EVO was mild compared to the Subie with just a Turbo back, coilover's, a boost controller with a tune, and a rear sway bar and some bushings. It was a really great car though and killed it on track days.

 

 

 

I worked at Muellerized for a bit over a year and ended up selling my EVO as it was lots of $$$$ and I wasnt able to afford track days with it.

 

That led to a miata... or 3 or 4

 

My Miata that I really loved was a 91 Salvaged title 1.6 liter car.

 

Lotus Elise seats so I can fit (Im 6 fooot tall)

 

 

 

 

And at a track day coming in a bit hot... No I dont drift or plan to drift my 510

 

 

 

and my Tacoma...

 

 

the 85 4Runner (sold to fun my 510)

 

 

 

and a ford Festiva???

 

 

 

 

 

And that lads to to where I am today-

[Silver04rs]

I haven't had a fun car in about 2 years. I race RC cars at a semi pro level and it takes most of my time and I havent really had the funds to do something cool. I have dreamed of 510's forever and have yet to buy one... well until yesterday

 

 

My search for a 510 has been a long one. I started looking a few years ago and never found "THE ONE"

 

well about 3 weeks ago I found her. It was in Reno on CL and I contacted the seller but he said he had a list of people who had called first that he wanted to show the car to. I told him Id send him a depoist on the spot and pay full asking price for his car which I could pick up tomorrow. He said sorry but he wanted to honor his list of people so I said OK. 2 days later he called me saying that the people had flaked out and he still had the car for sale. I offered to get in my Scion and drive the 9 hours up to get it but he told me there were still other people :shock:

 

3 weeks of this and he finally sells it to someone else... I was mad

 

So I started looking at other cars i my area that were cheaper, not as nice, needed some love... whatever you want to call it.

 

This is what I found

 

1972 Datsun 510 2 door

1.8 with around 6,000 miles on motor

SU Carbs

SSS Head

5 Speed Dogleg Tranny

Runs good

 

 

 

 

Shes got some bondo on her, a ghetto flat black paint job, tires that are so old the tread is cracked and breaking off, and she sags in the left rear.

 

But it runs good and doesn't have much rust.

 

My plan for this car is to gut it slap in a RB25 with a 10,000 shot of NOS and join the NHRA cause 510s are the best drag car in the world!!!

 

 

My real plan is to keep it driving and slowly work through the issues keeping it from being reliable. First things on my list are wheels and tires and rear coilovers. Im going to go with the BRE Replica Libra Wheels as I love the way 13's look and I dont plan on having big brakes on this car anytime soon

 

 

For the rear Coilovers I'm grabbing some from Ermish Racing later this week. They seem to be a good unit and wont brake the bank at the same time.

 

Once those things are knocked out should have had time to go over her and see if there are any emergency items that need to be fixed and if so they will go to the top of my list.

 

If nothing is found it will be on to suspension and bushing, minor brake upgrades, new seats, and making this motor rip

 

Last on the list is paint and body work.. I have never done any and plan on doing most of it myself

 

 

Now to get this build thread going -

Travis

[Silver04rs]

Well I was able to get some work done on my car this weekend so Im pretty stoked.

 

I actually found a set of struts / coilovers / brakes in the clasifieds here on the Realm that was local so I went to check them out. Turns out not only did he have the front suspension for sale but since he was hard up on cash I took his wheels and tires as well.... Normally Id feel bad about having someone part their car out but it was either part it out or sell the whole thing

 

Here is the car my parts came from... all original paint and looking good

 

 

 

All loaded up in the toaster and ready to head home

 

When I got home I locked the parts and the car in the garage for a bit to get to know eachother. I figurer there kinda like dogs... they need to sniff around and get used to eachother before you unbolt part of one and put it on another ????

 

 

First thing I did was bolt on the back tires and lower my fenders down on my tires ... Yippe 15X7 +0's

 

 

Next up was a BFH and some man power

 

Now my beater had two fender lips on each side... WTF???

 

So we rolled both of them .... and moved the inner fender a bit as well

 

Before

 

After

 

Next up was the front-

 

 

 

Stock 510 VS the new stuff :)

 

and all bolted on and bled-

 

and heres how she sits

 

I still need to get the back sorted out on the car. The drivers side is very low.

 

When the pocket book allows :)

 

-Travis

[Silver04rs]

So this weekend I went ahead and with the help of my brother (who grew up owning multiple 510's) we checked the clearance of the valves. All were in spec except for one and I couldnt believe how easy they were to adjust.

 

Also I have an issue with my distributor. If I hit a pothole or wiggle it the car will die (loses spark) and I have to wiggle it around to get it running again. Is there something that wears out in these (it has a slight rock to it)

 

Also, can someone identify what this is from?

 

 

My next issue is my linkage on my SU's. The linkage does not aprear to be adjustable side to side and has a liot of slop on the 1&2 cylinder. I tweaked a few things to get them close but I need to track down new linkage for these if someone has a link to a shop with parts

 

 

I was able to get them fairly close eyeballing it and she seems to be running much better

 

Also I drove the 510 to work today... made the 55 mile trip with flying colors!!

 

 

[VintageRice]

I do like those wheels.........yes I do.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

ps, holy crap you have alota 4 wheel'd toys. 

[converted_to_datsun]

Nice dime! Looks like an awesome start to your project and life long addiction haha

 

And way to go on posting pics. Here on ratsun we love pics

[datsunfreak]

Amazing what a set of new wheels and a drop will do for a car.  :thumbup:

 

 

[Skib]

[Silver04rs]

So I have this weird thing in my head latley that I am OK with my crap paint job, the cracked bondo, clay, or play-doh or whatever they used to fix this car way back in the day but I feel I can still make part of it epic..... and I'm OK with that


So here is my game plan-


I Like this, or should I say I LOVE THIS







But I have this-




Now I love this car, I have some time, and I have the drive to clean up my engine bay


So today I took the first step in the correct direction and treated my battery like a less equal and told it to go to the back of the bus.


I Used a Battery box so That I could still use my trunk without worry of things bouncing around and shorting something out but mounti it was another story. Can you believe these dam boxes give you 2 crap wood screws and a strap to mount them with?


Anyways I ended up using some M8 Screws and made sure it would not be flopping around in the trunk.





The good thing about the design of this box the screws actually sat low enough that they would not contact the battery.


But just to be safe I cut up an old RC Car Pit mat to make  a battery pad for her. Its a high impact rubber pad about 1/4" thick so it should be very nice surface that should keep it planted in there.








And here is the start of a clean engine bay (even though this is my truck)






Also I did this today... more about why later


(and I think they used housing insulation in the back for sound deadening)








-Travis Brock
 

[thatguy]

Are you related to Pete Brock?

[patra_is_here]

when they reminisce over you.

[Silver04rs]

Are you related to Pete Brock?

 

 

Ya, he is my dad

[Silver04rs]

Well... since I pulled the interior out there was only one thing to do in my mind

 

That thing... sling some tubes

 

Now since this isn't going to be a full blown race car I just wanted some extra protection, a place to hang some harnesses, and to look dam sexy.

 

Now since I'm not very good at bending tube, notching them, or pretty much anything I got with my friend Scotty G and bribed him with some RC Car parts, cash, and the fact that everyone on Ratsun would be on his junk. Now since he had never heard of Ratsun it was the cash and parts that did the trick

 

Step one was to get the headliner out. I had thought of leaving it but he being the man said to ditch it so we could geat the bar higher.... So I did

 

 

The next thing was taking a piece of tube with a bend in it to figure out where to start the bends.

 

 

Measuring up our B Pillar

 

 

Now since Scotty is a bad ass no test tubes were needed. Just take our 1.5 .120 wall and go for it

 

 

 

Initial 2 bends

 

 

And the second two

 

 

Test fit

 

 

 

About 1/8th inch clearance all around

 

 

Next up... notch out a B Pillar brace

 

 

This should work

 

 

Plates will be added where the rollbar meets the floor. These should be going in later today as we plan to wrap this thing up

 

 

 

And thats it for now kids

 

Hopefully Ill have some more for you tonight

 

-Travis Brock

 

[TENDRIL]

nice so you plan on keeping the L motor?

[Silver04rs]

nice so you plan on keeping the L motor?

The L18 I have in the car runs great right now and there is just something about the sound it makes that puts a huge smile on my face. Between that and how clean an engine bay you can make it seems like a good thing to leave in the car for a while

 

^ Now I keep telling myself that in order not to go broke buying a SR (which sounds and looks even better)

 

 

 

 

Today went great with the car. We wrapped everything up and now she just needs some prep and some paint.

 

I need to get a few things ready for work tomorrow but if I have time Ill get a few pics up for Y'all

 

-Travis

[Silver04rs]

Well Sunday Moring we swung by my buddy Chris' shop in Murrieta to get out of the rain and use his welder and a couple tools.

 

 

 

We already had the B pillar close so to start the day off we needed get the plates in so we could finish fitting the B pillar and tack everything in place.

 

We used 4" strap that was 3/16'" thick as it was a great size for the 510.

 

Step 1 was prepping the area so we could get a good weld down

 

 

 

 

Once the area was cleaned up we burned in the plates

 

 

Same went for the top... excpet some BFH time to get them to sit flat prior to the final weld

 

 

[Silver04rs]

Once the plates were in we did some final grinding on the B pilar to get the clearance we wanted. We ended up with about a 1/8th gap inch all the way around

 

 

Once we had the B pillar where we wanted it we fabed up the down tubes to the C pillar and tacked them in as well. From there we broke out the tacks to the plates so we could final welt the top portion of the cage.

 

 

 

Once welding was completed it was back on to the plates with a few more tack welds.

 

Next up was installing the Harness bar. Since I didnt have seats in the car yet we based it off the crap Honda seats I currently am running. I plan on sitting a little lower that where I am currently at so we set the bar slightly lower in anticipation of new seats

 

planing on bar placment

 

 

 

Once it was all in all that was left was to final weld everything

 

 

I will try and get it painted this week sometime and get some decent pictures up

 

 

 

[chiwag]

good job. I really like your car.

[VintageRice]

Nailed it!!  Looks great!

[Silver04rs]

Well.... Didn't get a whole lot done today, but some others might say I did

 

you decide

 

 

 

Well, my gem here came with Honda Seats... busted ass broken/torn/ugly/fucked up Honda seats

 

on top of that only half the drivers seat would support itslf so it had this awesome twist to it... Driving the car made me do a crunch and made me have a awesome six pack on half my boddy (AKA 3 Pack)

 

So ya... there gone

If you want them they are in the pay it forward thread for free.... if you dont they will be in a dumpster near my house

 

 

 

 

Found these on CL and lowballed the guy... 3 hours later I had a phone call from him saying that he needed money and would meet me half way... 3 minutes later my original offer was good enough

 

 

 

I test fit them and they will be mounted as low as possible on custom brackets since I'm 6 foot and dont fit too well in this shoe box.

 

 

 

 

Yep... life is getting good in Datsun town

 

I also sprayed my cage today with some semi gloss black ... pics soon

 

 

-Travis Brock

 

 

[Green Queen]

looking great! cant wait to see more!

[Silver04rs]

Its been coming along slowly... just need to update my build thread

 

Here is how she sits now

 

[Topher88]

I love that picture. Looking great man keep up the great work!

[The Taterhead]

Been wondering where you went. Looks pretty badass. I just saved this pic to use as the background on my phone.