'72 510 Sedan Build - denis.drc - LOTS OF PICS!

[denis.drc]

I've been into 510s since about the age of 18, and was lucky enough to buy one in early 2011.

I've owned tons of imports since my teenage years and even a few american cars, this has been the most inspiring.

 

This thread has been a long time coming, will include 2 years of compressed progress and pick up from where I am now..

 

I looked around for ~6 months looking for a 510. Saw all kinds of nonsense and horror, and finally came across my '72 4-Door.

 

It was nothing much to look at...

Spray paint exterior, blue/white interior, some 'ultra sporty' '87 corolla 4 door seats, and some 13" Libra style wheels.

It owed it' amazing handling characteristics to cut stock springs and ORIGINAL shocks.

It did however have dual side draft carbs and a 'Z' 5-speed conversion!

I test drove it around the block, seemed OK, so I bought myself a 510.

 

Here it is on the way home in Apr. 2011..

 

Sweet interior!

 

The driver's seat was held down in the front by some sweet tack welds! They held up all the way to the first freeway on ramp.

 

I also noticed this, while looking around the engie bay..One might think: why a bolt in place of a fuse? More on this later...

 

Days after buying the car, I noticed the driver side strut rod was broken, so my first upgrade ended up being TechnoToy strut rods..

 

The second thing I added was this awesome shift knob!

 

The 13's Libra's that the car came with had some lame, worn out tires. I decided to just replace the wheels. I went with 14x6 Enkei wheels..

 

I also didn't like not knowing what the engine was up to, so I added a few gauges to satisfy my cuiosity.

(Added a tach in the warning light section of the dash.)

 

(Installed Volt and Oil Pressure gauges in the empty stereo location.)

 

Then I added a BRE style lip.

 

I did an alighment and aside from some slightly out of whack rear camber & toe values (previous owner tried to slot the subframe..), the chassis seemed nice and straight.

 

At this point the car felt pretty decent. Enough so, that I started to drive it like it was going out of style.

I took a break from working on it and tried to just enjoy owning it.

But, after only a few days driving the car, I knew the seats had to go...

 

Almost forgot the most important...engine bay shot!

 

Stay tuned..seat conversion write up coming up as soon as I can organize the pictures..

[denis.drc]

Ok, so by now it's June 2011.

I've been driving this baby for almost 3 months and seats are killing me!

After riding in a late 80s GTI, I decided I wanted those exact Recaro seats.

 

These..

 

A little CL hunting and I got a set!

 

Time to go to work..

 

Removing the old seats & hardware.

 

Installed new seat brackets...decided to use this oportunity to add some BONUS bracing!

 

Now the seats..I also added some 4-point DOT harnesses.

 

Driving the car with the Recaros installed improved tenfold!

 

Because I'm living at an apartment around this time, I have to work on the car at work, or friend's house.

Frame improvements seemed like the next logical, non-disabling direction..stay tuned..

[denis.drc]

My buddy and I had been long considering building a full cage, so we decided this would be our chance.

 

The goal was to build the cage as close to the interior panels as possible so I woulnd't feel too cramped.

 

We started with the base plates.. This took up a solid day..

 

 

Then the chromolly tubing came in, so it was time to start bending..

 

Bending the main hoop.

 

Test fit.

 

Happy with the main hoop, we decided to move on. Time to break out the big tools..

 

Made some rear downs.

 

Made a main diagonal & added a secondary diagnal to reinforce driver's head area.

 

Main front halo.

 

Forward down tubes and door bars.

 

 

 

[denis.drc]

Added some bars to tie front down tubes to main hoop mounting points, bars to tie the rear down tubes to the main hoop mounting points and tied main hoop together at the bottom.

 

 

 

More bars...tied together rear down tubes at the bottom by the upper suspension braces. Also bent up a near harness bar.

 

 

 

 

 

Once we got all the tubes mocked up and tacked in place, we spent about 15 hours weling the cage together..

 

Losing steam tonight. Will add more soon..

[Kirden]

This is awesome. I want a 510 so badly. Hopefully I can pick one up with income taxes, even though my 620 is no where near finished (basicly just started it...)

[denis.drc]

Another day of work over...time to drive home and share more progress.

 

I didn't like looking at the bare, rusty floor, so I decided it was time for a POR15 treatment...

First, I stripped all the sound deadening material away. It was so cold out, and the tar was so old, the tar came out in HUGE chunks...no dry ice needed!

I then also sanded the floors to ensure I had a good bonding surface for the POR.

 

Here is how it went..

 

 

I ended up finishing 3 light coats by the time I ran out.

Since I was planning to add sound deadening mat throughout the car, I decided to go with a gloss finish of POR15 to ensure I had a smooth surface to work with.

The whole process was a load of fun... :sneaky: Through 3 pairs of rubber gloves, I still managed to get some of this stuff on my hands. I'd heard it stains skin, now I can attest to it!

 

 

I let the POR dry for about a week and then decided to keep going.

 

Next step..FAT-MAT throughout the interior..

 

Ended up going with a double layer over the whole floor and had enough to line all 4 door skins. Sorry no pics of the doors..not much to look at anyways...

 

More to come..

[Josh K.]

Nice work! Keep it up!

 

-Josh

[denis.drc]

Right around this point, I moved into a house with a garage.

Now I can really get started...

 

First, the 510 moves into it's new home and immediately goes up on jackstands for some much-awaited suspension improvements.

 

 

I started with a front coilover conversion, using the original 510 Strut Housings.

 

 

First the teardown..

 

 

I decided to build these around KONI Sport 'External Adjust' shock cartriges. That meant I had to re-size the upper strut caps to fit around the wider KONI shock bodies and wider shock shafts.

 

 

 

Moved right along to shortening the strut housings..

 

 

A little TIG never hurt anyone...

 

 

 

Deicided to adapt a set of Tein S13 front camber plates to work with the Koni shocks.

But first, I needed some extra hardware. Luckily I have access to a good supply of suspension components at work..

 

 

Size things up.. The bearing insert sleeves were a little too big and needed some machining to fit into the spherical bearings of the camber plates.

 

 

Now to put all the parts back together..

 

I also remembered about a set of Wilwood calipers stashed away under some other parts and figured.. "Might as well finally use them.."

Check out the brake upgrade thread here..

 

The final product..

 

 

Running out of steam for the night...rear suspension & brake build coming up tomorrow..

[denis.drc]

Initially, I was planning to run the stock drum brakes for a while. But, while stripping down the rear suspension to start the coilover conversion, I noticed the 510 had developed a nasty wheel cylinder leak. I took a closer look and noticed the leaking wheel cylinder was also fused to its respective hard line....lame!

 

I thought about replacing the line and wheel cylinder....for about 2 minutes :geek: ....and decided to upgrade the brakes instead.

 

For the rear brakes, I decided to go a route less travel.. I have quite a collection of S13 parts around, so naturally I wanted to put those parts to good use.

 

 

Started by removing all the drum brake parts..

This part was actually quite fun. Sawzall makes most job pretty easy..

 

 

 

Then mock up some brackets & weld them on..

 

 

 

Clean up and paint the calipers, then final install.

 

 

For more details on the conversion, check out my S13 rear disc conversion build thread

 

I mounted the calipers in such a way that I could still use the S13 parking brake setup. More on that later..

[denis.drc]

While procrastinating on starting my rear coilover build, I found a pair of loose CUSCO S13 front strut brace plates laying around.

 

I didn't feel like working on rear suspension stuff, so I decided to build myself a custom strut brace.

 

Started by machining some ends and notching some aluminum tubing.

 

 

 

Then added a turnbuckle to the middle of bar and welded on the ends.

 

 

 

Final Product..CUSTOM and ...JDM-ish B)

 

 

[denis.drc]

A week later, I decided to finally stop lagging and finish up the rear coilovers..

 

Wouldn't you know it, I decided to use some S13 Tein Coilovers..

 

Check out the full rear coilover build thread here.

 

I got the coilovers used from a Japanese importer. Unfortunately, that meant they were plenty rusty from being around salt water for who knows how long..

 

Had to remove some nasty, rusty parts.

 

 

Then, some new springs and a test fit..

 

 

Final product..

 

 

Installed!

 

 

 

With this step compled, I can finally drive the car again! :w00t: It's only been on jackstands for 3 months... :angel:

[Kirden]

I want your tools and experience for a week, cool with you?

 

Really nice job on that strut brace. How did you score those coilovers? The refinished product looks really nice.

[denis.drc]

Oooh, almost forgot.. I sold the 14" Enkei wheels and picked up a set of 15s.

 

Mounted up some tires..

 

 

Then finally got the car off the jackstands and down onto the new wheels & suspension.

 

 

 

 

I raised it up a bit from the way it came. At the current ride height, my suspension was at near perfect geometry.

The handling improved exponentially. The old suspension was VERY worn, to say the least..

[denis.drc]

I want your tools and experience for a week, cool with you?

 

Really nice job on that strut brace. How did you score those coilovers? The refinished product looks really nice.

 

Thanks!

 

I'd be happy to lend a hand if you were closer..

 

I got the coilovers from a local engine/transmission importer. When he ships in front & rear clips, he often receives unmatched coilovers. I'm always happy to snag them...for a nominal price.. :ninja:

[Kirden]

Haha, awesome. I have seen a lot of people scoring parts off of the japan ebay retailers but I'm not 100% sure about doing that. I have enough issues getting what I pay for on ebay regularly, let alone going through translators...

 

I will get to work on inventing that teleportation device. Then it would be so much easier to get help and parts :)

[denis.drc]

Now that the car is working well, I left it was time for a drive....all the way to Thunderhill Raceway for some FUN!

 

No stereo means headphones on the BORING drive up..

 

Can you tell by the grin on my face how satisfied I am?

 

I forgot my GoPro that day, so no in-car footage..

I snagged a shot of me in the paddock next to a buddy's car..

 

 

And a few more..

 

 

 

The end of the day, though I didn't even get track time, I had plenty of seat time

to have left me feeling happy with the chassis/suspension,

but very disappointed in power output. I knew the engine was beat and had to make some changes!

(Also, by this time the "bug" bit me again...) Stay tuned!

[mattyhacks71]

Awesome! What type of wheels are those with the red pin strip? they look sweet

[denis.drc]

Awesome! What type of wheels are those with the red pin strip? they look sweet

 

Thanks!

 

They're XXR 513  - 15x8

[redpower]

A week later, I decided to finally stop lagging and finish up the rear coilovers..

 

Wouldn't you know it, I decided to use some S13 Tein Coilovers..

 

Check out the full rear coilover build thread here.

 

I got the coilovers used from a Japanese importer. Unfortunately, that meant they were plenty rusty from being around salt water for who knows how long..

 

Had to remove some nasty, rusty parts.

 

 

Then, some new springs and a test fit..

 

 

Final product..

 

 

Installed!

 

 

 

With this step compled, I can finally drive the car again! :w00t: It's only been on jackstands for 3 months... :angel:

Nice work.

[denis.drc]

Got a few minutes, thought I'd provide more eye candy for you guys and gals..

 

Last we left off, I was disappointed with the engine power output.

And, might I add, VERY tires of the heavy rear main, front main, and oil pan gasket leaks.

My driveway was tired of it as well...

 

 

First, I did a compression & leak-down check. To no surprise of mine, compression was WAY low and leak-down numbers were WAY too high.

 

Next, it was time to make a decision. Do I go for an engine conversion right away or rebuild the L16.

 

As tempting as it was to just dump the L16 in favor of something more modern, I really wanted to know what a TIGHT L16 feels like. So, rebuild it is...

 

First the engine had to come out..

 

Hood off.

 

 

Radiator out.

 

 

Here we go!

 

 

Now a little tear-down and A LOT of cleaning.

The motor looked pretty grimy on the inside and outside. The last few owners really didn't give a rat's ass about maintenance. 

Looked like instead of changing the oil, they just kept adding oil as it would leak out.

Don't let the pics fool you, I pressure washed the whole thing before I started pulling the motor.

 

 

Head off, pistons out..

 

 

 

While the head was off at the machine shop. I though I'd work on the block a bit..

 

Honed the cylinders.

 

 

 

Cleaned all the carbon from the piston ring-lands and had pistons/rods hot tanked. Also went out and got myself some new parts -gaskets, bearings, rings, etc..

 

 

 

Finally got to paint the block too!

 

 

 

While waiting for the cylinder head to come back, I got to cleaning up and painting the engine bay.

 

Removed the battery tray.

 

 

 

Much Better!

 

 

 

Prep and prime..

 

 

 

Now, time for some AWESOME spatter paint!

 

 

 

Powered by SPACE HEATER.

 

 

 

A week later I got my head back. Threw on a new clutch and back in she went.

 

 

 

I ended up also painting the valve cover and a couple of other components wrinkle finish black.

 

Just realized I haven't uploaded the pics of the finished engine bay. I'll try to have them up later tonight...

 

Is the suspense killing you? It's killing me and I know exactly what it looks like!

 

[denis.drc]

Ok, here it is...

 

[Josh K.]

That's beautiful!

[Kirden]

Oh my... I think I'm in love

[denis.drc]

That's beautiful!

 

 

Oh my... I think I'm in love

 

 

 

Thanks guys!

 

 

More to come. Stay tuned!

[ifixvws]

Very nice. This is the kind of rebuild I can get behind. I hope you dont mind but I have a few questions.

 

First thing, I love the seats. I work on VW's and have three sets of the 89-91 Recaros at my shop.

I would love to install a set, but I am concerned about the seats bolsters and the shifter hitting.

 

Does the shifter strike the bolsters when in 2nd or 4th gears?

 

Also about the suspension.

 

What year car are the front shocks from?

 

What weight springs are you running?

 

 

Also I noticed a 2 bennet sticker on the tool box. You into Audi's too? I had their delrin bushings in my Turbocharged VW quantum syncro wagon about 10 years ago.

They make very nice stuff for the 80's-90's audis.

 

 

 

Chad