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'80 210 Wagon: daily project driver


TheWagonator

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So I turned 18 a few months ago, but until yesterday was still without four-wheeled transportation... (mom won't let me touch her treasured grandma spec civic). I figured it was time to move on with my life, and purchase my own vehicle, and so began several weeks of fruitless craigslist trolling. Everything that drove and was in my quite limited price range, was a shockingly ugly mid 90's saturn or a clapped out hyundai. 

 

Thenn, I stumbled upon a mysterious ad with a single blurry picture of a brown 210 wagon. "$600, runs but with Carb issues," it said. At this point I had been wandering through build threads on a number of forums for years, and had been gravitating towards old Datsuns. I always sort of dismissed the idea of having my own project, seemed like something I'd have to wait a few years for.

 

Long story short I threw caution to the wind and drove to some random suburb, where I promptly fell in love with the little car. Talked the owner, who just wanted to get rid of it, down to $425 and called a tow truck. She's sitting in my driveway and I actually get to join Ratsun, finally. 

 

Anyway, here's some pics. It's the A15 motor (i think..) with a five speed manual and 221,000 on the odometer.

 

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Here it is sitting behind my house the day it arrived, seattle rain disguising a layer of dirt

 

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The engine bay is remarkably clean for a car that's clearly been sitting for years, however theres definitely going more than a carb rebuild before she runs. The new starter (which the PO installed, apparently) cranks but the engine doesn't even turn over.

 

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Interior is all there other than part of the dash, but it's in pretty questionable condition. The drivers seat which is worn down to the springs is disguised by this ultra classy seat cover.

 

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The sun came out so I washed off the outside layer of grime and started on a little detailing. The body is actually surprisingly straight, other than a tiny dent on the front left fender and some gouges on the driver's side B pillar where someone tried to crowbar the door open.

 

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Tried my best to air things out, and started on a little automotive archeology in an attempt to make the interior a more pleasant place to be. The carpet is pretty moldy, it'll have to go, along with the front seats. Luckily the PO threw in a set of pretty decent semi-buckets from some kind of '90s Integra or something, so I'll see if those fit for now.

 

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Most of the dash is missing, but on the plus side that makes it easy to see that other than the radio, everything seems to be there. 

 

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Also pulled the intake to try get a look at the carb before I get the real tools out. Other than the expected oil leak build up on the block, everything under the hood is in really good shape... no rust or real issues that I can see with my untrained eye. Same story under the floor, where other than a silly cut exhaust which will need some work, the struts, brakes and steering all seem in working order and as rust free as can be expected.

 

Basically i'm nicely surprised and happy with my purchase... I ordered the service manual and a chilton's guide today, and next weekend I'll see if I can the motor to turn over. Once she's running and registered, we'll see what else I do.. probably lower (maybe 280zx struts or something), wider radials, paint, and at some point a swap for MOAR POWWWER.. but thats probably years down the learning curve from now. Looking forward to it :)

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Welcome! Nice price dude, the 5 speed alone is worth that! I'm very jealous, specially with them fender mirrors

 

Thanks for the welcome!

 

As for teh mirrors... don't get too excited, haha, the PO just moved the stock mirrors and drilled into the nice straight fenders... And then forgot to do anything to the bare metal and bolt holes on the door, so now theres some sweet rust, and I'm sure lots of water getting the inside of the doors all nice and moldy. Mmm delicious, fungal door cards. Ironic that kinda the biggest body flaw was created somewhat intentionally... by I'm assuming the the same dumbass who cut off the muffler but left all the smog crap and the cat lol

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put in a few hours cleaning up the interior trim, carpet, etc. It actually cleans up pretty nice, I'm kinda shocked. Then I got a flashlight and got a better look at everything underneath.. Still no sign of rust! Clearly the previous owner had no idea how good a car he was selling haha.

 

Last surprise of the day, I took a dry rag to one of the wheels as sort of an afterthought, turns out what I had given a cursory look and assumed were lame factory steelies are actually these rather interesting, perhaps modular (there is a ring of little hex key bolts around the edge of the face, not sure if that shows up in the picture) chrome things. Anyone have any idea what the hell they are? Either way they look pretty sweet... chrome lugs and everything. 

 

Before:

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After:

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Those style wheels were pretty common at one time. They typically came in chrome, gold and occasionally black. Many versions of that wheel were the least expensive wheels available. There were some higher priced aluminum versions too.

 

 

 

 

 

Actually, I had a Camaro Z-28 with those wheels on it. Seeing yours, I'd like to find a set of the gold ones for my B210. Cragar still makes the chrome.

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  • 1 year later...

WELP it's been more than a year since I bought this thing, having READ extensively but never actually touched a car and still driving on a permit. Might have been overestimating my immediate skill level... :blush: but thats how you learn right? Anyway I've now spent considerable time and money wrenching on much newer cars (radiator, CV's, sensors, gasket, timing, PS rack, brakes etc on 98 Legacy GT, auto to manual swap on an 07 civic, various friend's projects)

 

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and collecting tools. I may or may not have also invested a couple thousand hours to lurking several forums...........

 

ANYHOO

 

This thing languished all winter, but I figure it's time to take a second shot now the weather is nice. After fuel inject DOHC boxer fours with full time AWD and early OBD II era engine management, suddenly the 210 seems friendly and straightforward. Also I now know it's actually a '79 with the round headlight front facia, 5 spd and a California smogged A14.

 

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So here we are. Last year I got as far as getting the engine to run, drinking out of a gas can (lines are totally clogged) but it refused to idle even though it sounded pretty good with a little gas. I then, with the AWESOME help of datzenmike and some others, diagnosed a blown head gasket and, with no idea what I was doing, pulled the head.  

 

I found...

 

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The oil was also 1/3 water, and the coolant was 1/3 rust. I drained everything as best I could, and then life happened, I stumbled into a full time job and suddenly needed a grown up daily driver. Hence scoobaru.

 

The motor was left mostly dry with the head off (mayyyyyyybe a little bit totally full of tap water...) for the entire winter. The interior actually stayed totally dry through the Seattle rain, but I suspect the A14 needs a pretty comprehensive rebuild at this point. Choosing to see that as a learning opportunity  B)

 

here's how she sits now...

 

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I started with a carb rebuild, but after a full week of soaking everything in carb cleaner it's still black with unidentified toxic gunk, and a lot of the jets and their plumbing are still clogged. The choke wants to stick closed... it's all bad. So I splurged and ordered a reman. carb from National Carburetor (great reviews, rebuild everything to better than factory condition, flow test everything to exact specs).

 

I also ordered front seat covers and brand new belts from seatbelt planet. The stock belts were a musty biohazard broken inertia reels. Not helpful.

 

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The plan is to try to get the car to run in its current condition as best I can, hopefully without blowing anything up completely, so I can at least drive it around the block under it's own power and figure out what else it might need (brakes, clutch, etc... I don't even know if it the tranny will do anything more than spin the wheels on jack stands) before I start tearing the motor apart. 

 

The carb took a while so I've killed time by stripping the interior and doing a general inspection to get a feel for the rust situation now that I have some idea what I'm looking at. There really isn't anything worth mentioning other than the expected rot under the battery. Also, the wiring looks factory fresh, no damaged light fixtures, door seals are fine, clutch hydraulics seem to still be holding pressure, this thing is in better shape than my ten years younger legacy.

 

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Probably will need new inserts, but the springs and strut bodies are really solid. The bushings all have the consistency of recently-chewed bubble gum but thats to be expected right?

 

Also dissected the gauge cluster and mounted a little sunpro tach in the empty slot (more useful than a plastic card that says nissan I thought). Looks almost stock!

 

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AND I rediscovered the pair of studded snow tires on stock 210 steelies that I found on craigslist for 50 bucks a few months ago.

 

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Carb just showed up this morning, totally worth it just for the shiny... So more to come soon hopefully. No more lurking for me!

 

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TL/DR: I didn't even have a license when I made my first post, nor anyone with tools and experience to help me out, and proceeded to make several pretty noobtastic mistakes, thoroughly screwing myself over. Now I'm a much more competent amateur mechanic (at least thats what Im telling myself..) and hope to be wrapping up a pretty decent daily-driveable restoration by the end of the good weather.

 

^famous last words

 

Also, finally have a decent camera so OICS!!!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Nice Wagon. Which seat belts did you get? Mine are shot too. Does the reel fit inside the stock trim?

 

Thanks,

Jeremy

i used some from an 83 sentra, had to trim the metal, but the bolt holes lined up. you might investigate moving the 210 mechanism onto a sentra seat belt chassis, and it may work. but thats probably more work than its worth.

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I got a custom set of belts from seatbeltplanet.com. You can choose type, color, length, buckle style, a whole bunch of stuff and it's pretty reasonably priced for brand new. Mine don't fit in the factory trim, but they do bolt up with the factory hardware pretty well. They have awesome customer service too.... definitely a 10/10 experience.

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Nice project man...these cars are super simple to work on compared to the subie. I got my b310 when i was 18 too and within 6 months of owning it i did an A15 swap in it. If i were u i would probably upgrade to an A15 with a weber carb or something. It looks like someone swapped the dash for a later square light model(80-82) dash. The 79 dash is different and i like that one better personally

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 upgrade to an A15 with a weber carb or something. 

 

That's probably next. I'll get this running and make sure brakes, suspension, etc. are all sorted and then start thinking about swaps

 

It looks like someone swapped the dash for a later square light model(80-82) dash. The 79 dash is different and i like that one better personally

 

I think it may actually be a really early square light model that someone swapped the round light fenders, grill and hood on to haha. Theres factory vinyl pinstriping on the fenders and nowhere else, which I was confused about. But if the interior is from the later version, that would explain it!

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That's probably next. I'll get this running and make sure brakes, suspension, etc. are all sorted and then start thinking about swaps

 

 

I think it may actually be a really early square light model that someone swapped the round light fenders, grill and hood on to haha. Theres factory vinyl pinstriping on the fenders and nowhere else, which I was confused about. But if the interior is from the later version, that would explain it!

Someone has got their head on their shoulders. yeah A15 swap is a good idea, but you will want something other than the fuel economy head, if you're looking for power. ie. h72, or h77, or h89. i think your wagon probably has the h89 head, and that, with its cam, swapped onto an a15 with a bigger carb, should give you a decent amount of power for that little car. have ggzilla confirm this though.

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Someone has got their head on their shoulders. yeah A15 swap is a good idea, but you will want something other than the fuel economy head, if you're looking for power. ie. h72, or h77, or h89. i think your wagon probably has the h89 head, and that, with its cam, swapped onto an a15 with a bigger carb, should give you a decent amount of power for that little car. have ggzilla confirm this though.

 

Good tips, thanks man. How do I tell what head I have, will there be lettering on it or does it have to do with block number and year?

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