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1971 wagon a.k.a. The Flying Hen!


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I was originally planning on sharing this build when it was completed, but it's taking much longer than I thought! I seemed more motivated to work on my truck with a build thread because I had a bit of an audience that were waiting to see the next step, so I'm hoping by starting this I will become more motivated to move forward with this one! So I'm going to backtrack over the last 2 years of what I've done so far, then add as I go. I promise it will get more interesting as it unfolds! I came up on this car accidentally about 2 years ago when I responded to a craigslist ad for a set of wheels. I told the guy I was putting them on my datsun, then he said he had a few datsuns of his own and was looking to thin his herd a little bit. So I decided to go check out the wheels and see what else he had. So here it is sitting in his driveway.

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the transmission was taken out but the rest of it was in tact. He planned on doing a VG swap but had too many other projects. After a few hours of checking out his awesome collection of datsuns, I ended up giving him $900 for the wheels AND the car. When I got it home, I promptly took the motor out. I didn't have much of a plan at this point but I wanted to clean up the engine bay before anything else.

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Only rust in the whole bay was under the fusebox

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Then I decided I wanted to shave the bay. I'm not sure why....

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So I welded up every damn hole Including deleting the A/C

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If I could go back I would have skipped this step but I paint stripped It bare with jasco. I think I would have been good with just sanding it down a bit, but hey, its done now.

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Then went in with the seam sealer

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Stay tuned, this is where shit's about to get WEIRD!

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Something about the look of the wagon with no motor in it sitting all high in the front stood out to me... Now here is where the mad scientist in me comes out. I thought, a lifted 510? that might be different... how could I go about that? I've always been in love with baja beetles so why not a baja datsun!? I figured I'd keep the stock front suspension and build a drop bracket, giving it, say 5" of lift. Then to get the rear up in the air, make it leaf over rather than leaf under. Simple enough right? I committed to right here by drilling out the spot welds and removing these

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Clean slate to work from!

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I went and got a stick of 2x4 box tubing and cut some reliefs in it with the torch

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The beginning of my 'lift'

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Time for a test fit.

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I was happy with the fitment so I tacked 'er on!

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For some reason I'm drawn to uncharted territory.... It makes me feel like an explorer or something haha. The first step is imagining what I want to make, then I develop a loose plan of action on how to go about it. I try not to dwell on each part of it too hard otherwise I may get discouraged because of how much work is ahead of me... At this point, the sawzall/torch/grinder get busted out and I commit to it by cutting some important stuff off, then from here on out a lot of it is just figuring it out as I go. essentially 'winging' it!

wow this is an interesting idea .. nice work so far .... Are you going to use fish plates on the inside of the bay? and what do you plan to do with the steering box and steering arms?

So to answer your question about the steering I'm not quite sure at this point. My original plan which I started in on a few months back was to re-use the stock box but reshape the pitman and idler arm to make them 'S' the other way, making 'drop steering' . Pitman arm I bent with heat, idler I cut the ball joint end off, flipped it 180deg and welded it back together. then took the bushing end offand reversed it I was able to get 2" of drop out of them. Then I spent some time on the moog website cross referencing tie rodsand such. I ended up getting stock tie rod ends but the threaded rod in between the inner and outer is from an early 90's isuzu pickup which is the same threads but about 2" longer than the 510. I have no way of knowing how well it will work until I put it all together.

But here are my concerns:

-will the new geometry and steeper angles make for hard turning or some scary bump steer?

-will the added leverage on the steering box make it want to rip out of the frame rail?

 

we will see.....

My backup plan is to ditch all that shit and go with rack and pinion from a Z car or 240sx, mounting it to the motor crossmember.

 

And I really should fishplate the new rails on but I didn't. I just did about 1.5" welds every 2 or 3 inches. Once I get more pieces of the puzzle in I might go back and do that.

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Now onto the making of the MEGAstruts... I decided to go with the 280 strut upgrade because of the brake upgrade and whatnot.. I wrestled these struts out of a car on the fucking hottest day of the year with primitive tools at pick-n-pull. got them home and got right down to work. My plan was to lengthen the strut tube. I started by taking the spring off, and removing the inserts. next I cut the lower spring perches off. I did this on BOTH the stock 510 and 280 ones. This is typically where you'd move them down if you wanted to lower your car, but i'm moving them up! the stock struts are now the donor struts. I cut a calculated amount from the top shown here

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now, I'm going to stick this to the top of the 280 strut

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To my advantage, the i.d. of the 280 struts was the same as the o.d. of the 510 struts, making a NICE press fit!!!

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then a little welding..

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Here the spacer that now goes IN the strut tube to lift up the insert (shock)

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drops right down into the bottom!

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Next I welded the lower spring perch up 5" from where it originally sat. forgot to get a pic of this step but here it is all put back together

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Now for the test fit...

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Lookin' mighty tall!!!

Here is when I realized that there are crucial differences between 280z and 280zX. The ZX is a direct bolt on, however the spindle angle on the Z strut is I believe 7 degrees different, making for some wicked positive camber. I got the wrong ones... and put a bunch of time into them. son of a BITCH! heartbreak. too late now... I gotta just stay calm, and fight the urge to scrap the project... My solution was to make a pie cut and angle the bottoms, correcting the angle. Only downfall I saw to this was it would add a little more angle to the ball joint.

I started like this.

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iddy biddy piece of metal pie next to screwdriver

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Now I welded that slip fit spacer in place like so (except all the way)

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crrrreeeekkkk bent it back

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weld 'er up!

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I felt it needed a little reinforcement now. I had the tube from the original driveshaft from my 521 laying around since I went to a one piece on it. It was the perfect size for a gusset! split it right in half, or maybe a little less I dont remember then stuck it on! forgot to take a pic until it was all cleaned up and painted but here it is

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Only other difference I found on the Z strut was the steering arm thingy on the bottom is shorter than the 510 one. I look at it as it will have quicker steering. Wont know until I get it hooked up.

Here it is on its own weight!

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And somewhere in there I picked up these zx wheels/tires for $120. score!

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