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Ratwagon1600

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Well, the Datsun gods have truly been good to me in the last few days.

 

Sunday sees the 1200 Ute project commenced (now to be shelved for the foreseeable future) and yesterday I finally found a decent four door 1600 shell.

 

Ive been searching for one for about six months and yesterday I get a phone call from a mate who says there is one for sale only two suburbs from where I live.

 

Jump online and check out the photos, looks too good to be true. The Leno effect has well and truly hit downunder and people are asking ridiculous money for rusted out wrecks. Stock cars with an L18 are going from $7k up down here and most have questionable body work. This shell looks great in the pics and im thinking wheres the hidden major rust. Ring the guy up and he says come over.

 

Hook up the car trailer and quick trip to the auto teller and withdraw the money and race over to the guys place.

 

Hour later, look what followed me home. Shell is in really good condition with the only rust in the taillight panel (easily fixed) and a bit in the rear quarter (another easy fix). Looks way better in real life than it does in the pics. PO had the foresight to paint it with rust convertor, and this is what has caused the brown marks on it..

 

Floor pans are immaculate, roof is the same. Bonnet and boot lid are super straight and the worst part about the doors is one of the rear ones/ Can either reskin it or grab one from the spares pile. Front valance is bent though I have a brand new aftermarket replacement so onto the shell it will go. Overall its a great starting point and im pretty happy with it. Im going to keep it the original colour and I even like the wheels.

 

Unmolested door cards cap off the win!

 

 

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Goddam work getting in the way of important stuff.

 

This afternoons effort.

 

Front valance removed and new one test fitted. Little bit of RW love with a 9lb hammer should fix the fitment issues.

 

Trip to my favorite paint supply shop after work.  After an hour and much head scratching, trying to match Straylian built paint codes with the paint shops info, we came up with what looks to me, close enough to the original paint as possible.  No full respray at this stage, but, want engine bay, front guards, valance and a few other little bits and pieces looking close to the right colour.

 

After much head scratching, and Internet goodness, we came up with a 1971 Nissan (and surprisingly factory Volkswagen) colour called "Shantung Yellow".

 

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Our Motor vehicle registration authority here are very anal about car having a consistent colour (unless it was factory multiple colour) hence my desire to try and make it look OK'ish.

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What's the code for the original paint on your car? Is it 910?

The code on the plate in the engine bay is 717-13174. The OEM Dulon sticker that is normally found on the radiator support is gone.

 

According to the paint code book from the 1980's at the paint shop, the paint code was 717 (im pretty sure this is the original Dulux colour code).

 

The guy who mixed the paint told me their code is "CLR 717". Not sure what the CLR stands for.

 

As I said in a previous post, colour also came up as a Volkswagen colour. Shantung Yellow is the colour name and thats all we could find.

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Update.

 

Mankified engine bay stripped and cleaned ready for priming today.

 

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Bought a 5 litre container of industrial strength degreaser concentrate to assist with the process.  Its meant to make up to 400 litres according to the container.  Meh, 1 to 1 ratio sounds about right to me :)

 

its cleaned up the inner guards really nicely.  Im kinda liking the positive caster too.

 

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Front valance has been etch primed ready for painting.

 

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