Finally!!! A real Datsun!

[Rhino13]

Funny thing is, which some of you may know, part of the Canby trucks bed is a license plate hammered to shape then covered in bondo...

 

I hold the rookie title too, I've only ever welded with oxy acetylene and was only spot welding, I'm stoked to learn though! I'm going to clean all the shit out right now, I'll post up what the whole floor looks like.

[hobospyder]

Did the rod keep it together!?

guy i got it from drove it like that, said it was just making a horrible racket. and other way around, bearing kept the rod together

[hobospyder]

Well I'm going to shoot for early January to pick up the z22 block, so that will go to the machine shop pretty much right away. 

preferably on the weekend, i work mon-fri at a minimum. 

[flatcat19]

You don't work. You hang out and collect a check some how.

[Rhino13]

Alright, got the cab cleaned out and scraped the floors a bit. I also took the dash out and found that the entire bottom of the windshield gasket leaks pretty good, so I'm glad I got the dash away from that and the floors are gone so I'm not concerned about it dripping there.

 

Under the seat isn't that bad

 

All of this is toast though

 

Passenger side

 

Also toast up there

 

Pretty clean under the dash

 

Heater box is pretty rough, it's missing the passenger side defrost tube, and the vent is gone from the dash

 

I decided since I have this out, it'll be my first project to clean up

 

Gauge cluster is pretty clean

 

Thought this was funny, it's a pencil in the vent on the dash, the wood broke down but the graphite is fine haha

 

And while cleaning up I noticed the headliner and visors were really nice

[Draker]

Not bad!! Wire wheel those floor pans and see what you got under the seat. Looks solid though! 

[greenthumb]

Good to see your dash appears to be uncut. That's the way to take the bull by the horns- rip everything out to deal with the nasty stuff right away

[Rhino13]

It's very straight, a little rusty but it should clean up nice. Unfortunately I broke 3 of the bolts when taking it out, they broke with almost no effort.

What have people done to restore the padded part of the dash?

 

I'm hoping to get the truck in the back and wire wheel all the rusted areas inside the cab.

 

I am going to take it one thing at a time, I figured tearing it apart will make it easier to see how much work I have ahead of me and how much money this will take. I know the motor will cost me some coin, but I'm going to try and refurbish everything I can from the truck.

 

What should I use to clean up the rusty spots on the body? Most of it is surface rust, there's a spot on the bed and tailgate that is all the way through. I'd be find with leaving the rust if I could, I like the look of some surface rust.

[bilzbobaggins]

I love it man....looks like my floors.  Is your heater control valve still threaded on the end for the knob?  or is it broken off??  And even though you told me that was a pencil, id swear it was a yellow handled Philips screwdriver.

 

have fun :)

[DanielC]

Type "rust removal" in the search window, on community.ratsun.net.  There is also information on youtube, and many other car forums about rust removal.

 

Easiest I have found, to most difficult.

For small parts, get an old crock pot, mix one molasses to 7 to 10 parts water, put parts in that.  Takes about a week or two, parts need light cleaning, possibly a light sandblast, or sanding.  Parts need immediate painting, or treatment with a phosphoric acid, surface rust will start right away.

 

Use coarse steel wool with phosphoric acid solution.   This is good for light surface rust, no pitting.   I have found small stainless steel detail brushes, about tooth brush size, that also work with phosphoric acid.

 

A small wire wheel, in a reversible drill.   This can be combined with the phosphoric acid, and steel wool.  It seems to me to work better to run the drill slow.  Slow speeds allow the bristles on the wire wheel to dig deeper into rust pits.  The bristles soon lean away from the direction of rotation, reversing the drill then forces the bristles to dig in to the pits. 

 

Electrolysis works, I have a thread on electrolytic rust removal.  Basically. you need a plastic bucket, an old 6 amp  battery charger, and a solution made from Arm & Hammer "super washing soda", and some scrap steel to use as a consumable anode.  Connect the parts to the negative side of the battery charger, the scrap steel is connected to the positive battery charger lead.  DO NOT USE STAINLESS STEEL FOR THE ANODE.  IT CREATES HEXAVALENT CHROMIUM.  

 

Obviously, sanding, sandblasting also remove rust.

[uberkevin]

If you run through my thread you'll see what I did to my dash.

 

Also one of the first things I did.

[Rhino13]

I will definitely do the molasses and water for all of the bolts and smaller metal parts. I have my drill clamped into my vice with a wire wheel on it so I'll be using that for bigger stuff like the heater box.

I have everything needed for electrolysis, so I may give it a try depending on if I have trouble with any parts.

Thanks for all that info Daniel!

Will the steel wool with phosphoric acid take the paint off too?

 

Nice work on the dash Kevin! I read through the dash posts but didn't see one on if you cut out the ashtray and defrost holes? If so how did you tuck them under the lip it has around each?

[DanielC]

Steel wool is mildly abrasive.  It will remove paint, and primer.

I have found on many Datsun parts, there can be some light rust hidden under the primer.  This rust will cause problems later. 

Electrolysis in many cases also removes the paint, and primer.  Electrolysis lifts the paint in sheets, sometimes, but sometimes the paint stays on the metal.  I think that any rust on the part, even under paint created hydrogen bubbles, and that is what lifts paint.

Electrolysis can cause hydrogen embrittlement.  This makes the steel metal not as strong, but is not a problem in body sheet metal.  It can be an issue with suspension parts, or brake parts. Use your good judgement.

[Draker]

I will definitely do the molasses and water for all of the bolts and smaller metal parts. I have my drill clamped into my vice with a wire wheel on it so I'll be using that for bigger stuff like the heater box.

I have everything needed for electrolysis, so I may give it a try depending on if I have trouble with any parts.

Thanks for all that info Daniel!

Will the steel wool with phosphoric acid take the paint off too?

 

Nice work on the dash Kevin! I read through the dash posts but didn't see one on if you cut out the ashtray and defrost holes? If so how did you tuck them under the lip it has around each?

 

I've got a small blasting cabinet if you need it. Just clean all grease and shit off the parts and blast away!

[Rhino13]

Awesome, thanks Craig! I'd like to come by and check out your 510 more anyway, haven't seen it or you in a while. We should try to get together after Christmas once I've had some time to at least degrease parts.

[Draker]

Yeah man, sounds good!

[uberkevin]

I will definitely do the molasses and water for all of the bolts and smaller metal parts. I have my drill clamped into my vice with a wire wheel on it so I'll be using that for bigger stuff like the heater box.

I have everything needed for electrolysis, so I may give it a try depending on if I have trouble with any parts.

Thanks for all that info Daniel!

Will the steel wool with phosphoric acid take the paint off too?

Nice work on the dash Kevin! I read through the dash posts but didn't see one on if you cut out the ashtray and defrost holes? If so how did you tuck them under the lip it has around each?

Not sure what you mean, all I did was cut an x in the spot where the ash tray would go and put the ash tray back.. nothing to it, did the similar thing to the vents..

[Rhino13]

Not sure what you mean, all I did was cut an x in the spot where the ash tray would go and put the ash tray back.. nothing to it, did the similar thing to the vents..

There's a metal lip over the padding for the vent holes and the ashtray. It's part of the metal on the dash top, I took some pictures

 

[Draker]

Pull those and blast em.

[uberkevin]

There are little tabs holding them down. Once you bend the tabs you'll be able to get them out.

And then powdercoat them :)

[Rhino13]

There's my confusion, didn't realize they were removable, it's hard to tell since they're so rusty. I see what you mean Kevin, it's more self explanatory now that I realize that haha

[Rhino13]

I think I'm going to roll the odometer back to 0 miles. I have the cluster pretty much all the way apart and I figured since I'll be building a new motor, putting on a lot of new parts, and redoing all the parts I can save, why not start fresh with the miles?

[uberkevin]

Show us how it's done!

[HOGIE]

Funny thing is, which some of you may know, part of the Canby trucks bed is a license plate hammered to shape then covered in bondo..

 

 

 

 

Yes there were some 'dirty little secrets' that had to be done to get it finished.

 

When we were driving down to Shasta, I was under the truck to replaces the fuel line while we trouble shot the fuel system I laughed my ass off seeing it again

 

 

[Rhino13]

As per Kevin's request, here's how you put it back to 0 miles

 

Start by taking apart the cluster so you have the panel with the gauges and needles exposed. Take off the mph backing plate to expose to odometer and speedo drive. There's two screws on the back of the housing that will let you drop that out so you have just this

 

The side of the counter with the gear is fixed, on the other end there is a copper clip (can't think of the proper term) that you pull off to remove the counter.

 

And off

 

Once you have the counter off, there is one more clip to remove in order for each number to move independent. Not the greatest picture

 

Set each one to 0 and put everything back together!