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'81 210 sedan Project, aka Joel


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The car, or the dash?   ^_^

 

Both? I know the car will turn out great but the dash is something I've been thinking of working on with mine so you're giving me ideas other then spending the thousand or so on the carbon fiber dash over here. 

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Only thing I'm worried about is welding this really thin metal...   ^_^

 

I've been thinking about that.  It shouldn't be much worse than zorst pipe... we just need to make sure it is a "Tim CAN weld" day, not a "Tim CANNOT weld" day.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Did some more trimming of various brackets and stuff to make it closer to level/flat...

 

17904185_10154697812557983_3098542313410

 

 

Cut off the side brackets that the dash face screwed onto...

 

17903967_10154697812252983_8819056652626

 

 

Got a big piece of steel that is 52x8, used the brake to bend up the sides...

 

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Trimmed the sides down a bit to push it up where it goes...

 

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Still a bit of a gap in the center, though. Marked off the arc and cut it so it would push in all the way up to the top...

 

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Left it there for now, but I'm reasonably happy with it.  :thumbup:

 

Now that it fits up in there, I need to tack weld the corners of it to finish fitting it. That way it doesn't squirm around while I'm tweaking it to fit better.  ;)

 

There is a plan for that razor sharp edge on the top, so stay tuned...

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how heavy is it now compared to stock? 

 

Oh geez... I'd say easily half the weight, or maybe less?

 

I'll toss it on a scale when it's done, but I'd be surprised if it's more than 15 pounds. Even the somewhat gutted stock dash weighed considerably more. Heck, the heater box alone (full of coolant) probably weighs as much as this dash does now. 

 

And you've just given me the best (or worst) idea ever. I could easily drill this thing full of big holes to make it even lighter...    :rofl:

 

At this point my somewhat unstated goal has been to "add lightness" as much as possible. This will go a long way to making that happen.

 

 

 

 

Weight is the enemy of fun.   B)

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Picked up some stuff for the dash edge today...   :thumbup:

 

Bumpers came in, but since I wasn't there to sign for them, I now have to go to the post office tomorrow...   :sleep:

 

But for some reason the postman did leave my lights, which also shipped from Japan, so wtf...   :rofl:

 

18010966_10154714018817983_5807141249450

 

 

I may tint these all amber before installation, but that's tbd...

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Okay, so the edge molding I got for my door apertures got me to thinking. Went back to the trim shop and bought some more...

 

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It comes in two sizes, large (for American cars) and small (for foreign cars). I got both because I wasn't sure which would be best for this...

 

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Rather than spot weld the sides to hold it in place, I elected to shoot a pop rivet in each side. Holds it tight and does the job well. This spot was chosen for a reason you will see shortly...

 

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Did a little more straightening on the lip edge and test fit the wider modling...

 

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At this point, I figured now was as good a time as any for a test fit in the car...

 

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Looks a wee bit crooked in that pic, but better in person. Still waffling on the height of it though. May trim the bottom a bit...

 

 

 

Oddly, I was always planning to trim the bottom up for better steering column clearance, but...    ^_^

 

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Finally, an accident that works out in my favor...   :rofl:

 

 

Back out again I decided to see if the 5" Auto Meters I have for it will fit and it looks like they will...

 

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That's just an old 5" tach I had in storage, the dash will get all new ones...   :thumbup:

 

 

 

Does it fit well? Yes. Is it perfect? No. Are we going to move forward with finishing it? Probably. Do I like it? To be determined...   ^_^

 

 

Hopefully Tim we be able to do some welding on it for me next time...  

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Thanks to the tireless efforts of TSKB310, I now have these...

 

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And yes, he cut them in half to save me about $200 shipping on them...    ^_^

Nice to see they finally got to you, only took about a month longer then planned. 

 

 

 

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Looks surprisingly good with that trim.

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Looks surprisingly good with that trim.

 

I'll keep working the edge to get it as straight as I can. Next step is to get the face welded on for good, then cut the gauge holes. Then I can focus on straightening that lip and throw some paint on it. Thinking wrinkle finish black for the whole thing...

 

Another notion I have is to, instead of cutting gauge holes in this, cut them into a piece of carbon fiber sheet I have, then turn that into a roughly 7"x16" panel that would bolt into the face. That way it will be a lot easier to wire up the gauges, and to remove them later on if need be...

 

Basically like this, but carbon fiber...

 

F143845023.jpg

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"Bumpers came in, but since I wasn't there to sign for them, I now have to go to the post office tomorrow... "

 

 

Didn't happen to send anything while you were there did you?

 

Don't ever pinky swear.

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Color looks good in fact I think it'd look bitch'n with a nice flake in it...  but those wheels... that's a different story. Everyone is entitled to their own opinion SO, I've always thought SSR MK1 or MK2 are perfect for the Sunny, MK2 more so for the B310 models. 

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Fine. Maybe I'll keep the black wheels.   

 

tumblr_mzaouiG4sJ1rmvfheo1_250.gif

 

Apparently he saw my post saying "The only reason you're working on this car is because of HOW AWESOME THOSE BLACK STEELIES LOOKED ON THERE!!!!"  That was what I wanted to delete.

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