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blue72's $200 '70 510 Project


blue72

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I don't believe I've ever posted here, but I did register to be able to search through the archives that have accumulated, and it has been very helpful so far. As a disclaimer, I have mostly stuck to the Z boards on the net because I own and wrench on a '72 240Z. I recently decided to help my father resurrect a 510 that he has owned for about six or seven years, so here is my official project page (sorry if anyone already read this on HybridZ, but bear with me).

Edited by blue72
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I'll try not to make the story too long, but here's what I know about the history of this 1970 auto trans PL510.

 

510 intro.jpg

 

Perhaps six or seven years ago my father spotted a forlorn little two door 510 for sale at a tow yard. He has done a lot of business with the owner/operator of the towing business, and it turns out he had picked the car up years ago as an 'eventual project'. Needing some cash the tow driver drug it out to the street hoping some other enthusiast would give it some attention.

 

For $200 my dad simply couldn't refuse. The seller even delivered the car on his tow rig at no extra charge.

 

To delve even further into history, my father had a friend in high school who drove a hopped up 510, and perhaps dreamt of recreating a little of his adolescence. Unfortunately, as with most of his project vehicles, it sat on the side of his shop mostly untouched. Sometime around 2006 he got ambitious and disassembled the interior then yanked out the motor and trans. As usual, work got in the way of personal projects, and the little 510 was pushed back outside again to it's accustomed resting spot in the gravel.

 

Over time he decided an SR20DET swap would be the best bang for the buck. To this day he's still on the lookout for "the deal" on a good red top. Again, big plans, but very little time or ambition after a hard day wrenching on other people's cars for a living.

 

I've watched all this happen from the sidelines, but recently decided to get involved and jumpstart the project for him. With the recent economic downturn and consequent lack of anything better to do (and an empty bay or two in the shop) I figured I'd do something nice for the old man and have a bit of a gift ready for him at the end of the chemotherapy treatment he has been going through. Plus, I figured it wouldn't hurt to have a vested interest in the car so I could drive the thing when it is eventually completed.:D

 

On to the pictures:

Edited by blue72
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Appearances can be deceiving. From a distance the exterior seems passable, but there are many hidden 'features' under that sheetmetal and pinstriping.

 

This is what it looked like a couple of weeks ago (2-13-09) when I aired up the '79 Civic's crusty tires and shoved it out of the way to access the 510. I'm a big fan of the battery powered car pusher.

 

snowy 510.jpg

 

And here's the Fred Flintstone inspired braking system.

 

rusted out old floors.jpg

 

You'll notice the original steering wheel is in that last shot. Yes, it is the bare steel hoop. All of the plastic rotted away in the sun. The wheel that's on there now I grabbed from a junkyard 280Z.

 

It took me a while to track him down, but some nice folks at the dime quarterly helped me find Mark Grimsley's e-mail address. I had him make me up some of his famous replacement floorpans. A quick inspection led me to believe that only the fronts would need replaced, so that's all I ordered. They're not the same pattern as the original pans, but they are ribbed for reinforcement then cut, trimmed and bent to the right shape which saves a lot of time (I don't happen to have access to a sheet metal brake). I'm pretty happy with the product that I got.

 

new pan and box.jpg

Edited by blue72
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With the 510 defrosting in one of the bays, I removed all the interior bits which had been piled inside the car when it was unceremoniously evicted from the shop back in '06. Here are a couple of views of the still damp front floors.

 

rusty floorpans.jpg

 

rusty driver underside.jpg

 

Yep, lots of room for improvement there. Luckily the support rails were still in excellent shape structurally.

 

I don't want to give it all away yet, but 60 hours of labor, eight cutoff wheels, one tank of gas for the MIG and a couple of 4 1/2 inch angle grinder wheels later and all of this has been repaired and more, so stay tuned.

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I'll be sure to keep the updates going as long as I can. Next week I'm headed to the junk yard to try and scour up some miscellaneous Z parts (ZX struts, brake master cylinder, etc...) to retrofit on the old dime.

 

As is, I'm currently looking to buy some good rust free 2 door, rear lower quarter panels. I'm not a big fan of trying to recreate the complex curvature of the fender lip with only my Snap-On basic bodywork toolset beside me.

 

Here's what I'm up against:

 

rusty doglegs.jpg

 

The rusty 'vein' on the driver's side extends almost half way up the wheel opening. I'm confident in being able to replace the support sections that are normally hidden behind this area, but for the exterior I'd rather find some good originals.

 

I realize that this isn't the parts wanted section, but if anyone has a shell they're chopping up, just let me know, because this would be the last bit of rust that needs taken care of once the floors are finalized.

Edited by blue72
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MMMHH SR20 :D Looks like a fun project too!

 

For the rockers maybe you can take a sheet of mild steel to a sheet metal shop and with a sample of what is left of your rockers and have them bend you up a couple. I used to work at a sheet metal shop and that's where I got my "new" rockers :D Finding a parts car with good rockers is basically impossible since there is 2 layers of metal even "good" cars have rust underneath. When I dug into my car the rust was the same way, really far up on one side. I didn't fix it to show quality or anything (maybe someday it will be) but it looks great IMO :D Personally I enjoy fixing rust, I feel like an artist :D

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Okay, so to continue.

 

Before I got too serious with the floors there was some cleanup that needed to take place, so out came the shop-vac.

I know this picture is fuzzy because of the built up goop on the inside of all the windows, but do you see all of those yellow things at the base of the windshield?

 

wasps01.jpg

 

I don't know why the yellow jackets decided this would be a great spot to die, but that's the only place in the car where I found them.

 

Another item of note was found behind the glovebox door. Inside I came across a nice inspirational button that got me to wondering what sort of people had once loved the little dime.

 

glovebox.jpg

 

With everything cleaned up, the first order of business was to lay the new pans into place and see what needed to be trimmed. It was immediately evident that a few areas of the pans themselves would need to be cut away because they didn't yet sit flush.

 

pan mockup.jpg

 

I started with the passenger floorpan, and trimmed a little here and there from the new metal to let it lay flat on top of the old floor. Pulling out the old industrial sharpie I made some quick marks and began slicing up the old floor. The passenger side had remained mostly intact aside from the rust holes where it met the firewall, so finding all of the depressions created by the spot welds was a simple affair. This would not turn out to be the case on the driver's side which was a giant rust ball.

 

passenger floor cutout.jpg

 

Then more cutting, trimming, chopping, beating, drilling, etc... to get the replacement to fit correctly. All of the holes for the spot welds were drilled through the new pans so that I could fill them in with weld later, and with some persuasion everything lined up nicely. Ignore my momentary lapse of attention when trimming the firewall edge.

 

passenger floor test fit.jpg

 

One of the toughest parts for me is having the patience to let the welds cool to prevent warping, but luckily this was a large piece and by the time I came back around to the beginning it was ready to be zapped again. The replacement pans are the prefect thickness as well and made it difficult for even me to burn through them.

 

Here's the passenger pan already installed and ready to rock while the driver's side floor area is getting prepped.

 

driver floor cutout.jpg

 

I laid out the old floor pieces side by side with one of the new pans so everyone could visualize just how far gone these things were.

 

pans side by side.jpg

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nice work man! Take a look at your quarter windows, if they are in need of repair look up my repair thread and let me know what you think. or PM me and i can direct you further.

Good work so far keep it up

 

Also for the rear wheel arches, the ones on my 2 door are shot as well from the PO being stupid... but im fabbing in some VW golf fender replacement flairs i ordered them 80 bucks for the pair to my door

Edited by 510er
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Icehouse, I may wind up going that route. I'm also going to be keeping an eye out for vehicles with similar wheel openings at the jy this week. Perhaps I can hybridize a couple of pieces of similar stuff to make the quarters whole again.

 

fisch, thanks. I've admired your art before when I was lurking and learning. I'm a 3D artist myself. I've got a complete 240Z that I've modeled and I'm still working on a polygonal 510. Here's a link to my work if anyone is interested: http://renderanything.cgsociety.org/gallery/

 

510er, the quarter windows are one of the few things that are in excellent shape. I'll be sure to squirrel away the knowledge gleaned from your writeup though. Good suggestion on the flares too. I'll have to consult with the old man and see what he had in mind for wheel/tire combo and find out if we'll even be keeping the fender lip intact.

 

To everyone else, thank you for the welcome.

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It seemed that everything was progressing swimmingly so far, right? Well, not so fast. I found there was a big hurdle to overcome when it came to the driver's side of the vehicle.

 

With some sheetmetal from the floorpan out of the way it was quickly becoming evident that things weren't lined up like they should have been. Using a box wrench I proceeded to break off the heads of each bolt that held the driver side fender on (after soaking them for three days in Kroil) and this is what I found underneath it:

 

fender separation.jpg

 

This vehicle had been in a somewhat serious left side collision at some time in its past. It happened back when the car was still pea-green and before it had been repainted burgundy with pin striping. The affected area had been repaired at the time, but by now all of the welds that had held the repair together were rusted through or broken. This left the inner fender and front strut tower unsupported, which led to the weight of the vehicle slowly forcing them inward and upward.

 

Here's a view inside the fender well showing how far apart things had spread, and this is with the vehicle supported on a lift. Everything pushed much farther apart with the 510 supporting its own weight. All this without any drivetrain to press down on it either.

 

misaligned inner fender.jpg

 

The body shop that had executed the questionable repairs simply pop-riveted the inner fender and another support piece back in position. Needless to say, those rivets were no longer intact.

 

This is what the fender support looked like:

 

rustysupport2.jpg

 

It had been chopped up and mostly replaced following the accident, but not enough thought was given to the longevity of the repair, and rust quickly lay hold on the exposed metal and welds. The cancer had also spread to the inner fender mounting surface.

 

fender mount rot.jpg

 

 

My solution? Grinding, welding and a Hi-Lift jack. More on that later.

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Owch! Funny what secrets a fender can hide!

 

Thanks for the complement on teh art! I dig your Z render! I wish I knew how to 3d model stuff. Then I could build my own props and rotate them any direction and light them for refrence. I have a bunch of friends who play with 'sketch up' for simple stuff. I will have to take the time to learn some day!

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:eek: damnit thats bad with all the rust wouldnt it be easier to find another shell?

 

Oh sure, do things the easy way.:rolleyes: That's not how us masochistic welder wielders think.

 

In all honesty though, everything you've seen so far I've either got under control or have deluded myself that "it can't be that hard". The only pieces I'm really looking for at this time are some good quarters (if such a thing exists) perhaps a driver's side door, and a windshield.

I''m no stranger to resurrecting things. I'll have to post pictures of my Z here sometime. I purchased it for $900 and it was basically a parts car with an L24E in place of the original engine. Now it's a 200+ est. whp (no dynamometers in Southern Utah) N/A street pounder that is in desperate need of a dizzy rebuild.

 

I am parting out a descent couple of front clips if you are interested in any of these pieces.

 

Thanks for the offer. I looked through your for sale ad, but I think I'm all set for now. I can't help thinking about how those would make some great static displays. Either with a non-rebuildable motor or as a sales tool for a place like Vildini or McKinney Motorsports,

 

More updates to come this week, but tomorrow I'll be in a junkyard all day touching other crusty old Datsuns.

Edited by blue72
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More updates to come this week, but tomorrow I'll be in a junkyard all day touching other crusty old Datsuns.

 

 

Don't forget the camera!!! We love some junk yard pics!!

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Don't worry, I brought the camera.:D I've been planning this particular trip for about two months now. Wanna see some highlights from today?

 

The ZX that'll be supplying struts for the 510

brown280ZX.jpg

 

Some high flying B210 and 310 action

blueb210s.jpg

 

The sad demise of an old diesel p/u

blacktailgate.jpg

 

The '77 280Z that is donating its block to my L31ett build

black280z.jpg

 

A surprisingly intact Pulsar

s12.jpg

 

I'm heading back out again tomorrow morning. Too many parts for one day even with an electric impact and 3 extra batteries.

If you'll excuse me I'm off to find the sunburn ointment.

Edited by blue72
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All done playing in the junkyard for now, but I've still got plenty of parts to clean.

 

Was anyone curious as to what use a Hi-Lift would be?

 

hi lift straightening.jpg

 

I used it to push the strut tower back to where it was supposed to have been in the first place. The front frame rails that support the engine were straight, so I only had to push the top of the tower over against the support. It popped and groaned but moved smoothly.

 

Looking around for something to re-create the rusted out sections of the fender support I spied a dented valve body pan in the trash from a vehicle we had repaired earlier in the week.

 

fender support repair.jpg

 

It worked great. The lip I wanted was already built in, it was thick steel and there were holes in it that I could fill with weld as I had done with the spot welds inside the vehicle. I spent most of two days just straightening and rebuilding the inner fender and fender support.

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With everything in close approximation to its final location I decided to finish the floors. Here's the driver side almost completely welded in.

 

driver floor welded in.jpg

 

In that picture a couple of bolts can be seen at the far end of the replacement floor. They were being used both as alignment tools and to make sure the pan stayed in close proximity to the floor support when filling in the spot weld holes. The outer edges of each pan were given a similar treatment, drilling and filling in the original spot weld holes which were spaced about every 6" apart. If you are super observant you'll notice that the driver's side was a little rustier to begin with, so the edges of the replacement pan were left mostly intact while more material was removed from the remains of the old floor instead.

 

Here's yours truly grinding down all of those excess weld beads and trying to make even the unseen underside of the vehicle appear new and tidy.

 

me and the sparks.jpg

 

With much perseverance (and lots of tiny little burn marks on my head because I was too engrossed to bother with a hat, but instead donned a shop rag) I finished the two front floors.

This is what the finished product looked like before it was cleaned and coated.

 

driver floor complete.jpg

 

clean pans underneath.jpg

 

With all of that out of the way I readied the final straightening of the front end. After double checking the mating surfaces to be sure they were straight and grinding off some overlooked welding beads, I re-positioned the Hi-Lift. With one hand pushing on the handle and the other holding the welding gun, the two pieces of metal were fused to each other again.

 

fender togetherness.jpg

 

cleaned support.jpg

 

Much better.

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Very nice work! Brings back memories, welding is the best :D The hardest part for me is not cutting the whole front off and tube framing it. Just because it would be so bad ass :D

 

Can't wait to follow the rest of the build. :)

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