TheWagonator

Already is haha. Might be the best comprehensive wiki on any forum on any subject I've ever seen.

That thing is MINT. How many miles does she have?? Great find for sure, must have some damn cool parents to get this as a grad gift haha.

Holy..... That wagon is sitting too perfect. Anyone know the wheel specs, how much low, etc? I need more of thisssss

Good tips, thanks man. How do I tell what head I have, will there be lettering on it or does it have to do with block number and year?

That's probably next. I'll get this running and make sure brakes, suspension, etc. are all sorted and then start thinking about swaps I think it may actually be a really early square light model that someone swapped the round light fenders, grill and hood on to haha. Theres factory vinyl pinstriping on the fenders and nowhere else, which I was confused about. But if the interior is from the later version, that would explain it!

I got a custom set of belts from seatbeltplanet.com. You can choose type, color, length, buckle style, a whole bunch of stuff and it's pretty reasonably priced for brand new. Mine don't fit in the factory trim, but they do bolt up with the factory hardware pretty well. They have awesome customer service too.... definitely a 10/10 experience.

WELP it's been more than a year since I bought this thing, having READ extensively but never actually touched a car and still driving on a permit. Might have been overestimating my immediate skill level... :blush: but thats how you learn right? Anyway I've now spent considerable time and money wrenching on much newer cars (radiator, CV's, sensors, gasket, timing, PS rack, brakes etc on 98 Legacy GT, auto to manual swap on an 07 civic, various friend's projects) and collecting tools. I may or may not have also invested a couple thousand hours to lurking several forums........... ANYHOO This thing languished all winter, but I figure it's time to take a second shot now the weather is nice. After fuel inject DOHC boxer fours with full time AWD and early OBD II era engine management, suddenly the 210 seems friendly and straightforward. Also I now know it's actually a '79 with the round headlight front facia, 5 spd and a California smogged A14. So here we are. Last year I got as far as getting the engine to run, drinking out of a gas can (lines are totally clogged) but it refused to idle even though it sounded pretty good with a little gas. I then, with the AWESOME help of datzenmike and some others, diagnosed a blown head gasket and, with no idea what I was doing, pulled the head. I found... The oil was also 1/3 water, and the coolant was 1/3 rust. I drained everything as best I could, and then life happened, I stumbled into a full time job and suddenly needed a grown up daily driver. Hence scoobaru. The motor was left mostly dry with the head off (mayyyyyyybe a little bit totally full of tap water...) for the entire winter. The interior actually stayed totally dry through the Seattle rain, but I suspect the A14 needs a pretty comprehensive rebuild at this point. Choosing to see that as a learning opportunity B) here's how she sits now... I started with a carb rebuild, but after a full week of soaking everything in carb cleaner it's still black with unidentified toxic gunk, and a lot of the jets and their plumbing are still clogged. The choke wants to stick closed... it's all bad. So I splurged and ordered a reman. carb from National Carburetor (great reviews, rebuild everything to better than factory condition, flow test everything to exact specs). I also ordered front seat covers and brand new belts from seatbelt planet. The stock belts were a musty biohazard broken inertia reels. Not helpful. The plan is to try to get the car to run in its current condition as best I can, hopefully without blowing anything up completely, so I can at least drive it around the block under it's own power and figure out what else it might need (brakes, clutch, etc... I don't even know if it the tranny will do anything more than spin the wheels on jack stands) before I start tearing the motor apart. The carb took a while so I've killed time by stripping the interior and doing a general inspection to get a feel for the rust situation now that I have some idea what I'm looking at. There really isn't anything worth mentioning other than the expected rot under the battery. Also, the wiring looks factory fresh, no damaged light fixtures, door seals are fine, clutch hydraulics seem to still be holding pressure, this thing is in better shape than my ten years younger legacy. Probably will need new inserts, but the springs and strut bodies are really solid. The bushings all have the consistency of recently-chewed bubble gum but thats to be expected right? Also dissected the gauge cluster and mounted a little sunpro tach in the empty slot (more useful than a plastic card that says nissan I thought). Looks almost stock! AND I rediscovered the pair of studded snow tires on stock 210 steelies that I found on craigslist for 50 bucks a few months ago. Carb just showed up this morning, totally worth it just for the shiny... So more to come soon hopefully. No more lurking for me! --- TL/DR: I didn't even have a license when I made my first post, nor anyone with tools and experience to help me out, and proceeded to make several pretty noobtastic mistakes, thoroughly screwing myself over. Now I'm a much more competent amateur mechanic (at least thats what Im telling myself..) and hope to be wrapping up a pretty decent daily-driveable restoration by the end of the good weather. ^famous last words Also, finally have a decent camera so OICS!!!

yeah, I am definitely thanking god for A series bullet-proof simplicity right about now, I'd be scared sh*tless of trying a backyard head gasket change on any modern engine And yes indeed the oil is a very frightening color... but I was going to do an oil change anyway! Also this thread will definitely also be a life saver: http://community.ratsun.net/topic/36950-a14-head-gasket-change-info-needed/ Hey and gonna use this as an excuse to clean up the manifolds and paint the valve cover as well, so guess you could call it a good thing

Ahhhhhh, that makes a lot of sense. Thanks man! Gotta say I'm lovin' ratsun... Guess pulling the head is a good excuse to inspect the rest of the engine, head off some other potential issues, clean up a little more, etc... ahh well off to the parts store haha.

Sooo I went out and cranked it without spark.... more water out the tailpipe. Water in the cylinders. Lovely.

Yes, hit the nail on the head. That would be why I'm a little worried/confused...

Looks that way? Filled the radiator up to the neck (where the overflow connects) and it kept draining down to like the first baffle and then stabilized. When it stopped draining the tailpipe stopped pouring water, so that would seem to be what's happening. Questions is, what are the chances the water's just going straight into the exhuast (the manifold is in pretty bad shape) vs. a problem with more the block/headgasket/waterjacket/etc.? Got new ignition wires (the old ones are trashed, fell apart when I pulled the spark plugs) If theres no water in the cylinders that I can see I'm gonna crank it a tiny bit and see what happens.

So I've got a '79 b310 with an A14. Picked it up super cheap off craigslist a while back, towed it home. I replaced the battery, blew out a clogged fuel line, and primed the pump and it started on the first crank and sounds like it's running great, no overheating or struggling even at higher rpm, no misfires above 6-700rpm (as long as it's got a little gas). I haven't got it to idle yet but I assume that's just a cruddy carb. Anyway I thought it was a day or two and a carb rebuild from being a legit runner, and I thought I'd be proactive and change the fluids. Drained the radiator (rust-brown water...) and filled it up with a 3 day flush liquid. As I was topping up the radiator I suddenly hear a stream of water leaking, but I can't see anything under the engine bay. Finally I see a puddle at the end of the exhaust! When I stopped topping up the radiator, it stopped leaking out the exhaust. I assume that this is not part of the original design... There are no leaks that I've noticed in the month or two it's been in my driveway, and theres definitely no white smoke when it runs that might indicate a blown head gasket or a crack in the jacket. (Only real issue at all is oil on the #1 spark plug would suggest a bad piston ring or valve gasket and theres a little oil burning sometimes). Is it a cracked block? Might I be hydrolocked? Should I even try and start it or will it just explode?? HELP

put in a few hours cleaning up the interior trim, carpet, etc. It actually cleans up pretty nice, I'm kinda shocked. Then I got a flashlight and got a better look at everything underneath.. Still no sign of rust! Clearly the previous owner had no idea how good a car he was selling haha. Last surprise of the day, I took a dry rag to one of the wheels as sort of an afterthought, turns out what I had given a cursory look and assumed were lame factory steelies are actually these rather interesting, perhaps modular (there is a ring of little hex key bolts around the edge of the face, not sure if that shows up in the picture) chrome things. Anyone have any idea what the hell they are? Either way they look pretty sweet... chrome lugs and everything. Before: After:

Thanks for the welcome! As for teh mirrors... don't get too excited, haha, the PO just moved the stock mirrors and drilled into the nice straight fenders... And then forgot to do anything to the bare metal and bolt holes on the door, so now theres some sweet rust, and I'm sure lots of water getting the inside of the doors all nice and moldy. Mmm delicious, fungal door cards. Ironic that kinda the biggest body flaw was created somewhat intentionally... by I'm assuming the the same dumbass who cut off the muffler but left all the smog crap and the cat lol