Retro Wave

I just acquired a 1971 Datsun 510 wagon project/basket case and the vehicle has i believe a ford 8 inch rear. i mostly play/tinker with stock or near stock vehicles so when something like this (basket case/Frankenstein) comes my way i tend to be overwhelmed with questions in my head. My 2 main questions would be +what driveshaft can i use for a L16 engine with a four speed trans and a 8 inch ford rear posi-gear? +do i need to change or find additional parts to make this conversion complete? I want the car to drive at her own power but at the moment i am searching for a few main parts. if there is any information that i missed out to type here to help with my search let me know. I can always try to provide it here. I did open a classified ad in the wanted section but got no hits as of yet PS. If anyone has a stock driveshaft for the 71 Datsun wagon let me know as i am interested in purchasing. I am located in the NYC area.

@Dguy210 as much as i love that look as well, i have it on the 2 door both the grille and back panel. lots of people compliment the little car with its performance look. i think it makes it look slightly menacing like those RX2/3/4 i wanted something "1970s funky" on the 4 door because not alot of normal people like 4 doors but i don't mind cause the body is still cute looking (sorry for my embarrassing description of my datsy but i couldn't describe it any other way :) ) those sunny gl taillights look like rockets from an old school anime or a mecha robot like Gundam, zambot 3, combattler V or Mazinger Z (yes im an old geek) I acquire the taillights last night and waiting for them to be shipped out to me but i am missing one of the inner housing - the right hand side. i need to post on here later if anyone has one available or if they know where can i shop for one.

@Dguy210oh ok that sounds like great news to hear about no addition body lines hidden behind the panel. now my concern is the taillight holes and finding a suitable set of Sunny GL taillights with their housings. @datzenmike I deff. love the hatchback but sadly they are super hard to find in the east coast. i also love the rocket bunny look more cause it makes i look like a funky 1970s Japanese spaceship but the standard looks cool too. I have the 4 dr b210 and a 2 dr b210 and a Datsun 510 which i would like to "spice" them up a bit in the looks department (not that they aren't cool enough already) with options that weren't available here in the states. similar to the MoPar crowd with all those options for the slant six; which i also have 1 mopar as well

hello again, I am trying to find info on how can i change my Datsun b210 into something unique/special. I searched online and seen a picture of a Datsun b210 BUT the taillights are from a sunny excellent. I thought that looked so cool that i was thinking how hard would it be to convert a U.S. '76 Datsun b210 into a sunny excellent. Any advice or tips i would greatly appreciate it. If you have a picture of a datsun b210 without the JDM taillights on the car so that i can study the entrances of each taillight hole because the U.S. Datsun b210 have the smaller taillight holes someone mentioned that you need a whole new rear body panel to actual fit these lights but he wasnt too clear in how is it different than a b210 stock rear body panel beside bigger taillight holes which looks that way as well but my concern is if the panel has additional body lines that i dont know/ cant see behind the panel center cover any pictures or advice will be very helpful not mine picture but it looks very cool dont you think? i would like to view/see behind the center cover and the taillights holes just to compare to a USA made datsun

hi, i was wonder what is the name of this part? Im try googling it and view tons of pictures but i didn't find it anywhere and wanted to see if they sell it online. its where the vin plate sits on the dash; its almost like a cover with the vin visible. My cover is missing and wanted to replace it. Any help i would appreciate it. here is an example of someones vin, i yellowed the part that i need - its like a cap or a cover

ok so if i had to switch oils, what type of oil grade should i get? 10w30 or should i increase it to 15w40.

it was running fine before i did all the updates but it was most noticeable when i changed the oil to fresh 10w30 synth in my pre-project days. my pops and i retook off the valve cover and rechecked two of the valve stem seals (the #4 cylinder). We both didn't see too much everything look normal. as for the washers where the spring sit - im guessing holds the outer spring and the silver basic washer holds the inner spring. These are original to the car and i haven't bought them new yet, all valve stems are changed though. i recheck the spark plugs after i cleaned them - #4 & #3 mostly since they were ones turning black. #4 & #3 are black now As for when it smokes well it only smokes when you hit the gas pedal and then you see a cloud of smoke. unless its burning whatever oil it has in the exhaust pipe/muffer then maybe it may need to stay on for a while ... i dont know. Im also trying to find two oil leaks under exhaust headers but its seems like its sealing itself up? my father and i both have been carefully rev-ing and keeping an eye on how much smoke comes out of the exhaust pipe and if there are any leaks when rev-ing the engine

hello again, I have a 1972 Datsun 510 with a L20 engine / 5 Speed transmission. We been restoring her since last year and we were almost finished except something came up with the car. For some reason the cars exhaust pipe has oil in it. When the car is running and i press the gas pedal i get a large smoke cloud, im guessing its the oil in the exhaust pipe. What i want to know is where is the oil coming from??? everything from the Spark plug section is clean. The intake side on the top looks very clean but under the exhaust i see two streaks of oil, one is coming under the two center exhaust ports and 2nd one is located under the last exhaust port . i haven't taken the intake/exhaust out yet but i am curious where that leak is coming from? I also changed the valve stem seals but it looks like that little to no effect. is there something else i was suppose to change under there? Spark plugs #4 & #3 are black but that could be me trying to adjust the dcoes. another question, is the rubber valve stem seal suppose to have a gape between base? Or is it suppose to sit flat on the rotating base?

ok so it sounds like that i dont really need the solenoid at all and i could remove it? i dont have a problem removing it and keeping it simple i need to find those post, maybe i misinterpret wrong

i must have read the info somewhere - maybe here or the 510 forum. The reason i installed a solenoid was because some 510 owners said that "if you dont have the solenoid then the battery cable will be in constant power (HOT) to it and drain the battery over time". I think they also said "you wouldn't want power traveling that long distance constantly - you only want power when the key is turned. im guessing thats the reason why i added one even though its getting power to BOTH side and is defeating the purpose of it being installed on the car in the first place. 😞 is the solenoid a bad thing? is what i am saying correct / incorrect? unless i misread their post (510realm).

I have 3 more questions involving wires/relays that *popped* up in my head 1) I still dont know what that relay is? So i took the mystery wiring and relay off the car but left the yellow wire connected. the other two wires i took them out of their connector. i would still love to know what that relay is? 2) i was wondering is the ford solenoid suppose to be "ON" all the time? i thought one side of the ford solenoid suppose to have power (short 2gauge battery cable going to battery) and the long battery cable going from the other solenoid terminal to starter is suppose to be OFF/no power but its live/active/power ON? was curious and stuck a test light to see if it was OFF on one side BUT both sides are ON 3) when i turn on and start the car i turn on the lights to see if they were working and once i did that my engine idle dropped and engine starts to shake/studder because of lower idle. is this suppose to happen or did i miss a connection, ground or something? Im still trying to find that sweet spot for my dual webers dcoe 40mm. i think i have it but once i turn the lights ON it screws up the whole carb adjustment process ok so as of now we have connected everything and started the car for the 1st time and she has started. I checked voltage with a millimeter and battery read 13.9 to 14.0 with the car on and running. all lights seem to work, i have tail lights, headlights, high beams, side marker lights, signal lights and hazard lights all working. radio works, dash lights works (very dimmed but works). car moves on its own power. i still have to go through everything once more to make sure everything is tight, not leaking, & connected I might have to buy a Carburetor Synchronizer to get the webers to an exact number or to get the air fuel ratio right. My dad and i have the webers set up to where we both are satisfied but i think webers could be better

here are the diagrams that i been following . Im also following the original factory wiring from my car (whatever is left of it) to a "T" because the car did started and ran with the existing wires. https://www.z-car.com/blog/cars/datsun-510-wiring-diagram