New World Datsuns...

So we are finally back to the beginning of this thread: ... after the North-Bay fun run was over:

The fake rust looked okay for a few weeks, but then the clear coat faded ... and the fake rust started to look like shit ... literally:



It needed more contrast, from light to dark: .... so I broke out a blow torch, to add some dark spots

Then I found a bigger problem: ..... the driver's side T/C rod cups were rusted, dented, or missing:





So i started picking at the flattened out cup:

I blame the shitty poly cone shaped bushings I had on rusty ruby (bottom of pic) ..... the top of the pic is stock rubber/sleeve bushings to replace it with:

I found some steel engine core plugs, that fit the stock bushings good:

I didn't have a drill bit big enough ... and I had to dremel off all the zinc coating, before any welding:

Cleaned off all the paint/rust off both sides of the T/C rod mount:

Installed the new cups, and bushings, tightened the T/C rod most of the way ... and matched it's position with the passenger side T/C rod: ... before tack welding both cups:

Then hammered the cups till they matched the shape of the body: ... and welded with heat this time (I didn't want to melt the bushings with the first few tacks)



Then more heat .... hope I don't ever have to take these off ...

A few hundred dremel cut off discs later...

Let's hope this works:

Pretty good idea there.

Down here we call that "redneck ingenuity"

One last fix, before the test drive: ... the steering stop bolt was missing, on the drivers side:



Passenger side still had one:

So I measured the passenger side's, and made a new one:

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