New World Datsuns...

You got right to that trunk lid. Looks pretty decent. And no rust!

What was the squeegee trick?

Trunk looks great!

http://community.ratsun.net/topic/55299 ... -squeegee/

That's the link to the write up for the DIY squeegee. Like I said, I was skeptical, but it works great.

Once all my clips aren't in use, I'll finish the trunk edges...

Got the rest of the suspension sorted out today. 3.5 hours for the left side, and about 1.5 hours on the right. That's learnin' for ya! The car rides much smoother and feels so much tighter.


As far as ride height goes, it's just about perfect for me, I'd like it to be about .5- .75 inches lower, so I might go for a new set of springs in the 125-175# range.




Both original struts were fully blown and the springs were cut to all hell. Strut Tube was chocked full of oil, you know, for the dampening abilities. Blue spring is for comparison. It is what I believe to be a stock spring, but it has even been cut.

I'm in dire need of an alignment, and new tires, but hopefully I can make it out to the tire shop this weekend. Currently running a 205/50/15, I'm thinking I might drop down to a 195/50/15.That might help to fix my sluggish acceleration and my speedo I'll run with a decent all season tire for now.

I might get around to getting the fan/heater going by the end of the weekend. I'm getting power, and the switch works fine, but I'm stumped with the fan motor resistor. How is power supposed to get from the resistor to the motor? This is a photo of the slightly mangled resistor.

The wiring in this car has been butt fucked more ways than I can even imagine. But hey, if I hadn't had to chase a wire leading to nowhere, I wouldn't have found a spare hole in the trans tunnel. They were nice enough to plug the hole with the original piece they cut at least. Someone had a five speed in there, wish it was still there

Glad you've got that frontend about dialed. FWIW that oil inside the strut tube was was likely to aid in heat dissipation.

DRIVEN wrote:Glad you've got that frontend about dialed. FWIW that oil inside the strut tube was was likely to aid in heat dissipation.

Well don't I feel smart now. A quick google search told me oil in the housing is a thing. Still though, oil was spraying out the top of the strut when compressed. at least some of that oil shouldn't have been in there, right

Last week I got some plain steel idler arm braces, slapped a few coats of black and a few coats of clear on them. Of course I botched the install photos, but they are kinda self explanatory.







EDIT: Here it is installed.

When I started replacing the TC rod bushings I found out the car has the delrin bushing with a metal cup on the front side and a regular rubber bushing on the inside. Just like this: http://community.ratsun.net/topic/68964 ... t-install/

I replaced the rubber because it was old and cracked, but the delrin (or whatever material that is) looked great.

The combination of the two of those made a considerable difference in the steering feel. While I was in there I noticed I'm missing the bolt that secures the steering rod to the splines on the steering box. I'll have to figure that bolt size out today.

For the interior, I installed the T3 kick panels and cleaned up the wiring a bit. Also cleaned up some of the wiring in the engine bay...





Oh, how could I forget about the mile of wiring for the PO's security system? Yeah, it's gone now!

notice any difference with the steering brackets?

izzo wrote:notice any difference with the steering brackets?

I do, but I've also replaced some bushings and tightened up the steering box... So I guess I don't have a real before and after comparison, but for $20 it was worth the gamble.

Next up will be the ball joints. Moog has ball joints but they say you must have a replacement LCA. How can I be sure of which LCA I have?

I don't know what they mean by that. Those should work. Never had any issue throwing new ball joints on a 510, specialyl moog. In fact I use those same ones in my b210.

Good on you for replacing things. A lot of people are mis-informed about tightening the steering box. Tightening it really only changes where the tires get pointed. the more you tighten it, the more they will want to stay where you point them. It's not really meant for getting rid of slop. Replacing your inner & outer tie rods, ball joints, control arm bushings and then get the thing aligned. it will be nice and tight, drive like a new car. Be careful not to over tighten the box, it will break the gears inside.

izzo wrote:I don't know what they mean by that. Those should work. Never had any issue throwing new ball joints on a 510, specialyl moog. In fact I use those same ones in my b210.

Good on you for replacing things. A lot of people are mis-informed about tightening the steering box. Tightening it really only changes where the tires get pointed. the more you tighten it, the more they will want to stay where you point them. It's not really meant for getting rid of slop. Replacing your inner & outer tie rods, ball joints, control arm bushings and then get the thing aligned. it will be nice and tight, drive like a new car. Be careful not to over tighten the box, it will break the gears inside.

Shame is, all of that is greasable on my car already, so it's all been on the car a long time, or nobody ever bothered to grease anything...

Bump steer does seem to be a little better, but I guess that could be from either the idler brace, or tightening the steering box... I do need a better solution to the bump steer. Doesn't seem reasonable for the knuckle spacers to be $80+

Um, I have 1 year old moog ball joints, inner and outer tie rods, and a autozone centerlink. All the moog is actually 555 brand. I would let it go for cheaps.

The bumpsteer spacers make a noticeable improvement.

I got a TON done in the last week or so!
Got a new set of wheels/tires
The new wheels came with tires, 215/60/14 Goodyear Eagle GT. They're a little big for me, but they have never been used. It is nice to know I can safely drive in the rain.

Aren't they beautiful?!


Mazda Wiper Motor Conversion
My car came with a non functional wiper motor, and when I took it apart I found that the drum magnet inside was in pieces! The Mazda wiper motor conversion was straight forward, and it works just as it should. Now I just need some wiper arms. Anybody have any luck with universal wiper arms?

Interior Stuff
The interior has gone through a bit of a transformation in the last week too. I layed some sound deadening material on the both front floor pans and the transmission tunnel, as well as the rear floor boards. On top of all that, I got the carpet glued down and the dash is now 95% complete. Only thing missing is the actual glove BOX, I have one, but it needs some reinforcing and what not before it's usable.

Before:
During:
After:

I finally got around to replacing the rubber trunk seal yesterday, did you know the guys at ZCarDepot don't have any idea how to install the seal? I only say that because there are two ways for the seal to fit nicely, and I think I chose the wrong option. It works, but took some adjustment to get the trunk to close properly.



I also used undercoating to cover the rear wheel wells (interior) and under the rear seat. I found an only Prius trunk carpet and cut it to fit under the rear seat to keep the "springs from bouncing up and down on the metal.


Major need for a steering wheel and seats at the moment.

Little bit of emblem magic here...





I was thinking the emblem on the fender would cover that hole, but no... What's the hole for?

Had a short day at work and came home to the new RCA's from California Datsun. To be honest, they are a little rough in a few spots, but overall, a solid unit. They do happen to be the cheapest on the market (that I've seen) so I can't complain. They'll do the job they were meant to, the end!

I also had to swap hubs on to my rotors so I only got one side done, but I'll take care of the other side tomorrow and I'll only have to wrench on half the bolts. Haha!


This was just before I tightened it down, so ignore the gap

As you can imagine, the included hardware is about an inch longer than the originals.

Here's the whole shabang.

Sweet! Almost there.

The hole in the front fender looks like a cut out for the side marker for a 68-69, although I don't see holes for the early model emblem placement between the tire and sidr mirror.

If you're talking about the holes under the right rear tail light, that is where the "510" emblem that you put on the trunk goes.

Taterhead wrote:The hole in the front fender looks like a cut out for the side marker for a 68-69, although I don't see holes for the early model emblem placement between the tire and sidr mirror.

If you're talking about the holes under the right rear tail light, that is where the "510" emblem that you put on the trunk goes.

I realized that bit about the side marker cutout, but I was thinking it was a JDM/AUS spec fender.

Yeah, I put the 510 on the trunk because it seemed a better fit since the top of the emblem is thicker and tapers don toward the bottom of the emblem. Not sure if they are all like that or if the emblems from that particular Ebay seller are like that...

noflers wrote:

Taterhead wrote:The hole in the front fender looks like a cut out for the side marker for a 68-69, although I don't see holes for the early model emblem placement between the tire and sidr mirror.

If you're talking about the holes under the right rear tail light, that is where the "510" emblem that you put on the trunk goes.

I realized that bit about the side marker cutout, but I was thinking it was a JDM/AUS spec fender.

Yeah, I put the 510 on the trunk because it seemed a better fit since the top of the emblem is thicker and tapers don toward the bottom of the emblem. Not sure if they are all like that or if the emblems from that particular Ebay seller are like that...

Yeah I'm not sure about the fender then.