New World Datsuns...

Laecaon wrote:Sanding cars sucks. It took me forever with the 510. And when finally done, I didn't get it smooth enough. At least I have a much better idea how to do it now, and could probably do it in half the time.

You could do it in half the time for the same result or a better result?
I don't think I can get it straight as the metal isn't straight, it wasn't that straight when I bought it. it has all sorts of dents everywhere, and after I made it my own version of what I wanted, it wasn't any straighter.

I worked on the top today, it is fairly smooth now, I will start with a fresh view tomorrow, maybe it's not there yet, but I think it will get primed tomorrow, and I will then start on the dent in the driverside door.






It's getting better everyday.

Progress.

The photos of the top just go to show everyone how uneven the first coats of bondo hair were when I covered the top the first time, all the dark areas are bondo hair(first attempt at covering the top), all the tan areas are regular bondo(attempt to make it smooth), and the white is the rattle can paint I used the first time I thought I had it even/smooth, I wasn't even close.

I was just outside finishing up, I found a few places that needed a little more sanding, then I primed it, needless to say I have some more sanding to do, especially around the edges.



I touched it too soon.

I need to do the driver side door now, it's right in the middle, and it is long, not sure how much of the door I am going to have to cover.


My camera is screwing up now, I have to slip my finger nail under the lip of the lens and pull it out when I turn it on, otherwise it doesn't come out and I get a lens error, I have had to help it close for a year now, and now I have to help it open also, I need a new camera.

I forgot to take a photo of the bare metal.
I took a straight edge to the door and marked where the outer edges of the dent were to make sure I covered everything.
Here is the door with the bondo hair applied.


Now I will do something else for an hour and let that shit dry completely, that way I don't get bored either, will likely go work in the garden.

Here it is with bondo hair filling the dent.



Primed


And here is the top, it is way better than it was, it's not perfect, but right now I am going to live with it, once I buy some real high build sandable primer I will start sanding the shit out of it with the final 320 grit on an orbital sander and then give it a shot at painting it once I finish all the other spots that still need work,

Do you do guide coats at all?

After priming, get a dark color spray can and from further out do a light misting. Then do a quick, light sand. Anywhere the dark mist still is present is where you have a low spot.

Laecaon wrote:Do you do guide coats at all?

After priming, get a dark color spray can and from further out do a light misting. Then do a quick, light sand. Anywhere the dark mist still is present is where you have a low spot.

I have been mixing the bondo on different pieces of metal I have, they seem to make it a slightly different color, also if I get too much hardener in the mix, it comes out a different color, but to answer your question not really, I have been using different color paints instead of primer to this point to keep the bare metal from rusting, so I have sorta been using guide coats, the truck is several different colors right now.
Now that I have run out of all the different color rattle can paints, I will be buying two different color high build primers to get it ready for paint, but it will never be smooth as I want, as I didn't start with smooth, this truck has lots of issues, and I added to them making it what it is presently.
It's getting smoother and smoother every time I work on it, I am getting better at it.
I have a long way to go, I am hoping to paint it before the summer is over, and it will get painted in my driveway, I have a friend that has painted his cars in his driveway all his painting life, and they are like mirror paint jobs, you can shave your face using any part of the car, but he doesn't get it that way in one day, it takes time to have an end result like that, I am not looking for that result, I am looking for decent, not perfect.

I painted my car in my driveway. Its doable. But I will put up a shield next time. To keep bugs out. And to keep over spray off of the surroundings.

I should have sanded my car better. But after spraying, I started to color sand my car. It actually started to come out really nice. Driver side of the car was way shinier at the time of my crash.

Fuck body work lol. A lot of work for little gain, until the end anyways.

It's a lot better than it was, I still have a ways to go, but the bigger stuff is almost done, it's mostly little stuff now.
I have been kinda working around the truck from the right front fender which was pretty bad, the right door is the only thing that was good, then I worked around the back, the back sides were also very lumpy, the driver side door had a big dent and mirror holes, and the left fender had an antenna hole I filled a while back.
The top was really lumpy too, I spent most of a day on that, I also spent some time on the tailgate last week.
I might have to start over with another tailgate, this one is really bad, and I have other ones that are in better shape, but that will mean I would need to make another one which is not easy, if I do make another tailgate, I will not put the handle to open it in the middle again, it will have the handle on the inside only, I think it will look better that way.

Today I decided to see if the other set of round top SUs I have were better than the flat top ones I have on the truck, I have been having an idle down issue, if driving an even speed, when I let off the pedal slowly it would only drop to 1500 or so rpms, i had to tap the pedal to get it to idle down, and then there was no dependable idle speed, sometimes it was at 1000rpms, sometimes it was 600rpms, sometimes it was in between, and I was always afraid it would die, idle was more dependable when cold than when warmed up.
So after they were installed and tuned, after it was warmed up, I still had an idle issue, I noticed if I helped the return it would always idle down right away, so I added a helper return spring.


The round tops installed.

I suspect that the carbs I took off were fine, it seems to have been the linkage was likely the issue, but it is good to know that these two cabs I have had for years on the shelf were good, at least they seem to be so far, but I have not drove it on the hiway yet, just 5 blocks around the hood so far.

They look good, and clean

Maybe throw some fresh oil in them. When I was reading your post in the beginning, I suspected linkage binding up

I did all that Tim, I even pulled both carbs off and checked the butterflys themselves to make sure they were not sticking because of not being centered on the shaft, but they were fine, it didn't change a thing.
I believe that I have fixed the issue by putting that helper return spring on the linkage between the carbs which seems to have fixed the issue, I believe that my other carbs I took off are just fine also, I also think it is the manifold linkage that is the issue now, I copied what is on the work truck, but this time it didn't work out as good as that one did, and I have lubed the shit out of it, I even changed out the throttle cable just in case that was the issue.
I did come to the conclusion that round tops are easier to take off and install than flat tops, as the smog part of the flat tops gets in the way of the wrench on the top nut even though the smog part was deleted.

izzo wrote:They look good, and clean

Maybe throw some fresh oil in them. When I was reading your post in the beginning, I suspected linkage binding up

Yeah, linkage/return is what i meant. something to do with that... If it was a different issue I think the problems would be different. sporadic idle without touching the pedal like a leak or something messing up in the carbs.


Easy fix tho! Glad you caught it. Was having issues with return as well on Joes car. Used a slightly more stiff spring and straightened it right out.

I had the same issue with two different sets of carbs, so it had to be the linkage between them, or the throttle cable, and I changed that, so there wasn't much else it could be.
I already put stiffer springs on the carbs also, I tried everything and nothing was fixing it till I started fiddling with the shared linkage, that is when I added that helper spring which seems to have fixed it.

izzo wrote:Yeah, linkage/return is what i meant. something to do with that... If it was a different issue I think the problems would be different. sporadic idle without touching the pedal like a leak or something messing up in the carbs.


Easy fix tho! Glad you caught it. Was having issues with return as well on Joes car. Used a slightly more stiff spring and straightened it right out.

EDIT These hubcaps do not fit the stock 620 rims I use, they also would not fit the roadster rims nor do they fit the 521 rim, I tried the one on all 3 rims, they are too small, I am more than capable of making them fit by modifying the rim nubs I have, but I would not recommend them to anyone, as once the nubs are modified, the stock hubcaps will not likely stay on anymore.

EDIT number 2
I was able to get one on a 620 disc brake rim, it was not easy, see my post on next page.

So I bought these a while back on ebay, it was something like $89.00 shipped with 521 taillights lenses as a gift, they look alright.
I suspect they are likely re-pops(the hubcaps), but they will work for this truck, anything that shines will make it look better.

Don't know what to do with the 521 taillight lenses, very few of the 521s came to this country with this type, I think they are re-pops also, the stickers sorta look like Nissan, but no where on them do they say "Nissan".

I sorta wonder if I were to contact the ebay seller if I could convince them to make aftermarket 320 hubcaps, for the same price of these caps, I bet the ebay seller could sell a shit load of them.

Man, that's just what I've been looking for! Thanks for posting. How fast was the shipping?

DRIVEN wrote:Man, that's just what I've been looking for! Thanks for posting. How fast was the shipping?

It was faster than what was expected, I ordered them June 23 and they arrived today, 5 days before expected.


I ran into an issue, they do not fit, they are too small, I suppose that I can make them fit as I can do just about anything if I put my mind into it, but I would not recommend anyone to buy them now that I know they don't fit

Do they fit roadster wheels?