New World Datsuns...

Ahh, yeah, lots in the trunk seams too. I've got enough seam sealer to fill the rain gutters again, and the trunk stuff I'm digging out, and anywhere else I find it.

Haha, looks like you have a sleepy eye on your hand.

Call me crazy, but I think it would look pretty cool if you just cleared over it and rolled down the road like a moving watercolor painting.

Ohhh, I've thought about that! If the paint was as good everywhere as it is on the roof, I'd seriously consider clearing over it.

Sooo, I broke it... to be fair, the crack looks like it started at the chip that was already there. Or it ends there


Got the rest of the doors removed and out of the garage. Freed up lots of floor space.



Healing up perfectly

And no, I won't be removing the rear glass. Ha

I was having terrible adding more pictures last night, so here they are.

Rear quarter all stripped down. I was expecting a bigger pile of filler, but I'm hoping I've already eliminated the need for at least half of it with the little pounding I did on the panel. Notice the proper wheel fitment there. Looking great.











Here is the damaged passenger side rocker. Not nearly as bad as the driver side. Only about 11" or so, at the base of the b-pillar.




And various shots around the car












I'll bet it's a good idea to remask the car after sanding/ prep...

That car's got stories.

It looks like it's getting proper treatment now. Yes, those wheels and tires are just right.

I'm going all in with the stripper

The thought of an antenna never crossed my mind until I found the mounting holes bondo'd shit. Holes are actually caved in a little

Got these to help aid in the never ending search for a quiet fuel pump. Also going to finally put the outlet on the bottom of the tank by replacing the drain bolt with a 5/16" barbed fitting.



Also considering a sort of blanket made of 1/4" rubber sheet that will wrap around the pump. I really wanna quiet it down!!!

Most of the way done with stripping, so I decided to switch it up and lay the first of the filler. These spots both looked like they were attacked with a ball peon hammer.

Looks good! ... what are you using for filler? .. I couldn't believe how much nicer Evercoat RAGE filler is compared to BONDO brand filler. I heard sanding metal with anything coarser than 80 grit will require filler or a lot of primer to fill the scratch marks.

My brother is a body guy. He uses RAGE at home on side work.

I've heard a lot of good things about that stuff, but I've also been steered away from it because it's overpriced for what it is. I'm using the classic Bondo which is owned by 3M (like everything else now! )

It's true that it's prone to pinholes and pits because of the consistency, but it can be thinned down to make it spread smoothly. I'm going over spots with glazing putty, but I'm also going to spray polyester primer surfacer before blocking. I think this is my best bet for finishing the car with a level surface.

Yeah, 80g scratches take some work to fill. Luckily I didn't really use sand paper to strip the car so most of the metal still has the factory etching. I used scotchbrite pads and soap/water once most of the paint was removed. Driver side quarter panel was finished off with a 36g flap wheel, but that's all going to be filler more or less so I've got good scratches for it to stick to. Lol

Spoke too soon I guess. Ended up stripping the tail light panel of its filler so I can start fresh. Idk what I was thinking wanting to leave it as is. Will be hitting most everything with 180-220 grit on the DA sander next.





Moving on to plastic wire wheels for the fine details.







Marked the passenger side rocker where I want to cut. Seems much easier that getting to all the spot welds around the pillar. (Black dotted line)



Also got this big chunk of the driver side off, and marked where I want to finish cutting. (Red line)








Also got myself that corded drill to assist with all this. $16 at the pawn shop. If my cordless ryobi lasted 2.5 years, I can only hope the corded one will have a similar lifespan.

Couple more pieces of the handbrake puzzle.

This is the pivot bolt I used, pretty perfect for this application. Can't remember what it's from, sway bar end link maybe? Just had to drill the holes in the mount a bit bigger. Looks like the original bolt was M8 and there must have been a bushing to adapt to the hole in the lever.


Here's the threaded rod and clevis to go from the brake handle cable to the lever where it splits into the two rear cables. I think I'll leave it long until I know where the lever will mount in the cab.



Here you can see that the turnbuckle I used is a little too short, can't adjust more for more length. Will have to find something new. That arm should run at a 90 degree angle to the driveshaft, which isn't there but I hope you know where it goes. Haha basically need a turnbuckle that's 2 inches longer.




And a sneak peak at the latest filler project.

Got the fuel pump mounted more softly.




And some confusion, annoyance, and frustration.





Obviously the 5/16" ID one is better but the OD makes it suck to get on a 5/16" ID hose. The 1/4" ID one fits fine, but if it would work I'd just use the original outlet on the tank. I'm sure it'll be easier to get on a hose if the fitting is solid mounted to the tank, but im still worried it'll stress the hose too much. Maybe I could shave all but the end barb off?

When I found out my turnbuckle was too short, I got online and looked for 6mm threaded ones since mine was 1/4" threaded. Anyway, they make them but they are all about the same length (3.3-4"). So I checked eBay for the OEM part and instead found a rear brake cable kit from Raybestos, comes with the clevis brackets and the coupling bracket. Wow, I wish I'd seen that before I bought this one from Thailand. Great cable, it just sucks in my case because I was missing those things. So since I've never seen the OEM bracket, I modeled mine after the Raybestos one.



Somewhere in the middle of the first bracket I stopped giving a shit and decided it was for practice. Rudimentary bending methods, I used more heat on the second attempt.








Glad I could use the scrap from the first attempt to make another one of these, I needed the cable to stick out a little further on the other side of the crossmember. It's about 3/4" longer, and twice as ugly. Lol


Loving the contrasting colors down here where nobody ever sees. Too bad the exhaust interferes big time, that'll be another thing to fix when I bring it back to a shop for the exhaust.


Still chipping away at the filler on the driver side quarter. Slowly...

About to spread my final skim coat in the low spots, for the top section since I decided to narrow the focus to the top, bottom section will come next. I broke through to bare metal in a couple spots sooner than I wanted, for this I hit with the pointy body hammer being careful not to hit the filler and also not to hit too hard and crack it any. It's looking so much better.


I also pulled the speedometer gear out, It didn't even have the little lock plate/bolt to keep it from popping out. It's been in there with friction all these years. I need a white 19 tooth gear to replace it with. Is there a trick to tiny roll pins like the one holding the gear in the housing? The gear is $18 and the housing with gear is like $30, not that much more, but why replace the whole thing if i sont have to?