New World Datsuns...

I figured I might as well start a build thread, although I have no definite plans for it.

A bit about the car:

It's a 1970 4-Door 510 with an L18 and what I think is the stock 4-speed, it also has a 3.9 Subaru diff. As you can see, it's a little sluggish.


The heads are ported, it has a Weber 32/36, and a 2.5" exhaust, up until the 2.25" Thrush I had put on for a temp fix for the huge amount of loud the exhaust was making before. Is the smaller diameter going to hurt?

It's a little low for my liking. I want to be able to drive over speed bumps, at least for now. I have a set of stock struts with Tokico 5-way adjustable dampening inserts, also have all four original springs and a few sets of "miscellaneous" springs. I'll have to go in and see exactly what struts are installed in the rear and see what I can do.
[EDIT: I got under and took some photos] This is the real strut mount: I'm seeing lots of worn bushing here: Look at that huge front sway bar! Not bad...



I actually like the wheels although I didn't when I'd only seen photos of the car.

Over all, the car is 98% rust free. There's one small spot on a door with surface rust, the trunk lid might be beyond salvage, the strip that separates the trunk from the rear window is surprisingly bad considering the rest of the car is perfect, and every bolt underneath the car is perfect.

I'll get more into the interior tomorrow, but I do have this to install

The original has a broken speedometer needle, so I have this to replace it while I figure out if it can be fixed.


So there it is, thoughts, suggestions?

Looks good! .... is that a sway bar mount next to the rear shock? or is the shock not connected to the a-arm?

Indy510 wrote:Looks good! .... is that a sway bar mount next to the rear shock? or is the shock not connected to the a-arm?

I was wondering the same thing. The stud that the shock is connected to now sort of comes out at a weird angle, could it be that the stud was added? I haven't been able to get the car on a lift yet, so these photos are mostly me reaching my arm underneath the car.

This car is awesome. Someone once had a lot of fun in it.

I am just not familiar with the Sedan rear ends; I have a wagon.

L18s are good motors, super rev happy. Mine (bored out) would go to 7200rpm fine (and then the Valves floated). That Weber on there is not the best for power, at least in my experience. Side drafts of any sort just flow better.


Side note: Deleting your other topic; I almost thought we enabled that, maybe its just individual posts, or none at all. I know you can lock your own for sale threads.

I would suspect that the carburation is holding it back more than the exhaust. SUs would noticeably wake it up.

Tidy it up and drive it a bit. The car will tell you what it wants.

The lower shock mount in this picture is normal, so if the other side is the same it's fine. They are mounted at a weird angle, that inner stud must be for a old sway bar mount:

The brakes were on my list for today, so I picked up some pads. But when I popped the wheels off the pads looked fine and the rotors looked good too. I decided to just bleed the brakes instead. The right rear is seized I think. Could that one bad brake cause the whole system to only work slightly? I mean, I don't get any pad grab until the pedal is nearly to the floor. Doesn't make sense to me.

In any case, I'll be getting the rear disc conversion parts together and that's why I didn't bother with pulling the drums apart. I'm hoping they'll fit inside the current wheels, any way to confirm that?

So is that a stock sway bar mount then? I might look into making one.

Also, that yellow coil spring has half of a strut inside?

Stock front brakes?

If bigger, some report the stock MC is too small, either taking two pumps or nearly to the floor. I never had that issue on my wagon though.

Rear discs, they tend to always be smaller than front discs, so I havent seen many people complain. I know you can get 14s on ZX (stock rim size), and Im pretty sure S13 rear brakes.

Right on man. Glad you swooped on it. Glad you came here and made a project thread, keep her up to date and show us your progress. Love 510s!

So, my wife sends me a text the other day that there is a 510 by our house. Saw it today, parked right where those pics look to be taken, only about 2 blocks away from me. Guess I am going to have to stop by and say hi.

Stalker.

Hahaha! That's AWESOME!

Yay for local datsuns

yello620 wrote:So, my wife sends me a text the other day that there is a 510 by our house. Saw it today, parked right where those pics look to be taken, only about 2 blocks away from me. Guess I am going to have to stop by and say hi.

Haha, nice! Yeah, it's the place with all the $400 cars in the driveway.

Im confused. I thought Jason lived in Newberg... but I do know he moved... and you are listed in Portland Metro, which doesnt usually contain Newberg...

Laecaon wrote:Im confused. I thought Jason lived in Newberg... but I do know he moved... and you are listed in Portland Metro, which doesnt usually contain Newberg...

I just moved BACK to where I am now, Dundee. I was up in Sherwood before.

I work in Newburg. At the southern end of Spring Brook road.

Spent the better part of today getting work done on the 510. Passenger floor board was sanded down and painted (rust was VERY minimal). Didn't end up getting a before photo until it was almost done.


Here it is "before":



Also swapped the driver seat with the passenger seat. Something in the driver side sliding mechanism doesn't allow much adjustment.




Got the brakes bled well, and adjusted the rear shoes. Brakes feel 10x better now.

The seats are on the long list of of things I want, the short list is just a trunk without holes and new front suspension, which I'll look into tomorrow.

Only bad thing is the motor ticking from under the valve cover. I readjusted the valves this morning to no avail, and they were overly out of adjustment.

Floors look healthy. Congrats.

Got the front and rear bumper bolted on this morning, I definitely like the look of the front without the bumper better, but at least it's legal now. Dang bolts have cost me more than anything on this car so far. Total so far, $45 on bolts, $35 on oil and other miscellaneous things.




Subaru in the background got a new grille this morning too, both cars looking more complete!

I may or may not get around to doing something about that trunk lid and latch this weekend. I'm second guessing experimenting with the front suspension, I might wait until I have a complete coil over setup to work with. Here's what I have now. Stock strut with the Tokico Adjustable-5 inserts.

Over the past couple days I got a few small, yet high impact, things done on the 510. I'm still waiting on the front coil over conversion, got a couple parts at the machine shop thrall be ready on Tuesday, so hopefully next weekend I'll get the suspension taken care of.

I met up with Laecaon a couple days ago and we traded some parts, I ended up with a fiberglass trunk lid and he got some dash parts. I'd do a write up on the trunk lid swap, but I don't think the lids are available anymore. Plus, it's kinda self explanatory.

First I cut out the old frame, then broke adhesive seal that bonds it to the lid. Edges are folded over and maybe spot welded, inner frame is just glued. The edges are what was blown out on mine. Then I just bolted the frame to the hinges and placed the lid on top. I still have a few edges that need more glue, but other than that the trunk looks fantastic.













Positioning the lock cylinder was probably the hardest part, but it worked out perfectly. Glad I took my time with it.

I also got the driver door latch working, no more bungee cord, for the door or the trunk!

Finally, I used a method I found on Ratsun for a DIY window squeegee (outer). I did it on the driver side, and it worked so well I popped the rest of the door trim off to do the same. The staples can get extremely frustrating, until you take the grinder to them of course.








Eek, those images remind me of the useless mirrors...

Also, got the rest of the suspension bushings in the mail. LCA, TC rods, and front end links will all get a refresher when I swap the front suspension.