theramz

Haven't spent much time on it workin two jobs and training my helpers but I'm spending like a sailor on a 24 hr. pass. Lots of polished parts from California Datsun and MSA and eBay. Got my Rota 17x8 1/2 in Hyper black. I'm seriously considering carbon fiber vinyl wrap for the whole car. Ordered clear side marker lights and smoke headlight covers. Next is tires and smoke taillights.

beg3yrs

That's a lot of shine sailor. Can't wait to see the finished product.

theramz

Got my new Rota 17x8.5. Close to spring perch but barely clears.

beg3yrs

Looks great Tom. I recognize the color of those springs too.

BTW, looking back a couple of posts I notice you've got a nicely chromed thermostat cover and other miscellaneous bits. Care to share your source?

theramz

I got all of it from californiadatsun.com You may have to wait a couple weeks for some items but the quality is excellent. The door sill plates were from eBay. These have the Z logo machined in them and look awesome. The oem style available on eBay doesn't have the DATSUN logo and the quality is not good.

beg3yrs

Ooooh, nice stuff there. More stuff going on "the list".

theramz

These came in yesterday

beg3yrs

Those are nice! Now sailor, it really doesn't take a lot of time to order parts, once you find them that is.

When are we going to see some progress on the car itself???

And, are those tail lamps available for the later model cars?

theramz

I'm still sailin the starship Mr. Scott. Maybe this weekend I can finish bumpin out the quarter panel. Then the long part of prepping for epoxy primer/sealer for the Vinyl wrap to go over. Still not 100% sure of doing the wrap but at least I have to do the primer. I might just pull the engine to paint the bay.
I have not seen the clear taillights for the later cars like yours.

theramz

One thing holding me up is installing new bushings and rear disc brakes just to get the car back on the ground rolling.
Instead of taking the rear strut assemblies to work I made this spindle pin removal jack. I had tried a slide hammer but this one was not budging.
It uses a caged thrust bearing similar to the one on top of the front struts. It allows the nut to draw the jack screw without adding additional drag. The end of the screw threads on the spindle. This one was in so tight I was afraid I would break it off. So I sprayed it with PB Blaster the night before. Still too tight so I heated it up with the torch and when it cooled down enough I sprayed it again. It took quite a bit of wrenching and hammering on the housing to get it to start but it came out in tact.
This is turning into a build thread!

beg3yrs

I like that idea. My technique was to put a growing stack of washers around the spindle's thread and keep cranking the nut. As I got to the bottom of the threads, remove the nut and add more washers. What I found was that when I got impatient and added too many washers at once, the nut didn't cover enough threads and they were stripped off. Your technique engages all the spindle's threads and they're protected. Nice. You could probably sell some of those!

Man I hate pulling spindles. When they go back in I slather them with anti-sieze. Don't know it that will help but it's better than nothing I think.

theramz

It's made out of 4140. Very tough and the screw is 18-8, the nut is case hardened. The only problem was the number of turns required to pull it out. The 1 7/16 3/4 drive socket is only 1 1/2" deep. I had to use a pipe wrench the rest of the way. Today I made these spacers to stack as it goes so I can use an impact gun on it. I have a few more cars to do.

beg3yrs

Yep, with a few more cars to do, making a good tool is definitely worth it.

zxguy1986

Hooray, theramz, Awesome work and great thread. You are my new hero. WHatever you do, keep up the amazing work!

theramz

Urethane air dam came in today

beg3yrs

That looks nice. Especially like that it is made of urethane. Just noticed a hairline crack starting in my fiberglass air dam.

theramz

Yeah, unfortunately the trade off to FG is cracks that don't heal.
That's why I went with the urethane. In a lowered car something will damage the spoiler. The urethane can recover from a light bump or scuff and be repainted. You could have that body shop repair it for you. The high pressure at the mounting points is a source of failure too. Try a strip of rubber between the mounting surfaces. OR go with the urethane

beg3yrs

Yep, that's exactly where the crack is, at a mounting point. It even had rubber there. The car is going to the body shop soon to get the hatch resprayed (a paint bubble getting fixed under the shop's lifetime warranty) so I'll get the crack fixed at the same time. The sooner the better in cases like this I suppose. Better to fix a hairline crack than to have the dang thing fall apart!

We'll take a closer look at the mounts and see if some of the stress can be better relieved there at the same time. Otherwise, I see urethane in this car's future.

theramz

Got new hide for it. 215/45/17 front and 235/45/17 rear.

beg3yrs

Nice. Seeing the progress is enjoyable.

Will the different sizes give it much of a rake or are you going to adjust?

theramz

I want a very slight rake. I won't know how much until I get it back on the ground. Urethane bushing set coming today. Hope to have some time for it. If not, buy more parts to sit around. I'm thinking of using the time I have from 10 pm to 4:30 am when I just lay in bed snoring anyway.

theramz

This complete set came today

theramz

I tried another A arm and sure enough the lock pin I found out had damaged the spindle pin and I broke the end off. The other side was removed by my 4 year old grandson.

beg3yrs

Cute. You're teaching your grandson well. He's already got the right expression when applying elbow grease.

theramz

Yeah, he's not as distracting as those other helpers.
I decided to upgrade the rear suspension with the parts I got from a '73.
The rear dif hanger, mustache bar and sway bar. The earlier cars had the dif farther forward about an inch and no sway bar. I also was saving an R200 with 3.9 gears. I think I'll have it all blasted and powder coated.