MARTS-PL310 61 Datsun Bluebird Sedan

[MARTS-PL310]

Building the 1961 Datsun 310 Bluebird - Carburetor Rebuild.

During my initial drives around the neighborhood several months ago, the Nikki 2D-30C carburetor was not healthy. Problems were; hesitation, not able to rev fully, and stalling under full throttle. So it was time to deal with it. My objective was to make it perform with little attention to cosmetic appearance, its pretty beat up, although I still need to replace the stainless steel plate float bowl cover with OG glass for monitoring the fuel level. I make do setting the fuel level for now by installing a clear plastic plate temporarily then reinstall the steel plate. 

Below photo sequence. Pulled the carb off and took some before pictures so I could stand a better chance of reassembling it correctly. I also made a copy of an illustrated Nikki 2D-30C type from an ancient Datsun repair manual. Some years earlier, I had bought an old carb kit that looked like it might be useful, unfortunately it was not a match to any of the 2D-30C parts other than a few washers. There probably are a few correct old stock rebuild kits somewhere, but quite scarce. Not a problem making gaskets but making the accelerator pump cup seal is.

In above pic, there is a clip missing that ties the plunger shaft to the lever.

Other than some of the washers, these parts were useless.

Breaking it open and examining the three main bodies. Making some gaskets. In the middle is my embarrassing accelerator pump "rebuild" where I disassembled the permanent assembly with a bit of heat, removed the press fit retention collar, and replaced what little was left of the original leather cup seal with a thick bit of leather from one of my ancient leather hiking boots. The "new" cup seal resembles a pleated mini skirt due to tiny pie cuts made, looks a little ugly, but surprisingly it still works quite well.

Inner views. This was the root of the problem. Float bowl, main jets and the power valve are all dirty, some clogged and corroded. Cleaned up everything but couldn't get the very corroded power jet out. Eventually, after soaking with various concoctions, heating, tapping and repeating eventually got the power valve unthreaded and cleaned up all the corrosion. Functions restored.

All the little bits and passages cleaned and ready for reassembly. Using some spec sheets to double check the numbers on the various air bleeds and fuel jets. Trying to prevent mixing and matching mistakes.

Building it all back up. I did the lower module first and separate because it makes it much easier to install the vacuum line, and the stacks to keep them clocked and not fall out from the middle body. This is the fun part!

I used a bit of stainless steel safety wire to replace the missing clip that keeps the accelerator lever and plunger in contact. These two photos were just taken today, several months later as I didn't capture this earlier. I also gave the engine a good run up as its been sleeping a few months whilst I traveled around the USA a bit.

As I concluded the carb job, I already knew the rocker cover was leaking oil, dribbling down the back of the engine and beginning to contaminate the clutch. I just needed to make a new gasket for the cover and all is oil tight again. A very quick and easy job.

A sharp eyed viewer will notice the cylinder head is a later unit with the six threaded cover retention bolt holes. The head probably came off of a later model 410, 320 or something similar. It also has the dual valve springs, you know, for high RPM operation. Unknown history. I've filled the six holes with sealant since i'm using an OG "E" 48 HP engine early style cover.

That's it for this catch up post. Backing up even further, the next post will probably be about the wheel restorations or maybe the front suspension repairs, haven't decided yet.

 

[MARTS-PL310]

Building the 1961 Datsun 310 Bluebird - Wheel Restoration.

Going back to March and April 2025. View of the existing mismatched and very old wheels and tires. Plus a couple of spare wheels. Two of the wheels don't belong, can you pick them out? I believe those two oddballs would have been fitted to a 410 originally. Those 410 wheels were actually better and stronger from the looks of it. Anyways, I wanted to assemble and restore a matching set of at least four 310, 311 or 312 style wheels which are kind of hard to find now in useable condition.

Tire history. Here is couple of close ups of a Sears Allstate branded tire, the one on the lower left above, DOT date coded 42nd week of 1972. Used as a spare only back in the 1970s when the car was last in daily service. That was when only a single digit in the DOT code defined the year of manufacture, current DOT code includes the last two digits of the year of manufacture. All the tires were dismounted and trashed except that one, lower middle, mounted on a 410 wheel since it was only eight years old.

The prepped 310 style wheels after being completely stripped to bare metal via hand labor.
I used paint remover, knotted wire wheels, rust remover, and metal etching chemicals, all very time consuming.
I wish we had nearby and economical sand blasting service but don't.
One of the wheels was bent and had to be straightened by a wheel shop that does that very professionally.
It just costs.

Epoxy primed.

Base coat black on the insides and Eastwood 2K Rally wheel paint on the outsides.

Then clear coated both sides with PPG catalyzed paint.

My trusty Binks Model 7 spray gun was used.

Tires all mounted and balanced. Spare mounted on a 410 style wheel is on left.

My spare residing in its place with the original cover and plastic trunk liner.

Showing off the freshly installed rubber at the local park.
My hubcaps are really beat up, curbed, rusted, etc but I might just give them a scrub and pop them on anyways.
Same pic as in the thumbnail from the June video.

Posting again tomorrow about repairs to the left front suspension control arms and spindle performed last February.

 

[MARTS-PL310]

Building the 1961 Datsun 310 Bluebird - Front Suspension Repairs.

A little diversion and background before jumping into the suspension nuts and bolts.

So I confess bumping/sliding hard into a curb one dark and snowy morning, heading into work with the '61 Bluebird, sometime back the early eighties. Afterwards, there was little use for the Bluebird as the suspension was damaged and steered rough and "irregular." Normally I would have driven my 510 coupe (see old pic scans below) to work but the Bluebird had the better traction tires, "Goodyear Tiempo."  Around that same time,  I had modified the 510 with Z-car 14 inch wheels and wide low profile tires which didn't play well on snow. Floated and hydroplaned really good! In the dry the wheel and tire combo was super. Anyways, after a long delay the Bluebird suspension bump damage is fixed.

A couple of historic pics to supplement the above story for the curious. Datsuns 510 ('71) and 310 ('61) side by side at my parents house in 1979 at Bellevue, Wa. What a huge improvement by the Nissan company over just ten years! The 510 got a huge amount of serious road tripping all over the Western USA back in the day when I was single and could just take off whenever. Second pic of 510 in primer crisscrossing Colorado. Sometime later that summer, I finished the 510 paint in dark metallic blue and swapped in the Z-car wheels (last pic), which looked really cool but was a detriment in bad weather as noted.

A couple more historical 510 pics, circa 1981 at Bellevue, Wa. & 1985 at Dallas, TX. Paint job was a quick backyard lacquer spray.
The 510 was a nice car that I had upgraded with other things such as a full complement of SW "Stage III" gages and a 5 speed OD trans from a 200SX. I sold the 510 somewhere near Everett, WA. around 1987. No idea what happened to it after that. I kept and still have the SW gage package.

Alright back to the topic at hand.

I had saved a complete PL311 Bluebird front suspension unit, and full drivetrain mechanicals, from my parts car back in the late seventies when Bluebird parts availability began to dwindle and it seemed like a good idea. It just took awhile to pay off in this case. I started the repair by removing the assembly of left side of car control arms and spindle from the donor front suspension unit.

Not shown in the pics and discussion are misc. small things such as bent tie rods swaps, bump stops, reuse of my existing spring, brake backing plate and related.

This work was done in Feb. '25.

Began a rough clean. Found the use of factory lock wire interesting.

Pressure washed it and wire brushed some more.

More wire brushing and degreasing, and repeat and repeat, then hit it with paint. Preservation.

 

 

That should last awhile.

Installed the swapped parts. A little more buttoning up and job done. I reused my Monroe shocks as incredibly they are still good, no oil leaks and good ride. Only issue was the shock OD is slightly too big to fit through the lower control arm as intended, I just hung the shock and coil spring before raising and bolting up the lower control arm. Keeping the car garaged and coating the piston rods with light oil spray once in a while probably helped preserve the shocks.

Next up, some minor tweaks to my homemade exhaust system to try and stop the rattles back in Jan. '25.

 

[MARTS-PL310]

Building the 1961 Datsun 310 Bluebird - Exhaust Build Follow Up Rattle Challenges.

I'll call this the rattle fix. I'm really not into custom exhaust systems at all. No experience. So I messed up. Don't laugh too much please.

Back in Jan. '25 I conceived what should have helped fix the rattle at the crossmember pipe narrow diameter through passage. It did not. A contributing problem is I am missing the OG design restraint here. So as a substitute I made this lateral restraint but that was no help for up and down movement. Eventually a solution was found. What I would really like to do is copy the original design except I lack an old OG part to dissect.

The pipe crossmember pass through. You can just faintly see the diamond footprint and threaded holes of the missing restraint system.
 

Internet screenshot captures of the OG pipe design restraint. A bit complicated but I guess it worked until the rubber isolator donut fails.

I'm thinking the tricky part is understanding how the rubber isolator is situated inside the metal cylinder-diamond plate assembly. If anybody happens to have one of these things laying around maybe they could examine it and explain the inner details. Or maybe if rotted and unusable just crosscut it and take a photo.

In the meantime, what I did.

Problem was the pipe would sag after a quick drive around the neighborhood and rattle at the bottom.

This was due to the clamp on the other side slipping a bit.

I had inverted the way the pipes were flared out at the joint just ahead of the cross member. That's with respect to connecting the front header pipe and aft connecting pipe. I did that because I didn't like the exhaust flow potential leak with the female end on the header pipe.

After that joint configuration swap mistake, female (front to aft), I regretted it because the pipes always slipped away from each other. Bad fit up resulted in the downward sag. Anyways, after numerous attempts to get a tighter clamp up, I finally gave in and hit the joint with some tack welds, rather than fully weld the OD, just in case I want to separate it in the future. That fixed it.

A bit of oil leaking down from the rocker cover gasket. Noted and fixed.

Slippage at the clamp. As witnessed by the high temp silicone trace.

Tack welded the bad clamp joint. Might have overshot the upward bias a bit but it doesn't slip loose and rattle anymore.

Part two of the exhaust saga. Looking for suggestions for getting a leak free join at the exhaust manifold outlet. The end has a lot of rust craters and the stock clamp doesn't seem ideal. I can see traces of soot no matter how well the manifold is aligned and clamped to the down pipe with the stock clamp. I don't see enough clearance to insert some sort of custom cut exhaust gasket ring in there but maybe? No noticeable exhaust noise, but perhaps risk of CO poisoning?

Looking up at the pitted exhaust manifold outlet end.

Looking up at the flared end of the exhaust header down pipe attached to the manifold end with the factory clamp.

That may be all of my catchup posts for now except maybe some misc little accomplishments such as door jamb final paint, locksmith help on the door key, insulation, door seals.

I gotta get back at it and piece the right front fender back together, move on and build some more "test" miles driving around the neighborhood.

 

[MARTS-PL310]

Building the 1961 Datsun 310 Bluebird - Misc Repairs in 2025 (and earlier).

Catching up. A photo essay collection about the little restoration things that happened in 2025 and late 2024. Including: Door jamb paint and latches. Underside roof insulation. Sun visors. Rear package tray. Upholstery on the rear inner rear tubs. Window regulator. Door seals. Door key replacement and ending with my personal odd Bluebird lock out story.

Door jamb paint and latches.

Door latches, as removed. All the paint was later removed and latches cleaned up. Not the original method as the latches were painted on the car by the factory. I just elected not to do it that way in order to get paint underneath on the jamb and I like the clean look of bare latches. Only the rear latches had shims installed, no idea if the fronts ever did. 

Installing underside roof insulation. The jute pads are similar to the insulation material I removed a long time ago but perhaps a bit denser. I brush applied Weldwood vinyl top contact cement. Two coats on the jute pads and one on the roof. It can be sprayed also. Pro cement that supposedly resists heat better than the aerosol can material. It stuck the pads on really good! I did the main pad in three sections for ease of install, plus a couple of smaller ones on the sail panels.

Notice the under dash heater control panel. This was before I overhauled the heater. I had a little blue diaper soaking up the leakage from the valve. Fixed.

The sun visors looked badly worn. So I quickly fixed them up with fresh cardboard and extra matching material that came with the headliner. Not perfect results but much improved. Might do them over again or not.

Repairs made to an original and broken package tray. Body filler and glued thin slices of oak backing across the broken area. Painted a close color to match. Repair is not too noticeable.

Not shown. Later on I grooved and textured the repair to try and match the imitation leather surface.

Insulation padding and vinyl upholstery applied to the inner wheel well tubs.

I want to redo the rear lower seat cushion as the edge piping is wavy, out of control and ugly. That was my first crack at upholstery work and not great due to using the wrong size piping foot on the Consew machine.

I haven't made the new rear backrest yet as the old top section is vaporized by too much sun and thus not a good pattern. I'll figure that out eventually. Just showing it for kicks and style comparison. The factory original red vinyl sure did color fade.

I busted the door regulator by trying to adjust the tight angle the crank handle made against the door card. My bad. Not easily repairable. Luckily I found a replacement regulator on an auction site.

Doors seals. Not stock. Modern hollow type, thicker and has higher friction than original low friction skinned over soft foam originals. It seals, but the door closing force is much higher than before. Okay for now.

Lastly, the door and trunk locks. There's a background story to this lock as it has some unusual operating characteristics on the Bluebird, I'll get to that later. So the key has been missing for years and since I'm doing a few local drives I wanted a key made to secure the car. Odd discovery, my Craftsman toolbox key fits and with some wiggling it turns the lock. I brought the lock to a long time in business locksmith and had a real key made. Routine job. Unfortunately, I also have to carry separate keys for the aftermarket ignition switch and fuel filler cap locks. Not much I can do about that. NOS ignition switches and matching locking fuel filler caps are very expensive, if you can find them.

This is unusual, although I believe some British cars of the fifties operated the same way. You cannot lock the driver's door using the inside handle in the manner of the other three doors. Nor as I discovered, can you unlock/cancel the driver's door from the inside handle but you can open the door from the inside even when it has been locked from the outside!

My weird story.

This well intentioned special driver door locking feature, designed to keep you from accidentally locking the key in the car, created a problem.

Many, many years ago. One day it happened that I figured I could outsmart the system and lock the car fully and take an uninterrupted snooze in a sketchy place by opening the window, reach out and lock the door via the outside key lock. Roll the window up and all is good right? No! I had taken a little nap after driving 300 miles overnight across Washington state to the Idaho border. Got it fully locked up by my special method beforehand, woke up forgetting all about it, took a drive out into the beautiful early morning countryside of rolling Palouse Washington wheat fields, hopped out to perform a bio relief on a remote one lane dirt road, engine running, windows up and my door shut behind me. After finishing my business, to my surprise, the door was still locked, even though I had just opened it from the inside latch but that did NOT cancel the earlier outside lock action.

So there I was out in the middle of nowhere, locked out, key in the car and engine running. I solved the dilemma by scrounging in the ditch and found a thin piece of wood that I thought I might fashion into a facsimile of key. And so, after a bit of carving with fingernails and stones, trying other pieces of wood, it worked! Crude as it was, my wooden facsimile key, with a bit of wiggling, unlocked the door and I learned my lesson, just leave it alone and don't try and outsmart the anti-lockout system.

Bluebird owner's manual (from a P311), page 11, regarding the driver's door lock operation.

If anyone wants to verify this stupid thing I did, Then I suggest leaving the other doors unlocked and windows open.

 

[MARTS-PL310]

Building the 1961 Datsun 310 Bluebird - Carburetor Bowl Fixes

A long standing issue is finally fixed. No more steel plate substitute for enclosure of my carburetor bowl. Yes! Finally! Many thanks to JJ and @bananahamuckfor suppling and transporting an OG glass cover plate and several other related carb and manifold bits.

Below. What was in place for many, many years, and prior to my ownership of a still running junkyard 1200 E1 engine pulled from a P311 Bluebird. The E1 is fed by a Nikki 2D-30C carb. A blind steel plate that made it kind of hard to occaisionally verify correct float level. Besides that, I also found the float was punctured and just slightly full of fuel. It ran good though after a recent clean and gasket refresh a few months prior.

A comparison of some vital bits of interest. Looks like my old float is collapsed and punctured. Float fuel check valves are different.

A puncture and micro crack in the old float. Origins unknown, although it may have been caused by my blasting the vents with compressed air to clear clogs. I won't do that anymore.

Something is missing on my old float! I did not know this until I had a good float to compare. A little stop tang to keep the float from bumping against the accelerator jet in the carb bottom center.

Running check after reassembly. Notice the now present tang prevents the float from bouncing against the lower jet.

And another minor discovery. The float needle valve tips are different. The old one has a spherical tip and the donor carb has a cone tip. I decided to stick with the old existing spherical tip since the seat and tip are matched and working well.

All is well again with the 2V Nikki carburetor on the PL310, runs well and fuel level landed right on the line with no shim adjustments required.

Posting more later about a scratch build rear bumper filler. This involved some curvature complicating the 90 degree flanges plus hammer die block stuff. Done but not quite perfect.

 

 

[MARTS-PL310]

Building the 1961 Datsun 310 Bluebird - Fabrication of a Rear Bumper Filler.

Making a new bumper filler to replace the missing part that was removed for panel beating repair back in the 70's. Well the repair didn't happen and the original part was eventually discarded many, many years ago. Guidance for the new part was solely by way of viewing some low res and sketchy internet photo grabs as I had no physical part for tracing a pattern from.

I got started by removing the bumper and little "temporary" license plate light support bracket. Anybody recognize that child's toy perforated metal?

Then a cardboard profile of the body curvature was developed.

That then was transferred to metal for a rough cut where I added about a half inch for the future pinch weld flange to the body.

Carved it out.

Tipped the pinch weld flange with the bead roller and then hand bent it 90 degrees and applied a shrinker/stretcher tool to maintain a flat horizontal plane.
Then attached the panel to the body with a few tek screws for initial fitting.

Now I've set the bumper in place to trace the edge profile at the extremes of full forward and aft bumper positioning. This will help determine the next bend line somewhere between the two extremes.

So things go a bit wrong now. I tied to make the corresponding bend down and bend up offsets at the aft trailing edge of this part. I intuitively knew this was a bad idea and not likely to end well but tried it anyway. The profile curvature and bends didn't cooperate of course. So I wound up slicing off the last bend section and just welding in a piece. Such a simple part at first glance but the complicating curvature aspect is unappreciated.

A little more shrinker/stretcher and hammer and dolly beating work to iron out the potato chip and recover from my mistake.

Then tack welded a trailing flange and proceeded with fit checking. Looking good now.

Then proceeded with doing some end detail layout. Doing this blind, freehand and rough without a pattern but it works out okay for now. Maybe go back later and do it over? Probably not.

Moving on to making the recessed pad for the light assembly. Hammer form via male/female die blocks fabricated out of 3/16 inch steel plate. Lacking machine shop tools, the blocks were carved up with a hand held jig saw and files. A 1/2 inch hole is used to maintain alignment and help with compression during forming on the sheet metal.

Results look okay from a distance but not so much up close. The surrounding metal was not adequately clamped down and pulled inward causing a localized larger gap relative to the bumper. I didn't like that non uniform gap and wound up cutting and welding the panel to restore a uniform gap to the bumper profile. Harsh for sure, but the alternative would be starting over again. No.

Then the monotony of finishing up. Hundreds of tack welds on both sides, grinding the fillet radius smooth, topping off the fillet welds with a bit of filler and three coats of black epoxy primer.

It's done for now. I want to move on to patching the rusty lower rear quarters next.