Popular Post NickJ Posted April 19, 2021 Author Popular Post Share Posted April 19, 2021 A while back I came across an L18 in pieces on marketplace, turns out the guy had started a build which got put in the back of the shed for 20 years and forgotten about, I quickly took possession and promptly forgot about it too! Late last night with the aid of 40% off spring compressor from Supercheap I stripped the head down, cleaned up the pieces and sorted them into an identical container to the L20b head. Both will be dropped off for a decent clean and hardness test, I will then crack test them both to figure out a build plan for the new EFI motor. Both heads have the same sized valves and exhaust ports while the L20b has slightly larger intake ports. The L20b head (top) is an "open" combustion chamber U67 casting while the l18 is A87 casting with the closed "peanut" chamber. With both the L18 and L20 blocks sitting there, i'm unsure which combo to go with so secretly hoping one of the heads is shot to cut down the options! Once the top end is sorted out, new pistons, rings and bearings will be ordered, I have a few different cams sitting on the shelf so need to research if the markings mean anything or if a re-grind would be beneficial to the overall plan. 15 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post NickJ Posted May 5, 2021 Author Popular Post Share Posted May 5, 2021 Finally got the throttle body adapter plate port matched and dropped it on the current motor for visual motivation Started a quick spreadsheet and have rapidly worked out I need ~45 individual wires running through the firewall to operate the motor and the usual electrics (lights, wipers etc) most of these are because I wish to move the fusebox and relays into the cabin. A quick estimate and this looks to be about 55m of cable.... For ease, putting a 50pin connector on the bulkhead looks to be the way forward. Rather than threading each wire, I can wire the loom on the workbench, any suggestions for a bulkhead fitting thats not $200 mil-spec? 13 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post NickJ Posted July 6, 2021 Author Popular Post Share Posted July 6, 2021 After asking about castor wheels to build a chassis dolly, ol @RUNAMUCK fires me a message "I have a local mate with a 510 rotisserie he might loan you" #projectcreep Quick drive across town with a box of beers and this was in my possession Did I mention custom fabricated for a 1600! Will need modification for wheels to allow moving it in and out of my shed, but all the bones are there and legit, down to ball bearing pivots! All this has as expected pushed any chance of a quick turn around to be a very hopeful proposition, but i'm not giving up just yet, will dive into stripping parts with fingers crossed. First job down, got sidetracked while throwing a some epoxy about on another project and popped the windscreen out, gotta say i'm pretty happy with what was found. The only rust under the seals and it barely qualifies as surface rust (even for a Datsun!) Also shows the three colours the car has been, factory tan, dark blue and the current red. Next move is strip the interior to store away safely and then drop the drivetrain. 18 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GregT Posted July 6, 2021 Share Posted July 6, 2021 Some years back i started a 1600SSS project. Sold it unfinished but learned a lot in the process. I machined up urethane bushes for the mount points of the rear crossmember - on the advice of a guy who'd rallied them back in the day. Supposed to help a lot. Being an engine man primarily that was my first priority. The bronze gear on the oil pump drive is of course one to watch. I was given a pile of heads amongst which was a US emissions 1800 head. With steel sheet inserts in the exhaust ports even. They're supposed to stay hot and burn off what's uncompleted combustion. I was told that this head is the one to port as once the inserts are out, there's more material than the usual to let you get a better shape. Duly done. The valves in it were maybe 1-2mm bigger than the 1600 head. 1600 block - for race class eligibility reasons - 1mm o/s with flat tops. Kelford cam same as Noddy Murdoch's 240Z. Good springs etc. Plenty of time spent setting up the cam folowers too as should be done. I also found a dogleg 5-speed. A spare from a classic rally guy. It had the period mod done of altering the leverage bits to shorten the lever movement between gears. 240Z rear drums.....yes, I found a pair. 260Z front calipers and discs. Never ran it. Sold with unfinished bodywork to a couple of locals who wanted a Targa car. Nice to see one still running. I think I've spotted yours a couple of times around ChCh. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NickJ Posted July 17, 2021 Author Share Posted July 17, 2021 On 07/07/2021 at 11:56, GregT said: Some years back i started a 1600SSS project. Sold it unfinished but learned a lot in the process. I machined up urethane bushes for the mount points of the rear crossmember - on the advice of a guy who'd rallied them back in the day. Supposed to help a lot. Being an engine man primarily that was my first priority. The bronze gear on the oil pump drive is of course one to watch. I was given a pile of heads amongst which was a US emissions 1800 head. With steel sheet inserts in the exhaust ports even. They're supposed to stay hot and burn off what's uncompleted combustion. I was told that this head is the one to port as once the inserts are out, there's more material than the usual to let you get a better shape. Duly done. The valves in it were maybe 1-2mm bigger than the 1600 head. 1600 block - for race class eligibility reasons - 1mm o/s with flat tops. Kelford cam same as Noddy Murdoch's 240Z. Good springs etc. Plenty of time spent setting up the cam folowers too as should be done. I also found a dogleg 5-speed. A spare from a classic rally guy. It had the period mod done of altering the leverage bits to shorten the lever movement between gears. 240Z rear drums.....yes, I found a pair. 260Z front calipers and discs. Never ran it. Sold with unfinished bodywork to a couple of locals who wanted a Targa car. Nice to see one still running. I think I've spotted yours a couple of times around ChCh. Do you know what happened to that car? There is a surprising number of them still registered, must be even more hiding away, hopefully its still alive? I'm expecting to revisit the urethane cross member bushes when I remove it, no doubt they won't look too healthy! So many options with the heads, did you put the larger valves in or were they standard larger in that head? Still haven't got a clear idea on the engine build, have put it to one side as I focus on the body work..... For future reference, we have discussion threads for builds, this one is here: Keeps a good flow of builds and we can spam the daylights out of each other with plenty of space! (Hopefully a mod can shuffle these over?) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post NickJ Posted July 17, 2021 Author Popular Post Share Posted July 17, 2021 Annnnnnd i've got totally off track with cleaning up rust, Went down to machinery house and picked up some castor wheels on the word of @cletus way over what I wanted to spend, but with a few hundred kg rating per wheel, I could hang the whole car on them if needed. Blessed with another calm day I fizzed up a trolley for the rotisserie. Wheels are just poised for the pic, too lazy to drill some mounting plates so will get some profile cut. Pivot point is mad high so I might give it some makita one way action. Last few nights i've snuck out after dinner to slowly pull parts off to assess the rust, rumours that the Japanese assembled cars had better rust protection must have some truth as i've not much more than factory paint everywhere! The rear screen put up a fight (which the rubber lost) pretty stoked to only find more factory paint under here, happily buy new rubbers if it means less rust to fix! With the guards off I found the light surrounds are quite crusty, thankfully the drivers side is much better, will use this as a template to replace. Managed to extract most of the engine bay parts and have found myself quite taken by the cleaner look, good prompt to put some thought into the engine bay wiring when it comes to the time. A while back @Hyperbladehooked me up with a circular connector to use to check fit, bloody glad he did! What wasn't clear when the loom was in is the shape of the inner guard, while I think the socket will fit in the factory hole, it leaves very little space for the connector, hmm, rethink this one or just go all in? Next step is to get the trolley finished, if i'm cunning I should be able to use the rotisserie to lift the body off the motor and box, time will tell..... Whats become quite a blessing is i've bartered sufficient off site storage for all the bits while I complete the build, keeps my workshop far less cluttered! 13 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post NickJ Posted July 21, 2021 Author Popular Post Share Posted July 21, 2021 Things are moving along at a pace I'm really enjoying. Front suspension is now out, I was concerned the steering linkages would put up a fight but having collected many forms of 4wd ball joint splitters over the years everything came out with ease. For the record, this is the rust spot I was originally set to tackle, and the catalyst for this rebuild Last load of interior and parts shipped away to storage over the weekend, actually quite glad to not have the interior getting in the way or risking overspray/dust. And today after @ProZac's suggestion a while back of cleaning wiring harnesses in ultrasonic cleaners I put one of the door trims through a cycle, very impressed, will trade again! 18 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post NickJ Posted August 11, 2021 Author Popular Post Share Posted August 11, 2021 Trucking along..... Shell is now 99% stripped and mounted on the rotisserie. Motor and box were dropped out the bottom during the lift, closely followed by the rear cross member, diff and suspension. I've started stripping paint (and bog) from the known trouble spots to start building a picture of the scale of panel beating, so far nothing that make me uncomfortable, more motivational as the patches are (so far) straight forward chop&weld. Work had a few litres of liquid Nitrogen going spare so rather than pay BOC for dry ice I filled up a tank to see how well it can take to sound deadening. Before: Pouring over small sections at a time I was genuinely surprised at how effective it is, large chucks peeling off in seconds. Soon there was a full bucket and job done I wouldn't hesitate to give that another go, so fast and even strips the seam sealer out without breaking a sweat! Having the car on the rotisserie was an added bonus, could position it so that the liquid would pool in useful places. 27 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post NickJ Posted August 15, 2021 Author Popular Post Share Posted August 15, 2021 What a day, woke to no wind and blue skies, perfect for getting out and welding up some rust! GC @Bling dropped some panel steel off at my door last week, no excuses/time to rip into it. First on the list was a small innocent patch under the front arch, tore into it with the grinder only to find the reason why it has a similar one on the other side. Factory hole allowing moisture to get behind the layers. Fuuurkkkk, only way to do this right is to take off the rotisserie, peel back the entire skin and treat underlying rust before placing the actual patch. Not to worry, i'll get that at a later date, lets shift attention to something more achievable for the day, the small ripple in the rear guard. Ripping back the paint, what do we find? A text book 90s example of patch&bog.. Whats behind door #1? Hooray, Grot! Open wide... Not really all bad, cleaned out ok, went to grab my tin of weld through primer but nope, not today, just a can of copper gasket spray, dicks, no more patching this weekend. Carried on with paint stripping and seeing if I can better the dodge repairs but thankfully only came up with a pile of composites Figured i'd have a hit at the engine bay, starting with the serial # Back when my father used this body to re-shell a race car he bogged over the serial for obvious reasons, with the car returned to it's original true identity, it was left covered as nothing short of a decent full bay respray would have caused further legitimacy questions. This has been of great entertainment for me at car shows, many Barry has inspected the engine bay, ticking off the obligatory SSS factory parts before crossing arms and proudly stating "hah! no firewall number, its been re-shelled mate, you've been ripped off" before walking away chest puffed and pleased to have rained on someone's parade. Here it is, proudly back in the daylight matching both body tag and rego papers. 23 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post NickJ Posted August 21, 2021 Author Popular Post Share Posted August 21, 2021 Lockdown mk2..... But this time I have a project car and supplies, could do with a bit more paint and some specific consumables, but on the whole, I have plenty of tasks to carry on with. Cut a small rust spot out of the front panel only to find nasty muck hiding behind, only way to sort this is to hack it right off, clean out the cavity, paint and back together, only I have no paint. Patch panel is however folded up ready to go once the shops reopen. Passenger footwell, bit of a pain folding this one, but many hammers and vicegrips got it there in the end. Drivers side, near identical... So much symmetry in this car! Much larger patch required and i've run out of 1mm to make it, will have to wait In tech-spam I enquired about straightening the driver's rear quarter, on the good advice of @nzstato I looked into removing the panel to bash off car, only to find it appears the factory used lead/braze to smooth out the gap at the base of the rear screen. Not wanting to hack the panel off in a very visible spot I set about seeing what I could achieve in place... First, pull the fuel filler back into line Leading edge it about 5mm recessed Marking the dented area I tacked some modified M8 fasteners to attach my slide hammer and gently pulled Fail-ish The panel is uber thin where I tacked on and after careful tapping I got there but with a few tears in the sheetmetal, filled them in but may go back and replace it with thicker material later on. Filler cap in roughly a better spot I went over the swageline with a straight edge working out where it was and how it managed to remove itself, using a lump of rimu as a longer dolly I gently tapped a few high spots and much to my surprise it came out from hiding! Thinking I was dreaming I sprayed a quick layer of etch on and sure enough, I found a swageline! Still needs some work under the filler cap but I think this needs some more thinking, appears the panel needs shrinking and that is not a skillset I have mastered just yet so will practice elsewhere and get back to it later on. Also cut out the rot in the lower guard, plenty of dust behind, will be good to get in here painted prior to sealing up. Have started attacking the boot area, what looked promising is now not so, easiest option is to cut out half the floor and replace, with no suitable material to put in there I will wait until after lockdown before digging deeper. 25 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post NickJ Posted September 19, 2021 Author Popular Post Share Posted September 19, 2021 Game on... I've owned and patched rusty cars in the past, but never one actually worth a fair deal of coin, kicking off with this resto, I was more than aware it was going to take a good measure of thought before launching past the point of no return, aka cutting discs. A few weeks back I was trawling You Tube trying to find a half decent video of the type of repairs I knew were ahead. Between shite camera work and people who shouldn't be near a spanner (or a tin of bog) I found this guy: Nothing new, and i'm sure a technique i've seen before but the timing was on point, with a stack of mdf offcuts from house renos I set to it Remember this rot? I traced a pattern from the "good" side, flipped it, traced and jigsawed from a kitchen offcut, few taps later, my first non-flat panel. In place And compared to the not so rusty side Small amount of trimming before final fitment, but far better than I was ever expecting from a first attempt! Holding some motivation, I set into removing the car from the rotisserie to get at the bumper mounts, made the largest patch first and copied that for the other side All are now soaking in epoxy ready to get glued on later in the week. Looking at the pictures, I think I have brushed the primer on a bit thick, but not so concerned (yet), there was so much crap between the layers, paint is better than rust and this is better treatment than it ever got 50 years ago! I also did some more modifications to the rotisserie while it was off, the alignment between nut and threaded rod was pretty terrible making lifting difficult, i'm in the unfortunate spot that it needs to be raised and lowered to get out of the workshop, new mods should speed that up! Best part of the weekend is I'm now comfortable with the bulk of steps required to get the known rust out, hopefully the motivation hangs around! 37 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post NickJ Posted October 3, 2021 Author Popular Post Share Posted October 3, 2021 Progress....... Heard the neighbour wasn't too pleased by my weekend activities on the angle grinder, they're lovely people so went and had a chat to keep the peace, end result I spent a day rearranging the workshop so I could work with the door shut, day behind, but further ahead. Workshop tidied and organised, fizzed on patches The light surround was a challenge, none of the holes would be doubled up on the final placement, took me a while to think of the obvious, dry fit with bolts, drill spot welds, hold with clecos then do a slow and terrible job of trimming off the excess. Not the visual end result I was hoping for this patch, but secure and better than it was plus it will be hidden behind the guard! Drivers floor patch, slight pain to fold up but lots of hammer work to stretch around the corner. The scuttle drain runs down the middle of the firewall, the bottom had folded over (Likely during engine/gearbox swaps) blocking it off and was subsequently full of crap, with the lower edge showing heavy corrosion, I couldn't leave it alone thinking what could be in there, drilling out the spot welds underneath was thankfully only surface rust, wire wheel, treat and epoxy primed. With those patches in I can officially tick off front end rust repairs, with the car now spun around in the workshop work on the boot floor can begin.... 34 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post NickJ Posted October 24, 2021 Author Popular Post Share Posted October 24, 2021 Where were we? Ah yes, Rust.... Folded up a patch allowing me to warm up on the relatively simple rear guard. And so onto the main event, the boot floor. I have been thinking many hours how to do this panel, if not for the cobwebs in my wallet I would have just dropped a stack of coin on bead rollers and such and moved forth, instead I gave an idea a go and managed to fold up a test piece with the pan bender which impressed me enough to push forward with making the repair. Hold the breath and... Almost there, used some rivets to hold across the bends and tapped the end around a suitable shaped offcut of 4mm Not the tidiest up close, but it is rust free! Next step would be to launch into welding up but my gas bottle is near empty from other projects and there seems to be somewhat of an Argon shortage going on, hedging bets on making some calls Tuesday. Until then i've got some grot in the front guards that needs attention, folded up some more test pieces to confirm the process and dimensions 32 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post NickJ Posted November 15, 2021 Author Popular Post Share Posted November 15, 2021 Find rust, cut, make patch, check fit, trim, check, trim, check, trim, check, weld Thats pretty much how the last few sessions have gone, props to @mof for hooking me up with some argon, that got the boot floor into place legend! Gave up searching for 0.8mm offcuts and just went a brought a sheet, that allowed for visible panel repairs to kick off, starting with the drivers front guard The trailing edge had significant rust repairs, what appears to have been the strategy was cut out the rot and where the frame/stiffener is, just weld direct to that and fill with bog. Of course this made my job fun, I had to give up on like for like replacement going with judgement and dry fitting to the car. First of all replaced the rotted section of frame: Then shape the contour into a fresh piece Never got a weld pic, but its now securely attached. Then work on the lower, this got nasty, can just make out the multiple weld lines from donor patches and is pretty rusty/bent to work out where it should be. Reproduced the lower frame and glued that in after many dry fits to the car Also see the back edge of the upper patch fixed in place, managed to replicate the folded edge too, very chuffed. A quick inspection of the passenger guard showed it to be in much better health until I started digging... While it is relatively rust free, it had the best part of 5mm bog over the whole thing, its been very bent at some stage, beaten about right then filled (with much enthusiasm!) Full clean up showed quite a mission ahead Using the better guard as a guide, I sat down with the hammers and various dollys I've got much better shape now with the larger dents out, but will give it more time, it will need bog but hoping I can learn a few tricks to minimise the amount. New repro guards are near $500 give or take with freight extra so i'll be avoiding that bill as much as possible! Thats the notable work to date, many more smaller patches here and there in the sills and boot and two more large areas to tackle, most challenging is the rear guard lip, thinking a shrinker/stretcher combo would be helpful here, anyone have experience with them and able to offer advice? The vice mounted Machinery house ones look pretty good value, any reason to double down and go to larger stand mounted ones? 25 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post NickJ Posted February 16, 2022 Author Popular Post Share Posted February 16, 2022 Just one more day and the rustwork will be complete. And other such lies. Fair to say for the last few months I have thought I was done, then i'd find more or a simple repair would need many, many cups of tea. One such issue is the RF guard, after feeling good about folding up a neat replacement, I read my template wrong which put the datums well out Completing this will need the door put back on to get the lines right, the guard should be flush with the sill......At this stage I think my reinforcement is scrap, but we'll see. Some time ago I figured out a recipe to fold up the gutter, made a large strip which was chopped up and scattered around. Under the rear seats took the best part of a day, mainly a hidden seam which spewed oil into the weld misleading me into thinking my gas supply had become blocked. Long weekend of rain allowed progress on the boot Tapping out patches Clecos again for cool points. And my current nemesis, the right rear guard The shape here has been puzzling me for some time, it holds the appearance of being kicked in, alot but then nothing looked right when pushing the panel back. Earlier I pulled out the material in fuel flap area but the panel between there and the lip had bulged inward. Not too sure how this happened or able to decide on a fix strategy I tried gentle tapping and pushing it around but nothing looked right or explained the amount of stretch present. Admitting defeat I made the call to patch it up as is and hide my shame under a tin of bog, worse off, I decided not to buy a bead roller for this panel and would need to make the patch from multiple pieces, this for some reason became a blessing. In shaping the patch pieces I spent way more time looking at the problem working out how to get everything aligned and where to place the welds. With the inner and outer guard separated it became clear the guard lip had collapsed 5-10mm inward of where it should have been, after some gentle hammer work moving the inner guard back out, the guard now sits flat against a straight edge, a bit more tapping and I should have this side sealed up. Wish me luck, tentative plan is to get paint on by winter........ 26 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post NickJ Posted March 3, 2022 Author Popular Post Share Posted March 3, 2022 On 16/02/2022 at 22:14, NickJ said: Completing this will need the door put back on to get the lines right, the guard should be flush with the sill......At this stage I think my reinforcement is scrap, but we'll see. Will be an easy job, just bolt the door back on, check the lines, profit. Why are we such optimistic buggers? Good old bog cracking there, let's pick the scab eh? With signature gas welding I gave dad a call for some quality banter, yep, this was indeed his handywork, this door he repaired 30 odd years ago when commuting a fair distance with a young family and zero budget for the sole purpose of getting a clubcar running. While several methods uncovered are well scorned by the concourse crowd, for them to last this long is a sign that for my purposes, there is no need to get carried away, nothing really wrong with a quick tidy up, treat the rust, procure another 4l of bog and get that bloody front guard sorted. Anyhow, in 30 years time i'll be out to pasture and my kids can bitch between themselves about how poorly I treated their inheritance. Aaaaaaand OCD enters the room. Guided cut parallel to the sill showed the extent of the problem, releasing the stress in the panel, the lower half popped up 10mm. Removing the rest of the skin was easy thanks to Datsun's patented dissolving bodywork. Nothing too nasty, but I can easily see a few weekends of Tea and biscuits to get this back together! 16 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post NickJ Posted May 19, 2022 Author Popular Post Share Posted May 19, 2022 Last few months haven't been so directly productive, I did give the garage a good reshuffle with the aim of allowing greater progress which was then destroyed in typical male impulse buying fashion.. A good mate forwarded the details of a CNC router going for a steal. "This will fit in your shed right?" ........Umm, yeah, I spose.... "Cool, Its yours" ........eh? Crap This has unfortunately been a massive timesink, new power cables to the shed, new distribution board and an even bigger clear out. It definitely will not lead to more distractions, well, not until the sparky manages to pop around and hook everything up! Sorry for the tangent, back to car: After 4 weekends of delayed action, I got started again on the Datsun, on what has to be the biggest, heaviest and inappropriately complicated workbench. I've carefully welded the new piece of skin onto the driver's door and now just carefully smoothing out the ripples, easy does it right? I'd love to say i'll start getting paint on, but with winter coming on, global warming will really need to pull a swifty to get it done. I do have grand plans of getting this to Nationals, will be tight, but no reason why not. 22 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post NickJ Posted October 30, 2022 Author Popular Post Share Posted October 30, 2022 On 11/04/2021 at 08:10, NickJ said: Lofty goal but the rough plan as above is a quick...... 6 month rust removal and respray. Or will I have kids? Need to buy a bigger house? Need emergency repairs to current house? Start a new job? Move back offshore? Spend all my project money on new tools instead of parts? Get mad project creep and go all out resto? Oh crystal ball be kind to this Datsun! Coming up to the two year mark, thats two of seven checked off..... The last 6 months i've been hating my job, many small issues just killed my desire to go to the office 5 days a week not to mention overall happiness on weekends when I should be relaxing, taking a pretty big leap I handed in my resignation and looked for new adventure. In that regard I kind of lucked out, the new job has pretty much every tool a resto needs, most of which I can access after hours no worries, taking full advantage i've spent the last month dragging suspension bits through the blasting cabinet and spray booth slowly getting through the pile. Three weeks worth, slow but momentum. And this week's trolley brings up the balance of large bits. As for the shell, it hasn't escaped my motivation either, in the weeks between jobs I knocked off the underbody rust and stripped the remainder down to bare metal, I had planned to do more, but the spring winds and rain had better ideas. Then the last few weekends have gifted warm weather with unheard of low winds so two coats of epoxy and a pretty heavy layer of underbody have been applied, can't stress enough how incredibly happy for the rotisserie at this stage, what a mess! No real finished pics, but here is one halfway: I have picked up some paint for the suspension bits, current plan is to roll black underbody, charcoal suspension bits so its not all black underneath. (works in my head......) Colour is the same as used on the MK64 calipers I restored some years ago, a dark metallic grey Will it be ready to roll this summer? tbh i'm too scared to check the timeline, but will soldier on with that plan in mind. 29 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post NickJ Posted March 14, 2023 Author Popular Post Share Posted March 14, 2023 Long time no update etc. Well as this goes, whenever I update, momentum dies, but i'm not one to fall to superstition so here goes. The last big push was to get running for Nats, sadly that never happened, in the week of summer that I put to get the body shell done I found rust I had not expected, more cut, more weld. This patch was oddly symmetric on the rear doors. The boot had a few more surprises that got dealt to also. Back when the car was running my brother had a breakdown not far from our place and called asking for a pickup, with the Datsun out I figured this was a good excuse for a drive, only silly me in a rush didn't complete the usual pre-flights and drove off without the bonnet pins in, needless to say I was pretty embarrassed but got off easy with just a crease in the driver's corner of the bonnet. When I kicked off the panel work, this was a spot I was not even contemplating having a go at as when I re-sprayed the Niva, I didn't do a very good prep job on the bonnet, the resulting ripples a constant kick in the nuts every time I drove it. By now my panel time has increased immensely that I had a second look and figured, why not? Off with the paint, strip out the internal framing and tap tap. Quite likely the easiest fix so far, gentle tapping pushed the crease out and just mild shrinking on the side flange to finish off, well chuffed. And not to be out done, past Nick also drilled datums prior to drilling welds so that clecos could re-locate all the bits, good boy. Bonnet back together, finished stripping and blew on more epoxy. So, in the week that was meant to be everything ready for top coat, all I managed was doors ready for primer, boo. 18 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post NickJ Posted March 14, 2023 Author Popular Post Share Posted March 14, 2023 While working on the house I also managed a few sneaky coats on the suspension, these have all been packed away awaiting reassembly which is actually a blessing, I always seem to rush from paint to car so getting some time to set will hopefully pay off. Back to panel work, again, I soon decided the repair on the drivers door wasn't cool, the fold at the bottom just wasn't that straight, especially next to the sill. This happened because I don't have a folder wide enough and tried to form the bend manually, way too difficult for my talent levels. So, off with repair #1 Careful cut, fold weld of the new panel to give a laser straight bottom edge, wave the wand and... First panel fit down, not concours perfect, but more than enough after fettling to satisfy this rookie. A few more weekends have come and gone, not all productive for painting, the usual adult duties and bad weather has kept the body shell tucked away, not to give up all hope I started sorting out smaller stuff. Originally I had planned to Zinc plate all the fasteners, sorting through this wasn't really an option, existing bolts are old/damaged/incorrect head etc not to mention new bolts are cheap ex West Island in full car kits, a stack of effort with not much gain. As usual curiosity got the better of me, one wet afternoon I stumbled on parkerising, pretty much boil up the bolts in a Phosphoric acid based tonic which is mildly protective but more so, quite a nice matte finish, test pieces came up pretty good. So I proceeded to strip and treat the hinges, main reason was I can't decide if I should paint them and if so, how to go about it, at least in this way they have some protection in storage until I make up my mind and the coating makes a pretty good base. Paint stripped left, blasted and parkerised right. Eventually the weather did play nice and I got primer onto the interior. Very excited to be getting to this stage, not much in the way of re-fitting suspension which will allow grinder access to the front and back which the rotisserie is blocking from final clean up. On the subject of that, Bart, you're on notice, the rotisserie is very close to being dropped back Right, over the upload limit so be sure to tune in next time, the paint rep has dropped off some goodies. 27 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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