Cleaned out the garage, found my old Datsun

I think the styling is timeless, the body lines on these are perfect to my eye.

I really like how connected you feel driving in these. There are no surprises in the way it handles which makes it very fun....similar to go karts. But faster.

OK, getting back to the story.

So somewhere during the February timeframe the project got derailed a bit. My wife and I had gone to a barn sale locally and didn't I find a pile of rough sawn white pine I couldn't live without. Really didn't have a plan for it, but I brought it home anyway. A few days later my wife mentioned she thought it'd be nice to make a decent kitchen table out of that wood.

Before I knew it I was covered in sawdust.

And here it is. My first furniture project semi-complete. Still needs sanding and then finish. I got this far and then dove back into the Z.

Anyway, back to the Z.

So I had been stashing parts away for this refresh for awhile and the time had finally come to start installing them! I started with steering rack bushings and T/C rod bushings.

Steering rack before the mount bushings

And after

The name of the game here for me is to clean things up and make them look nicer......on a budget. This was not a remove from car, blast, powdercoat, replate, etc kind of approach. I had spent whatever I had to on the engine because that has everything to do with how well the car works - and I want to drive it.

The finish on the suspension components is not something I'll lose sleep over. Not rusty, check. Has paint on it, check. Good enough.

T/C Rods....it was time.

Also made good use of a gallon of white vinegar to derust all the hardware - that works amazingly well. Here is the hardware after the visit to the vinegar spa

Alot of that went on. Really.

One thing I was avoiding until now was the hard lines. They twist, they turn, they shuck and jive.....I think they must have been installed first on the assembly line. I didn't want to deal with the inevitable but eventually the time had come.

So out they came

And I bent up and installed these, somehow managed to hit all the mounting points as well. Too bad no one was around to share the victory with me.

I didn't replace the vent line. It seems solid enough, and only transports vapors. Hoping I wont regret that decision in the future.

So that's where Subaru got that idea for their stupid steering rack mounts. It all makes sense now.

Nice job on the brake lines, that's a task I have always feared having to do.

ssswitch wrote: So that's where Subaru got that idea for their stupid steering rack mounts. It all makes sense now. Nice job on the brake lines, that's a task I have always feared having to do.

Thank you. I've done brake lines quite a few times, seems like a right of car ownership for living in Pennsylvania. I usually find that it takes me longer to remove the old ones than to put in the new ones. These were the opposite. So many bends....

For the steering rack bushings, Ive never seen the Subaru ones (and I drive an Impreza) but it probably is. I'll have to take a look.

It must be a Fuji Heavy Industries design thing.

Getting back to my story, the plan for this had started out to be getting this car running with whatever I had here. In other words, I didn't want to get distracted by possible mods such as swapping differentials, engine and transmission swapping, etc...that would just hold up the progress more. I figured I have a complete car here that's been sitting for WAY too long, lets just make it run and have some fun with it!

As things rolled along though it did go a bit further than I originally envisioned (don't they always?). It started to make sense to tackle many other nagging, smaller issues such as bushings and things "while I'm in there". Certainly having things all taken apart gives access to things you can't easily get to when the car is assembled. So the scope of the project grew a smidge.

One thing I remembered from when I last drove it was the passenger rear strut had a clunk to it. Now's a good time to tackle that right? So I pulled to strut to inspect it (hoping to find a loose gland nut) - NOPE. Bad strut.

The strut in it's resting state (look a little short? )

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And I had used Red loctite not knowing any better when I had installed these back in the 90s. I'd like to time travel back and slap myself for that one! Removal was not easy.

Also I goofed up when I ordered the replacement and got one for a late 74 260z. Turns out they are a taller strut. So I had to reorder. I replaced it with the same type as before, KYB. They don't make the GR2 anymore apparently so I went with Excel G.

Another thing I did "while I was in there" was replace the differential mount and strap. I had done the moustache bar bushings before but the others were original and while not technically bad, I figured they probably would fail once I started using the car again. 40 year old rubber isn't really pliable.

Out with the old

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In with the new

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Looks like a timing belt right?

The mount too

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I like a firm rearend.

The next thing to do was fab up some gas tank straps because the originals were shot.

Broke out my fancy sheetmetal brake for this.

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Finished them up with some paint and sleeved them in heat shrink. I'm happy with them.

Also around this time a friend of mine wanted me to go inspect a Z he was thinking about buying. It's GORGEOUS and he bought it (at my urging). Its a one owner with 36k original miles, garage kept, awesome find. Most of the cars miles were accumulated running local hillclimb events like Weatherly and Giants Despair. Also an autocross car too. It features a host of Datsun Competition parts that were installed when the car was new, such as 4:11 rear gears, cam (the owner couldn't remember the grind), 6 into 2 header, clutch, mulholland springs/struts, heavy swaybars. Also the car has round top SU carbs like mine.

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Can you believe that interior? He promised I get first refusal if he ever wants to sell it.

Beautiful car!

Jayisacarguy wrote:

This car makes me feel funny in the pants...

OP, your car is beautiful as well! One thing though: I'd be slightly worried the blue paint that you sprayed inside the oil filter head will flake off and head to main bearings.