my 1932 datsun replica build

brackets to hold the "light bar" under the headlights.   (Air quotes were used because this isn't a normal headlight bar; the bar will mount to the head lights instead of vice versa as would be normal.)

Awesome!  Good to see this project back on the first page!

I made a rough draft of what the dash might look like.  More importantly, I made brackets to install a dash, and put the gauges in it.

Before: the only gauges - oil pressure and temperature - are in a board that is hanging from the frame - in the wrong position - by zip ties

After: the gauges are in about the spot I want them, and the ugly hanging board is gone.  This is still a temporary dash, just a better located one, with the full gauge cluster in it.   I plan to make the final dash from an oak futon that I pulled out of someone's curbside trash.

I also need to move/replace some of the rod in the cowl to accommodate the gauges; i.e. the dash mockup has red lines (where current rods are) and green lines (where I need to move the support rods to before the cowl can go back onto the car.)

Here are some stills of the rod-and-sheetmetal construction of the grill shell and cowl from back in 2010.  

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z3OAldwFGh0

The headlight buckets are mounted.  It took a bit of work to the frame rails.

I'm using a front end out of a dodge dakota pickup.  Back in the day, the ends of the frame rails stuck out far past the grill, like this

I eventually cut them short, but I got too eager and cut one back too far.  That meant that to mount the headlights, I had to build a flatter mount point on the driver's side, and an extension to the tube on the passenger side.

I love when this build comes out of its periodic hibernations.  

Pete

NOHOME said:

I love when this build comes out of its periodic hibernations.  

 

Pete

Thanks, Pete.

The updates may be a bit more common for the next few months.  I'd really like to have it running again - maybe even street legal - in March

The original car had the spare tire on a passenger's side of the cowl, and I'd like to do the same thing.  (That's just another way to make my replica look as similar as I can manage.)  Years ago I welded a plate to the chassis to do this, the idea being that I'll have a plate with a spare tire mount on the outside of the car's cowl, and bolts through the sheet metal of the cowl holding the spare tire mount to the chassis. 

I decided that I'd just run the car with a metal plate on the outside until I got the tire mount built.  Then I decided that I might as well decorate the plate. 

Now it will proudly state that this is a datsun powered rat rod.

I've been working on modifying reproduction Model A parts - a left tail light and bracket - to resemble the central tail light of the datsun Type 12.  Clearly, I will be trying to shorten the tube to lower the light .

Much better with a shorter tube....

My water heater sprang a leak, so I bought a new one.  That left me with a broken water heater.  I'm sure you folks know where this is going......it will probably end up being a new hood

I had pulled a broken equipment stand out of the trash a few years ago, and recently decided to cut it apart and use the metal to make a bracket to mount the license plate.  The stand had a flat metal surface, and four threaded inserts for screws, but they were the wrong spacing.  That meant the flat surface needed to be made both narrower and taller to get the holes to line up with the holes in a license plate.

Over the weekend, my Mrs. tried her hand at welding and grinding, thus bulding her first part for the car

Hell yes Mrs M!

Filling some gaps in the gooseneck-style tail light bracket

I sure am glad to see this popping back up on page 1 again. 

Keep up the great work. 

Toyman01 said:

I sure am glad to see this popping back up on page 1 again. 

Keep up the great work. 

Thank you.  I appreciate the encouragement.

BTW, that gooseneck and single central tail light started out as a reproduction model A bracket and left tail light

I joined the water heater skin  (back curve of car) to A/C air handler skin (rear quarter panel.)  After some putty and sanding it shouldn't be too obvious

The Mrs. and I took in an abandoned oven today.  It was sitting at the curb, cold and hungry, so we put it on a creeper and walked it home.  We're going to introduce it to that water heater skin.  I have a hunch that - with some TLC and proper training - they might join up and spend time together on long car rides.

It's cool seeing you're still working on it. I was afraid it would get forgotten after you were able to drive it. 

Dreaming of building one myself still takes up a fair amount of my daydreaming hours. 

Crackers said:

It's cool seeing you're still working on it. I was afraid it would get forgotten after you were able to drive it. 

 I burned out a starter, and then it sat for a while.  Now I'm trying to get it back to it.....in the past few weeks I've mounted the headlight buckets, light bar, front turn signals, made a bracket for the single tail light and filled a seam on the bottom of the windshield frame.  I still need to add a horn, windshield, turn signals in the back and get all of the signals/lights wired before I try getting it titled and licensed.  I haven't given up, though....

Crackers said:

Dreaming of building one myself still takes up a fair amount of my daydreaming hours. 

I don't have any special skills....I'm a firm believer that anybody with the shop space/time/budget can do this.

The datsun type 12 didn't have any side mirrors, but it did have these really odd semaphore turn signals attached to the windshield frame.  

(crop of image from the website for Nissan's Heritage Collection)

Here's a video showing these turn signals being demonstrated to guests at the museum.

My replica should look similar, so I plan to build semaphore turn signal* housings, but  have them also function as side mirrors.  (To avoid getting whined at by purists, I can build a cover for the back of the housing that will hide the mirror when I'm parked at car shows.)  Right now, I'm focusing on trying to get street legal, so building these weird housing contraptions will have to wait until later.   Yesterday, I bought a pair of rear view mirrors that I'm going to temporarily mount sideways on the windshield frame.  After I figure out how to get this car titled and tagged, I'll work on the strange semaphore setup.

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[*] - Real vintage Datsun semaphores are rare, probably have to be imported from Japan, are not designed for modern 12 volt automotive electronics, and are priced beyond the "I made this out of water heaters" budget.    OTOH, there are reproduction 12 volt VW semaphores.  I bought a pair, and plan to use them inside of my datsun-ish housings.  They're not exactly the right shape, but they're close enough to make me happy.

The urethane is still drying, but she now has a a windshield.

(....and the sharpie line on the side of the frame is the height where I need to mount the temporary side mirror.)

The only panel left on the car that had mismatched paint was the back end made from a water heater.  Today the Mrs. fixed that, painting the back to match the rest of the car.  There are plenty of touch up spots, but the last place with a major amount paint to apply is the passenger-side corner.  We can't paint there yet because I still have body work to do.

[EDIT:  better photos]

It isn't wired up yet*, but the windshield wiper and motor are in place

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[*] - just like the lights, turn signals, etc.

As noted in an earlier (5/15/19) post, the earliest datsuns didn't have turn side mirrors.  Instead, they had "trafficators"; i.e. semaphore turn signals mounted to the A-pillar.   My goal is to eventually have the replica equipped with similar looking turn semaphore signals that double as mirrors.    I just mounted rear view mirrors vertically to temporarily use as side mirrors that look sort of similar to the real deal.  It is not exactly the correct look, but it will do until I can build better ones.

In order to mount them, I had to weld some tabs to the windshield frame.  The stock tabs wouldn't stick, and I wasn't sure what they were made out of anyway.  Solution:  I made some new ones in ordinary mild steel

The big hole in the middle is so I can weld it to the frame without messing up the beveled edges the tab needs to have