Hi all,

I joined Ozdat in 2009, so been on here a while and thought it was about time i started a build thread so other members can see what i'm building and see the car in which i ask a lot of advice about.

I'm building this car with the intention of having a tough, angry FJ under the bonnet, but still retain as much originality of the car as i can. Not deleting awesome metal badges, keeping 90% of chrome work etc. Basically not deleting door handles, locks or anything show like.
I still have the 1/4 mile bug, so i plan to full embrace it after i finish this car with many passes at WSID. Obviously a car with IRS is not the best weapon of choice for drag work, but the humble 1600 is still my favourite car and wouldnt race anything else.

My First Datto was one bought in 2005 from within the old school pages of the Trading Post. I bought it as a 4th year apprentice mechanic, didnt really have any idea what to look for when buying a Datto (hadnt even heard of Ozdat, datsport etc back then), just knew it was my favourite car and i needed to have one right now. So considering murphys law, things did go wrong.
It was an FJ turbo conversion with a semi good paint job and F90 silver simmons. The FJ had lots of HKS goodies on it, including a 25/40 huffer. It went really well, but after a bottom end knock (the skirts peeled all the way off the thrust bearing), cracked turbine hosuing and left side castor rod housing cracking due to rust, i stripped it and sold everything bar the interior, FJ and rear suspension and diff.

This car used to have the plates 321GO for those who can remember.

Sold the shell on eBay, another apprentice and his old man picked the shell up, lifted it onto the trailer and that was the end of that.
















In 2009 i bought a rolling shell from a shop in Wollongong NSW. The previous owner couldn't pay the bill for work done on his other car in the shop, so the shop owner was selling his rolling shell he also had down there as a resto project. It came with a full set of doors, newish RH guard and boxes of spares in the boot. Good old poo brown colour. Usual rust in roof sills and dog legs, front end etc, but the floor pan was perfect with no rust whatsoever.




















Stripped and taken to the blasters in Brookvale










I had trouble with the first panel beater. He was a sole trader, going bust half way through panel repairs on it. It subsequently went to a retired family friend after that, who has some ridiculous amount of experience as a panel beater (40 plus years). Being retired, he agreed to carry out panel work but was leaving paint to someone else. Considering he was only charging me $30/hr, and he is very good at what he does, we went ahead with giving all panels a new lease of life. I also spent countless hours welding and smoothing and learning a lot about panel beating along the way. So it worked out well in the end.. (i wont post up all pics, there's just too many)

a few shots from previous panel beater















engine bay (can anyone pick up the mistake made on the L/H chassis rail?)

















Engine bay hole filling, spot welding chassis





and spot welding both castor rod housing to ensure no repeats of last time



RH 1/4 replacement
















LH 1/4 repairs















Hi Fill










as mentioned, there a gazillion update photos, but dont want to be too pic heavy. basically turned out like this ready for paint










Painted by Greg Brookes in Lithgow, NSW. (it's not black, but dark grey). I always wanted a darker colour, black (with a leather interior) had already been done (e.g James Tuitt's VG30 turbo black stunner), so dark grey was the next option. It's a blue/purple pearl and a silver flake.

















On the trailer ready to come home









that's it for now, post more up later

_________________
1600 with FJ20 & Simmons. something different.

Epic body work hard work all done

^ yeah, it took it's time, but thank god that's all over. i hate paint.

_________________
1600 with FJ20 & Simmons. something different.

AWESOME!

Fantastic work Dan!

Cheers,

Trent

_________________
1600 Build: http://ozdat.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=59&t=22694

First thing's first, straight after paint was to improve the underbody. Thanks to help of a mate, we got it smashed in two days. Masking the entire car off, taking to underbody with scrapers and wire brushes, before applying three coats of K&H stone guard. came up better than expected. If you're going to do this, two tips; wear a mask or respirator because you get really farking high if you dont, secondly cover yourself from head to toe as this stuff is pretty hard to get off in the shower You can get the bottles from any good supply shop, the gun is called an schultz gun.













BEFORE..



AFTER!




During the whole process of paint n panel (which took nearly two years), i bought a fair amount of aftermarket parts from Datsport, Mad Dat, eBay USA and various other sources to suit the FJ conversion. I also bought parts knowing that a fair amount of power was in mind for this build. Everything from brakes, to drive train, to suspension to steering has been upgraded. Every component is either new, or stripped, rebuilt and repainted. Every bolt is new, with up graded strength and nyloc or crush nuts. As you'll notice, i'm a bit obsessed with cap screws

Mad Dat 22mm adjustable sway bar. came in yellow, but again powder coated in black. Mad Dat exchange x member with new camber pins from Datsport



200B Front Coils from Mad Dat. Top Thrust bearing upgrade, 250lb springs, standard shock inserts.
Mazda RX7 series 4 front brakes. 280mm slotted rotors, 4 pot fixed rotors.










Next off was to install the Mad Dat LCA's, techtoytuning adjustable castor rods and Mad Dat bump steer spacers.





After installing castor rods, i wasnt happy with the happy go lucky red colour sticking out like dogs balls, so i had all red pieces powder coated black. After installing them again, i had coincidentally created a black and gold theme in the front end. Came out looking pretty shmick i think.







Whilst in the suspension mood, i decided to fit the Mad Dat adjustable K frame, powder coat swing arms and fit polyurethan bushes to pivots, clean up stub axles, replace bearings and seals. Scotty also spun me up some new crush tubes.











To make life easier i also fitted the R200 into k frame, and installed rear assembly in one hit. The R200 long nose has been rebuilt with a Kaaz 1.5 way LSD, along with Mad Dat moustache bar with polyurethane bushes.







almost there..


booyaaa.



Next job was to tackle the steering. It needed a new lick of paint, so a few coats of high temp engine paint was used being left over from spraying the FJ.
Polyurethane bushes have used throughout the car, including the pitman arm. New grease nipples, new adjusting shafts, new dust boots. This was followed by a Mad Dat steer box brace. The steer column copped new bearings and a new lick of paint. Steer box was rebuilt with new bearings, seals and new breather/filler plug
















Steering done, now time to bolt on some more stopping power. Scotty from Mad Dat had a 1600 in the shop at the time, and i asked him to make me up a full set of hard lines for a 1600. He also included a willwood bias valve, which will be left out for now and mounted in cabin AFTER engineering.
Brakes also included braided lines, 180b rebuilt and chromed booster, new 7/8'' MC (rear brake poppet and spring removed, thanks graeme!).

here's a pic of some of new hard lines, then rest of setup
























I've put the R31 conversion on the rear. New slotted rotors, blasted and rebuilt calipers, Dastsport R31 handbrakes cables plus the Datsport Pulsar handbrake floor conversion (havent fitted yet). Probably one of the only benefits of being a mechanic, i saved myself a lot of cash from buying a mad dat or datsport R31 kits. Calipers cost me $90 off eBay, modify bracket $free, seal kits $20, blasting $20, slotted rotors $120, gloss caliper paint $15, pads $40.

_________________
1600 with FJ20 & Simmons. something different.

Love this build cant wait to see it going.

_________________
My FJ20ET 180B Build

Thanks Trent, after posting on your build last night, i realised your long journey ahead, so thought i'd provide some pics

bout time i did a build thread too.

_________________
1600 with FJ20 & Simmons. something different.

great work dan about time you started a build thread

thanks mate. i actually started this build thread on two other forums, JDMST and allaboutstance.com. The AAS site has reallt died off since its launch, considering my mate who started it is too busy to maintain and run it now. Sick of JDMST, older jap cars just aren't appreciated compared to shitty honda civics with an exhaust and a domokun sticker.

i was a bit reluctant to start a thread on here, as i thought ppl would pick all the things wrong with it left right n centre. but im way passed the point in the build now of giving a sh*t

_________________
1600 with FJ20 & Simmons. something different.

Yeah awesome effort there mate. This thing is schmick!

Is the last lot of photos where you are currently at with the build or have things progressed more?

PS what was wrong with the left chassis rail?

_________________
Build Thread: http://ozdat.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=59&t=27840

So...what did i do next. Hmmm...oh yeah! How could i forget? The Motor.

Long story short..i took the donk to Graham Wilkins to calculate comp ratio for tuner, slap head back on and re time.... ending up spending over 7K with new everything

The ratio came back at 7.1:1. which is way to low for a turbo motor with aggressive cams and a big turbo. The old setup was Cosworth Blank Pistons and worked stock rods.

SO...the money pit started;

- Custom pistons 8.8:1
- Cross drilled, knife edged, lightened and balanced stock crank.
- Engine blue printed
- Argo forged I beam rods
- ARP rod studs
- ARP head stud kit
- sh*t loads of head work. porting, valve seats, welding up corrosion, etc
- Heavy duty valve springs
- Rocker cover painted in Maseratti burgundy
- Modified standard timing tensioner
- Cometic multi layer metal head gasket.
- Upgraded rings & bearings
- Machined stock oil pump
- All gaskets and seals new
- New timing chain and jack shaft chain
- Big chunky thing on back of head cut off
- Mark Ashford custom re grind cams & adjustable
gears
- Modified stock balancer to suit CAS
- All engine work carried out by Wilkins Performance Engines
- Lots of cap screw bolts

ASHFORD CAMS & GEARS, ARP ROD STUDS



FREE ASHFORD RACING PEN. WOOOP.



So, after about 4-6 weeks, she finally came out of the Wilkins shop..brand new! Glad i did the build tho, pretty sure it would have let go with old parts.

OLD vs NEW











NOTCHED STOCK BALANCER. PICK UPS @ 60 DEGREES BEFORE TDC & BDC.




ALL FINISHED, READY TO ROCK






AFTER BRINGING IT BACK, DEFINITELY WAS NOT AFTER THE RAW HOT TUB METAL LOOK, SO POPPED DOWN TO STORE TO GET SOME HIGH TEMP PAINT.
ALSO INSTALLED THE CHROMED WATER PUMP PULLEY AND TIMING CHAIN TENSIONER COVER.











AND LOOKIN GOOD AGAIN..

_________________
1600 with FJ20 & Simmons. something different.

thanks a lot!

i have progressed a lot further with the build, thought i would do the build thread on here from the start though.

<---avatar pic shows current state

L/H chassis rail in engine bay., lol, keep guessing if you havent found it. hint....look at bog

_________________
1600 with FJ20 & Simmons. something different.

filled over the bolt holes for the idler ??? LOL

sweet build , motor is nuts any idea what itll make?

_________________
06450-H LOTUS WHITE 69 1600

aha so im guessing you bogged up the holes needed to mount the idler arm bracket? and then had to poke out the bog? good times

_________________
Build Thread: http://ozdat.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=59&t=27840