G'day all

Been fumbling round the forum for a little while now and thought I had better introduce myself.

My name is Mick, I live in Sydney and I have been into the 70's Dattos since I've had my licence. I've had 2 1600's, the first one was in above average nick body wise, had an L18 with twin hitachis and a locked diff (I was 18), it went OK but nothing special.
The second 1600 was all original drive line, 200b struts, king springs, tokico green shocks and a really clean body. I had grand plans of putting SR20 running gear into it, although someone else had other plans, and stole it from my brothers house while I was on holiday. When I got it back from the cops, all that was left was the drive line, every single item that could be unscrewed was, including the plates DAT 05R. As you can imagine I was seriously pissed and lost enthusiasm for building cars.
I've also had 3 180B's, they were all just run arounds, but were fun all the same.

A good 15 years on and the shed now is now home to a 9/72 240Z. Ive had it for about 3 years, body is in pretty good nick, original matching numbers motor and original carbs. Since I got it I have rebuilt all the front and rear suspension with King Springs and Tokico Illumina shocks, at the same time I put in an R180 LSD from an STi. I have rebuilt all the front and rear brakes including M/C and booster. The next item on the cards is a more exciting L28 with triple 40's. This car is a weekend cruiser and hopefully will get a day or 2 at the track.

My latest edition to the stable is a 3/71 1600, it had a bit of an argument with another car before I got it and has some rust but it is mostly in the passenger front door and round the boot, nothing tooo serious. Interior of the car will come up great with a bit of a clean. All the running gear is original bar the L18 between the struts but the BW35 auto tranny is still there.
My plan for this one is to do a slow restoration back to looking original but without being to fussy about it. So far I have stripped the entire engine bay ready for a panel beater to pull the front end out and spray the bay. I will then slowly put things back in once they have been cleaned, painted and looking pretty.

I have been looking for panels and bits and pieces that I know I will need and ended up buying a parts car with most of the bits I need plus some more, but I am still on the lookout for a decent bonnet. This one will only be around for a couple weeks until I strip everything off it then send it to the metal recycling as the body is in a pretty bad way.

Anyway, that's enough about me, I have attached a couple pics of the cars in the stable, I hope you like them.
Thanks for looking and thanks in advance for any advice you can offer me in the future.
Cheers

Well the parts car is now pretty much stripped, I will cut out a few patch pieces for the build car but generally I am done with it.
The shell isn't real flash but I have seen worse. So, If any of you guys need some patch repair sections let me know in the next week or so otherwise it's off to the grave yard for this old loved one, more than happy to cut out and courier at buyers expense. Better than going to the metal recyclers.
Also if you need any standard parts let me know, I have just stock piled half a 510 under the house.
Couple of pics of the shell.

Cheers Fellas
Mick

Hi Guys
Well the right hand front corner has been pulled out straight, so that and the engine bay are about to get sprayed. Soon it will be time to start putting all the front end and drive line back in.
Gonna need some parts and I was wondering where to find good quality stuff. Here's a short list of stuff I know I need, no doubt this list will grow.

Engine mounts
All firewall grommets
All heater hoses
Tie rods
Ball joints

I have seen some of these parts on eBay but I question the quality of them
If you have any suggestions please let me know

Thanks Fellas
Mick

Ring datsport and talk to Baz

i got some brand new ball joints in the box, been sitting around for 6 or 7 years. $20 and some postage and you can have them. can post a photo if you like.

_________________
My 1600 Build here http://ozdat.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=59&t=31200

Gday Guys,
Thanks for the info so far, I'm still trying to find the grommet for the original wiring harness where it passes through the firewall.
Does anyone know if this grommet is available? If not, what did you guys do when you restored your 1600?

Thanks in advance
Mick

Well things are coming along slowly but surely, the bay has been sprayed and looks pretty good.
I have been cleaning and spraying everything before it goes back in to keep it looking smart.
I have just finished stripping down the original front strut inserts and now im wondering what type of oil to put back in, also if the seals are available. The seals that came out look OK but if I could get new seals I would. Any suggestions would be great.
I have bought all new tie rods, ball joints etc. and slowly assembling. Hopefully this process won't be too long but it probably will be. 2 kids and a wife seems to keep me away from the shed.
I will post some pics next time I log in from a computer not the iPhone.

Would love to hear your thoughts.
Cheers
Mick

Edit: Pics uploaded

Things are still moving along slowly. The auto has been rebuilt, the engine only sprayed up to look pretty and both been installed over the weekend.

I'm wondering about how to route heater hoses, when I bought it the heater hoses were not connected. I can't seem to find any information in the Service Manuals just wondering if someone might post some photos to help me out.

Cheers
Mick

P.S. A couple pics

G'day Mick, your ride seems to be coming along nicely. Keep at it, a frothy always taste better after each accomplishment. Anyway, the search icon will come in handy for most issues you come across. As far as the heater hoses go, your fitting near spark plug no#4 has a short hook shape hose that connects to it, then to outlet tap inside cab. Its the outlet facing the firewall on tap. It passes through the hole adjacent as its only 25cm long. Your fitting on engine needs to be turned back a little, say 10 o'clock (from your pic shown of engine) if your looking at it from right guard. The other hose, runs from the smaller outlet on your lower radiator hose connecter. The one that faces toward oil filter, run it around back of engine and into firewall hole on left hand side below wiper motor. (long hose, its around a meter at a guess). Pass it through hole below exhaust manifold. Connect to heater outlet on left side. Then another short hose goes from right side of heater to top of tap. And last but not least, band-aid all the cuts on hand. That is, if heater has already been fitted.

Bit of an update, as I mentioned a few posts back I prettied up the motor without pulling it down. I made the assumption that because it was running before i pulled it out, it would continue to run without problems when I put it back in. Bad assumption, head gasket blew on the drive to or from the exhaust shop. More water in the sump than in the radiator. Boo
On a positive note, I picked up an L20 from another Ozdat member, Thank you Michael. It went in without too much hassle and drives great. Still have to sort out the throttle linkage from the firewall to the carby, as the motor sits a bit higher the linkage isn't straight. Any pics of what others have done would be great.
Car is still without rego but I drove it from my workshop to home and it seems that the motorcycle fork oil in the front shocks seems to be about the right weight, well for a standard comfy ride anyway. More test driving soon hopefully.

Jobs on the to do list:
Rust repairs
Source a good bonnet and right front guard
I think I want to make the front valance a bolt on item, anyone got any suggestions or pics of how they did theirs?
Put in some simple and comfy front seats

Plenty more to do but that's enough for the time being.
No photos cause I always log in by phone and my photo file size is to big, any suggestions on how to reduce size so I can upload here?

Cheers and thanks for looking.
Mick