G'day, I'm Dave, I'm 17 & from Ballarat (Australia). Here are the progress pics as I restore my 1971 Datsun 1600 (510) to my own liking. I purchased the car in January 2004 for 1k. The body is quite good with no structural rust or rust in the floorpan, just the usual spots for a 1600. The car came with a stock L20b (which was rebuilt in my Yr12 mechanics class, which was themain reason for buying the car), SSS Stanza 5 speed, open 4.11 R180 diff, 240k struts and 240k front seats. All the interior was in perfect condition except for the carpet & dash top.
Since buying it I have stripped the car to a rolling shell for body repairs and paint (hasnt been done yet), and lowered it with 1600 king springs (will put new shocks and bushes in (nolathane) once bodywork has been done) and some fibreglass front guards, as well as a damn good clean/degrease of the entire body/underneath/engine bay, and have fitted the 240k struts & a 180b booster (came with the stockers in it still)
The L20b has copped a full rebuild (did everything myself, except resurfacing of head and boring the block), including new 1mm o/s hypertec pistons which remain stock dished items for forced induction plans later on. It also has twin 40 webers, 72 degree cam, 4-1 extractors, electronic ignition.It remains on an engine stand until bodywork is completed, which is what i'm saving up for now. So far it has been a great learning experience, & i cant wait to fire it up for the 1st time!
I'll update here & with pictures as things progress.
cheers,
Dave'

anyway here's some pics...



















all strapped on...off to the panel beaters finally (this was monday just gone)


cruisin......



got the car back from panel beater last wednesday...not very happy with it either.
i asked to get all the rust cut out and metal welded in, straighten all the panels etc plus a few other odds & ends. was quoted 900 for the lot which i thought was an awesome price.
anyway picked car up (he wasnt there, had gone away for a week or so), and not very happy with it, only two spots has he welded (besides welding in the rear 1/4's which i gave him), and everything else is bogged, and he's managed to miss a few rusted sections and hasnt done quite a few of the other things i asked for.
he came and looked at it today and didnt say a whole lot...i'll be calling him back tonight with the complete list of what i want done and see what he says then. at the moment it still wouldnt pass a roadworthy even.
here's some pics of the body and stuff some other stuff
first one is of my new rocker cover. only cost 40 bux (theyre worth around 100) and it had been painted gloss black all over, so i polished up the letters a bit with a dremel.

just a side shot of the body...

nother side shot with the fibreglass guards on which i think still need more work on them, not a very snug fit yet, and no mounting points for them where the sills had rusted out in the front corners. also he didnt repair any of the mounting tabs. and didnt fill and reloacte the blinker hole...

rear quarter section shows alot of metal left completely bare!

left hand side...

inisde the rear quarters...which i gave him new outer skin sections for...wouldnt it just be plain obvious to make inners up? like isnt it **** obvious thats just going to fill with mud and sh*t and rus out again? i think so!


front left corner of passenger sill where fron guard is supposed to bolt into the bottom of. also on the other side of the seam there you can see a hole in front the corner of the floorpan. other side is pretty similar.

another missed rust hole...


anyway i spoke to him about it again on the phone...he said that he'd fix it if the place i got ahold of him through got the job to paint it, and he'd do it at their workshop. obviously i said i dont think so, as i want to see whats under it before it all gets covered in paint..so he's coming around something this week so we can go through the list of sh*t he's missed. wish me luck!
he's since come around again and gone over it with us so he knows of everything we're not happy with, so i expect it all to be done when it comes back next.
almost finished the R31 rear disc setup too, just need to bolt it all back together.

_________________
Dave W

The 1600

Recommended traders: Nissanman, pro240c, 2door510, Datsport, mkyle, Green510, Um_510, jdmdatsun510, Ludachris

Dave,

Panel beating is a trial to be sure. Very hard to find someone who can do the job, then its even harder to get them to do it. Good luck with it all.

$900 is too cheap to be anything but a hack.

Dave

_________________
USA Daily: 2014 Nissan GT-R, very minor modifications for the track
USA Project: 1978 280Z, minor suspension upgrades, VK56DE conversion in progress. SOLD
AUS Race Car: 1973 240Z, L28ET, Autronic, GT35R. SOLD
AUS Project: 1972 1600, 3200km old S15 SR20DET, ground up rebuild. SOLD

Yeah sure is dave! i know 900 was cheap, but for what he said he was going to do for 900 compared to what he did is 2 different things! i wasnt after a show job or anything too fancy, but expected better than this still, from what he told me he was going to do.

dave

_________________
Dave W

The 1600

Recommended traders: Nissanman, pro240c, 2door510, Datsport, mkyle, Green510, Um_510, jdmdatsun510, Ludachris

few more pics, just cleaning it and preparing to apply some body deadener. also have the rear x-member and diff back in. still waiting on some parts before i pop the arms in, and need to get the threads re-cut on the stub axles. also, R31 caliper brackets are on, so is the nice shiny rocker cover
also the almost bare engine bay, which still requires the battery tray to be removed, and the rear of the tranny tunnel is trying to show where it is cracked, along the top. is this common?
cheers,
dave

_________________
Dave W

The 1600

Recommended traders: Nissanman, pro240c, 2door510, Datsport, mkyle, Green510, Um_510, jdmdatsun510, Ludachris

here's some more pics, almost finished the R31 rear disc conversion, just need to find a wrecker with an R31/Pintara sedan that still has the rear brakes so i can get the bolts to mount the calipers and a few other small things.







tryres/rims on the back are freebies i scored off another forum, they wont clear the struts on the front though. i still need some 195/60/R14's for the 280ZX rims as the 225/60's on em now are waayyy too wide.


cheers,
dave

_________________
Dave W

The 1600

Recommended traders: Nissanman, pro240c, 2door510, Datsport, mkyle, Green510, Um_510, jdmdatsun510, Ludachris

update...
got off my ass, i figured i had better finishing installing the hard part of the cage before it gets painted as it'll make life ALOT easier. anyway here's some pics of the bars that pass through the firewall and mount to the front strut towers. next up is a strut brace, which should finish it off strength wise.
also this isn't the full cage, havent had the whole thing in yet all tightened up, but with the main hoop, front bars and windscreen bar its a hell of alot stiffer already.

_________________
Dave W

The 1600

Recommended traders: Nissanman, pro240c, 2door510, Datsport, mkyle, Green510, Um_510, jdmdatsun510, Ludachris

slooowwwwllllyyy getting there, being stripped back to bare metal and re-done, with metal actually welded in this time
only costing me an extra 350 odd bux or so, which i reluctantly have to pay, otherwise its off to another panel beater for him to start from scratch.
paying 2500 for paint too, which is going to be bare metal, with engine bay and inside boot stoneguarded, engine bay painted same colour as the car too, aswell as painting inside all the door jams etc.
should turn out ok, i hope!

_________________
Dave W

The 1600

Recommended traders: Nissanman, pro240c, 2door510, Datsport, mkyle, Green510, Um_510, jdmdatsun510, Ludachris

nice work man.,

coming along very nice be interesting to see how that paint job turns out like:)

good work mate.

Looking good Dave,
Any idea when you will be cruisin it it?
Cheers,

_________________
Dan.
Official organisor of Thursday nite pizza.

Nice to see you getting what you wanted done in regards to the body work.
Keep it coming mate. Good job so far

_________________
1975 P610/180B SSS ex PRC3 Rally car (parts car)
1974 P610/180B SSS (parts car)
1972 P510/1600 Currently sitting untouched
1977 P610/180B Wagon Daily Driver

slowly gettin closer, all the hanging panels are done, except for the black highlighted sections which need to be re-done a 2rd time. now just need to finish the shell. engine bay is done, just needs welds cleaned up. boot is half done (ran out of MIG gas so couldnt finish the shell) so now basically just finish the boot, repair the tranny tunnel and redo rear 1/4's and she'll be ready for a coat of paint, unless the roof brings up some nasty surprises when it gets stripped back. aiming to get it all done before xmas, so then i can begin to put it back together. fun.








dave

_________________
Dave W

The 1600

Recommended traders: Nissanman, pro240c, 2door510, Datsport, mkyle, Green510, Um_510, jdmdatsun510, Ludachris

got some new rims the other day when i was up in Bendigo, they 15x6 CSA's, got em cause they were cheap and had roadworthy tyres, as i still required tyres for my 1600. plus being 15's they'll allow for bigger brake upgrades later on . I'll get more pics of em on the car soon hopefully, and have some pics of the car painted, early in the new year i hope. was sposed to be painted before xmas

tyres on the new rims are only bout 60-70% tread but will get me outta trouble for a while. they're 205's on the back and 195's for the front.





dave

_________________
Dave W

The 1600

Recommended traders: Nissanman, pro240c, 2door510, Datsport, mkyle, Green510, Um_510, jdmdatsun510, Ludachris

dave...

bad luck about your car not getting painted.
I know all about waiting for paint. I'm still waiting.
Nice rims they should look sweet on your car.

PS. what was up with posting the above on another thread ??
you have to much to drink ? or very tired ?

keep the pics coming mate.
can't wait to see it in some primer.


Dave M

_________________
1975 P610/180B SSS ex PRC3 Rally car (parts car)
1974 P610/180B SSS (parts car)
1972 P510/1600 Currently sitting untouched
1977 P610/180B Wagon Daily Driver

thanks dave, yeah i'm inspired by your 1600, hopefully oneday mine will be to that standard. and mine is actually going to be a similar colour, slate grey off the new maxima and murano's.
its actually the panel beaters fault its late, if the painters had their way it would have been gone long ago as they need the space. i hope the rims look alright, guess we'll soon see.

and yeah, very tired, because i had been very drunk. nothing like stumbling your way into an empty function room! FREE BEER!

oh and i will keep the pics coming, i cant wait to see it in primer either!

cheers,
Dave W

_________________
Dave W

The 1600

Recommended traders: Nissanman, pro240c, 2door510, Datsport, mkyle, Green510, Um_510, jdmdatsun510, Ludachris

So many Daves.........

Yours will look excellent in that colour. Good choice

Go nuts with the fish oil and wax and it'll stay rust free for ages.
I'm gonna buy shares in fish oil..........I plan on using that much.


Dave M

_________________
1975 P610/180B SSS ex PRC3 Rally car (parts car)
1974 P610/180B SSS (parts car)
1972 P510/1600 Currently sitting untouched
1977 P610/180B Wagon Daily Driver