1st project post :)

[five&dime]

So the orange 72 I bought from the classifieds will be here tomorrow. It has a 240z hump moulded into the hood. Luckily the parts car I got had a pretty decent hood. I sprayed it with aircraft stripper and then spent about 4-5 hours with a D/A sander using 80-180 grit to remove all surface rust from under the original paint.

I then sprayed it with PPG etching wash primer followed by PPG black epoxy primer. I did one medium coat of the primer and then wetsanded with 400 followed by two more coats. It has a nice satin finish to it. I chose the black to match the stripes and front spoiler until I decide what color to do the car. When I re-spray the whole car, I will scuff this down and shoot with a lighter epoxy primer. Who knows, the orange may even grow on me

Here are a few pix

Brandon

[duke]

Thats a really clean hood...great for the price!

I smell a really clean 510 build coming .

[defdes]

Looks really good, just an FYI...I have read that PPG primers do not hold up well to UV. People have trouble w/ fading and rusting. I just hate to see all of that nice prep for naught if you dont plan on painting soon.

[five&dime]

That's why I am using the epoxy primer. It's waterproof and much more resitant to UV I don't plan on driving this car in the rain regardless as far as rust is concerned.

[S15DET]

Looks like a great job. I agree with Duke, it seems like another well-executed build is on the horizon.

[pacific coast datsun]

Gotta love the paint removal process That hood is very straight too. Id like to see the hood w/ the hump in it just for the hell of it.

[five&dime]

[pacific coast datsun]

Hey that looks well done!

[qwik510]

Brandon,

Nice work on the hood. It looks great. Let us know when the car arrives.

[five&dime]

Thanks David!!!! Should be here in the next two hours. I am sooo excited I am going to burst

[goichi1]

Did ya get it yet??

[five&dime]

I got it. The car itself is great!!!! Mechanically it's a little lacking. It runs a lot rougher than I was led to believe. It took 45 minutes to start it. Belt squeals until about 2000 rpm. Pops and stutters when giving any significant gas. Steering is very squirley. Thinking maybe it needs tie rod ends. I was fighting to get it to stay straight. Electrical has some issues. Seems as if the rear brakes are froze up a bit too. have to give some serious gas for it to move. There are quite a few issues that the previous owner failed to mention in the description but it's a damn nice car.

The car itself is very straight. Overall I am very satisfied, but there is no way this car was driven any more than 10 miles at a time. Luckily that was the least of my concerns with my search for a dime. It will take a few weeks before I can drive this car over 5 miles from my house.

I will ditch the Mikuni's which are way too big for the engine. Trying to find a manifold for the twin SU's. My pops has a few extra sets of SU's. I will also rip out all the hacked up wiring and start over.

I can't wait to get started this weekend Hopefully i will have some pix up this weekend.

I will definitely not be bringing this car to the meet next weekend.


I love the seats, the roll bar, the BRE spoiler, the wheels and the suspension. The car is solid. Paint isn't so great but I can tell the metal is in great shape. This will turn out to be one hell of a dime one day in the next few years

[defdes]

There is no way that the mikunis are too much carb for that motor, I run Dual 44's on a mildly cammed L16, you are likely just lacking in the jetting/syncing department. I would never ditch Mikunis for SU's, I have had them both, and tho SU's are better for milage...that's not why we build these cars. It really depends upon what your intentions are for the car, but if you want zoom, I wouldn't change them out.
Stinks that the PO wasn't a bit more forthright, but all of what you are talking about is easily fixable. Glad you have a good core to start with.

[qwik510]

Brandon,

Congrats and welcome to the wonderful world of 510s. Glad to hear the car got there safely. Sorry that it was not as described. I recently bought a car from a list member here and had similar issues. Luckily, the issues seem minimal and the body is what you expected. I know that the Mikunis can be finiky but if properly set up there is no sweeter sound then a L series with Mikunis. see if you can get them sorted out before ditching them. The steering wheel is the culprit with the turn signals. May be the wrong hub with the aftermarket wheel. I had that problem with a grant wheel once.

I have a nice unhacked wiring harness from my 72 2 door parts car. It may help with the wiring issues.


I guess we will have to hook up later in the summer to see your car. I hope you will still come to SP next week.

[five&dime]

I may take you up on the harness. Although I think the harness itself may be fine. All kinds of wires under the hood in the driver side front corner. I am not sure how the iginition is hooked up but it looks like that is pretty haywire. That may have something to do with it, but my pops thought carbs too. I am not good with wiring so I will get my electrical genius friend to come over and help me make sense of all this. I do know that the car doesnt seem to fire until you turn the key back to the switched position. When you crank it for a while nothing.... Then when your done and cut it off, it tries to fire. Odd. I am used to fuel injection so carbs are new to me as well. I am sure I will pick it all up in no time. My skills lie in paint and custom panel construction for interiors. I used to build furniture. I am also pretty anal about things being done clean and done right soooo........

Another good thing is that the black stripes are just stickers.

Here are some pix of my new dime in her new home