The 510 Realm

Hi, my name is Jim, I'm located down in Auckland, New Zealand.

Recently got a South African assembled 510 body sedan, previous South African owner did a real number of in with some truly horrific modifications. Currently still assessing the damage and working to restore everything to how it should be. Looking to ask for advice and knowledge as well as bits, especially in regards to the South African ones as they seem to have a number of differences with the rest of the production.

I'm new to 510s, but I have had some experience with classic cars in the past, including a MGB and a Fiat 126 (which I still have), although that's been quite limited. Hoping to gain knowledge from this forum, as well as contribute when I have something worthwhile to say!

Thanks,

Jim

Welcome to the 510Realm Jim.

We have a few active South African members here who could likely chime in on your specific issues, but for the most part it's really just trim changes and engine sizes that are different from what I've come to understand over the years. For the most part, the structure of the cars appears to be the same.

Let's see what you have, there is a huge amount of knowledge here on this site.

Byron

Howdy Jim,

Welcome, I am looking forward to seeing pics now that you have our interest up! Which motor does the car have?

Thanks for the welcome guys!

Drivetrain-wise, it's still pretty standard, with a L16 attached to a 4-speed, which I believe is all original. I'm quite a big fan of keeping things period modified, so I'm planning on refitting all the bad non-original bits to standard (unfortunately there's too much of it!) and doing some tasteful mods. Got a pair of Hitachi SUs which I picked up locally for cheap waiting for that, along with a pair of Mikunis.

I had a guy who does a lot of Datsuns around here have a look at my car, and he mentioned that there's a couple of bits which he's not seen before, including the brakes front and rear. I've included a picture of them here so you guys can judge (forgot to take a pic with the drums off, but I'll do that sometime). We generally see JDM and NZ and Australian market cars here.

I'll get some good photos of the specifics up next time I'm working on it, but in the meantime here's a pretty general image. I haven't really done much to it other than fix things so far and put new wheels and tires on there. There's a lot to do and a lot of questions to ask, so I hope you'll all be patient with me. The good thing is it at least seems to be fairly clean rust-wise!