Byron's 1968 L13-3 on the Tree L510

[Byron510]

Byron’s 1968 L13 Three on the tree P510

So here’s a rare odd ball in the 510 community; and it’s my new project.
First off, I would like to thank VG wagon (Denis) for picking me to own this car. He’s been it’s care taker for the past ten years, and now has passed the torch on to me. I absolutely promise to do it justice, and spend the money and time it will take to preserve it right.
So the car is a 1968 model, 668 blue with blue interior 4door P510 (not PL510) sedan. The interesting bits are that it is L13 powered (same bore as the L16, just shorter stroke), has a 3 spd manual transmission that is column shift! – Yep, three on the tree. It has bench seats front and rear just to give it the rear 60’s feel. It has drum front brakes, and the usual unique 68 stuff like a perfect dash, opposing wiper blade pattern and the smallest tail lights of any 510. It shows just over 39 000 original miles on the clock and is in amazingly great shape. It’s obviously been kept out of the sun, as every plastic light on the car is so clear in colour – they look like they’ve been replaced, but it’s all original. The rubber seals on all the doors and windows are in amazingly good shape for it’s age – a testimate to our mild climate here in the Pacific North West being easy on our cars.
This 510 is another classic granny story. VGwagon works at a large well known local GM dealership, and 10 years ago this spring a little old lady (original owner) traded this car in on a brand new Pontiac Firefly 5 spd (she was 70’s years old, and you gotta hand it to the old gal, she still wanted a manual transmission car!) VGwagon preserved the car in a covered space, and only put a few miles on the car during his many years of ownership. Denis did, however, keep it going and did the repairs necessary to keep it moving knowing that one day the car would be restored. In the mean time, he collected hordes of parts.
Now the car is in my care, the restoration task falls on my shoulders, and I take up the challenge with great intensions. This car will be restored back to it’s as new condition, to the best of our ability today. The foundation is so solid and complete; it’ll be hard to go wrong with this project.
The one thing that the original owner did was drive by brail! Honestly, every panel on this car has minor to major damage. The LH front fender is a write off, so is the RH rear door. I’ll be looking for a door skin if anyone has a rear 4dr RHS skin in good shape. Both rear quarters have damage, and will need repair. There is only one spot of rust that I will need to tackle, and that is the lower section of the RH rear quarter panel. As for every other panel on the car – well they all need work, and this will be done in one go, but not right away. For this year, the plan is to replace the front fender for a new item that came with the car. I’ll look at getting it painted this week. Also new front and rear bumpers will be installed fro this year. The front drum brakes will need a going over. I have wheel cylinders (all 4!), and will be learning all about drum front brakes on a 510. I’ll be honest, it’ll be the first front drum brake job I’ve ever done. Thankfully I have lots of old Nissan literature on the work that will need to be performed.

Here are some pics, and I will keep this thread updated as I go through the restoration which will begin this winter if all the needed parts get collected, all going well. As for now, I’m just enjoying the time driving it as is – dents and all!

Byron

[Byron510]

Check out the unused tool kit, in great shape with tool list! Wheel chocks have never touched the ground. The wheel lug wrench is still in its original plastic wrapper!

[Byron510]

The plastic is still on the doors (except the driver’s door)
Bench front and rear and dash in perfect shape.
Note that there is no cigarette lighter, no radio, and not even stainless steel trim over the doors and the windshield wiper washers were not there - ever! This was as stripped as it got!
Check out the ash tray in the center of the rear panel on the front seat.

[Byron510]

Some under hood shots -check out the manual column shift linkage!

There'll be much more to come, this will be an ongoing project that is just beginning!

Byron

[tycot1]

FCKNG AWESOME!

[jason]

Oh boy, it's nice to see Ole Blue back on the road again Byron! Congratulations! So how does she go with the mighty 75hp?

[Byron510]

Certainly not going to set any records at the Know Mountain Hill Climb!

But it is fin to drive. I used up a tank of gas this weekend - it was quite enjoyable to drive the time piece around. The 3 on the Tree is pretty fun.
You all thought you all had a killer spacing between shifts! Man my first-second jump nearly brings the car to its knees on any kind of hill with more than two people in the car! Second-third seems ok, 3rd gear being 1:1. The diff ratio is 4.375:1 in an R160 case (stock). It does however cruise ok at 70 MPH on the freeway.

Byron

[icehouse]

AWESOME!!! Keep it stock except really low haha

Is reverse out and near 1st like the trucks? I know it's cool to all the 510 dudes but I'm not a fan of drums in the front. I guess I've owned to many trucks If they are well kept they aren't so scary, but still cool in there own way

[Byron510]

L13 Column shift 3 speed shift pattern:

Reverse - up/toward driver
1st - down/toward driver
2nd - up/away from driver
3rd - down/away from driver

No reverse lock out (ouch, did this once today!)
Rations are 3.26 (1st), 1.64 (2nd) and 1.0(3rd) with reverse being 3.36:1, and all this with a final drive of 4.375:1

The front drums need going over. Denis had thankfully sourced the wheel cylinders for the job. I now need to find the shoes, which I’m told may be roadster 1500 units (okayfine, can you confirm this?).

It is a novelty to have front drum brakes on a 510, and I may even show the car with one front wheel off just for everyone to see how crazy it may be – I should park beside the guy with the most massive front brakes just to have the extreme cases in point at the shows!

Byron

[icehouse]

Interesting shift pattern, it's kinda odd it's different than the trucks but if I remember right the trucks are a 4 speed....

It would be cool to run the drums on the front just for fun thats for sure!!

[rnorrish]

psst...

isn't this an L510?

any idea when the car was built? what's the serial number?
I've been rereading the ol' topics with production discussions.

numbers i've posted before:

1968:
PL510/1600 Sedan
L510-00011-L510-009999 Oct. '67-Sept. '68
PL510-00011-PL510-040010 Oct. '67-Sept. '68

WPL510/1600 Wagon
WPL51-800001-805000 Oct. '67-Sept. '68

PS: I looked at my seats belts, 5/'68. One of 5000 '68 goons made, according to above numbers.
This summer will be the year of the antiques!

[okayfine]

Richard, you beat me. It should be an L510. My car is 510-xxxxxx. Whitebird is a Deluxe model, so it got an AM radio, glove box light, bucket seats, and such.

You all thought you all had a killer spacing between shifts! Man my first-second jump nearly brings the car to its knees on any kind of hill with more than two people in the car! Second-third seems ok, 3rd gear being 1:1. The diff ratio is 4.375:1 in an R160 case (stock). It does however cruise ok at 70 MPH on the freeway.

It's not only the gear ratio, but simply the time it takes to shift from 1st to 2nd. 2-3 is better as it is just straight down. Happily did 120kph on the freeway, though.

The front drums need going over. Denis had thankfully sourced the wheel cylinders for the job. I now need to find the shoes, which I’m told may be roadster 1500 units (okayfine, can you confirm this?).

Yes, you can check out the pictures in my project thread to compare, but the 1500 Roadster stuff will work. The metal parts of the shoes didn't exactly match what I removed, however they are functionally identical. They weren't fun to R&R (the return springs are really stiff), but it wasn't the hardest repair I made to the car.

[brknrekord]

L510? Very cool. Three on the tree 510? Awesome.

[Byron510]

psst...

isn't this an L510?

any idea when the car was built? what's the serial number?
I've been rereading the ol' topics with production discussions.

numbers i've posted before:

1968:
PL510/1600 Sedan
L510-00011-L510-009999 Oct. '67-Sept. '68
PL510-00011-PL510-040010 Oct. '67-Sept. '68

WPL510/1600 Wagon
WPL51-800001-805000 Oct. '67-Sept. '68

PS: I looked at my seats belts, 5/'68. One of 5000 '68 goons made, according to above numbers.
This summer will be the year of the antiques!

Rich, you may be right. I forgot to post the engine plate photo. Wild thing is that the engine plate is in Espanola, so this cars original destination was obviously not here in Canada - but it got unloaded and sold here anyways! The receipts prove it's been here in Vancouver all along – unloaded at Annacis Island, which is the largest Asian auto terminal in Canada on the west coast.

My serial # on this car is 005XXX, so it may fit your class, but the designations may not be correct. You remember my green '68? It was 0060XX, and it was definitely a PL510, 1600 car with floor shift 4 spd originally. So that doesn't fit in the above line up. It's very possible that both models were made side by side, at the same time and were stamped and numbered accordingly.

My 1300 car (which I need to find a name for, and it won’t be bluebird even though it is blue!) is a standard, unlike yours okayfine. Mine was a stripper model; rubber floor mats, two bench seats, no radio, no cigarette lighter, no under hood light and no windshield washers. I think it was lucky to get the interior light, tool kit and the gauges!!

Byron

[rnorrish]

well, 'P' stands for 1600.

my info shows both the 1300 & 1600 started production in Oct. '67 at serial number 000011, with the L510 only running to 009999, while there was more PL made ( up to # 0400010 ) all for the '68 model.

I think it is safe to say this includes RHD cars, and the 'L' designations should be optional. But what can you expect from a North American publication... They call them all 1600 Sedans/Wagons, and there's no Coupe info.

I also think it is safe to assume the models and serial numbers were intermixed, but they wanted to show where the (L)510 production stopped (that year). Though for '69, they just continue on...
(this is copied just as it is printed in the manual.)

1969:
PL510/1600 Sedan
L510-010000-- Oct. '68-Sept. '69
PL510-040011-- Oct. '68-Sept. '69

WPL510/1600 Wagon
WPL510-805001-- Oct. '68

so I wonder, did 1300 and 1600 cars get there own series of numbers?
here's the rest:

1970:
PL510/1600 Sedan
L510-040000-- Oct. 1969--
PL510-095000-- July 1969--

WPL510/1600 Wagon
WPL510-842001-- Oct. 1969--
WPL510-11499-- July 1969--
(as shown in book)

1971:
PL510/1600 Sedan
PL510-200011-- Aug. '70--

WPL510/1600 Wagon
WPL510-883501-- Aug. 1970--

It shows the (L)510 stopped production after the '70 model.
And that they started production earlier for the '70 model of the 1600.