What did you do on your 510 today?

[ostaylor]

My brother was at a car show in Ladysmith a couple of weeks ago with his 1954 TR2 and was chatting with a Triumph (and apparently Datsun) guy. When it somehow came up that his brother (me) had a couple of Datsun 510s, the guy produces these two posters and offers them to us for free - what a nice guy! Thanks whoever you are!

One of them needs reframing and some TLC but otherwise, they will find a nice wall space in my garage.

BRE Poster 1.jpg (244.6 KiB) Viewed 711 times

Datsun BRE poster 2.jpg (241.05 KiB) Viewed 711 times

[Chadsinto510s]

This weekend I installed T3 TC rod replacements and a stock drop in idler arm on my wagon. I'm waiting on an Apex Engineered idler arm replacement but they are making an improvement on the design and aren't ready to ship yet.

The TC rod replacements are freaking awesome. They resolved a weird banging noise under certain suspension compression conditions that I had no idea was related to the stock TC rods and the urethane bushings I was using. Got my 15 years worth of daily driving use out of those bushings though.

The car behaves differently now and I'm going to have to re-learn how to drive her. Can't wait for the idler arm to show up so I can install it and get her aligned and really start learning how to drive her again!

No pics because I'm horrible at that... lol

[ostaylor]

... I'm waiting on an Apex Engineered idler arm replacement but they are making an improvement on the design and aren't ready to ship yet.

I'm interested in what Apex is trying to correct with the idler arm... I have the whole front suspension but have only done test fitment. Hoping the issue is specific to the Wagon, but I don't think there are differences in the wagon versus sedan front suspension from what I recall.

[Chadsinto510s]

... I'm waiting on an Apex Engineered idler arm replacement but they are making an improvement on the design and aren't ready to ship yet.

I'm interested in what Apex is trying to correct with the idler arm... I have the whole front suspension but have only done test fitment. Hoping the issue is specific to the Wagon, but I don't think there are differences in the wagon versus sedan front suspension from what I recall.

I think I remember he said something about some customers had experienced some kind of interference issue or something like that. As such they were making some kind of change to it. I'll post pics as soon as I get it. Whenever that's going to be. I ordered just over a month ago...

On the just over a month ago note, did your order take a long time to get? Mine is probably due to the changes. He said they were waiting on the laser jet cutter to ship the parts to them or some such. I'm still excited about the part. I like the idea of being able to rebuild it. They supplied me with the bearing part #'s they use in them. I just wish it wasn't taking more than a month. No biggie I guess.

[ostaylor]

...On the just over a month ago note, did your order take a long time to get? Mine is probably due to the changes. He said they were waiting on the laser jet cutter to ship the parts to them or some such. I'm still excited about the part. I like the idea of being able to rebuild it. They supplied me with the bearing part #'s they use in them. I just wish it wasn't taking more than a month. No biggie I guess.

I love what Apex Engineered is doing, but I have to say they are very disorganized. I ordered full front and rear suspensions for the 510 and they came with no packing list, no installation instructions and many missing parts. I couldn't let them know what was missing until I pre-assembled / test fitment the suspension and when I did, they were good about shipping the missing parts but slow and completely avoidable if they just had a packing list. There are also some minor fitment issues, which I have confirmed with others. My sense is that their 240 / Z series parts are higher volume and been around a lot longer and are pretty good. It is unclear to me how many of the 510 suspensions they have sold but I feel like a bit of a guinea pig on this one. I am optimistic that it will work out well, but also worried about connectivity with other, equally expensive brake and suspension parts that I have bought and hoping will all fit together.

[bertvorgon]

Just a comment, the wagon and sedan fronts are the same.

A "bagged" T/C bushing end will cause no end of weird handling characteristics, just a function
of the toe change that happens, same with a bad idler arm bushing. Depending on the hardness of some of those Delrin type bushings, they break down after awhile and get brittle.

[Chadsinto510s]

Just a comment, the wagon and sedan fronts are the same.

I figured as much. I swapped my recently (at the time anyway) rebuilt front EVERYTHING (except the steering box) from my sedan to my wagon as I had decided I had done enough weekend warrior stuff to the sedan and it was time to take her down and just DO IT. It all fit fine. I've had some people argue with me that the idler arms weren't the same but the factory Nissan catalogue I use for work lists one and only one regardless of body type. I chalk that one up to someone didn't understand an old TSB they read.

A "bagged" T/C bushing end will cause no end of weird handling characteristics, just a function
of the toe change that happens, same with a bad idler arm bushing. Depending on the hardness of some of those Delrin type bushings, they break down after awhile and get brittle.

Bagged? As in dead? That would make sense. My old idler had a delrin conversion but I can't remember whose kit it was. The delrin *seemed* fine after 15ish years of darn near daily use. The ball joint end was wasted though. Made cornering weird and feel really unsafe.

[bertvorgon]

ANYTHING..in the steering that is tired...will cause a car to wander, as the toe change "steers" the car.

If that ball joint was done, that will have been your major problem. My Delrin bushings have been in there for 40 years and are still fine.

here is a reminder link, in case you have not done or checked the box:

https://www.the510realm.com/viewtopic.p ... nt#p179694

Every little bit helps when we try to make our car(s) as precise as possible with our aged suspensions.

[chumstone]

I installed a newly rebuilt steering box and the car handles great. Also wired up the cigarette lighter and had help redoing the wiring, mainly moving the ECU and the relays that were cobbled underneath the passengers seat. Lots of crazy grounding goobers done away with. Ended up with a whole grocery bag of wiring mistakes. Now feeling more confident about the wagon.
Next step is replacing the brake master with a bigger one. Looking for help to change out to the one inch MC.

[ostaylor]

Was thankful for noticing this before I missed it! This was taken a couple of days ago when I was preparing the car for a driving video for my Bring a Trailer listing. That ended this morning and didn't meet reserve unfortunately... the high bidder says he will take it for my reserve though and he's going to come over from Vancouver in the next week to confirm everything. Fingers crossed that it all works out.

https://bringatrailer.com/listing/1972-datsun-510-75

[bertvorgon]

I thought I would post this up today as the site is very quiet these days; the heyday of activity has long gone.

I had promised myself that when I retired I would get all my writing into one binder, my 49 years of my work history in Precious metals refining gold into a binder..…and…put my entire race related things into a binder. As I went through the Bert Vorgon Archives I was gob smacked at what got saved over 40+ years of racing and events. Pages and pages of dash plaques got put into the box.

I post this up not as what I have done on the 510 today…but…as to what my 510 has done. I have written about what I have called the “Golden Age of Solo” in the 70’s & 80’s.

We had so many events scattered across the lower part of BC, Vancouver Island, and Washington State, you could almost do an event every weekend from March till November.

The Boundary Bay Raceways time slips were from 1973, when I took my almost new 1972 Datsun 510 Wagon, with the turbo kit installed, to try drag racing. Only people my age, for the most part now, will remember how big that site was, attracting some big name drag racers. The raceway ran from 1973 till 1975, having massive crowds. I only tried it one time, basically overwhelmed by the level of real drag cars.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8alIH2LxnWY

This video has two big time drag race guys going up against each other.

The Drag strip suffered what ultimately killed Solo on the “big” course….NOISE….from the locals and some BS from the Government. The site was re-developed for small planes, getting them away from Vancouver Airport.

We too marched into history as that happened, some years later.

Over time I had put every dash plaque, etc into a box that had gotten buried in my basement. I came upon it when looking for some of the Datsun bits and pieces I have been selling. The timing could not have been better as we have headed into winter.

I hope you enjoy a snap shot of History.

My ego boost, if you take it that way, is my 1986 race licence, my best season in Solo, against some very strong competition. I can only thank Andy at Specialty Engineering for helping build a great car.

[icehouse]

Cool stuff keith! I want those stickers for my cupboards!

[ostaylor]

Quite a collection Keith. Thanks for sharing.

I agree that the site is unusually quiet. I still wonder if shutting access to viewing the forums without approved registration is hurting the site. I totally understand that we need to restrict posting to those that are legitimate, but view access drives traffic, interest, members and contributions.

[datsuntech]

Is the site locked down like that? It seems counterintuitive to have it that way, if so. The internet is supposed to be for the free exchange of information. Have we completely abandoned that?
I agree that we should limit who can edit this info, but it should be able to be viewed by everyone. Just my opinion..
On topic; Bert that is quite the collection.

[Rheis]

In order to liven up the site, absolutely nothing , the car has been moving around with me

IMG_2314.jpg (287.2 KiB) Viewed 451 times

I flat towed it when I moved out of my parents and I will flat tow it again soon, as we plan to move.

As a side note it was nice to read your post Kieth, I always enjoy reading the stories and history.

I found it odd having to log into the realm and having it locked. I agree, I think this forum should be open to view but keep it locked for the people showing up posting silly questions that can be found using the search bar. This keeps the forum organized and clean, unlike the many other forums I’ve browsed on, what a mess. Times are changing and I think Facebook is connecting more people with similar interests. Locking the site fully doesn’t encourage the use of the realm which is a very useful wealth of information for a 510 enthusiast.