Am I in over my head? '70 2 door from scratch

[icehouse]

They sent me a 1:1 drawing of the part to check fitment and it looks like this will solve the problem...
Apex 280zx Part.jpg

Wait I just realized you are removing some Ackerman to fix the hitting issue?

[ostaylor]

Wait I just realized you are removing some Ackerman to fix the hitting issue?

Apex is replacing the parts that were intended for the 510 struts with the proper ones for the 280zx arms. This will fix the issue.

[ostaylor]

On the advice of my upholsterer (and brother :^), I pulled out the headliner and glued in some felt. He said he prefers this as a finishing material underneath the headliner. It feels better, helps with insulation and sound deadening (although I think I have that covered with the Lizard Skin Sound Deadening and Heat coatings applied).

Roof bare with Lizardskin.jpg (210.16 KiB) Viewed 747 times

Headliner felt started.jpg (223.71 KiB) Viewed 747 times

Headliner Felt Installed.jpg (160.36 KiB) Viewed 747 times

Now if I can just get him over to finish the installation

[gooned]

Nice to have that advice/help in the family!

[ostaylor]

Headliner is done and I am now ready for the front and rear glass to be installed.

Here it is roughed in.

Headliner roughed in.jpg (318.75 KiB) Viewed 708 times

And finished with the dome light and seatbelt anchors installed.

Headliner forward finished with dome light seatbelt anchors.jpg (295.4 KiB) Viewed 708 times

A view from the back - I'm happy with the aftermarket aluminum vents. I think they look great.

Headliner Rear finished.jpg (233.73 KiB) Viewed 708 times

And the final step was installing vinyl along the bottom of the rear window and parcel shelf...

Rear window vinyl installed.jpg (215 KiB) Viewed 708 times

It is surprising how much work it is to do this correctly. I did not keep exact track, but between my brother (who did most of it) and my contributions, we were at least 10 hours.

I also cleaned up the rear side panel rails and got them installed. This picture shows one wire brushed and one in the condition they were both in before I started.

510 Rear Panel rails before restoration.jpg (348.54 KiB) Viewed 708 times

And here is how they look after primer, paint and installed. Like new!

510 Rear Panel rails installed.jpg (249.33 KiB) Viewed 708 times

[ostaylor]

Miscellaneous progress and updates...

My hopes of having a one key car have been eliminated. I still hope to find a matching trunk and gas cap lockset which would take me from 4 keys to three, but I am committed now to the Solex door locks and think it is unlikely I will find trunk and gas cap that match the ignition. That key fob was found by my father in law... he had it tucked away for many years so kind of cool that it is period correct and has found a home with my build.

4 key car.jpg (201.62 KiB) Viewed 609 times

My Apex Engineered front suspension and T3 strut and brake setup is completely installed now. Apex sent me updated parts for the 280zx struts and that solved my fitment issues. There will be lots of adjusting to do to get everything aligned, but so far, I'm happy with the setup.

Apex front suspension in.jpg (274.2 KiB) Viewed 609 times

T3 Brakes installed.jpg (233.35 KiB) Viewed 609 times

I splurged (again) and picked up the Datsport brake booster and installed it with my new 7/8 brake master cylinder and the clutch master cylinder. My objective is to find a balance between the original Datsun 510 roots and modernizing the car with certain comforts which will make it more enjoyable for road trips. My 72 510 was an amazing track car, but road trips were not enjoyable and convincing my better half to go more than a few blocks in it wasn't worth the effort. Brake booster, electric power steering, air conditioning (more to come on that) and other more modern conveniences can be incorporated without destroying the original esthetic in my opinion.

Here is the installed booster along with the brake and clutch master cylinder:

DATSport Brake Booster fitted.jpg (289.73 KiB) Viewed 609 times

And one more with the brake distribution / safety valve installed (thanks MikeY :^) - ready to start installing brake lines.

Brakes ready for lines.jpg (244.88 KiB) Viewed 609 times

Speaking of modern conveniences... bought and installed my Retro Sound Bluetooth stereo. This thing is very cool and modular. Great, old school look with all the modern conveniences including built in Bluetooth for music streaming and connecting to your cell phone for calls. With my glass out and the new headliner, I was able to easily run the microphone to an ideal location.

Retro Radio in dash.jpg (377.02 KiB) Viewed 609 times

Retro Sound microphone.jpg (319.02 KiB) Viewed 609 times

There are 4 VIN stamps / plates on the Datsun 510 (that I know of) - firewall stamping, engine bay VIN plate, door jam production date VIN, and dash VIN. As I was continuing the assembly of my dash, I decided to reinstall the VIN plate (the dash had been cleaned up, powder coated and new dash pad by the previous owner). After I had everything just how I wanted it, I came to the realization that the VIN plate for the dash has a a different number than all the other, matching VINs. Will need to figure out how I deal with this... I have legally imported the vehicle from the US to Canada, but I have not registered it yet and I am pretty sure ICBC (who looks after all the registrations in BC) will want these to all match.

Engine Bay VIN plate.jpg (223.56 KiB) Viewed 609 times

Door jam vin production date.jpg (228.46 KiB) Viewed 609 times

I went by Carmena Performance yesterday to see the progress on my engine. After 3 rounds of main bearing issues and a couple of other hiccups, everything is now moving quite quickly. I need some additional parts to properly fit my Garrett turbo and he is going to order those this week. I expect to have the engine back in my garage in a few weeks and can start the process of fitting everything related to the powertrain.

SR20 Engine progress.jpg (335.08 KiB) Viewed 609 times

[Stu]

So beautiful. Everything looks awesome. The dash looks great with the SSS layout.

What paint did you use on the panel top rails? I'm tying to decide if I want to go silver or a matte black.

Are you putting in a heat shield between the turbo/manifold and the brake booster? I used send-cut-send for mine and can send you dims and such if you need.

[ostaylor]

Thanks Stu,

The paint on the panel top rails is Krylon Color Maxx Metallic Silver. The cap shows as chrome, but as you can see it is definitely more of a silver. I am really happy with it.

I haven't started thinking about the heat shield specifics, but I know that area needs some protection. I'd appreciate anything you can share.

[Stu]

Thanks for the paint info.

I can ‘share a cart’ from Send Cut Send and you can order from there. It would be a shield and bracket to the booster. I can also send a .step file that you could modify as needed.
https://www.the510realm.com/viewtopic.p ... 96#p295896

Mine is a bit further away from the booster than yours might need to because of how I ran my brake lines. If you wanted it closer, you would want to redo the shield.

[ostaylor]

Very helpful, thanks. Once I get my engine back and see how it sits in there, I'll let you know if I can use the same shield or will need to modify.

[ostaylor]

Now that the headliner is in, I have been waiting on my glass guy to come by and install the front and rear glass. Unfortunately he was sick last week so hoping he comes this week. In the meantime, I pulled out the stainless and cleaned it all up and pulled out the glass which was stored away safely. Interestingly, I had not even unwrapped the rear window that I had got from the previous owner. A nice little surprise under the wrapping...

Troy Ermish Rear window sticker.jpg (216.83 KiB) Viewed 473 times

Unfortunately, it is in pretty rough shape. I also don't really have any of Troy's parts on this build, so it had to go.

In keeping with my theme of updating with some modern conveniences, I researched rear window defrosters and found Frost Fighter - www.frostfighter.com and decided to give this a try. If I was going to consider doing rear window defrost, I wanted to get the wires into the headliner before the glass was in. I think I could have buried the wires afterwards, but I do know that getting the defrost lines on the glass was way easier than it would have been to do this correctly and nicely aligned if the glass was installed.

Here is the layout in dry erase marker to help with alignment.

Rear window defrost install.jpg (350.91 KiB) Viewed 473 times

Here it is almost completely installed from the inside of the glass.

Rear window defrost inside.jpg (355.72 KiB) Viewed 473 times

And the finished look from the outside of the glass.

Rear window defrost outside.jpg (429.76 KiB) Viewed 473 times

I know this was an option on some later 510s (maybe Canada only?) and I kind of like the bit of retro look. It will be great for fall or spring road trips as well. I am pretty confident that the button that comes with the kit is going to fit really nicely with my new heater / AC controls. Stay tuned for that.

[gooned]

Frost fighter…neato!

Enjoying the updates, you’re moving right along.

[bertvorgon]

My 73' has the factory rear window defroster, which is sure nice on some of our shoulder season drives.
I do have a broken wire which I need to look at, at some point.

[ostaylor]

My 73' has the factory rear window defroster, which is sure nice on some of our shoulder season drives.
I do have a broken wire which I need to look at, at some point.

I'm sure there are other options, but I do know that Frost Fighter has a repair kit. I was quite happy with the quality of what they sent and seemed a good price for the package.

[RONSLYCHUK]

My 72 also has the rear defrost wires.