Stu's 1972 4 Door

[Stu]

I've never been a fan of the hood prop on the 510 for multiple reasons and decided to go with gas struts.

In Dime Quarterly, Issue 12, Vol 1, Page 9 they have the following part numbers from McMaster-Carr:

• two 9416k144 gas struts.
• four 9416k74 ball sockets
• four 9512k73 ball studs

When I went to McMaster-Carr, I bought the recommended gas struts but wanted stainless steel ends and balls. So I ordered:

• two 9416k144 gas struts (not good, too short of a stroke, read below)
• four 9424K23 sst ball sockets
• four 9512K98 sst ball studs

I mounted them per the DQ issue: lower mount just above the 'oval' and the other end where it lands on the hood hinge. Everything looked just like the pictures, but when I went to close the hood (no actual hood on), the stroke of the strut was not enough and the hood jammed and bad words were said. The other problem is that even with washers on both sides of the ball stud, the body flexes a lot.

Here is the strut out of stroke and nowhere near being down...



Did some stroke measurements and figured out I needed at least 2.5" stroke.



I decided to get the longer 9416K12 gas struts (80lbs) and mount at the front of the oval. This area is much stronger and does not flex as much. Since I had already drilled holes in the hood hinge, I was stuck with the end locations, and the ball sockets needed to be shortened. Luckily they are threaded most of the depth, so I just ground them shorter.





The 80lb struts do just fine.

[cwd240z]

I've been wanting to install hood struts as well. I haven't gotten around to order the struts listed in that DQ issue yet, but now I'm glad that I didn't. Thanks for posting that info!

[Stu]

I've been wanting to install hood struts as well. I haven't gotten around to order the struts listed in that DQ issue yet, but now I'm glad that I didn't. Thanks for posting that info!

Not sure if they did not work because I got the stainless steel sockets (just a bit longer), but they still have a very short stroke and mount on the weak point of the body. Hope yours work well

[Stu]

I know that the Tanks in tank conversion has been done before but here is my take.

One of the previous owners had hacked in a later vented fuel filler but it was janky and I did not like the overflow/full pipe set-up.

I grabbed the filler neck from an 87 Mazda B2200



To get the pipe the same diameter as the fuel tank (or pretty damn close) I grabbed a exhaust pipe coupler, ground off all the bits I did not want, and welded them together



EDIT: Figured out this exhaust tube does not really work. Solution is here: http://www.the510realm.com/viewtopic.ph ... 30#p293630

I am using GATES 23936 Fuel Filler Hose to connect the tank to the neck. it is 2-1/4 ID and is slightly flexible. I will use Gates Blue Stripe fuel line to connect the overflows.

I am using a Tanks PA-2 fuel pump system and VDO 224-223 tube style fuel level sender. I welded a VDO 226 451 fuel sender ring in too.

The Tanks PA-2 has been written about many times and it does require the baffle be modified. I also got my MIG welder in and tacked the 'corner' back together so it was more stable. Not sure it mattered, just made me feel better.



My tank had a bit of rust in it and probably could have just rinsed it with some bolts banging around but decided to use science. I have seen both good and bad results with the paint like liner systems but did not want to take the chance.



I decided to use electrolysis and some rebar to remove the rust (https://antique-engines.com/electrol.asp). Because this process is 'line of sight' and the tank has baffles, I needed to get the rebar into the side cavities without shorting on the tank. I used some PVC pipe chunks to insulate the rebar. There was a piece of rebar in the top and bottom portion of tank to cover 'all' of the inside. Science is cool.





With a 'washing powder' solution and my old ass battery charger (smart ones will turn off), I let the tank sit overnight (well ventilated) and in the morning the majority of the rust was gone (can't find a good picture of the insides)



Because the PA-2 gets in the way of the stock fuel level sender, I took the entire sending unit guts off the mounting plate and welded up the 'signal' post that goes through the mounting disk so I would not risk a leak around that plastic post. Installed a new seal and put the old 'sender' back in the tank.

All done after a respray:

[Pista_510]

Thanks for all of your practical and informative posts about the installation of that SR20DE in your car....I'm sure I'm not the only one who has really gotten a lot out of the tank cleaning, radiator hose selection and even the hood strut install...great stuff!

Really looking forward to all the progress on this project....super inspirational!!

[Stu]

Thanks for all of your practical and informative posts about the installation of that SR20DE in your car....I'm sure I'm not the only one who has really gotten a lot out of the tank cleaning, radiator hose selection and even the hood strut install...great stuff!

Really looking forward to all the progress on this project....super inspirational!!

Thanks. I’ll keep trying to be helpful.

[Stu]

My car is nowhere near being on the road, but I like to get stuff ready to put back in when I finally get around to needing it.

I considered a center/tunnel mounted parking brake handle, but the sound a Datsun under dash parking brake makes is classic and brings a smile to my face every time I hear it.

The main problem was the rubber ring that keeps the handle from slamming down, was split. To put a new O-ring in, it has to all come apart. Oh, and my parking brake cable was completely trashed/melted and the handle mechanism under the dash was all rusty... So, on to that O-ring replacement...

The stock parking cable is swaged/peened to the handle mechanism and the dimples had to be drilled out. The entire mechanism was bead blasted and painted satin black. I left the ratchet portion, pins, springs, and clips unpainted and just coated in WD40.

I also bought a made-in-Japan, SBK 36402-A8501 front cable on eBay.

Here are all the cleaned and painted parts:



In order to keep the new cable from coming out when there is no tension, I added three set screws. This seemed way easier than trying to make a factory peen. I will use loctite during final install.





All Done:

[MikeY]

Where did you source the long ebrake cable. I've been looking on eBay, with no luck. And I like the set screw idea. I've just repeened them but it's not as tight as I'd like.

[Stu]

Where did you source the long ebrake cable. I've been looking on eBay, with no luck. And I like the set screw idea. I've just repeened them but it's not as tight as I'd like.

I got mine on ebay: https://www.ebay.com/itm/SBK-36402-A850 ... 2749.l2649

I added this PN to the post above.

[Stu]

For my suspension, I went with Techno Toy Tuning front and rear coil overs.

Front suspension:

• Koni 8641-1220 Sport adjustable inserts (I think these are MR2 rear?)
• 225 lb Hypercoil springs, 8" long
• Ermish Racing offset camber plates
• Ermish Racing spacer sleeve to adapt Koni to camber plates (don't forget to mention this when ordering camber plates...)

Rear Suspension:

• KYB adjustable AGX shock
• 200 lb Hypercoil springs, 8" long

I bought a set of 280ZX strut tubes With all the brake stuff off Craigslist in the SFO area (nothing local could be found) and had my friend pick them up and ship to me. When I opened the box, I saw that the threads had been damaged a bit in shipping.



I first cut off the stock spring perches by cutting right above the weld using a skinny wheel of death. I did my best to not cut into the main tube.



T3 recommended that the strut tube be cut to 15.5" from the bottom (measured outside). This only required my 280ZX struts to be cut a little over 1/2". The normal way of shortening a strut is to cut off the top portion of the tube, shorten the tube, and weld the threaded portion back on. Since my threads were messed up, and I only needed to cut off 1/2", this seemed like a lot of work since I would have had to find another set of threaded parts from another set of struts.



I decided to buy a cheap M48x1.5 tap ($50) on eBay and extend the threads in the tubes. There is enough existing machined ID to allow this extension. Going beyond this area can not be tapped without more machining, so if I ever want to go shorter, I'll have to do the cut-shorten-weld method.

Yep, it's big...



First I filed off the bad threads so that the tap could start properly. Getting this thing cross threaded would suck bad. Lots of cutting oil, 1/4 turn forward, 1/8 turn back to make sure I did not build up a chip that would break something. Tape is to help me know when to stop.





Using my cold saw (love that thing), I cut off the 'extra'.



For spacers, I needed just over an inch, and having a giant stack of washers made my eye twitch. I used some thick wall galvanized pipe I had in my "use that someday" pile. Since there is a weld inside, I needed to file this down so it sat nicely on the shock.



With the spacer installed and nut hand tightened there is just a bit of a gap to insure that the whole assembly is tight and the insert won't bang around.





On to welding on the perches...

[Byron510]

You know, my strut jig has held more struts in a lathe than I can count. About 20 years ago I flipped it around and machined the larger mount to also do S12 struts....
As a machinist, I just can’t fathom cutting a strut tube and welding it back together...
Yes, I know....it’s been done thousands of times... flame me! But you know as well as I, that a continuous tube without a break or a joint has to be better than a welded one And these are your front struts - you imagine the stress on that thing as you lean into the hard corner with your sticky tires - I know it runs through my mind, and not just on the track.

These stock struts were shortened about 2 1/2" for some MR2 inserts I did a couple weeks back, the ends that I parted off are on the bench beside the struts.

IMG_4659 (Medium).JPG (93.92 KiB) Viewed 4840 times

If I can ever be of service....

Byron

[eastbaysolo_73]

Sick build Stu !!!

[Stu]

You know, my strut jig has held more struts in a lathe than I can count. About 20 years ago I flipped it around and machined the larger mount to also do S12 struts....

Byron,

I would have loved to be able to make the trip to have it done by a pro. I usually have access to the engineer's area of the Model Shop at work and damn, I miss being able to use the knee mill and brake press. I have so many little things I just need to throw in the collet lathe for just 5 minutes...

I'f I ever need to go shorter, I'll be in touch

[Stu]

Sick build Stu !!!

Thanks. I'm trying to catch up with all the cool kids...

[Byron510]

I'f I ever need to go shorter, I'll be in touch

Yes, access to machines is a wonderful thing!

No worries, be glad to help. I've shipped shortened struts all over North America - Florida to Alaska, and many points around and in between.

Keep us posted on your project.
Thank you so much for detailing your hood struts. The hood prop rod (and holes for the mounts on the firewall) were omitted in a previous incarnation of the Bronze - back in 72 when the car went to flared and all white. I retried my "Billet Oak" hood prop rod for a length of 3/8' stainless tubing a number of years ago - but getting rid of the rod I carry altogether has been a dream for a while.
I'll get on that parts list and make the mod to the Bronze
Thanks for your practical tips and contributions to the site - it's what makes this community such a great resource. I owe you - actually.

Byron