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1972 510 2dr --STRESS RELIEF--

Posted: 28 Aug 2010 22:23
by proflex
Summers almost over so I’m thinking I should have more time to post what I have been doing with my 72 2 door 510.

Project started mid April.

It started at work by stripping the parts off, cutting all the rust out, and then sand blasted some of these areas. With most of the dirty work done, I could then bring it home to start the fiddly sheet metal work in my spare time. For the last two months I have been making sheet metal parts, stripping and prepping around the repair areas, and welding things back together. The rest of paint etc... will be stripped off when the bodywork stage begins but for now I’m only doing the metalwork. My wife is hoping to get her parking spot back in the nice warm garage before the winter. :roll: :wink:
My plans for the car are to repair the chassis/body to a solid foundation again {with some modifications}, do the bodywork, and than a full repaint will follow. I’m then going to pick all the best parts I have from four 510s and use them along with many new parts to reassemble this car. Along the way some of the normal {old school} 510 modifications to motor, suspension, drive train etc... will be done.
I will post some of the work done already in the coming weeks, but for now I will leave you with some pictures before the work started.

I have always enjoyed fixing up older vehicles. I also enjoy riding my TZR around some of the windy back roads in my area to relieve the stresses of a hard day. My 1960 beetle just doesn’t cut it on these back roads so this 510 is being built to fill this gap. Welcome -- STRESS RELIEF--


----Chad----

Re: 1972 510 2dr --STRESS RELIEF--

Posted: 28 Aug 2010 22:30
by proflex
More pictures...

Re: 1972 510 2dr --STRESS RELIEF--

Posted: 29 Aug 2010 00:41
by tycot1
that car is awesome.

Re: 1972 510 2dr --STRESS RELIEF--

Posted: 29 Aug 2010 04:13
by m33pm33p
Nothing beats a few tight corners with some right foot action out them for stress relief! Good looking car, looking forward to updates.

Re: 1972 510 2dr --STRESS RELIEF--

Posted: 29 Aug 2010 10:27
by butters68
nice car to start with, love the white seats and door panels. keep the pics come'n chad its good to see a new build thread. 8)

Re: 1972 510 2dr --STRESS RELIEF--

Posted: 29 Aug 2010 19:12
by proflex
So here are my plans for this car.

Chassis------------
#1 thing is fix all the rust. If this car had little to no rust it would have been left stock but unfortunately it does. On the up side it will give me the opportunity to change things slightly to some areas. Some of these things are
-strengthen and brace inner strut/fender area
-clearance the rear front inner fender area for larger tires
-raise a small area of floor, under gas pedal for more exhaust/header room
-lower sill ½ inch to wrap around backside of ugly lower body seam
-battery box in trunk floor
-maybe? shave vertical body seam on rear valance, horizontal seam will stay as it’s under the bumper
-raise/clearance rear inner fender for tire clearance –I’m planning on running 205s or 215s on 7 inch rims with proper rear toe/camber adjusted after lowering car
*-flares? It all depends on what I find under the bondo on the driver’s side rear fender lip. Looks like it had a parking lot love tap that was repaired very poorly. Both front and rear lower wheel well lips had to go because of rust. This lip is very hard to reproduce and even harder to make it look right. I will be able to run the wider tires with no problems if I flare the car. If flares go on I’m going to either graft on some donor steel fender flares {found some I kind of like, but we will see} or use some mid-sized glass old school BRE flares.

Drive train------------
-L20B, U67 head {ported?}, 445 cam, 32/36 Weber or a single Weber 48DCOE side draft , the good stock L16 manifold or one of my good headers - wideband installed , 2.25 or 2.5 exhaust
-dog leg 5 speed [not a big fan of this shift pattern]
-R160 dif, maybe a R180 [have to check its condition and ratio first]

Suspension ------------
-lowered {of course/low but not too low} front coilovers , adjustable inserts, camber plates, raised inner LCA mount, 15/16th front bar, shortened 510 struts for now with future upgrades after the car is up and running
- rear suspension = adjustable caster/camber, exhaust hole enlarged, strengthened rear arms, no rear bar, soft or adjustable rear shocks?
*I’m not sure about what spring ratios I’m going to run yet. On the high side I would start by running something like a 290 front/1100 rear {low side 250/900} but the back roads in my area can be very rough at times. I know everything in this area is a compromise but I was thinking I could maybe leave the ride height a little higher and soften up the shocks { will I have enough initial sag ?/do not want to top out} or maybe I will try and find a rear spring in the 1000lb area with front springs to match. I have read that specialty has 900lb and 1100lb springs but I’m thinking the 900lb would be too soft with no rear bar. Custom valved rear coilovers would make things much easier but an extra $1000+ is not in this builds budget. Maybe Merlin could loan me his money tree for a little while.

Brakes------------
-freshly serviced stock brakes with upgraded pads and shoes, fresh plumbing with adjustable proportioning valve mounted near driver.
Interior----------
Honda seats, 5 point belts, stock dash, mats and door panels. Headliner, four point role bar as well as some bead rolled aluminum panels are still up in the air at this point.

Paint job---------
-Stock blue color with white sides. Matching blue BRE side strips widened up a little with DATSUN, also in blue, through strips over sonic line. -----Will post picture of 510 with similar paint scheme, but only in yellow and white.

After car is in paint I will reassemble it with above mentioned parts and get it to a driveable state. Future tinkering and upgrades will be done to the car but only after time and money will allow. I’d rather be able to drive the car as well as work on it then have it sitting in my garage on stands. So there you have it. I promise the rest of my posts will be more pictures then words and not like this longwinded post.
PS. Please excuse any spelling/grammar mistakes in my posts. Even though I have many talents and skills in different areas, and did very well in my academics life, I’m afraid typing/spelling is not one of them...LOL.

----- Chad -----

Re: 1972 510 2dr --STRESS RELIEF--

Posted: 29 Aug 2010 20:34
by spoolinitup33
Why is that big argon/oxygen/whatever tank strapped to the front of the car?

Re: 1972 510 2dr --STRESS RELIEF--

Posted: 29 Aug 2010 20:57
by defdes
spoolinitup33 wrote:Why is that big argon/oxygen/whatever tank strapped to the front of the car?
Sammy Safety Says: "Don't knock over your compressed gas tanks and turn them into makeshift missiles..."

Re: 1972 510 2dr --STRESS RELIEF--

Posted: 29 Aug 2010 21:23
by James
Its NOS - he's getting set up for a 1000 shot......

Re: 1972 510 2dr --STRESS RELIEF--

Posted: 29 Aug 2010 23:18
by proflex
Nobody likes to run out of argon on a project with this much sheet metal work. :) Picture is from the day I brought the car home. Had to move some things around in the garage {street bike etc...} so spare tank from work could be chained into the corner when not in use. Lying it down would have been a safer option but at least the safety cap is still on. You guys are right, these things are dangerous as hell, my boss saw one go through a cinderblock wall during his auto apprenticeship back in the day. James maybe I should use it for some NOS after the tank goes empty, but I think its weight would counteract any horsepower gains. :lol:

-----Chad ----

Re: 1972 510 2dr --STRESS RELIEF--

Posted: 30 Aug 2010 07:01
by James
Yes - but with that its more of a visual horsepower gain - you could strap it to the roof. What a hit at the car shows or drag strip. :D
Seriously though - those bottles can be way dangerous.......

Re: 1972 510 2dr --STRESS RELIEF--

Posted: 30 Aug 2010 10:53
by hang_510
you may like the doglegs 2-3 shift in the cyns... :mrgreen:
i do :!: :mrgreen:
proflex wrote: my boss saw one go through a cinderblock wall during his auto apprenticeship back in the day.
the one i saw, went threw 3 walls!!!

Re: 1972 510 2dr --STRESS RELIEF--

Posted: 30 Aug 2010 16:55
by butters68
i melted a candle with a blue flame from my bottom. :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :P

Re: 1972 510 2dr --STRESS RELIEF--

Posted: 30 Aug 2010 19:33
by proflex
Some pictures of some of the areas of rust before I started the work.

Re: 1972 510 2dr --STRESS RELIEF--

Posted: 30 Aug 2010 19:39
by James
butters68 wrote:i melted a candle with a blue flame from my ass. :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :P
Wow...