72 510 Wagon, First Car, New Experience

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okayfine
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Re: 72 510 Wagon, First Car, New Experience

Post by okayfine »

Entrymax wrote:From 0 to 59 my temp gauge registered about between T and E, which was pretty awesome but right as I would hit 60 everytime my gauge jumped straight between M and P. Freaked me out a bit,
T E M P is fine and all, but if you don't know what the gauge readings mean in real money, it's not much help.

DQ Volume 3 Issue 4 - Temperature Gauge Calibration - Do you suspect that your 510 is running too hot or too cold? Before you replace your radiator, you should make sure that the gauge is at least accurate. By testing the sender and the gauge independently, you may find that your cooling system is healthier than you suspect.
Entrymax wrote:My rad support is bent (I think from a slight fender bender on the passenger side)
Would it be fine just to hammer it back into place?
Hard to see where it's bend in that picture, but a hammer can be a useful tool in moderation. Controlable force (like a hydraulic jack/ram) might also be helpful, again depending on what exactly needs to be done.
Entrymax wrote:Image
Oh and what is this?
That is the 3rd-gear dual-points switch. It's an emissions piece. In 3rd gear at certain loads/revs the ignition would switch to the second set of points in your distributor to run the engine a bit cleaner. I doubt many are still in use, and since your eventual plans should include the Nissan electronic ignition dizzy (if they don't already do), feel free to remove it.
Entrymax wrote:As a side project I'm rebuilding these 38mm SU's.
I want to port out the intake on my W53 head from 32mm to 38mm to match the SU's, but my machinist told me that it would cause problems with the atomization of the fuel and cause velocity to drop. He said he would need to re-shape the area around the valves.
Reshaping the area around the valves is a separate issue from your port mismatch. It's a good idea, but different. For head porting ideas:

DQ Volume 12 Issue 3 - Tech How-To: Cylinder Head Modifications - An inside look at cylinder head modifications. Bruce Godfry details some basic steps to allow the home mechanic to achieve 80% of professional flowing results. It is much more than “port and polish.”

To your specific issue with the port mismatch, the ideal solution for a mild L-series street engine with those carbs would be to actually ADD material to the SU manifold to taper the larger ports in the manifold to the smaller ports in the head. This will keep intake velocity higher, as mentioned, which is important in a street car.

That said, long ago I ran a stock SU intake manifold on a stock W53 head. It ran fine around town. Wasn't the best at high-rpm, but there were a couple reasons for that. Shortish way of saying that you can leave it as-is for now and deal with it later, even if you want to enlarge the ports in the head. But the time for valve bowl work is now, while the head can be more easily removed.
Entrymax wrote:I already have 280zx struts for a conversion, BUT I don't want to use the lower hats from my 510 struts.
Search here for the DIY coilover thread. Instead of spending money on coilovers you can just use tube clamps and the lower perch. Once you decide on a ride height you don't change it, so why have fancy threaded sleeves if you'll never use them again? I believe I have a pair of stock 510 lower spring seats from my DIY coilover conversion, if you stick with stock 510-size springs.

Alternatively, you could use the ZX lower hats. IIRC they're 5.5" OD springs, where the 510 would be 5" OD springs. Alternatively to that, you could convert to 2.5" coilover springs.
Entrymax wrote: Where can I find a close match to the original Datsun orange (I believe it's Paint #918 or "Mexican Orange").
Any decent auto paint shop will be able to look up your year/make/model and with your paint code number mix up the correct paint. Now, the paint has faded over the years, so if you're only painting the engine bay you might want them to sample the paint color of your actual car and mix up paint accordingly.
Entrymax wrote:Now. Here's some blasphemy. I don't know how to drive a stick shift. BUT I want to swap in a ZX close ratio 5sp, roadster clutch, manual pedals, mc, etc. and learn myself. This is why I wanted to break in the motor first.
Pretty sure this isn't blasphemy. Today's car market is like 5% manual transmission, 95% two-pedal cars.

IMO swapping the trans is best done when the engine is out, then you can install them as a unit. But I understand your reasoning and it shouldn't present issues to swap down the road.
Because when you spend a silly amount of money on a silly, trivial thing that will help you not one jot, you are demonstrating that you have a soul and a heart and that you are the sort of person who has no time for Which? magazine. – Jeremy Clarkson
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510wizard
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Re: 72 510 Wagon, First Car, New Experience

Post by 510wizard »

My two cents. Is there any rust in the engine bay? If there isn't, I would just clean (degrease) the bay and use a little fine cut polish and call it a day. Your bay looks to be in good shape, except being a little dirty. Stripping an engine bay is a lot of work, especially for such original bay such as yours. I like that you want to keep it the original color. On the wheel wells, again is there any rust? POR15 is to be used on rust, if there is no rust don't use it. I would clean off the undercoating ( what you are calling rust proofing) , clean the original paint with grease and oil remover and spray with U-Pol Gravtix with is what the Germans car manufactures use for undercoating.

Here is a picture of my original paint engine compartment, I just keep it clean and use a wax/cleaner very once in a while. If your paint is in good shape, you can do the same.
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Entrymax
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Location: Vallejo, CA

Re: 72 510 Wagon, First Car, New Experience

Post by Entrymax »

Thanks for the replies.

As for the SU's i'll go the route of tapering the intake manifold to the head.

I'm happy to know that little box can go. It's been a slight eyesore. I already converted to an electronic ignition so I could have taken it off earlier.

Unfortunately my engine bay does have quite a bit of paint peeled away from the battery tray area and some slight rust right below it. Would I be able to strip only that area and touch it up with similar color paint, or should I do the whole thing?

Also I've looked up some topics about removing undercoating. I would go for the dry ice method, but.. gravity seems to work against me and wont allow me to keep the ice pressed up against the fender well.

Correct me if I'm wrong but if I removed the undercoating, I believe that the paint would come off along with It?

Is gravitex fine to apply on bare metal, or should I primer underneath?
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RonM
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Re: 72 510 Wagon, First Car, New Experience

Post by RonM »

Entrymax wrote: Unfortunately my engine bay does have quite a bit of paint peeled away from the battery tray area and some slight rust right below it. Would I be able to strip only that area and touch it up with similar color paint, or should I do the whole thing?
You can definitely strip that area and repaint it. Just bring it back to bare metal, prime it, sand it smooth and paint. You can actually get the exact pain color put into a rattle can at a paint shop. Check the sticker on the radiator support. it should have the color code # there. Some times the door sticker has it as well. If that fails you can always remove the gas door and bring it to the shop so they can match it. A can like that will come in handy down the road, so you may want to have them make up two.

Wish I could be more help with the Dry Ice thing, but I've never tried it.

Best of luck,

Ron M.
Sometimes people loose touch with subjectivity, because they've got they're heads stuck too far up they're own,,, Reality.
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510wizard
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Re: 72 510 Wagon, First Car, New Experience

Post by 510wizard »

Entrymax wrote: Is gravitex fine to apply on bare metal, or should I primer underneath?
If you get Gravitex Plus you can put it over bare metal. It comes in black, white and gray and can be painted over. It is tuff stuff.
goichi1
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Re: 72 510 Wagon, First Car, New Experience

Post by goichi1 »

When I used the dry ice to remove the sound deadening crap on my trans tunnel I just just a big towel folded up and get some cheap leather welders gloves, the big grey ones. you can hold it up there between the folded towel and the chassis, it don't take long to get it cold.....it's worth a try anyway.
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