The 510 Realm

Hello Realm,

Been a fan for a while and picked up a 71 a few months ago. Started working on hit heavily the last month, took most of it apart and am taking care of struts, brakes, fuel cell, metal work etc. at the moment. Plan for the car is an NA KA24DE swap, LSD 4.11 rear diff, coilovers all around, camber plates in front, Byron brackets in the rear and stainless exhaust. Also bought a fuel cell, Walbro 255, 3/8 fuel line, new brake lines, 280ZX master cyl, 280ZX rear brake conversion brackets, 280ZX e-brake cables and lever and all new steering consumables as well as bushings.

Decided to with the RAQ (2014 Sentra dark blue metallic) paint, XXR 557 wheels, RSX seats & belts, Speedhut gauges, custom gauge cluster for gauges, double din stereo with custom center console to make it fit, new speakers, wiring harness, headlights etc. And then just a simple carpet kit and cleaning up anything that needs cleaned, paint etc.

A little background, I rebuilt a Land Rover Defender through my early 20's and started a massive 280Z RB26 project last winter. That car is on the island and since I have to work in Vancouver for the next year I rented a garage here. Originally I was going to bring the Z over here but since it was in a million pieces and I loved the 510's as well I decided to go this route for now and slow down production on the Z. This car is really a tribute to my late grandmother, who was one of the only ones in my family with positive encouragement when I started the Defender project and who believed I could do it. Everyone else thought (and still thinks) I'm nuts for working on cars and not just going to a dealership. So I'm naming the car after her and building it in a way I think she (and obviously I) would like it.

The goal is simple, have it inspected and insured (hopefully painted) by next May so my little bro can roll up with it at prom.

Also want to give a shoutout to Kurk on the island, Byron over here and Don from Red Deer for their ongoing counsel and support.

Frank

Hello Frank, welcome to The Realm. If you could put your location in your profile, that'll help us know where you are once you move beyond this thread.

Car will move out with KA power and 4.11 gear in the back. I built a KA510 with the 3.7 Subaru LSD and never really needed for more accelerative force, but I'm sure one ride in your car would convince me of the error of my ways.

If possible, mount the fuel cell in a location other than the spare tire well of the trunk. The stock 510 gas tank was as safely located as it could be.

looks like bc ferries

Thank you for the welcome.

I'm pretty set on the location of the fuel tank, but I'll reinforce the area around it to protect it as much as possible from impact.

BC ferries is exactly right... brought her back accross from Victoria.

So far so good, rebuilt the rear and front suspension, just prepping the engine compartment for paint. Welding all the holes shut in the body after 40+ years of custom mounting stuff was time consuming... will post pics later.

Just sayin'.

Ouch! I hear ya loud and clear....

Here's what's been happening lately...

Motor out and then welded shut all the engine bay and body holes.








RSX seats, eBay rad, T3 front and rear coilovers, Tokico Illumina shocks front on 280ZX rebuilt struts.








Rear crossmember POR-15'd, 280ZX disc brake conversion, Byron brackets welded in



Did a bit of bodywork to the engine bay before spraying it with primer... turns out the red paint that was on there before was junk so it'll have to be taken down and re-done...



So far so good, challenges here and there but nothing too crazy. That paint is a royal pain, sanded everything with 120 and the etching primer virtually lifted everything off. At least the POR-15 sticks to the wheel wells like crazy.

Should hopefully get the engine compartment painted this weekend.

Any detail on the exhaust pass-through on the rear crossmember?

okayfine wrote:

smash.jpg

Just sayin'.

Wow! My goon gas tank is right near the rear! I was looking at it the other day and was thinking that it was a disaster waiting to happen!
Greg

okayfine wrote:Any detail on the exhaust pass-through on the rear crossmember?

Bought an eBay 2.25" stainless exhaust kit for a maxima. It looked like it had the best bends in it to chop up and modify to fit the 510. So i cut a short piece, welded it to the crossmember with some small sheet metal in between to fill the void and subsequently welded the flange on the other side. I wanted it to be easily removable when I have to get it out of the way. Something I didn't do back in the day and I regretted for the rest of time.

I can take some pics Friday if you want to see more.

Redrumls wrote:

okayfine wrote:

smash.jpg

Just sayin'.

Wow! My goon gas tank is right near the rear! I was looking at it the other day and was thinking that it was a disaster waiting to happen!
Greg

I never thought of it as a safety hazard since it's in the identical spot to the spot on the Z... hmmmm

Stock 510 gas tank locations are about as good as they get, given the car.

On the exhaust pass-through - that's going to vibrate the car a fair bit.

okayfine wrote:Stock 510 gas tank locations are about as good as they get, given the car.

On the exhaust pass-through - that's going to vibrate the car a fair bit.

I'll see how the vibration is once it's on the road and then make the call to leave as is or to enlarge the hole. I'll have a flex joint (or two) on the pipe to help mitigate vibration.

After laying down the primer, seeing it lifted the shitty red paint, I went in and took it to bare medal and redid it. Since the garage is in a residential neighborhood I can't ventilate to the outside of fear that the neighbors complain and I lose the garage, so I was fighting the dust the whole time. Turned out ok, not bad for a rattle can job. Not nearly as shiny as if I'd used a gun and a proper booth, but whatever. Now it's finally time to bolt things in without knowing they have to come out again

Well this weekend was another fun one... after fighting with the old school camber plates that I had in there and desperately wanted to re-use, Aron and I figured it would require a new top hat to make them work somewhat properly. However, new top hats wouldn't alleviate the problem of the spring grinding into the top hat or coilover ring, so I had only one real choice and bought a new set of camber plates which addressed all my concerns at once. I was also nervous that the top of the shocks would hit the hood, although when I measured it there appeared to be just enough clearance. Anyways, what's done is done.

Since the top of the strut tower was all hacked up I used the 1/4" steel ring that I bought from T3 (which was initially supposed to go on the underside of the old camber plates) and put it on the top. Will weld the two unnecessary holes shut before powder coating.







Of course, didn't do enough research and now the wheels hit the strut... nothing a pair of spacers from Futofab won't fix.



If anyone is interested in the old camber plates, let me know.