'72 Datsun 510

[Beatty510]

Hi, im new to the forums. always been a huge fan of the 510 and ive finally found one over here on the east coast that wasnt a total rust bucket. its a '72 4 door sedan. the body is in good shape besides a few dents here and there, interior is not too shabby either. i beleive it has the L20 with the dog leg in it, and a subaru lsd. this will be an autocrossing machine but i wouldnt mind slapping tags on it and driving on the street either! Thats really the main reason behind this car, i miss autocrossing and i just dont get that handling and braking from my cobra.

So ive been searching and holding back on getting one of these things for a few years now. In that span of time, i have done my occasional research and reading as much as i can on these cars but im still a novice when it comes to fabrication, and what to do here or there, and swapping parts etc. etc. so i will have questions, i hope they wont be dumb, but im just forewarning that i will need some help and i would appreciate all the help i can get.

on to plans, well...for the engine/drivetrain i will be going with a SOHC VG30. the suspension i actually have on order as i type this, they are '79-83 280zx struts shortened, camber plates, tension control rods, and roll center adjusters. brakes are TBA, cause i dont know yet, does wilwood make a kit that will fit those struts? should i just go with 280 stock brakes?

anyway, here are some shots of the car, still has the stickers from the previous owners autoXing! thanks. -Alex

[JakeWard]

Wow that looks like a really good find. Clean interior and exterior.

Here's a brake kit http://www.arizonazcar.com/510brakes.html

[DakotaKid]

I'm pretty new too. Just had a 72 4 door shipped to me 2 weeks ago. Finished a 280 brake upgrade not more than an hour ago and hope to get a rear disk upgrade going here shortly. But my interior, unlike yours, is... well... what interior is more like it. Can you please take a butt load of shots of your interior for me? I've searched high and low for good clean shots of a clean one, but no luck. I'm thinking I may just bring it to an upholstery shop and have them clean it up, but the dash and a few other things i'll need to do myself.

[Beatty510]

thanks for the link JakeWard

DakotaKid, yeah i can get more shots for you. its not as clean as it looks there, but it is in decent shape. i will get them up as soon as possible.

[DakotaKid]

Hey, thanks! Any and all pics would be helpful to me. Like i said, mine came stripped down and very few pieces to put it back together. What a mess!

[Beatty510]

I am bringing this back from the dead. Sorry to DakotaKid for not getting those pics up. It sat for quite a while and I never got around to do anything on it then I simply forgot. Finally though, Im starting to roll on this project. Hopefully get this up to date. It wont take long by any means, I havent done much haha.

So here we go, I decided to do some body work (mud) to fill in some creases on the body. And I decided to paint it. RED! I did some research and tried the roll on rustoleum job. It actually turned out ok. at that time the body condition wasnt much of a priority but i wanted it to look decent at least from 10 feet lol. Setting this up for autox, I just wanted to get it going and braking good. I wish I had the money to do a full resto and paint job but maybe sometime in the future Ill get to that point. anyway this will give you an idea of what I was doing.











bought some Konigs



this is how it sat for while once again..

[Beatty510]

Then came some suspension and brake work! went with Techno Toy Tuning's coilover kit. If I recall correctly I went to ArizonaZcar for his Wilwood brake setup front and rear.

from this..




to this...




rears...

[Beatty510]

Now that im going through this stuff, Im realizing how bad I was about taking pictures. I havent documented this very well.

Onward...Sold the konigs and I bought some other cheap wheels, XXR somethin's 16x8 0offset. They only had red, I wasnt too happy. But I figured I could always paint them. Also decided to add Z fiberglass flares.





as you can see here, clearance for wheels to struts, had to add some spacers obviously.

[Beatty510]

I actually decided to run with the red wheels and change the color of the car instead. Let the painting begin!



this is what it looked like for quite a while. Drove it a few times, but most of the time it found itself in a garage somewhere or a trailer.

[Beatty510]

Then I purchased my second motor for this car. I had a LS1 that was originally going to go into the 510. My friend was selling it, so i snagged it not really thinking clearly or knowing what i was getting into. But he was letting it go for cheap and he was local. Soon after though, I decided it was too much fab work for me. Quickly sold that and moved on. I found my next motor/donor car at a local boneyard. again a change in plans, I originally was going to do a VG30, but after owning a S/C Frontier and loving the sound of that roots blower, I veered off course a little and snagged a VG33ER.

the donor!





in the truck ready to go home!

[kayakdude07]

I love this car with the black paint and red wheels. I'm glad to see that it's getting some love again!

[Beatty510]

I love this car with the black paint and red wheels. I'm glad to see that it's getting some love again!

thanks, but the red wheels are no more

[Beatty510]

alright, L20B and transmission are out and sold. So no turning back now haha. Time to start grabbin parts for the VG33 swap! Here we go!

[S15DET]

Going to try to fit it under a stock hood? I hope it'll fit, that'll be very cool. Painted the wheels a bronze-ish color? Cool. You'll run it without the black cover over the blower pulley I hope. Cool motor, I bet it does sound good.

[Beatty510]

Im expecting to have to cut the hood, but i think it will be close. To be honest I dont know the exact height on the VG33ER vs. the intake plenum on the VG30. yeah that black cover will come off.

yeah, they are bronze-ish. Here is how it sits now.