The 510 Realm

Byron,

I found it on my daily CL searching. I think I lucked out by sending the right email to the guy, I clearly wasn't the only one interested. I think he was reassured by the fact that I've been into 510s for a while and wanted a project, not something to drive into the ground. He was clearly attached to the wagon.

I'm now the 4th owner. It comes with the original Hugh Rider badge and has always been a BC car, it's been off the road since 2007 and was up in Grand Forks for a while previously. It's yellow, but barely. I seem to have an affinity to yellow 510s, this is number 3 of 5. I don't think it will stay yellow forever.

I will start a build page shortly. I plan to start stripping it and pulling the engine over the next couple weeks. Not sure when the new engine will arrive (if ever). I find the dogleg tranny a bit hard to figure out where 2nd and 4th are so maybe I'll just pull it from the get go. If the engine doesn't pan out perhaps I'll consider the electrical powerplant route, but that's a huge project. Rockers and fenders will have to go, I think most of the other rust is mainly surface. Hopefully.

I cleaned out the garage today so it's ready to get parked. One more day of driving that loud magnaflow exhaust before it all comes apart.....

Jon

A wagon with swastikas, you can't go wrong!

My first 510:

Curious too about diesel motors. I wonder about vw turbo diesels and other newer tdi's ; seems economically of interest and for pulling small loads. I also wonder how diesel car owners deal with the lack of fueling stations after the novelty wears off; how much of impact the inconvenience has on lifestyle. And other questions...

I know this is a very old thread but in case anyone else stumbles upon it like I did there is now an adapter to put a VW TDI into a Datsun/Nissan.
http://gastodiesel.tdconversions.com/

Thanks for the heads up evguy1,
For your info, Jon posted his LD20T build in the 'Project Builds' section of the forum. I was a big fan but Jon has apparently lost heart and hasn't responded or posted in a long time. Such a shame, he'd done beautiful work on an unusual and interesting project. My plan for years was to make my '69 wagon TDI powered. I've got an AHU engine, an ALH engine and the ACME adapter with accessories. I put off my conversion when Jon started his build to see how it went 'cause I liked the idea of staying in the Nissan family. Since I'm also a Volvo fan I'm now considering dropping one of the new 50 states legal Cummins R2.8 crate diesels (161hp/250 ft lbs)into my 240 wagon. We'll see.