look what I found!

[DatsunBOB]

sooooo look at what I found when I took off the front passenger fender.... I'm scared to take the drivers side off

rust.jpg (82.12 KiB) Viewed 5496 times

[jason]

Holy cow, what a mess, is that fixable?

[DatsunBOB]

I have no idea. my buddy and me stood there and looked at it for almost an hour just looking lol. I dunno. I want to look into tube front ends. see if they're street legal and if you need to do any cert for them for road use. I want to make it a road legal drifter.... and before I get any griping, I'll be drifting on the track and driving on the street thank you very much! so we'll see. I'll take the other side off and finish taking it down to the shell and get it sand blasted. then I'll go from there. any ideas?

[Byron510]

Bob,

This is fairly common rust for salt belt area cars. This is repairable; one just really needs to study how the car was originally built.
I have repaired this type of rust on a few cars in my time.
After you peel back the bad stuff, then you can really assess what needs to be fixed, and go from there.
I can send photos of what this box section is supposed to look like, as I do have one. It's very likely that the driver’s side will look the same, although usually the driver’s side of any car is not as bad but will likely need the same fix.
But before you get started, do you have a welder and the means to do the repair? If not, the wise thing to do now is stand back, and wait for the money/resources to hire out this work. If you do have the resources and some welding/fabricating tools, then we'll be here to guide you along.

A tube front end is a whole new ball game, and very difficult to get right or streetable even if your safety laws locally will allow it. Take some more photos of the inner fender area, and the "rails" along the bottom of the inner fenders. You'll spend a lot less time, and have a more rigid car id you repair what you have here in my opinion. No sense in reinventing the wheel as to speak.
Keep us posted.

Byron

[DatsunBOB]

oh man if you could send me some pics that would be great! other then the front floors and the rockers everything else actually isn't to, to bad. I looked over the car closely before buying it and had a buddy come along with me just for a second pair of eyes and everything seemed not to bad. I just couldn't see that. it just took me by suprise. I'm a welder/fitter by trade... body and sheet metal work is kinda new too me but I have done some in the past, so I'm pretty sure if I take my time I'll be able to do it. have to start somewhere though right

[tycot1]

those rocker panels should have been an indicator there was more to come. didnt you guys stuff your hands up under the fenders and touch the rails upon inspection? saveable but lots of work. its a 510 though so it is worth every hour invested, good luck.

[okayfine]

Also check out Proflex's thread, he repaired that same area and made his replacement panels by hand:

http://www.the510realm.com/viewtopic.ph ... 42#p156742

[qwik510]

If you decide to go with the tube front end, check this out:

http://www.swracecars.com/store/2x3-Str ... 6-500.aspx

2"x3" Strut Front Frame & Crossmember
36-500
S&W's strut front frame package is designed to simplify installation for the do-it-yourselfer.
The base frame package features mandrel formed 2" x 3" frame rails, rear lower control arm mounts, a fully welded rack & pinion crossmember with front lower control arm mounts and a front subframe support package to tie the frame rails to the roll cage. . Complete installation requires the use of an upper strut mounting kit. This kit can be used with any eye or stud mount Strange strut package.






Might be something you could use.

[DatsunBOB]

does anyone know if any thing like this has been used? would it fit a dime front end?

[qwik510]

another 510 owner is considering using it on his 510 wagon.

[Byron510]

Eh Bob,

I took a quick trip to my incredibly messy storage shed to take this shot of the upper box sections that you’ll need to duplicate. You’ll notice a little curve at the front area of this box section. The only function I can see that this has is to add a crumple zone for front end impacts.
The cause of this rust is simply dirt moisture and salt building up on top of this section. The first thing that likely happened was that the fenders rusted out (probably in the first 5 years of the cars life!). Next it would have taken quite a bit longer to rust out the top side of this box section as the metal here is roughly 16 gauge as opposed to the 22-24 gauge of the front fenders.
Once the rust had perforated the top of this box section, the dirt and water would have filled up their box section and likely started rusting into the inner fenders horizontally about 6” below the fender area. I’m guessing this is where you are at.
Removing this box section and asses the inner fender structure is the first step. Second to do repairs to the inner fender, and then re-make this box section. Alignment of the fender mounts is critical and difficult to do – something to keep in mind.
Usually cars with this kind of tin worm will have many other spots that need work. Aside from the rockers and floors, likely the rad support, lower front ‘frame rails’ the trunk floor, rear tail light panel where it meets the trunk floor and rear quarter panels are the areas that will need attention.
Lots of work, but it’s been done before.
Keep us posted.

[DatsunBOB]

where did you get those!? did you make them your self or do you know of a place I can get some?

[qwik510]

Nice Rare NOS parts there Byron. I had never seen those before. I never had a car that needed them either. I guess you northern guys get the rustiest 510s in North America.

Those would be hard to duplicate. I guess you could make something that would work if you have talent.

I would prefer to buy a less rusty car to start with. It will be far cheaper in the long run.

Good luck,

[goichi1]

That little curved section is to facilitate the installation of fender mirrors, if you look at mine from the bottom with the mirrors installed you will see that the spring mount needs some room.....at least that's what I think!! that has to be the first time I ever seen some NOS frame rails!! really cool!!

[Byron510]

where did you get those!? did you make them your self or do you know of a place I can get some?

Hi Bob,

I don't know where you could buy these - been out of production for quite some time. As Rich pointed out, these are NOS 510 parts. I do a have an extensive collection of NOS panels awaiting a special project...not really for sale. I mean anything is for sale...but I wanted to post this to give you an idea of what they used to look like. A reasonable box section could easily be bent up to structurally fix your car, and this was the point I was trying to get across. Tyson has made up some very nice rocker panel sections, and the rest could be done locally for you.
It is the external sheet metal that is really hard to find. What did your fenders look like? Or can I guess that they were fiberglass? The only reason I say this is because I grew u pin the salt belt, and most 510's had glass front fenders before they were 10 years old

Byron