So I drove around Japan looking for a Bluebird...

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TheHeretic
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Re: So I drove around Japan looking for a Bluebird...

Post by TheHeretic »

So I actually would want one of those stickers! ?
Carpe Diem!
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BrandonS
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Re: So I drove around Japan looking for a Bluebird...

Post by BrandonS »

TheHeretic wrote:So I actually would want one of those stickers! ?
I put it up on a on the 510/1600 Owner Registry group and got the same thing. It would just take too long to make them for people; I also like it being a little original so there is a bit of stinginess too ;)

I don't want this to turn into a project thread in the General Discussion topic so I PM'd 5Ten to have this thread moved to the Projects Section to keep it all together rather than split it into two threads by starting a new one. I got my Bre spook in a couple days before the car got here. I had a chance to mock "mount" it yesterday and by that I mean clamp it to the car with vice grips (but not with gusto to hurt anything). The plan was originally to have it painted to match, but I'm really digging it in black. So I need to decide if I want to go semi-gloss or gloss. If I go semi-gloss, I'll probably redo the grill to match since that's currently gloss. The paint on it also doesn't look as nice as I'd prefer. I had also planned to use 3M VHB to attach it, but with the fitment being the way it is I think I"m going to need to use hardware to "pull it into" the body.

I haven't ordered a radiator yet. I think with as hot as it gets here in the summer I may just go with an aluminum one in the car and recore the original and store it. How do the Koyorads fit? They seem to get decent reviews. Any other suggestions; maybe something akin in quality but a little more easy on the wallet?

A couple pics from the mock up are below. On a side note, I do want to do a proper photo shoot, but I can only sorta drive the car right now. I have insurance on it and the inspection is complete, but the registration is still under the previous owner. A friend that owns a local garage said if I got pulled over I should be fine since everything is in order and I have a bill of sale, but said to register it sooner than later obviously.

Ignore the oil stain, it's from oil I missed on the lower control arm when I changed the filter.

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And for S&Gs a photoshop with no bumperettes and chrome caps in the holes (most likely outcome)

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Here's one of the kiddo checking out the car. She kept saying "go" while sitting there so I think she liked it :)

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Byron510
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Re: So I drove around Japan looking for a Bluebird...

Post by Byron510 »

Car looks great!

I have photos of both of my kids behind the wheel around that age in my Bronze thread - very cool.

You must be a happy guy right now - livin the dream for sure.

Byron
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because the opposite never works.
BrandonS
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Re: So I drove around Japan looking for a Bluebird...

Post by BrandonS »

Byron510 wrote:Car looks great!

I have photos of both of my kids behind the wheel around that age in my Bronze thread - very cool.

You must be a happy guy right now - livin the dream for sure.

Byron
I think these pictures will be great when looking back; even maybe a "now and then" type picture when she is older.

I am pretty happy. A bit stressed with the registration portion of it and a little miffed about the radiator, but that's all stuff that'll come out in the wash so to speak.
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DADZSUN
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Re: So I drove around Japan looking for a Bluebird...

Post by DADZSUN »

BrandonS wrote:
TheHeretic wrote: Image
Gorgeous car, that interior is pristine!

What rims are you running, Watanabe Type B ? If so what size/width?

They look nearly identical to what I'm running except your center is so much cleaner!
Watanabe.jpg
Watanabe.jpg (119.99 KiB) Viewed 6168 times
'72 Datsun 510 - MS KA24e, Watanabe, STI R180 & CV axles, R&P assisted steering
'76 Datsun 620 - VQ35DE, CD009, G35 suspension & brakes.
'76 Datsun 280z - Future track toy
Creativity outlet: www.datsunrestomods.com
BrandonS
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Re: So I drove around Japan looking for a Bluebird...

Post by BrandonS »

Wow they do look identical! They are 14" Watanabes... I would have to measure the offset/width, I'll try to remember tomorrow when I take them off and swap them for the other set of wheels in hopes to get it registered. Mine have that same sort of color as yours on the inside, but it doesn't really show up in real life during the day. It shows up more in pictures and at night.

The car passed it's "Shaken" but the military still requires a base safety inspection to be done. They just redid the Shaken. One issue was the wheels stick out too far in the front and they didn't like how close the rears are to the inner lip even though there is no rubbing. The car was a few millimeters too low, so the coilovers will go up as well.

I would say your car looks like it may be quite a bit cleaner than mine. Good looking 510! What front suspension do you have? Mine has R30 Skyline shocks/hub/brakes. I need to take measurements one of these days, but I'm wondering if a 510 or 280z setup would pull the wheel in. That'd for down the road though.
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DADZSUN
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Re: So I drove around Japan looking for a Bluebird...

Post by DADZSUN »

My Watanabes are 14x7 ET0, tires are a wide'ish 195/60 r14 Falken Azenis. I have 280zx struts up front with a 5mm spacer which still leaves a marginally narrower track up front compared to OEM. It's a *tight* fit on the back, fresh tires sometimes get a very light sidewall shave after their first autocross. :lol:

I can sometimes get close to your center section color if I use rim cleaner several times in a row but my Porterfield R4S brake pads dump enough dust to turn it back to a rough cast aluminum color within 100km of usage. Those lips can be polished but they don't hold their shine for more than ~3 months. I'd love to get it sealed somehow, maybe down the road when I get them fully restored.

Judging by your picture you're running a 175 or 185 width? Looks to have a little more stretch than mine. For the front maybe crank those camber plates in to pass the inspection? :wink:

My 510 is one of those good from far, but far from good. Overall the chassis is solid but the finish has lots of nicks/dings/chips/faded spots - like a pair of comfy worn jeans. There's at least 3 different versions of orange paint on the car. The plan is to repaint once my boys are a little older - there's a few hockey puck dings on the door...
'72 Datsun 510 - MS KA24e, Watanabe, STI R180 & CV axles, R&P assisted steering
'76 Datsun 620 - VQ35DE, CD009, G35 suspension & brakes.
'76 Datsun 280z - Future track toy
Creativity outlet: www.datsunrestomods.com
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Re: So I drove around Japan looking for a Bluebird...

Post by greenthumb »

Man, that Coupe is the business! What a beautiful find. The color, the wheels, the stance... mmmmmMMMMMM
BrandonS
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Re: So I drove around Japan looking for a Bluebird...

Post by BrandonS »

So this is the wizardry that they had a problem with; clearly not rubbing with the little mold knubbies. Even still, the front stuck out (you can see it in the below picture) and the car was overall too low.
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The car came with spare set of wheels so I went first thing this morning to our Auto Hobby Shop (rent a garage space for military). I raised the coilovers on all four corners and stuck the other set on. Got it all good to go and realized the front was sticking out 1/4" past the fender at the bottom.
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So I really lucked out. The guy that runs the tire shop next door had a spare set of R32 GTS-T wheels and tires sitting in the shop. He offered them up to borrow for the day to get it passed. All it took was a spacer and some wire to pull my muffler to the side a bit. I also had to keep in mind not to turn more than 1.5 turns of the steering wheel or rubbing would ensue; had to make sure not to do that through the inspection line.
It has really good ground clearance like this...
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But in the end I got my plates so that's what matters. I swiftly put it back to how it was afterwards and returned the wheels.
BrandonS
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Re: So I drove around Japan looking for a Bluebird...

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I guess I never updated this. I've been deployed for a few months now and knew it was on the horizon when I bought the car. I put some stuff on Facebook, but never updated this thread. I got what work done I could, but family took most of my attention. I really wanted to spend time with them before leaving, but did need to get a few things ironed out. I didn't want my wife to ever get stranded in the car while I was gone.

After getting the car registered I got to work fixing the radiator. I decided just to go with the Koyo aluminum one. The reviews seemed great and I just had to order it instead of coordinating a recore. I honestly can't say it went in very well. I had some clearance issues. The radiator sat right up against the lip on the inside of the rad support and wouldn't clear my alternator pulley. I ended up having to fold the lip on the radiator support down a little and in the process chipped some paint which was rather upsetting. To keep it from rubbing a hole in the radiator I then split some small diameter rubber hose and lined the inside of the radiator hole lip. It ended up working out fine in the end andthe radiator works great and looks good to boot. I also added a small overflow reservoir on the side that I found on Amazon for not too much.

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The piping I used on the lip...
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It was super close. I gained a little bit more space after this was taken and go the hose on farther.
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In addition to the radiator I did some other minor tweaks. I ordered a CFM meter so I was able to balance/tune the carbs better. They were running pretty rich when I got the car. It runs a lot smoother now. The shifter was super sloppy so I pulled the center console out and used a bolt to tighten the "forks" that hold the shift lever. That seemed to work out well also. Then I went on a cruise with some buddies and had a coolant leak that almost left me stranded 3 hours from home. The little coolant elbow on the side of the block started leaking and sprayed all over plugs/wires and killed the car. I got it sorted out, but was super worried when everything just died that far from home. Finally, I got my Bre spook put on. I spray painted it at first, but I could see flaws in the molded fiberglass peice with scratches and such. I couldn't accept it that way, so I dropped it off at a body shop and had them sand, smooth, and paint the spook. I'm so glad I did $50 was dirt cheap, the finish is durable and looks amazing.

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The mismatch of the dizzy's... I planned to upgrade to the electronic, but accidentally ordered one for an A-series. I was hoping I could swap the bottoms of the shafts, but no dice. I ended up sending it back and didn't have time to wait for a new one to arrive.
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So finally, I just drove it. I drove the crap out of it (as in time, not hard). I don't want a million miles on it, but I seriously was just enjoying driving it so much I could not stop myself. I think I put 2500-3000 km on it before I had left.

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Oh... and I finally found an 1800 SSS badge for the grill the other day. Not 100% perfect, but they are hard to find. I'll be back in the states soon and once I get there I hope to have a lot of the chrome stuff redone and hopefully if it isn't too cost prohibitive get the badges restored. I heard pitted pot metal things can get costly quickly when having them restored so not too sure yet.

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KiKiIchiBan
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Re: So I drove around Japan looking for a Bluebird...

Post by KiKiIchiBan »

Great update, car looks amazing. Got any videos?
My P510 Bluebird SSS Coupe www.the510realm.com/viewtopic.php?t=26929

https://www.instagram.com/kikiichiban/
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCBP1x8z2IBvfs-MQH2Gc73Q/featured
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Byron510
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Re: So I drove around Japan looking for a Bluebird...

Post by Byron510 »

Your car does look great.

Too bad about the rad, but looks like you found a solution.

Badge is very cool - hard to find item for sure.

So glad to hear you are driving it - this is what they are for. Too many trailer queens out there now that never see the road at all - only to car shows.

Thanks for keeping us updated.

Byron
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because the opposite never works.
BrandonS
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Re: So I drove around Japan looking for a Bluebird...

Post by BrandonS »

Thanks for the compliments. It is by no means perfect and has it's problems like all of them. Once I get to the states and have my own garage I can start to really dig into it and get it to where I want.
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Re: So I drove around Japan looking for a Bluebird...

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First off I apologize for the insanely long update. I'm finally back home from my deployment. I have some time off work now and plan to spend most of it with my family, but did pick up a few car parts to stick on the Bluebird. Ironically, key parts were backordered that I purchased, so I'm kind of stuck on what I can accomplish ATM.

The first order of business is going to be some maintenance items I wanted to take care of before I left, but family time took priority and I just didn't get to it. The plan is to replace the valve stem seals. I'm getting a burning oil smell on long decels/long hills with engine braking. At the same time, I'll tackle the "valve" adjustments since I have to and I think there is one that's a bit loose. An conversion to an electronic distributor is also in the plans now that I ordered the correct one after my pre-deployment debacle. It also seems I previously ordered a valve cover gasket so any suggestions on which to use? Felpro or DNJ? Not pictured is supplies for an oil change and to change the transmission/rear end fluids.

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Second order of business is going to be tackling/hiding my wiring in the engine bay. During this I'll move the battery to the trunk (still waiting on the battery holder), upgrade to modern relays for the headlights, and install two 8" electric fans in leiu of the plastic mechanical one. I'll run a relay for them controlled by a temperature switch that screws into my radiator (switch is backordered). I'll probably remove the battery tray as well during this, but not sure as I don't know if I'll have time to repaint the engine bay before getting restationed. Oh, and I got new headlight housings. I bought Vision-X 5.75 H4 conversions; but those are backordered too. I picked them because they had a nice cutoff pattern, they're DOT approved, have glass faces and aluminum housings. I had originally planned on HIDs, but decided I didn't want to ruin the "halogen bulb" look at night. Maybe down the road I will upgrade, but for now it's halogen. I'll run the Phillips X-treme 100+ bulbs; they seem to get great reviews as a solid choice.
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The current exhaust on the car is somewhere around 1.5" diameter and is a slip fit kit the previous owner put on. I'd be lieing if I said I didn't I think it sounds great, but it rattles like crazy and keeps randomly springing leaks. I've spent way too much time trying to get it aligned and stop the leaks and haven't been successful. I'm also hoping a slightly larger exhaust and the electronic distributor (my current rotor/cap is pretty much gone) will open the top end a little bit. So I ordered some mandrel bends and I'll weld up a new one. The piping is 2.25", will have a resonator halfway, and then run through a 4x9" Magnaflow that's a straight through design. I'm hoping it's fairly quiet idling/cruising, but hoping it will yell a little bit when I push the car. I'm sure I ordered way too many bends, but I factored in me messing stuff up and it takes 1.5 weeks or more to get more piping in the mail so I erred on the side of caution.
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While I was deployed, I would spend some off time perusing Yahoo Auctions Japan. I came across a set of badges that I didn't need because my car has all of them and I had previously found an 1800 SSS badge for the grill. They looked to be in good shape and were a better price than the single badge I previously bought for the whole package. I figured it wasn't a bad idea, so I bid on them and won.
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I also spent sometime looking at wheels, I like the Watanabes on the car now, but I'm not a huge fan of how far they stick out past the front fender. I also don't think they'd fit in the rear if I straightened the camber up. So I was looking for a little while at some other wheels. I considered new wheels like Work Equips or Longchamp knock offs, but in the end decided to go old school. I found a set of Riverside R110. The fronts are 6" wide and the rears are 6.5" wide. I'll need to do a little sanding and some fixing of minor curb rash. I'll also replace the bolts in them with something not rusted. I think they will get dark metallic gray paint vs the gold. I plan to find some plain chrome centercaps. I can use my wife's arts and crafts machine to make stencils for paint masks to replicate the centercap logo; then just hit them with some black paint to create the logo permanently. I picked up some star shaped lug nuts to go with the star theme. They weren't super expensive, so I hope they don't get rusty right from the get go. I may match this finish or go with titanium neo-chrome finish for the wheel bolts. I'm not 100% sure on that yet.

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BrandonS
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Re: So I drove around Japan looking for a Bluebird...

Post by BrandonS »

Today I decided to tackle the valve stem seals. I was going to do it yesterday before I took all those pictures, but I left my spark plug socket with my other tools in the states. So I picked one up and tackled the job today. Good news is the plugs verified my carbs are tuned correctly. I utilized the shoving rope into the combustion chamber method and an over the cam spring compressor so I didn't have to remove the cam. Never having done this, once I did the first cylinder and got the order of things down the others went easy. Readjusting the rocker clearance has made a load of a difference with valvetrain noise too, so that was a nice bonus.

The old ones were pretty dang worn out. Sorry the camera focused on the battery and not the seals, I didn't notice until I had wrapped it all up for the day.

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