72 2 Door 510 Restoration-25 years in the making

[KoHeartsGPA]

Fun looking project, Rush!!, I did same thing to find the real extent of rust damage, luckily was very minor

I do have a question....how the heck....I mean....how??? Lol, I'm baffled about your move from almost perfect year round weather to the frozen tundra, how do you adjust to that?, I grew up in LA then SD and moved to Oregon in 2000, but you....wow!!!, the frozen tundra!

[Rush]

Lol! I know! I grew up in Simi Valley (pretty much perfect weather!) and moved to Duluth, MN (a definite contender for the worst conditions on the planet!) because my dad and brother lived here. I didn't really know either of them, since our parents divorced when I was 2, so I wanted to get to know them.
Now, that my dad has passed and my brother can just take a trip in an airplane, I'm trying to move back home to Simi or Channel Islands area. Thankfully, I go back and forth a lot to stay with my parents who live in Channel Islands.

Our home is on acreage way out in the country, away from that miserable air conditioner (Lake Superior), so it's usually warmer out here than IN Duluth, but still. This area is awful. It's very depressed and there is a prevalent "can't do" attitude about everything. But, when it's too cold to go outside 90% of the time, what can you expect, I guess. Oh, it's a balmy 42º and cloudy today, the 25th of JUNE! Ugh. I have never adjusted to the conditions here and everyone teases me about my thin California blood and how I need a sweater when it's 70º.

I really do hate it, but I have to wait for an opening within my husband's company in the areas we want to move to and thank goodness, he's on board with moving. Plus, humanly habitable conditions will slow the rot of my 510, too!

[okayfine]

Sea air won't help your 510, and Simi gets hot. Couple of 510ers in Camarillo, one in Simi, a couple of us in Newbury Park. It's not Eagle Rock for 510 population, but it's better'n WI. Forecast to be 82° and sunny...once the June Gloom burns off.

[Rush]

Well, now you're just rubbin' it in, aren't cha.

If the "Simi guy" is Shacks510, that's his car in the middle in my 1991 photo. He was my boyfriend's best friend back then.

[two_68_510s]

If I remember right there is a road out of Simi Valley to Fillmore that almost requires a 510 to navigate!

Lots of tight turns with some open stretches. Do you remember that one?

I hope your husband is lucky soon, I was born and raised in Indiana (now in NorCal) and that was bad enough!

Spent my twenties in Ventura, great area.

[Rush]

Yes! The 23 is every-which-way! My mom drove that once in a while for kicks, too. She has a 74 Corvette as her fun car. lol!

[Rush]

I'm out in the garage right now looking at my cylinder head. It's an A87 "peanut" head and the cam has U20 cast into it & an A stamped into the end.

The block has L16 stamped into it, it has the A87 head, .50 flat top pistons, and a U20 A cam. Did someone try turning this into an L18? I'm still learning about these engines, so I don't know. Would these specs equate an L18 or something different?

[James]

The a87 could be from L-18. There could be an L-18 crank and rods in it (they bolt right in) but you would have to measure and see. The flat tops came out of a z.
Looks like a fun project!

[Rush]

Thanks for the info, James. Do you (or anyone) know of a source that has the crank specs, etc. so I can compare mine with them? It's not all that important, but I'd just like to find out. This car truly is turning into The Mystery Machine!

I spent the rest of the day blasting, sealing and priming the engine bay. I need to weld in a small patch under the battery tray and one on the driver's side just above the inner fender, but half way into blasting, I found out it's supposed to rain tonight & I needed to get it epoxied & primed so it won't flash-rust.

Pics!

Blasted:


Sealed:


Primed

[Rush]

Today, I unshaved my door handles. Unshaved...Regrew? no...
Well, whatever. Back when I was about 17 I thought it would be a good idea to remove my door handles. I don't know why, I guess because I was 17. Anyhow, Now that I'm a grownup, I'd like to actually use my doors. Technically, both doors worked fine, but the passenger side couldn't be opened from the outside. My brother welded the patches over the handle recesses with a really crummy welder and thankfully, I had the good sense to leave the recesses intact.

Some pics!
Before:


I carefully ground the bondo & paint off where I thought the handles would be. Once I found the edges, I was able to really dig through the mud.


I cut a + through the patch nearly to the edges, then took pliers and moved a section. Around the weld broke pretty easily, so I was able to basically break each "quarter" off, leaving just the barfed up weld to deal with.










Then, I carefully ground the weld off and shaped the edge as close to the stock shape as I could.




I sand blasted the area


Finally, I primed it, but I didn't take a pic. Derp.

Here's a pic of the other side. I need to weld up the holes. They must have been burned through during welding 100 years ago.



They came out pretty nice and they're ready for body work with the rest of the car. Now, I just need to find some door handles...

[James]

From Jason Grey's spec sheet.

L16 ('68-'73 510 and later years 521pickup)
bore 83mm, stroke 73.7mm
(stroke/2)+connecting rod+ piston pin height = 207.95mm
piston deck height: 0.10mm (above block)
L18 ('73-'74 610, and 620 pickup truck)
bore 85mm, stroke 78.0mm
(stroke/2)+connecting rod+ piston pin height = 207.3mm
piston deck height: -0.55mm (below block)

[Rush]

Thank you, James. I've actually found that information, but I can't seem to find anything regarding journal size. My service manual shows main journal specs, but I can't find it for the rods. I haven't taken the crank out of the block yet because I don't have the "special" tool for the cap at the flywheel end. Maybe I'll weld one up today if I have the stuff on hand.

I'll have to look around at the rebuild kit specs to see if any list what the bearing sizes are for standard & undersized, etc. I don't know if my crank has been machined or not. I would have thought "no way" before, but since I've opened up the engine and found out it's absolutely NOT what I thought it was, I'm not so sure now. The oil holes in the rod journals are chamfered and I don't know if Datsun did that from the factory or not.

I'm sorry to be so full of questions, but this I'm learning about these specific engines. I've never had one apart before.

[two_68_510s]

Keep asking, I need to assemble my engine soon and I dig the insights.

[Rush]

Ha! Ok!

Today, I removed the back seat, fuel tank & filler and dash. Under the back seat, I had this nice surprise waiting for me (well, under the 17 years of mouse poo, pee and nests, that is). Yuck.






I cut out the problem areas so I can weld in new sheet metal.


I also found the crispy remains of my Simi Valley Nissan plate.

[Rush]

Not a whole lot to update, but I've been patching the floor. I had a big fail on one of the patches because I was using sheet metal that's way too thick, so that part will be a re-do. It was a chunk of the quarter panel we cut off the Road Runner. Apparently, 1970 Mopar sheet metal is a little thicker than Datsun sheet metal. lol!

Here's one patch I did yesterday. The only things rustier than my car around here, are my welding skills. I'll use the excuse that I was welding outside and it was really windy. Yeah, that one...



I also made a replica of my Simi Nissan license plate with my plotter, since my original one is a crispy critter.