Let’s wrap this up, shall we? This fourth (and final!) segment will be all of the satisfying stuff. Now that all of the fabrication and test-fitting had been completed, I could move on to the fun stuff; making everything pretty and bolting it all back onto the car.
Category: Project 510
1969 Datsun 1600
Project 510: FMIC + more (pt 3)
Project 510: FMIC + more (pt 2)
When we left off from the last update, I had successfully relocated the alternator and had the crank pulley machined down to one single groove, with a smaller belt fitted to suit. I was now ready to get back to the original task at hand; fitting the intercooler, radiator, and modifying the intake manifold.
Project 510: FMIC + more (pt 1)
Well, where do I start? This is going to be easily the biggest update I’ve ever posted about the car, as I’ve just completed 8 months of on/off work under the bonnet in my spare time. During those 8 months I also sadly lost two of my beloved grandparents, went a holiday to Europe, and have attended 4 weddings, so things may have taken a little bit longer than usual.
Project 510 – rear bumper, finally.
Those of you who follow the progress on my Datsun would have most likely noticed the absence of a rear bumper in the photos I’ve posted over the past couple of years. This has been a long-running saga for me, which I’ve finally sat down and taken the time to explain. Ready for a long story? Read on…
Project 510 – sump mods
Ever since I first lowered the car a few years ago, one problem I’ve always been faced with is a low-flying sump plug (sump = oil pan). The previous owner fabricated a custom sump for the car and positioned the drain plug right at the lowest point, which wasn’t a problem at the ride height they planned to run, but I had different ideas. Added to that, the sump had some received some damage over the years which resulted in a few hairline fractures, and the plug no longer had a perfectly flat surface to seal to, so when I walked into the garage and saw a large trail of oil, I knew it was finally time to put my long-running plan into action.
Project 510 goes offline!
I arrived home from vacation yesterday (apologies for the lack of posts) to find a nice surprise waiting for me. Late last year I was contacted by Fast Fours magazine in the form of a feature offer, which I excitedly agreed to, and the finished product is now in my hands…
Project 510: Engine bay v1
For a long, long time, I’ve wanted to clean up the Datsun’s engine bay. It definitely isn’t up to par in the aesthetics department compared to the rest of the car, and makes me hesitate to open the bonnet when people ask to take a look. I’ve always had specific plans for the look I want to achieve, but it would require removing the engine for a full do-over, hence the task being constantly shifted to the “too hard basket”. But the longer I left it, the longer it irritated me, so I came to a compromise; do a quick refresh with the engine still in place, removing all the parts that are easy to detach. Here’s how it went…
Project 510: RB20DET gearbox
I was standing in the garage today, looking at my car with a bunch of the engine bay torn apart, planning in my head how I was going to document the activities in my next post. Then it struck me, I still hadn’t posted about the last thing I did; retrofitting an RB20DET gearbox to the FJ20. The FJ20 uses a 5-speed gearbox which has one niggling problem, they have a tendency to crunch when changing gears in higher rpm. Apart from that, there was nothing wrong with it, no whining noises, never hard to find a gear, never popped out of gear, but that didn’t stop me from upgrading when I learnt that the RB20 gearbox bolts up with minimal mods…
Project 510 – Misc (overdue!) update
Wow, I’ve just had a look through the archives and it’s been over 6 months since I posted an update on the Datsun, and over 12 months since the last real modification! See what having a mortgage does to you? Sad times indeed! Yesterday I made a post on the Build Threads Facebook page about the car, and it made me realise I was well overdue to put together an update. Well, a few things have been happened in the past few months, so let’s start from the top.