Tag: datsun

Datsun 411 / MX5

We need people like Bob. People with vision, people who have skills and love putting them to good use, people who have the itch to continue creating cool cars, time and time again. You might remember Bob from one of his previous projects that also graced these pages, the MX520. It seems that stuffing Mazda MX5 running gear under Datsun bodies is obviously something Bob loves doing, because he’s back to his old tricks, this time with a Datsun 411 wagon on the receiving end of the grinder.

Click here for more chassis-swap builds.

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VH41 V8 airbagged Cedric

There’s really no introduction I can type up for this car that will do it justice, so I’m just going to give you the facts, because they’re way more impressive than anything I could muster up. Nissan/Datsun Cedric, VH41 V8 conversion, custom-made cast ITB’s with carbon velocity stacks, airbags on all 4 corners with tubular crossmembers and arms, 4 link rear end, and some of my favourite oldschool JDM rims; August Feroce’s. Oh man, I’m getting a cold sweat just thinking about it. It’s also gracing the cover of the June 2013 issue of NZ Performance Car Magazine.

Thanks to Nils for submitting, who also submitted the K20 1st Gen Civic.

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Datnats 2013

Just a few photos from the 2013 Nissan Datsun Nationals held at Phillip Island this past weekend. Sadly I couldn’t make the show and shine on Sunday, so I made my way down to the track-day on Saturday and snapped a few photos. Click on the images for a slightly larger version. Please link back to the site if you feel like sharing these elsewhere.

DSC_1161

 

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Project 510: FMIC + more (pt 4)

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.

Part 1  -  Part 2  -  Part 3

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Project 510: FMIC + more (pt 3)

Part 3, here we go. To quickly re-cap, Part 1 was all about relocating the alternator with custom mounts, and Part 2 saw the intercooler and radiator bolted into place, and the intercooler piping tacked together. Now we’re getting down to the finer details.

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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.

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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.

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Greengoon – retro afficionado

Since I’m a regular Ratsun browser from way back, I became very familiar with a certain green 510 wagon belonging to Greengoon, aka Duane. This wagon was always a bit different from the others, especially with it’s folding ragtop. I always looked forward to updates over the past few years, especially enjoying his DIY solutions to getting the ‘goon sitting closer to the ground and various tyre size testing on later-model OEM wheels. Heading over to the Non-Datsun section of the forum made me realise Duane’s penchant for old cars wasn’t restricted to just Datsuns, as he had another 2 project cars under his belt from the Toyota stable, including one very charismatic ’71 Hilux. I’m not the only one to sit up and take note of Duane’s skills, he was even the subject of his own Depth of Speed video, arguably the best series of automotive videos on the net (if you ask me). Head below to familiarise yourself with this trio of vintage vehicles.

Click here for more builder spotlights.

 

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Datsun 240z: Projekt Hugo

From the dark depths of build thread history comes Projekt Hugo. Does anyone remember this video series about a guy from Sweden who imported a supposedly “rust free” 240z from the US, only to find it littered with rotted metal? He then proceeded to rebuild the car whilst documenting the whole thing on well-edited videos. This was before the days of Youtube or Vimeo and before every car guy was a photographer/videographer, so a series of clips like this was a big deal back then.

Thanks to Dave for reminding me about it.

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Layed-out Datsun 620

I need to be careful about what I post on the Facebook page, I seem to have created more work for myself! Today I found a picture of a car I thought looked pretty cool, edited it slightly, then posted it up. I didn’t realise it would prompt a handful of the 1700+ followers to request a full build thread. Well, who am I to decline such a request? Although, I’d hate to imagine what would happen if I couldn’t provide a thread to go with an image in the future, I’m imagining an angry mob with home-made TIG’d pitch forks and high-octane gas powered torches.

So, by poplular demand, here’s a Datsun 620 pickup with a very funky oldschool paint job, having it’s undergarments torn out and replaced with fresh metal and airbag suspension.

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