SHELL

Bribed some buddies with chicken and waffles into helping with the car today. Got quite a bit done; dropped the front and rear subframes, and disassembled the entire front end. Most of the bearings and brake parts were actually in great shape, however all new parts will be replacing them anyways. With a cold and wet day outside it was great having the large insulated shop to work in, I almost feel spoiled at this point. Never worked in anything beyond a one car garage and a car port, one could really get use to this...

DATSUN PROGRESS

....Finally.

Dustin helped me out today and we got the sound deadening all removed. Flat areas were a cake walk with some dry ice to harden the tar. Areas we couldn't get the ice on took some work with a hammer and chisel.

 

TIME TO LEARN

Whenever some one sees my Datsun in its current state they always asked me who is going to do the body work. I usually reply that the plan is to do it myself. Then I really throw them a curve ball and let them know I have no idea what I'm doing but I still expect nothing shy of perfection.

CLEAN SLATE

The Z is back from sand blasting. They did a good job and sure didn't take very long. They did the car and all the panels. Even got the car up on rack and blasted all the underside and suspension. 

MURDERCYCLE

Been working on my buddy Gabe's dohc CB750. He's been very patient with me but I'm finnaly going in a direction with it that I think he'll be real happy. Here it is as of today.

 

OEM

Many times if you know what you're looking for you can find OEM Nissan parts for less than aftermarket. 

  I know it's hard to tell but the new parts are on the right...

WHAT DO WE HAVE HERE?

Fedex dropped off a refrigerator size box with some goods from MSA. 

 

\/ Click \/

Battle of Gettysburg

Today was a memorable day for this whole Datsun project.

 

How it goes...

I finished my school semester this past Friday. So now with a little more time I should be getting more done with the projects. As luck would have it though 4 out of the 5 packages I ordered are on back order or delayed some how. I have the remaining parts for the engine and carbs coming in, also ordered the flares, air dam, wing, and bumpers for the car.

If things go as planned, I'll be dropping of the shell and body panels to get sand blasted today.

Coming full circle; ITB miata build

Over a year ago I took ownership of a raggedy '91 Miata. I got it up and running with a simple turbo set up and had a blast with it. With other projects in mind, I soon had the little guy up for sale.

Valve cover color

Taking the valve cover along with a few other things to get sand blasted and powder coated. I originally wanted to do the valve cover in wrinkle black but now I'm leaning more towards a wrinkle red finish. Either way I want it to look like it could possibly be oem.

For reference:

 

 

Long block assembled.

Dustin wanted to help put the engine together since he's never done it before and I wasn't going to turn away some free help. The machine shop did a great job and everything went together with out a hitch.

 

With the long block all put together we call it a night. Still waiting on the new bolts, and a few other things and the engine will be ready to go. I still gotta rebuild these bad boys below, but that's for another day.

Also...

The car looks like this. All that is left is to drop the tank and remove the remaining hard lines, and then she's ready for blasting.

Modern Kulture...

this is it.

 

 

 Justin's photos

 

Fox body coupe!

I always say there is no greater feeling than driving a project home. With every glance of the rear view mirror more ideas come to mind. This time however it wasn't for me but my roommate Dustin. I've always talked about building a LX fox body mustang, so it's nice that I'll get to be involved in this car.

If you're not familiar with these cars they originally came with mighty 4 cylinders. However a good ol trusty Ford 302 will most likely make its way under the hood. Dustin doesn't have the most experience with cars, but he's one of the hardest working people I know. So I'm certain his work ethic will show in this car.

Stay tuned this little ride will be something special.

The happy new owner!

Headache...

So stripping out those threads in the head wasn't the end of the world. I used a helicoil thread repair kit. It's pretty simple, you just drill out the damaged threads and tap the hole to a bigger thread size. The picture below shows the insert. The insert allows you to reuse the original bolt as if nothing was ever damaged.

Here's the head assembled. I'm using a Schneider 460 lift and 270/280 duration camshaft along with matching Schneider valve train.

It's important to make sure to have a proper wipe pattern on the rockers along with the right valve lash. Either one being off could cause some serious damage. Speaking of preventing damage, here's all the ARP hardware that came in.

Almost nothing on her...

Now that I got your attention, here is the current progress on another fine lady:

All that's left is to drop the fuel tank, and pull all the brake/fuel lines. Once that is done she'll be all ready for sand blasting and sealing primer.

Hide yo kids, hide yo wife...

...the Triumph is up and running again.

Engine painting

The Z engine is back from the machine shop. Had the following done:

Block bored and honed .040(1mm) over stock
Rods checked and micro polished
Crank balanced and micro polished
New pistons pressed on rods
Valve job (valves regrind, seat resurface, new seals, new Schneider springs and retainers)
Block and head resurfaced

It was a nice sunny day with little wind so I decided to go ahead and paint the block and head. My buddy Zach was over at the shop and gave me a hand.

Everything taped off and ready for primer:

Coat of primer:

Here are the results:

I usually use VHT paint but they were out so I used this. Hope its just as strong:

Oh and did I mention Im running flat-tops:

Good progress for the day. I also cleaned out the garage which it has been needing it. On another note if you live in Texas you need to check out The lone Star Round Up hot rod and classics show in Austin!!