CanadianST's 1970 Datsun 510 build

[RAAMaudio]

Reminds me of buying a 510 sitting in a yard, very clean looking, lower miles, would not start. The guy was dumbfounded, owned a repair shop, bought the car for his daughter and did not know what was wrong so I got it for dirt cheap. I popped the valve cover, adjusted the valves, started right up and drove off in it before he had a chance to change his mind but I had already paid for it and had the title in my hand. I guess he only worked on cars with hydralic lifters. I sold the car a few days later for many times more than I paid for it, I already had a few so the money was nice to get from it during the first "gas shortage".

I then found a few more cars sitting around and fixed and sold them asap but the supply died off, even none running car prices skyrocketed....

 

[RAAMaudio]

To bad you did not think of the valves first, I adjusted mine regularly but ran the piss out of the car, all the time.

If still made a go/no go feeler gauge saves a great deal of time.


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I was at the Octane Academy Thursday and met up with the Ford race shop manager, he wanted to check out the car as he loves the FiST they have and far more than the FoST. He went pretty nuts over my car, gave me some great tips on aero things and many others, I let him drive it and he then really said some very very nice things about it and my work, especially the 5 Liter keg intake box

We talked about modding all kinds of cars and when I said I drove 510's for 10 years he was super impressed, said it is still his favorite car of all time and he is far to young to have been around them when a kid.

We both agreed, the FiST is one of those rare special cars that do not come around often.

 

[CanadianST]

Time for more updates!

Got my driveshaft finished up and installed an upgraded 280z master cylinder since mine decided to crap out. Bled my brakes then took the car for a quick spin up the street and everything worked! Have an appointment monday to get my exhaust made up then it'll be driveable.

Ran into a snag with my insurance though. Since i did work to the car my insurance company wouldn't insure me anymore.... Apparently they only insure stock cars the slightest mod (even a different carburetor) will be grounds for a cancelation. Called different companies all day and got nothing but crazy rates in excess of $1000. I have no accidents and no tickets either so i guess I'm getting screwed because of my age. One company quoted me over $6000 a year for the FiST at the same time, ummm no thanks

 

[CanadianST]

Well found one company that wasn't too bad but since we're pretty close to getting snow i figured i'd wait till the spring.

Plans for this winter are to swap out the rear end for my LSD unit and hopefully get some coilovers on the car. Also strongly thinking about starting some body work in prep for paint. A buddy of mine has all the space and equipment, has painted 3 of his cars in the past year, and only wants a case of beer to help paint the Datsun so there's a good chance i might do it. Thinking about a very dark purple found on R33 Nissan Skylines at the moment but i'll probably change my mind a dozen times before i actually paint the car lol

 

[CanadianST]

And a few pics of her all ready to roll, but this isn't even her final form.

 

[propergarage_ST]

looks awesome. bud of mine had a 510 with an sr20 swap. was a blast to drive.

 

[CanadianST]

Some more parts arrived today, a set of T3 camber plates that i got for a crazy discount! They have some chips in the powdercoating around the edges (which are hardly noticeable) so T3 was selling them cheap, shipped to my door for under 1/2 price couldn't pass them up!

Now i just need them to chip some coilovers so i can buy them at half price too haha

 

[RAAMaudio]

Things sure have changed from my 510 days, that site makes me want to keep my eye out for a mint 510 to build in the future!

 

[CanadianST]

Things sure have changed from my 510 days, that site makes me want to keep my eye out for a mint 510 to build in the future!

I hear ya, the stuff on that site is just amazing. The pictures just don't do it justice either, really nice stuff in person

 

[CanadianST]

Time to update this thread!

Was looking into coilovers but at $925 for the front and $625 for the rears i started looking into lower cost alternatives and came across a few interesting ideas. Up front I'm cutting the spring perch on the struts and using a shaft collar bellow it to give me a set of adjustable struts for a mere $40. Also have a complete 2nd set that i might shorten and use different inserts to really bring the front end down.

Here's a pic of the strut after the weld has been cut and smoothed out and the spring perch just resting over the strut housing

Also cut the springs in the rear to see if i could tuck the 215 60 r14 tires inside the fenders and it's really close, less than a finger in some places so i might have to swap out the rear tires for something smaller.

I posted my subaru rear end and custom axles up for sale on a datsun forum I'm a part of to maybe fund some rear coilovers (so i could lower it properly) and someone messaged me asking if I'd consider trading for a vintage set of japanese SSR Starsharks (one of my favorite sets of vintage wheels.) Currently working things out with him and could have "new" wheels for the old girl soon!

 

[CanadianST]

Well buddy never messaged me back so the wheel hunt still continues. My struts are just waiting on the collars to get here then I'll be putting them back together and seeing where they put me for ride height. Might pick up inserts out of an old Toyota mr2 so that my stock ones don't die a horrible death from being lowered and bottoming out, would have to use some spacers in the strut tube for them or cut 2" from my strut housing so still looking at different options.

Strut tubes all ready to go

 

[RAAMaudio]

Way back in the early 70's I cut the struts like that and used Mulholland inserts and cut down stock springs, 3 sets of springs, medium and stiff for different courses I ran and a taller than stock set for the winter. We sure have more choices now even for classics like the 510

 

[CanadianST]

Well installed my modified struts and i just cant get low enough with the stock inserts, I'm still an inch or so too high in the front with the strut almost fully compressed and sitting on the bump stops. To fix this i ordered the mr2 inserts and a set of weld on coilovers from T3. I was starting to run into problems with the stock large diameter springs almost touching the inner fender so when i go lower and try to use my camber plates id be in for a pain, the smaller diameter coilover springs should help a lot and the weld on kit was much cheaper than a set of bolt on coilovers. In the rear my shock travel wasn't much better and with their health in question i picked up a set for an 80s camaro that will bolt on but are 2" shorter, pairing these with a set of cut front springs from a Dodge D50 that will maintain a proper spring rate for my car in their cut state. All in all my rear setup is costing me around $150 compared to the $650 and my fronts $400 (mainly due to the weld on kit) compared to $925 for coilovers . Quite the savings! Also was able to find some new firestones in 185 60 14 on sale for a crazy price (four for the price of one) so swapped out my tires to make going lower easier.

A pic of how it sits now. Rear is fairily close to how i want it, front needs to come down some

And my dog wasn't very happy that there was no room for him to lay down in the garage with my parents car in there getting some work done, he soon found somewhere to curl up though.

 

[CanadianST]

Most of the suspension parts are here! Front inserts should be here in the next few days and springs by early next week. Once i get the inserts I'll be tearing the front end apart again and shipping my strut casings out to be shortened and rethreaded. Once that's done I'll weld the coilover sleeves onto the casings and see where I'm at!

Can't get over how nice T3 stuff looks in person. Very happy so far.

 

[MrClean]

If there was a "like" button for this thread, I would click the "love" button. Awesome build up OP!

 

[CanadianST]

If there was a "like" button for this thread, I would click the "love" button. Awesome build up OP!

Thanks for the kind words! Glad people are enjoying it

 

[CanadianST]

Sent out my struts today to get shortened so hopefully will have them back soon so i can go about getting this thing lowered to a level i like. Going to hold off on the rears since it involves cutting the Dodge springs and want to have the fronts close before doing that. Also just about to start building up one of my spare L20b motors using a mix of different parts. Thinking about using a l20b block and crank, boring it 2mm to fit some z22e pistons, using long z20e rods, and one of the ported heads i have lying around to make a 2.1L screamer. Guys with much lower rpm cams then mine are seeing well over 7000 rpm limits, seems like a fun little engine!

 

[CanadianST]

The tear down of one of my spare l20b's started last night, so far everything looks good. Might take the block out to the engine shop Monday to be bored while i keep an eye out for some pistons.

 

[MKVIIST]

If there was a "like" button for this thread, I would click the "love" button. Awesome build up OP!

On the desktop view there are LIKE buttons (Upper right corner).

 

[MKVIIST]

The tear down of one of my spare l20b's started last night, so far everything looks good. Might take the block out to the engine shop Monday to be bored while i keep an eye out for some pistons.

I like where this is going.