project updates on mydatsunroadster.com

[Conner]

I've got my new project website up and running. If you have any interest, please visit:
http://www.mydatsunroadster.com/.
It is a blog-style site that will document the ongoing restoration of my 1968 Datsun 2000. Being a blog, there is an area to add comments after every post. Please feel free to make topical comments, especially if you see me doing something stupid and/or dangerous. : ) Or if you have some insight that would be helpful to the process comments would be appreciated as well.
The main page will only contain the most recent five days of posts, but at the bottom there are links to archives of previous months as well as to a page on the acquisition of the roadster.

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[eastmedia]

I agree. I have seen many for sale on ebay and in local papers with pretty much the same description. "It was a project, but now I need money- have a baby- work too much- have another project car."

I guess seeing pictures of so many nice Roadsters around at places like Solvang and Shasta makes everyone want to have the perfect car.

Personally I find the pleasure in driving my Roadster. The wind, the noise, the speed. That's the fun part. Mine's primered black with some rust showing, and bad chrome. But I still get plenty of "Nice Car" comments and thumbs up.

Besides I think it could be a bit of a waste to perfectly restore one of these. We have all seen the resale values aren't what you put into them typically...but more importantly, this is a high performance vehicle. It will constantly need maintenace, tuning, and attention if you hope to drive it with any regularity.

So drive it, work on it, drive it, work on it, and in a few years you will probably have fixed everything at least once.

Just my $.02.

RE

[TR]

Personally I find the pleasure in driving my Roadster. The wind, the noise, the speed. That's the fun part. Mine's primered black with some rust showing, and bad chrome. But I still get plenty of "Nice Car" comments and thumbs up.

I totally agree, mine is ugly as sin, rusty with three colors-none of good paint, rust and some more rust...But, I drive it every day its not raining and everyone says, "Nice MG"!

&

this is a high performance vehicle. It will constantly need maintenace, tuning, and attention if you hope to drive it with any regularity.

I'd write that as:
this is a high maintenace vehicle. It will constantly need more performance, tuning, and attention if you hope to drive it with any regularity.

I think a lot of people tear into the car right away because they buy the car as a project, maybe even a first project, not necessarily for a driver. And a lot of first projects don't get completed...

Conner, looks like you are doing a great job and a terrific job documenting it. Your site will be a huge resource for people new to the fun. Keep it up!
TR

[Conner]

The car, particularly its interior, was in rougher shape when I got it then I thought it would be. That said, the engine was re-built by the PO and I'm thinking it will not need any work.
The PO said that the car had been parked for a period of years and my first priority was to see if there was any sludge in the gas tank or other problems from inactivity. Luckily the tank was pretty clean. I'm thinking the car is in very good shape mechanically and the car will only need some new paint and a new interior, although the transmission is a bit loose.
I think the theme of this project is going to be: pull a piece off, clean it up, maybe paint/finish it, and then put it back together. We'll see where that takes me.

[wineguy]

I have have to agree with Stickerman, and I believe Sid said this as well.
I believe some people think just because these car are 35+ years old, they need to be restored. I dont think people realize what a restoration takes, in time or MONEY. These cars go for 2000-5000 dollars every week on ebay. Which is a great price for a car that is 35+ years old, and we all agree these cars are undervalued. People dont realize that you can spend 2K rebuilding your U20. You can rebuild any American made muscle car motor for half that. Adavane Autoparts and Pepboys don't carry waterpumps for a U20, but they do carry them for a Chevy 350.

AS, the time and money start adding up during a restoration, thats when people start to lose interest. My opinion only

I know when I bought my first roadster, restoration was the first thing on my mine. But after a getting it running good, driving it was the only thing i wanted to do. Im truley happy I got a daily driver, instead of a pile of parts, in the garage. The enjoyment from this car has gotten me hook on roadsters.

I bought a second car to strip and start a ground up restoration. (67.5 2000). Trust me, the money is adding up at rapid pace. I really dont mind because after working on my 67.5, I can go for a ride my 69.

I do have to say Conner has really gotten a lot done on his car in the short time he has had his car. I look forward to seeing the project and the car driving in the Austin area.

[spl310]

[quote]I think the theme of this project is going to be: pull a piece off, clean it up, maybe paint/finish it, and then put it back together. We'll see where that takes me.[/quote]

That is where you can get into trouble. The "while I am here" syndrome is what kills a lot of cars. I have a 1500 that I bought 8-10 or so years ago. I dragged it home and got it running within 45 minutes. It needed interior and paint. It was a good bit rougher than your car, but still a solid car. The brakes were fixed in a week or so. Then I started the take a piece off and refinish it to put it back together. The car is disassembled in the garage. I stopped just short of taking the body tub off of the frame.

I can understand wanting to make it as nice as possible, but having been there, a roach of a car that runs, drives and stops beats a project in process undergoing the "well, while I am here" throws any day of the week! Especially if it is sunny!!

[shifty]

I'm happy to say I got Zippy back on the road this weekend. I tried to avoid the "while-you're-at-its" this time.

http://shiftco.com/features/zippy/index.html

re-Zippy is the new stuff.

I can't say that for my other cars. I've been working on my '68 1600 for 2 years, and the '67.5 for almost 10! Of course, none of these ran when I got them.

[dbrick]

I know the "While I'm here" syndrome well. Fortunatly, it is serving me well so far. Probably could have had it on the road in a week or two, but decided to spend the winter and make it dependable. Almost every time I decided to dig a little deeper, I found something scary, dangerous or downright funny. Among these were the carpeting NAILED to the floor with spiral floor tacks, ball joints that didn't even have grease fittings installed, still had plugs threaded in the holes, and wheels with the lug holes welded closed and re-drilled so the wrong lugnuts could be used.

No trailer queens for me, it's a driver, I can't justify the expense of a restoration to get a car that is too nice to drive. Now if I had a budget like Jay Leno, different story, do a perfect restore AND drive the hell out of it.

The only good thing about some of these unfinished projects is that when someone gives up and sells the car and a pile of new parts cheap, someone else gets a great new project and is a few thousand dollars ahead on parts.

[JohnnyRoadster]

Conner, I hope you are having as much fun as I am. I am doing pretty much the same thing to my car right now. I only get to work on it Tuesday nights, but it is still moving along.

John

[Conner]

Yeah, it is a lot of fun and a great learning experience. The roadster community has been very helpful and encouraging. For me this car will be as much about the project as the finished product.

I have only been able to do work, for the most part, on the weekends, but should get some late summer nights in in the weeks to come. The project website will probably only be updated once a week or so given that my weekends are the times I'll be doing most of the work.

[SLOroadster]

I don't know what I will do without my roadster when I pull it apart for the last time to get it painted some time later this year (I hope, shall we place bets?) I drive it rain or shine, the only time that I don't drive it is when I'm pulling my hair out trying to find the reason its running not quite right, only to find that it was something I did while in a hurry to get it back on the road. If its ugly, drive it as long as you can, fix the little stuff and go from there.

Will