1968 1600 SPL311-20028 "Sally"

[rbhenderson]

Switched it to tonight and stayed late at work and used the media blaster to clean up the exhaust manifold… Picked up some VHT flameproof paint and primer on the way home and got to work cleaning and painting.

Blasting away, took me about 2hrs, we need a better feeder in the blaster, lots of starts and stops. But I’m thankful I have access to one!

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And here it is with the primer finished:

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And then with the aluminum color. I debated going with some other color but decided having it sort of match the aluminum bits would be nice.

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I haven’t done the cure process yet, that’ll be a Saturday task I think. Doesn’t sound too difficult in the oven

[rbhenderson]

Did a bunch of random stuff this weekend.

Broke down and put the parts car on dollys so I can shift both around and have more room in the garage, much better! I also took the hood off of Sally so I have easier access to the engine compartment.

I pressure tested the radiator and heater core using a pretty kludgy set up, turns out you can plug the radiator hoses with 1” pvc pipe plugs if you wrap them a few times with electrical tape to increase their diameter a bit. Both parts look pretty good overall, I did find a leak at the top neck of the radiator. Not sure what I’m going to do about it yet, I may just leave it for now, I was at about 3x operating pressure so it should be tiny with coolant vs air

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Did some checkouts and general cleaning on the dash. Since I’m going to do a flat dash swap eventually I’m not going to put a lot of time into restoring this one. But I did want to check over the wiring and gauges to make sure things were functional. Speedo and Tach both ran fine with a drill, so good there. I did find one wire that was partly (mostly?) melted. I think it’s the main power for the tail lights. Dash switch side is the most melted:

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Engine bay end looks like it got hit but never hit melting point. I’m assuming there is or was a short in the tail light wiring so I’ll do a deep dive of that at some point soon. The wiring diagram in the tech wiki was very helpful, thankful it’s there!

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Also figured out that the cut wires went to the starter, PPO had hard crimped them so PO cut them when disassembling everything I guess. I don’t have any bullet connectors so attempted to solder them all, that didn’t go well, the wires were way too dirty to solder cleanly!

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I don’t have any hardware for the dash, as best I can tell it’s mostly 1/4-28 holding the safety dash on. Does anyone know the reasoning behind the various SAE and Metric fasteners? Found out the hood bolts are m8x1.0, which is soooooo close to 5/16-24 but they aren’t compatible, that’s going to be fun to not mix up

Vacuumed down the interior and all the carpets so I could get them back inside. The pad is shedding like crazy so each one further down the stack was dirtier than the last! My arm is sore from the intense vacuuming haha

Here’s a process shot, the pad comes apart and looks like hair, it was a pain to clean up!

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Installed in the car. The tunnel carpet doesn’t fit very well, and it’s not slotted for the center console either, that’ll be fun. It’s amazing how just carpet makes it look so much closer to ready for the road!

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Started disassembling the seat slider mechanisms since they are gummy and not really working. Pretty gross! Is it normal for the bottom of the sliders to sit in the carpet? That doesn’t seem to help matters!

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While vacuuming the carpets and climbing around on things I found an extra hole right behind the bumper (not the side light hole near the top). It was taped on the inside and filled with Bondo. I didn’t see a matching one on the other side so I assume it’s a rust hole or some other damage. Something to be dealt with later when I strip the car I suppose.

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[sfyks870]

Awesome progress! Thought I would mention in case you didn't know, a very capable sand blasting cabinet can be had at harbor freight for under $200 if you catch it on sale.
https://www.harborfreight.com/40-lb-cap ... 68893.html
This is the one I have and it works great as long as you have a pretty capable air compressor. Just put it together paying close attention to compressing all of the sealing seams, throw 50 lbs of glass beads in it, and clean away.

They also have a smaller table top version for a little cheaper if cost is a concern, but I have never used these so I can't vouche for their effectiveness.
https://www.harborfreight.com/benchtop- ... 62454.html

[rbhenderson]

Awesome progress! Thought I would mention in case you didn't know, a very capable sand blasting cabinet can be had at harbor freight for under $200 if you catch it on sale.
https://www.harborfreight.com/40-lb-cap ... 68893.html
This is the one I have and it works great as long as you have a pretty capable air compressor. Just put it together paying close attention to compressing all of the sealing seams, throw 50 lbs of glass beads in it, and clean away.

They also have a smaller table top version for a little cheaper if cost is a concern, but I have never used these so I can't vouche for their effectiveness.
https://www.harborfreight.com/benchtop- ... 62454.html

Feels good to have made visible dent in things this weekend!

That sand blast cabinet is really tempting. If I ever hit the point where its a pain to bring stuff in to work I'll spring for one, but right now I'm space limited unless this lives outside and with the humidity that doesn't seem like a great idea... I need to get the parts car out on the driveway under a cover so HOA doesn't ding me, oh how I wish I lived in the country. (they aren't that bad, but rules are rules). This is my current messy garage, yay for car dollys!

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I splurged and bought a 5 gallon bucket of Evap-o-rust from Orielly, works out to be 30% cheaper than by the gallon, plus free delivery! Thats my solution for parts cleanup right now haha

[Gregs672000]

Excellent progress! The hole is stock, for the round rear side marker that came on 68-69 cars. Can't believe it was just filled with bondo and tape! Looks like you'll need to source two. The seat runners tend to get like that, normal to sit on the carpet I believe. Most people end up having them slid most/all of the way back. Electrical is one of my weaknesses, but do look into putting a fuse in the main white power wire coming off the alternator and going to the voltage regulator as they can ground and fry the harness. I know from personal experience.

[sfyks870]

I think he means the hole marked by this white arrow. And if I'm not mistaken, isn't that the hole for one of the rubber bumper stops? The piece that goes between the body panels and the bumper to prevent it hanging on things. And also, I think they were only on 69 & 70 cars. Maybe a replacement quarter from a later year? Idk.

[rbhenderson]

I think he means the hole marked by this white arrow. And if I'm not mistaken, isn't that the hole for one of the rubber bumper stops? The piece that goes between the body panels and the bumper to prevent it hanging on things. And also, I think they were only on 69 & 70 cars. Maybe a replacement quarter from a later year? Idk.

I knew I should have taken a better picture! Oh well... Thanks for the arrow! I do need to source lights for the other holes as well, I don't think the car came with them. I had no idea there were bumpers for the bumpers on the newer cars... I just looked, https://www.carpartsmanual.com/datsun/s ... ar-outside seems to show 71 being a bolt in item, but maybe that's the location for it and something happened to the panel, that must be a donor panel. Gonna be fun when I strip all the paint!

Excellent progress! The hole is stock, for the round rear side marker that came on 68-69 cars. Can't believe it was just filled with bondo and tape! Looks like you'll need to source two. The seat runners tend to get like that, normal to sit on the carpet I believe. Most people end up having them slid most/all of the way back. Electrical is one of my weaknesses, but do look into putting a fuse in the main white power wire coming off the alternator and going to the voltage regulator as they can ground and fry the harness. I know from personal experience.

Good call on the fuse, I'll add one in, don't need anymore melting wires if it can be helped! Which reminds me: alternator - I need to dig in to that, current one I have has cracks on all the wire insulation coming out of it. Maybe the donor car alternator is better. I'm going to open that up and see if I can fix it or if I need to rewire/replace it.

It's weird to me that the seat rails sit so deep in the carpet, but that may just be because the original carpet was thinner than the aftermarket deep pile stuff that in it right now. I'm going to dump the seat rails into my 5 gal bucket of EvapoRust magic and let it go to town, and then figure out how to preserve them. The car has two sets of holes for the seats, I'm gonna put them in the back holes, so I'll gain about 1.5".

[Stick]

I thought the same thing when I looked at my seats .. My passenger side seat has a hard time extending back the full travel because of the carpet. Seems like they need a slight lift from a bracket spacer of some sort ....

[Gregs672000]

Ha ha Ha! Well, glad I was seeing the wrong one! As I recall the bumper rubber has a backing plate that sandwiches the sheet metal to hold the whole thing in place. Not on pre '68 cars I don't think... not on mine.

[rbhenderson]

Ha ha Ha! Well, glad I was seeing the wrong one! As I recall the bumper rubber has a backing plate that sandwiches the sheet metal to hold the whole thing in place. Not on pre '68 cars I don't think... not on mine.

Yeah, I couldn’t tell from the diagram if the backing plate and hole matched up, they look to be about the same size… Maybe a late model owner has a pic and can chime in.

I thought the same thing when I looked at my seats .. My passenger side seat has a hard time extending back the full travel because of the carpet. Seems like they need a slight lift from a bracket spacer of some sort ....

I might see if I can find an easy spacer to slip in. The glory of being average height in a high windshield car haha!

[rbhenderson]

Did a couple things tonight, looked at the alternator and worked on the seats.

Alternator wiring/connector is pretty bad. It looks like it’s been on fire at some point, or overheated at least. And the wires are stiff, I took a heat gun to them to straighten them enough to tape. Gonna take it and get it tested somewhere, and then decide if I’m running it as is or not. Doesn’t have to last long!

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Taping progress. I didn’t get a pic of the finished product, I think it would hold for a while but not sure I’m gonna take the risk.

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Pulled the sliders off the other seat and started cleaning things. They are going to clean up pretty well, I did have trouble in the seams, need to blow them out or get a brush that can get down in the seams.

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Went to town on one set of sliders with brake cleaner and then simple green. Now soaking them in evaporust. I’m tempted to cut the crimps off and disassemble them fully. I really should just buy a parts washer haha

[SOUPY]

Don't cut the crimps! They keep the bearings and slides from falling out! My solution was to heat up the crimped up area and bend the metal back, carefully note where the bearings are and pull slide out. There are 2 different size bearing/rollers in there and the best of my recollection you my have to bend up both ends of outer slide to get inner slide out. Besides being able to clean and grease everything better, you will be able to replace any of the hold down bolts that PO's probably boogered up!

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After you put all back together, just put the slider ends you bent up in a vise and close em down. Bottom picture shows PO's attempted fix, my fix in middle and original unmolested.

[rbhenderson]

Don't cut the crimps! They keep the bearings and slides from falling out! My solution was to heat up the crimped up area and bend the metal back, carefully note where the bearings are and pull slide out. There are 2 different size bearing/rollers in there and the best of my recollection you my have to bend up both ends of outer slide to get inner slide out. Besides being able to clean and grease everything better, you will be able to replace any of the hold down bolts that PO's probably boogered up!20230606_162917.jpg20230524_172047.jpg After you put all back together, just put the slider ends you bent up in a vise and close em down. Bottom picture shows PO's attempted fix, my fix in middle and original unmolested.

Oh I like the idea of bending them! I didn't cut them last night because I didn't have a solid plan for what I would do to keep things together without them, was thinking sheet metal screws but I like this method a lot more! I also wasn't sure how hard it would be to get the bearings back in if I disassembled it all, did you have any trouble reloading the bearings?

I lucked out, all of the studs seem to be in good condition, so one less thing to repair! I'll probably see if I can use these seat rails for custom seats when/if I get around to picking something else.

[SOUPY]

No trouble reloading bearing IF you watch how it comes apart. 2 large bearings and 8 small bearings....I think, maybe, possibly? LOL, you'll get it!

[rbhenderson]

No trouble reloading bearing IF you watch how it comes apart. 2 large bearings and 8 small bearings....I think, maybe, possibly? LOL, you'll get it!

Ha! It seems like a straightforward job. I’m hoping a nice long soak in evaporust is enough, we’ll see! Breaking in my 5 gal pail of it haha. A few hours soaking on the right, fresh in on the left:

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Here’s some before pics for the record:

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I got tired of trying to hold the latches open, some zip ties around the stud are enough to hold them open

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And finally my replacement freeze plugs came in! I was so excited to install them that I didn’t think about aligning them until it was too late!

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