Project Mako - 1967 Datsun 1600 Restmod with SR20DE Power!

[spriso]

Introducing Project Mako -- 1967 Datsun 1600 with SR20DE Power!



Meet Project Mako. This beautiful 1967 Datsun 1600 came to us a few years ago and has been waiting in the corner of the shop for its build slot. This car came out of Eastern Washington, owned by a long-time Datsun roadster enthusiast who had the car from the mid-70s.

In the year 2000, the car was painted a "Jaguar" metallic blue (which reminds me of the dark gray blue you would see on the topsides of a Mako shark) -- and that became the inspiration for this project-- fast, sleek, and striking!



Sadly the car was never reassembled under its previous ownership, and now, nearly 25-years after it was painted, we will be completing this car with a new heart (SR20DE power of course!) and all the normal Spriso Motorsports modifications that we have outlined many times over the last 20-years.









The paint, for being nearly 25-years old is in really nice condition-- there are a few areas that will get some attention, and I will have the engine compartment repainted as it is not up to our standards, but the car appears to be a really nice, rust free example.

I have been collecting parts in while this has been waiting its turn, and have a nice S15 SR20DE engine to go into the car after we do all the frame modifications.

So follow along if you like resto-mod content-- and I'll try to document this build to keep things interesting.

Michael

[Nissanman]

Noice!
The SR20 engine must be getting a bit hard to source by now isn't it?

[spriso]

Nissanman wrote: The SR20 engine must be getting a bit hard to source by now isn't it?

Yes, but they can still be found with some searching-- I have been buying them as they come up for sale for our projects that we have planned-- with the S15 now coming to the states under the 25-year rule, we are seeing more SR20DE engines hitting the market as they get pulled for more powerful SR20DET versions (or other engine swaps for that chassis).

The engine for Project Mako was exactly one of these-- in this case a SR20DE automatic setup-- low KMs, and no signs of abuse due to the automatic gearbox. It is a simple swap to change this back to a manual trans (which I will outline later), and this engine will get a clean-up, re-seal, and a heavy detail with new service parts and it should be good to go for another 25-years.



More soon,

Michael

[GoldHawg]

I can't wait to see your engine detail process; I'm about ready to do that myself and I'd love to get as many tips as possible!

[iloveredmeat]

Amazing as always...

Love the color - and having been up close and personal with a few Makos - you nailed the name.

I look forward to following the project and admiring your craftsmanship and hopefully picking up some tips along the way.

Standing by.
PM

[GeoffM]

Can't wait to follow along!

[William]

So cool to see such amazing work always come out from your shop, I'm sure this one will not disappoint.

[spriso]

Weekend Update

Did a lot of car movement and reshuffling to get everything where it would need to be for winter, and to get it out of the shop for the messy work that will be taking place over the next month or so. First off was to get my Wife's 1500 Fairlady into deeper storage-- but not before a quick run to the gas station to fill the tank before parking it for a bit:



If you are not familiar with this build-- you can check it out here: viewtopic.php?t=6552

Anyway, with the other two SR20 roadsters in storage, and putting a few other cars away, I could finally get to taking the body off of the frame. Since the engine, transmission, wiring harness, and other bits were basically missing from Project Mako, this was a super simple project, and about 30-minutes, the car was in the air free of the frame:



I was then able to put one of our body carts under the body, and roll it out of the way-- nice and easy:



This will get stored out of the way until I can get it into the painter to do the engine compartment and a few other touch up spots.

With the afternoon light quickly fading, I rolled the chassis outside during golden hour to give it a good pressure wash...



And then onto the lift for a full frame disassembly:



Of course the first thing we always do on a frame is knock the sharp corners off so we don't fillet our legs or arms as we work on these things:





With that, a couple of hours of work today I had the frame fully disassembled-- now I will send it out to be sandblasted to make the fabrication work cleaner and easier-- so stay tuned for the next update!

I also scored a NOS 67.5 roadster hood this weekend as well, so that will likely make it onto Project Mako as the hood on this car has a few defects, and I want this to be as nice as possible...

Michael

[Nissanman]

That blue is a great colour

[spriso]

Nissanman wrote:

That blue is a great colour

I think its going to really pop with fresh chrome-- I'm still trying to decide on black or red for the interior though... I do have some red carpet that I dropped into the trunk to get an idea if it would work-- and it does not look too bad-- maybe it will have a new owner before I have to make that decision...



-m

[Alvin]

SUBSCRIBED!

Conflicted on the red interior...maybe if it was that brighter shade of red

[Gregs672000]

The red adds an exciting feel. And maybe it makes sense given the shark reference...
Really nice body work and color. Should be a beautiful ride when done!

[spriso]

Enter the Sand Man

Had a nice window of dry weather and just enough time to get the frame over to be sand blasted-- this will make fabrication work so much cleaner and faster...



With luck we will have this back before the weekend!

Michael

[Nissanman]

Just a word of warning
Make sure you check the integrity of any rusty areas you see now, after the media blasting.
My chassis was badly pitted where those pesky chassis pads were and when it came back the media had perforated the metal in those areas requiring some welding.
Wasn't too bad but definitely needed repairs to seal up the rails again.
You certainly need those rails to be just as strong as when they were new

[spriso]

Nissanman wrote:

Make sure you check the integrity of any rusty areas you see now, after the media blasting.
My chassis was badly pitted where those pesky chassis pads were and when it came back the media had perforated the metal in those areas requiring some welding.
Wasn't too bad but definitely needed repairs to seal up the rails again.
You certainly need those rails to be just as strong as when they were new

Yes-- this is exactly why we will be blasting this frame-- only a couple spots look like they may need extra attention, when it comes back, if they do, it will be easy enough to take care of that-- we want this thing to be good to go for another 50-years!

Michael