Datsun Roadster Forum-311s.org

So based on the advise about dyeing the faded carpet, I decided to give it a go and bought a can of this:


I spent an hour taping and masking the interior, spraypaint is messy stuff.
Did 3 coats on the floor carpet and trans tunnel up to the front. I did not spray where the seats mount as I was running low on the 1 can I have. It's not as dark as the original carpet color but a vast improvement over the faded tan/brown color.

You can see the difference between the parcel shelf carpet and the floor and trans tunnel:


I'll pull the parcel shelf carpet right out and give it a spray later.
For an $ 18.00 spray can and some time, i can live with that for now.

Glad that worked out!

before with brown carpet:
now with more black!

Hey Rob great work , I had not seen the progress great work,
Mark Told me about the new Reccaro seats which looks cool by the way) and that he bought those from you

DAC21 wrote: Sun Feb 02, 2025 4:58 pm The driver side looks a little overstuffed in the center section so there is no side bolster for lateral support. But sitting your buns into it should flatten it out over time.

It's actually my bad , as soon as I saw this post i realized I forgot to tell him about the bottom wire that you need to add to the bottom and clip with hog rings
here's mine when i did it

Thanks Jacques... I made a deal with Mark for my seats for his 66 rebuild. I'll let him add the wire to the seats if he wants to, it shouldn't be hard to pull them off and add it.

Just took a look back through my old photo folder to compare...

2018 how it started:


2025 how its going:

Considerable improvements!

Nice, I like the idea of a decal/image under the hood. Maybe just a big version of the "Not an MG" sticker!? (MG Logo with a line through it)

Red bumper roadster came with a later 68-69 hood, the hood prop bracket was butchered to hold the prop and the cutout section didn't fit the clutch master location and keeps popping the cap off. Ross had one in his parts pile:

Got the new 67.5 hood painted:

Got the metal letters on I'd been saving:

Used the rubber tubing trick to hold the posts on:

Cleaned up and lubricated the spring catch:

Added new rubber bumpers:


Now, the install. Of course, tried it the hard way with me holding it up and my brother tightening the bolts. We had to bend the hinges a bit and no matter how we adjusted, it was never straight.

So left it for a weekend and I read up on the proper way to do it:

1) remove grille
2) loosen alignment bolts on spring close catch
3) lay hood on car
4) reach through the front opening and attach forward bolts. Lift hood and attach rear bolts. Carefully lower hood to close position but don't latch yet
5) with all bolts loose, start aligning the front crease of the hood to the fenders. Tighten front bolts and check for clearance on the latch side leading edge.
6) raise hood and tighten the 2 upper hinge bolts. Check for clearance on fender sides and front edge.
7) test opening and closing. also check the spring catch is aligned. Tighten spring catch after positioning it so hood release is correct.
8 reinstall grille, adjust as needed so hood clears top of grille on opening and closing.

Opens and closes well. Hood release works as it should. Front crease aligned to fenders.

However, it has a angle difference to the fenders:

No matter how I adjust it, this angle is very different and will not align to the fender angle. Will leave it for now as it's working, but it has a definite overbite.

Rob, thanks for re-posting the step-by-step, (my install forthcoming). Keep us posted on the overbite, I'm sure you'll sort it. As important, it looks fantastic!!

Got another can of the spray dye for carpet. Pulled out the badly faded parcel shelf piece and gave it three coats:

Put it back in for a test fit... may hit it with what's left in the can as the crease where it folds in the front is a bit lighter

Another fixit that's been on the list for a while...

Previous owner installed snaps for the soft top. Riveted them onto the car, they looked terrible. Ordered the correct Nissan twisty and postie assortment and installed after drilling out the snaps:

Before:

Above ^^^ Missing the hole for a twisty, fortunately I had my tonneau on the blue '69 and put it on to locate the missing hole.

This is why you always need a 2nd reference roadster




After:


Definitely less snappy... and that'a a good thing.

vorpal wrote: Mon Apr 14, 2025 9:16 pm
After:


20250413_150945.jpg

20250413_150955.jpg


Definitely less snappy... and that a good thing.

Sometimes it's the little things that make a big difference. Replaced my twisty-and-posties a while back, some were broken off/damaged. Nice work!

-jt

Luggage.

So, I originally thought I'd like to install a luggage rack on the trunk and put a funky suitcase with stickers on it for fun. Later, I decided not to drill holes in the trunk lid and just do a luggage install on the parcel shelf using the stock tie downs.

However, stock tie downs and brackets were long gone, so I improvised.

When pulling the parcel shelf carpet for dye spray, I looked at the stock tie down bolt locations:


Surface rust on the back bulkhead, but one of the bracket bolts was broken off in the welded nut. Drilled it out and tapped all 4 holes on the back. Also tapped the front bracket holes and marked them through the carpet.
Had my POR 15 rust repair kit which I washed down the back with the cleaner and acid etch and painted the POR-15 overtop:


After brushing on the POR-15, polished and located the tie down bolts:


Previous owner had a cover panel made that actually looks decent. It does push forward from the back bulkhead a bit, so I wouldn't be able to use stock tie down brackets


I had also seen this on the SEMA Datsun Roadster build a couple of years ago and loved the 2" buckle straps over the suitcase:


So took measurements of what I would need for custom wider brackets that would work with the modifications the previous owner had done and talked to a Z car club buddy who is a hobby machinist for some custom brackets:


Bought some leather buckle straps and a cheap vintage suitcase from eBay:

Installed the brackets:


Tested the bracket depth with the cover panel:


Had to shorten the straps after testing the length in the roadster parcel shelf:


Threaded the straps through the bracket oval holes and secured the suitcase:


Not bad... may get a larger suitcase as this one barely is wide enough for the strap distance.... it was only $ 40.00