Datsun Roadster Forum-311s.org

jamesw wrote:Thanks guys. Remember I'm a professional construction manager (albeit offshore/subsea) so I know that if you fail to plan, you plan to fail. Sorry I haven't gotten to use that cliche in a while

Cheers
James

I was preaching to the choir! You're already miles ahead with that ability to plan. Looking forward to watching the progress!

Will be following along with this as well.
Car looks like a great starting point for a frame off build.

Have fun with it James!

Ryan

Hi folks,

First off - let me just say I NEVER want to work under the dash again. Maybe when I get the body back I'll want to work under there again but we'll see

In any case, I made a lot of progress over the last week. Everything is out from under the dash. The wiring harnesses are all 3 out and stored, everything is out of the engine bay save the engine... All the chrome is off and ready to go to the shop for work. I FINALLY got the stuck gas cap off today. It's missing the little flip cover btw - thank GOODNESS that Dean is selling a refurb kit - that's awesome. I'm probably going to use http://speedsportchrome.com/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; for the chrome if their price is good.

Hmm...what else... I guess now the question is - what is a good way to rig the body for lifting? I have a BIG hoist, and a load leveler. I have read the various how-to's but none give details on C.G. and good lift points. Anyone have this info or a good "this is how I did it?"

Another interesting thing about my car is that it's original silver under the dash cap, but under the dash, it's the ochre red primer color. I thought Datsun painted the whole body????

Pix coming soon.

Cheers and thanks,
James

They didn't spray the interiors very well - so that sounds about right. Fun thing to look for - they placed the cowl grille on the tranny tunnel or rear parcel shelf for painting - you can often see the overspray.

I've used the seat mounting holes and a chain. If you have the doors and everything else removed from the body, it doesn't weight that much!

Thanks Leigh - I'll have a look around for that tonight just for giggles.

I am going to leave the doors on - but I like the idea of getting some eye-bolts and big fender washers and lifting it that way (using the seat holes).

Cheers
James

If you use the seat bolt holes, they are reinforced. That may be a better way to go - except for balance. I pulled a body with a couple of chains and a couple of come-alongs once. It was fun! I also used an engine hoist and a Hoyer lift another time.

The seatbelt holes are 7/16-20, you can get eyebolts or even the seatbelts themselves to attach the hook or strap, and are pretty close to the balance point. IIRC, Mark and I used a 2 foot 2x4 in the shifter hole to loop the strap around and it was semi balanced on one point.

Thanks guys. I like the idea of 2x4 in the shifter hole and eye bolts in the rear wheel well seatbelt holes.

Here's a photo of my progress as of tonight.

And just for you Leigh - here's one showing where they painted the cowl screen on top of the tunnel

Cheers
James

I'm in awe that you have been able to disassemble the car so quickly. Heck, it takes me months to just get a new set of tires!

I'm getting really good at taking them apart. The putting back together part is where I slow down significantly.
Oh, and this explains all the weird paint outlines on my rear deck, thought it was a PO.

Hey! Great progress! If you want to remove the body, I wrote up a detailed explanation of how I did it here: http://www.311s.org/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=13014" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;. Or for a more direct link, try this: http://www.keepandshare.com/doc/2365010 ... 3-meg?da=y" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; For many steps, you may be able to skip over it as you're more ahead of where I was at that time, but regardless, it might help. And to lift the body I used the seat bolt holes on the tunnel right behind the gear shifter. The lift points are slightly behind the center of gravity, but are good enough if you have someone helping to steady it while lifting. Hope all goes well, keep posting!

Thanks.

We made great progress today! Special shout out to Dan (Datsun65) and his son, and to Brian (local roadster guy) for coming over to help. Thanks for the pix Dan.

The engine and tranny are out and on a dolly:



The body is off the frame and on a trailer ready to go to the body shop this week:







This is us celebrating after the body came up with NO hang-ups whatsover:



The body is going to Southcoast Paint and Body here in Houston - a REALLY great local shop that does award winning work.

Special thanks to Dbrick for the suggestion to use a 2x4 in the tranny tunnel as the front lift point - that was just about perfect.

Cheers
James

Great work and a worthy celebration!
So, who's who in the pictures James?!

Last photo: Me, Brian, Dan

left to right?