Datsun Roadster Forum-311s.org

About to go to the powder coater

Nice looking frame. Good call. Choose a color/finish yet?

Well that is a funny question. Body shop guy is holding detail hostage. I bet black. Cause he sent me a picture of my rear axle all done in black. It's not back until Monday or Tuesday. Sadly I'm almost always on my iPad which cannot upload photos or there would be many more.

And yes I told them black but they have been teasing me about silver to match the body which I wouldn't hate. So my body shop has a good sense of humor. More importantly they do beautiful work.

Oh and my new plates came. SRL 2 NV. Picking up this week!

One of those fun issues with any roadster is finding certain parts. For me the problem was upper ball joints. Ugh. Everyone was out of stock. Mike Young was kind enough to recommend rareparts.com. Per chance I work less than a mile from them. They were able to completely rebuild my upper ball joints in under a week. My suspension thanks both Mike Young and rareparts.

Frame comes back Wednesday from powder coating (yes I will post pictures). Engine is rebuild with Mikuni carbs, tranny rebuilt. Hopefully all of that will be installed in next week or two. Then it's time for the custom dash to be built. Upholstery shop is working on my seats now.

My car is tracking to be done before Thanksgiving. It's really getting down to the last items. I'm anxious, I'm excited, I'm scared. Will it be as beautiful as I think? Will the interior turn out like it looks in my head? Will the stereo have the horrible rattle that bad stereos have? Or will the stereo sound perfect? I bought the Auto Meter Prestige gauges for the new setup. New Parrot indash stereo and a Clear wi-fi to use with the stereo. The waiting is killing me.

Sorry to rant.

Quit worrying, be thankful. I am sure there are plenty of guys who are not in a position to get all this work done this quickly. You have work in multiple shops all at once. That costs money. Be grateful that in these economic times you are able to do it.

It will be done, life is good, enjoy the ride.

the frame is back from powder coating

Looks damn nice. That powder coating will also ensure a rust free frame for decades, if not generations to come. Moving along nicely.

68Fairlady4me wrote:the frame is back from powder coating

I have frame envy!

wow thats nice!

Oh, I envy those days. I want to build another one soooo bad. Looking good. Now comes the fun part.

Yes, I think we are on the downhill slope now. Next week they reassemble the suspension, put body back on, paint the engine bay, and install the engine. When it returns from that they build the custom dash, then it goes to the upholstery shop to have all the interior designed and installed (and stereo). When it returns from there, last touches on the body, paint, and install all chrome and ta-da, a new Datsun.

In theory, tracking to be done late October early November.

I've had a couple of PMs now regarding the cost of reparing my ball joints. I apologize for not including cost to have Rarepart.com repair them. I paid a bit over $200 a piece to have them redone. That is for the upper ball joints. Took them just about a week to do it. I think they said they have lower ball joints in stock, ready to go. Ask for Glen, he deals with the Datsun's I believe. They said anything regarding the suspension or steering they can either make or repair. I work within a mile or two of them and wish I found them much early during my rebuild. Hope that helps some folks!

If you don't want to deal with them, I think Mike Young is about to have a couple of sets ready to ship here in the next week or so. I would have bought a pair from him directly if he had them in stock.

So it's been a while since I updated my progress. Actually, the rebuild stalled for a bit (not my decision). The engine is back in the car and running. Because the heater core wasn't in, couldn't road test or run long, but it's a beast. The car then was towed back to the body shop where they decided it wasn't a priority. This is the delay. At Thanksgiving I was more bold with them and reminded them how many days until my "drop dead" date for the project to be completed is. That seemed to jump start stuff again. So the body work is being completed and finally, finally the custom dash build has begun.

(this is the early skelton, no hints here)

I have the new gauges ready to go into this dash...autometer prestige series...black faced, should look good in there. I got my GTR2 shifter knob, the e-brake new grip is being shipped this week, Momo Evo steering wheel is here with hub, and a few more nice items waiting for the next phase. don't bash me for my completely customizing my interior. My theme is retro exterior, custom interior. I don't plan to sell here, so I don't feel bad about losing the original dash or not swapping for the flat dash. And if it turns out, then it will be beautiful, if it doesn't turn out, I won't turn it loose on others to deal with.



All of the chrome is finally completed restored and beautiful. My last load of chrome I realized, the bill was for just a tad more than the purchase price of my car. All the new weatherstipping is here. I still need one more trunk weatherstipping because I took the advice from Geraldo about having two trunk lids (I have the lugguage rack). I have a new ignition in the mail this week.

The transformation of my seats to high backs frame wise is done....just waiting to get their new padding and cushions.

I've been told that the body work and dash should be done this month and then the car goes to upholstery. Then it will come back for paint and assembly. I think the car goes to upholstery mid February, but we will see.

Solvang!