Datsun Roadster Forum-311s.org

The first step, disassembly. The frames were in very good condition. The only required repair was to one of the seat back release cables.








Give the date of being produced, very elegant form and function.

Now we come to the look what we found portion of this project. The original foam was in great shape and these boards were in place of the original webbing.





The boards where used as a template, the foam was augmented. Given what the car is going to be used for, I wanted "bolsters".

The builder of these seats ran with my idea, the results are as requested.

The seat covers are of my choice. The inserts are a Recaro type fabric, the side bolsters are leather and the seat backs are naugahyde.







Well worth the time and money.

Wow those are really nice, excellent work! I've not seen pics of modified stock seats.

One of the issues with the car, one of many, was how poorly the car was running up to it being parked. I had seen it on the road but it never sounded very good as it was driven. The first picture is the car as found. It was complete, but just a look at the picture starts to reveal some issues.



First no smog pump belt. The pump had frozen.

It took not a minute to decide the car was going to be set up in a pre 1968 configuration, now I only needed a few parts.

Yes, I saved everything that was removed.

Getting to this point has been a labor. When I get to drive it, the work will fade.

The extremely poor running might have left it's mark.





The carbon build up was epic. The distributor was a mess. The vacuum advance had frozen.

After the application of much time and effort, they look like this.

During the refresh of what seemed like everything under the bonnet, the cooling system needed some attention. The number of hoses that needed to be changed included all of them. Starting at the heater plenum to the radiator. Everything is new. On this go-a-round, the radiator was flushed and the over flow tank was completely rebuilt.
Until you get it out of the car and stripped you might not give this a second look.







Getting them completely cleaned out requires splitting them at the seam. Then you know they will not be leaking at that seam you can not see at the fender. One more reason these cars might be running hot.

The more you dig the more you find sometimes! I know it's a lot of work, but the satisfaction of the before and after is what this time is all about... that and bonding some with the car. You will know every inch of the car like I know mine. That is very valuable. There's plenty of info on what needs to be done to convert it to pre-smog, with the biggest item being the distributor configuration. Keep up the good work and posts!

Yes, the distributor is very important to the back dating of the ignition system. Sending my distributor to the east coast to be diagnosed and rebuilt initially worked out with results as expected. My old unit was a mess. The rebuilt unit did have the car running, now I am chasing a non grounding issue.
Like I said, working on it.





This original unit was never going to allow the car to run correctly.

I know, taking the car apart to "fix" the completely warn out front end a-arm bushings will requires more parts than I all ready have on hand or already have on order.
But.... I can alway think positively. Right?

E12-80, I now have this taking up space in my aging memory. But after a round trip to the east coast my enhanced distributor is again, working! The car started right up and confirmed that it is running, lean. The epic carbon build up is going to require removal of the carbs and a complete rebuild.

But first, I need to remove the front suspension and get started on the a-arm bushings. I need to return the stock lower shock mounts, my new ones are ready for their Bilstein's.

Nothing like a little bit of post Solvang enthusiasm!