Datsun Roadster Forum-311s.org

Drove 300+ miles round trip to Duff's to check his "defective" distributor. He had acquired one of the EI's I built years ago, still brand new. His mechanic just finished a very nice clean rebuild and couldn't get it timed or running even close to right. Brought the EI from my car and swapped it in, same problem, barely runs. Carbs WAY out of balance and idle way off, so set that, still crappy. Had to go Old School, got out the vacuum gauge, the needle was waving like crazy at around 10. Remember all those diagrams in the shop manual? Used plastic pliers and started pulling plug wires while it was running. Found #2 dead, and #3 very weak. The the valves were too tight, so no compression, Amazed he made it home!

So we set them to spec, and now that it had 4 cylinders the newly adjusted carbs were out of whack. We reset the carbs, vacuum up to almost 20 and steady, car sounds nice. Probably worn nozzles? Still a little rich, but that's OK on a new engine. Once around the neighborhood, all is good.
As I left, Duff and his daughter were heading out for a ride, so well worth the efffort. Made it home in 2 hours, which was a surprise. Have to put mine back together tomorrow.

I finished my carpet and doors! I need to start that center console as the carpet holes for the shifter and ash tray look funny. Oh yeah, need that heater back in too. Argggg. How come everything takes so much longer time than I allocate?

Tell me about the TIME things take!
I spend all day doing little detail jobs and end up exhausted.
I stand back and look and can't see anything earth shattering
One week to go to the Bay to Birdwood Classic.
Whether I have a windshield on not, I'll be there

dbrick wrote:Drove 300+ miles round trip to Duff's to check his "defective" distributor. He had acquired one of the EI's I built years ago, still brand new. His mechanic just finished a very nice clean rebuild and couldn't get it timed or running even close to right. Brought the EI from my car and swapped it in, same problem, barely runs. Carbs WAY out of balance and idle way off, so set that, still crappy. Had to go Old School, got out the vacuum gauge, the needle was waving like crazy at around 10. Remember all those diagrams in the shop manual? Used plastic pliers and started pulling plug wires while it was running. Found #2 dead, and #3 very weak. The the valves were too tight, so no compression, Amazed he made it home!

So we set them to spec, and now that it had 4 cylinders the newly adjusted carbs were out of whack. We reset the carbs, vacuum up to almost 20 and steady, car sounds nice. Probably worn nozzles? Still a little rich, but that's OK on a new engine. Once around the neighborhood, all is good.
As I left, Duff and his daughter were heading out for a ride, so well worth the efffort. Made it home in 2 hours, which was a surprise. Have to put mine back together tomorrow.

Question is, are they home yet?
Nice work Dave!!

dbrick wrote:Drove 300+ miles round trip to Duff's to check his "defective" distributor. He had acquired one of the EI's I built years ago, still brand new. His mechanic just finished a very nice clean rebuild and couldn't get it timed or running even close to right. Brought the EI from my car and swapped it in, same problem, barely runs. Carbs WAY out of balance and idle way off, so set that, still crappy. Had to go Old School, got out the vacuum gauge, the needle was waving like crazy at around 10. Remember all those diagrams in the shop manual? Used plastic pliers and started pulling plug wires while it was running. Found #2 dead, and #3 very weak. The the valves were too tight, so no compression, Amazed he made it home!

So we set them to spec, and now that it had 4 cylinders the newly adjusted carbs were out of whack. We reset the carbs, vacuum up to almost 20 and steady, car sounds nice. Probably worn nozzles? Still a little rich, but that's OK on a new engine. Once around the neighborhood, all is good.
As I left, Duff and his daughter were heading out for a ride, so well worth the efffort. Made it home in 2 hours, which was a surprise. Have to put mine back together tomorrow.

Dave, do you happen to want to drive 600+ miles to perform a miracle on my car, lol!

Today was a long tiring effort.
Checked the oil in the diff, just to be sure, all OK.
Decided to fit the bonnet/hood.
WELL!
Had all sorts of trouble getting the gaps right not to mention the catch to work properly!
Spent far too much time fiddling around with the catch.
Anyhoo, finally cracked it and it looks as good as a 1965 car should
Opened up all my precious badge packets and fitted them to their respective locations.

Nice new letters on the bonnet.

Nice new badge for her rear end.

And nice new Fairlady badges for the guards.
My wife even tried out the passenger seat!
"Ohhhh, it's very low to the ground isn't it?"
It was on jack stands at the time
We'll see how she copes next Sunday on the rally

Looks great !!

Bling, bling, bling.....just a matter of time now.
Looking great!

Car looks great, Nissanman. My wife was totally freaked out the first time we went on a busy highway among the trucks. She really hates the large trucks with the long polished spike lugnuts, right at face level.

As far as traveling mechanics, that was a long day and we were lucky it was minor. I did a trip to Ohio and back in one day with a U-haul to drop off a Roadster, that was a LONG day.
Heard from Duff, apparently he's back home, or having his daughter type Email from the road

Dave, Duff is darn lucky you came up and knew what you were doing. That "mechanic" almost cost him some valves, head gasket and more down time! Well done!

What I did for my Roadster? .....Let it have a Lt. front blow out @ 65mph which naturally with my luck , a piece of carcus came loose beating the lower trailing portion of fender up into the wheel well. I'm glad I'm only in DP 90 and fall is here.

I built a frame mobility solution. A rack for the pickup so I can take it to the powder coater.

How to fit a 12 foot frame in to a 6 foot bed. Build a sloped rack so a couple feet hang out the back and the rest goes up over cab. Now I don't have to rent a trailer.

Oil Change & zinc additive.

With a little help from DBrick yesterday, I got the 1600 back on the road and running great. Thanks!

I had the entire engine gone over, heads ported, new seals, clutch, slave and master cylinders, gas tank cleaned and sealed, and the dbrick and I set the valves, he worked some black magic on the carbs, and it is running wonderfully.

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Ignore the bouncing black dot (sand under the lens) and the amateur videographer (cell phone in my left hand while driving and shifting with the right hand/knee.

I did some cleanup of rubber and dust from the burnout


Rubber pieces everywhere!

Cleaned the exhaust:

Detailed wheels: