Datsun Roadster Forum-311s.org

Sweet just finished with the new exhaust so I thought I start a member's ride post. I bought the in march off of craigslist. It was Idling at 1500 and was extremely rich. Engine and other things were rebuilt in 2003 By David Premo Since then the family had a divorce and the daughter who owned and loved the car went of too college. I bought it for $5000 and it came with boxes of parts. So far I've touched up the emblem with paint, Cleaned out the carbs and had some help tuning it. Lately I've looked into the exhaust to stop the exhaust leak. It took 10 hours to get the manifold off last week and ran straight header until today. I took to the shop and had a 1-3/4" pipe leading right out in front of the back tire with a racing bullet glass pack. It runs sooooo smooth now and can get sideways very easy now. I don't beat the car up, but every once in a while I wet my feet. Main problems now are:
Needs new zerk fittings for suspension
New paint and body work
Chip in windshield filled
Stock manifold and better exhaust put in.
a lot of weatherstripping
Bump stops
Now for pics.....

Great news! Looking fwd to the pix.

Cheers
James

It Barely fit!

The Shop was awesome, Basically a private owner that loves hot rods.

He made a side exhaust and I really like the Stock tip we save from the old rotted exhaust.

Close up:

Interior is in good shape and came with a new canvas soft top.

Engine was stock Except for electric fuel pump, quickly replaced with a new stock one from Nissan dealership.

The header from dean fits nice just the old stock manifold was the problem taking it out.

For anyone curious here's a vid!
" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

IT seems to idle well and sounds pretty good. I would have thought it would be a lot louder - not so!

notoptoy wrote:IT seems to idle well and sounds pretty good. I would have thought it would be a lot louder - not so!

It's a total sleeper! I love it because I can idle and have a breather before punching it again!

I wouldn't necessary call it a sleeper. When i think of a sleeper i think of a Dodge Omni GLHS, or somehting that is uninteresting in looks department, something that wouldn't get a second look but still packs some heat. I wouldn't say a Datsun fairlady is lacking in the looks department, people tend to notice it. But anyway it looks like a blast to drive.

aclever1 wrote:I wouldn't necessary call it a sleeper. When i think of a sleeper i think of a Dodge Omni GLHS, or somehting that is uninteresting in looks department, something that wouldn't get a second look but still packs some heat. I wouldn't say a Datsun fairlady is lacking in the looks department, people tend to notice it. But anyway it looks like a blast to drive.

Good point. I was just not expecting the idle and gassing it to be so awesomely drastic! Now to fix the electrical problems...

Headlights fixed, the fuse contact needed cleaning.
The water pump had old cracked sealant which was leaking so redid that. I'll be able to make it to mt. Shasta now that the headlights work. I'd love to get some more people to look at the car with some suggestions.

ACote wrote:
I'll be able to make it to mt. Shasta now that the headlights work. I'd love to get some more people to look at the car with some suggestions.

I am envious!! I wish you a safe and fun weekend!

pebbles wrote:

ACote wrote:
I'll be able to make it to mt. Shasta now that the headlights work. I'd love to get some more people to look at the car with some suggestions.

I am envious!! I wish you a safe and fun weekend!

Well maybe the car wasn't ready. It coasted to a stop about 45 min from home. The gas gauge is broken so I thought I ran out of gas which I was heading towards the exit I broke down at about 200 yards from the ramp. I walked back and put a gallon of gas in it and it refused to start. A highway patrol helped me check everything out and we kept trying, making sure not to flood it checking fuel lines good and kept trying and waiting. He offered to push me into town to get me off of I-5 and my rear bumper needs re-chroming anyways so he got me to a safer spot which I kept trying. after the battery started getting low I had to call a tow truck. $400 gone and $80 for the hotel room I didn't make it to. Back to the drawing board.

bummer
welcome to classic car ownership!
always run to shasta with at least 1 other roadster, at least 7-8 cars run through your area to get to I-5!
there's Shasta for next year so don't get frustrated

any ideas on what happened?

Alvin wrote:bummer
welcome to classic car ownership!
always run to shasta with at least 1 other roadster, at least 7-8 cars run through your area to get to I-5!
there's Shasta for next year so don't get frustrated

any ideas on what happened?

I was a late runner from my area, had work on friday. Next time I'll make sure to do that. The one Fuse for the turn sig, temp, and Fuel gauge has a short so when it died going 70 I assumed it was fuel, Engine was not too hot. Maybe it had something in the bottom of the fuel tank. I'm taking a break from it this weekend. But I'll look into to it more.

Fixed the coolant leak with a shiny new water pump, I should have pics up tomorrow. Not a single drop of coolant found this week. Head gasket was too loose (I was too worried about over torquing). So no more oil on my nice engine. Everyone assumes its not the original engine, just from top view looks clean, Underneath is a different story,started scrubbing grime today, mostly with a screw driver . I like the shiny original valve cover, but the wrinkle black is just a wipe down and done. For my tune up the car ran great, the only thing was the idle was rich and shaky from the throttle shaft sucking air. By Dec. I should have enough funds to send them to Z-Therapy. I can't wait, those look better than new. I rode in a 240z with his new ztherapy carbs that went from chugging before to hauling butt now. Also changed my oil, installed the 68 license lamp, and installed the side hood stops. Now you can see how crooked my rear bumper is (still a lot better than it was) I was also happy that the bulb still works!


Long update I'll try too do shorter more frequent posts.