What did you do TO or FOR your Datsun today?(Roadsters only)

[notoptoy]

That's all 237 needs Sid, a little elbow grease and some spray on wax!

[S Allen]

Nice job on the 2 liter Sid. Tom, your car looks fantastic. Nicely done to you both.

Steve

[spl310]

Thank you Steve!

[notoptoy]

Thanks Steve. It does look pretty good from 5-10 feet, just don't zoom in too close! Lots of imperfections, and primer and rattlecan paint up against some very old decent auto paint.

[iloveredmeat]

Nice job on the 2 liter Sid. Tom, your car looks fantastic. Nicely done to you both.

Steve

Agreed!

I love that Sid got his car out, hood up, in the shade... that's like a Clint Eastwood move - leaning on the corner of a saloon, smokin' one of those thin cigars... squinting at the bad guys....

Tom, I'm not familiar with what it looked like before, but man, your car looks really good now.

For me, powered by Easter Mimosas, I finished up the restoration on one of my grills today.

Here are a few photos of my restored grill vs. my NOS grill... pretty darn happy with the results.

Happy Easter.
pm

[JohnnyB66311]

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Thanks Dean for the window track. I was expecting sliced knuckles and a multitude of four letter words ...but installed smooth. Won’t sound like a bag of nails clanging in my door anymore. A common issue so I’ve learned. Snap
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What did you use to adhere the glass to the track?

[Florida Roadster]

That's awesome, love the raw patina look. I thought about that with my car but it's way too ugly. When I was a teenager we used to hang out at a friends house, and in the back was a single car detached garage. In that garage was a real '65 race Cobra, with flat tires, magnesium wheels that had turned green, full race graphics, a literal time capsule. That car sat there for over 40 years. His dad finally sold the car for over 2 million dollars. They had a poll on the Shelby American Club forum about whether to full restore the car or do a "soft" restoration to just get it running and driving. Fortunately they did the soft restore and left the car as is. Some things just need to be left alone.

[spl310]

That's awesome, love the raw patina look. I thought about that with my car but it's way too ugly. When I was a teenager we used to hang out at a friends house, and in the back was a single car detached garage. In that garage was a real '65 race Cobra, with flat tires, magnesium wheels that had turned green, full race graphics, a literal time capsule. That car sat there for over 40 years. His dad finally sold the car for over 2 million dollars. They had a poll on the Shelby American Club forum about whether to full restore the car or do a "soft" restoration to just get it running and driving. Fortunately they did the soft restore and left the car as is. Some things just need to be left alone.

On year at the Amelia Island Concours, Jerry Seinfeld had his Gmund Porsche entered. It was "as found" at the show. When he got it, he took it to a restoration shop and gave them explicit instructions to NOT disturb any patina - get it running and driving safely, but leave it looking edgy. It stood out in the sea of over restored cars, but it had a strong allure. Another year there was a Mercedes 540K that got the same treatment. There is a certain attraction to the unrestored cars.

[Gregs672000]

Looks great Tom! I love clay baring the car... that baby smooth, buttery feeling afterwards is just great. I've been very happy with the ceramic stuff I got too... a turtle wax product. Darkened up the black on the Roadster, and I just washed my wife's Z3 for the first time since winter set in and was really happy with how well it protected the paint... shines like the day I did it. I know there are many different ceramic products out there, and I'm happy to report the Turtle wax product did great and was as easy to apply and remove as any other wax and has been quite durable.

Congrats Sid!

Peter, the grills are amazing!

[theunz]

There is a lot of good to be said of patina cars. I did a frame off on my 69 2000 and spent hundreds if not thousands of hours making it a high quality driver. When I drive it I constantly worry about getting that first scratch or dent even though I know it’s inevitable. I spent as much time making the underside as nice as the topside and do my best to keep both top and bottom clean and dry. On my 69 Porsche I just cleaned and repaired everything, as well as a mechanical restoration. While the interior has held up extremely well for over 50 years, the exterior not so much! A poor repaint on the drivers door and rear quarter is very noticeable while the rest of the paint has a “nice” patina. Driving it is much less stressful and parking is a non issue. On one hand I can’t wait for the Datsun to get some patina, but on the other hand I enjoy seeing all my hard work come to fruition.

[DCooke]

Bilstein shock replace part 2: Swapped out the fronts over the weekend along with new lowering springs. It was definitely more work than doing the rears, but I took it slow & didn't break any of the old fasteners. I did the route of removing the lower A-arm bolts from the frame. I didn't remove any of the brake components as that wasn't necessary. The new modified lower shock triangle provided with the Bilsteins was a bit difficult to line up, but then I realized I only had to loosen the lower ball joint bolts & the new plate tapped into place & the new fasteners went in quickly. I also opted to install the new lowering springs first without the front shocks in place. This made re-installing the lower A-arm bolts a bit easier than with the shock in place, I didn't even need a jack for this part. Then inserting the new Bilstein shock was easy & it was done! Once I had the wheels back on, I drove it down the driveway & the front spring made a small clunk as it seated itself on the first bump at the end of the driveway.

A quick measurement from the top of the wheel well to the ground is now 24.5", which is an inch lower than with the original springs. A profile view of the car now looks much better than in the past. The wheels now look properly portioned in the wheel well & the overall rake looks better.

Now for the test drive on the new Bilsteins... I immediately noticed a much firmer front end on any bump in the road & my wife even noticed the difference. She said her back used to ache after just a few miles on the old shocks, and now she said it felt much smoother. Gotta love that the wife noticed the difference as a passenger. A few miles of driving & I had forgotten about all bumps in the road we were encountering, the Bilstein's handled every bump in these midwest roads, no more dodging cracks & bumps & now I can just enjoy the ride & concentrate on the apex, not the bumps!

I would highly recommend this upgrade and although I was a bit intimidated by the work required to do the front shocks, it wasn't really that hard & didn't take that long. Its always a bit more satisfying when you can do the work yourself. And thanks to JT for making these available for the roadster community!

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[Gregs672000]

Another Convert! So funny, I just finished a PM to a new member here about this swap, and you just said what I told him. My wife has had some significant pain from several (not her fault! ) car accidents and the B's make all the difference. The car is just flat out more fun to drive. Happy for YOU!

[Florida Roadster]

I didn't do anything for my Roadster today. But I did read through 292 pages of this thread.

[bajaroadster]

I decided to tackle the alignment of my hood this weekend. P.O. was not overly concerned with getting it centered or level when he re-installed it after an engine rebuild. Gaps were way off and one rear corner was very high when hood was closed. After a few attempts at making adjustments with the hood in the open position, it became painfully obvious that it would be nearly impossible to find the right alinement in that way. So, I pulled out the grill and accessed the hinge bolts that way with the hood in the closed position. I loosened the latch pin bolts enough to allow the assembly to float and used some homemade wooden shims to center the hood. I was able to get the hood centered and level, and then simply tightened the hinge bolts. The hood now looks much better. I would like the hood to sit slightly lower at the back when it is latched, but I ran out of adjustment when turning the threaded latch pin. I'm considering adding more threads to the latch pin to gain a bit more adjustment. Has anyone run into this on their car?

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[DAC21]

Assembled my wing windows...baby steps.

I found the following neoprene washers worked well for the front/back side glass pivot hardware

Home Depot 1/4" SKU # 597 487. pack of 4

Pivot hardware screw,

Everbuilt Oval Head #10x32x1/2" Stainless

I couldn't find glass tape that was 2.75in wide which is what you need if you are trying to cut a single piece. I bought this rubber sheet and cut a 3" x 6" piece and used some 303 Aerospace Protectant as a lubricant to force the glass into the bottom pivot frame channel. You can pull on it and stretch it a bit if it doesn't want to push into the frame as is. Sharp exacto to trim the excess.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B08LN ... UTF8&psc=1

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