40 years in the making...

[GoldHawg]

I've been working on a panhard rod for the rear, see thread here:
viewtopic.php?f=3&t=33388&p=306425#p306425
and the brackets are all done now. I'm waiting on Ridetech to build me the custom one. I could have built it myself but its $160 just for their two rod ends, and they'll sell you a powdercoated completely built one for $210, so seemed an easy choice to have them build it. I've got a nice long 27" which shouldn't allow much lateral movement in the arc. After completing that, I separated the body and the frame to start doing more to the frame. Today I just did one easy task of welding a bolt to the frame for the ground connection for my battery. I previously had welded one up on the cross member when I was going to go with Spriso's package tray location, but with my change in plans to the rear mounted battery, I needed a new ground stud.

[GoldHawg]

Ever wonder why builds take forever? Part of the reason is that "while you're in there," and closely related it, "that's ok, but this could be even better." Previously I made some mounts for the gas tank straps to bolt to that I tack welded to the lower frame, but I wasn't super happy with it. Didn't look good, and I was worried that it might bend over time. No problem, when I pull the tub off next I can weld a short connecting piece to stabilize it. Then I said, why not just replace with a single 1/4" thick piece of steel and bend it? That would be in between the body and frame and you'd never see it. So I make an attempt, and the short little end piece is too short to bend in my brake, and I really didn't want to get out the torch. Then I had another thought (which is sometimes scary). What if I just took a piece of angle iron that was 2" and it would fit inside the rear frame channel? Drill a hole thru and weld a nut on top, then weld inside the frame. Unfortunately I didn't have any mild steel that size, but I did have a short piece of SS that size, 1/4" thick. But I actually needed about 2.25" from the inner frame to get the nut exactly where the existing design was. So, I cut two pieces of the stainless, and then I welded to a 1/4" thick mild steel plate from some scrap I had, which is ok if you use 309 rod filler, and I have some on hand for such a time as this. Then I used the Mig to burn the mild steel portion into the frame. Happy to show of the tig welds, since they're horizontal on a bench. The mig welds will stay hidden--vertical welds with dissimilar thicknesses are harder and these were pretty ugly. But its burned in good. I really like the result over what I had before, and this bracket would hold a gas tank ten times heavier. What's the hammer there for? Just my commercial for Trusty Cook. This hammer is just about the perfect size to beat on anything. Feels great in your hand, its not too heavy to lift, yet heavy enough to do serious pounding on what you're working on. I used it today with a chisel to break thru the previous tacks on the earlier bracket. Love it.

[RustyBucket]

Do you server dinner on that shop floor ?? SPOTLESS !!

The tanks and the welding you did look fantastic..

[RustyBucket]

Where did you get the SS muffler for the car?? Mine is original and needs to be replaced, with something close to OEM ..

Cam

[notoptoy]

JT68 on the forum, DatsunRestorationProducts.com
I have the twin pipe version and love it!

[C.Costine]

Do you server dinner on that shop floor ?? SPOTLESS !!

The tanks and the welding you did look fantastic..

RustyBucket, who said it's his shop floor? I'll bet that he is working in the kitchen.

[GoldHawg]

Rustybucket; see attached screenshot from summit order. In any case I bought 2.25" stuff since that's how I sized my system. If original, pay up to JT68; everybody raves about the quality of his system. Thanks for comments on the shop; trust me there is plenty of mess, especially on my tables. I tend to let everything in get really messy, and then I have to clean everything up. I don't have much consistency about keeping it clean

[notoptoy]

Wow Goldhawg, great find on that muffler and resonator, that is one hard to beat price. But, as stated, if you want true to original, JT's is the way to go.

[RustyBucket]

Thanks you for the information and I'll have to investigate the SS OEM system you mentioned.

What is your engine displacement? I must have missed something on the thread ( or age has kicked in). Did you do an engine swap, cause 2.25 is much larger than the dinky OEM that's drooping on my car.

- Cam

[sfdaugherty]

He's got a 2L SR20 S15 Autech like mine. The original exhaust on that engine was a bit under 2.25"

[RustyBucket]

Sounds like a beast, I’ll bet.

We putt around with a stock 1600 sans smog

[GoldHawg]

Continuing to do mods; my panhard rod is now in. I also pulled the engine tranny out and did some add'l welding on the frame to get clearance for the tranny, the alternator and then weld the frame near the header where I had cut out the lip to give room for the header install. I also learned how to weld sheet metal with my mig--started ugly but got better. Definitely some warping but this was to fix the hole the PO had cut out of the transmission tunnel, so won't be seen. I think I'll get better at this as I go--fortunately I don't have any exterior sheet metal fixes really, just holes in the firewall and the trunk.

[RustyBucket]

Impressive metal work !. Too bad your not near by to bribe into welding a couple of patches to me rockers

I spent the afternoon bracing the door opening and getting the body in bolted for Lift Off tomorrow!

Hope I remover where all the bits go.

[GoldHawg]

Working toward getting ready for powdercoating the frame. Removed the steering gearbox/idler/links. I'm swapping over to the RB gearbox & idler, but I don't know its condition. Probably going to exchange my idler thru Dean, not sure what needs to be done to the steering gearbox. I just know I'd rather pay more now and have it in perfect shape when it goes on rather than have to pull it again later. I'm going to JT to exchange the control arms. Some of this work I could do myself, but I'm behind and need to get this car built. So I'm willing to start outsourcing some of this where there are people that do quality work. I got the rear brake lines plumbed up, but I need a longer rubber hose--be here tomorrow from Amazon. BTW, the Ni-Cu is really easy to work with. Glad I went that route. And the Eastwood Pro brake flare tool made getting the flares right a breeze. I also drilled 3-4 holes per side of the frame an put some of the nut inserts in. I don't know that I'll need them with the metal bend tabs, but relatively easy to do now before I powdercoat. I think the last thing I really need to do with the frame is to put the body back on and start assembling the radiator/fan/condensor setup that I have to see if I need to weld any brackets for that to the frame. Then I'm ready for this to go out for powdercoating.

[GoldHawg]

Tackled something that has been annoying me for the last few years--should have done it earlier. I had not connected the e-brake cables to the Datsun hand lever, and I had super long cables always in the way. So in my application, my GSL-SE rear end had the calipers went I pulled it from the yard, but not the brackets. Never found any early on. Looked at a lot of options, and ultimately I went with a bracket that pushes the caliper out enough to run 11" FC RX7 rotors (had to redrill the rotors to match our 4 lug pattern). This gave me enough room to just use a regular set up e-brake cables. Can't really check them out well, as the calipers are very stiff (I will be rebuilding them), but the linkage seems to work great.