Datsun Roadster Forum-311s.org

Hello all,

My name is Dave and I just purchased a 1966 1600 Roadster. I've been a fan of Datsun/Nissan for a while as I own a 350Z that I bought new in 2008 and is now a full time track car. I wanted a fun car to drive on the street now that I can't drive the 350Z.

I've been looking for my first project car since I'm slowing down on the racing stuff. I've always thought the roadster was a beautiful car and already having one "fairlady" in the garage, I thought two would be better. I found one in Alabama, and pulled my trailer out there from Texas to get it. It was bit of an epic weekend project. We drove 12 hours out there Saturday morning and got to the seller's house at 6pm. We looked the car over and bought it. Then we started our drive back that evening, getting in two-ish more hours of driving before finding a hotel. We drove the remaining 11 or so hours Sunday.

The car runs and drives. The body and paint are in great condition with very little (almost no) rust. It needs some electrical help, the brakes aren't very good (I'm not even sure what "good" is for brakes w/o power), and the trunk floor is cracked from the weight of the gas tank.

The interior is in pretty good condition but it is a mishmash of toggle switches and stuff is painted black that should be shiny. Original seats according to the owner which sounds amazing to me. The foam is gone but whatever. It has a roll bar that I want to remove.

The goal is to get it back to as close to stock as reasonable. I'm going to clean up all the suspension and driveline components and replace any bushings/seals/gaskets/whatever along the way. I'll touch every nut and bolt on the suspension. I want to do the SR20 swap at some point, but I want to learn a carburetted engine first. The only other non-stock thing I want are the panasport wheels.

Looking forward to the journey. I'm gonna need help as I'm a complete noob to 50 year old cars, haha.

Welcome and congratulations on your Roadster purchase. You will find we are a friendly and helpful bunch. Please check out the Tech section as it will be very helpful when you start to dig in to the car. It even has a list of all of the suspension bolt sizes in case you need to replace any as you inspect them. Also check out the vendors section as there are many of us that provide new and used parts for these great cars.

Welcome

Great car!
What ever you will need you can find it here on this site

Congrats

Welcome to the addiction. Their are few pockets of us in Texas. What part of the state are you in? You might want to add your location to your profile. This is a great forum full of great folks. Post all the question you have and you will get replies.
Welcome again
Keith

Have fun with your project. The first thing you will learn, is that 50 year old cars are a heck of a lot easier to work on than new cars!

Thanks everyone for the warm welcome! Look forward to learning alot from y'all.

I'm in the north Dallas area btw.

Cool another roadster in the metroplex. I work in Dallas and live in Colleyville out by the airport. Gimme a ring sometime. I'm an old carburetor guy.
Keith
817-825-3711 cell

Welcome Dave, from another Dave on the west coast (although, since I paid for 4 years of SMU tuition for my daughter, and spent many an evening at the Twisted Root and Torchy's Tacos, I think I am an honorary North-Dallas Highland Park resident).

Welcome Dave-we are glad to have you here with us. Your roadster looks pretty good and I am sure you will get it sorted in short order so you can enjoy that smile driving a roadster can give you. Your Z looks nice as well. Looks like you have already hooked up with a local. Keep us posted on your progress and good luck.

Steve

Dave_Car_Guy wrote:Welcome Dave, from another Dave on the west coast (although, since I paid for 4 years of SMU tuition for my daughter, and spent many an evening at the Twisted Root and Torchy's Tacos, I think I am an honorary North-Dallas Highland Park resident).

"I'm Dave and I approve this statement." I just looked up where Danville, Ca is, and I'm sure you have me beat with location. I was just over there on vacation and stopped by Sonoma raceway to have a look at the track (no driving sadly). Lovely area over there.

S Allen wrote:Welcome Dave-we are glad to have you here with us. Your roadster looks pretty good and I am sure you will get it sorted in short order so you can enjoy that smile driving a roadster can give you. Your Z looks nice as well. Looks like you have already hooked up with a local. Keep us posted on your progress and good luck.
Steve

Thanks, the Z is what got me into wrenching on cars. So if it weren't for that, I wouldn't of had the cojones to try a project like this. Before the Z, I had never even changed my own oil. Now I've rebuilt a tranny, swapped in a LSD, completely upgraded the suspension, and fabricated lots of cooling mods.

I have a very competent and experienced friend that helps me a ton with gaining the knowledge to do this stuff without just doing it himself. I helped him build a Toyota MR2 with a V6 swap as his track car. I learned a ton on how to properly build car and an not cut corners. An approach I will use for my own build.

Thanks everyone

Had my first fix today. Chased electrical gremlins all day. Previous owners put LEDs all over the place and added wiring so they could tow it behind an RV. Several of the factory wire crimps have destroyed the wire where the wire was crimped and after some testing with the multiemeter I found that my brake pressure switch was bad. Man, that tiny ass wiring diagram is hard to read. Took me forever to trace the wires. Got it all fixed up though.

Welcome!
1966 is my favorite year for the 311, you did well
Good to see a fellow Z33 owner too!
I had an '06 that I tracked like hell instead of my roadster

Welcome. With the right help and info you can manage rebuilding your car, and there are many knowledgeable people here who can help.
Good luck!
Oh, and the obligatory-
Have a BBQ and your new Roadster pals will show up!

Linda

Welcome aboard, we just need a few more pictures to validate you claims! Also, in the Wiki are BLOWN UP wiring diagrams to make your life easier!
Check them out, you'll be glad you did.

Well there is some much information here, that I don't really need to post any questions. Y'all have answered everything already.

I got the J hooks for the gas tank moved. That was a bit more difficult than I was expecting. I got the holes in the frame as high as possible but then I couldn't get the straps to reach. I had to order a 'new" set of used straps off ebay and they were about 1/2 inch sorter than the one original strap I had. Are the left and right straps different lengths? I ended up getting longer J hooks from Lowes and that seemed to help.