Datsun Roadster Forum-311s.org

Well here it goes.........I joined in January of 2017 and was looking for a drivable working car that needed some help but not excessive help, a driving project. This was going to be a project for retirement as I am already 62, I do have better than average working knowledge of cars and have always liked the 311 cars. Reached out to several members via questions and looked into several. Found one via the forum that I was told was going to be a driving project but alas, major rust in the floor pan,both sides and rust in the upper panel behind the seats, the trunk floor has multiple cracks, front sway bar members are bent and the front of the frame, not sure because I do not have that experience with frames but could be bent and have never done any welding. What type of welding equipment will I need. In my opinion, not a safe car to put on the road. My knowledge I have gained over the years is based totally on German cars, BMW, Porsche and VW. Been playing with these cars since my early years, but back to the 311. My dad was totally against Japanese cars and I had to wait and move out of the state to begin my quest once I knew he would never visit me in Wisconsin as he is 96 and does not drive long distances, so I was safe to start my quest. The car is a 1969, 2000 and had been sitting in Texas for years was told that it does run but needed complete break job and flush the gas tank, small easy things. Having read many post since January I know that the first question always asked is..........NEED TO SEE PICTURES. I have taken pictures but will have to have my 24 year old son assist me in loading these into the computer, remember that I am 62 and learned math without a calculator and took physics with a slide rule. Pictures are coming after Memorial Day and I need your responses to assist in frame off restoration, be honest. I have to do all the work myself as I had promised my wife that the car was a driving project, not a garage ornament. She is pissed and has a right to be, for me to continue adding to 35 years of marriage this car can not be sent off for rust and paint as I promised no major work on this car and that we would be cruising by late summer and yes I did say 2017 not a year in the future. Was never planning on an off frame restoration but that is what is now going to happen, my labor and sweat. The body of the car is not off the frame yet, but getting closer and as I am taking the car apart. Sorry for the long written note but I am part of the older generation I usually do not text and when I do text I spell out all of the words. FYI, I was able to order a complete set of bolts from the forum for the car prior to finding out about all of the rust. Have always thought that you can never have enough nuts and bolts. Lucky on my part as I will now be able to use them in the near future and yes I did save all of my no-metric tools as I was going to donate them not realizing that Datsun does not use metric, never knew........ I will now stop writing and begin to read, learn and do. Thanks Noel

Welcome to the forum.
Since you have a later car you will find that the engine is metric and the body is SAE.

Love the Story! Welcome to the family! I'm 53, so I can completely relate to your comments! I'm glad that you have car experience. How good of a planner are you? Have you done a frame off before? To what level do you wish to take this car? Are you open to having a local Roadster owner come by and evaluate the car for you? (If some one is in fact close by).
I think that before you do anything you should see if someone familiar with Roadsters can evaluate it. That way you can plan the project much more effectively. It may be possible to hit your target of driving the car safely this summer even if it is not completely finished. It really depends on how bad things are, what your budget and tool/equipment access you have, what your skill set is, and how much patience the wife Has! If you can get her in the car and enjoying it, then you're gonna get more support. If it sits in pieces for a couple years, well.... Craigslist here we come! The advantage you have that I did not 30yrs ago is this wonderful family of Roadster owners and all their freely given knowledge. We're all happy to help!

BTW, my wife's father's had a '69 912 that he sold before she met me. We tracked the car down to a guy in Ohio and tried to contact him through a registry there, but he never responded. We would love to get that car back.

Welcome! Looking forward to seeing your ride and watching your progress!

Welcome! There are a few of us in WI and near-by in IL.
Generally a great group of helpful folks; except me.

Maybe we should schedule a group ride to your place so the Mrs can be inspired.?.?

I would love to have a group ride so Linda can be inspired as well as myself as I get further into the car. Pictures have been taken and my son will load onto the computer to see if the car is as bad as I am thinking. Not sure who needs to be more inspired at this point, Linda or myself. I am thinking that this has to be a frame off based on how much of the floor is gone. The straps that hold the gas tank, are they difficult and/or costly to get. One side came off and the other side the bolt is not willing to come loose, hence cut the other strap. Have not gotten the fenders off as a few more bolts to remove. Of course the top bolt by the cowl area and one from the inside of the foot well, I think. Hopefully no rust there.

Noel, I purchased my third roadster around the year 2000. I had one back in the early seventies, plus a parts car that was too rusted to repair. The third was an inspected driver. However, a small problem and other projects sidelined it until early 2015 when I went at it hard. I knew that it had some rust, but it turned out to be much worse than expected. I have been working at it off and on for the past 28 months, and just applied base primer and high build the next day, just three weeks ago. You should be prepared for major rust in both rocker panels, the rocker panel end caps, in front of and behind the rear wheels, the back edge of the trunk lid and both sides of the hood scoop. I had done a lot of stick welding, but even though I have a Lincoln 110 MIG welder, I had not used it a lot. I cut the rust out in all of the above places, and cut replacement pieces out of 20 gauge sheet steel and welded them in. There are a few repair panels available. My pieces were all butt welded in with continuous weld, one little dot at a time. You should not have to do anywhere near as much as I had to do. Besides the rust mine had poorly done rust and collision repair to do over, as well as eleven separate places where someone had ground right through the metal I suppose while removing paint. There are many threads here documenting what others have done for rust repair. Start out with some scrap pieces to learn how to do the butt welds. Have fun, Colin