Datsun Roadster Forum-311s.org

Hello everybody!
Long time listener, first time caller. I'm the lucky new owner of a 1969 SRL311-10486(135hp). It was passed down to me from the original owner and it's been living in a barn for the past 25 years. The mice certainly have had a great time making it their home, so I have quite a bit of restoration to do.(caught a few on the way home to Martinez) Plus it has 122k miles on it so it's due for a bit of work anyways.
I'm planning on storing it for a little while to strategize how much I need to do for restoration (plus tackle a bunch of other pending to-do items before I open this can of worms). Current tentative plan is to perform a body off resto, as the original paint is rough, the interior has lots of mouse damage, who knows what the mice have done to the wiring, and I'd like to make this into a semi-daily driver again. Working for me is the car is complete(with original manuals), not a ton of body damage or major rust, trim is in decent shape, and all the knowledge contained in this board.

Welcome! Looking forward to following your progress. Post lots of pictures here, both the good and the ugly - you'll be glad for the record down the road!

Looks like a good project, having a complete car to work with is a great start.

Suggest you make it a driver first and later consider a frame off.

Welcome! There's about 4 of us in the Concord, WC and Pleasant Hill area. Let us know how we can help.

My Roadster was “rescued” from Martinez/Pleasant Hill way back in 1992!
My sister had it and sold it to me, I drove on back to NC.

I do agree with making it a driver first, bond with it then decide what to do next. These cars imprint themselves upon you.

I certainly understand the merit to making it a driver first. My thinking on a frame off approach is that I'll already have the engine/tranny out for overhauling, need to change the brakes, have the gas tank dropped to clean, and the interior gutted due to age and mouse damage. With all this done, it's not "too much" more to pull the body for a more complete repaint plus eval of frame components and rewiring. I guess one question would be is there a significant difference between repaint with body on vs body off? (Cost/quality/etc) I haven't had great success finding that answer yet on the forum.

Go for it. Bag and tag everything, to the point that it annoys you. You will gain back that time later. Take lots of photos. Heck, I bought another care just so we had an example of how what goes where. And pulling the body off the frame is not as big a deal as it seems. Once stripped, two guys can pick it up and move it around. You will find that having the body off the frame you can do a much better job on both the body, frame, undercoat and paint.

Body on vs body off depends a lot on the overall condition, specifically rust. Nissan used a horse hair mat between the body and the frame, and they tend to rust there, often through the cap of the frame. Other than that, unless you're into having a show quality frame I don't see any particular advantages when it comes to painting the body assuming there's no hidden rust. If the car is relatively rust free and I'm making the car to be driven like I do (hard, not upset with some dirt, gonna get rock chips and dings but looks nice) I would not waste my time pulling the body, worrying about maintaining door gaps, storing and supporting it, upsetting old but still perfectly fine fittings, etc. Sounds like extra work to me unless there's rust or I just want to KNOW the entire car. Mine had rust and the body came off.

They come apart a lot easier than going back together

^ A LOT faster too!

A LOT cheaper too!

I certainly appreciate all of the input. Seems like I'll just have to make the call once I really start digging in. (Hopefully sooner rather than later, as I'd really like to get it back on the road)