Datsun Roadster Forum-311s.org

Excellent work! I'm in for the same tedious torture on my cars. I think I'll just wait and learn from you instead.

I have finished installing the floors and rockers except that I still need to restore one rocker end piece. I installed one of the rear quarter patches where it meets the rocker. It is not perfect, but I think it is pretty fair for a beginner. A skim coat of body filler should finish it off. The shape of the wheel arch on the patch did not match the existing arch so I made a jig to reshape it to match. Soon I will be working on the luggage area and finishing the trunk.

Looks great Steve! I think you're going to be very proud and happy with your work and the sense of satisfaction that comes with it (makes the blood, sweat and tears worth it!)

Yes, looking good. Nice work.

Steve

It has been a bit since I have posted. I was working on patching holes in the luggage shelf when I decided to just rip it out and replace it. Once I removed it, I found these two boxed areas underneath that were rotten, so this week I started the task to replace them. I got one finished today. I will duplicate it for the other side and then start shaping a new luggage shelf.

Ingenious. Nice work.

S

Great work! Love the way you are using simple tools to make your patch's. And your welding looks good also. Having just finished a summer of making patch's and welding to old metal, I know how tricky that can be. What kind of welder did you use?

Thanks all for the complements. I am using a Harbor Freight Titanium 170 MIG welder. I use 120V for sheet metal and 240 for heavier stuff. It took quite a while to find the settings that worked well without blowing a lot of holes in the sheet metal.

Well, this part has been a real job, making the shelf. I had planned to make MDF dies and use an air hammer to hammer in the depressions. However, a friend said he had a bead roller and that another friend had a 48" sheet metal break. I experimented with some scrap before working the pan since I have never done this before. I can say that it was a lot less work than hammering! I need to put in the trim strip you see in the back and to make some trim strips for the sides. I hammered the brace over a piece of 1" square stock. I used 3/4" angle for make the ledges to attach the pan. I used the metal break to fold the front edge back upon itself and then folded the double layer up to make the lip. I am pretty happy with the results.

Awesome job. Looks like it belongs there.

S

Several weeks ago I got the interior and most of the under-side primed. I had hoped to get the floorboards and under-side painted so that I could get the body off of the rotisserie and repair some areas blocked by the mounting, but then dealt with family illness, and now the weather is preventing continuing body work. I guess I will rebuild carburetors and the heater box and some other things until we get some warmer days. Last winter I rebuilt the engine, restored the dash and some other things that I could do. Here is a picture of the shelf area. These things always take longer than you anticipate!

Really looking good Steve! Yes, the ability to pivot to other areas to repair or restore/prep helps to keep the project moving forward. Now may be the time to bring a few things into the house where you can sit by the warm fire or TV and polish things or fix wiring harnesses... keep on keepin on!

I have been learning to do some precision drilling on the drill press. My carburetor linkage dog-bones are in pretty bad shape, so I took a stab at making something. They may not be pretty, but they seem to work very well. The aluminum may not work too well over time, but we will see. I learned a lot doing this and could do a much better job if I started over, but not sure I am that committed.

I have the heater box refinished, but waiting on the heater core that is at the radiator shop. Also, I will need to get a rubber grommet for the fan resistor harness. The amount of debris that was inside this box was incredible! Dead lizards, hair pins and so much rotting junk. I found the water valve frozen and none of the damper doors would move. I saved the "Nihon Radiator Company" sticker by using an ice cube and a razor blade to remove it. It was difficult to manage in my small sandblast cabinet. I learned that painting gloss black is a lot more difficult than semi-gloss or satin black (interpreted as runs) . Anyway, I am happy with the results. I plan to wash and reuse the wool that was packing around the core, but if it degrades, I have some pump-organ wool I can cut if needed.

Looks better than new!