Proud To Have Adopted The Rat

[MoneyMan]

This Past Sunday I adopted the Rat and drove the 60 miles home from Hood River to Portland. I couldn’t stop smiling the entire way home.

Back in the early 80’s I had a Spanish Red 1969 1600, I loved that car. I was young and stupid and didn’t treat her right. I warped the head at least twice. Bottom line is I couldn’t afford to keep her running. My parents told me that the repair shop the car was in had a fire and that my car was caught in the blaze. I always thought this was, shall we say….not true, in any case my roadster days were over.

Last month I was surfing Craigslist, I saw the Rat, I was intrigued by all the work that was done by Leigh, and how long he has been at it. I explained to my wife that I wanted to take a dive and have a peek. I met up with Leigh and fell in love with the Rat. I made the deal with Leigh to have the EI Dizzy and new radiator installed and then waited for the phone call. In the mean time I have read every post on this site, Even The EI Dizzy “dispute�…wow. The wealth of knowledge on this site has already come to be useful.

This will be “MY� fun car, I plan to drive it to work as much as possible. My 15 year old Son all of a sudden wants to “help� me in the garage. I think he likes it too. My Wife on the other hand is not….shall we say…as excited as I am. She calls it my mid-life crisis car. Oh and she was steamed when I moved her car to the curb to make way for my new baby.

Next Steps for the RAT
1. New Soft Top
2. Finnish the interior odds and ends
3. Wheels
4. Body Rust and Dings
5. Paint
6. Stereo…..maybe

[S Allen]

Welcome to the fray. I think you got yourself a very solid car. Although I have never met Leigh his attention to detail is a plus for you. Keep us posted on your progress and do not be shy about asking questions. Enjoy the car!!!

Steve

[datsun1500]

Drive it for the summer first. If you look through the archives you will see a large number of cars that are driven home, taken apart for a "few things" and never put back together.

Drive it for the summer, then decide what to fix.

[Linda]

Treat the Rat right, otherwise it could decide to run away.......



Linda
68 1600

[MoneyMan]

Update:
It’s been two years since Leigh Brooks let me adopt the RAT. I gotta say that the workmanship done by Leigh was TOP NOTCH! The Rat runs so well I have had to only tinker with the SU’s once or twice. Secondly, I appreciate everyone who has submitted to the tech wicki and discussions forums, without out the input from everyone I would have been lost
Things I’ve done in for the last two years:
1> I did get that new soft Top, although it rarely goes on the car, I find it easier to put on the hard top, which is now White.
2> Found a center console and other odds and ends for the interior, I still look for stuff, better window cranks, knobs, other stupid stuff when I can find them
3> Wheels. Found some old American Racing Vectors, put in longer wheel studs. (thanks again Tech Wiki!!!) while I had the wheels off I installed KYB Gas Adjust shocks (Tech Wiki saved me again)
4> Had the dent on the passenger side fixed and a friend and I attempted to paint the Rat, We did a fairly crappy job of it, I know understand why painting a car correctly cost so much, The rat looks good from 50 feet, any closer than that, and you can tell a bunch of amateurs painted it.
5> Stereo …. Well I didn’t want to hack up the console so a friend of mine said just run a amp to your Ipod, ok so its way overkill but it sound fantastic even with the top down doing 70 on the freeway. I put a 300 watt amp in the trunk installed on a 10inch subwoofer, power on switch and ipod minijack plug runs up to the center console. I also installed outdoor speakers on the rear deck. This set works very well and it is loud!

I also had the gas tank boiled out, this eliminated the need to change the fuel filters every time I went below a half of tank of gas.

I followed the Tech Wiki and changed out the head lamps to Hella with Halogen, and new Victoria British wiring harness.

Things to do:
1> 2nd gear syncro need to get looked at,
2> Need to get the seats reupholstered
OMG I think that’s it!! No wait I have the Roadster bug, ill find something….


Bottom line. This has been the best purchase I have made I a very long time. The enjoyment I get from this car has been amazing. So if you see a 45 year old man driving down the road with a smile of a teenager, It’s me! And If you ever get a chance to purchase a roadster from Leigh, know that you have a quality car!

[greydog]

Great story Dave. Happy to hear of another local boy. At least yours runs!
Couple of things-
Canby Driving Fun is coming up soon (June 12, 13). Should be a great show.
If you haven't found them, Datsuns Northwest (http://www.datsunsnw.org" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;) is a great bunch of people.
The Portland Historic races are July 9, 10 and 11.

BTW, I'm the vice president of Northwest Z (http://www.northwestz.org" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;). I'll be at Canby (not showing anything, just hanging out) and at the Historic Races in the Collector Car Corral with my '90 300ZX. Just trying to prove that a man can be addicted to more than one thing at the same time.

If you're around and see some Z's, ask for me. (Dan Russell)

[shifty]

Dave - glad to hear you are having a good time with the rat!

[S Allen]

That is a great story. Glad to hear you are finding the resources here useful as well. Cheers.

Steve

[dbrick]

Hmm, 7 posts, car runs and he's happy... Maybe there is some kind of inversely proportional thing with posting on forums and driving the car....
BTW, good move Shifty, sell to a guy named Moneyman

And Dave, if you can't find seats, I have a set of Corbeau Classic buckets I was going to put in the For Sale section, already adapted to bolt into a Roadster, tracks and all.

[MoneyMan]

As far as 7 posts. you are correct, However, I use the search function and read new posts daily, dont want to be one of those noobs who ask for information that has been hashed out in years past,...dare I say "Ball Joints" or "what size wheels will fit...."


Those are some really nice seats, but Im being really picky when I say the current seat need re-upolstering, there is a 1/4 inch worn spot on the drivers seat, beyond that the seats are perfect. Thanks for the offer. Ill post some pictures of the continued progress of the RAT hopfully this weekend.

Dave

[MoneyMan]

Here are the pics I promised,

[notoptoy]

Looking great Dave! Thanks for sharing.

[Gregs672000]

Paint doesn't look that bad! At least not in the pics. Not sure what the issues are but have you ever tried wet sanding and buffing? Not that hard once you get used to it, and it can turn a horrible paint job into a pretty decent look. I had a $400 earl scheib paint job on my car for years that everyone thought was at least $4000.

Great story... now just get the wife to drive on some twisty roads with you and it will all be good...

[mattywood]

I love the Red Rat. I used the Red Rat website to help me do my interior. Good website if you've never seen it. http://shiftco.com/features/the_rat/index.html

[shifty]

I finally posted "the rest of the story" about The Rat - http://www.shiftco.com/datsun/the-rat/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;