Hi All,
I have been following this forum for a long time and wanted to finally introduce myself.
I'm just starting on my 1971 Datsun 1600 build. The story so far (with pics)
I didn't want to get a car half done and tweak it I wanted to take the long road and make it a challenge...hmmm maybe a financial challenge one as well...
I had purchased the car from Tasmania June this year and had it shipped over, start wasn't good with a whole lot of parts stolen from the boot of the car on the way over (or in the docks). I have spent the past few weeks pulling everything apart and assessing the damage.
As the community support is so fantastic here, I thought that leveraging peoples experience and sharing my findings along the way, it may help me and future builders as well.
I have been taking pic's every step of the way so will update the forum each time something is achieved.
Right now I try and spend 1 hour per night on the car as well as a full day on Sat each weekend, if I can squeeze a bit more in here and there I will. I have also just booked into a car restoration course at Docklands for a bit of body work guidance (Currently scares me).
I have had a lot of support and help from one member here already (won't name names) just in case they don't want to be identified, but really helped a lot with boosting my confidence for the project and point me in the right direction.
So my plans:
- Nice street 1600 (Nothing crazy)
- I have a SR20DET S14 currently sitting at a friends factory (no space in my garage)
- I have purchased the R31 rear brakes/disks etc
- Plan on spending a small fortune with Datsport
- The SR20 will be stock to start with..we all know how the story goes.
- Fix the rust in the usual places...(bodywork not a strong point at all)
- All important colour will = white
- Still, so much more to do I have just purchased a mig welder and made the rotisserie this past weekend and will now start on the body work.
So my findings so far:
The car before I started had a CA18 (not in when I purchased the car) in it and I have learnt a lot from the previous owner
1. The previous owner had holes EVERYWHERE, Swiss cheese in the engine bay. Need to put something in the bay?, why on earth use an existing hole when you can bust out the drill and create A NEW bigger hole...LOL
2. Apparently silicon can fix rust, holes and is better at holding panels together than welding, I had spent a solid 4 hours wire brushing out all of the silicon and I'm sure I have still missed some.
3. If the spare wheel well in the boot is rusted, perfect solution, replace with Perspex! WTF!!! (I have a replacement wheel well ready to go)
4. 25 mm of bog is perfect for hiding some really bad metal work in the rear quarters
Oh...there is so much more, however I will keep the first post relatively short.
Overall the car isn't too bad, the rear quarters have me a bit scared but all in all I'm wrapped about my new project and will keep the posts coming if anyone out there is interested in reading them
BTW, I'm in the eastern suburbs Melb.
Cheers,
Trent