Dadson Racing: 2010 Revival

Thanks for the clarification. I'm thinking I'll end up trying some pearl powder when it comes time to paint just worried the blue I'm getting is a little bit plain.

That's the stuff mate.

This colour has blue pearl and a green in it as well. I have photos of the actual colour names, but they are pearl flake powders.

wow.

I cant wait to see this beast all put together!!!!

Mine is about to go into paint jail to be 'squirted' in a very similar color, so seeing this is brilliant inspiration for me.

I can only imagine being stuck out at sea with only a coupe of teaser photo's, you must be going a little insane from that?

Well, been back in town for a week and been to see the car, which was painted inside on Sunday! Engine bay and key areas such as roll cage have been painted with the crazy coloured paint and then hidden areas that just need protection have been painted with a much cheaper tinter matched plain colour. The entire inside is going to be trimmed in alcantara anyways, so it's just for coverage and protection. Also, in case any interior trim is pulled up, you'll be able to see proper colour   I like things like that.

Anyways, I'm going to drop of mounting hardware and brackets for all the moving panels and need to also supply wing mirrors. No big deal, except I don't have any mirrors!

So, people of auszcar, what should I put on there?!!! I need to be able to buy them and have them in my possession by wednesday/saturday. I used to have the falcon xa/b/c mirrors which were not bad, except for bad visibility and was thinking of just getting more, but there are no holes drilled on any body panel for mirrors yet, so the options are wide open. The only requirement is that they must be black mirrors to fit with the 'stealth' theme of the cock-pit.

I had a look around, but nothing stands out. Anyone had experience with fender mirrors on a race car? I'm thinking they'll be pretty impractical unless they are easily removed or they'll get damaged the first time I open the bonnet to work on the car.

Big brownie points to someone who supply pics of mirrors on a blue car

After 25 years of playing with cars, I still love the look of the GT phase 3 mirrors. Their subtle and sleek.

16 May 2012

Welcome Back!!

Well I went in to the shop the Sunday after the last update (18 March) and the car hadn’t been painted. That was a shame and then I was told on the Monday that the next morning I was booked on a 430 flight to catch a chopper offshore for a couple of weeks. That was just plain terrible. None-the-less I still managed to get my hand on a LOT of pics thanks to Dad in the time away and even had a few emailed in from admirers at Will’s request when he had visitors stop in to the shop.

Without further ado, here is a (small) collection of photos of the paint progress. Will tells me it was just a matter of ‘Squirt it on, that’s the easy bit’ yet I think there might be more to it…..

Here is the body in paint:

And a shot of some of the FX additives in the paint. I counted the invoice (it was LONG one) and got to a total of 9:

What the colour looks like in transient from full sun to dark. The over exposed white is just the camera struggling, but the colour does ACTUALLY go from that green right through to a dark blue. It looks SENSATIONAL in the light.

The most expensive ‘wind chime’ (as it was described by a friend) I’ve ever or will ever own:

The car:

The hatch and bonnet finished pre polishing:

The interior painted on 16/5/12. Unfortunately there was still masking in place whilst Will was polishing the body. The floor, transmission tunnel and firewall were finished just enough to cover, but the roll cage and rear that MAY (I’ve not decided yet) may be exposed.

That’s right folks, full colour in the hatch and around the wheel well just in case I decide not to trim over it!

The best looking engine bay in the world (totally impartial, of course)

The front of the radiator support is going to be painted flat black so that when viewed from the front, with the other black trim on the car, the car looks tough and a well thought out image.

Long shot of the finished product pre polishing (with lots of compound smeared all over it)

A view in daylight of the depth of colour:

From the front with the clean refelction of the front of the shop. Unfortunately I couldn’t get a shot in the full sun with the colour change effect because the battery in the camera went flat.

One last shot (promise, for now) of the finished and polished guard and its perfect reflection of the Buick that Will is almost finished with too. I thought I was hurting with a 1000 hour build, that thing has taken 3, plush EVERY ITEM on that car has been HAND BUILT. I’m not kidding, EVERY last part has been hand built and manufactured as a one off. Talk about commitment! 2 amazing cars, one incredible manufacturer:

And that brings an end to this update. Will has to finish polishing the body and doing final touch-up jobs on odds and ends around the car and then it’s time to bring it home. I stopped in to see the guy that is going to do the brake lines on the way home today and together we decided that the car is going to get dual master cylinders, doing away with the booster, along with a locking hydraulic handbrake, so that’s the stopping system sorted. I spoke to the mechanic and the engine shop are sick of the motor taking up a stand, so it’s going to be out of the engine shop as soon as they get off their backsides and order an oil pump drive and then it will be straight in to the body. Things are really coming along nicely; expect to see some more regular updates soon! (ps, offshore again for 2 weeks from Thursday week, so perhaps don’t expect an update too soon )

Also, I went with the xa/b/c look-a-like mirrors. They are the ones I had on the car before stripping it and they didn't look too bad. Plus, they were all I could find with a 1 hour deadline to get them to will.

It been said before, and need to be said again, but can't help myself

THIS CAR IS PURE PORN

** shakes head....  still can not believe you are going to race a concorse car....  like seriously, my car is only perfect in my eyes, but even on the road with the slightest hint of loose gravel my spincter is well closed.

Btw, totally random question , but do you race/know a fellow datsun race W.A  driver called Martin ? , He likes ownes / Owned a panel shop in perth, that has/had an acid bath. Sorry the details are sketchy is is like my cousins, uncle on the other side of the family. Just met him, sorta, had a few beers anywaz,and he towed me half way from perth when a breakdown happened... thank god for familyconnections..... just wondering how small the world is

Looking totally farking awesome!

Wow 1,000 hours! Damn thats gotta hurt, I hope Will is working for the love of the job and at no charge  It's looking a treat, are you doing the re-assembly and the rest of the work yourself?

Not sure about the rally style mudflaps, they might detract from the pristine bodywork. Would the MSA moulded type be suitable? GV260 (Graham) has them on his recently restored Zed, they look really good.

You're so gunna be hurting when you get your first battle scratch on that, let alone put it into a tyre wall or something.

Go hard or go home.

You're so gunna be hurting when you get your first battle scratch on that, let alone put it into a tyre wall or something.

Please don't say things like that  :'(

Go hard our go home

you only live once

Thanks for the comments guys, means a lot. Fingers crossed she looks as good dressed up as in the raw!

Fingers crossed she looks as good dressed up as in the raw!

Usually its the other way around...... oh hang on, are we still talking about cars?

1000 hours! That deserves a clap! Don't even want to know the charge out rate, you obviously are serious about the machine! Good on you!

1000 hours, wow. One of my customers owns a classic car restoration shop and I know what they charge by the hour. I sure hope Will isn't charging you the same, although the quality of his work looks like it would be worth it.

Usually its the other way around...... oh hang on, are we still talking about cars?

Who said what now... 

At 1000 hours there's certainly plenty of love involved. However, I wanted to make a seriously nice, one of a kind, and the level required to do that with so many people building nice cars (just look at this section of the forum!!!) means that when you start from a bad base and you want to compete at the top, this is almost how far you need to go.

It's beautiful to watch Whittie.  Your thread is my first read of the day.

27 May 2012

Well, as the drilling world works, you never know when you’re going to start or finish until you step on to the chopper. I’ve even heard of people being asked to step OFF the chopper, so maybe not even then. Anyways, I got another couple weeks in town before I have to head off. You’ll know when I make it on to the chopper because I’ll probably have posts for 3-4 days about the incredible sunsets out on the open ocean, followed by how crap it is being stuck on a 100mx100m square floating box jammed in with 120 other unfortunate souls with nothing to do but work 12 hours a day, go to the gym, eat and sleep. It sounds nice, but it’s not….

Anyways, back to the car. I went to see Will today because I had a weekend gifted to me so thought to make the most of the chance. Not much of an update really, I just like to take lots of photos I hope you like photos too, because here is a bunch now that the car has panels on it and almost looks like a real car again!!!

All painted, notice the Monaco Red tow hook (yup, Ferrari relegated to the tow points). It wasn’t even my idea; Will has once again taken the initiative to make sure the car looks tip-top everywhere he’s been

Front all done in matte black. In my opinion Matte black should only be a highlight, not a main colour and I stand by that:

Underneath the cowl panel:

Will also took the time to install a nice steel rod jacking point to the radiator support. This was heavily bent when I took it to Will thanks to some dummy who worked on it in the past trying to jack the car and instead just bending things. Now, the next dummy that jacks the car from the front at least won’t bend it again!!

Engine bay

It’s the little things

I stumbled across the paint tin so took the lid off. Check out the FX all settled out in the tin!

And the obligatory “Straightest roof ever” photo:

Looks fantastic man, congratulations.  It will be outstanding!

Rev.

Great idea.

Isn't it!

It was Will's idea, he just did it and told me about it afterwards when he asked me to pay the bill

The sill was very badly damaged and frame rails badly bent in the past when lazy mechanics jacked on the sill or rails instead of a proper jack point, so now this shouldn't be an issue any more!

10 June 2012

Hi Folks,

Well, not really a huge update, but a very significant one and subsequently a LOT of photos. I apologise in advance (no, not really, I’m just being polite) but the car is BACK ON THE GROUND!

The car was first delivered to Will on Saturday 28 May 2011. 12 months and 13 days later, I have the following to show you:

That’s right folks, it’s ALMOST DONE!! You have no idea how good this feels. Actually, I’m sure there are plenty of people who do, but I can guarantee that if you haven’t ever rebuilt a car you have never felt this good. It’s simply amazing and I’m buzzing, waiting for next weekend to come so I can bring it home

Ok, so, theatrics aside, this is how I found the car when I arrived:

Still, not bad. Will had the cowl panel off waiting on me to deliver the wiper motor and all the wiring and pipe work, but I’m going to do that later after I get it cleaned up and presentable, however, chek out the bonnet locks:

I couldn’t help myself and so started snapping away with the car on stands:

Rear tow hook, also in Monaco red:

Unfortunately, we’ve had category 2 cyclone winds today here in Perth and the result was the the power blacked out after I’d only taken 5 pics. Not to be disheartened I asked Will to take the car off the stands so I could take some better pics. I tried to get a little creative using a torch to try and get the sparkle in a photo. I had not seen it before, but in the dark under a spot light the car just looks INCREDIBLE!! I know a lot of these photos have looked good, but WOW. The paint starts to have a bit of a purple tinge and HEAPS of pearl comes through. This was the best I could manage:

The lack of light couldn’t hold me back, Hell, that’s why cameras have flash right!? Sit back and enjoy:

The wheels now fit inside the guards:

Compare this to when I first mounted the new rims over a year ago:

Front:

Rear:

I kept going in the dark and the arty me tried to come out, despite being severely hampered by my extraordinarily poor photography skills:

For some reason I just can’t get enough of this photo:

And here I was thinking that the suspension was looking in good nick, I swear it did! Will just makes it look bad in comparison!

Looking above the front bumper and under the bonnet at the bonnet hinges that have been shown some love via nickel plating:

And the engine bay ready to take the L28 that Tus and the boys at Osborne Park Service Centre are building for me:

Like I said folks, not a big update (aside from the 17 photos) but a significant one. Will tells me he’ll have the car ready for me to put on a truck next weekend so that I can bring it home and get started on the slow process of putting it back together. For now, stay tuned and enjoy.

Fun facts: 20,383 words, 351 photos, 77 pages in raw format in Word, 12,040 individual views on AusZcar

she looks great man well done  i just love it

Cheers Pete

Unfortunately no PMC engine, but hey, there is always room for improvement right!