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Rudolfs 2+2: The gleaming emerald......


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UPDATE 12.11.13 - water pipe done, fuel reg mounted

I finally got around to finishing the water pipe, and after a polish it came up tops! (photo links all broken, photo's lost)

Rudolf.

Edited by CroS13
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Looking good.

 

Definitely consider getting a few cans of your body color made up if you don't have a compressor & give the engine bay a fresh lick of paint. Got nice headers, sweet carbs, engine looks fresh. Shame to have the bay looking it's age as well!

 

But then you have to decide where to draw the line...... (guilty)

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^^^

Haha ive already crossed that line, a long long time ago.

See i was just going to get the carbs on the car running, mount everything where i wanted it to be, enjoy it for a year or so, then strip it for the rebuild.

It went pear shaped when i showed the headers to the spray painter at work.... he said "you cant throw those beautiful headers on that old engine, at least paint the block...... then hey, the rocker cover, well the alternator looks old, lets rebuild it and also the starter motor.... and yeah.... it went down hill from there ahahhaha.

Trust me, the engine bay is killing me, but where do i stop? if i pull the motor and box to strip and spray the engine bay, might as well do the whole car in one hit right? I at least want to get it to all datsun day this time next year. Drive her in, show her off, go home and start the rebuild, i just love driving the car so much i don't want to tear her down yet.

 

Now that car, the body made me want to have a tetanus shot just from looking at it. It was a 510 import, that i think the guy pulled out of the swamps of Dagobah!

Body was rotten, interior had been home to a family of cats for god knows how long, but, hey, he started with the engine bay, and thats what it looked like on the day.

I'm umming and ahing about either doing the engine bay body colour, or the grey, and if i do it body colour, what colour to paint the car? purple or orange? so until i decide, might aswell carry on and get it all running.

Rudolf.
 

Edited by CroS13
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Its Stainless Steel.  If i could go back and do it again, id use aluminum.

 

The straight pipe was easy enough to get, i used a pipe bender to initially bend the pipe, its 3/4 pipe. However, at the bend it squashes it down. 

 

Now i was able to find locally a 3/4 hose barb fitting in stainless, but i could not for the life of me find a hose barb end fitting in 5/8th or 16mm. (for the firewall side to match heater hoses).

 

I literally spent maybe 2 whole Saturdays driving all across Sydney to all the different metal places and ringing every shop i could to try and find parts.

 

I went to Midway metals, specialist in stainless, no one has 5/8th hose barb fittings. I ended up buying a straight piece of 5/8 stainless, which fit neatly inside the 3/4 pipe, welded it on as a reducer, left a longer piece, and just welded some dags on the tip to form a lip.

 

If you want to go down this path, use alloy, as aeroflow, proflow all their gear is aluminum and easy to get hose barb fittings in any sizes you want.

 

Rudolf.

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Hey dude,

Loving the Red Rocker cover, was it painted or Powder Coated?

 

RE: Water Pipe looks good, albeit a major hassle it sounds like? Mine appears to just be a long hose.

IMG_20120218_005746.jpg

 

I think the approach of focusing on the engine bay first, then interior, brakes, suspension and so forth is a good way to tackle restoration.

 

In terms of engine bay colour, I'm not usually a huge fan of different engine bay colours to exterior colour. However that shade of grey would look good with the orange exterior (depends on the shade of orange).

 

I also actually like what this guy did on Jay Leno's garage. (GM Spatter Paint)

 

Your engine bay is going to look great, but you're gonna hate me, cause I think it would look even better with the spark plug wires re-routed lol..

100_02131.jpg

100_02121.jpg

 

I also dig the clear PVC hose for crank case ventilation. (seen at top of pic there).

performance.gif

 

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yeah that 510 engine bay looks heaps nice. The rocker cover was just painted, and as for the engine bay wires, i like them over the rocker cover, its growing on me. I do like the clear hose for the breather, and yeah that's next on the list of things to do.

 

Hows things going getting your Rx7 in?

 

Rudolf.

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  • 3 months later...

UPDATE 27/02/14- Where to draw the line.....

 

So its been maybe 3-4 months since my last update, and all was going well to get the car running on the motorbike carbs, and well then it just went down hill.

 

So i had purchased some KBS Rust seal with the intention of sanding down and painting the scuttle plate/air box, as it had surface rust there. Once i took off the scuttle cover, and had a proper look, i thought to myself, well, might as well take off the front guards to get down the side with the KBS.

 

I had not realized that by the time i had the guards off, the whole front of the car had been removed. Then i was thinking to myself exactly what another member had said to me

 

But then you have to decide where to draw the line...... (guilty)

 

well.... yeah, might as well keep going, and 3 months later, chipping away, now we are here:

 

20jlls3.jpg

 

5fj1o9.jpg

 

Now in the back of my mind, with everything i was doing, i still thought that at the end of the day, im doing all this work, and 2-3 years down the track ill be pulling the whole car apart for a full rebuild anyway, and that all my work will be essentially wasted and id be doing things twice.

 

So i said stuff it, she will get torn down now, and ill be doing a full nut and bolt restoration.

 

In the mean time i also got myself a new air compressor, which will more than handle anything i throw at it. I could even paint the car with this bad boy.

 

2ufsl81.jpg

 

Next step is to dust off the welder, and brace the supershit engine stand i have, because with the spare motor on it, it leans over quite a bit, so ill reinforce it for some extra piece of mind, and buy a second one, ready for when i pull the motor out of the car.

 

Rudolf.

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Hi,

 

Not sure I would say it has gone pear shaped, more just a little carried away  :D

Looks like a really tidy example and gotta say I am big fan of that colour.

 

Looking forward to seeing your project progress.

 

Cheers

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Oh dear this is how it starts. Just don't get too carried away with the rest if you want it on the road again. It can be a slippery slope. Let me know if you need a hand with anything also?

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Nah too late for getting carried away Gav! She going to be stripped completely and put on a rotisserie, even through she probably doesn't need to go that far, but from what Ive learn in the many years of at least modifying my cars, do it right the first time. and also, The dearest way is the cheapest way. <--(as in don't skimp out and buy cheap parts, you end up paying twice, the second time for the quality gear once the crap breaks!!)

 

Update 4.3.14 - Bracing some engine stands- Dolf tries out some welding......

 

So i pulled my finger out, and went around to a mates place to pick up his welder. Since i have not welded in about 4 years, ever since i did the module at tafe as part of my apprenticeship, i took some scrap metal from work and decided to practice to try and set up the welder, then attacked my 2 super shiver engine stands.

 

I wanted to give them some more bracing. When i had the motor on the stand, it would lean over like a old lady, so some more support was added!

 

Anyway, im no welder, but i got some decent penetration on it

 

update2_zps51f257ce.jpg

 

 

as you can see in this next picture, the top weld was abit skew, because the welding helmet i was using was a fold down rubbish one with a real dark lens, the next day i took the subcontractors auto darkening helmet for the night, and the rest of the welds turned out better since i could see what the hell i was doing!

 

update3_zpsce7901ec.jpg

 

not bad for not welding in over 4 years.....

 

update4_zps125cd22f.jpg

 

gave it a lick of paint too:

 

update5_zpsa6b365cf.jpg

 

now its nice and solid with the motor sitting on it.

 

I also dropped the tailshaft and removed the clutch lines to the gearbox, getting ready to yank the motor and box soon, when i go pick up a engine crane from a friend.

 

Rudolf.

 

 

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If you are going to be moving the rotisserie around, even just a bit, get some 100mm castors off eBay - cheap as chips and they make life soooo much easier.

 

Add 300mm the the vertical member on each stand and set the axis of rotation at 75mm above the bumper bar mounting points.

 

My rotisserie is disassembled if you want to take any bits away to copy - I'm in 'The Shire'.

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  • 2 weeks later...

UPDATE 17.3.14: Motor and box out!

I managed to pick up the engine crane from my friend, and so the weekend was spent pulling the motor and box. I also took out the fuel tank/pump and most of the fuel related gear  mimus fuel rails... it was a pretty productive weekend.

 

Please excuse my extremely safe and WHS/OHS compliant methods of jacking the car and chocking them with "air blocks"... dont worry i didn't get under the car like that, just needed to raise the back end to get the engine out!

 

ER23_zps87def644.jpg

 

 

 

I am also in the process of starting to make a rotissarie, but this is being done at work because i have a whole fabrication bay and an abundance of free steel offcuts i can use, also the knowledge and help of a few boilermakers....

 

Rudolf.

 

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Nice work on getting the motor & box out.

 

I am also in the process of starting to make a rotissarie, but this is being done at work because i have a whole fabrication bay and an abundance of free steel offcuts i can use, also the knowledge and help of a few boilermakers....

 

Help like that will certainly be beneficial with that type of project  :)

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  • 3 weeks later...

Update 3.4.14: Building a rotisserie.

 

I have made some progress, cutting my footings and making mounting brackets for the car. And really only getting the boiler makers to show me how to set up the welder and show me a few techniques. Im doing most of the welding at home, and just cutting up offcuts at work and using those. So far everything has been for free.

 

 

The footings:

 

rotissarie2_zpsc10985b7.jpg

 

 

The rear mount, not pretty but should do the job:

rotissarie3_zpsc7a959a1.jpg

 

The front taking shape, i wasn't really confident using only the bumper bar supports, so i also went down to the chassis rail:

 

rotissarie4_zps8a9cc9a7.jpg

 

tacked it all up, removed it then ran some weld:

 

rotissarie5_zps364a540a.jpg

 

Then gave it a lick of paint:

 

rotissarie6_zps1998eba0.jpg

 

 

I might have to buy the thicker box ill use for the uprights, as we don't have anything long enough at work, but so far so good it hasn't cost me a cent.

 

Rudolf.

 

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Nice looking welds for a beginner Rudolph! Are you using a MIG?

 

yeah sure am! Using a 250a mig at home, once again borrowed from mate.

 

I have had some time on the gun at work, however that welder is pretty much set up to weld anything, so its just turn it on and go. And the advice i got was pretty straight forward, for a 90 degree joint do "C's" and push dont pull. I must say the biggest thing to improve my welding was using a good quality welding helmet, It helps when you can see what your doing, and not having to worry about flipping down a visor.

 

I also took about 10  "ruler length" worth of offcuts of flat bar and small box steel home. And i use that to try and set up the welder, it took me about 30 minutes today to get the settings down right where i was happy and  it felt smooth, then i attacked the project.

 

Good work, are you planning to take this car back to bare metal?

 

Yeah that's the plan Gav, probably sent it to a media blaster first once i get this mini project done.

 

Rudolf.

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  • 4 weeks later...

UPDATE 2/5/14- Rotisserie finished, breaking out the heat gun and dry ice!

 

So i have been busy the last month, firstly I finished my rotisserie. Now the only issue is how to lift and lower the car, i have incorporated 2 elements into the design for 2 possible ways of doing this. A foot and gusset at the bottom to lift it with a 4wd high lift jack, or an anchor point for a boat trailer winch and d shackle if i go from the top, unsure which way to go yet, but either or, i need 2 lift devices, and both are around $100 each.

 

Here is the finished product, at this point the only thing i needed to buy were the castor wheels:

 

sc1_zps95044c5e.jpg

 

sc2_zps04e6d0e1.jpg

 

sc3_zps77241e39.jpg

 

I also got stuck into scraping out the old sound deadner from the floor and boot as i had heard the media might just get imbedded in it, instead of removing it. I tried a heat gun and scraper and that got pretty old in around half a hour. So i went down to BOC, and got some dry ice, layed it over the floor, had a beer then went to town with a rubber mallet and chisel with hammer, I got 3/4 off and ran out of dry ice. And at $10 per kg it gets pretty expensive!!.

 

scrape4_zps3fb06bcf.jpg

 

scrape5_zps42216a06.jpg

 

 

Lastly, what i am finding the worst job on this car so far, is scraping off all the old Mastic used on the inner door panel to hold the plastic weather cover on. Using wax and grease remover and a rag only results in smearing it all over the place, and its only clean after wiping 3-8 times in the same spot with clean rags. Not only that, but when the previous owner  had the car painted, squirted a whole bunch of it inside all the old door rubber seals and quater window seals to re seal it up. so its EVERYWHERE! I have spent 6 hours on it so far and im not finished......

 

scrape6_zps30ef22a7.jpg

 

scrape7_zpse4b21ff5.jpg

 

Rudolf.

 

 

 

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