Datsun 510. Tear it down and redo!

[RawrSoft]

My goal for this car: Go through every nook and cranny on this car and make this a solid driver. Every car has its quirks, odds and ends, but I want to basically restore every worn part on this car to a new unit, or like new (considering the used part is in very good condition). I'm not trying to make the best 510 show car. I'm trying to make something clean, and more reliable than the (junk) cars I've bought off the showroom floor. I've actually had more downtime on my brand new cars than I ever have on my old ones.

Current State:
Engine
96 SR20DET
CP Pistons
Lightweight Pulleys
Circuit sports RAS
Crower cams / springs / retainers
Garrett GT3071R

Suspension
280z front struts w/ Qa1 weld on coilover
Qa1 rear coilover

Drivetrain / brakes
280z master cylinder
280z front brakes
maxima rear brakes / hubs (? not verified)
R200 LSD
Custom driveshaft
Nismo halfshafts (? not verified)



Well, I dove in headfirst to the 510 that has been up for sale on Zilvia for a little while now. A nice 14 hour drive in total and a few dollars later she rests in the shop back in Temecula.



EVERYTHING is being taken off of this car and being inspected, cleaned, painted, or replaced.
Where to start? Engine!
The Intake manifold, valve cover and intake side of the turbo have been sent off to powdercoat and will be back next week!


It was pretty dirty, so hours worth of scrubbing go into it. Almost all of the seals, lines and fittings are being replaced new (including stupid expensive valve cover washers..). New t.stat, pulleys, RAS. Nearly every bolt checked for proper torque. Any bolts that were fishy have been replaced, as well as nuts. ( such as non flanged nuts on the exhaust manifold being replaced with hardened flanged nuts. )





Tranny too of course -Cleaned.. New rear seal, tob, speed sensor, clutch, shifter bushing




Exhaust manifold has a good ceramic coating on it, a little steel wool to brighten er' up and a good machining to make it perfectly flat again


The shell of this car is absolutely fantastic. The paint is in very good condition still, straight, no bondo and very few dents at all.
The engine bay is prepped to be painted, and I will start that tomorrow. I'm also painting much of the inside of the car and will have pics soon. Days went into scrubbing all of the car and I don't look forward to getting under the car and doing all the underside!

The entire wire harness is being replaced, engine and chassis. A 14 circuit from Kwik Wire is on its way, and I'll likely get a new oem harness for the engine, if not one from chase bays.
ECU has gone off to Jim Wolfe to be tuned, and I'll be getting that back from him as well as his injector and fuel rail setup. Running a Z32 MAF.

All brakes and fuel lines have been pulled from the car and a 280Z master is going back in, as well as new brake lines and fuel lines.

Lots of work still to go..

Interior... First coat done!


Heavy inside the doors


A couple from the first couple days she was in the shop




Tank cleaned out, new seals, walbro 255 put back in with new filter, and tank sanded / painted



Going to do some saturday work.. This was right after I cleaned the bay, but it is all taped off now and ready to spray


next week will be exciting with lots of parts coming back/in!

[ultramagnus]

props to a 510'er

[gunmetalr32]

haha,, my friend was going to buy this.. you got a good deal..

[SR20DET-B2200]

Damn you, beat me to this car by a day. I went and checked it out a few days before you bought it. Very solid car, you got one hell of a deal. Keep up the good work n finish it up the way it deserves.

[ericcastro]

Congrads man.
They are so much fun to drive and so simple

[D1S13]

DUDE did not waste any time!!!!

[S-Nation S13]

Sweet I love the 510 with sr ..looking like a great start

[godrifttoday]

How much is a good deal?

[Xplat]

best of luck with your build sir

[RawrSoft]

Thanks for the love everyone!
I'm really trying to put this car together cleanly and properly without cutting any corners.

[Silvia479whp]

looks good

[pacotaco345]

Originally Posted by RawrSoft

A nice 14 hour drive in total and a few dollars later she rests in the shop back in Temecula.

Where in Temecula are you? I'm out in college right now but I'd love to see this thing when I'm back or give you a hand if you want it. I live by the french valley airport.

[Mishkin_707]

Sounds like thief talk to me^^...... joking, but kinda serious.

[HPKMotorsports3]

sweet ride... Cant wait for vids of this

[dreamin240sx]

idk if i missed it but what did you paint the block and head with looks great.

[boost1986]

More pics!!!!

[RawrSoft]

Originally Posted by dreamin240sx

idk if i missed it but what did you paint the block and head with looks great.

Scrubbed it down good and shot with 500 degree rustoleum Engine enamel gloss black. Will be hard to see leaks! haha.

[RawrSoft]

Originally Posted by careboy

They are so much fun to drive and so simple.

Originally Posted by ericcastro

Congrads man.
They are so much fun to drive and so simple

Deja vu!

They are very simple cars, I love it!

[RawrSoft]

Originally Posted by Mishkin_707

Sounds like thief talk to me^^...... joking, but kinda serious.

Hehe, a little scary!

[yabeet]

Beauty! I didnt know some pulley kits come w a crank pulley, what brand did you get?

[RawrSoft]

Originally Posted by yabeet

Beauty! I didnt know some pulley kits come w a crank pulley, what brand did you get?

METALLIC BLUE UNDERDRIVE CRANK ALUMINUM PULLEY KIT NISSAN 240SX SR20DET S13 14 | eBay

Alternator pulley doesn't fit flush with this kit as I found out. A little metal off of the very front of the alternator (sleeve, not housing) and you're set.

[jasoncanseeoh]

Awww yeah!

[RawrSoft]

Nokay... so didn't get the parts back from powder this week, but next week is a definite! I took all the suspension off of the car ( EVERY nut and bolt is off of the car right now ), cleaned and wire wheeled everything. Once the new poly bushing come in ( found rubber ones for control arms for longevity ) and those get pressed in, it will be painting time!
New 280z master cylinder, new clutch master, new braided line for clutch and front brakes ( rear had braided ) new fuel lines, a whole slew of new bolts and nuts to replace all sorts of things. Ohhh what else.. A nice copper / alum heater core for me to mock up a heating system, that will be fun. New tie rods ( in out and sleeve ) and ball joints, need to find myself a straight strut rod, the one that was in it was bent ;(
Ah, calipers all out and painted as well as new brake mounts for the rear!

well, nothing too interesting I guess. Hopefully better things to come this week ;D

[Eww Evo]

Nice Project !

[RawrSoft]

Update! Motor has been mostly back together for a while. Just waiting for injectors. New chassis harness came and I'm wiring that up. Qwik wire 14 circuit, using the nice nylon mesh loom ( expensive >.<, but god is it sexy! ), soldering every connection and covering with heatshrink and tape, running a full ground system through every connection with 10 ga runs separate for front lights, rear lights, accessories, and of course engine is 2 ga separate as well. Chassis is grounded, but no connections use the chassis for a ground. Complete poly bushing set, and I mean complete. No original bushings are on this car. Every housing and bearing has been cleaned and regreased, no original grease, brand new pads all around. Most all mounting hardware for suspension and driveline / steering are brand new. Inner and outer tie rods and sleeves new as well.. Ah.. new custom spring mounts...A couple pics!

[ixfxi]

youre going to regret doing a few things................


1) painting engine & various engine parts (which most likely wont hold up) unless its powder?
2) aluminum underdrive pulleys and moreso, the bullshit non-dampening crank pulley. at that price ide be surprised if theyre round
3) polyurethane bushings
4) top mount turbo

[RawrSoft]

Front and read control arms are rubber NOS, and EXTREMELY hard to find, and I paid a grip for them.
The valve cover, intake manifold and intake side of the turbo are all powder coated. The block likely will hold for a bit then need to be touched up. Not a big deal for me.
You may be right about the pulleys, have you had both and tested both?
Fill me in on the problems of top mount.

What else?

[ixfxi]

Originally Posted by RawrSoft

Front and read control arms are rubber NOS, and EXTREMELY hard to find, and I paid a grip for them.
The valve cover, intake manifold and intake side of the turbo are all powder coated. The block likely will hold for a bit then need to be touched up. Not a big deal for me.
You may be right about the pulleys, have you had both and tested both?
Fill me in on the problems of top mount.

What else?

its good that you powdercoated the top parts, much better option than painting which doesnt always hold well. block being painted black doesnt always hold, hard to see leaks, etc... but you already know that.

options with bushings are real limited with older cars like this, so i understand. i would have attempted to so solid or bearings as opposed to urethane, but if you went OE rubber thats great

top mount turbo? preference really, but ide say too many heat issues and problems with manifolds cracking. thats why i stay bottom mount. its bad enough the exhaust side is shared with the brake components

pulleys are not worth a damn. dampers are important, anyone who says otherwise is totally full of shit and doesnt have an understanding of harmonics. the underdrive pulleys are less worrisome, but still bullshit gimick products - i dont think you gain much from underdriving PS/AC/ALT... waste of time, imo.

also, what is that long braided line going to? runs that long should be tubing (not flex). you should buy some tubing + bender + flare tool and do it while its all apart. overall, cool build

[RawrSoft]

You're looking at the top pic of the car? That is how I got the car, and every single line in the engine bay has been replaced. In the first picture of the block being painted it was just screwed into the hole to block it off and wasn't running to anything. My clutch and brake lines, to every oil, coolant and fuel line are new. I even picked up a shorter new throttle cable. Everything I have now fits without huge loops and excessive feeds. I have heard about manifolds cracking, didn't know it was more of an issue with a top mount, but my manifold is cast, so much less likely to crack than tubing.. Top mount in the 510 is almost a necessity as well, as the stock bottom mount will hit the steering box. The pulleys that came with the motor had large chips taken out of them and were eating into the belt, so I needed to replace them, and later when I have more money I'll look into the option you suggested ( I didn't get them for any hp reasons. The car also has no PS or AC ). Only the control arm bushings are rubber, and the rest are poly. The Idler arm is the only bushing I see going out in a short amount of time.

This car has been almost nothing but restoring nearly every part to new or close-to-new condition and making it fit properly.

[shanes14]

subscribing. i love 510's.