Gord's 72 510

[gmac708]

Update
I had a good couple of weekends. I started the rear floor board replacement on the driver side. It was the worst. The cross brace that supports the outboard aft seat support was almost gone.



The rust was under the noise deadening mat that is applied during manufacturing.



Removal of this matting is best done when cold. My Z had the same stuff. Once it is removed, you can see the pattern of where the moisture was getting into the spaces between the mat and floor.



The floor is slopped from inside to outside and the floor is about 3/8" higher or stepped on the inside. I show in this picture the red line describes the radius for a sort of "bowl" for your feet. The blue line describes another radius.



The aft flange on the floor also slopes down to the outside, with the inside about 3/8" grade over about 24". My thoughts were to make the floor level by removing the aft flange and making a simple joggle on the inside. This would make things a bit more simple. So... That is plan "A".

So we begin removal of the cancer.







I also had to make a quick repair of the floor in this area. This was actually not too hard to do. I'm getting quicker and a little better at welding.





Also easier to do this while the floor is missing :o) being able to sit down rather than bending over all the time.



Now i'm ready for the fabrication of the floor and getting it fit.



This should be fun!

Gord

[gmac708]

It's been a few weeks since my last update an things have been moving along smoothly.

I cut the rear floor for the drivers side.



Then rolled a relief in to give it some rigidity.



Bead roller comes in handy.



Next came the bending. I purchased a cheap metal bender from Harbor Freight. It worked pretty good considering the cheap price. Saves me from having to go to my work and use the shop brake,



Took a little bit of trimming but it fit great





After a long day it was welded in.



Next step was fabbing up the rear support for the seat.



Some extra bracing spot welded into place.



Here is were the joggle is for eneven floor. It's about 3/8" up to that spot. About another 3/8" up to where old seaat support on inside used to be. Kind of complicated floor for a 510.



A shot of weld-able self etching primer between metal part to be welded. Cannot give rust a chance to start here.



Weld in place. Ta-da!







Now we are centered and level. Time to bolt up the seat.



Having a little wood platform the same bolt pattern as the seat save a lot of lifting and wear and tear on the seat.



Made a few modifications to some carriage bolts and fit to sliders. Should make seat install and removal quick and easy.



Ended up choosing these Scat "Rally 1000" model# 80-1000-51L seats from Jegs. They look period, have tons of side support, sort of match, and are only $380 a piece. And that includes the seat tracks! Did I mention they had pouches in the back? Cool.



I am really happy with the results.





Extra room on the outside for cup holder Maybe a fire extinguisher.



That's it for this weekend. Start on the other side rear floor next week. I can't wait to get on to something to do other than floors.

Gord.

[gmac708]

Update
During this week I decided to open up the 5 speed gearbox I had picked up a little while back. My friend JR was looking for a 5 speed for his 240Z. He had narrowed the purchase down to two gearboxes.



One needed some work as we discovered a suspicious amount of bearing race material floating around inside near the drain plug.



JR ended up buying the 5 speed that was in good shape and stuck it in his Z. I ended up getting the one needing work for $25. It’s an FS5W71C “close ratio”. Not sure if the stock L16 will be able to push the 510 up a hill in 5th gear, but the chances of my L16 remaining “stock” for long is very low :o). Besides, my present 4 speed is a piece of crap.
I purchased a rebuild kit for $125. It includes all the main-line bearings, seals, and syncro gears. Hopefully the gears are in good shape.


Things looking good so far. Took A little bit of work to get rear cover off.



She’s a beauty!




Except for bearing supporting the countershaft in the middle. It’s bearing keeper was missing and outer race was shot.



I had to order the output shaft left hand thread nut that keeps everything together. That’s another $13 bucks from Nissan. I’ll keep you posted as It goes back together. This is a good little project. I cannot wait to be done with the floors. Speaking of which…

Started on rear passenger side.

The damage.



Boom! Gone.



It will need a little TLC up here in the front corner. Must patch in a few repairs.



That’s it for now.

Gord

[gmac708]

Whew! What a couple of weeks. I had lots of stuff going on the past couple of weeks and I did not have much time to work on the dime floors. But I did get my 5 speed transmission back together. I finally found a first gear roller bearing and race in a 4 speed transmission my friend had. I'll post up some info on that later. The big milestone was passed this weekend. I finished the floors! I am so happy to finally get these done. The rear seat supports turned out great.






And I had to modify the forward front seat support on the right. It had a raised portion. It will not fit the new seats so...time to cut and weld in an flat section.




I still need to modify the seat tracks on the co-pilot seat. I can do that this week. I cannot wait to get this car back on the road.

Gord

[gmac708]

Update
Here is where we sit with the 4 speed and the seats installed.



I removed the 4-speed. In short, it sucked. To say it had a “vague” shift pattern would be generous. I have rebuilt the 5 speed. New synchro’s bearings, and seals. I may only use this gearbox until I figure out what and when the engine is replaced. That will be another chapter in the 510 story. But for now, this can needs a gearbox. I removed the clutch and flywheel making the R&R of the gearbox much easier. There is so much room in the tunnel for the new 5-speed. The shifter is another story.
Here is a picture from the front, looking back. As you can see, the transmission has a part sticking out on the drivers side, close to the shifter. That is the spring for 5th/reverse part of the shift mechanism.



I also had to cut away a fair bit off the back so I could have room to slide the transmission back to remove/install it easier.


This new opening would require a new cover plate and rubber boot. I just happened to have a 70-71 240Z sitting next to me and it has the perfect solution to my problem. I borrowed it to use as a template. I simply flipped it over to have a flat bottom.
I used this opportunity to experiment with some bead rolling, Planishing hammering, stretching of metal.





Turned out pretty good. I will make a form in place gasket on the bottom side to keep moisture out. It will seal everything up tight.




My new boot arrived today. That will let me put the Z back together. I also got my T3 rear transmission mount. Test fit looks great.



This will support 5-speed in the back using the stock Z rubber mount and also plenty of room to run exhaust.

I really like the shifter position and height after installing the 5 speed. It is a stock 79-83 280ZX.





Gord.

[gmac708]

Long overdue update!
Sorry this took so long to update. I have been busy with work and "stuff". I have also been doing a lot of reading and starting to put together a big parts list that I am going to order. I'm pretty excited to see the dime back on the ground (soon) and cannot wait for the next few months.

I Had my flywheel resurfaced and installed with new clutch, pressure plate, engine rear main seal, pilot bearing, and throw-out bearing. I am ready for 5 speed install.


The inside surface of the floors was washed, etched, primed, and seam sealed.



The bottom was washed, etched, primered, and then I applied a few coats of beadliner. I chose to go with Herculiner.



I must have screwed up the process because the I noticed a few areas that pulled up when I pulled off the tape. After it dried a week I was able to pull up a few more test areas. It never really bonded to the primer. Crap! I just spent yesterday wire-wheeling the whole bottom of the floors back down to bare metal and I'm going to start over. This sucks. The primer was self etching enamel. I'm starting to think I might try something other than Herculiner.

Gord.

[gmac708]

OK I fixed it.
I did some reading on self etching primers. Apparently the finish coat should not go over the self etching primer. Only use self etching primer as a very thin coat. Then I went over that with an epoxy primer.



Then I purchased some spray on bed liner. It was in a kit of four bottles with an activator you mix in.



The application is spotty and builds up a layer that looks rough. Hard as nails.







Much better! Hardened overnight. I love it.
Spent today installing the transmission and fuel supply line. Going to get the driveshaft and a few other odds and ends this week. Fingers crossed for next week drive.

Gord

[gmac708]

Another update!

A lot has happened since last update.

Everything went back together. She fired right up.



Back on the ground and time for some fun driving.



I put over 500 miles over the next 3 weeks! Definatly does not like the 87 octane gas. Second tank we went with 93 octane, much better result.

I also need to do some spring cleaning ov the garage. That turned into painting the walls, new bench, new cabinets. Much nicer now.



I can't find anything now...but will figure it out eventually.




Parts have started to arrive for the next step. Driving the 510 is more like driving a boat right now. I hope to correct this first.



So we are going to start with my struts. But first I wanted to weigh the car before I made any changes to see what my changes are going to add or subtract from the weight.

Road trip to Defined to use Logans scales.







So there it is 2091lbs. Fairly balanced with slight bias toward nose heavy.


I picked up a set of 280ZX struts. P/N 54303P9100 and 54302P9100. They are essentially the same as the 510 struts with regards to having steering arms on the back side. They do have Bigger brakes (10' rotors), bigger wheels bearings, and are a little beefier. All great upgrades for the 510. They do however have bigger springs so if your contemplating swapping the whole strut, you will need to grind off the old perches and replace with smaller ones from 510 or...

Put in a set of coil-overs...:o)

Here are the 280ZX struts. Remove the brakes and lower ball joints. Springs, be careful, they have compression load and will fling parts at you if you are not careful.



When taking the shock absorber apart you might as well start out by pouring oil all over the floor and your self. Its really messy. The big gland nut was easily taken out chisel and hammer on corner of nut. Once the nut brakes loose, it unscrews. The "O" ring inside of tube on top of shock needs to be picked out before all the internals will slide out, all the while spraying oil on you.



After you repeat the process, you will have two struts ready for modification.



The rest will have to wait until next week.

Cheers *clink*

Gord

[gmac708]

I have not been a good updater due to technical issues with computer and also being lazy. New home computer with windows 10 did not like Photo Bucket and I was unable to upload photos. Probably combination of my lack of nerd skills and Photo Bucket but it seems my issues were resolved. Here is a long overdue update.

280ZX front strut modification to fit in 510.

Mark you struts 4" above where they attache to lower axle.



Cut them off. It does not matter if they are not exactly perpendicular to centerline.



Ermish racing threaded adapters fit over what remains of lower strut tube.



Weld tube and adapter together. It's a very snug fit so everything stays in line.



I did not do a good job of photo-documenting the assembly of the strut but it was pretty easy to assemble the springs and brakes.



Here is the original 510 strut with original disc Brakes for comparison.



Big improvement over stock brakes.



Adjustable camber and castor too....



I installed the 280ZX steering arms too. You will not be able to install brakes with the old 510 steering arms. Make sure you get those arms if you are picking up a set of 280ZX struts.



Gord

[gmac708]

On to the back struts. I elected to remove the springs and shocks and go with a coilover setup.

Original setup. has separate spring and shock.





I was able to keep lower control arm bolted up and remove spring. Had to use pry bar but you can do it.



New Ermish coilover.



Slides in easily.



Now I can set ride height and adjust spring load independently.



Front and rears were done easily in a weekend. Set-up would have to wait for replacing worn out rubber bushings. I did take it for a test drive. Brakes were amazing over the old and it did not drive like a boat in the corners. Happy so far. Two thumbs up for the mods!

Gord

[gmac708]

One bushing problem involved the rear crossmember. The rubber was shot. Lots of movement and dimensional checks showed the rear end had moved to one side. Its hard to set fender clearance with it not centered.
so...

out she comes

exhaust must be removed first. It is running right through the middle of the cross member and was one piece welded from exhast manifold to exhaust tip. That was a hodge-podge of welded tubes that needed to be cut just forward of crossmember. I am going to replace later. For now a simple slip joint will put it back together.



I was able to remove crossmember a leave the lower control arms and brakes bolted in. I had to disconnect the brake lines as they would not flex enough. They were also replaced.





I also removed the differential from crossmember. Has these little horse shoe shaped shims to keep everything tight. Once they are removed, everything comes apart easily.



Yucky bushings



I have found fire is the best way to remove. These are split outer metal wrapped bushings and they do not need pressed once the rubber is burned out. Makes a big mess on driveway if you do not use drip pan.





Installed polly bushings and went back together fairly quickly.

On to the front

Gord

[gmac708]

Front lower control arms were replaced with T3 stuff. I have used them before with the Z and they are awesome. Basically you end up with no more rubber parts. Everything bolts in fairly easily.







I ended up replacing the bushings in the steering idler arm with poly and bearing. No slop means tighter steering.



Gord

[Wishful_Thinking]

Good stuff! Glad the computer is back online. Looking forward to seeing what you tackle next

[Antihero]

Another amazing build. Well done thus far sir.

[darylzero]

You still working on this?

[gmac708]

Yes I am! A lot has been happening that seems to take the time away from the 510. I drive it around on sunny days to work and stuff like that. The next thing I want to do is pull the engine and that would basically ground it. I am going to wait for this winter to do that. So in the mean time, The worn out engine will have to do. I'll jump back on this thread. Maybe dig through my photos and post a few.

Gord

[Datsun_Dom]

Hey Gord if you finished this project you should enter it in this commercial! hope it works out.

datsun-510-needed-for-nissan-commercial ... 28573.html