Datsun Roadster Forum-311s.org

Love the progress!!

Happy New Year!

Bittersweet update! I’ve finished all the fabricating for the frame. It was a lot of fun but it feels great to have it over with.

Finished bracing and welding the cover over the main crossmember in the front. Sorry didn’t get a totally finished picture. Here’s the secondary crossmember I added up front You may have noticed that the last two pictures are lacking some pieces.

Getting the frame powdercoated next?

2mAn wrote: ↑Mon Jan 06, 2020 6:52 pm Getting the frame powdercoated next?

Hmmm maybe I’ll look into that. I never considered it but that would be nice. Was just planning on POR-15ing it

So as soon as I looked at these bolts, I knew I should have taken them out when I had the frame opened up They all snapped, no matter how careful I was. I made this nifty little buck tag for the differential with all the info I may need if it ever needs parts. And started disassembling the axle too. I realized today that I’m gonna need to tackle this axle job sooner rather than later.
As for the frame- I’ve decided against powder coat because:
1. More serviceable if I need to touch it up
2. This frame doesn’t look perfect anyway
3. I have SO many parts that I’m doing individually, it would be insane to bring them all to be done.
4. And you know, money and such.

So here’s the bottom side all grinded and painted. This was soooo tedious and boring and dusty and awful but the worst is over.

Looking good!

Sorry it’s been a while, haven’t really made much “progress” lately. Been slow going.

Got this little guy to aid with the resto. Definitely recommend it for the money. The poor girls been in the air this whole time and now she looks like this! This is the differential prior to anything There was this nasty section that I was able cut out Precision is KEY! I followed a YouTube write up by The Fabricator Series which really helped a lot. Also welded in some bracing around the welds and all the brackets. I used the Datsun spring brackets but added a little width. I’m gonna make some long washer-type brackets just to give it some more strength along the weld. I don’t know if it will be welded in or just free yet. I’m using the Datsun wheels so I needed to drill the rotor to size this actually was very easy and not as important as I thought, as the lug nut holes are always oversized and the rotor rests on the center hub. Now for the axles:

I ordered from Moser. 10/10 on customer service. Maybe a little too good because they make the axles by the end of the business day. Try to follow along here lol

1. I ordered the axles by length. I first measured the old axle tubes per side prior to cutting them. I then measured the tubes after cutting them. I took that difference and applied it to the axles, thinking that’s how much I needed to remove to mirror the tubes. I placed my order on a Thursday just before they closed.

2. On Friday night, I cut my old axles to the length I ordered the new ones at and they were severely wrong. So I cut and welded the axles until they were exactly perfect. They fit where they were supposed to go perfectly. Let me restate that- They fit PERFECTLY. It was too late to call them so I called Moser back Monday, moments after they open with the new measurements. The axles were already cut and packaged so they couldn’t refund everything, but they cut me a huge break on pricing.

3. Tuesday morning, I was assembling the differential for a test fit. Those axles that fit perfectly the day prior no longer fit. And I mean they were off by like an inch. Once again I called. Again, already cut the new ones and packaged. Again, they cut me another huge break even though they had no part in this screw up. I order the new axles with the measurements that I took 9 times.

4. These axles came within a week. One of them fit perfect. The other was 24 3/4” when I know I ordered 24 3/16”!!! Too big of a difference to shim. I called Moser once more and they said that they could trim the 9/16” off for free, I just pay shipping. At this point, that was fine with me. That axle should be arriving next week. I measured another dozen times to make sure I ordered the right size so we’ll see!



In other news, THIS was the cause of my control arm play and not the “bushings” like I thought. I really need to learn to slow down before I order things

Wow, Moser: What an example of customer service!

As a Baltimore person, I have to ask how the swap is going ?? IS that gonna fit in the engine bay ??

Best of luck, now that we have good weather to futz in a garage .

RustyBucket wrote: ↑Sat Feb 22, 2020 7:07 pm As a Baltimore person, I have to ask how the swap is going ?? IS that gonna fit in the engine bay ??

Best of luck, now that we have good weather to futz in a garage .

That’s to be decided lol. I guess if I hack away enough body, anything is possible And as soon as I was able to reply, the weather is awful lol.

So I finally got the rear end situated. I even made the bracing plates for the U-bolt plates. May be over done but I’m willing to risk them being too strong lol BUT THEN, I go to put the wheels on and got a whole lot of nope. I knew there was a chance of this but just sort of forgot about it lol. So I got some junkyard Suzuki wheels! That came with their share of problems!! How close am I to losing my sanity? About this close And THEN, I found that the mount I made for the arm (which was the same dimensions as stock!) was too low and the arm interfered on the shock, so I had to cut it off and start from scratch. So the rear end is finally all together in the chassis. I planned on getting the chassis totally together and running by now but at least I’m seeing SOME progress.

I do not want to add to your misery, but be careful that it is not TOO tall, because when you put the weight of the car on that, you do not want that bar going up and hitting the shock mount tube..

RCMike wrote: ↑Sun Mar 01, 2020 2:56 am I do not want to add to your misery, but be careful that it is not TOO tall, because when you put the weight of the car on that, you do not want that bar going up and hitting the shock mount tube..

I jumped up and down on the back of the frame (science!) and it didn't interfere so I'll just keep my fingers crossed. If it interferes, I'll put a bend in the arm itself (which is what I was thinking I should have done, AFTER I had just cut the dang bracket off!)

gnoplos wrote: ↑Sun Mar 01, 2020 3:33 amI jumped up and down on the back of the frame (science!) and it didn't interfere so I'll just keep my fingers crossed. If it interferes, I'll put a bend in the arm itself (which is what I was thinking I should have done, AFTER I had just cut the dang bracket off!)

Science!! I like it!

I too had the same issue with the tires being tooooo close to the frame, though not quite as close, I had about a 1/2” on each side. My travel was clean up and down but when I articulated just one side I had interface . So I cut back the lip of the frame ad welded the snot out of the left over joint of the frame. Turn out quite well. No rubbing
I too tested it out using.....Science! (As said by Thomas Dolby)

Cheers
Matthew

Thomas Dolby Yeah I definitely see myself doing that as well. Why not have as thick of tires as possible ¯\_(ツ)_/¯