Otodats vb11 rat wagon

[Otodat]

Haven’t really had time for Datsuns since lockdown but managed to get a little done this week. Got some flywheel bolts thanks to anonymous12b, so motor back out to put them in.

21C66A9C-5C99-4553-B562-D0292543423C.jpeg

Followed up with a new clutch kit

6EC59150-2651-4514-994E-EF2E23A72A7F.jpeg

Then put the gearbox back on, paint and put back on the engine mounts, plugged up some excess vacuum lines and moved the brake booster fitting to the back of the manifold. Finished the alternator mount and changed the e15 engine loom to fit.

63091EAF-7ACB-42B5-9975-1993175D22B3.jpeg

Had a couple of paint scrapes to touch up in the engine bay then threw it all back in the hole.

2C483A61-E488-4A84-AF1D-4F3A05BCF1E4.jpeg

[Otodat]

This week I made up an adapter plate so I can fit the carb from the e15s on to this engine. The mystery carb I had ran fine under revs but would not idle right I guess due to the electric valves on it and I haven’t got my hands on a Weber, they seem to be considerably more expensive than last time I needed one! The results of this are less than ideal, it idles ok but is slow to rev, splutters and backfires. On the look out for a carb if anyone has anything.

D69A36CC-24D5-4BE9-A000-B8E6E618BC73.jpeg

Next up fitted the axles and struts, then mucked around with the radiator and hoses. Am using an n14 radiator and bottom hose that I have cut and put in a pipe section that will have the fan thermo switch put into it.

4B17733D-67AF-4E22-938B-90624A5C88DD.jpeg

B2420AD0-8EC7-475E-B7B0-8BD29D7B9365.jpeg

The top is a n15 top hose joined to a 90 degree bend onto the radiator, both not beautiful but works.

9E5277B8-044D-45FF-9016-F3B4DCE98673.jpeg

[Otodat]

Next up I pulled the rear drums off as the brakes were binding making it hard to push the car around, the shoes look smoked so I will need to replace them. I took the blocks out as the back is too low for my liking and it’s all but sitting on the bump stops. Cut 20mm off them ( they are 75mm blocks ) and refaced them in my clunkey old lathe

021B27DC-FCE5-44CA-8A5F-30C685659582.jpeg

This gives it a bit of room on the bumps, will try it when it’s together and see if I can live with it

7C3E11B4-5A17-40AB-BE20-77625722113A.jpeg

[Otodat]

With the car in the air it was a good opportunity to do some rust I had been putting off, one small hole in the floor below where the firewall had been leaking

6FC88FD9-AF9E-43EE-BED1-1D46AB5C12FD.jpeg

And in the rear wheel wells there is a plate that has held some moisture and rusted

0974722B-9C1D-403A-89E7-95243393096A.jpeg

Decided to remove them completely and not make new ones. The metal behind the plate need replacing too

8162E7D3-3147-445D-A6D5-98CAC37FC463.jpeg

So this got welded up, then finished off the wheel wells with rust converter, paint and some stone guard to finish

865C81D6-471A-4873-A234-BEBC3381C354.jpeg

And this means the underside is finally rust free and repainted!
On the lookout for a plastic inner guard for the front if anyone knows of one.

[fletch]

Good work Steve!

If you drive it around a bit and get some dust through the engine bay, you will probably fly through a wof.

[Otodat]

Made up a fan shroud for this last week and finished the radiator mounts

218BB755-5EAE-49B0-9C0A-DFD9A6104AA0.jpeg

Have been working on getting the bumpers mounted lately. I didn’t have the mounting brackets for the front so started mocking something up to get it sitting right then kinda just thought meh, close enough.

E305D1C7-2387-42AA-840F-A874A4643507.jpeg

Starting to look at the grill and headlight surrounds next which are all broken, bogged and held together with tape

[Otodat]

Spent a bit of time melting the grill back together with a soldering iron, pulled the stainless trim off and straightened it best I could, then attached some aluminium mesh to the back that had come with the car.

2FEF7499-5DA0-469D-9452-43906C9AE270.jpeg

9E7E4FF0-97FB-486B-96EA-058BD4C02825.jpeg

Cleaned up the headlight surrounds and fibreglassed the back of them to join them up and reinforce.

A000FB54-A0B1-45AC-89B3-9E1104221040.jpeg

I stripped the black paint off them to reveal the factory chrome look. There is still the odd bit of paint and obviously the cracks where they are glued back together, so basically the perfect look for this car

E94184A9-E366-4C35-AF7F-4E69569A6F11.jpeg

[Otodat]

And the front end basically back together

6F7FC177-46A4-4E87-9530-56158FFD2C20.jpeg

5D85A6F9-C952-48A8-B5A1-826EB51F19AE.jpeg

Except the front indicators, they have seen better days

881617FF-165C-409D-8A7D-2B4FE210167E.jpeg

Cleaned the bog, duct tape and glue type stuff off to see what I was working with, turns out not much

D17635F0-F2D2-4902-9401-D5C29940589A.jpeg

So I set about fibreglassing these for some reason

1A265E50-D843-4FC3-B560-28BF26A6897D.jpeg

These seem to be a different light to other b11’s as it has indicator on one side and a double filament park bulb on the other. Would be ideal to replace these with new but can only seem to find lenses on eBay and not the housings. Am going to look into b310 lights at some point to see if the dimensions are the same.

[Otodat]

Have not been great at keeping this updated the last few months, but also I don't really work on cars over summer either. Here's a few pics of where the car is at right now. I have cleaned up and put on some z wheels I had for it and probably the biggest job has been fitting land rover discovery 1 tail lights in. The tail lights in this were knackered and scouring the internet for months didn't turn anything up, so I bit the bullet and modified the sockets to take the land rover lights. I need to get my old phone fired up and see what pics I had saved on there. Been doing a lot of little jobs lately like getting the horn, wipers, washers electric fan and temp gauge sorted. Anyways, it's getting closer!

[Otodat]

Cert time today, not a terrible list to do
Headlight adjustment
Handbrake adjustment
Balance/improve brakes(probably needs discs ground)
Lengthen exhaust tailpipe
Wheel nut shanks too long (derp, didn't even notice!)
Replace rear seatbelts

Not bad, I can live with that!