New Zealand Datsun Club

Totally awesome dude.......

great to see you stuck with it - looking great - i hope that boot lid is better than your one and she'll be rust free soon.

Your giving me lots of inspiration to work on the wags

im sold i want one ... you need to sell it to me man ....i want the white walls and rims tho ..............

I'm becoming quite attached to it... it's such a relaxing big old thing to hoon around in.

Unless you've got an offer I cannot refuse in mind.

Cut and pastes from oldschool to bring this up to date:

04 March 2013

You may have been aware, I haven't posted any engine bay shots of this steed as yet... even though I've put some serious hours into cleaning it, as when I took possession of the car it pretty much had the entire road surface of Southland coating the under bonnet area. Well, it's always had a niggly oil leak from between the head and block, which has become worse as I've put more and more km on it (I've done almost 8000km in this thing during my ownership which I think isn't too bad for a weekender!).

On Friday evening, with the help of two certified Datsun fiends, Shannon (shandawg) and Craig (vegie) we embarked upon the mission to remove the head and rectify this problem. As the valve stem seals are also a bit worse for wear, I figured a complete top end recondition was in order. Here's a pic of the engine sans rocker cover, air cleaner and various other things so this post has visual impact:



IMG_3506 by SnoozinRichy, on Flickr

Some problems were encountered. Not least of which, was the head bolts being secured with some kind of loctitey/shellac spec goo. All bar one came out intact (although not without a fight) but the last one snapped, thankfully leaving almost an inch proud of the block. Fingers crossed I can chase the threads and clean them up appropriately to accept the ARP head studs I have just ordered... (more money... sigh).

The head has been dropped off to the lads at Taylor Automotive for the work, they come well recommended and also provided me with a written quote prior to undertaking any work.

Otherwise, plans include a thorough clean of the radiator, new timing gears, chain, guides and crank seal, new waterpump, some judicious cleaning and polishing of various engine bay parts to dress things up a bit.

Deadline is Leadfoot - this could prove problematic.

14 March 2013

Ok guys I'm trying to fix this alright.

Anyway, with the deadline looming, I still haven't had a finished head yet (turns out it needs new valve seats also....) and neither have the new head studs arrived.

But I have made some things a bit nicer to look at. Inlet manifold has been blasted, and coated with some good ol' VHT silver. Carb has had a minor strip and clean, and plated a few things as seen by the splash guard thing that sits beneath the carb.



IMG_4738 by SnoozinRichy, on Flickr



IMG_4739 by SnoozinRichy, on Flickr



IMG_4741 by SnoozinRichy, on Flickr

I've acquired a new timing set, which looks like this... there was a waterpump in the box as well, but that looks boring to be honest.



IMG_4744 by SnoozinRichy, on Flickr

And I also bought these off kicker a while ago, they can be a new restoration project in the works I think. 14x7 front and 14x8 rear. negative heaps. All going to plan I'll run a smaller tyre than I currently have on these.



IMG_4756 by SnoozinRichy, on Flickr

18 March 2013

Bit of the old shiny shiny


Shiny Cam Cover 2 by SnoozinRichy, on Flickr


Shiny Cam Cover 1 by SnoozinRichy, on Flickr

Holy shit I just posted cellphone photos also. Kill me now.

Anyway in other news, hit the car again on the weekend, had the sump off, changed gasket, installed timing gear etc and cleaned up various gasket surfaces. The radiator is off at the radiator man having a new core installed - it appeared to be working ok, but it is falling apart and 40 years old so figured prevention is better than cure, and have bitten the bullet to recondition it. On the flipside that too, will look nice and fresh in the bay. Otherwise, it's just scrubbing to do until the head comes back, and the head studs get here. Should look the part in there come Nats weekend!

31 March 2013

So some productive productivity occured on this old thing today. Rolled out to Shannons workshop around 2pm to get cracking on the reassembly with Craig (vegie) rocking up shortly after to provide a knowledgable pair of L series savvy hands.

In addition to the parts specified above, I also ended up with essentially a new radiator (complete recore courtesy of North Shore Radiators) various seals and gaskets, and a brand spankers set of ARP head studs from the kind folk at Pro Parts in Napier (hit up Craig there for sweet deals and AMAZING service).

Step one was to scrape the old gasket from the block, as seen here with the ARP studs installed shortly after, to hand tight spec as per instructions.


2013-03-30 16.25.36 by SnoozinRichy, on Flickr


2013-03-30 16.26.13 by SnoozinRichy, on Flickr

Those with eagle eyes will notice the front cover installed, which incidentally has been all cleaned up (not polished />) and the new waterpump in place.


2013-03-30 16.36.49 by SnoozinRichy, on Flickr

The head, recipient of a complete recondition by the folks at Taylor Automotive - not the cheapest option but provided a written quote, stuck to it, and also pretty decent service. This head ended up with new seats, new stem seals and guides, as well as the usual clean, skim and pressure test. Apparently the valve springs were a bit soft - to be fair, this isn't a race motor so we'll be fine.


2013-03-30 17.25.14 by SnoozinRichy, on Flickr

The head in place, timing chain gear reinstalled and timed up correctly.


2013-03-30 21.04.43 by SnoozinRichy, on Flickr

This is the last shot I got - since then, the radiator has gone in, leads, dizzy cap and everything else installed and connected - about midnight we turned the key to see if it would bring up oil pressure.... oh no! The tell tale red light failed to cease illumination after several cranks. In the end, the call was made to pull the oil pump out (and the dizzy as they share the same drive) and prime it. With a further few cranks, the light went out. Following reconnection of the coil, the car cranked and started as per usual. Success! At this point I haven't got water in it, one of the small old braided hoses has cried enough so if anyone knows of a hose that reduces from 3/4" to 1/2" I am all ears as this is what I need.

Otherwise, happy. Apologies for the super sub par images. At this point I must extend my sincere thanks to both Shannon and Vegie for their help, I'd be fucked without you jokers.

Hope to be rolling on Monday /> Bring on Nats.

Edit: also bought some new wheels. Again.

Everything turned out superb, the car travelled 978 miles across the course of the Nats weekend, that's 1573 of your metric kilometres, without a hiccup. Some minor leaking from the thermostat housing but nothing to be overly concerned about. The clearances need doing again, I guess they've now accustomed themselves to their new seats so a final adjustment and they ought to be a little quieter.

Here's how the car looked at Nats - big thankyou to Alistair for his detailing services, helping the old oxidised paint look fresh again! Super happy with the appearance for now.


IMG_7185 by SnoozinRichy, on Flickr

So where to next? Grasskhana has convinced me I need a manual conversion, and discussion with tenfive about the conversion hasn't done any favours... so keen infact that one day after Nats I have a 5 speed sorted out.

Also nats was a blast, you Datsun guys who rolled up are amazing bastards and I cannot wait to get on the chop again.

She sure is a thing of beauty. Was good to meet you and the 260 Richy. Such a lush piece of machinery!

Cheers mate, likewise. Hopefully I'll be coming down in the Ced in August and we can relive those rad times all over again.


IMG_7313a by SnoozinRichy, on Flickr

Anyway, things are happening again, after OS Nats and with much talk about next years Nelson event, I decided I didn't want to drive all the way to Nelson without an overdriven top gear, and definitely did not wish to tackle the Takaka Hill road with an auto...

So far we have accumulated:

- 1x 5speed gearbox ex Mikeys 240Z (suspected to be a 280ZX box...)
- 1x Exedy clutch kit of brand newness.
- 1x known good clutch master cylinder ex Mikeys 240Z
- 1x brand new clutch slave cylinder
- 1x brand new spigot bearing
- 1x shifter to replace butchered one on the 5speed
- 1x clutch pedal (very important you know)
- 1x flywheel from an RB20E

Still need to obtain some new flywheel bolts, I'll organise this from Nissan's official parts department style people.

I've got crap loads of flywheel bolts if you want some, you might want to measure the thickness in the centre of the RB flywheel, one of the ones that I had was thicker than an L series flywheel so the bolts were too short.

Keen, I'll get a measurement and flick you a PM