New Zealand Datsun Club

Took the Skyline to VTNZ for the certification check to put it back on the road and it failed. When the guy rang to give me the bad news, he said there was a few things but its not as bad as we anticipated. So wont be able to take it on the Rakaia run, not legally anyway...lol, but the Laurel is good to go.

It failed on the rust on top of the guards by the rear window and boot floor, rust in both back doors within 150mm of the hinge, the steering joints, and a crack in one of the front foglights lenses.

Have to take it to a guy to get the rust assessed, which may only be a scratch down with some rust kill paint. The VTNZ guy said the metal used is quite thick, so might get away with only that. Boot floor is possibly the same, remove underseal and possibly again, a scratch up and paint all dependent on how badly the metal is corroded. Doors will have to have a 100mm x 100mm patch welded in so no real biggy there. Steering joints he said arnt too bad at all, and probably a grease will remove any movement, although Prince had the foresight to use ball joints that are adjustable for play. I tried to grease it but that was a no go. Might have to put it on dads hoist to get good access, or just replace the grease nipples. He said to get some of that stick on headlight protector stuff to seal the foglight lens to keep moisture out. He said that they are still bright, considering the relector chrome has flaked off and have factory yellow bulbs, and are still aimed correctly which i think is a miracle as they are part of the bumper overrider attached to the bumper and are in a prime spot to be knocked and misaligned. I do actually have two brand new foglights which will only be installed when and if I restore the car fully.

I had anticipated it to fail, but on more things, so guess its not as bad as I thought, and the guy was actually very helpful. The process was definitely no where near as daunting as some of the stories I had heard...lol. So far it has cost $266 for lapsed rego fee, with the cost of the usual 3, 6, 12 monthly registration fee and any repairs to pay on top of that.

At least I got to drive it from Rakaia to Ashburton and back, which was pretty cool, although a bit noisy. Forgot how revvy the motor is for a prolonged period of time.

glad to hear it man. look forward to seeing it when shes finally on the road. bit gutted you couldnt bring it to rakaia, but atleast you can still make it in the laurel.

My advise would be to find a repair cert man near to you. Show him the car before, during and after the repair. That way he wont decide you need to remove any fresh paint/filler from the car after it's been repaired.

Was expecting it to fail on other things also, which it didnt, so it could have been worse. Worst case scenario the guard rust and boot floor rust will need to be cut out and replaced with new metal. The other stuff is pretty minor really. In some ways im gutted that it does need work doing to it, but after all, it is pretty much a 50 year old car, and as that is all that needs doing, im actually happy about that.

Bartman wrote:My advise would be to find a repair cert man near to you. Show him the car before, during and after the repair. That way he wont decide you need to remove any fresh paint/filler from the car after it's been repaired.

All sorted already. The VTNZ guy recommended a guy to see, who actually turns out to be related, and I trust him not to do work, or recommend work that doesnt need doing. He does compliance work for Jap imports mainly, but does do older cars also. Dad was going to suggest him too.

I have to take it to him to assess the rust first to decide if it needs to be cut out, or if the metal is still thick enough to get away with a sand and coat of rust kill paint, or something in between. The VTNZ guy said its probably not as bad underneath as it looks on top, as it isnt in holes, and that as they were made of thick metal, I might get away with a cosmetic fix. Until it gets looked at I wont know sadly. I know I should be thinking positive, but im nervous as to what they will find all the same.

Took the Skyline to have the rust assessed by my car restorer relation, and as expected will need some new metal in the back doors. He had a good poke round with a knife on top of the rear guards and the boot floor and at this early stage looks to be a tidy up rather than a full cutout and replacement. It will need the final say of what actually has to happen from the cert guy who is down next week. In the mean time I have to loosen the bolts that hold the guards on, and scrape the underseal off the boot floor so they can have a better look, and with me doing those little bits, save me some money, and save the guys doing the repair work on it some time...lol. Will take some pics of the progress.

He did say, it was still in bloody good nick for a near on 50yr old car though. At the moment he is restoring for a guy, a 1970's XA Falcon coupe and the bottom of the doors and the rear end of it was completely rotten, so mine is going to be a walk in the park in comparison.

Sounds good. It would be preferable if at all possible to avoid any sandblasting. Rust cert guys love it cos it shows everything. But the sand goes everywhere, and wrecks everything.

Bartman wrote:Sounds good. It would be preferable if at all possible to avoid any sandblasting. Rust cert guys love it cos it shows everything. But the sand goes everywhere, and wrecks everything.

Sand blasting was mentioned...lol, for the underside of the boot floor anyway, i guess to remove the factory underseal. He said the cert guy will probably want it done

Rust update....there is some good news and some bad news...

Scraped the underseal off the boot floor and its not actually all that bad. In the pics you can see some dark grey areas amongst the orange....its shiny metal..YAY. There is a couple of pin holes and thats about it. Spare wheel well is pretty good too. No holes at all, other than the drain bung hole.

The guards are a bit of a different story. Where they join the body is a bit sad. Drivers side guard is quite rusty where it fits to the body under the back window and will probably need a new bit welded in at that point, but roof panel is fine, which will need a tidy up. The passender side guard will need replacement bit welded in the same as drivers side, but the bad news is there is a hole under the back window, only about the size of a little fingernail, but a hole never the less, so im guessing next step after the cerifier man has looked at it is to remove both guards and the back window. The back window mounting looks all good. Unfortunately its the nature of the beast and is a bit of a bad design. There was nothing that remotely resembled sealer in the join, so probably never had any when it was new.



Hole under rear window passenger side. Moulding sticking up is supposed to be spot welded to guard. Not much left now.

Drivers side, still rough looking but no holes, not under the window anyway.