mydatsunroadster.com

This evening I painted the radiator and heater core using paint specially formulated to transfer heat. Here are the two pieces with their shiny new coats of paint. I also removed the stainless steel trim and emblems from the fenders so that I can begin cleaning the grit and grim off the inside surfaces of the fenders. The strips of stainless steel are attached with nuts on the inside that attach to studs on the trim pieces. I used a 3/8" socket. With the bolts removed (one on each side was rusted and just broke off), I popped the trim off. Next I took off the Datsun 2000 emblems. They have pins on the back that are held in place on the inside of the fender with these square clips.

I spent today pulling the front fenders off the car. This is another big step towards removing the body so I can clean-up and repair any rust on the frame and the body. It was a lot of work, but can be handled easily in an afternoon provided you have a systematic plan of attack.

I had to start by finishing up a job I began the other day: removing the parking lights. During the week I removed the headlights entirely, but only removed the covers of the parking lights. Since those lights are mounted on the fenders, I began by removing what remained. The lamps are mounted to the inside of the fender by three small nuts (each) that bolt onto posts in the light assemblies. I used a 5/16" socket to remove the nuts. Also, each parking light is wired into the harness with three wire connections. I labeled and disconnected these and then removed the parking light assemblies. Also, the doors need to be off the car in order to get the fenders off. There are bolts that hold the fender to the body that are concealed by the front edge of the doors. So next I removed the doors from the car. The doors have two square hinges that are bolted into the body with four bolts per hinge. I used a 7/16" socket with an extension to get at the bolts at an angle. The lower hinges I was able to reach with no extension on the socket wrench. There is a bracket attached to the door that guides the door shut. It is attached above the lower hinge with a philips head screw bolt and nut below. This piece can be seen below left just above the wrench. It should be removed before the last two hinge bolts so that the door can come off freely once the last bolt is out. With the door removed I could access a bolt that holds the curved edge of fender to the body. Even with the door off I could only get at this bolt using a 7/16" box wrench. Also, at the rear edge of the fender there are three more bolts into the body. I again used a 7/16" box wrench to remove each of these. At the lower rear edge of the fender there are two bolts that bolt into the frame from below. I removed these using a 1/2" socket. With the rear of the fender free, I moved up to the front of the car to work my way back. Starting at the bottom, there are three philips head bolts that attached the lower inside front edge of the fender into the body. I used a 7/16" socket to loosen the nuts on these bolts from inside the body. Towards the end I used a #3 philips head screwdriver to hold the bolts and prevent them from spinning. After removing the three bolts located behind the bumper, I could see that the fender would not clear the brackets that the bumper is mounted to. The bracket comes through a small hole in the fender and then spreads like a "Y". The brackets had to come off so the fender would clear the body. So next I unbolted the brackets from the frame using a 9/16" socket and pulled out the brackets on each side. Moving up the car, there are two more of the same 7/16" philips head bolts located where the grille mounts on the front of the car. I removed the bottom one's nut with a socket, but the top one did not have enough clearance for a socket or even a box wrench. So I clamped a pair of vice grips on the nut and used a lot of force to turn the bolt counter-clockwise with a #3 philips head screwdriver. I got it free with a lot of sweating and swearing. There are six more of these same bolts located under where the hood rests on the fender. I removed these the same way as the others. The uppermost of these bolts is not accessible in the engine bay but in the interior of the car. I crawled onto the floor of the car and located the nut for this bolt up by the firewall. This one I removed using a 13 mm socket (the 7/16" wanted to round-off the bolt--go figure). However, on the opposite side when I removed the other fender that same nut was frozen in place and I ended up unscrewing the bolt from above. Those are all the mechanical fasteners for the fender! I held the fender by the headlight hole and wheel well area and gently worked it off the body. There was an absolute ton of dirt and road grime under there on the fender and the body. Thirty-eight years of dirt is quite a bit. Literally, piles of dirt fell down when I removed each fender. Below are some pictures of the wheels with the right and left fenders removed, one of the engine bay, and one of the car from the side without the doors and fenders.

Big day today for deliveries. I got three packages in the post.

The first was from Eastwood Company, my radiator paint so I can put a fresh coat on the newly re-cored radiator and my heater core this weekend.

The second was an old-school roadster manual I bought from a guy on Craigslist for $25. Published by Floyd Clymer, it is titled Datsun Sports Car Handbook and Service Manual for the 1600 and 2000. This copy is in very good condition.

Third was my first parts shipment from Nissan, which included my air filter element, two gaskets for where the carbs attach to the filter assembly, and three oil filters. I'd like to mention EverythingNissan's parts catalog. They have a complete online parts catalog, prices discounted well under list, and will scour a national dealer database to find hard to find parts. For example, my oil filters were located in the city of Compton, shipped to Everything in Scottsdale, and then shipped on to me with my other parts. Their shipping is very reasonable, comparable to any regular dealer's shipping, and I get to avoid sales tax on parts, being out of state.

Tonight I removed the headlights and tail lights from the car.

The headlights are mounted in several pieces. I began by removing the chrome headlight scoop by unscrewing the two philips head mounting screws. The screw towards the grille is slightly larger than the outside screw. Underneath the scoop there is a plastic lens cover that is held in place by a metal ring. The ring is mounted on two small philips-head screws. After loosening the mounting screws, I gave the ring a small counter-clockwise twist and it came free. Underneath is the headlamp itself. It is attached by a spring and one electrical connection. The headlamp just unplugged from its electrical connection. Under that was another metal ring. This one was held in place by the three smaller mounting screws seen above. With the metallic housing piece removed I then took out two larger philips head screws to get the headlight bucket free. I then removed the front signal light covers. They each have two mounting screws through the chrome ring. Then I moved on to the rear lights. In the rear there are two lights and a third small reflector above. The lights each have chrome rings with mounting screws. I removed these first. Underneath each light has two more philips head mounting screws. I removed these and popped the light assemblies out of their housings. The red plastic pieces twisted off the light bulbs and then I was able to pull the bulb assemblies back through the body of the car into the trunk. This is basically the rear-end wiring harness. Next I was able to pull off the rubber gaskets that go under the light assemblies. Underneath are chrome cylinders on which the light are mounted, giving them that distinctive torpedo-like appearance. The cylinders are mounted to the body with two nuts each, bolted onto a stud fixed to each cylinder. I used a 10 mm wratcheting wrench to remove those nuts. With the nuts removed I was able to pull off the chrome cylinders exposing the gaskets beneath. The small reflector was mounted just as the lights were, only without any electrical. There was a single smaller nut inside that I removed using an 8 mm wratcheting wrench. Then I was able to pop off the small reflectors in one piece. I then pulled off all the gaskets from the body.

I picked up my radiator from Radiator King this afternoon. I had it re-cored with a 3-row core, so now the car should run as cool as a cucumber. The workmanship is excellent. It cost $250, $100 of which was labor, the cost of which should vary regionally. The shop also flushed and pressure tested my heater core, and it is in fine condition. I plan to give both a coat of black radiator paint.

My dashboard has cracks in it and is just in generally rough condition given that it is nearly 40 years old. So I've looked into my options for getting a new dash. It is a high-cost item, but will be front-and-center in the new interior, so this is an area worth getting a quality piece.

Dashboards are not available from Nissan and the roadster parts vendors do not offer reproduction dashes for the high windshield cars (though they do for the early low windshield roadsters). So I am faced with finding a dashboard restoration company that rebuilds dashes using new foam and recovers them with new vinyl. I have found three such companies, all of them on the west coast:

• Just Dashes comes recommended by some roadster owners on the roadster mailing list, but I've heard that their prices have increases significantly in recent years. They are located in Van Nuys, CA and have been in business for 24 years.

• Dashboard Restorations, located in Brush Prairie, WA, was formerly affiliated with an Australian company of the same name. This company has done a lot of work for the Classic Z-Car club guys and they seem to be very happy with the results.

• Dash Specialists of Medford, OR has over 15 years in the business and has a reputation for doing concourse-level work.

The dash is in three pieces. There is the main dash unit, the glove-box door, and a small panel that mounts under the dash on the driver's side. I got price quotes from all three of the potential vendors.

Just Dashes charges $600 for the main dash plus $120 for the glovebox door and there may be an additional charge for the small under-dash panel. The radio console ($100) and armrest console and lid ($400) would be additional.

Dashboard Restorations quoted $600 for the three dash pieces. The radio console would be another $150 and the console would be $250.

Dash Specialists would charge $800 for the three-piece dash. I did not ask for a quote on the radio console or armrest console.

So that is the range of pricing out there. I am planning to try to save some money by having a local upholstery shop re-cover my consoles (radio and armrest) in new vinyl, because the foam on both is in pretty good shape and those pieces don't require a full restoration like the dash.

I've heard back from my Nissan parts supplier and some of the parts I ordered for my carbs are no longer being produced and therefore no longer available.

I've updated the table below that documented my original order (entry dated #19 June 2005#) by adding a column that indicates each part's availability. Those parts marked "NLA" are no longer available.

Most of the parts are available, which is good news. The rear nozzles are NLA, which surprises me a bit. I'd order two of the front nozzles but fear that the front nozzle may not work on the rear carb. The 2 liter carbs are symmetrical; both float chambers are oriented inward. I'm not entirely certain, but I think I'll need two opposite nozzles to make it work. Also, the float valves are NLA, as are the screws and washers. I should be able to find similar screws and washers to work without much trouble. For the nozzles and float valves I have a couple of options: (1) just don't replace those parts, (2) try to get some "new old stock" parts from the roadster parts vendors, (3) see if the folks that re-build carbs for a living have any solutions or suggestions, or (4) see if any other roadster owners may have these parts.

I removed the front and rear bumpers so that I can clean them up, address any dents, and send them off to be re-chromed.

The front bumper is mounted on a pair of steel brackets that project from under the body. Four 9/16" bolts connect the bumper to these brackets; two on each side. I used some Liquid Wrench on the bolts but one of the bolts got bound up toward the end and I rounded the bolt's head. Eventually I was able to twist it off using a pair of vice grips. With those bolts removed the bumper came free. The rear bumper has a license plate light mounted in the center. The light has a chrome cover plate on top that I removed by taking out the two philips head mounting screws (below left). From underneath the light was mounted with two 5/16" nuts. Also there were two electrical connections, one one a ground. I disconnected both wires (visible below right). Then I was able to pop the license plate light up and off the rear bumper. The bumper itself was mounted with similar 9/16" bolts to those on the front bumper. In the rear there were three bolts, left, center, and right. With the bumpers removed I could see that there was a considerable amount of surface rust on the inside, particularly of the front bumper. I removed the overriders, which were attached each with two 1/2" bolts.

After another thorough cleaning, I primed and painted the two pieces of the metal heater box. It looks pretty good and the color matches pretty well to the original grey, if just a hair lighter. I need to get some gasket material and some felt strips so that I can re-assemble the heater when I get the heater core back from the radiator shop.

This morning I placed an order to Nissan for a lot of parts I plan to replace on my carbs. The full list of parts is in the table below (Note that these part numbers are specific to the 2 liter carb and also may vary for earlier or later cars).

Part Name	Part Number	Price (each)	Available?
Gasket Kit (2)	16455-H2310	$3.30	YES
N-17 Jet Needle (2)	16354-25611	$8.81	YES
Inlet Screen/Filter (2)	16098-73401	$.65	YES
Fuel Pipe (2)	16356-25610	$13.68	YES
Banjo Bolt (2)	16108-18010	$1.69	YES
Float (2)	16061-E4310	$11.90	YES
Nozzle, Front	16355-25610	$19.11	YES
Nozzle, Rear	16355-25611	$17.99	NLA
Float Valve (2)	16101-25610	$10.06	NLA
Float Spring/Lifter (2)	16325-10400	$1.38	YES
Suction Spring (2)	16346-25610	$2.54	NLA
Screws, for Domes and Float-chambers (16)	16129-73013	$.24	NLA
Washers, for Domes and Float-chambers (16)	23502-30000	$.33	NLA

So far, getting parts from Nissan for a 1968 vehicle has been hit-or-miss, so, while all of these parts appear to be available in the parts listing, we'll see what is really available and what gets bounced back as "NLA."

The most expensive parts are the jet-nozzles and the floats. It is a good idea to go with new jet nozzles when doing a rebuild, but the floats need not always be replaced. Also, the most expensive item, which is the fuel pipe, is not something I'd want to substitute with cheaper thick fuel hose. The Nissan hose has thin walls and is quite flexible (though strong), and to use a cheaper and thicker/less flexible hose could compromise the jet-nozzles' ability to freely slide up and down on the needles. This binding of the jet nozzle may prevent the carbs from working as they should and could undermine the whole re-build.

The other piece I intend to have reupholstered in vinyl locally is the radio console. So I spent some time taking the console apart and cleaning it up. In addition to the radio, this console is also home to four pull knobs that operate the choke, s-brake test, fan, and hazard lights. The choke knob must be removed from its cable in order to get the console out of the car, so it is not pictured. I began by removing the two knobs that control the radio. The top one pulled off after rotating it counterclockwise and the bottom one just popped off after getting it aligned correctly. The posts on which the knobs sit have grooves that plastic tabs in the knobs' mounting holes slide into. Behind the knobs sit threaded nuts and washers that mount the dial's posts through the console and hold the radio in place. I used a 9/16" socket to remove the nuts. On the bottom of the console there is a bracket with one small brass bolt that holds the radio unit to the console as well. With the mechanical fasteners removed I was able to reverse the radio box out of the console. One electrical connection remained, which I labeled and disconnected. The radio had some grime and gunk inside it after 37 years, so I unscrewed the two small brass bolts in order to remove the radio's silver faceplate. I then cleaned up the plate inside and out, removing as much dirt as I could. Back at the console there remained the three knobs to remove. Each knob was attached by a small flat-head set-screw. I unscrewed these and then pulled off the knobs. Under each knob was a silver collar that was threaded onto each knob's mounting post. Each collar has two small holes for a special tool to unscrew the collars. Using a pair of thin needle-nose pliers I was able to unscrew the collars and then remove the mechanisms behind the console's face. With the knobs totally removed I separated the radio console harness from the console. The console's face plate then slid away from the console as well. I will clean the faceplate and may give it a coat of paint so it looks new.
The console body I will send off with the other pieces to be re-covered in new vinyl.

Since the center console is in relatively good shape, I don't think it needs to be rebuilt entirely. A fresh covering of vinyl should make it look brand new. Before I send it out to a local upholsterer, I need to clean it up first.

I began by taking a look at the gearbox cover plate and the piece of the dashboard that fits below the dash on the driver's side. Both had surface rust, so I went to work with a wire brush and some cleaner/degreaser. Next I went to work on the console. There was a considerable amount of surface rust on the bottom. I removed much of the rust with a wire brush and cleaned the surface off using hot water, some Simple Green, and a scouring pad. First I removed the top tray of the console, which has the ashtray assembly attached. There were four screws underneath that I had to remove to drop this tray. Then I gave the exposed metal a coat of rust-inhibiting primer to seal the surface. I did the same with the back of the gearbox plate. With the primer these pieces should hold up for another 40 years! When I go to the upholsterer I will also bring the trim piece that fits over the rear edge of the seating area. It is a U-shaped bracket that finishes off the edge where the back/bottom of the car's top would meet the body of the car. I also wire-brushed, cleaned, and primed this piece. The next step is to find a good local auto upholstery shop and take these pieces to be re-covered in new vinyl.

There are still some components remaining inside the car that need to be removed and cleaned up before the car's body is painted. I am working on the wiring harness, but I took a break from that to remove the pedals.

The gas pedal is bolted directly into a post that goes through the firewall and is connected to a mechanism that operates the throttle cable in the engine bay. I removed the pedal by loosening the nut with a 9/16" socket and then sliding off the pedal, spring, and washer. The brake and clutch pedals are mounted on longer metal brackets that bolt through a coupling (so they may swivel) high under the dashboard. I removed both nuts using a 3/4" socket and wrench to prevent the whole bolt from rotating. Both pedals are spring loaded to keep them in the forward position until foot-pressure is applied. The springs mounted on the pedals and connected to the body just above the steering column. After removing these springs I was able to pull the pedals down a bit and work on the connections to the pedals' respective cylinders. Both the brake pedal and clutch pedal were attached through the firewall to master cylinders. I removed the pin that held each pedal to the y-shaped bracket that goes through the firewall into the cylinder. Then I was able to pull the pedals out entirely. Up against the firewall there were some cardboard pieces in each footwell and in the center. I removed these by removing the screws and eyelets that held them in place. The pieces had been wet in the past and one of them was damp when I removed it. These pictures show the cardboard that was on the passenger side and the firewall beneath it. Finally here is a shot of the firewall after the pedals were removed. There are only a couple of items remaining!

I ordered a set of four DVDs on bodywork and painting. These videos, created by Kevin Tetz of Paintucation, came very highly recommended as an excellent introductory resource in this area. I have been thinking about the possibility of painting the car myself, and these videos should give me a good grounding in what's involved in the whole process.

The four disks are titled: Body Shop Basics, Metal Prep & Rust Repair, Paint Your Own Car, and Color Sanding & Buffing.

At the very least, after I watch the videos I will be in a better position to decide realistically how much of the body work, surface preparation, and (perhaps) painting I feel comfortable tackling myself. Or, should I decide to leave this to the pros, at least I will be knowledgeable enough to find a good local vendor.

This afternoon I got started on freeing the wiring harness from the body of the car. The diagram below, which was sourced from carfiche.com (which is a really really good resource, BTW), shows the general layout of the wiring harness. The work I've done prior to today left the wiring harness feeding through the firewall on both the driver's and passenger's sides. The loop shown in the diagram above dictates that the harness be removed from the passenger's side and pulled back through the firewall. Here is a close-up of where the harness passes through the firewall into the engine bay on the passenger side. You can see that the wires split off in two directions immediately. On the right side the wires go out toward the engine block and on the other they go over toward the coil. On the block-side branch, there is a black wire and a yellow wire. The black wire connects to a terminal on the distributor cap. The yellow cable connects to another, red, cable. The red wire (which was connected to the yellow wire) grounds on the rear-side of the coolant inlet on the engine block. On the opposite side of this inlet there is another green wire connected. The green wire feeds back over and grounds to the body on one of the mounting bolts for the coil. The coil is also where the other half of the harness wires are connected. I removed the coil, which is mounted to the body with two bolts. The coil has a large cable that feeds electrical current to the distributor cap. It pulled out at either end. I then disconnected four black wires that branch off from the harness. Two of them were connected to the positive and negative terminals of the coil and the other two where connected the spring-loaded lower bracket mounted beneath the coil. Then I was able to pull the whole branch of the harness back through the firewall and into the interior of the car. This freed up the passenger-side of the harness. Between the grommets there were a couple of connections above the steering column. With those removed the harness was free all the way over to the driver's side grommet.

This morning I removed the hood latch mechanism and that enabled me to removed the hood release cable that feeds through the firewall.

Here is the latch mechanism. The release cable feeds into the mechanism from the right side; you can see from the close-up on the right that my cable has become frayed where it penetrates the firewall, probably because the rubber grommet has worn away. I removed the two bolts that hold the latch mechanism in place using a 7/16" socket. Then the mechanism below the sheet metal was free. Having the lower piece free allowed me to twist the assembly a bit so that I could get a flat-head screwdriver on the release cable's holding screw. While I was in the area I removed the hood cowl, which is held in place by six small philips-head screws. Then I pulled the release cable back through the firewall and out of the car.

This evening I spent some time taking the final pieces out of the trunk. This included the trunk latch and gas-filler tube apparatus.

The trunk lid has a metal loop piece on a bracket that bolts into the underside of the lid (not shown). That loop secures the trunk shut by catching the latch mechanism. Side and front views of the latch are shown below on the left. After I removed the four latch screws and latch itself, the key tumbler behind was visible. The tumbler was held in place by a black metal clip on the inside of the trunk. The tumbler turns a pin that opens and closes the latch. In order to remove the tumbler I had to pull out the cotter pin that held the tumbler to the pin piece. I then removed the remaining pieces attached to the trunk that allow for the filling of the gas tank from the rear. I slid the metal filler tube out from the body after removing the key-lock cap. Then I unscrewed the vent tube bracket and pulled up the black rubber gasket that surrounds the fill tube of the gas tank. I also removed the remaining heater and radiator hoses that run into the cabin (cockpit?) from the engine bay. Here are a couple of pictures where those hoses penetrate the firewall on the interior (left) and engine bay (right). They were already disconnected on both ends, so I just pulled them off the car's body. Finally, here is the latest view of the car from the rear.

I've just placed a parts order with Nissan. It was a bit tough tracking down the parts numbers, but the pdf microfiche available at 311s.org was very helpful. Here's what I've ordered:

Part Name	Part Number	Price
Air Filter Element	16546-25600	$20.65
Carb Gaskets (for air-box assembly)	16523-U0800	$4.18
U20 Oil Filters	15208-H8920	$4.89

All of these parts should be available, but we'll see if there are any problems.

When I originally tore out the car's interior, I removed everything from the doors that was necessary in order to take off the vinyl door panels. Last night I went back to the doors to remove the mechanical parts that remained, including the glass, door handles, and locking mechanism. There are a lot of moving parts involved, but it isn't that difficult to get everything if you stay organized and take it one step at a time.

Here is what the doors looked like after the interior was removed. The first step was to remove the glass. There is a triangular fixed vent window in front of the door window, which is easiest to remove with the window in the "up" position.

There are these round pins on the outside of the door that help to hold the vent windows in place. I removed them with a 5/16" wrench. The rubber trim on the outside of the car, for both the vent window and the car window, are a friction fit [edit: I was informed that these pieces are not a "friction fit" and that I actually tore them when removing them the way I did. I took a second look and it's not clear to me how I could have salvaged them, but learn from my mistake and do not just tear them off--they are expensive to replace! ] so I simply pulled those pieces out. There are two upper screws that hold the vent assembly in place; I removed these with a #3 Phillips head screwdriver. One of the screws goes through the black bracket into the body and the other goes through the body into the vent piece. There is one more screw down low, recessed in the car door. It is found beneath the window crank. I removed this final screw and the vent window pulled out the top of the door. To remove the car window, I removed two Phillips head screws that anchor the scissors-like opening mechanism in place below the window. Also, there is a plastic block with a screw that attaches the opening mechanism to the bottom of the window glass. I removed the screw and slide the block free from its channel. After the plastic piece was free, I was able to slide the window-opening mechanism off the bracket on the bottom of the glass and slide the glass out of the door. The two lower screws held a bracket in place on the inside of the door. Next I removed the interior door handle. There are two small Phillips head screws that attach it to the body. The handle has a loop that a rod hooks into; the rod drives the latch mechanism at the rear of the door. In order to extract the mechanism that opens and closes the window, I removed the four remaining Phillips head screws located around the window crank. They were pretty tight. Then I pulled out the mechanism. At this point I removed the driver's side mirror. Mine was attached with a bolt through the car's body. Located inside the door was a 12mm nut. On the inside of the rear edge of the door there is a channel in which the window glass rides. There are two screws on the outside/back of the door that hold this channel in place. I removed those screws and pulled out the channel. The catch plate for the door is mounted on the rear of the door as well. I removed the three Phillips head flush screws and dropped that piece into the door. I then went after the door latching and locking mechanism. It runs from the door handle back to the latch plate and also up to the key lock and the pull-up lock at the top of the door. At this point, because everything else was already disconnected, I needed to only free the mechanism from the door's key lock. A cotter-pin holds the mechanism to the lock tumbler. I pulled off the pin and rotated the mechanism off the tumbler. Then I pulled out the entire mechanism in one piece. Finally I removed the exterior chrome door handle. Two 3/8" nuts on the inside of the door hold it in place. With those removed I was able to pull the handles off the door. Now the doors are shells. There was no rust-proofing inside the doors, just bare metal, and I saw a lot of surface rust inside. I will clean up all the mechanical pieces and send some pieces out for re-chroming.

The Just SUs videos from zTherapy were extremely informative. I recommend them to anyone attempting to rebuild or tune carbs on a Datusn roadster or Z-car.

The tapes begin by showing you how to inspect and install newly rebuilt carbs. The second segment then shows how to rebuild a pair of carbs using a kit that zTherapy supplies. Emphasis is placed on what you need to do to get the carbs to work right and work correctly together. Subsequent segments that were informative, but less relevant for this project, included some material on British SUs, Volvo carbs, and some suggestions for performance modifications to a 240Z.

I received my Just SUs videos from ZTherapy this week and am going to spend some time today watching them and learning all about the carbs.