My name is Tristin and although Im not new to building cars, I am new to Datsuns I joined this forum months ago in the hopes of buying a B210 sedan I saw listed on here, but unfortunately I wasnt able to purchase it. Ive liked Datsuns for awhile and finally was able to pick one up in good condition for a great price. Its in awesome condition for its age, though its not perfect. There is a bit of surface rust in some areas and the paint if faded in most places, but there is no rot. Rockers are 100% complete, no floorboard holes, no trunk rust. For her age, shes great. I have some plans for her in the future, but the first things that are going to get take care of with be maintenance related and some of the more important aspects.

Current Issues:
No weather sealing on doors
Heater is crap (I live in Washington... its a must)
Stalls on hard accelerating from a stop
Dash lights are half blown
Ignition is loose (twists when you want to start the car)
Front seats are shredded
Rear seat cover needs replaced (foam and springs are perfect)
Carpet is wicked dirty
Stereo is non-op

Future Plans:
Coilovers
Rims
Wilwood BBK
SR Swap (not sure which version yet)
Aussie rear Venetian blind
Aussie sun visor
JDM fender mirrors
Center console
MKI duckbill

Im not going to get crazy with it, but I would like to update the vehicle to current times. Once I get cracking on the maintenance it should be a great DD as Im going to use it when I go back to school in the Summer. Im going to try to keep everything original looking if possible and only change things if I must. Im going to try to keep the original paint color, interior colors, no garish front bumper colors, no ridiculous fender flares. Clean and simple is the way I like it. Anyway, here are the pictures as it currently sits. I just returned from a 3hr drive to pick her up. Enjoy and stay tuned!

_________________
--Tristin
1969 Datsun 510 4dr.

Looks like a great start.

I'm particularly a fan of the older 510s with the small bullet-shaped front turn signal.

It's small and clean enough that I'd be less tempted to shave it off.

FYI, the JDM front bumper is identical to yours.

Looks like a great canvas to start with though.

Do those center bump-stop pieces just come off then? I thought they did as I saw a dirt shadow in the shape of those pieces... I wasnt sure. Thanks for the confirmation!

_________________
--Tristin
1969 Datsun 510 4dr.

Yes sir. One nut off the back side and those ugly things are in the bin.

The JDM cars had them too.

http://knoxxlifestyle.files.wordpress.com/2010/05/bluebirdsss.jpg

Oh, and if they're in good shape, don't toss them. Some people will pay for the privilege of having nice ones.

Awesome! Ill take a look at them and check condition. If good Ill throw them up for sale...

_________________
--Tristin
1969 Datsun 510 4dr.

I've been watching this one on craigslist! Looks awesome.

_________________

Me too. Slick color, looks very good. PM me when your ready to do something about that heater. I do radiators, heaters, and coolers for a living .

Thanks for the help... I might take you up on that offer. I cleaned out the trap in the center, but Im still having flow and heat problems. Since its Washington I need to keep warm and defrost my windows so I dont run off the road.

Spent a few hours at my buddies shop (http://www.boss-innovations.com) to check out some of the issues. Unfortunately we couldnt replicate the stalling issue and since neither of us know anything about carbs, we didnt figure it out. Im going to open the hood tomorrow or this weekend and see if I cant figure it out. I did fix the ignition so it no longer twists... Turns out the bezel was just loose. I added some sealant (similar to RTV) and tightened it back down. We swept out the interior- found 25 cents- and reinstalled the carpet. It was in great condition with only a medium sized hole. Im going to keep the original carpet and just clean it up. It could use a thorough cleaning, but its in great shape. Last I removed the bumper stops for a cleaner look and now theyre just chillin' in my parts box.



Also, whomever talked crap about the sunroof wins an e-cookie. Its in decent shape... except for the part where its fully caulked in. I tried to open it because it was a nice drive, and couldnt... I thought I was sally-fisting it, but once I got it in the shop and took a look at it; I saw this:

_________________
--Tristin
1969 Datsun 510 4dr.

Hey, first off, drain your coolant, unplug the heater lines from the engine and try flowing water through it with one of those hose guns, the kind with the trigger. Dont use full pressure cuz you'll risk damaging the heater core. See what comes out. Most often there is just a sludge blockage that can flushed out. Let me know if that helps...

p.s. If you do get crap out of there it might be time to get a flush and have that radiator cleaned too...

Those are good tips... I will take a look at it this weekend (hopefully); I appreciate the help Yota. If I fail beyond all recognition I will ask for some more advice.

I couldnt find any NOS replacements for my cracked rear tailight lens, but during the hunt I found Mexican repro's on Ebay. They look correct and were really cheap so hopefully they work out. I will report my findings when I receive and install them. Shipping from Mexico was a lot longer than normal shipping so they will be here in a couple weeks.

_________________
--Tristin
1969 Datsun 510 4dr.

I've bought a few of the Mexican repro lights. The quality of the molding isn't as crisp as their Japanese counterparts, but the plastic is quite good. They last well, and don't seem to fade.

And from more than 3 feet away you can't really tell them from the Japanese lenses.

Good to hear. I wasnt too worried because they were cheap, and I wasnt expecting wonders because of that as well. Im not one to expect wonders for no money. I only have to pick up a few more things before I move on to performance parts... nothng too expensive overall, but it adds up.

_________________
--Tristin
1969 Datsun 510 4dr.

Yeah, but don't ever actually add it up. Ever.

Yeah I did that at first and freaked out... but over time Ill be ok. Its worth it though, so Im not worried about it.

_________________
--Tristin
1969 Datsun 510 4dr.

Another good update I think:

I came into a decent chunk of money this morning. My taxes came back to me and here in a few days Im hoping to receive my enlistment bonus (I just got out of a six year tour as a submariner and Im re-enlisting in the Reserves). Anyway, figured it was a good time to pick up a good sized present for the car and bought a set of rims. Here in a week of transit time, I will be able to rock a set of staggered SSR at 15x7's and 15x8's. I still need to find suitable tires as well as roll the wheel wells, but this is a start.

They are currently a silver center with previously polished lip. Im going to repaint the centers and try to polish the lips myself. It should be a pretty easy process.

Since the rear seat does not have a vinyl cover, I needed to find a way to cover it without spending a bunch of money on reupholstery. Im not at that stage yet in this build, but wanted to let people sit in the back without ruining my foam. That solution should be here on Thursday. Most of this is be done next week sometime. A friend building a '76 Galant coupe is coming down to spend the week working in the shop together, so all of these parts Im amassing will be installed then. It should be a pretty big change compared to the way that it looks now. Stay tuned for those pictures as there will be quite a few.

_________________
--Tristin
1969 Datsun 510 4dr.

Unfortunately the backseat in the Datto wasnt the best. The previous owner said it was a POS so he took over the vinyl cover to have it redone. Well that never happened... so now I have a foam and filler backseat that Im scared to ruin. ALl this means I have to rock the car as a two-seater and cant put anything in the back. The seat itself (save the cover) is in great condition and I want to keep it that way. It looks like this:




A little dirty, but foam is perfect.

I figured I wanted to recover the seat, but I want to do all the seats in the same style and dont have the money to do that yet. What am I to do?! I had a fantastic idea born in my heritage as a mexican Southern Californian and decided to purchase a new cover in a color that matched the car. Now I give you this:







Its not the most elegant solution, but it works. It allows me to have people in the seat and put groceries etc without the threat of ruining the foam. Now I can just wash the blanket instead of trying to wash foam and weird hay filler. Its not perfect yet, as its kind of loosely held on there, but I think Im going to buy some of those elastic sheet stays to stretch it a little tighter and make sure it staying in postion. For $30 I think it will be great.

_________________
--Tristin
1969 Datsun 510 4dr.

I like it.

You can never go wrong with a mexican blanket seat cover. I used to run one for years.