Post by unclesilvia on Jul 29, 2012 18:43:14 GMT 1
Well Ill bring over my build thread from the "old" forum. ;D
Hi all...... Me again!! ;D
Well a year ago, all logic and plans went out the window because a cool Jap car became avaliable in the Classifieds lol.
I was looking for something smooth and sensible and a little bigger with a bit of badge snobbery like a merc or something........... So I ended up buying a brown Datsun ;D
For those that know me, Retro Jap is always at the top of my list so its a no-brainer really lol
Well here she is.............
Its a 1978 Pre-Facelift B310 Datsun Sunny 140Y Coupe which I believe are pretty rare over here now??!! It has the A14 1400 engine mated with a 5 speed manual gearbox with Dogleg First to make it interesting lol.
I picked it up from Westcountry Classics, (nice chaps), near Penzance in Cornwall and they got it off an elderly lady that has been its only owner since new!! Yes I am the second owner ;D
Its done 70500 miles and is a pretty solid car being garaged all its life. Unfortunately its not perfect with a bit of a knock on the front corner and some badly matched paint on one side........... all fixable tho. The dreadded rot seems to pretty fairly at bay with only a few blisters about the car and I believe only had 2 patches of welding ever! Inside is MINT tho
It also came with some "British Made" dealer option alloy wheels from new and I have a full set of 5!! Ill probably wack on some of my spare Jappy rims tho ;D.
She drives pretty well for an old car too and was happilly sat at 70mph on the way home to Plymouth for 80 miles. Good on fuel too!
Well enough of the chat........... you want some pics...............
On the way home:
If I decide to get keen one day............ this could be an option ;D
Well on my first day of ownership I took it for a late night spin........ and came across more retros.............
And the next day the mods started!! Ive been playing with my Wheels ;D
First I tried my 14x9 Enkei's................
Unfortunately although they look right on the car......... I can even get half a turn on the stering wheel before they catch everything!!!! The arches just arnt as big as my corolla!!
SO I tried my 14x7 Watanabes...............
Well these fit just fine and TBH look good with the black on brown! Next is to lower it ;D
Oh and heres a better shot of the interior............
And my first "In Car Entertainment" ;D
Well I got busy getting the Datty ready for the Retro Rides Gathering 2011. Heres an update................
First off it said Goodbye to my Micra before it went to its new home...
Then it said hello to its new partner in crime..........
First off was to try and repair that front end damage the best I could without actually buying any parts for now lol. This is how I straightened my bumper HAHA.........
Taaa Daaa ;D
I then decided to convert the bumpers back to as near "Jap Spec" as I could....... meaning removing the horrid plastic end caps and bumper extensions and moving the bumper back closer to the car in full chrome mode ;D
So I stripped the whole front down..........
And while I was doing this I thought I'd tidy up the rest of it a bit INC trying to fix the dent in the N/S wing.........
Beat the wing with a big hammer until it was pretty good and then stonechipped all the bare bit of metal and around the edges......
Stone chipped the inner arch where it needed it.........
And the front panel...........
There will be pics coming up of what it looks like all back together
Then I had an oil leak on the rocker cover so I stripped that off.......
Found the culprit.............
And replaced with new...........
Next it was the fun bit of trying to lower it, SO I stripped the front down.......
Marked where I needed to "modify" it lol (not to much for now just to see how she sits)........
Them trimmed a little off ;D............
Next was to Strip the rear springs out.........
And gave them the same treatment........
NEXT I had to get some modern tunes in here as I was getting fed up with the MW/LW and the not so loud Ipod Dock lol............
First up was to run power wires........
Next was to hide some speakers up under the dash.........
I had to make a hole on the passenger side to get the wires through neatly...........
And protecting the wires..........
The headunit was fitted neatly under the glovebox and even matches the colour or the dash and trim (and the dash lights ).....
Tidy up the wiring under the rear seat...........
Mount sub in the boot on a removable plug......
I think it looks pretty neat...........
Now for some nicer shots at this stage with the car back together................
Next was to touch up the black and tatty bits around the car as the weather was better yesterday............
It was only a quick job but it looks much better! Unfortunately I wont have the time and don't have the paint to colour code the bad paint job on the drivers side before the show.
Ive also now filled the holes in the bumpers with dome bolts to neaten it up.
I have a load more photos from the last year so Ill get round to updating this soon.
seeing this all together shows what a transformation you've done with minimal outlay, well, apart from the wheels.
looks so much better for losing the rubber end caps.
Thanks
Well I've done a few more bits since those photos but Ive just been a bit lazy in putting them up! I'll sort that out soon tho
As for the "genuine" Watanabes, I already had them as a spare set/I'm a wheel whore, for my Corolla and I swapped them for a set of 15x6 cheap minilights that I painted myself! The guy didn't know what he had lol
Post by unclesilvia on Feb 23, 2013 19:29:37 GMT 1
UPDATE!!! FINALLY!!!
Ok I havent done any updates for bloody ages so I thought it was about time ;D Ill try and whip throught the last year or so to get up to date
Firstly it got a polish and went to RRG11......
Needed a bit of welding for the next MOT..........
And then a fresh MOT ;D
Then I wanted to make a shelf to cover the boot area...........
I used a load cover form an old Escort estate...
The wood will be covered later!
The I went to the Brean beach meet
With SOS Southern Old School
I moved from Plymouth to Torbay so took the opertunity for some nice sea-side piccys
Unfortunately my drivers seat had a spring break so I decided to fit a bucket seat I have sitting around. I know its a little modern but its comfy and I don't think it looks out of place.......
A new gear gator was made from the sleve of an old leather jacket.... (Thanks Mum ;D)
I got set on tidying up the bodywork and getting rid of the miss-matched paint on the side. I couldnt afford a proper spray job so I got some aerosols made up and had a go myself............
Then a few days later it got a bit of a polish ready for japfest 2012
The off to Japfest 2012 we go........ into the queues LOL
Datty even made it onto the pages of the Speedhunters Website ;D
A few more pics after getting back......... [/img]
Time for a new addition...... FENDER MIRRORS
Right..... RRG12 time ;D
First up was some new J showplates
On the way up with friends...
At the camping ground..... with more friends...
Datty in the show on the Datsun Stand ;D
Made it into the top corner of the Retro Cars Magazine coverage of RRG12 ;D
And the RRG12 Time Lapse film ;D
And just a bit of PHOTO WHORING which brings things up until the end of the 2012 season.......
And a good one to end on .......... for now ;D
The car has since been off the road for the winter BUT I now have some new ideas for the car and hope to get it back on the road for Japfest 2013 in May! Watch this space
you on a stand for Japfest or just turn up and park?
thinking bout putting a stand together for it.
Thanks
Ill be on the JAP-RIDERS stand, which is my local cap car club to SW England.
I think it would be too late to organise a stand for this year as I think they have to be done well in advance!? You can try tho. I was going to mention about doing a stand for this show as there really isnt much of a retro scene there..... Yet! I think retro Jap cars should be better reperesented at Japfest to show people its not all about massive power Supras and Skylines, but there is a massive following in their distant roots
Looks good...loads of progress since you first got the car...I like the watanabes. There were a couple of pics of the datsun stand in the fast car magazine
Looks good...loads of progress since you first got the car...I like the watanabes. There were a couple of pics of the datsun stand in the fast car magazine
I like your result of spraying. Especially with aerosol cans. Much better music upgrades rather than the iPod stand. Personally I think that all the new updates to this car are spot on and perfect. I'm loving the photos and always wish I was living by a bay or beach rather than traffic mad London. I would love to drive my datsun as a daily but you just can't here and can't enjoy them.
