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Day 3&4 |
Day 0
Pickup Day
2/7/2008 I finally bought myself a 510. I have a long list of Zcars that Ive owned in the past. I currently own a 71 240Z project, 74 260Z bio-diesel project, a 1968 2000 roadster, and now 2 71 510 wagons. There is a really interesting story behind this car. Its long and parts of it were a little stressful. Well seeing as the car isnt finished and you have to read all this before I give it all away its still kinda stressfull, but worth it. The story starts when I was in a coffee shop on a rainy day 30 min from home with my girlfriend. We both stumbled across this add for multiple 510s. It was listed in Orange County, but was actually located near Sacramento. I called the add lister and it became clear he had what we were looking for. We immediately dropped everything and started making plans to head to Sacramento. "We" because my girlfriend and I had decided this car would be a joint venture. She had decided to be as involved with this car as she could because it was one of my interests and she wanted to learn more about my interests. So it was pretty random last minute stuff, finding a place to stay, figuring out transportation for the car, etc... We arrived at 11pm in Sacramento after the initial call around 5pm. Not bad all considered.
I found the first wagon I found up in Penn Valley Ca. It had been sitting for a long while. All 4 tires where flat and burried in the red clay dirt. Even after filling 3 tires we needed a 4 wheel drive mid-sized Toyota pickup to pull it out.
I filled the car up with parts including a freshly rebuilt L16 with a SSS head on it.
The car is a mess right now. Rodents have filled the back seat area with all sorts of debris. We towed the car to Sacramento and gave it a good pressure washing.
My other cars are sorta long term projects. I will be giving this car a kick start to life. The body is fairly straight and the rust seams to be under control. There aren't really any concerning rust issues.
We as in my girlfriend and I have family in Sacramento so we were using their house as a go between until we can get the car road worthy. Seriously I hadnt just been in sac with the car for a few hours when I got a phone call from another 510 owner I had stopped to chat with in my home town Hollister months earlier. He said he just accidentally called me, but coincidently he had spoke with his wife and they want to give me there 510 wagon!
The pictures may be deceiving. This car looks pretty bad in the pictures, but Its actually worse. The rocker panels are both fiber glassed up. The fiberglass is also on the rear 1/4 panels near the bottoms. The front fenders have glass on them as well which has now made them part of the rocker panels. The rest of the car isnt very much better. The back seat is missing the bottom half. The electrical system is toast, well it looks toast but mostly works. The engine is a L20b. The engine has a knock. I haven't heard it run but the owner says its broken rings. I'm not sure I will ever find out. More than likely a knock would be rods most likely. Broken rings normally tick. Most of the interior is missing. To finish it off there is a lot of surface rust everywhere.
So those are my two new Datsuns. I am definitely keeping the tan 71 as my personal project vehicle. The plan is to take some of the needed parts from the black wagon and put it on my tan one then possibly sell the black wagon to someone that will put it to good use as that is the current owners wish. Its just to much work for me to take on.
while searching for a 510 I ran across a set of carbs in the trunk of a car. As you can see they don't appear to match. The actually do match but the top plate on the "Mikuni" carb has actually been replaced. They are both Solex carbs and the jets all match. I've cleaned them up a bit as well. They were a little oxidized over.
Administrator -Ray