Leaderboard

2 Months later ..... I've made some good progress, great progress really. I've been able to prototype 3 different revisions of actual engine mounts, and settle on a final version and fabricate them. I 've gotten the steering linkage sorted out, I put the pedal in for the first time with their lines connected to the bulkhead, and I got the engine wiring installed (very temporarily) and actually started it up for the first time in the car, with the whole drivetrain connected. So, engine mounts first. 3D printer was working overtime again going a few different versions. I ended up straying away from the idea of welding to the frame of the car in favor of going with a solution more like what Nissan had originally done. I welded some support stand offs from my custom subframe to come up to meet the engine side supports and rubber isolators. I just couldn't bring myself to weld to the front frame rails and lose the ability to drop the engine out the bottom of the car. Next, since most of this custom subframe and engine mount work was to manage to get my BMW steering rack into the best position, I had to figure out how to actually connect the Datsun column to that BMW rack. It turns out that the BMW rag joint has a nearly identical bolt pattern as the original Datsun one, so that let me just take apart the BMW one and use half of it to adapt the Datsun column down to a 3/4" DD shaft. Then I found a collapsible DD shaft online (3/4" on one side, 1" on the other) that I used to connect from the steering column, to a Flaming River universal joint that has a 1" DD on one side and the BMW spline pattern on the other. I also am using a poly version of the original Datsun steering column coupler. Result?? The steering feels absolutely perfect... 0 slop from the wheel all the way down through to the tires. https://youtu.be/18_B0R0pzEc Once all of the engine mounts were fabricated, and the engine was finally sitting in its final position, I decided it was time to get it running... I dug out my box of wiring from the engine stand and started hooking it up. I put the dash in since it had all of my gauges and switches now and hooked those up too. This was also a good opportunity to try out the new in tank fuel pump set up. (much improved in terms of the noise vs the externally mounted Boash 044) I filled up the coolant, topped off the oil put in a few gallons of 93 and gave it a try. First go, it didn't quite want to take, but I think there was just a bunch of air in the fuel rail. After a few more cranks, it came to life. Good stuff! https://youtu.be/hwrzxf-Cf7w https://youtu.be/JXuYEDszmUA https://youtu.be/KQYHxMbQgWU A few things coming up next... I made the decision to go with AN fittings for the radiator hoses, for a few reasons. 1) I'm kinda opposed to having to splice together a bunch of rubber hoses to get the shape I need. 2) Flexible radiator hoses aren't the aesthetic i'm going for. 3) despite is being a tough pill to swallow now $$ wise, it will make future trouble shooting or even modifications easier to adapt to a new set up if needed. I'm probably going to leave the engine in for a bit longer, give it some run time since it hasn't seen much since last August (2019) and try to get a few things sorted out like coolant overflow tank location, oil cooler location, and maybe a few more plumbing things. Then it's back down to a bare shell to make a rotisserie and get those floors and frame rails replaced.

My 3.25 ratio is rarely used, I am actually gonna re-lash the gears this time as I forget tooeach time I use it. I have been waiting for some new vents from the USA for 3 months now. They should arrive soon I hope. bathurst is a hard track to build confidence at, zero room for error for over half of the track. pretty proud of not lifting for the kink too!

Hi all - I’ve been meaning to comment on this for an age, but the car is now with me in the UK. I am planning on doing a build thread but progress so far has been slow & dull as I rewire the car. I’ve not even driven the thing yet!