Austin Leonard Automotive - The Datsun Build

[Austin Leonard Automotive]

Hey everybody!

 

    So eight months ago I bought my dream car for my dream project.  It’s a 1974 Datsun 260Z, but it’s no ordinary 260z.  Here goes the story.

 

    One night I was just browsing Craigslist, looking for a possible candidate for a special build.  I came upon an ad that had few words and no pictures at all - pretty much just his name and phone number.  The next day I gave him a call to get a little more info on the car, and he told me the story of how he bought it from a friend 10 years ago.

His friend was at a gas station and accidentally tapped a pole - literally tapped, only leaving a small dent in the fender.  He didn’t want to get it fixed so he sold it to his friend (the guy I bought it from).  Right after receiving it he started to take the front end apart to do a V6 engine swap, but he blew his back out right as he got things apart.  So for the past 10 years it has been sitting on jack stands in a shipping container, untouched.   The car has (I kid you not) ZERO rust on the body.  The only spot that will need attention is a circle on the passenger floorboard, no bigger than my fist.  He decided to sell it due to medical bills and the such, and EVERYTHING he has goes with it.  That includes a full 280z parts car, new weatherstripping, full interior, extra dashes, disk brake kits, bushings, g-nose, etc. etc.

 

    I went up there a few weeks later with a trailer and dug the car out from where it had sat for so long.  I brought the car home, cleaned all of the rat turds out of it, then pushed it into the garage.  That pretty much brings us up to date...  I had done a few things like starting to pull the original motor apart, but nothing significant.  For the most part the car has just been collecting dust for 8 months while I worked on other projects I had gotten myself into.

 

    One thing I forgot to mention is that the car is VIN #49.  I know that collectability-wise the 240z is the most sought after, but it feels pretty special to have one of the first 50 cars sent to the US from a one year car.  That brings me to the struggle of not knowing where to take this build - completely stock, lightly modified, or balls to the wall nuts.  I'm still not 100% sure where I want to go with it but I think it'll be in the "lightly modified" range.  In the end I think somewhere around 300hp would be perfect for this car and chassis.  If some of you think that's still a bit much, I was originally considering around 800hp!

 

    So now you're really caught up on the project.  Below is a video I made for my YouTube channel of me going over the car and explaining the project a bit.  If you'd like to see video updates of the car subscribe to the channel!  I'll try to update this thread but I primarily post on YouTube.  Also, if you'd like to please share the video with all your car friends!  I'm really trying to grow my channel and need all the eyes and support I can get.

 

    If you made it to the end, thanks for reading and enjoy the video! 
 

-Austin

 

P.S.  If you have a better project name than "The Datsun Build" than please let me know 

 

 

 

Edited January 22, 2018 by Austin Leonard Automotive
Fixed video

[rturbo 930]

Hey, welcome to the forum! Looks like a nice car to start with. I'm not sure if there's any additional value in a low VIN 260Z, but it might be worth looking into.

 

I think your goal of 300hp will be a good fit for the S30 chassis. 800hp is definitely too much. IMO the S30 isn't really worth putting that much power into, since basically everything, including chassis, needs to be upgraded or replaced, and I don't need to tell you that that will get really expensive really quickly. 300hp is a nice balance in terms of power, and also what the chassis can handle with a few upgrades. If you keep the weight down, 300hp will be more than enough to have fun with.

 

Keep us posted.

[rossman]

Welcome to the forum!  I agree with rbturbo.  It's your car, ignore the purists and build what you want.  You mentioned money a few times in your video so you might want to consider building a turbo l28.  You can easily get 300 hp to the wheels and it's probably the least expensive way to go if you keep it reasonable.

[Austin Leonard Automotive]

On 1/23/2018 at 8:22 PM, rturbo 930 said:

I think your goal of 300hp will be a good fit for the S30 chassis. 800hp is definitely too much. IMO the S30 isn't really worth putting that much power into, since basically everything, including chassis, needs to be upgraded or replaced, and I don't need to tell you that that will get really expensive really quickly. 300hp is a nice balance in terms of power, and also what the chassis can handle with a few upgrades. If you keep the weight down, 300hp will be more than enough to have fun with.

 

I think 300hp is going to be the perfect amount of power for such a light car.  Enough to have some fun but it shouldn't rip the car apart.

 

On 1/24/2018 at 6:35 AM, rossman said:

Welcome to the forum!  I agree with rbturbo.  It's your car, ignore the purists and build what you want.  You mentioned money a few times in your video so you might want to consider building a turbo l28.  You can easily get 300 hp to the wheels and it's probably the least expensive way to go if you keep it reasonable.

 

I've actually been looking at L28et builds here on the forum for the past couple weeks.  I originally wanted to go with an RB26 for that high HP, but the simplicity of the L28 really suits the car and it'd be a good intro into the forced induction world.  In a few weeks I may be buying an L28et that's already been built for a decent price.  Then I'll only need to build a Megasquirt for it and I'll be boosting down the street!

[Austin Leonard Automotive]

UPDATE!

 

So after talking with dozens of friends and enthusiasts I've come to a conclusion - I'm going full send and building the car that I've really been dreaming of.  It will drain my bank account, it will be a pain, but it will be the baddest Z I could ever imagine.  One of the things that really pushed me to build my dream Datsun though was attending Import Alliance in Atlanta last weekend.  I got to see some of the coolest custom builds, created by people that wanted to have the exact car they dreamed up and that really inspired me.

 

Yesterday I bought an RB26 out of an R33 GTR that comes with an RB25 RWD transmission, as well as a bunch of other things pertaining to the RWD swap.  I'll post some pictures of all the goodies once it gets here as it's coming up from Florida on Monday.  As a baseline I think it will be making somewhere around 500hp to the wheels with the upgrades I'll have.  I know that's a lot of power for this chassis, but I'll be doing all the supporting chassis/structure stiffening.  That means seam welding, bracing, etc.

 

To put down that power I'm going to need some pretty wide grippy tires in the back.  I'm still debating whether I should cram some 315's into fender flares like Nv_s30's build, or go with a full widebody to accommodate that wide of a tire (or wider ).  I think I'll be running 17 inch rims due to the performance tires available for them, but I'd definitely run 16's if I could find the right setup.

 

That's all I've got for now!  Just wanted to give a little update on the direction of the build and the things I've got for it.  The Datsun is almost completely torn down to the bare shell, the only thing left on it is the rear end and brake lines.  Once it's fully apart I think I'll get it stripped and primered so I can start on the seam welding and minor body-mods I have planned.

[Pharaohabq]

Wow, Poor #49,  Well it's your car and you do what you want with it.   I posted some time back about the Value of a number.  The only time a low vin, (and yours certainly is low) has real value is in a restoration piece and with numbers matching.  My car #5837 is relatively low, and #49 woudl be noteworthy, but again it's not going to get you extra thousands in value unless you went full restoration.  Swapping and cuting, well that shoots all of that so have fun. You do what you want. It's your car, your decision.  I'm looking to restore my 240z, so I'd love to have #49, but again that's restoration not customization. 

 

To fit 315's you're going to need to do a little more than flares. maybe some strut changes,  suspension swap?  it'll fit, but hang out a long ways.  I just put 215's on mine and they barely fit in the stock fenders.

 

I'll check out your channel, but please update here from time to time. We're an amazing resource.

 

Phar

[Pharaohabq]

Sorry for the doublepost...   I checked out your channel, and your #49 is 260z #49, that's much different than the 240z #49.  So again, noteworthy, but not so much a big deal. If you were restoring then perhaps.  

 

Before you get crazy with big tires and such, Get it running on your new engine then look into the big tires and flares and such.

 

[NewZed]

He only has 4 posts and the last visit to the site was August 21.  His youtube account hasn't had a video posted for 5 months.  Looks like he tore it apart then got bored with it.  Not uncommon.

 

 

[Pharaohabq]

Yeah saw that, Hopefully he hasn't crapped out.  His vids make it look like he buys a few cars and doesn't finish much.  #49 260z is noteworthy, but not as exciting as #49 240z would be. Either way it's his project, he shoudl build what he wants.   I did suggest that he get it runnign before he goes nuts with the mods.

[Austin Leonard Automotive]

 

I'm back!  Long time, no update.  Sorry for that but it comes with good reason.

 

Over the summer I was offered a great job position in the Aftermarket Automotive industry and I accepted it.  With that came the huge job of moving from South Carolina to Louisiana. It was a long and painful process since I had to bring all the cars, all the parts, as well as my actual people stuff.  I stayed with my grandparents for the first 2 months while I looked for a place so I wasn't able to get any car work done. I did however put a lot of hours in and saved up some money while living rent-free.  I ended up purchasing my first home which is a great thing for me! I finally have my own place to work on cars and a whole backyard to fill up 😆.

 

So that's why I haven't posted on here or on my YouTube for a while.  I go more in detail about the move and what's to come in one of my more recent videos.

 

While I do go through my fair share of cars, the Datsun is here to stay.  Forever. Since high school I’ve bought and sold cars as a means of making money and filling my time.  It’s kept me out of trouble and opened up great opportunities in my life. It’s actually how I got the job in Louisiana.

 

The Datsun is still a bare shell, but the project is very much underway.  I’ve been collecting parts and planning for every part of the build. Since I moved down here it’s been peacefully sitting under a car cover in my car port, waiting for the day I take action on it.  That day is near! I’ve attached some pictures of it and the RB26 that will be going in it.

[Austin Leonard Automotive]

 

 

[Austin Leonard Automotive]

Not much progress as I'm in the process of building a shop in my backyard, but I have bought some goodies for the build recently.

 

For the engine I bought some SARD 660cc Injectors and an S-Tec Twin Scroll Turbo manifold.  The injectors were just a good deal on Facebook so I picked them up since I currently had nothing.  Eventually I'd like to put some 1000's in and put these in my Silvia but they'll do for now.  The manifold was also found on Facebook, but for a much better deal.  The guy had bought a swapped S13 from Japan and was planning on swapping an SR20 into the car.  He didn't know what brand this manifold was so he threw it up for a low price.  At the time I didn't know what it was either, but I low balled him anyways.  Worst case scenario I can mock up my turbo and have a cool paperweight.  After talking with a good friend it turns out I bought an S-Tec twin scroll!  It's a super solid manifold with great welds and wall thickness.  I'm hoping it clears the steering shaft - I'll be test fitting the motor soon to find out.

 

As you can tell I snag good deals when I see them, so I didn't hesitate to pick up these Recaros out of an EVO XIII for a couple hundred bucks.  I may dye the centers of them black as many have done before or I may keep them stock depending on the color I paint the car.

 

That's all for now, stay tuned for more updates!

 

Edited March 17, 2019 by Austin Leonard Automotive

[Austin Leonard Automotive]

 

Another small update that pertains to the Datsun - I went through my parts car and found some pretty good parts!  I may have to start another thread for this 280z, I'm itching to save it...