The Painted Wagon!

Last Saturday at 9AM. Thin painter's plastic lined the garage walls, rustling in the subtle breeze. With each step a whisper of tiny bits of masking tape stuck to the sole could be heard. 50+ hours of sanding, priming, block sanding and body work was set to become a finished product. By noon the Datsun was occupying the booth, final masking preparations underway. A quick rub down of the body with Wax & Grease Remover (paint has trouble adhering to grime), and the process began.

Dad an I got on our masks and shot the first layer of paint, a nice coat of Urethane Sealer to cover the body work and any sheet metal that might be showing throguh the primer for all of the block sanding. An hour of drying time and then color would be applied.

Datsun Color #216 Polar White. DuPont Base Coat / Nason Clear Coat. 2 quarts (4 with activator added) became 3 complete layers of color (including door jams) on the tiny wagon. Each coat took my Dad about a half hour to spray, and between each coat we had about 10 minutes to prepare the next hopper full of paint. by 4 pm, the color was on. I tried my hand with the paint gun a bit in applying the second and third coats, it is not an easy thing to do well. Rhythm, flow and paint fanning, properly set controls, stiff wrists and consistent distance, step and sway the whole body moves with the paint.

After a bit of curing time, the clear coat went on. 2.5 quarts (about 3.5 with activator) covered the car (the door jams got two layers, otherwise we'd have needed 3 quarts of clear coat alone). by 7pm the car was painted.

In the middle of the second coat of clear, a moth made a fatal mistake and met his demise on the roof of the car and became the only blemish apart from the inevitable dust specks. Had I $2000 to spend on the paint job, I'd have taken it to a professional with a real paint booth. As it is I have a $2000 paint job that I got for a fraction of the cost, with a tiny bit of moth wing pigment and some dust that can probably be buffed out.

FOR MORE PICTURES, SEE THE POST BELOW!


(color differences in these images is due to poor lighting)

The whole process took me about a month or so, and included:
- Complete Removal of Old paint. (3M paint/rust remover grinding discs)
- Rust Neutralization and Prevention
- Feather Fill Grey Priming
- Bondo and metal work on some of the body panels.
- Sanded bondo with 40, 60, 150, then 200 grit sand paper until smooth, straight, and even
- Touch up Priming w/Feather Fill
- Block sanded the enitre car with 100, 220, and then 320 grit.
- Masking.
- Coat of Sealing Paint
- 3 Coats of DuPont Color Paint
- 3 Coats of Clear
- Buffing with a rotary buffer with cutting and finishing compounds.

FRESH PAINT PICTURES!

The Datsun back together and ready for the road after the paint job.










(This Montage shows all of the spots where I had to repair the body with bondo and metal work)

Slow Weeks

Been a bit since I've had time to finish this next massive stage.

Yosemite, Easter, another Car Project got priority in the Garage Paint Booth.

Went to the paint store and bought the materials. Polar White #216. Not a 510 color (260Z), but for some reason, they couldn't mix the 510 whites in the paint they carried.... I thought paint color mixing was an additive process using base colors. A formula that should be translatable to all types of paints...

Oh well. #216 white was my first choice anyway, it's just nice to keep things original.

Final prep has been done, I shoot paint this weekend. Base coat / Clear Coat. I hope I don't get the Runs! hehe..

Body Work and Priming!

I've spent the last week ripping up the old paint and killing the evil rust. A fine film of dust and paint caked my body from finger tip to nose.

After fighting the nuances of paint removal, I prepped the body with some rust neutralizer, wiped it down, and shot some paint!

Here's the end result!


Bare metal, etched, cleaned, ready for paint.


Primer!!!


Next up. Body work and paint! Also in the works. CARPET!

Datsun 510 Restoration Blog

*Note: Feel free to visit the links in the header to view pictures of my projects thus far!*

So I've decided to throw together a couple of quick websites and a blog about my Datsun Projects. I've been restoring cars since High School, working on a Chevelle Super Sport and my beater Camaro. A friend of mine drove a 510 and it was a sweet little car, so I decided to pick one up and avoid Smog Checks.

The first one was Lil' Red. I didn't do too much to it, as it was in great shape to start. I got into an accident and had to rebuild the front end. Welding, hammering, bondo, paint, and some mechanical repairs (I didn't know it had electronic ignition until AFTER I fixed everything else). I sold it right before heading to Europe and my crack pot dream of becoming a bootlegger in Scandinavia.

Last summer I picked up another 510 Wagon (the White Witch) and have been restoing it ever since.

So far I've:
- replaced the head, camshaft, valves, rockers, and the gaskets/seals that go along with that.
- tuned and serviced the carburetors.
- replaced the timing gears, chain, and tensioner. Cleaned and sealed all associated parts.
- Stripped the interior completely. Neutralized all rust and undercoated the sheet metal on the floor pans and the door panels.
- Sound proofed the interior.
- Replaced the carpet in the rear hatch area (will replace the passenger area carpet soon)
- Reworked the exterior body panels, bondoed, primered and prepped where necessary.
- Replaced front and rear brakes.

I hope to:
- Finish the interior
- Put rear disc brakes and new suspension on the rear end.
- Swap the stock L16 engine with a Ka24DE fuel injected engine.
- Swap the transmission.
- Fix any electrical issues that arise.
- Add a stereo at some point as AM radio is only good during Baseball season.