my 1932 datsun replica build

The first chassis mount for the seat is in place.

[Edit: Three of the four are now in place. I am having to cut with an angle grinder because my band saw has started throwing blades. ]

Both seats are firmly mounted to the chassis. I still have to round some sharp edges and weld up the lower edge the mounting brackets.

I cut up a file cabinet to use for the back portion of the driver's side floor pan

I riveted the two pieces of floor pan together

My sister was in town on a business trip, so she came over in the evening and hung out in the garage while I crawled under the chassis and did some more welding on the bottom of the car. (mostly the underside if the seat mounting brackets.) They were not my prettiest welds - I don't do that type of welding very often - but they will hold ok.

So how much have you actually spent?

I will have to update my spreadsheet to see, but I think somewhere in the neighborhood of $1800, but some of that stuff will not be used (e.g. I have a new set of fuel injectors, and a dual carb intake manifold. I clearly cannot use both, and I don't know which way I will go.) Then there's the left over sheet metal from the appliances I used...that, and the carcass of the 810, need to be taken to the scap metal guys for money. I also have some 810 parts I have that I will try to sell on ebay.

My guesstimate is that the total build for the challenge is going to be a bit under $1500, but right now I'm just filing my receipts. After the challenge, I will add headlights, windshield and any other stuff not needed for the"specials" class but which I will eventually need to become street legal.

In the unlikely event that I end up over budget, I will just change my class to "Exhibition." I already paid my Entry fee, so I am definitely planning to be there with a car this time.

fighting with the floor pan most of the afternoon...I learned the hard way to avoid drilling rivet holes until they are needed. aligning four holes is not so bad. Twenty or so is more difficult

Spent most of the day riveting the floor pan in place on the driver's side. I also went to airgas to get more welding gas.

A friend from back in college is coming to go kayaking. He said he also wants to look at the car. Spent a while this morning clecoing body panels back onto the chassis so he will have something to look at.

(Then, when he leaves, I'll pull them off again so I can get some work done on the car.)

I still need to do some trimming and lots of riveting, but all the parts of the passenger-side floor pan are cut out, and most of the holes are drilled for riveting. (i.e. the holes are drilled in the floor pan. They are not drilled in the chassis tubes yet. I learned from the last side, and won't drill those holes until the last minute) The main panel is (again) made from the hood of a datsun 810. The vertical side portion on the cowl-side is from a microwave oven, and the vertical bit below the door was part of a file cabinet. (I'll use more metal from the same file cabinet for the rear of the floor.) The transmission tunnel side was part of a refrigerator.

I just pulled the fuel pump, hand brake and cable off the 810 donor

I was working with posterboard to make a template for the patch panel at the back of the passenger-side floor pan. I have now cut the panel out of metal (file cabinet) and have been trimming to fit it better.

Spent the afternoon riveting the passenger side floor pan in place....until my rivet gun went on strike.

the passenger floor pan is now riveted in place and I have started messing with the rear shock mounts

I spent the day modifying the rear shock mounts. (I need to finish up the welding in that area before putting the skin on, and I have known for a while that I need to modify them...the current set up - well what was current this morning - doesn't let the bushings work.) The actual fabrication didn't take long, but dropping/raising the axle was a pain in the butt.

Worse, I've got two chassis tubes that are in inconvenient places...they are really annoying when installing the shocks. One of my goals with this build was to try and make this car easy to work on.....that didn't happen with the rear suspension.

Photos later.

Photos from yesterday

I put the driver's side shock mount in place today. Tomorrow I'll do a little welding from underneath, and then I'll be done with the shocks and able to move on to something else.

Keep up the good work!

Making good progress!

Thanks for the encouragement guys! The shock mounts are done. I now need to grind/blast that part of the chassis and prime and/or paint it before I can put the skin on it.

I added some steel plate to the top of the transmission tunnel so that I could mount the emergency brake

I also straightened the flange at the bottom of the skin for the tunnel. It was not bent properly, and this will let me redo it.

Oh, I also have six baby pineapples growing in the back yard. I've got a lot of plants (more than 20) but this is the first time I have had more than one or two of them bear fruit at one time.

taking a break from drilling/riveting....putting the skin on the back half of the transmission tunnel (i.e. the bit that covers the drive shaft.) earlier today Idrilled holes and welded nuts to mount the emergency brake.

BTW, does anybody know a good way to shorten an ebrake cable?

The skin on that part of the tunnel is now riveted in place....Dad came over and fixed my rivet gun, and life is now much better. tomorrow I will start working on the skin for the rear seat area

Today I put some sheet metal in place on the vertical surface between the floor and the back seat

Today I added a 3/16" steel plate to the back end. The idea is that when I get around to mounting the tail light there will be something substantial to bolt to.

The thin sheet metal from a water heater isn't going to cut it. The 3/16" is thicker than need be, but I had some left over from when I used part of the same piece to build the front leaf spring mounts (1:10).

Here's a photo showing yesterday's work. (the black panels - formerly the sides of a stove - are not yet mounted. I put them back into place so that I would have something to lay on while I welded the inside surface of that steel plate.) As you can see, the sheet metal is riveted in place on the floor pan, back of the transmission tunnel, and now the vertical step towards the back seat.