my 1932 datsun replica build

I shaped the passenger-side wheel well and riveted it together (....but not yet into place.) I also added some rivets to the driver's side to hold it onto the chassis. Pictures later.

BTW, I've been using one of these rivet guns from HF.
It works fine when held vertically, but can't function when horizontal. I have a whole mess of pop rivets that need to go in the horizontal surface where bottom of the "back seat" would be. Any idea how to put the rivets in? I've already destroyed two of the hand powered units from Lowes.

I've all but given up on this car making it to the challenge....ever. (I've made a few expensive mistakes, and it is hard when I'm only allowed to recoupe the cost of my donor car - $100.) At this point, I just want the car on the road so I can drive it. I'll still bring it up to Gainesville, but competing is probably not going to be an option.

Yesterday I wandered through the junk yard looking for a decent steering column[*]. I didn't find anything I like (...and will probably need to buy something like this and weld a datsun spline onto one end.

Today, I took a drive in the country, then started working on the wheel well again. Currently out of rivets. Heading to lowes.

I think when the car is on the road, I may coat the interior in bed liner to reduce/eliminate rusting on the cut surfaces of all the little metal scraps I'm using.

I still have not decided what to do about fenders.

[*] - I'm beginning to think that the dakota front clip was a bad idea; if I was going to use a truck, it should have been a ranger or s10 so parts would be cheap and easy to find.

Lowe's had one box of 3/16 rivets in 1/4 thickness. I bought it, and used them all. I want to do a little more before calling it quits, so I'll have to use ones for 1/2" (I have a few of those on hand.)

My HF rivet gun is flaking out again (it doesn't like to function on horizontal surfaces) so I bought ANOTHER hand riveter at Lowe's. I expect that the HF rivet gun will behave again when I'm working on vertical surfaces, just like it usually does. As for the hand riveter from Lowe's, it's already misbehaving.....by the time the back deck is done, I'll have destroyed three of the things. (Sold under the brand name Arrow, BTW.) This time I was smart enough to keep the receipt so I can get the next one under warrantee. It's sad when Lowe's sells stuff that busts faster than HF tools.

I used the remainder of that box of rivets. I'm through for the night. The sheet metal (sides of a stove) for the passenger's side of the back deck is riveted to the chassis. There are a few more spots on that side that I'd like to add rivets, but the passenger's side is pretty close to done. Hopefully next weekend I will get to the driver's side.....then clean up the lip around the top of the phaeton body, then glass the seams, then......you know the drill. Lather, rinse, repeat. "A home built car is never done."

"Estimate how long and how much, then triple it. You won't be far wrong." - Jack French, writing in the 750 Club's magazine. (Quoted in Staniforth's Race and Rally Car Sourcebook)

Photos later. My camera battery is on the charger.

Be sure to switch hands with the rivet gun every so often or people will start to talk

Wally wrote: Be sure to switch hands with the rivet gun every so often or people will start to talk

That's probably true.

I picked up some rivets at lowe's on the way home from my evening class, and started on driver's side rivets.

http://www.thetoolwarehouse.net/p-16517-marson-79050.aspx

...not H-F cheap, but if it actually works...

Might be a better manual option: http://www.thetoolwarehouse.net/p-24951-14-heavy-duty-hand-riveter-gun-18-to-14.aspx

Thanks. That manual one is worth looking into. The Arrow brand unit suxors big time.

I have a steering column out of a 2nd gen RX7 that is tilt also.

You can have it if you want it.

wvumtnbkr wrote: I have a steering column out of a 2nd gen RX7 that is tilt also. You can have it if you want it.

Cool. I may take you up on that. Do you have photos of the ends? Is it splined? Round? D-shaped?

I have the entire thing from steering wheel to splined end that attaches to the rack. It has one other connection on it before the intermediate shaft. I think this is also a splined end.

I have a rack that I have never used as well. I wasn't planning on getting rid of it, but if you needed it, you could have it too.

I will take some pics and measurements and get back to you.

I know that G bodies have steering columns with a D shaped end that is the same "connection" as a jeep grand cherokee. The intermediate shaft on them is 2 U-joints with a large D on one end and a internal spline on the other end.

Not sure if that helps or not.

Rob R.

wvumtnbkr wrote: I have the entire thing from steering wheel to splined end that attaches to the rack. It has one other connection on it before the intermediate shaft. I think this is also a splined end. I have a rack that I have never used as well. I wasn't planning on getting rid of it, but if you needed it, you could have it too. I will take some pics and measurements and get back to you. I know that G bodies have steering columns with a D shaped end that is the same "connection" as a jeep grand cherokee. The intermediate shaft on them is 2 U-joints with a large D on one end and a internal spline on the other end. Not sure if that helps or not. Rob R.

Actually, this helps a lot. Looking forward to photos. You can hotlink them here or shoot me a PM.

Thank you.

I finally got back out into the garage to drive some rivets. (It is the first time I've been able to work on the car in weeks.) As fate would have it, I busted a drill bit. It was nearly flush with the tube/sheet surface, so extraction of the drill bit fragment was a pain (...even after I got the small vice grips.)

When this build is done, I'm going to find fate and give it a good kick in the pants.

There are cars with carefully crafted coachwork bodies. This one was roughly beaten into shape with a big hammer and held together with pop rivets. Never the less, this one WILL get finished and driven.

Today was a front-of-the-wheel-well day

Yay glad to see progress. I've neglected to chime in on this project but have been really enjoying it, keep going!

Thanks for the interest and encouragement.

[edit: I just added some more rivets to hold the wheel well together, and drilled/clecoed the whole thing to the chassis.]

A former co-worker called today to let me know that she was replacing her clothes drier. She wanted to know if I would like the sheet metal. I was surprised at how quickly this one (maytag) came apart. I guess after you have parted a few out, you get the hang of it.

[edit: no photos.....took approx 25 min to go from from complete drier to completely disassembled with one piece cut and ready to test fit to the chassis..]

Here's the piece of drier....cut, bent, and clamped in place.

Shrinker/stretchers are the greatest thing in the world. I picked one up last weekend because I expect that I'll need it to make the fenders. Naturally, a new toy must be played with.

In ten minutes of messing around with a piece of scrap metal, I convinced myself that it is the greatest metal shaping tool EVER.

If this setup had been in my garage at the start of the build, I would have done the grill shell differently, the hood differently, the cowl differently.....possibly even the doors and rear quarter panels.

When it rains, it pours...It seems like there's enough free sheet metal around that you find it when you're not even looking. My next door neighbor just threw out a clothes washer (...and oddly enough, a street sign[!!])

I put the washer and sign on a dolly and rolled them down the street to my house. I haven't started the dissection yet.

http://www.chicagoautoshow.com/show_history/default.aspx?d=1970&y=1976

Curmudgeon wrote: http://www.chicagoautoshow.com/show_history/default.aspx?d=1970&y=1976

Overhead photograph looks down onto the Datsun (Nissan) exhibit. At mid-photo, right side, is a special exhibit with a mid-1930s Datsun 2-door roadster on a raised platform. Several contemporary Datsun models can be glimpsed in this over-exposed photo, including a 280-Z sports car at lower left.

Cool! it looks similar to the 1935 Type 14. I know someone here in the USA who owns one in the paint scheme seen at the show. I wonder if it is the same car.

definition

mechanic's gloves: noun, /məˈkaniks gləvz/, A covering for the hand worn after skin laceration, typically having separate parts for each finger and the thumb. The purpose of a glove is to press a bandage against the wound to better absorb blood.

It has been a frustrating day of wrenching. I tried to take the fuel injected maxima intake off the L24e engine and replace it with some round-topped, carbureted z-car goodness. I have the four visible bolts off, and cannot see (much less remove) the rest, so my unloved intake remains stubbornly affixed to the engine. I got a nasty gash in my hand when a wrench slipped.

I'm feeling incompetent. The intake has to be in place before I set up the steering. The steering needs to be figgured out before I can put the firewall in.....