cut the tray floor out of mine. Removed rear end assembly and supported rear of car by cutting a hole on either side of the cross member. Slung a fibre sling through it and hooked onto an electric gantry crane. Using a 5mm drill bit, followed the chassis rails and cross member lines, drilling holes every 50mm. Lowered the car back down again, using holes drilled through top of tray floor as a guide, cut the tray floor out in sections. When it came to chassis rails and cross members, used flapper disc on a 5" grinder, grinding till spot welds have been located and ground 90% back. Pair of pliers is all it takes to pull of the rest, ensuring you dont weaken the rails and cross members at all. Went for a 2mm flat steel floor in mine. Bear in mind however that the existing fixing height for the old tray floor is 20mm higher than the top lip of the rails. SECOND floor attempt had ends pressed up at 45-degrees, approximately 25mm from the edge. Inner wheel arches are rolled 2mm flat steel also. Fuel tank rear mount is fixed to the underside of the tray floor. Retain the mount from your old floor, bolt the fuel tank up to the front mount and mark location for rear. Also have to cut out access panel for fuel gauge sender wiring. Dont know about strength opposed to factory pressed tray floor, but certainly adds a bit more weight over the rear tyres.

Rust repairs put on hold till tray floor #2 gets cut and ends pressed up. Attention turned to A14. New rings, bearings, head gasket, full gasket set, reco alternator, coil, water pump, thermostat and S/S bolts throughout. Block and sump is Ford dark blue, rest is "Annodised Blue" finish. Fan is being replaced with 14" electric unit, fuel pump replaced with electric. Still have to make up adaptor plate for E15 electric distributor.

see if this works.....

Dunno what to formally call it yet, but considering its been chopped to pieces, "DatSui Min" was the first thing that came to mind.

Car is an '84 Datsun 1200 Ute. It WAS painted what resembled Ford GT Bronze. Fitted with an A14 (32/36 Downdraft, extractors) with 4-speed manual. Got it with damage to front end- Collision on Driver's side corner. Guard, Radiator Support panel beyond repair. Radiator was nicely moulded around the water pump. Inner guard able to be massaged into shape. Front Radiator Support panel was cut out and inner guards re-aligned to marry up with replacement panel.Car has been completely stripped to bare rolling shell and taken to sandblaster. What little remained was given a coat of 2-pac primer and then the fun continued. Fuel tank and rear suspension/differential were removed.

*Entire tray floor, wheel arches and 25mm strip up the rear cabin wall have been cut. Chassis rails are in suprisingly good condition.
*Rear suspension treated to new springs, GT Ryder shocks, new bushes throughout and rebuilt R31 Caliper and discs.
*Existing Spare Tyre hanger and brackets have been cut out with replacement tyre well rolled up to fit to new 2mm steel tray floor, accessible through top.
*Battery compartment made and fitted to underside of tray, located directly behind passenger cabin area. Again, accessible through tray
*Compartment made for Electric Holley Fuel pump and filter at fuel tank.
*Steering column assembly removed, steering box modified and S15 200SX tilt adjustable column fitted, utilising existing mounting points for column and pedals. Idea here was to locate Light and wiper controls to the column, thus allowing for smoother full gauge dash...... and allowing intermittant wiper speeds, if I can ever find an S15 Front Wiper Amplifier

A long way off finishing, but progressing well. Toying with the idea of shaving off rain gutter sills, filling vents behind doors and smoothing off torneu mounting lip

List of other goodies include:-
*Full retrimmed interior- door cards, visors, hood lining and seats, in grey microsuede.
*Plush Pile Carpet.
*Recovered dash and full shadow gauges- Water temp, fuel pressure, oil temp, oil pressure, tacho, AF ratio, Fuel, Volts... and boost (for later)
*Grille and headlights
*Side blinkers
*Front park/ blinker combos
*Radiator with Zirgo 14" Thermo fitted
*Windscreen
*Rubbers
*Tail Lights
*Front Bumper
*Bonnet
*Front Apron
*Rear Apron
*Lower Sills
*Tailgate
*200SX Map lights... hate the lacking interior light
*Modified E15 Electric Dizzy (the reason I found this forum)
*120Y Disc Brake Struts
*17x7" Alloys with 205/35/17 rubber all round

Will get some photos up this weekend. Having a bit more of a go at rust repairs. New tray had to be re-cut, and they unfortunately werent finished for the long weekend.

mate, invest in a decent multi-meter, terminal cleaning files, Contact cleaning spray and a soldering iron. Should be able to sort out most electrical issues with above-mentioned.

An auto electrician will cost you up to $100/hr. A bit of patience, level head and some time, and you will be able to progressively fix, or at least identify most faults yourself, while becoming more familiar with your vehicle in the process.

might be a lil hard to source nowerdays, but a friend has done up an old '74 Valiant Lancer..... *think* they're a "HA". Model before the hatchback type. Similar to the Galant, yet more resemble a MK1 Escort. Factory with a Saturn 1400 motor, but the Sigma L26 (easily bored to 2.8L) bolts straight in. (Legal in Qld with the L20 motor). Coupled with a matching 5-speed, you'll have phenomenal power-weight ratio, before even contemplating forced induction or injection.

My apologies in advance..... learning as I go here.

I'm in the process of restoring an '84 1200 ute. With regards to braking, am fitting R31 rotors and calipers to the rear. A previous post indicated that the R31 front struts can be fitted. With this, what type of other parts are required? ie- can I use OEM 1200 Tie Rod Ends and Lower Ball Joints? For front braking, I'm hoping to use Z31 front Rotors combined with Z32 Front calipers. Is this combination possible, and if so, what type of adaptors/ backing plates are required and where can I source them.

Cheers in advance

Michael


ps- will get some photos up of build once its indicating some real progress

http://www.ecutalk.com/

or try his website. Is virtually his own written version of Consult. Allowing monitoring in car via ECUTALK LCD or direct hookup to your laptop. Only for monitoring and logging purposes, but perfect if you only want to diagnose without having to pay for Consult.

try sending an email to peter@ecutalk.com

He made up a batch of mobile diagnostic, and programmable LCD's for the Aus300zx forum. If the plug can be obtained, he will know where best to get it at the right price.

Michael

toying with the idea of changing steering column in an '84 datsun 1200 ute. Rather than scour the wrecking yards with a tape measure, am wondering if anybody knows of a compatible steering box that has the splined input shaft, rather than the full 1-piece that runs the full length of the column?

Any assistance will be greatly appreciated

cheers
Michael