lookin good jeff , glad u fixed the tyre rubbing , see u bright & early sunday morning .

Thanks Ryan. Hope you are well by the way.

Small update - was sick of my poor headlight quality so I took the eyebrows and grill off to examine them. Found out the previous owner had the headlight mounts switched left to right so I took them off and switched them. Headlights much much better now

Took the tow bar off last week. I like the look of the ute without it. This is what the beast looks like as of Sunday:




Big plans ahead:

Finish my custom console
Dizzy and Carb tune
Touch up paint
Install steering box brace
Install spare window frames with new rubbers, swap windows
Install new door hinge bushings
Install door light switches and rego plate light

Fair bit of work done today thanks to 76datto. Top work mate! Would recommend him to any other member for sure.

Dizzy points replaced and reset
Timing adjusted back to normal.....(was waaaay out)
Weber carb retuned
Exhaust manifold repaired, was leaking
Steering box readjusted
Rear brakes readjusted
Diff and Gearbox oil refilled as they were pretty bone dry

Need a new left side lower ball joint and right side outer tie rod and the radiator probably needs to be replaced.

The beast runs really well now! Lots of power back into her now that its been tuned!

haha heaps better without tow bar mate

haha im glad your happy jeff , we'll get to the rest soon

Here is a bit of an update on my daily ute build. Been doing many things over the last few weeks in September building up to the Lakeside Japanese Car Show last weekend. Wanted to get a lot done for the show and I nearly managed to do all I wanted to.

First off was a much needed radiator flush! Opened the radiator cap for the first time a few weeks ago and was very surprised to see a mocha latte in my radiator…or so it seemed. Should have checked it a loooong time ago…foolish I know. Anyways, I drained out all the diarrhea water and flushed the system with clean water about 5 times until the water was clear. Then filled the system back up with proper coolant. Also replaced the radiator cap for good measure. Very surprising how much better the engine runs after the flush! Very noticeable difference and I recommend everyone check their radiator fluid and not leave it be like I did for almost a year! Also bought a new thermostat (thanks DISCO_BOB) to go in for good measure…still need to install it.

Radiator poo water:




Next task was to finish my DIY paint job by wet sanding and buffing, task I have been putting off since Easter. For this I took 1200 wet and dry sandpaper, soapy water, and some elbow grease to the whole ute. Wasn’t sure how much to sand it and in a few spots I sanded too much. I think an even finer paper would have been good too but I managed with the 1200 grit. Then I got some Mirror Shine fine cut cleaner and bought a buffer to buff the whole ute. Never used one before so it was a bit of a learning curve at first. Watched a few tutorials on youtube before hand. Its very easy to burn into the paint and in a few spots I did just that. Lucky I had some leftover paint to touch up.

Pics before & after buffing:













Show & Shine @ Lakeside Raceway:

For a long time I had planned to do a few custom things to the interior. I had already made custom made door trims and sunvisors but I also wanted to spruce up the centre console, the glovebox lid, and the dash fascia. I bought some spare parts from DatsAndy including a dash fascia w/ gauges, “Datsun” text rocker cover, “Datsun” stainless steel vents (seeexy), and some extractors. Also some unpainted wiper arms. Also have a set of orange decals from Gerrie at lisadecals. Got most of these parts on by Lakeside but didn’t get to fit the new gauges or rocker cover in time.

















Idea was too paint the items orange to match the body and to use the same fur fabric that I used on the door cards. Thanks to Levey for the console badge.

Parts before:




Parts painted:




Console 99% finished: Still need to find a way to finish off the exposed fabric edges.




Also made a Datsun logo stencil and sprayed the glovebox lid. It came out okay but there is a little bit of overspray on some of the letters. Might make a better quality stencil and try it again.










Installed:




Lastly was putting some detail on the dash fascia and getting it ready for the spare gauges. Hand painted some detail on the round faces and the lettering. Plan is to get some LED lights to replace the dull green ones. Thinking about backlighting the new console as well with an LED. Still need to install all these.

Looks bloody good jeff , the paint looks great , i will have a good gander tomorrow night mate.

fark yeah jeff ill get my tits out