Car appreciation... the aesthetics, the engineering, etc

Love the Datsun. Reminds of the jolly nice 510 on Jay Leno Garage

Accidentally licked my fingers after handling brake pads. I'm going to die now aren't I?

Also the mug that posted them didn't package them very well and one has chipped at a corner, that should be fine right? they're not going to now disintegrate?

I'm actually quite pissed off about it. This guy preps race cars, has got a big enough name for himself in MX5 racing that he has commissioned his own brake pads that people rave about for street and track use, but he sends them out by using too little masking tape to hold them together, and stuffs 8 pads (2/corner) in one small jiffy bag via royal mail. That's just asking for trouble.

How bad are the chips? Small ones often appear at the edges over time anyway so it might be fine...
If he's packaged them that badly, ask for a new set, I say.

How bad are the chips? Small ones often appear at the edges over time anyway so it might be fine...
If he's packaged them that badly, ask for a new set, I say.

They're not too bad. I've re-wrapped them up properly for the journey home, so when I get home and un-wrap them I'll take a photo. I'm just a bit miffed. I don't mind paying more if someone does a decent job. £120 for track compound pads all round including delivery is a good enough deal that I'd bang an extra tenner on for decent packaging.

Looks awesome. Seems like you're making good progress!

slowly slowly.

under car is all painted. started stripping the front suspension. scored some from 90/10 shocks for front and koni yellows for the rear, just need to pick them up. also just bought a harness for cheap.

hopefully with a bit of work starting in a couple weeks i can get the short engine stripped and checked.

Looks good, dogs.

For a taxi

#sickburn

When does it qualify as "fully" sick?

Nicely done DB. What rear end you running?

standard borg-warner 10 bolt, with 28 spline axles and mini-spooled 3.45 gears. 9" is overkill and too heavy. if i upgrade, will just go 31 spline axles and full spool.

When does it qualify as "fully" sick?

lol's, this is more of a bogan car. the next model up (VL turbo, RB30) is fully sick or hektik.

VL turbo's @ Heathcote - YouTube

I am pretty sick but yes sometimes hektik! :P

Cheers for all the kind words chaps.

FUCK YES!

What are the plans? Light resto or something big?

RB26? 2JZ??

Light resto to start with, sympathetic to the character the car has gained from 43 years of near constant use!

Engine swap could be a possibility but is quite a big undertaking to do properly (would probably need a whole new rear axle, brakes etc!).

I might have a bit of fun with the trusty old A12 engine and an A14 head, some twin carbs or perhaps a turbo... Lots of possibilities. Just want to get it through an MOT as it is first.

Cleaned up the engine bay the other day.

From:

To:

Faded arse end:

Interior is in good nick:

Paint was massively dull when it first arrived on my drive:

I love the classic Datsun scripts:

It seems generally pretty solid but you can just see the holes in the front footwells in this photo:

Are they proper Hayashi Streets? Great looking wheel on that!

probably difficult to get here, but the coupe had a different dash with a tacho and round gauges.

as dogsballs said, aus is the place to look for parts - they built the utes for ages. i think there are still new panels available.

Comic sans maybe?
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-21719322

Finally got these photos developed that I took at the Speed Trials last year.




And to keep up with current Car Appreciation thread legislation..

Datsun is awesome, OldSpeed. I used to have a Datsun Cherry with the A12a engine - little sewing machine that'll run forever. Be prepared for - understeer with comical amounts of body-roll. There is a bloke in Lincolnshire (goes by the name of ratdat on various forums) who is a generous goldmine - he gave me piles of spares for my Cherry in exchange for a few ales.

A friend of a friend just took me out in his Audi RS5. Insanely fast. You think it's going to run out of steam, but it just keeps surging forward. Uncomfortable, though - although having owned a Mercedes W123 I now say that about almost every car.

I'm moving to New Zealand in now just a few months. Been looking at cars for sale - it seems that 90% of cars on the road are 1991 Toyota Camrys with 250,000kms on the clock (which suits me just fine, I quite like 'em). I'm quite tempted to go for a pickup truck to carry tents and mountain-bikes around; or a Hiace camper.

http://www.evo.co.uk/carreviews/evocarreviews/210264/vauxhall_omega.html

could they make that more hard to read?!

anywho, a man's honda.

That makes no sense - the engine in them is the best bit - an n/a masterpiece, so they have removed that and stuck a trubo'ed v8 in it - I can see it approaching ditches backwards at very high speed at every opportunity....