1 SASY 67 - Update #2

It's time for another update about 1 SASY 67.

Last December I gave a report on all the enhancements to the chrome, interior panels, carpets, console, radio, speakers, and molded rubber parts.

1 SASY 67 - Update #1 

While crawling around under the car reinstalling the seats, I noticed that the muffler had rusted through in a few places.  We certainly can't have Nan driving around in a car with a rusty exhaust system.  So I reached out to the Datsun Roadster Forum for commendations on where I could buy replacement parts. An overwhelming consensus of opinion quickly appeared.  

Jim and Lynn Tyler of Datsun Restoration Products offer a complete exhaust system that goes from the exhaust headers all the way to the rear bumper with high-quality, stainless steel components. Jim had been very helpful with other repairs on Nan's car, so I called him to discuss his offering.  Jim took the time to ask a few questions to be sure that all the components that I received were exactly what would be needed. He custom fabricated everything and shipped the parts quickly. Everything was carefully marked so even I could get it installed correctly!  Here is what we received:

My trusty side-kick, Don Kingery came to help.  We put the Roadster up on the lift in my garage and disassembled everything with ease and speed.  Then to be sure of our next steps, we set the old and new pipes side-by-side.  How much nicer is the new stuff?! Such was the attention to every small detail that everything fit nicely -- even the tail pipe hangers and rubber spacers.

 Question:  "What always happens when you go to repair one thing?"

Answer:  "Something else always needs to be fixed, right?!"

Don and I needed to remove the intake manifold in order to replace the exhaust header.  As soon as we started the disassembly it became evident that the cooling system needed to be rebuilt. There was corrosion on the metal parts and all the rubber needed to be replaced.  

So we removed the radiator, overflow tank, thermostat housing, cooling fan, hose nipples, fan pulley, and all the hoses and gaskets. We had suspicions about the longevity of the water pump, so it had to go too.

While cleaning all the metal parts, I discovered that there was surface rust under the paint on the fan shroud and other parts. 

Back to Jim Tyler we went for everything we needed to completely rebuild the cooling system, including a new water pump.  

We are constantly finding that Nan's Roadster is "weird"-- not all the parts that are supposed to fit are correct.  For this project the issue was that the stud in Nan's engine block was about 5/8" too short for the new cast aluminum water pump housing. The old housing had been chopped off (probably with a hacksaw) so that it would fit the shorter stud.  You can see the difference in the thicknesses in the photo below.

 

So we turned to Vince Hughes for help (It seems like Vince is always coming to my rescue on projects!).  Vince used his mill to shave down the housing boss so that existing stud would be long enough.  While Vince was running running the mill, he let me use his blasting cabinet to clean up all the metal parts.

 And when we reinstalled the water pump, it fit perfectly!

 We used POR15 block paint on the engine block, let it dry for three days, then reassembled everything.

 The car started easily, with no coolant or exhaust leaks!  

 Here are a few shots of the underneath of the car:

Sometimes miracles happen.

Thanks, Don, and Vince, for the help (again) with the Roadster. 

And Special thanks to Jim and Lynn Tyler of Datsun Restoration Products for great parts and solid advice!

Datsun Restoration Products