Clutch and brake masters are in. Pedals hooked up. Lines plumb. What's the best and safest way to clean a winters worth of shop dust and grit off an engine?
I don't know if its the best way, but its been pretty effective for me... I move the motor over towards the open overhead garage door, make sure any place where anything could get into the motor was closed off or covered, then I blew the motor off with compressed air. The dry air under pressure seemed to work better then anything else, here in my old welding shop. Most of what ac***ulated was dry dust and small grit metallic grinding dust, so the compressed air worked pretty well. If any of that stuff was oil or water soaked, it was pretty difficult to blow that moisture soaked stuff off. With that, a paper tower with a dab of a cleaner on the towel was used on the stuff that wouldn't blow off. After the wipe down, another round of compressed air was used. When the job was finished, and all the leaks were fixed, everything under the hood got the full motor cleaning detail with the spray on engine cleaner. I should probably point out that any water requirement in my shop would come into the shop with a water hose from outside of the building. My shop does not have water plumbed in.
New stainless is fun to weld. Did you use stainless wire? Most places around here used regular wire, it welds good enough, but regular wire can surface rust on stainless pipe. Depending on the job I was working on, I used both types of wire on stainless over the years. Stainless wire used to cost a lot more then regular wire, some customers didn't want to spend the extra money. Some people want to really squeeze every quarter dollar.
I ended up buying a small 2lb. spool of stainless off Amazon for like $23. It will last me forever. I messed up and didn't read the description on the hanger kit and accidentally ordered plated mild steel hanger stock. I didn't realize it until today. I still used it. It is what it is, not worth stopping progress over. It welded nice and I didn't burn off much of the plating. Hopefully tomorrow I can get back on it and finish it up. Need go throw in some V-bands. I also figured it would be stupid to not put a resonator in there so it doesn't sound like every rice burner did after the original fast and furious movie was released.
Y'all ain't gonna believe this one. This is all i have left over from the tubing kit I bought. What are the odds of this happening? Stock prop shaft is 14ga, this stainless tubing is 15ga. Exact same inner diameter! This is now all I have left of my tubing kit haha
Onto steering. I put new bellows and tie rods on the rack. Connecting the stock column to the rack has been on my mind, but I think i got it. The bearing in the column is an off the shelf thing I found at the hardware store. Fits perfect both ways. I had to grind down the 3/4" shaft to fit inside the miata shaft. I dont have a lathe so angle grinder had to do. Waiting on one more bearing to come tomorrow. It will go on the steering shaft where it p***es through the floor
stainless stress cracks way easier than mild steel, especially at weld joints. not sure I would use it as a driveshaft
Shipping delayed for the steering bearing. So bouncing around a bit. Harness plugged right in. Amazingly the stock wires for the fuel pump reached the tank like they were made for it. I was concerned they wouldn't reach. All this was done at my kitchen table before I even put the engine in the truck. Still need to run the ECM wires into the cab, then wire in the key. But minor stuff
Steering finished. Not shown in picture is the column brace, waiting for paint to dry. Next onto fuel lines.
@hillbilly4008 Such a fun thread! I’ve got a build-ish thread going too but this and @squirrel Malibu threads are my favorites at the moment! Thanks for posting, I know it’s a lot of work.
I've enjoyed following along with your build. I have a thing for tiny cars and trucks even though I'm 6'1" and 230lb, all though I fit in my 90 Miata pretty well. I was surprised you could find an old truck with a reasonable body down there in the US rust belt. Phil
I tend to gyrate towards small vehicles, always have. Willys jeeps have always been my go to. Had a MINI r53 for a bit. VW super beetle. Kei truck. The only reason I came across this truck is because I was on the hunt for a small sports car. I wanted a triumph gt6 to do the same the miata swap with. I was also looking at MGB GTs. Then looked into Datsun roadsters, this popped up and I had to have it. Still building that GT6+ in the back of my mind....
I don't know if you've seen it but there's a father and son building a gt6 on utube for about 10 years ( a true case of project creep) but some excellent work. The first car I bought with my own money was a 66 Honda S600 it makes the miata seem large. Phil
Is there a plan to cover the tires a little? This is an excellent series, even if they do go a bit crazy with things sometimes.
Hahaahahahahahahhhahahahhahahahahha... *GASP* Ahahahhahahahahhahahahahahahahahahahah.... In colour! Those guys are proper loons, but you must to be a rallye driver. Thought about a driveshaft safety loop just in case? Can almost smell the test drive.
I have thought about a simple U shaped strap on the torque arm as a simple fail safe. Would be super easy
You guys got me thinking about what I almost pulled the trigger on before buying the Datsun. I actually found an Austin America locally. Totally rust free. Would've a perfect project, accept thats a very weird car. I 100% knew i wanted a rwd toy. And the America would've been WAY too much fabrication for that. Then there was the MGA I called on. I've known the car since I was a little kid. Ran into the owner one day and struck up a conversation about it. He still has it and invited me over. Said he'd sell it, but refused to give a price. I hate that as whatever I offered probably would result in an insult to him, or me over paying... Car sat untouched for 20yrs in the garage. Engine ran out of oil.
When they want an offer, I offer them lower than by my top price I woud pay, because that way they can get me to pay more than the original offer and feel like they got a good deal!
The Jalopy Journal
