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Part One of a 10-part Series...
As a classic Datsun fanatic, I've found that it's damn near impossible to pass up certain cars... Sometimes it's because you've always admired them and wonder what it'd be like to drive one (like our Roadster). Other times, it's because you run across a "special" car that's *so* close to being awesome, you've gotta bring it home to finish it (like our 510). For some, it's so rare, you don't want to miss a once-in-a-lifetime chance to own one (like our NL320). For still others, it has some sentimental attraction (like our S30). And then there are the ones where you just *know* that if you don't get it, it'll go to a bad home. That was the case with our 1967 WRL411 SSS Datsun Wagon.
In April 2009, I saw the 411 on Bring a Trailer one morning in a two-for-one... The seller had the red wagon and a white sedan, and wanted to sell them both, together.
I've always preferred wagons, old and new. I think an old Country Squire is way cooler than an LTD. I think the Magnum is cooler than the 300. The 5-series BMW wagon turns my head every time, and this deal was no exception... I had no real use for the sedan, so I contacted the seller and asked if he'd sell them separately. After a little negotiation, I made an offer and plans to drive out to south Hollywood to pick up the car. As with all our other Datsuns, they've been bought sight-unseen. Not only that, but I planned to drive it back home to Phoenix, which is similar to jumping out of a plane without a chute and hoping you land on a hay bale. Win some, lose some - it's all part of the hobby.
On arrival at a small shop in Hollywood, the 411 was sitting among some other cool old cars. The owner looked awfully familiar (turns out he's an actor). The car was pretty much as described, so I gave it a quick once-over and headed on down the road with it. There's nothing cooler than hopping in a car you're unfamiliar with, not knowing where ANY of the switches or controls are, none of the car's quirks or behavior, and setting out on a 380-mile trip across the CA / AZ desert.
A little back story on the history of the car: I'm the fifth owner, although technically I'm only the third, as it wasn't registered by two of its owners. It was originally owned by an older lady from Europe who bought it new in southern California.
Upon her death, it wound up in Lake Tahoe, and was driven very infrequently, summers only, for several years by the second owner. The third owner bought it to "flip", and sold it within 24 hours to the guy I bought it from, who also never registered it. At any rate, it was reasonably well taken care of, and unmodified, which is something I look for in an old Datsun. It not only wound up on ebay, but it was also featured on Bringatrailer.com ( WRL411 on Bringatrailer.com).
Here's an old dealer brochure from late 1966 showing the exact same car.
Read more: What the heck IS a WRL411? Welcoming the latest classic to the garage.
[post_title] => 1967 Datsun WRL411 Rescue and Restoration
[post_excerpt] => Our 1967 WRL411 SSS Datsun Wagon was just too rare and too complete to pass up. Read all about the rescue and restoration of "Alice" here... We hope you enjoy it.
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[post_content] => Ever since hot rodding began, the idea was to stuff a larger engine in a small chassis. The standard 411 was powered by a 1.3-liter engine. The SSS version of these cars was equipped with the 1.6-liter engine from the SPL311 Roadster. However, the base wagon body had to be modified by the factory so as to accept the type R roadster engine. The most prominent modification is a hole in the left front fender liner required to allow the exhaust to route out of the cramped engine bay. Here's how it looked (NOTE: air cleaner removed in this pic, but you can see how little space there is on the driver's side of the engine bay):
The cast iron exhaust manifold has a special extension bolted on which combines the 2 exhaust outlets into a single outlet and tilts it toward the new hole in the fender liner. The intake manifold is likewise tilted vertically to provide clearance for the SU air cleaner housing and the RL411 SU carburetors. Because of the tilt, the carbs' fuel float bowl is tilted to the rear to keep the float level so that it doesn't stick.
Of note: The majority of these cars had 4-speed manuals, and most were the non-SSS 1.3-liter version. Therefore, a SSS automatic in unmolested condition is a rare bird indeed. More than a few people have mentioned swapping in a manual, but that's a foolish move - Some of its appeal is the old-school bulletproof Borg-Warner automatic. It's a cruiser, and if we want to row gears, we have four other manual-trans Datsuns in the collection.
OK, back to the rescue effort. On the way out of Hollywood, we spotted the Peterson Museum and popped in for a visit. If you're ever in southern California, I highly recommend a tour - there's some amazing automotive exhibits and some one-of-a-kind displays on hand.
Heading across the California and Arizona desert at midday in early May is a questionable proposition without air conditioning, and even more so in a car that's 43 years old. Hoping for the best, I checked the fluids at every stop, monitored the gauges, and crossed my fingers. She seemed to settle into a nice groove at around 70mph, so that's where she stayed for the whole trip.
My partner in crime and fellow Datsun fanatic Jason (rotorimp) was following in the chase vehicle, and he made sure to inform me at every stop that she was running pig-rich... I didn't need to hear it, I could SMELL it. He smelled like stale gasoline! Considering that the R16 engine only made 96 hp at the crank when brand new, and assuming drivetrain losses and 40+ years of wear, it's pretty damn impressive that 40-something horsepower can effortlessly maintain freeway speeds. Definitely a testament to brilliant engineering from Datsun!
Here, in this picture, I'm refueling somewhere around the AZ border. Nothing too interesting about that, except that the fuel filler is located behind the license plate - but the plate won't flip up or down! Quite a bit of searching revealed a small release button next to the hatch latch mechanism. Yes, you have to open the rear hatch to release the license plate latch, to access the fuel filler. That one almost stumped me.
Letting my mind wander during the drive, I thought about plans for the wagon - what to repair first, which garage stall to put it in, what parts might cross-reference to it... and I remembered: She needed a name! All of our Datsuns have a name. For some reason, I kept thinking she should have a name that reflected her design and purpose... A plain, hardworking, domestic-type vehicle, probably originally intended for transporting kids and picking up groceries, she needed a name to match. I pictured the housekeeper from The Brady Bunch, what was her name? Oh yeah - Alice.
Perfect. Alice was on her way home.
Read more: Just a detail, right? And the restoration begins...
[post_title] => 1967 Datsun WRL411 Rescue and Restoration (Part 2)
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[post_content] => Whenever I've gotten a new project, the first order of business was to completely clean it up. This applies to parts cars and full restorations alike. You really learn a lot about a vehicle by doing a full "detailing" on it, even if it's not going to be a show car. This is where you find out what it really needs, what it's strengths are, and even learn some history on the car. When I say detailing, I mean the kind that takes a couple days (or more). I'm talking the kind of detailing where you wear out a couple toothbrushes, a green scotchbrite pad, a bottle of 409, and 3 rolls of paper towels...
Some "BEFORE" pictures:
The interior turned out remarkable. The headliner and door panels and plastic trim were very well-preserved, just dingy from years of improper cleaning. The greasy buildup in the door jambs preserved the paint on the hinges, and the door weatherstrip was still intact. A good scrubbing and several applications of 303 Protectant and they looked 20 years newer. The carpets were already going to have to be replaced, so those came out, along with the seats, so I could scrub and clean the floor pan.
Some photos of the progress:
The original cargo area mat was amazingly salvageable. I spent the better part of a day working on it, with Simple Green, 409, and various scrub brushes, just to get it clean and presentable. Then, I saturated it with 303 Protectant for the next 5 or 6 days to try and restore some of its softness. It turned out great.
The seams in the front seats had split, but those were going to have to wait. For now, we'd live with the split vinyl. Seat tracks got disassembled, scrubbed, re-lubricated and re-installed, but not before laying down a layer of GT Mat (similar to Dynamat, but better in my opinion, and cheaper). This makes all the difference in a restoration, keeping road noise and heat to a minimum.
Details make a big difference, and here's just one example: This is the bracket that holds the rear seatback from rattling when it's folded down. I took it apart, knocked out all the dings and dents with a rubber mallet and a block of wood, screwed it down to a piece of wood, and polished it with a green scrubbing pad followed by a buffing wheel. The mechanism was disassembled, polished, re-lubricated and reassembled. Makes a nice difference, doesn't it?
Another little detail - The bell-shaped "stands" that sit under the seat frame rails are cool as hell. I made a jig for my drill out of a spare 12mm bolt and a couple nuts. This way, I could sand down the casting, smooth it, and polish the metal - Check it out!
New carpet finished off the interior work:
Read more: Arizona's coolest Datsun wagon hits the streets - but not for long.
[post_title] => 1967 Datsun WRL411 Rescue and Restoration (Part 3)
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With the interior done, we were set to put some miles on our new acquisition. Just for fun, I threw on a set of GAB Sport wheels I sourced from Japan. They were sitting around from an abandoned previous project, and they looked good on the car, and saved me from having to buy new tires right away.
We posted up a few pictures and for a few months, we drove Alice around - short trips to the store, a few Datsun meets here in town, a couple trips here and there. We were amazed at the amount of attention and thumbs-up it got, even in its unrestored state. This car got more attention than our restored Datsun Roadster!
A little photoshoot before the restoration started:
Unfortunately, on the way home from one of the local Datsun meets, she started spewing fuel from the front carb, and almost at the same time, something went haywire in the steering or front suspension - she was not only a ticking bomb with fuel running down near the exhaust manifold, she was hard to steer and keep on a straight path. Time for some repairs.
A compression test revealed the engine was pretty tired. Carbs needed rebuilding, and her transmission was leaking pretty good by now. A good friend "Ron", who is a huge Roadster expert, referred me to a gentleman by the name of Kevin Desirello. Kevin's kind of a big deal in the Roadster community, as he's built several impressive 311's. Most notably, he does SR20 swaps that look factory-built. Not wanting to go that radical, Kevin and I began discussing options for this car. He'd be right at home working on the engine, since it's a 67 Roadster engine with a few tweaks (as mentioned above). I wanted to preserve the originality of the car, due to its rarity, but I also wanted more power and greater reliability.
We settled on a plan to build a stroker motor. A stroked 1600 is a fairly common build. Basically, it involves using the U20 crank (from a 2000cc Datsun engine) and different pistons. Ultimately, we decided on a .030 overbore along with the stroker crank and rods, and a custom ground cam (440 Lift / 276 Duration)... These changes effectively make the 1600 into a roughly 135-hp, torquey 2-liter (without sacrificing appearance or reliability). Since the 1967 came with a 3-main block, and we wanted to use a more robust 5-main block, a motor from a 69 Roadster was sourced. I retained the original block (just in case anyone ever wanted to return it to a "numbers matching" car).
With a plan in mind, Becky and I scheduled a day to pull the engine to deliver to Kevin (who lives in Riverside, CA). She and I had the engine out in less than two hours, and we dropped the engine and the donor block in the Frontier and set out for CA. The next time we saw the engine, it would be bored, stroked, restored and re-sealed. Sweet.
The transmission was delivered to a local shop, on recommendation from one of our local Datsun pickup fanatics (NICO member Charlie69). He'd had a couple automatic transmissions done by this shop, and had good luck with them.
Alice was now well on her way to being mechanically sound. Little did we know...
Read more: Yes, everything we own DOES have to be taken apart into a thousand pieces.
[post_title] => 1967 Datsun WRL411 Rescue and Restoration (Part 4)
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[post_content] => Since we bought the 411, I'd always thought I'd just get her mechanically sound, and leave the "patina" of 40+ years for character. But the more we discussed it, the more we thought she deserved something better. Becky pointed out that I had already restored the interior to near-perfection, why not get the exterior looking good as well? We decided to go ahead and have her bodywork and paint done. The body had a few dings and a dent or two, as well as a couple rusted spots in the rockers - nothing terrible, but enough to warrant some work.
Becky and I took to the garage to strip off everything we didn't want painted. Since we're both pretty organized, everything went in a zip-lock bag with a label, and was placed on a shelf in the garage cabinets. The plan was to restore all of the parts OFF the car so that they'd look good being re-attached after paint.
Becky handled most of the exterior parts removal:
Strapped on a trailer behind the NICO Frontier and headed for the painter's place.
Two days after we hauled her off to the painter, I was driving home from work and passed an old VW Bus, red with a white top. It really caught my eye, and I immediately called the painter. "Change of plans - she needs to have a white roof." Done. Not only would it give the wagon a little more character, it would keep the car cooler in the summer, and would really set off the wheel / tire combo I had planned.
With the engine in Riverside and the shell across town, I started collecting, organizing and cleaning parts that would have to go back on the car. Everything that we had already removed, as well as the parts that would come off during the restoration were cleaned, either with a wire wheel or by hand, and re-painted or powder coated. This would not only make reinstallation more enjoyable and improve the appearance, it also lets you see any unknown damage hiding beneath 44 years of road grime.
Some "before and after" pictures of some of the components:
Taillights and turn signals BEFORE and AFTER (I was really happy with how these turned out):
By now, Alice had returned from the painter. The red and white was a good choice - I could only imagine how she'd look once her chrome trim went back in place.
I really enjoy the cosmetic restoration, but the mechanicals can't be ignored... That's what's next!
Read more: Who says suspension isn't sexy? Check it out!
[post_title] => 1967 Datsun WRL411 Rescue and Restoration (Part 5)
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OK, those of you who have read this far are probably thinking, "Enough already, show us the damn finished product!" Bear with me - While suspension rehab on a '67 Datsun isn't a "sexy" topic, I promise, you'll like the results. Stick with us, this is getting good.
The steering on the wagon had gotten notably sloppy over 44 years, and part of the reason for all this suspension work was to make sure we had addressed the right problem. A sixteenth of an inch of "slop" in each part can add up to a quarter-turn in the wheel (and a harrowing driving experience). Aaron (Bwana) was out for the weekend and tweaked the steering box. This is a great starting point to assess how much free play is still left. While the steering box adjustment took up some of the slack, there was a lot left - Ball joints, bushings, tie rod ends, bearings... Everything is suspect on a car this old.
One of the first challenges we ran into was the fact that lower ball joints for the 411 have been pretty much non-existent for a decade. Nissan's NOS stuff was sold out long ago, and due to the scarcity of the car, no one's reproducing them. By a simple stroke of luck, while we were in California on vacation at Les's shop, he mentioned he might have a couple laying around. Sure enough, he did. Not cheap, mind you - but when you HAVE to get the car back on the road, you do what you gotta do. The upper ball joints were sourced through a gentleman in Singapore, who I met through an ebay transaction. He turned out to be a pretty valuable source, as he also had inner and outer tie rod ends (great quality stuff from Triple-5, or 555 Parts, a supplier of OEM-quality parts to Nissan for years).
Success in finding most of the parts we needed increased our motivation, and Becky and I hit the garage hard on our days off. The JCCS show was only 3 months away, and we wanted her to make her debut there. First order of business was to start dismantling the front suspension. Since this was going to be a messy job, we laid down plastic drop cloths underneath the car, lifted her up on jackstands, and prepped for a long project. While we started disassembly, we enlisted the help of our son, Darian, to start removing all the road grime from the frame rails and underside of the car. Some "disposable" clothes, a pair of safety glasses, a paint scraper and cordless drill with a wire wheel was all he needed to be off and running. I'm pretty sure I swept up a 5-gallon bucket full of grime. We might make a Datsun restorer out of him yet.
Have a look at the "starting point":
I'd decided on Roadster front springs for a bit of a drop, but I was wary of too much of a reduction in ride height. All springs sag over time, and I didn't want to put some 40-year-old Roadster springs in there and have it droop beyond a reasonable height. Again, I lucked out and sourced a set of springs that had been removed and thrown in a box decades ago - therefore, less likelihood of drooping. These got the wire wheel treatment to remove surface rust and were powdercoated red to match the car. Shocks were sourced from a NICO vendor, and we went with KYB's.
More of the "before" pics - Click on each one for a closer look. It's no fun working in this nasty mess:
The 411 SSS had front disc brakes from the factory, and the rotors were still in great shape. The calipers, however, were a different story. In fact, the entire braking system was in such a condition that I can't believe I actually survived the drive from southern California - more on that later. A year ago, I went through the ordeal of trying to rehab my Roadster front calipers, only to find I'd wasted 2 days and a ton of work - the sleeves of the brake cylinders were just too pitted, and I wound up completely retrofitting an upgraded brake system. Not wanting a repeat of THAT hassle, I found a set of new 510 brake cylinders on ebay, verified that they were the same as the 411 brake cylinders, and snatched them up. A new set of pads was sourced from NAPA, as was a set of new brake hoses. Some new brake hardware rounded out the install.
The upper and lower control arms were literally buried in nearly a half-inch of greasy, nasty mess. A couple hours with the wire wheel and some degreaser, and they got a fresh coat of black chassis paint. Those super-rare, beautifully-machined ball joints we were lucky enough to score went in cleanly, and all new Grade 8 bolts from my local Ace Hardware finished off the control arms.
Read more: In our next installment, the suspension gets finished and work starts on the engine bay!
[post_title] => 1967 Datsun WRL411 Rescue and Restoration (Part 6)
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[post_content] => OK, you're still with us - This is where it gets fun. Bex and I hope you're enjoying reading about our restoration as much as we enjoyed doing it!
The front sway bar bushings were virtually nonexistent, as time had taken its toll on them. I wanted to use polyurethane bushings here, but finding the proper center bushings was proving to be futile. Endlinks were easy, they were on the shelf at AutoZone. So, I made my own bushings to mount the sway bar to the frame. Those of you who have been with NICOclub for a while might remember I made my own engine mounts for Project Vert a few years ago, and I looked forward to trying another application. There was JUST enough Flexane remaining in the container to make these two pieces.
I cleaned and polished the brackets, since I'd be pouring the Flexane directly into these (like a mold). I made cardboard "sides" for the mold, sealed with packing tape (which Flexane won't stick to) and used a deep socket (with the same diameter as the sway bar) to suspend in the mold and leave a void for the sway bar to pass through.
An hour later, I had a pair of one-of-a-kind polyurethane sway bar bushings for a Datsun 411.
The spindles were easy - Blast, scrub, de-grease, and paint. The great part about redoing a suspension is, you can use up some of the leftover paint from other projects. Contrast is cool, and it's not a show car, so as long as it's clean, use some different colors! The new tie rod ends were fitted to the old tie rods (after a session on the wire wheel) and adjusted to roughly approximate the original toe settings - this would be good enough to drive her to an alignment shop for a proper adjustment later.
Front wheel bearings still measured within spec, so these were soaked in mineral spirits, degreased, and re-packed with Mobil 1 synthetic grease (great stuff, get some). New seals were sourced from NAPA, and the assembly was complete. The wheelwells were treated to a fresh coat of black rubberized undercoating, which really cleans up the look of even an unrestored car.
During this process, we decided to forego the GAB Sport wheels and go with something a little more traditional. I really wanted to emphasize the "vintage" appearance of the wagon, and stick to the old-school flavor. The problem was, I had already sold her original hubcaps to fund the paint job (they're very rare) and the original 13"x5" steel wheels were already fitted to another Datsun across town. Since 13" wheels are hard to find good tires for, and I planned on putting a lot of miles on this car when finished, I decided to step up to a wider 14" steel wheel. A couple phone calls and I had a complete set of 14x6" late Roadster wheels. While these were sent off to the powdercoater, I scoured the Internet for some wide whitewalls. A seller on ebay had a set in the size I wanted, and the price was reasonable. All that was left was to find JUST the right hubcaps for her. Less than a week later, I ran across an ebay ad for a set of Datsun 520 pickup hubcaps in good shape. These would be perfect, but even after a good polishing, they were a little plain. I spent a few hours (and some leftover vinyl) making some center logos for the hubcaps, utilizing the early "D" logo that was found on the early 60's Datsuns. They'll stay until I find something I like better - I'm thinking of having some one-of-a-kind reproductions of the early center caps done in heavy-duty vinyl.
Read more: Glad to be done with that part - Time to get up off the floor and do some stand-up work!
[post_title] => 1967 Datsun WRL411 Rescue and Restoration (Part 7)
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[post_content] => With the suspension and rolling stock completed, it was time to prepare the engine bay for installation of the new engine. Again, we wanted to keep things relatively stock in appearance, but since this wasn't a complete frame-off restoration, things would have to be done in stages. I started off at the upper left-hand corner of the firewall and began cleaning 40+ years of funk off the paint, working around the entire perimeter of the bay, and then working downwards to the frame rails. Again, lots of 409, brake cleaner, green Scotchbrite pads, and loads of paper towels.
Everything that could be removed was pulled a piece at a time, restored as a component, and reinstalled, using new hardware where appropriate. This included all the relays, the underhood light, the windshield wiper motor and assembly, wiring harness, the horns, everything.
Removing one part at a time and replacing it immediately after restoration helped ensure that nothing got mis-wired or lost. The underlying engine bay paint was still in good enough condition to refurbish, and I like to use a product called TR3 (it's cheap, and has a lot of solvents to really clean the top layer of old paint).
The radiator was sent to a local shop for re-coring, and new radiator hoses and thermostat were sourced from Rock Auto. We decided early on that we'd like to run electric fans. Since the old 1600's didn't use a clutch fan, the original metal fan is inefficient and hard to balance. It's also always spinning, creating drag and pulling power, even at freeway speeds. A pair of 8" high-volume curved-blade fans were sourced on ebay, along with a Derale mounting and wiring kit (with a relay and an adjustable temp sensor), and it looks clean and tidy.
Also, rather than just having the radiator overflow hose dump out onto the ground, I decided I'd like to have a reclamation tank. The theory here is that as the fluid expands, it has to have someplace to go - but once it cools and contracts, it'd be nice to have that coolant go BACK into the radiator, not on the ground. However, these cars didn't come with a dedicated overflow tank, but they DID come with a windshield washer bottle... Personally, I never use windshield washers - if my windshield is THAT dirty, the whole car needs a bath. So, the pristine windshield washer tank is now the radiator overflow tank.
Finally, we cleaned up the underside of the hood, cleaned and masked off the bracing, and re-applied rubberized undercoating directly over the original stuff applied by the factory.
The engine bay was finished just in time, as Kevin called and said the engine was ready. He'd already started it up on a test stand in order to perform a proper break-in and set the carb mixture and timing appropriately. The new stroker motor would literally be a drop-in affair. The trans shop had just completed the rebuild on the Borg-Warner 35 Automatic, and it was ready to go as well.
Read more: Who wants to help us drop in a stroker motor? Let's do it!!!
[post_title] => 1967 Datsun WRL411 Rescue and Restoration (Part 8)
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[post_content] => Becky and I got started early on a Saturday morning, and we had the engine in within an hour. We ran into a couple minor snags - the motor mounts on a 411 are ridiculously hard to line up properly, and I inadvertently left the speedometer drive cable off the transmission until after it was all bolted up. The transmission crossmember has to be off the car to install the cable housing. Ah, well - doing it twice makes sure you commit it to memory, right?
Here's the freshly-rebuilt Borg-Warner 35 and the rebuilt (higher stall speed) torque converter, ready to be mated to the fresh stroker motor:
Anyhow, reattaching and adjusting the shifter linkage and throttle linkage was a bit tedious, and re-routing / reconnecting the wiring harness could have been difficult. However, one thing that really helped a lot was the fact that Becky took a TON of pictures of the engine bay from all angles before we started disassembly, and labeled several wires that looked like they might be confusing later. Between those pictures and a wiring diagram I found online, we were good to go.
Fluids were filled, fuel pump was primed (a vacuum pump brake bleeder is a great help here), and fingers were crossed - Fortunately, she fired right up. A little fiddling with the timing and the mixture, and she settled into a nice, lopey idle. The cam is a little more radical than what I'd expected, and it sounds like a MUCH larger engine. The increase in displacement from 1600 cc's to 2000 cc's is nice, but what's REALLY awesome about this engine is the torque it makes. The longer stroke really wakes it up, and she pulls nicely across the entire RPM range.
By now, the engine bay was looking much the way it was when it rolled off the assembly line in Japan, some 44 years prior. But it needed a little more visual appeal. In tribute to Nissan's much-loved 2-liter SR20 engine, I decided the valve cover would look good in a wrinkle red powdercoat. A contrasting gloss black was chosen for the OEM oil cap, and a little polishing and buffing of specific bits and fittings really gave the engine a nice, functional appearance. We spent several hours just refurbishing the air cleaner. Fortunately, the paint underneath all that grime and oxidation was in great shape, and it really sets off the engine bay.
A couple issues were to be expected, and the first one we ran into was a colossal pain... First of all, since automatic transmissions are so complicated to me, I was certain that we'd have issues, and I was right. But it wasn't with the rebuild! Actually, the Borg-Warner 35 transmission has a cable-actuated kickdown (to drop the transmission into a lower gear at wide-open throttle). This used to be referred to as "passing gear". Anyway, the cable that was originally on the transmission was shot. 40 years of adjustments had taken their toll on the cable ends, and the plastic casing had split where it enters the transmission - this allowed transmission fluid to force up the cable housing and seem out through the cracks, coating the undercarriage with a layer of grimy road funk (which we scraped off earlier in the article). Obviously, this part is near impossible to obtain, so I decided to figure out how it works and find a new way to address the problem. With some help from Becky, I was able to see that at WOT, the cable (which is attached to the throttle mechanism) is pulled upwards, which actuates a cam in the transmission, which presses a plunger and increases the line pressure, causing a downshift.
Great! I'd just make a new cable - Off to the store, where I found a nice set of bike brake cables. I cut them, crimped on new ends, retrofitted the cable and housing onto the old mounts, dropped the trans pan to reconnect the cable to the cam, and re-installed the whole assembly. Adjusting the cable so that it actuates at JUST the right time takes some work. Early indications were promising, as the first test drive revealed the kickdown worked perfectly - she dropped into first and pulled ahead - hard! However, when I released the throttle, she refused to go back into a higher gear. A quick inspection revealed the cable was flexing at the top and the cam wasn't returning to its original position. But, that would mean that something has to PUSH the cam back into position, and it's not spring-loaded...
Several more hours of scouring the Internet for information led me to a boating forum in the UK. Apparently, these transmissions were also used in boats?!? Anyway, the clue was found therein: The cable has to be stiff enough to act as a puller AND a pusher, so that when the throttle returns to a closed position, the cable will push the cam back. But who's ever heard of a cable that pulls AND pushes? I mean, that's like pushing a piece of cooked spaghetti across a table, right? Well, not so fast. Lawnmower throttle cables do it all the time. Remember the old "rabbit and turtle" throttle controller on that old mower you used to push? Yep, that cable pulls and pushes. Off to the lawnmower shop!
At the time of this article, I actually DID go get a lawnmower throttle cable to modify for my application. Not long thereafter, Aaron (bwana) encouraged me to do it right and order a custom kickdown cable kit from Lokar, so I did. I much prefer making things work without resorting to buying new parts, but I think I'll be glad I got the good stuff.
Read more: It runs! Let's get the exterior put back together so we can go to a show!
[post_title] => 1967 Datsun WRL411 Rescue and Restoration (Part 9)
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Holy crap - We're almost to the end! We're glad you've taken the time to read about our restoration, that makes it all worthwhile!
With the actual running and driving thing out of the way, it was time to make it presentable. Installing the exterior trim and lights was fun. Cleaning and polishing each individual component before reattaching it to the car ensures that you're not going to be disappointed in the final outcome. The grille was polished by hand several times, front to back. All light bulbs were replaced with new ones, each socket got cleaned with a brass brush attachment on the Dremel, and the sockets got a coating of dielectric grease. Every emblem got refinished at the kitchen table (thanks, honey!) Small jars of Testor's model paint and some model car brushes came in handy here.
When restoring something as rare as this, you get used to running across the problem of finding rare parts. A good example is the windshield washer nozzle gaskets. Sure, they're tiny pieces, and no one would really notice if I just threw away the crumbly ones and went without replacements. But overcoming little obstacles is what makes a restoration fun, and when you can come up with a solution out of a box of junk in the garage, it just feels good. So, I disassembled the washer nozzles, polished them on the buffer, and set about finding a solution... Some hard plastic beveled "feet" from the bottom of an old printer were JUST the right size. A quick hit with a drill bit in a Dremel and they look like they belong there:
A few finishing details were added after everything was put together. Any self-respecting cool wagon will have some "custom" touches, and we really wanted to accent her appearance without being obnoxious. A set of chrome vent window wings and some chrome headlight "eyelids" really punch up the appearance. A single chrome round side mirror, mounted high on the side pillar, emphasizes the retro theme.
The Finished Product:
I've sourced an original roof rack that was a dealer-installed option on these, but it needs re-chroming before I install it. A few days before finishing this article, I located an old Thermador swamp cooler that looks great hanging on her window, and it should come in handy on those days when it's a little too warm. I'm working on designing a one-of-a-kind solid windshield visor, and maybe I'll even find a set of fuzzy dice to finish off the look.
As of the completion of this article series, the 411 is about as far along as we're going to go with it. Building a car to be a "DRIVER", rather than a showpiece, take some restraint and planning, but it's very rewarding. I won't freak out if she gets a nick in her paint or bugs in her grille - Becky and I plan to put some miles on Alice over the next several years.
She runs beautifully, draws a ton of attention, and is one of those cars that just makes people smile. Only 50 miles into her restoration, and people are taking pictures of her in traffic, giving it the thumbs-up, and asking what it is and who makes it... Just seeing people's reaction makes all the work worthwhile. We'll be introducing "Alice" to the rest of the world this coming weekend when she makes her debut at JCCS 2010. Look for more coverage of that event here on NICO.
Until the next article - Be safe and enjoy your Datsuns, Nissans and Infinitis!
All the best,
Becky and Greg
Greg (AZhitman) and Becky (nissangirl74) are the owners of NICOclub.com and die-hard Datsun / Nissan enthusiasts.
[post_title] => 1967 Datsun WRL411 Rescue and Restoration (Part 10)
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Part One of a 10-part Series...
As a classic Datsun fanatic, I've found that it's damn near impossible to pass up certain cars... Sometimes it's because you've always admired them and wonder what it'd be like to drive one (like our Roadster). Other times, it's because you run across a "special" car that's *so* close to being awesome, you've gotta bring it home to finish it (like our 510). For some, it's so rare, you don't want to miss a once-in-a-lifetime chance to own one (like our NL320). For still others, it has some sentimental attraction (like our S30). And then there are the ones where you just *know* that if you don't get it, it'll go to a bad home. That was the case with our 1967 WRL411 SSS Datsun Wagon.
In April 2009, I saw the 411 on Bring a Trailer one morning in a two-for-one... The seller had the red wagon and a white sedan, and wanted to sell them both, together.
I've always preferred wagons, old and new. I think an old Country Squire is way cooler than an LTD. I think the Magnum is cooler than the 300. The 5-series BMW wagon turns my head every time, and this deal was no exception... I had no real use for the sedan, so I contacted the seller and asked if he'd sell them separately. After a little negotiation, I made an offer and plans to drive out to south Hollywood to pick up the car. As with all our other Datsuns, they've been bought sight-unseen. Not only that, but I planned to drive it back home to Phoenix, which is similar to jumping out of a plane without a chute and hoping you land on a hay bale. Win some, lose some - it's all part of the hobby.
On arrival at a small shop in Hollywood, the 411 was sitting among some other cool old cars. The owner looked awfully familiar (turns out he's an actor). The car was pretty much as described, so I gave it a quick once-over and headed on down the road with it. There's nothing cooler than hopping in a car you're unfamiliar with, not knowing where ANY of the switches or controls are, none of the car's quirks or behavior, and setting out on a 380-mile trip across the CA / AZ desert.
A little back story on the history of the car: I'm the fifth owner, although technically I'm only the third, as it wasn't registered by two of its owners. It was originally owned by an older lady from Europe who bought it new in southern California.
Upon her death, it wound up in Lake Tahoe, and was driven very infrequently, summers only, for several years by the second owner. The third owner bought it to "flip", and sold it within 24 hours to the guy I bought it from, who also never registered it. At any rate, it was reasonably well taken care of, and unmodified, which is something I look for in an old Datsun. It not only wound up on ebay, but it was also featured on Bringatrailer.com ( WRL411 on Bringatrailer.com).
Here's an old dealer brochure from late 1966 showing the exact same car.
Read more: What the heck IS a WRL411? Welcoming the latest classic to the garage.
[post_title] => 1967 Datsun WRL411 Rescue and Restoration
[post_excerpt] => Our 1967 WRL411 SSS Datsun Wagon was just too rare and too complete to pass up. Read all about the rescue and restoration of "Alice" here... We hope you enjoy it.
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"Article Series
- 1967 Datsun WRL411 Rescue and Restoration
- 1967 Datsun WRL411 Rescue and Restoration (Part 2)
- 1967 Datsun WRL411 Rescue and Restoration (Part 3)
- 1967 Datsun WRL411 Rescue and Restoration (Part 4)
- 1967 Datsun WRL411 Rescue and Restoration (Part 5)
- 1967 Datsun WRL411 Rescue and Restoration (Part 6)
- 1967 Datsun WRL411 Rescue and Restoration (Part 7)
- 1967 Datsun WRL411 Rescue and Restoration (Part 8)
- 1967 Datsun WRL411 Rescue and Restoration (Part 9)
- 1967 Datsun WRL411 Rescue and Restoration (Part 10)
With the interior done, we were set to put some miles on our new acquisition. Just for fun, I threw on a set of GAB Sport wheels I sourced from Japan. They were sitting around from an abandoned previous project, and they looked good on the car, and saved me from having to buy new tires right away.
We posted up a few pictures and for a few months, we drove Alice around – short trips to the store, a few Datsun meets here in town, a couple trips here and there. We were amazed at the amount of attention and thumbs-up it got, even in its unrestored state. This car got more attention than our restored Datsun Roadster!
A little photoshoot before the restoration started:
Unfortunately, on the way home from one of the local Datsun meets, she started spewing fuel from the front carb, and almost at the same time, something went haywire in the steering or front suspension – she was not only a ticking bomb with fuel running down near the exhaust manifold, she was hard to steer and keep on a straight path. Time for some repairs.
A compression test revealed the engine was pretty tired. Carbs needed rebuilding, and her transmission was leaking pretty good by now. A good friend “Ron”, who is a huge Roadster expert, referred me to a gentleman by the name of Kevin Desirello. Kevin’s kind of a big deal in the Roadster community, as he’s built several impressive 311’s. Most notably, he does SR20 swaps that look factory-built. Not wanting to go that radical, Kevin and I began discussing options for this car. He’d be right at home working on the engine, since it’s a 67 Roadster engine with a few tweaks (as mentioned above). I wanted to preserve the originality of the car, due to its rarity, but I also wanted more power and greater reliability.
We settled on a plan to build a stroker motor. A stroked 1600 is a fairly common build. Basically, it involves using the U20 crank (from a 2000cc Datsun engine) and different pistons. Ultimately, we decided on a .030 overbore along with the stroker crank and rods, and a custom ground cam (440 Lift / 276 Duration)… These changes effectively make the 1600 into a roughly 135-hp, torquey 2-liter (without sacrificing appearance or reliability). Since the 1967 came with a 3-main block, and we wanted to use a more robust 5-main block, a motor from a 69 Roadster was sourced. I retained the original block (just in case anyone ever wanted to return it to a “numbers matching” car).
With a plan in mind, Becky and I scheduled a day to pull the engine to deliver to Kevin (who lives in Riverside, CA). She and I had the engine out in less than two hours, and we dropped the engine and the donor block in the Frontier and set out for CA. The next time we saw the engine, it would be bored, stroked, restored and re-sealed. Sweet.
The transmission was delivered to a local shop, on recommendation from one of our local Datsun pickup fanatics (NICO member Charlie69). He’d had a couple automatic transmissions done by this shop, and had good luck with them.
Alice was now well on her way to being mechanically sound. Little did we know…
Read more: Yes, everything we own DOES have to be taken apart into a thousand pieces.
