Congrats, Ben.
Always good to hear of a 'saved' car. That's a late 69, probably with
the better steering box. Don't jump into an engine rebuild just yet.
Since you've already run it, you might as well drive it for a while and
see if it settles down. Sometimes a ring or 2 will stick, and running
often frees them if they're not bad. And anyway, they're so fun in the
summer. Save rebuilds for winter <grin> The 1600 is a tank of a little
motor, as long as the head's sealed. You might want to put aftermarket
(read, accurate) gauges on it for peace of mind, tho.
Brakes are a good place to spend money. Save your old front calipers
if you didn't send them in as cores, as they can be rebuilt, if not
cheaply. After you get the front rebuilt, grease it regularly. That
was the first thing I did to my car, and it transformed the handling.
There are a few rust spots you can check- along the bottom of the rear
fender, both in front and behind the rear wheel. The front fender tends
to collect gunk along the back edge, and on the bodysill at the bottom.
If you clean these spots now and cover them, the rot that's surely there
will slow down, if not stop.
Other than that, just drive it!
Good luck,
Toby
Ben Zech wrote:
>
> Just wanted to drop a line and get into this conversation.
> I am also a new inductee into the wonderful world of Datsun roadsters.(I
> have always wanted one)
> just purchased a 69 1600 SPL31121342. bought the car at a local salvage
> yard. car was not running, had them take it to it's new home on a
> rollback. drained the gas, antifreeze, filed the points, put a new
> battery in and the car turned over after a few minutes of encouragement.
> car seems to run strong, smokes a little, but i plan on rebuilding
> anyway.
> the best part of this story is that the original owner sold it to the
> salvage yard, i was able to track him down and he gave be background
> info on the last 30 years of his ownership. (I will go into this story
> in greater detail later)So far I have taken the front end out completely
> and ordered all new parts except for steering box. same thing for the
> brakes front and rear. I am real fond of stopping. i need a new slave
> cylinder (on order) to see if tranny is OK.
> Any advise will be greatly appreciated.
> I need a shop manual, do they exist?
> Ben Zech
> NC
> 69 1600
> 90 Miata (bought it new)
>
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