Last Saturday I bought a wrecked, but very nice 4 door 510 as a donor car for my '69 wagon. In the past 6 days, I swapped the engine(L20b) & trans(dogleg 5) which were both just rebuilt before the wreck.

Then, I got a new (to me) rear axle for my wagon and installed it yesterday. After a test drive it was clear it needed new rear brakes. I got shoes, cylinders and hardware kit all from Napa for just under $60.

On the way home, I stopped in a pull-a-part type salvage yard, mostly to enjoy the sunshine. Unexpectedly, I found a set of very good finned aluminum drums on a Z-car - $15 ea.

I had already bought the rear brake hose anticipating the axle swap. After an evenings work, $100 in parts, and beer for my buddy helping I have completely new rear brakes from the hard line back. The car stops good.

Next I'm installing the vented Z-car brakes, struts, etc using Energy Suspension a-arm & t/c rod bushings and having it aligned. Then, rebuilding the SU's to take the place of the 32/36 that's on it now.

I have had my share of fun cars and this Datsun is by far my favorite. The damn thing is so much fun to drive and fun to work on.

Anyway, thought I'd share!

~Steve

Yeah Steve lets see the car..photos......

Pretty sure Steve is going to be at the BBQ.  ;)  Check it out there.

My front brake swap went from a couple of things to the entire suspension as well. Once the last couple of bits get here later this week, the ugly wagon will have:

Moog suspension: all tie rod ends & adjusting rods, 14mm ball joints
Energy Suspension: T/C rod bushings, control arm bushings, sway bar bushings, tie rod & ball joint boots

New motor mounts, 25mm sway bar from my donor car and full 280zx vented front brakes.

My oil pan was leaking so we dropped the cross member while it was all apart and replaced the oil pan gasket and installed the new motor mounts. It was quite a sight to see the engine "floating" with zero suspension, etc under it. (of course the cherry picker was supporting it from above).

The cool thing about the suspension parts is they were almost all in stock locally in Portland. And, all of the Moog stuff says made in Japan with what looks to be OEM Nissan part numbers in the packages.

Anyway, thought I'd share in the excitement of essentially (in my book) making a new car out of it.

I'd post photos, but there's not much to look at, and I haven't taken any, yet.