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The fastest, most luxurious vehicle ever made.

16K views 129 replies 18 participants last post by  james008 
#1 ·
I bought this old thing a couple of years back, and for the most part its just sat around.


I pulled the bullbar off it, put a standard bumper on it and washed it once. Then it sat around again. A couple of weeks ago I finally cleared some room in the shed so I could start working on it.

It's a 1980 MQ van, N/A SD33 with a 4 speed and absolutely no options or features to speak of. Vinyl floors, vinyl bench seats front and rear, no floor covering in the rear, just bare painted steel, not even a clock or a radio.
I bought it as a non runner with rust in the doors and bonnet, the previous owner said the shell itself was rust free, but it's from the 80's and had Datsun badges on it so it was obviously gonna have rust. Which it does.

So why did I buy a nearly 40 year old, non running poverty pack, rusty old Datsun that no one cares about?
Because its the most bloody original MQ I've found for sale in Vic and it only has 116,000km. Aside from a Redarc 24-12v converter for the trailer wiring, holes cut in the door and rear trims for speakers and the original headlights being replaced with Hella units it's bog stock. Even has the original spare tyre.
 
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#2 ·
Rust, plans for it, engine and whatnot...

So far, the plan is to keep it as it is. But with less rust and more cylinders that fire correctly.
It'll just be a weekender that won't do anything as well as my shorty except carry large objects, which i probably won't do because I don't want to scratch the floors up any more.

I have ran the engine, so non runner isn't entirely correct, but it only fires on 5 cylinders. Cylinder 1 is the bad one. More on the engine later.

The engine is currently out and sitting on a stand, some beer was ingested and now the entire engine bay is stripped

That silver undercoating crap is on everything underneath the car from bumper to bumper. It looks crap, it's chipped and its flaking in places due to age so I'll rub back what i can and give everything a hit with some chassis black paint.
That same crap has been brushed on parts of the engine bay too and some black paint on bits of rust that had started, so I'll end up respraying the engine bay back to body colour.
Anyway, this is the rust that I have to fix.
Radiator support

Firewall

Top corners of rad support


Theres other bits of surface rust scattered around the bottoms of the inner fenders, firewall seam, battery trays, cabin air intake etc. Pretty standard as these bits don't really get a whole lot of paint from the factory.
All of the doors have rust too, 3 will be easy enough to fix, but the drivers door might be too far gone. I'll see what I have to work with once the rust is removed, thats today's job.
 
#4 ·
I'm a glutton for punishment. The space I cleared in the shed was a shorty that I was working on, and once the wagon is ready to move out, I'll be moving my white in which will also need some rust work.

The wagon will certainly keep me busy for a while though.
 
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#5 · (Edited)
The rear two doors will be salvagable.
Right hand rear - I don't want to cut this hole any bigger, so I'll try and get some rust converter inside the door for that little patch of surface rust.


Left hand rear - a bit worse since both the inner frame and outer skin have rust damage. Still salvagable.


Left hand front - getting pretty bad. The rust was fairly advanced where the outer door skin was folded and bonded around the lower lip of the frame. Someone has attempted a 'fix' before with bog, but the door continued to rust.



Right hand front - this is the worst by far. Both lower corners rusted through on the inside and outside, there was just rust holding the lower seam together and the lower lip on the frame is gone so there is nothing holding the door skin rigid at the bottom.


Ideally I'd replace the front doors, but finding straight, rust free 35-40 year old doors is easier said then done, plus I'd have to get them colour matched to 40 year old paint. Any blending in the paint will be a lot less noticable in small sections at the bottom of the door rather than two whole doors.
I've wondered if I could clean the existing rust up, convert it, fold the seams back over and bond the skin and frame back together with a panel adhesive. Adhesive strength won't be an issue, it's common for newer vehicles to have bonded panels, but given I'll likely only have a small surface area to work with, I do wonder about structural integrity. It'll be better than rust though...
 
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#6 ·
After seeing the title of this thread I was emphatically obliged to immerse myself in this tale of luxury and refinement.

Then I saw the thread author and sighed audibly (I meant that in the nicest possible way :)).

Well done James, I’m sure you needed another one.

Rightly or wrongly I was under the impression that GQ doors would fit the MQ, thus widening the field when searching for a replacement, is that not the case?

And while it’s stripped, and you’re painting the engine bay anyway, I’m sure it wouldn’t be beyond the scope of a man with your talents to give the whole thing a lick, avoiding the colour blending issue :)
 
#7 ·
I aimed to drag a sucker or two into this thread, build their hopes up, then crush them just as quickly with a rusty old Datsun that no ones cares about. :)

To be fair, I have had this one for a couple of years, its just taken a little while to get some attention.

GQ doors will indeed fit an MQ, I believe the bolt holes for the MQ window frames with the 1/4 glass are still there as well. But I've decided to run with what I've got for now, most other doors, MQ, MK and GQ have holes for the lower door trim, whereas these doors don't, because it never came with any. It sounds hideously pedantic but the unused holes will annoy me. If these doors don't work out... Well I'll be out a few dollars and a couple days of work. No big deal.

I sorta hope they do though, as nice as it would look with a repspray, the paint is actually pretty good in most places and painting stuff sucks. :)
 
#9 ·
Half the front end is missing, so hopefully it's cheap.
I did come pretty close to enquiring about another one, but I have so far managed to hold off since it would just become yet another project. Aside from being wrapped around a pole, it was super clean though...
 
#10 ·
There's been little bits and pieces happening to the wagon slowly. I decided to run with the doors I had, removed and converted the rust, bonded everything back together, then lots of filling and sanding because ripping seams apart at the bottoms of doors and bending them back left the sheet metal pretty wavy.
Turns out a hammer, vice grips and a grinder don't give a perfect finish when operated by a man with little patience for body work.

At least the other doors required less than this.

I got sick of body work then so I stared tearing the engine down.
 
#11 ·
I was hoping that cylinder 1 was not firing due to something like a bent rod.
I was wrong.


That was a rod bearing once.
The crank journal is pretty ugly, the rod looks pretty average but it still retains a good bearing alright. I will likely still replace it because it seems like good practice and I have one sitting on the bench.


The other rods and the mains are junk too, none of the rod bearings have any tension left, they just fall out of place.



Oil pump gears were pretty scored up too. I'll replace the pump.


The other crank journals are still kinda shiny but there is damage there, I can feel marks in the surface

I'm not sure what the browny yellow crap is. Some kind of heat damage?


The camshaft looks fine surprisingly, the top end of the engine did too when I took the valve cover off.

I would like to keep the original engine with the car, but it'll be a lot of work.
I had a perfectly good crank too but I put it in another bloody engine, at this stage the only spare crank I have has a flogged out keyway... not sure if I'm better off getting the keyway repaired on that crank (or the old 2 part glue trick if I feel sufficiently dodgey) or getting this crank machined.
 
#12 ·
Given my natural talent of destroying everything I touch, the wagon is still in pieces in the shed.
A persistent bout of indecisiveness regarding paint and engine choices, and other priorities getting in the way has seen virtually nothing happen.

Anyway, I bought 4L of Valspar TB543 low gloss black to recoat underneath the car, and possibly the bumpers, mirrors etc if I'm happy with the gloss level.
40 years of baked on grease, road grime and 2 previous layers of undercoating have made it a turd of job, the adhesion of the old stuff is crap, so it has to go. Where it has stuck, it worked pretty good though, the factory black paint and the cadmium coating on the bolts is still intact.
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515310
 
#13 ·
So aside from the 4 rusty doors and the rusty radiator support, which i found more fkn rust in btw, the LH rear wheel arch is also rusty.
Looked like a little patch. Easy fix, grind it back, little bit of filler to smooth it out then paint it.
Nah, this is an MQ so that little patch became a gaping hole.
515908


And this was supposed to be one of the good ones for rust...
 
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#22 ·
I was very close to buying one with an LS1 swapped into it not long ago.
Still not sure why I didn't...

Just the transmission, fuel lines, rear brake line and rear wiring loom left, they're in the way of paint stripping, so they'll probably go tonight.
Out of curiosity, how are you stripping the paint? Grinder, paint stripper, sand blasting?

Looks like a fun project by the way... Don't you love it how little jobs get bigger every time you look more closely at them
[/QUOTE]
Grinder with a wire cup and flap disc, and a drill with a few different wire brushes and cups mainly.
Flap disc (120grit) is a little too aggressive for what i wanted, factory coating still has good adhesion and I just wanted to get rid of the stuff applied after and give a little bit of a scuff for the new stuff.

I hadn't planned on stripping the car down as much as I have either, so if I had my time again, I'd pull everything out before stripping and invest in a sandblaster, it would be much quicker. And result in getting stabbed by much fewer bits of wire. :)

And yes these little projects do have a habit of getting a little out of hand...
 
#21 ·
Just the transmission, fuel lines, rear brake line and rear wiring loom left, they're in the way of paint stripping, so they'll probably go tonight.
[/QUOTE]
Out of curiosity, how are you stripping the paint? Grinder, paint stripper, sand blasting?

Looks like a fun project by the way... Don't you love it how little jobs get bigger every time you look more closely at them
 
#24 ·
From Instagram porn for James



Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro
LED lights on MKs are growing one me... at first I hated them, don't mind them now.

I won't be doing anything like that to the wagon, I do have plans for the shorty though.... and a pile of parts that have been sitting since before I even started on the wagon.
 
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#25 ·
515934


Front valance and passenger quarter panel are off.

No prizes for guessing why.

Theres a couple of little holes here that appeared after wire wheeling the area, they won't need to be filled, they're not visible and they won't really affect anything.

515935


And a bit of rust in the seam between the inner fender and firewall, it was in raised section where seam sealer was used, I've got rid of as much as I could and put some rust converter on it, hopefully that'll be enough to stop it.
I'll give it a quick coat of paint and some more seam sealer.
 
#28 ·
Rear spring flip on that one too. Pushes the wheelbase out to 98 inches or so.

Sure you don't want one mate? Seems like you've been looking at them a bit

James, not sure if you watch All 4 Adventure, but if so I'm sure your keen eye would have picked the old patrol shorty set up for catching the wild bulls, and smashing through termite mounts.

Sent from my SM-G950F using Tapatalk
Not too often you see an old MQ or MK on TV these days!
 
#27 ·
James, not sure if you watch All 4 Adventure, but if so I'm sure your keen eye would have picked the old patrol shorty set up for catching the wild bulls, and smashing through termite mounts.

Sent from my SM-G950F using Tapatalk
 
#29 · (Edited)
I'm glad to watch another who's ambition may greatly outweigh their ability, or are just too modest, either way, i hope an old classic arises from the ashes. I was on the cusp of purchasing an MK for a project years ago, but had to admit my restoration talents would have resulted in the poor thing being relegated to the scrap yard.
Best of luck, may your beer goggles give a true perspective.
May the skin on your knuckles grow thick,
And the sweat on your brow miss your eyes.
 
#30 ·
Thanks mate, the mechanical stuff I can do easy enough... not so great on the body work, anywhere that requires bog there'll be a few applications because I get a low spot or sand too much or something.
This grinding paint off thing is pretty easy because it requires absolutely no skill at all haha! Just very tedious.

Shoulda bought the old MK, they're a good way to learn about cars because they're so simple, some of Nissans design and engineering decisions make sense, you learn a LOT about rust repair and theres like 10 other people in the country that actually care about them so it doesn't matter if you ruin it and scrap it... GQs are kinda getting the same way now that most of them have been destroyed or hacked up. But parts are easier to find.

Not sure if the beer goggles will help me start to see clearly, they're mostly responsible for the stripped engine bay and drivetrain.
But I'll keep persevering, further testing is required. For science. :)
 
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#31 ·
Continuing the early theme for this car so far, I've been busying myself in the MQ by doing absolutely nothing to it.
But I had a couple free hours today so I pulled the swivel hubs down, figuring that the 40 year old grease may be a little past it.
I was correct.
521431


521432


On the plus side, I'm the first one to attack them in 40 years, so nothings buggered, no corrosion on any internal parts and all the bearings feel great despite the wax that was once grease.

But, the passenger side has been spewing diff oil into the swivel hub.
521434


I probably should fix it since the bottom king pin and disc backing plate had evidence of a slight weep... but that means pulling the diff centre out, and that'll lead to a lot of other 'probably shoulds' like replacing diff carrier side bearings, verifying backlash, tooth pattern etc. I even have a couple of sets of axle seals laying around, so I can't even use waiting for parts as an excuse to not do it.

On the other hand, slamming it back together and forgetting I saw it is way easier, and a little diff oil isn't the end of the world.

I dunno, I'll drink about it.
 
#35 ·
521457

Driver's side is good.

Passenger, not so much.
521458


Seal is genuine, but surely not installed like that from the factory.
Guess I was wrong about no one being in the front end before. Either swivels have been done and the axle was installed poorly or the seal has been replaced poorly.
521459
 
#36 ·
And it turns out the axle seals I have are completely different. Much thinner and smaller on the OD.
I'm at a bit of a standstill for the front end while I order parts and wait for them to arrive.
 
#37 ·
Because I decided to order OE diff and swivel seals and wait a short lifetime to get them from Japan instead of buying aftermarket, I thought the 40 year old calipers might need a spruce up since I estimate they have had exactly zero maintenance up until this point.

Still had OE pads. They probably last a while since the 70kw diesel will rarely propel it fast enough to require braking.
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And they were full of crap. The other one was worse and a giant lump of goo that may have once been brake fluid inside.
Both pistons have slight pitting, but it appears to be far enough down that the pads will wear out before fluid leak occurs.
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They cleaned up okay, so they'll get a coat of paint and slapped back together. The pins, rubber brake lines, dust seals and boots are still good, but I'll replace the retraction seals.
Aerosol can lids with a bit of rag wrapped around is a perfect fit for masking the piston bore too.

521529
 
#38 ·
The rattle can said 16-35°C and <65% humidity. According to the ebay weather station of questionable accuracy it was 8°C and 85%. Close enough in the tundra of the Southern Hemisphere.
And the calipers turned out good enough to be hidden behind a solid faced split rim.
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Anyway, since @rgren2 convinced me that the whole of P4x4 doesn't know that I'm a complete hack, I thought I'd replace the pads, shoes and rotors to keep the illusion going, plus reusing 40 year old gear seems like a bad choice, the current rotors are predictably junk.
I'm just going with basic RDA pads and rotors, only $120 with free shipping, shoes will likely be Bendix, nothing flash but it really doesn't need to be.
As for tyres, based on the spare, this car had Dunlop SP44s from new, there is a mob that remanufactures these tyres, but they're in Britain and only made for Minis. I am reasonably sure a 145R10 will look a touch small on a Patrol. I want to keep the 7.50R16 tyres and split rims so I'll probably end up with Dunlop Road Grippers. Once again, reusing the current tyres from before the turn of the century seems a little too dodgey for me.
 
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