Slow Datsun Bluebird SSS Auto

[30PSI]

Unfortunately for my wife, I've decided to buy another Datsun...

Pretty similar to the one I already have however this one will remain standard.

It's a 1.8 running on twin SU's with a better cam and bigger valves than standard. It's 110bhp, so is realistically still a bit underpowered, although adequate for a normal car. It's got 51k on the clock, and is nice and solid underneath. It's had some crap sill repairs done, has a dent in a wing, and some small rust blubbling through on the rear arches, a ripped seat but despite these cosmetics is a pretty sound motor.

I have everything to change this to manual accept the clutch pedal, but I'm thinking it will just stay as auto. I like auto's a bit I have to admit :wack:

The plan is to smarten this up next month when I return from holiday, mainly working on sorting out the untidy things on the car. Lowering it will be essential along with a change of wheels too.

At the last count of Datsun figures by the DVLA, about 4 years ago this was the only auto 910 SSS taxed on the road.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v210/30psi/910auto1.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v210/30psi/910auto2.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v210/30psi/910auto3.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v210/30psi/910auto4.jpg

[SidewaysThough]

Thats proper retro, very nice dude!

[stew]

I saw that for sale last week on and was half tempted myself, should turn out pretty well in your hands :thumbs:

[sxbaz]

datsun love ftw dude, she looks pretty good

[30PSI]

One advantage of having a car with a crap name is the I insurance. Got it insured today fully comp, agreed value and 100 excess for a cheap £115. I'm not old I guess but since turning 25 a few years ago my premiums have been brilliant...

[30PSI]

Here's some more pics

Note the dent in the wing that needs sorting. I'm going to see how well this can be repaired before I consider changing the wing.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v210/30psi/IMG_3868.jpg

The front bumper has been used to ram other cars I think. Note the nice caravan badges

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v210/30psi/IMG_3871.jpg

The rear end. The arch rust has been repaired on both sides as the bottom half of the car has had a bad matching spray. The sills were repaired as cheap as possible I imagine.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v210/30psi/IMG_3872.jpg

The car has had 'Body Shield Rustproofing' according to the sticker in the side window. It's worked under the bonnet. It looks horific though so sometime will have to be spent cleaning this off. It should look good with the blue judging by the bit I removed.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v210/30psi/IMG_3874.jpg

The engine with the twin SU's. I don't know how well this engine was serviced, but it certainly hasn't been cleaned in it's time. Unfortunately the car blue smokes a bit on cruise and chucks out grey smoke on a boot. No smoke on idle or start up so its not an MOT failure, but I need to check if the rings and the PCV is healthy. It seems to have settled a little, a bit of frequent driving may help clear it out. It's only done 41 miles since the MOT 11 months ago.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v210/30psi/IMG_3876.jpg

The interior needs a full on cleaning session. Got to see if I can get another headrest.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v210/30psi/IMG_3882.jpg

The rear is in far better shape though. These seats are comfy, if I could drive from the back seats I would. Looks like the roofliner needs a good clean.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v210/30psi/IMG_3884.jpg

[30PSI]

Every now and again, I ask myself the question 'Why did I do that?'

Well along with that question I'm also asking myself 'Why did I buy this Bluebird?'

This is the 2nd worse car I've ever owned. The worse car goes to a H reg Micra 1.2. I like old cars, new car's are crap and boring. I tell myself and convince myself of this quite often, but in this case I can see why a newish car is in most ways better than an old car for the average folk.

The only good thing about this Bluebird is that it passed it's MOT with just a few advisory's. Oh and it always starts on the key even on choke. Well done Datsun.

I'll explain what I don't like about this car.

It stinks of geriatric piss inside. I've febreezed the tits out the inside but I'm sure that when the old owner wee'd herself it soaked all the way in to the seat.
Rear shock is half gone. Not sure why the MOT didn't pick it up, I guess they don't bounce cars about to check absorbers. (I have some other shocks to fit)
You have to push on the glass to close the door otherwise it doesn't go inside the rubber.
It has no heating. At all. I can deal with the cold but for a daily it's majorly annoying when the screen mists up after you've exhaled one breath in the car.
Glovebox is buggered.
Radio doesn't work
Random dashlighting.
2 big holes in the wing.
1 dent in wing
1 cracked wing mirror
Ripped seats
Exhaust back box blows a bit. It's not bad, but it just adds to the crapness that I'm feeling.
It's had the whole car resprayed I think. It's just that it was done in 4 different stages with almost 2 tone effect.
Theres one thing, which I can't mention till I fix it. Nothing dangerous.
It's auto. To be honest, auto's are 'ok'. I don't mind it for hopping around the streets in, but why Nissan... Why didn't you make it change later than 4,900rpm?!
Final drive ratio. One of the requirements of a daily hack is good cruise speed. You know, you have 200 miles to drive so you want to get some progress on the go. Well nope, not in this car. Indicated 82mph, prob actual 75mph, tested on a runway of course at a fuel economic, low revving 4,800rpm.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v210/30psi/crapspeed.jpg

Luckily the car come with some petrol, but its now dropped to 1/8 of a tank. So today I thought that I've got to sort a few things out before I can fill it up.

First off was to recover from the depths of my storage some shocks. They'll go on the car Weds as randomly I took a day off to pick up something for the Thunderbird and then go see ZZ Top in the evening. Before I can be seen in this car buying petrol I had to sort out the front end. Whilst some may like the badges, I think the opposite. As the front has had a smack as well - the chrome is all twisted, the plastic in the bumper was cracked in half and it just fitted like a 50p D&G t shirt from TK Maxx. So the whole bumper needed changing

So I crawled through horrible dirt, a bit like trapdoor the kids show and I found what I was looking for - a spare front bumper. Not sure why, but Datsun in the early 80's decided that chrome plating was a rather expensive affair and it should be done on the thinnest metal possible with the poorest plating. So the bumper I found had some pretty bad corrosion on it. Still, it's better than the twisted up chrome that had holes in it. Not sure why, but the owner of this car thought drilling 3" holes in the wings as well as buggering up the front bumper seemed like a good idea. This was done when it was a new car as well.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v210/30psi/IMG_4026.jpg

Out came the autosol and some of the crappyness came off

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v210/30psi/IMG_4029.jpg

An hour later, and it was all shiny. It's not a good bumper, it's badly scratched up, but a lot better than the one originally on there. Whilst removing the bumper it was a good opportunity to remove the remains of the wing mirrors. Just need some grommets for the meanwhile before I decide what to do about the holes.

The front number plate was cracked, so I thought I'd go square on the number plate and see what it looked like. Thanks to the clock change I really enjoy that it got dark at 5pm. I love the winter.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v210/30psi/IMG_4034.jpg

[sxbaz]

totally understand ur heating problem mate, i have to drive mine to work with window open freezing my tits off, im liking the square plate tho

[30PSI]

I've ordered some of these (http://www.frost.co.uk/item_Detail.asp?productID=9456&frostProductName=Air%20Dry) to help in the meanwhile. Hopefully might keep it drier in the car. Problem is, the car needs a load of heat in it to probably dry it out.

Is your heater matrix blocked as well?

I disconnected the pipes and had a look. It's blocked up with the black greasy gunge shit. I reversed the pipes round and dropped rad flush in but its done naff all.

[cardiff scum]

Damm thats one fine looking Dat mate,good find:thumbs:

[cherry1809]

I disconnected the pipes and had a look. It's blocked up with the black greasy gunge shit. I reversed the pipes round and dropped rad flush in but its done naff all.

Disconnect the heater pipes from the engine and run a hose pipe through the outlet for a few minutes. It worked on my Honda a treat. Few seconds of nothing, Then a pop and all the crap came out followed by lots of brown shitty water.

[30PSI]

Tried that, it weren't having none of it. Might have another go at it though

[sxbaz]

I've ordered some of these (http://www.frost.co.uk/item_Detail.asp?productID=9456&frostProductName=Air%20Dry) to help in the meanwhile. Hopefully might keep it drier in the car. Problem is, the car needs a load of heat in it to probably dry it out.

Is your heater matrix blocked as well?

I disconnected the pipes and had a look. It's blocked up with the black greasy gunge shit. I reversed the pipes round and dropped rad flush in but its done naff all.

mine was leaky and i think it was repaired by the guy i bought it from, as the carpet used to be wet but i dont think it is now. i did find a bag of plastic pipes in the boot so im wondering if my vents are properly connected as a chronic asthmatic blows harder than heater in mine. im tempted to do the old squirty soap trick and rub that on the inside of the windscreen as it stops it misting up until i get time to take the dash apart.

[30PSI]

Will you get your core repaired or do you think you will need a new one?

I may have a new one but can't be certain until I've had the one in the silver 910 working whether it's spare yet.

I have a used one too, but I think that will need to go in the blue car.

[sxbaz]

ill have to take a proper look at it and go from there, ive still got a small water leak somewhere which may still be the matrix so need to investigate before it rots the floor away, ive been putting it off so ill crack on this weekend and report my findings :thumbs:

[30PSI]

After the rain this afternoon I had another bash at this heater matrix. I hooked up a pipe and funnel to the intake tube and filled it with drain unblocker.

Left it half hour and hardly any was consumed. Leaving some in the pipe I hooked up the garden hose and pressurized the matrix. Nothing at first but after a few mins I was getting a slow drip from the outlet pipe. Swapped the flow round a few times and it ended up being a slow trickle. Luckily I just walked away as it went boom and this brown crap exploded out of the matrix. It went everywhere, some even hit the wall of the house about 10ft away.

Cleaning the engine bay will be the last job on this car :rolleyes:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v210/30psi/IMG_4138.jpg


sxbaz - Assuming this doesn't start leaking, I have a spare heater matrix which you can have

[Phill]

You need to find somewhere like a local valetter with a steam cleaner mate - nice blast with hot water and some chemicals will get that engine bay up as good as new. Just make sure you take some WD40 with you to get it running on all 4 cylinders after it's been done.

[30PSI]

Phill - Could try that, not sure if it will get the waxoyl off too.

After the heater matrix job, I wanted to check how the fueling is on this. Not been struck by the economy on this, haven't measured it but it's probably low 20's so wanted to check it wasn't running too rich.

I fitted the LM1 wideband and took it out for a drive. Have to say, Datsun have done a spot on job with the fueling. On a light throttle cruise it's bang on the money floating around 14.7:1 and on a rag is about 12.2-12.7:1.

Can't fault the fueling, but after watching the fueling for a while it become apparant the bad economy is just down to the way I'm driving the car.

[Tenman]

I love the wheels... I feel your pain with the heater but my problem is the other way round, with the Skoda I basically HAVE to have the heating on full in summer or the damn thing starts getting way too warm in the boot.

[cherry1809]

After the rain this afternoon I had another bash at this heater matrix. I hooked up a pipe and funnel to the intake tube and filled it with drain unblocker.

Left it half hour and hardly any was consumed. Leaving some in the pipe I hooked up the garden hose and pressurized the matrix. Nothing at first but after a few mins I was getting a slow drip from the outlet pipe. Swapped the flow round a few times and it ended up being a slow trickle. Luckily I just walked away as it went boom and this brown crap exploded out of the matrix. It went everywhere, some even hit the wall of the house about 10ft away.

Cleaning the engine bay will be the last job on this car :rolleyes:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v210/30psi/IMG_4138.jpg


sxbaz - Assuming this doesn't start leaking, I have a spare heater matrix which you can have

LOL, Thats pretty much what my engine bay looked like after. Told you it'd work :D

[s12-newbie]

are'nt the carbs "hitachi" SU copys, i dont know if the spares are interchangable but if not stick a set of twins of an old mgb, they should work a treat, get a good usedset for £25

[30PSI]

Yeah they are. Have no idea if the others would bolt on, but I don't really see the benefit?

[voodoo_melon]

Theres one thing, which I can't mention till I fix it. Nothing dangerous.
Have you fixed it yet? What was it?

[30PSI]

Nope :o

I'd tell you in person, just not making it public on here

[voodoo_melon]

Has it got a photo of David Hasselhoff glued to the steering wheel or something? :wack:

[30PSI]

Err update time.... Been using this as a daily driver for 2 years 8 months. Never technically broken down, except the water pump went 2 winters ago and I managed to make it home.

This car has never been good as a daily driver. Yes it starts on the key, always, but that's where the fun ends with the crap auto, the bad cruising speed/rpm and poor economy.

It looks a bit crap, people stare at you, sometimes throw things at you or just sneer. They do give way to me though, I guess they assume a car this crap can't be insured so just steer clear. It's strange that despite earning more money than I have previously I'm now driving this...

So this weekend gone I dropped in an SR20DE out of a 180sx. Also converted it to manual at the same time. With the overdrive and fuel injection this should now make the car alot quicker and better on petrol too.

Took it out for its first spin tonight and it seems alright. I've wired this up in a way that an SR20DET will plug and play in to the chassis loom. Just the exhaust will need to be done to fit a DET. This should make it very easy for anyone who wants to go the DET route when I come to sell it.

Still got to remove most of the waxoyl. This is bad news to remove.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v210/30psi/b681b3b3.jpg

I'm not quite happy with the exhaust, the down pipe needs cutting and welding in to a better angle. The centre console needs refitting but further backwards. I will fit the 910 temp sender somewhere so that the temp gauge reads normal. I will then do the final tidy up on the loom once I know it all works well.

[Daz]

Nice one Martin :D.

You know you love this car really :D.

[Actual_Ben_Taylor]

Nice work, I'd have thought you'd have stuck a set of webers on it :D

[Pablo13]

Nice to see the incontinence pant getting some love :)

How much better on fuel are you expecting it to be, and how much more powerz does it have over the original?

[30PSI]

Webers would be cool. In fact I was just going to convert the original engine to manual, which probably would make a fair difference but I thought bugger it this would end up being expensive leading to a full engine build. I just don't have the time for that.

Best I could ever get out of the L series was 25mpg. The twin carb engine was 110bhp, but felt like 75bhp. The SR is 145bhp I think so its a noticeable jump.

I will sell this at some point in the future which was half the reason for the SR conversion. Its likely someone would drop in a DET so now all the hard work is done...

[xR33]

Now you have to work out how to update your sig..... Nice work mate :thumbs: . My 3rd car was a '81 4dr Bluebird with a chain and padlock keeping the boot closed :rolleyes: .