The Bucket S12

Yup I decided I will most likely try restore the S12.

So to begin with I acquired it for free from a few friends who did aa group buy of it (irk) so I couldn't turn it down.
Friday night I went to pick it up with my pals, to say it was a battle to gwt it out and on the recovery truck to say the least. We removed the rear bumper, tank and front tow hook in the process.
Got it back to my place and started the forklift to get it off and headed home after.

Picked it back up on Sunday to inspect the underside, now obviously it's rotten but not as bad as I expected, chassis rails are 90% there and worst of the rust is where the floor and sill meets, a new floor section from chassis rail to sill will sort that, and the rear needs a sheet from rear seat cross member to rear and rebuild, not impossible at all.

Anyhow I've got it shifted to a more suited place so I can work on it, engine turns that's as far as I've went, I will try get more photos but here is what I've got so far.

https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/202...0d64f349bd.jpghttps://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/202...d411dd28f0.jpghttps://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/202...e1f1689bcf.jpg

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That looks like a lot of work. Good luck.

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Originally Posted by Chriscooke

That looks like a lot of work. Good luck.

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It will be, but staying positive!

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Poor car... What happened to it?
Glad it will be back on the road !

Keeping it standard ?

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Originally Posted by dollykean

Poor car... What happened to it?
Glad it will be back on the road !

Keeping it standard ?

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No idea my friends bought it like that, no idea to be honest, depending how hard it is to get parts, will decide the outcome


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Ok good luck with this !

Looks a bit sorry for itself right now, poor bugger. Good luck with the restoration!

You can still get some of the parts from Nissan, or at least you could 2 years ago when I had one.

Thanks for the wishes I'll need it! Untill I repair the body of I can get the engine going then I'll start part hunting I think but will see how I get on, trying to have more motivation this year with my cars.

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Got a but of time to have a look last night, tried to see if I had a spark, nope, tried each lead, cleaned dizzy and tried again, no so I tried from coil, without having another car to check with I assume the lead from the coil should be a constant charge?

Anyhow I only get a tiny spark from it when I go from 1st stage to second in ignition, need to dig more, I have an old working coil off a vw was hoping I can see how to wire it from the battery and see from there, I think the car might have an imob so it could be buggering it up. Any suggestions welcome!

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Are you into extreme restorations ?

That looks too far gone to me for the average Joe to rescue. :(

There are very few S12s around, parts availability isn't great and they have such low values when restored that its not going to be possible to do anything with that that would be commercially sensible.

If it has great sentimental value, you have awesome welding skills, you have great contacts for parts supply and specialist restoration skills and you are looking for a project to end all projects then maybe...if you have bags of tenacity, you could turn that into a nice car.

Otherwise, I'd look for a better base and see if this one has any salvageable spares before consigning the rest of it to history.

Sorry if that seems negative and harsh but it looks more fecked than a very fecked thing to me.

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Originally Posted by Jonny Wilkinson

Are you into extreme restorations ?

That looks too far gone to me for the average Joe to rescue. :(

There are very few S12s around, parts availability isn't great and they have such low values when restored that its not going to be possible to do anything with that that would be commercially sensible.

If it has great sentimental value, you have awesome welding skills, you have great contacts for parts supply and specialist restoration skills and you are looking for a project to end all projects then maybe...if you have bags of tenacity, you could turn that into a nice car.

Otherwise, I'd look for a better base and see if this one has any salvageable spares before consigning the rest of it to history.

Sorry if that seems negative and harsh but it looks more fecked than a very fecked thing to me.

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Boo [emoji23], the story of it goes as far as my pal had it and I got it for free because I thought it was a waste, no sentimental value, no nothing, I do like a challenge, as far as plans I have none as its bottom of the list, welding won't be too bad, I know of a spare engine and box already local and found a local whole car in a field that I need to approthe owner of.

Imo it will be welded up and probably used as track/drift or a rough and ready road car, like you said not easy for parts never mind how many I would need, so will see how it turns out, just I personally hate coll old cars going to scrap, even if I do most of the welding and sell then someone will complete it to a car again, who knows! Feel free to come help tho haha

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Go round the car and add up all the parts you would keep vs the parts you would need to replace/are missing. I bet the keep parts are less than 50% of the car not counting the chassis.

That's 50% of the car parts you need to source either new or secondhand (from a very small market). Some parts you will struggle to find without another donor car. I suspect the side windows, lights, bumper trim, wiring loom and interior are going to be tough to find.

If you want to fit it up for banger racing then ok but if its going to need an MOT....

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Originally Posted by Jonny Wilkinson

Go round the car and add up all the parts you would keep vs the parts you would need to replace/are missing. I bet the keep parts are less than 50% of the car not counting the chassis.

That's 50% of the car parts you need to source either new or secondhand (from a very small market). Some parts you will struggle to find without another donor car. I suspect the side windows, lights, bumper trim, wiring loom and interior are going to be tough to find.

If you want to fit it up for banger racing then ok but if its going to need an MOT....

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If anything 100% are being kept, more the case of 50% is missing, if we forget the welding for a mot the main things I need is rear lights and panel, passanger seat, fuel tank and pump, radiator windscreen and rear quarters (could fiberglass) windscreen be the most expensive at £480, right now I want to get the engine running and take it from there, it will 90% most likely have no Interior to start with, but you don't need most of the interior to be mot compliant, I have a source for so many buts as it is so I have faith, its others that don't [emoji23], I am not putting any money out on it until I get it running and inspect it vigorously

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If you are making one car out bits of 2 then the car in the field may be the more viable option.

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Originally Posted by s13spooner

Got a but of time to have a look last night, tried to see if I had a spark, nope, tried each lead, cleaned dizzy and tried again, no so I tried from coil, without having another car to check with I assume the lead from the coil should be a constant charge?

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Anyhow I only get a tiny spark from it when I go from 1st stage to second in ignition, need to dig more, I have an old working coil off a vw was hoping I can see how to wire it from the battery and see from there, I think the car might have an imob so it could be buggering it up. Any suggestions welcome! [/QUOTE]

The coil earths underneath itself (if you know what I mean) and this can get quite corroded and reduce the charge. Whip it off, get your sandpaper out and see if that sorts it, I got one for £50 back in the day as I knew this tricka nd the "mechanic" that owned it didnt :D

Pretty sure there are GRP kist including front wings, rear fenders and bootlids if you can find em too :)

Thanks for the comments, I had a better look the other day when I had time! So I am pretty sure main reason for no spark is it seams to have an aftermarket immobiliser, I've had to remove ones out of my vws but I knew what I was doing, so I think I will need to find a wiring diagram of the car and pull it out and see what happens from there.

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