Project Theseus

[Noll]

While I can't work on the car throughout the winter, I have been plugging away at the various removable bits that I can work on indoors.


I finally finished refinishing the taillight surrounds; when I got the car they were covered in overspray and the wrong paint. Much sanding, steel wool, putty, more sanding, primer, and paint later, they look pretty decent. Not perfect, but just fine in my opinion. The paint is driving on the other side, then I'll assemble that one too.







Compared to before, I'm really happy with how they turned out:





I also did some patchwork on the dash centerpiece; one of the bolt holes had snapped off. The fix - a 3d-printed part, grinding, and some epoxy. It's not perfect (the cracks are still visible), but it is functional again. Sometime in the future I may putty and paint it, but it's fine for the time being.








Next up I'm going to have a look at the center console, as it has some cracks.

[Noll]

After a few weeks, the 260 has returned with some different wheels. I really need to put a tarp on this thing now, although I suppose snow rotting the floors doesn't matter much when the floors are already trash.












I also finally got a new phone (was rocking a 7 year old galaxy S3), so going forwards pics should be better, especially when in lower-light situations.

[zedfoot]

Too late for a tarp. It will trap more moisture.

[Noll]

Too late for a tarp. It will trap more moisture.

Fair enough, I was thinking I'd do it on a day where the snow had all melted off, but I suppose it doesn't matter much at this point.

[Noll]

So, I'm on a roadtrip currently (Ont to FL and back), and figured I'd post up on a datsun FB group to see if anyone along my route had any parts that I may need.

Lo and behold, I now have a pair of mostly-rust free (couple small spots but nothing major) rear quarters! As an added bonus, they have the outer section of the inner rear wheel tub and the side-pockets that mate up to the rear floor, so that saves me a decent amount of time and $ (on top of the fabrication time and money saved by not having to buy patch panels and instead just redoing everything at once).

I still have to drive 1900km to get them home this week, and wait for the weather to warm up to get cutting/welding, but now I have a good chunk of the parts I need to make this car rust-free!





They fit in the back of this with about 1" to spare:

[Noll]

Well, I made it home with the quarters! 2500km of solo driving, but I'm finally back. Probably going to cut some some spot welds to remove the bits I don't need over the next week or so.

[Noll]

Aw yea. Can't wait for spring, this will be great.







Also, is there a way to rename a thread? It seems to be greyed out when I try.

[zedfoot]

What would you like it to be and I will edit it for you.

[Noll]

What would you like it to be and I will edit it for you.

Thanks ! I think I'll change to "Project Theseus" to better fit the theme of how many different cars will be going into making this thing whole again.

[Noll]

More progress! Spent some time removing some of the parts I don't need off the d/s quarter, as well as drilling out more spot welds to get closer to being able to separate the outer skin.

Most of the stuff I took off was just the leftover flanges from when the quarters were sawzall'd off the car, so they had no use.




Next up, separating this seam:




Will need to buy doglegs, but I knew that already.




Also discovered an old dent in the arch that was bondo'd up; It'll be pretty easy to massage back out once the inner arch is separated from the outer skin.

[Noll]

Alright, got the outer skin separated! Little crusty under the bits that were hidden, but that's just surface rust that comes off with a wire wheel. I need to remove the doorjamb plate, then have the outer skin sandblasted, then I can paint it and weld it on the car when the weather gets a bit warmer.


The inner arch is in much the same condition. Will need to do a little patchwork at the front, but the vast majority of it is solid.

[vvise]

good project name lol

[Noll]

good project name lol

Thanks, figured it was pretty apt given that this car will be made out of 6 or 7 others by the time I'm done with it haha.

[Noll]

Alright, looking for opinions. Trying to decide if I want to replace the rear quarters in their entirety, or to just cut where the green line is and preserve the spot welds in the rear hatch surround (I'm thinking it may be cleaner to leave that with the OEM spot welds). Thoughts?

[510longroof]

Consider that there will be less filler involved the higher up the c-pillar you go rather than the length of the quarter panel. Six inches of seam rather than 35 or more. Are the original spot welds hidden by the hatch that important?