Datsun Sports 1600 restomod

I bought my 1970 Datsun Sports 1600 back in 2018 and have been working on it slowly ever since. I owned a 1965 1600 back in 2012 and loved it while I was able to briefly drive it. Unfortunately the transmission grenaded and I was forced to sell it due to lack of funds and a place to store it. I always wanted to SR swap one, so I started searching and got this one for $550 delivered to my house.

She had a LOT of rust after sitting in a shed since 1984. Unfortunately the shed developed a leak in the roof at some point and started funneling water into the drive's side.

I started stripping parts and removed the original driveline to sell. Then I built a stand for the body to sit on and removed the bolts attaching the body to the frame in preparation to separate the two. More rust.

Next was to separate the body from the frame and set it on the stand. Found some more rust on the underside of the body and on the frame.

The frame ended up having mostly surface rust with the exception of right below the driver's side floor.

I started to clean up the rust, cut out the cancer, and replaced with some fresh steel.

After cleaning up the frame I bought an S14 sr20det, FB rx-7 gsl-se axle housing and rear brakes, Miata 1.8 Torsen, and z32 30mm aluminum front calipers. Also ordered engine mounts, trans mount, a Subaru Justy alternator bracket kit, and a pair of na Miata seats.

Fabbed up the mounts, notched the frames passenger side to accommodate the alternator, and notched the crossmember to clear the oil pan. Please don't pay too much attention to my welds. 😅

At this point we moved from California to Texas at the beginning of the pandemic and I gained some more garage space.

Bought a powder coating gun, built a poweder coating booth and started coating a few parts.

Moved again and this is how it sits for the most part. I haven't had much time to get any work done lately, but hope to start back up again in the next few days.