barrett Posted April 21, 2015 Share Posted April 21, 2015 I was going to lay in to the 510 and butcher my other one for it's boot floor and rear quarters but I have had a change of heartI'm so happy to read this. I know the SSS is a properly special car, but any UK 510 deserves to be saved and your other car has been a long-term, long-distance love of mine. It would be great if you could keep both of them up and together. Pony looks flipping fantastic btw Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John F Posted April 22, 2015 Share Posted April 22, 2015 I'm so happy to read this. I know the SSS is a properly special car, but any UK 510 deserves to be saved and your other car has been a long-term, long-distance love of mine. It would be great if you could keep both of them up and together. Pony looks flipping fantastic btw Me too, but it's only a stay of execution at the moment. If you do end up sacrificing it, Ratdat, are you not tempted to use the dash, etc. to convert the French one to RHD? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jonny69 Posted April 22, 2015 Share Posted April 22, 2015 This is the rather pretty but lethally toxic chemical brew that adds the yellow finish. Ingredients include; Chromium Trioxide, Hydroflouric Acid and Nitric Acid. Hydroflouric Acid. Yikes! I've just ordered some bigger and better gloves. Probably a bit late to step in with my H&S hat on but as you know HF and chromium tri is EXCEPTIONALLY nasty shit so be careful with it. You won't know you've got HF on you until it's too late and it's very difficult to treat if you get burns. It gets right through latex gloves so stick with long thick nitrile or neoprene. Same goes for the HF fumes - it'll get into your lungs and eyes. Your chromium tri is a major environmental hazard, it's toxic and carcinogenic. Mixed with the HF, you really don't want to be breathing in any of those vapours. Nitric acid is not too dangerous here, in the grand scale of things! This is why plating has become so expensive. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dollywobbler Posted April 22, 2015 Share Posted April 22, 2015 Is that why Ratdat hasn't updated this thread since October? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lisbon_road Posted February 27, 2016 Share Posted February 27, 2016 Does anyone know what happened to this car? I thought this was the most fantastic thread ever and really looked forward to each episode, but it did cross my mind that the H&S mob (which included me) might have pee'd the gent off. Well it was a great story and I do wonder what happened. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dollywobbler Posted February 27, 2016 Share Posted February 27, 2016 Ratdat has not gassed himself, so is fine. I think other projects have leapt ahead of this heroic mission for the time being. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spike60 Posted February 27, 2016 Share Posted February 27, 2016 There's something for him just appeared on the Ebay tat thread! http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Datsun-bluebird-1967-/301883156305?hash=item4649a36751:g:6ZwAAOSwll1W0ZrG holbeck 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lisbon_road Posted February 27, 2016 Share Posted February 27, 2016 None of my business but sounds like he isn't ok. I hope it isn't too serious. And that isn't tat - that's an amazing car. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dick Longbridge Posted February 27, 2016 Share Posted February 27, 2016 Only just spotted this fred. Amazing Collection story and impressive progress from the word go. Shame it seems to have gone quiet, but guess other things have got in the way. So is the other mustard one (which looks gr9 in the photo) the one which you may end up sacrificing for the import car? Seems a shame, especially with their values, but at least it would supply a decent hoard of spares I guess. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ratdat Posted February 27, 2016 Author Share Posted February 27, 2016 I guess you want an update huh? Okay here goes. After stripping the car bare and assessing the body it became pretty obvious I was going to need a lot of replacement metal. I had mentioned using my other 510 as a donor but I just couldn't bring myself to do it. The company in the states from whom I pirchased a new valance and rear panel announced they were going to be doing new rear quarters soon, along with bumpers. That, I figured, was worth waiting for. Besides which, if I put a pause on proceedings, then something else might come up to help me save it. And it did. IIn the meantime I had other stuff to do. All last year I worked on our property and my workshop. I demolished two of my old storage sheds which were near falling down anyway. This left my workshop exposed to the howling Lincolnshire gales in a way it had never been before, resulting in a large amount of the roof sheets being removed one night. This forced me to give it an overhaul so cars had to take a back seat. The workshop went from this... Via this... And now looks a bit like this. There's still a bit of work to do but I ran out of good weather to get it finished. I still have to hang the new doors on the front and finish the cladding, fit the fascias front and back and finish painting it all. The metal windows and the green doors came off ebay. The windows in particular were a right bargain. £95 for 34 of them! I don't think the Pony liked having 34 metal windows with glass in the back but it made it home... While I was at it I installed some new heating in the shape of a 40 euro stove I bought from Emmaus in Cholet back in May last year. It's really small and runs on Anthracite but it chucks out plenty of heat and doesn't use a lot of fuel... Oh, and with regards to being in France again last May.... I went to fetch this back. It cam from the local Mairie who had bought it new to use for fetching the local kids to and from school. They used it until about 2004 when i guess the regs for seatbelts came in, which in this bus was a no go as it had three long benches in-line rather than accross ways as is the norm. So it sat unused for a decade, then we cleaned out the fuel system, fixed the alternator and drove it to England. Only three breakdowns on the way to the ferry! I love this thing. It's super slow but a real pleasure to chug round in and mega useful. Did I mention I LOVE IT. More in a minute... spike60, holbeck, catsinthewelder and 27 others 30 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ratdat Posted February 28, 2016 Author Share Posted February 28, 2016 So, back to grotty Datsuns. The opportunity to save my lovely 510 presented itself late last year when i got the opportunity to get back a 510 I had sold some years back. It was a blue '69 model that was a bit sad but generally solid.... As is usually the case I was devoid of readies, so I actually swapped my Pony pickup for it. Now on the face of it, this might not seem ideal... swapping a minty fresh Pony for a rusty pile of crap but it was actually a good deal for me as I reckon the most the Pony would have sold for would be maybe £1500 and that much money would not normally buy me a 510 of any sort (unless i got lucky and found another one in France!). Anyway, It was soon rendered down... I now had a really good boot floor, a solid floor pan and a decent bulkhead and scuttle to use. It'll no doubt provide a bunch of other stuff for both my 510s but best of all it means my brown 510 gets to live on. I still need a bunch of new panel which are going to cost me a small fortune to get from the US but I really want to do this car right. The company who do the new panels have got the first batch of rear quarters in but the were flawed so the tooling is being re-done. Hopefull by the time they are ready I'll be in a position to buy them but for now I'll have to wait. So, in the meantime, I figured I should get on with another project which I'd already started, completed the welding then and then stalled on a little while ago (er...7 years ago actually). My 710 SSS, otherwise properly known as a Datsun 160J SSS hardtop. It's been sat in the shed in bare metal for all those years going rusty so it's taken quite a bit of time and effort to get it back on track but it's getting there. This WILL be done by sometime in June. Just in case you were wondering what seven years of storage in bare metal does to a car. Ewww.... I painstakingly stripped all of the surface rust using a phosphoric rust remover which took hours and hours but I wanted to be sure it was eliminated properly... I then stripped the rest of the car to the bare shell and spent two days scraping off underseal whilst dosed up on painkillers to tame raging tennis elbow so it could go and have the inside, underside and engine bay stripped. Here I'm hauling it back from being media blasted and zinc primed. Hinckley to Louth takes a really long time at 50mph... Last week I finished the inside...sound deadening, an epoxy urethane coating and finally some fresh 2K in the original Nissan 505 Black... This evening I gave the underside some final coats of zinc phosphate primer. Middle of next week, I'll paint the engine bay, then it's back onto its dolly to get all the panels fitted up and the gaps sorted before final paint prep... I had the panels chemically stripped and E-coated. The wings and valance are new but the rest are the original panels. The results are fab but it's just too costly... So, that's what I'm up to. Not much 510 SSS news apart from the acquisition of the floor donor but it's penciled in for next winter. In between, I want to get my brown 510 roadworthy again. Not a resto as such, just a rebuild into a working use-able car because I miss it and want to have it back as my daily. Talking of dailys... I got this for a comfy winter hack. But it's broken again at the moment. Bloody British cars, eh? nacho man, Spottedlaurel, Angrydicky and 41 others 44 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dollywobbler Posted February 28, 2016 Share Posted February 28, 2016 Still WINNING. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KruJoe Posted February 28, 2016 Share Posted February 28, 2016 I'm so glad you didn't gas yourself to death, I've been missing this thread. You clearly have been doing things right, apart from keeping us up-to-date!These updates make me very happy. Keep doing what you're doing please! Ta. 160J Trailer pic CALENDARISED. Skizzer and holbeck 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mouseflakes Posted February 28, 2016 Share Posted February 28, 2016 Is that all? Bloody slacker. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spottedlaurel Posted February 28, 2016 Share Posted February 28, 2016 Some great news there Ed! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
danthecapriman Posted February 28, 2016 Share Posted February 28, 2016 Good to see your still at it. Fantastic cars and the work your doing on them looks ace.Love the new rebuilt barn too, I wish I had somewhere like that to work and store stuff! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
seth Posted February 28, 2016 Share Posted February 28, 2016 NIce to see an update Ratdat Question is, did you already own the slotmags for the Landcrab and so have to buy one to fit them too? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Skizzer Posted February 28, 2016 Share Posted February 28, 2016 Shed envy.Car envy.Talent envy. Sulking now. Honey Badger, skattrd, For Fiats Sake and 3 others 6 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr_Bo11ox Posted February 28, 2016 Share Posted February 28, 2016 Woo-hoo!!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Moog Posted February 28, 2016 Share Posted February 28, 2016 Now that is a magnificent erection.... Atcnbe Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
phil_lihp Posted February 28, 2016 Share Posted February 28, 2016 This thread delivers constantly impressive developments. I do like Ratdat's unfussy delivery, "Hi guys, it's been a few months, not done much, just built a new workshop, stripped a car for spares and de-rusted an entire bodyshell, oh and bought the coolest minibus on the planet from France. You know, the usual stuff." The Moog, cms206 and mat_the_cat 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matt Posted February 28, 2016 Share Posted February 28, 2016 I think many autoshiters will be jealous of your erection. The Moog 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ratdat Posted February 28, 2016 Author Share Posted February 28, 2016 Good to see your still at it. Fantastic cars and the work your doing on them looks ace.Love the new rebuilt barn too, I wish I had somewhere like that to work and store stuff! It was self built out of necessity and poverty in a bit of a haphazard / no plans kind of way. It took about three years or more for it just to be usable and another couple of years for it to get lined out properly and some electrics fitted. It ended up being 24 foot square as that was how long the bits of timber I bought were. I'd never done anything like this so I had no idea what I was doing but it came right in the end. Here it is in the early days of it construction in about 2002 .... After it got broken into in 2010 I bough a steel portable office to put next to it to act as a secure tool store and tinkering workshop. I borrowed the teleporter from the neigbours. Moving it and installing it where I wanted it was a right ballache on my todd! It got bolted to the side of the building and a door cut through which then had a super strong steel door installed. It's like a massive safe now. With last years shenanigans, the steel bit is now incorporated and totally hidden and an extra storage shed added on the end of it which houses my compressor. The original building only cost a couple of grand to do. it was 1200 quid to add the steel bit but last years additions bumped the cost up by another couple of grand again, half of which was the new roof. I reckon by the time it's done it's owe me about 7k or a bit over which I suppose isn't bad really. Having a warm well lit workshop massively increased my output so if you have the space it's worth the effort of knocking something up. scruff, KruJoe, cort16 and 11 others 14 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ratdat Posted February 28, 2016 Author Share Posted February 28, 2016 It seems like a lifetime ago that I actually turned up to see the 710 SSS in its bare-metalled state. Incredible progress, makes me feel guilty that in all that time I basically just made an electric sunroof work a bit better. Hey, minor progress is still progress! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
skattrd Posted February 28, 2016 Share Posted February 28, 2016 Very jealous of your setup Ed, however it is giving me ideas about my next place ... must have space for big shed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ratdat Posted February 28, 2016 Author Share Posted February 28, 2016 NIce to see an update Ratdat Question is, did you already own the slotmags for the Landcrab and so have to buy one to fit them too? You may be shocked to learn that in this particular case the slot mags are not even mine! They were on loan until I sorted some tyres for it. I like it on them but sadly have to give them back. However, as luck would have it, today's foray to Newark Autojumble yielded these for £50! Not as good as slot mags but they'll do! Dick Longbridge, dollywobbler and Bucketeer 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vulgalour Posted February 28, 2016 Share Posted February 28, 2016 Cracking stuff, Mr Ratdat, as always. Those rostyles will look good, they really suit the old Landcrab but aren't quiet as meaty as the slot mags. Still, for £50 you can't grumble! The new workshop is most impressive and looks really very professionally done, a credit to your insistence on everything being done well or not at all. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Slappy Posted February 28, 2016 Share Posted February 28, 2016 I can't believe it's been almost 2 years since I last clocked this thread, but it has always been one of my favourites on here. Simply in awe with the efforts made not just with the cars and the trucks and sheds, but cataloguing the build AND the parts to put back on. Just incredible. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scruff Posted March 2, 2016 Share Posted March 2, 2016 Top work Ratdat!! Love the crab too, I think I may have seen you growling around the Louth area a month or so ago. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Anglevan Posted March 3, 2016 Share Posted March 3, 2016 Glad you're back with the updates Ed. Do you still have the scary prairie? I keep viewing that on Youtube..Not sure if you remember when I popped over to see thee a few years back advising I had a CA18ET project - well I can confirm it's now finished !!!! yeah..Please keep up the updates coming - great inspiration seeing the level of detail you go to and some seriosuly cool motors. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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