Datsun dude looking to get into a domestic for once

Hey all, I'm Jake. Got into cars by rebuilding my daily, a 1972 Datsun 240Z. Complete stripdown, took every nut, bolt, and panel off, stripped, refinished, reassembled...the car was totally trashed.

It had been hit so hard that the unibody would teeter on two wheels, with one finger. There were no floors to speak of, the roof had been cut out with an aftermarket sunroof, and the fenders and rockers were rusted through.

Standard Datsun fare; it's no big deal. They came off the boat rusty sometimes.

Built a frame cradle, worked the body out straight, remade the floor pans and rear deck, complete driveline rebuild/modification, sanded it out and cut out and welded in new panels for rust repair, reskinned the roof (didn't go as well as it could have...will cause me problems in the future I'm sure) and reworked the interior as best I can afford. Doesn't look terrible inside, but the seats don't match each other because I really didn't like sewing my own seat skins, so I only did one of them.

The driveline is a veritable frankenstein...Pickup truck 4-banger pistons, 2.4L rods, 2.8L crank, Nice lopey cam with a BMW cam lobe profile, '87 200SX transmission, '85 Turbo 300ZX diff. All comes together with a custom intake and exhaust manifold setup pieced out of Mitsubishi parts and stock Nissan stuff, Megasquirted and ready to spin to 8K all day long. Will move the 2450lb car down the street pretty quick!

Anyway, I'm looking to find a 1970 to 1974 Maverick/Comet, two door. Plan is to do the 300-6 swap, turbocharged, with a shortened 8.8 in the rear. Not sure if I really want a slushbox, but the manual trans options are limiting when you start putting down 600ft-lbs of torque, which is a cakewalk with a turbo 300.

We'll see what happens, I still need to find a car first. You guys'll like this 300 setup, if I ever get a car to put it in.

 

Welcome! But a 300 is a tight fit, it's almost as long as the engine compartment.

 

from Northeast Pennsylvania

The 300 swap has been done before but, as Dave mentioned---it is a tight fit

 

to the site!!!!!

 

after all the hacking on that 240, a Maverick will be a little boring...

 

Welcome from E-Town:Handshake

 

My last car was an 83 Datsun 280Z. I drove it stock, cuz it was fun enough to get me through high school, college, graduate school, and still sold for $1000 with 285,000 miles, and ran like a cat with it's tail on fire til I sold it. Didn't burn a drop of oil.

I didn't modify it, because it never needed it. T-tops, nice paint, sound engine and drive train. The only modification I made was inside the differential to quiet up the rear end.

But I have to admit, the Maverick has been more fun.

 

Welcome from Panama City, Florida.......did you hear that they are bringing back the Datsun name? they are trying for some retro appeal and depending on the name for it.

 

Welcome. We always have Z cars around here. My GF just traded her 92 300ZX in on a 07 350Z. She doesnt let me drive it much, says I would probably beat it...

 

Welcome to the board. The Maverick Comet Group will be meetimg for the second year in a row in Somerset, Ky. in July. Lots of Mavericks and Comets will be there. You ought to think about coming to it.

 

She is gifted with exceptional insight

 

Those old Datsuns even look like mavericks, recessing in the head lights on a maverick would have plenty of people thinking it was a Z

Have you bought a Turbo yet? if not the boys over at RC autoworks are having a group buy on the PTE turbos, they have them for a full $200 less than MSRP

They quoted me $630 shipped for a precision 6865(4" H cover, T4/.94AR V band).

 

I dunno, she keeps buying cars that need high octane gas then complains about how expensive they are to run. But, yeah, I wind it up every chance I get.

 

Welcome to the board! Don't know how much you wanna spend or how far you wanna go to find a mav but I looked at a "73 yesterday with, and I quote, "rebuilt 302 from O'Reiley's 12,000 miles ago..." Car looked ok but did have some rust issues in the trunk deck and other spots and owner cld not get car to start when I came to look at it. Felt bad for the guy cause it seemed to be mainly a carb issue preventing startup and he was working like heck to try and get it going but... Also had some minor dings, nothing terrible but dings nonetheless. From your description of what seem to me to be fairly major bodywork projects you've done, I didn't see anything that I wld say was impossible to repair/restore. The car is currently in Pensacola, Florida. Can't provide pics but if you're interested i will dig out his original Craigslist ad which I printed off and relay more info. The ad is no longer there though the car is still available as of yesterday. Also have a printoff of another Craigslist ad from Pensacola for a 69 1/2 ('70 model) with a 289 that from the pics in the ad looked really nice. Have not contacted that seller as he was asking more than I cld scrape up by any immediate means and his ad is no longer there either, but the car looked really sweet and I do have his number...

 

If you're interested (or if anyone else is) let let me know (pm or however) and I'll pass on the info. Sorry to everyone on the board for not passing the info on sooner but dog-gone-it dag-nab-it I was working feverishly to try and figure out some way to get one or both for my greedy self!!