Autumn 2018

In Body, Brakes, Fuel, Seasons, Suspension by George3 Comments

Reproduction

Autumn started off with a bang! On day one I finally joined the exclusive club of RH door mirror owners thanks to Ian from the Gong. I can clearly remember scouring eBay for door mirrors as early as a month into purchasing my rusty shell back in January 2014. They might not be as rare as I make them out to be but you do need a lot of luck to find one.

A couple of weeks ago Chinese reproduction RH door mirrors popped up on eBay and by all accounts are an excellent copy and likely to be made with the original tooling.

Photos courtesy of Peter H.

Reproductions are not new to Datsun owners. We’ve seen many parts and panels over the years and I expect to see many more as these cars increase in value and owners take up more restorations. Exciting times ahead!

Lessons Relearned

I’ve made my fair share of mistakes and have learned a lot of lessons thus far. I’ve had a good run these past few weeks but the laws of nature dictated I was due another lesson any day now.  True to form the lesson of patience revisited me on the second last day of Autumn when I set out to finish my hard lines.

For those that haven’t worked it out, I’m a suffering perfectionist. It’s a blessing and a curse. Things always take longer but the results are always worth it. This quarter I set out to finish the brake and fuel lines and with a couple of days to go I only had the fuel supply line left. It’s the thicker 8mm line so it’s harder to bend accurately. I figured all the experience of bending the thinner lines first will come in handy and it did… except when you rush things to meet a deadline that isn’t really all that important.

I started working on it from back to front and had all the bends so perfect it got me drunk from excitement. Time melted away, bed time came and went, the radio blared song after song, eyes started stinging but the excitement fuelled my throbbing fingers which continued to bend and twist towards the finish line. Two bends to go… check and recheck… angle is right, it’s an easy 90 degree bend, one I’ve done over and over… I can feel my head on the soft pillow… and bend and crimp and… what the hell is that! I tried to blink away the crimp but it was there, all squashed and laughing at my tired eyes. I’ll show you! In the vice it went and the tube took a new square profile. Maybe if I bend it back… no, the vice again… or maybe the pliers… or maybe try and blink it away again…

There was a moment half an hour prior to that mistake where I paused and almost packed up for the night. I recognised I was tired and decided I should go to bed but instead pushed on to call the job done. Live and learn and relearn I guess. Back to eBay for another roll of tube.

Progress

This quarter has been a productive one with parts finally going on the car while others are inching closer to the same fate. The mailman keeps bringing new bits and pieces and, as always, some organisational improvements make the whole project that much more enjoyable.

Comments

  1. Hi,

    do you have any more information on the reproduction RH door mirrors? Where can they be bought? Can’t find anyting
    Greetings from Europe,
    Bobby

      1. Hi,
        thanks very much for your help. Highly appreciated!
        If you are OK with it I will ad your page to my blogroll on monkeymagic86

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