I have been seeing a lot of beautiful Datsun 510s out on the street lately, and many of them are rocking the slammed beater/rat-rod look. Datsuns (as well as old VWs) were high on the list of cars I intended to own before I got hooked on old Volvos, and I am still infatuated with the culture and style that surround those cars. Slammed, with fog lights (especially amber ones), vintage custom wheels, maybe even a mis-matched body panel or door, is just lovely to me. Needless to say, with so much recent provocation, the stripped down Hood Ride street racer look has been calling to me with a voice that I can no longer ignore, so once again I have striped the bumpers and rack off Faye, and turned her loose in her undies. She looks fantastic, especially with the new suspension providing a better stance and the turbo wheels in place of the steelies. I have begun dreaming about all sorts of possibilities; like a black hood and trunk, euro fender-markers, and perhaps some fog lights mounted in the bumper holes. We'll see.
As for the drivetrain, I have come to a significant conclusion: for a person with my income, things like a $6-8K turbo engine build requiring fabricated EVERTHING, plus a WC T-5 (expensive) with a shortened driveshaft and custom crossmember, ect., ect., is quite possibly never going to be within my means. As awesome and fun as all that stuff would be, I have decided I would rather be driving the car and enjoying owning it rather than seeing it sit for years for a ultimate build...Not that the turbo plan has been completely axed, just set aside for a nice long while, or until I get rich. I am still going to assemble parts for it, including the T3/T4 from my buddy, but I am no longer concerned with how long it will take to be ready to build it. The paint on he 142 is going to wait as well, both for financial reasons, and also because I am just a bit too nostalgic about the current patina to give it up yet...
So the current plan is to rebuild my spare M-41 with the overdrive, which will get me freeway capable transmission for almost no cost, and spend a much more modest $2-4K on a beefy naturally-aspirated engine and go driving! Maybe I will try out the R1 carbs here before I tackle the conversion on the wagon.
With this plan I might even get the car ready for auto-crossing next year!
Other Volvo work I'm doing right now includes a new windshield and ball joints for the 145, and a whole slew of little fixes on my best friend's '71 142, 'The Nimbus 2000". In the process of pressing in a rear trailing arm bushing last night however, I BROKE my 6" bench vise! It was a Harbor Freight POS, but still, it was brand new and didn't even have a cheater bar on it! I still can't believe it...
