Rear Interior Tear Down - Discovery of an Abandoned Nest

Yesterday evening, I had about an hour to get started on the tear down of my Sunny. I began with the rear interior of the vehicle. I had some problems here and there - stripped screws and pinching my fingertip in some needle-nose pliers. Nothing too remarkable, until I removed the lower portion of the back seat.

I found what appeared to be an old nest of some form of rodent. On one side of the ridge, there was a collection of empty shells and seeds. On the other side, there was a ball of insulation, old newspaper trimmings, and general fluff. As I was vacuuming the car out, I detected a faint smell of urine. Once the vacuuming was complete, the urine odor had filled the entire cabin. I disinfected the area as the sun was setting; the cleaning may not have been as thorough as I hoped. I will have to clean it again this evening.

I also found rust holes in the floorboard when I peeled back the front passenger carpet. There will be patching in my future. My intent is to strip the inside, fix the rust, primer, and then use a bed liner product to seal the interior and provide a bit of sound deadening.

The Beginning

On July 18th, 2015, I bought a 1972 Datsun LB110. This makes it the second Datsun I’ve owned – the first being a 1978 B210 that I restored and stupidly sold in short order. The same fate will not befall this one.

I found the car on Craigslist. It was all the way across the state, but I was conveniently heading out that way to visit some family. I emailed him and scheduled a meet for Saturday morning. I ended up purchasing the car from a gentleman out in Deer Park, WA (a small town outside of Spokane, WA). I paid $2,000 for it, a bit more than I wanted to but I loved the car too much to walk and he wasn’t flexible. The car included the detached front air dam, as well as 4 fat wheels/tires (P235/50R13). The speedo, odo, tach, heat and gas gauges all work, as well as the radio (I’m assuming is original).

Here’s the info from the seller (with my notes in parentheses): The car was purchased by an Andy Barcheck sometime in the late 70s (the various registration paperwork confirms this). It was Andy who installed a B210 engine and 5-speed manual transmission (the paperwork that came with the car has a log from 1979 where the swap was noted as coming from a 1977). Andy also crafted the steel fender flares and the rest of the body kit. He also lowered the car. (A quick Google search shows an 80s Civic that Andy gave the same treatment to, as well as a recent award-winning 40s Ford Franken-car). The seller was an acquaintance/friend of Barcheck’s and had an eye on the car for a while. However, when the Datsun came up for sale, it was a young mystery man who bought the car. This kid was a fan of Suzuki products, hence the horrendous paintjob currently on the car. The kid finally decided to sell the Datsun in 1992, and the seller pounced. He had it since and drove it sparingly once he moved it to the rural home.

I had a shop change the oil for me (no access to one) and then drove the car home roughly 250 miles in 90 degree weather and over two mountain passes. She made it home just fine.

The interesting part about the 5-speed is that reverse is to the upper left, then first to the lower left, second in the upper middle, third in the lower middle, fourth in the upper right and fifth in the lower right.

Originally, my plan was to fully restore it (with some mods here and there) and paint it the original color – a dark emerald green. But my friend and I were talking it over – why don’t we paint the car bright orange and call it “Sunny D”? I checked and the license plate SUNNY D is available in my state and so the moniker was born!

I will be posting on here as my work progresses. I’ve posted a ton of photos to Google+ if anyone is interested. I’ll be posting some here as well as some on tumblr.

Please feel free to post or message me questions or comments. I’d like input on what you think of this start to my project, and I’ll probably need help sourcing parts, etc. Thanks in advance!