Want your own “barn find”? Let your car sit untouched for a year! But like Patrick Swayze said, “nobody puts baby in the corner…nobody”.
Yes, raising kids and renovating our house certainly put the “daily” into “yearly” datsun. There’s no hooks for a car seat.. and no sense in putting precious cargo in danger too 🙂
So sat the Z: gathering serious dust, air escaping sagging tires, gas turning to varnish, crankcase oil crusting over…
Then my parents came out to visit, helped clean out the carport, and we decided to turn it over:
And roared back to life on the 2nd crank!
So a few general tips if your car is going to sit for a while:
1) Start it up once in a while! We all know this, but you know how it goes. Starting and letting it run will keep the engine free and battery charged.
2) Move it around! Keep the joints moving by either driving it around or just go back and forth a few feet. Either my differential or brakes froze because in order to move it, I had to give it some heavy gas and something broke free!
3) Keep it covered! I thought by seeing the Datsun uncovered it’d prompt me to do something – lolz. If you really want to do something, you’ll do it. And covering it will only protect it from the elements, accumulating grime, and minor mysterious scuffs and dents (where the hell did that come from?!) I’ll pop that out later…
BATH TIME!
Haha that last video is like watching paint dry – super cool paint.
Anyways, he sure cleans up handsome.
Next up: Midnight Maintence! Clutch takes 4 pumps too many! OMGs – SMOG!
the DAILY DATSUN 