Introducing the new project car

So I bought a Datsun truck. I have another car project on the go, but I saw this ad and couldn't help myself.

Daryl had the ad posted on Facebook for a while. He'd taken the car in a swap for a caravan from the guy who built the car. It had been sitting for a while out in the elements so there was a bit of rust on it, but it was basically complete. After a bit of haggling I managed to get the car for $1500. Here it is on the day it was delivered (luckily Daryl was a tow truck driver)

Also included with the car was a large container of spares, including 4 carburetors, a spare head and manifolds. 

So I set about inspecting the car. I must say it's in pretty good condition mechanically. The engine appears to have been rebuilt and (according to the guy I bought it from) the whole drivetrain rebuilt. Certainly looks it. He told me he got the engine started for a bit, but it wouldn't stay running. The steering is a bit loose on the car, but given the age and technology I'm not surprised. But on closer inspection underneath (and with one of my boys playing with the steering wheel) I noticed that the steering box wasn't bolted on properly.

So the first thing was to get the engine going. Given it had started recently I was pretty sure it would go again, so I went and bought some carby cleaner, fuel system cleaner and some lead substitute (as I'm not sure whether the engine had been rebuilt to run on unleaded - i.e. hardened valve seats). I put a battery in and started to crank (had to hotwire it because there was no ignition switch). I managed to get it to fire but it conked pretty much straight away. I took off the distributor and checked the points etc, then reinstalled and checked the static timing (been a while since I've had to do this). After tightening the distributor and giving it a crank it fired and kept running after I played with the ignition timing. I was still getting backfires occasionally but assuming it's because it hadn't run properly for a while. Here she is in action:

Next thing is to get the electricals sorted out and the fuel tank re-installed.