1969 Datsun 510

[CNDat510]

Greetings,

I've got a 1969 Datsun 510 that my dad bought in '69 (which became my first car).

About 16 years ago we did a "father-son" restoration and brought is back to it's full family sedan glory, except with some sleeper race bits added: 2.2L with ITB and Electromotive EFI, coilovers, camber plates, adjustable rear crossmember, adjustable shocks, ceramic coated header, 2 1/2 stainless exhaust, 4:11 LSD, 5-speed, widened rims (while keeping the hubcaps), and so on, and so on.

The original motor lasted about 15,000 highly abused miles before developing a head gasket leak and throwing a valve seat. That was in 2008, and the car sat until...

In 2010 I had a new low compression motor built with the grand intent of strapping on a Lysholm twin-screw supercharger to get 400 rear wheel HP, because why not? An instant lack of project/ fabrication cash sidelined this foolishness and the motor still sits bagged on an engine stand to this day. The car sat until...

In 2013 my dad and I started to build our first NA motor (with the guidance of a few saints) with the hopes of just getting the damn car back on the road.

By 2014 we were finally ready to start the car. The moment we cranked the engine to life, for the first time in 6 years, the Electromotive EFI system decided to unceremoniously die, in a non-repairable way.

Project funds were fully depleted. Depression set in, and now two motors sat fallow, until...

2016 rolled around and after amassing a new round of funds, I started to look at EFI systems once a again. After much deliberation I jumped in the big boy pool and bought my friend's Motec system (he was upgrading).

My dad and I are currently eyeball deep in the OEM schematics sorting out how much of the existing OEM harness we can/ want to use, rather than rewire the entire car from scratch.

The goal is to utilize the OEM ignition switch and dash controls while removing the OEM fuse box, engine harness, etc... hello forums!

Here's the current list of Motec devices we will be using: M130 with GPR and logging unlocked, PDM15, LTC, CDL3 with logging and I/O unlocked, SLM-C, 8-key Keypad, Race Grade TC8, UTC

We plan on using the CDL3 only during track days, and removing it when rolling around the street (the interior of the car is bone stock and we like the sleeper aspect of that). The plan is to fabricate some sort of steering column mount that won't protrude and look terrible when the CDL is removed.

Along with the Motec system, we've upgraded the 31lb GM fuel injectors to a set of ID750's and bought 4 IGBT smart coils. Fuel filter will be upgraded to a (TBD) FuelLab unit.

The long term goal is get the car running, enjoy for a bit, and then descend back into madness and try to get the supercharged version up and running, because Motec traction control on 400 RWHP sounds just too much fun, no?

SO, we're about to ask some pretty basic questions here, and we hope we're not too thick to understand the answers.

Thanks in advance for the help!

Best,
Cory (son) and Mike (father)

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[Stephen Dean]

Hi Cory,

Looks like a interesting project that you have going.

The first thing that I will say, other than congrats of the choice of hardware used, is that trying to reuse a nearly half century old factory loom is asking for trouble, and is usually a false economy compared to making (or getting made) a new custom loom. You may be lucky, and have a loom that is OK, but if one or more of the old splices/connectors/wires is not in good condition, you can end up spending a lot of time chasing faults that are hard to find and replicate.

[CNDat510]

Hi Cory,

Looks like a interesting project that you have going.

The first thing that I will say, other than congrats of the choice of hardware used, is that trying to reuse a nearly half century old factory loom is asking for trouble, and is usually a false economy compared to making (or getting made) a new custom loom. You may be lucky, and have a loom that is OK, but if one or more of the old splices/connectors/wires is not in good condition, you can end up spending a lot of time chasing faults that are hard to find and replicate.

Hi Stephen,

Thanks for the nod and fair warning.
We've removed the engine harness entirely and are planning to have a more "tucked" look to the engine bay. Anything engine management or sensor related will be on a new harness directly wired to the M130 or PDM. We are only keeping the dash harness (and the branch that goes to the rear tail light assembly) to power dash/ interior lights, etc. Some of the OEM switches will be pulled from the harness and used solely as input switches.

The dash harness is in great visual shape, although I know what you mean in regards to legacy wiring and potential gremlins. We'll test each wire for integrity and keeps sharp eye out for anomalies. If trouble appears we'll rewire.

We've built a fairly solid pin in/out, attached. Time will tell if this will play out as hoped.

Motec Pin Out - PDM15 (Power Distribution Module).pdf

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Best,
Cory

[the_bluester]

I bought a mount from these guys for my C127 dash which has a small weld on mounting tag. You might be able to do something like that with just enough of the mount tag poking through a slot in the steering column shroud to get the bolts in, that way you would just have the tip of a metal bracket visible if the CDL was removed.

http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/Spec2d-Motec ... 2a381a4a29

[CNDat510]

I bought a mount from these guys for my C127 dash which has a small weld on mounting tag. You might be able to do something like that with just enough of the mount tag poking through a slot in the steering column shroud to get the bolts in, that way you would just have the tip of a metal bracket visible if the CDL was removed.

http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/Spec2d-Motec ... 2a381a4a29

Thanks for the heads up!