Minion Missile - 1973 Colombian Patrol Project

[mad4hws]

Back in 2017, I acquired this windshield frame from another forum member. It's been crated up all this time. Well, today we opened it up. Sort of like Christmas in April! The rubber is beyond dry rotted. It's closer to petrified! It has some surface rust, but is actually in amazing shape. Also included are the sun visors. They too are dry rotted beyond what I thought was possible. A couple of questions for the group:

1) for the rubber on the (vents, sides of frame, top an bottom pieces), what have forum members used as replacements? I bought some from the guy up in Canada at NewDatsun parts.com, but I don't think I have the side pieces or for the vents.

2) For the holes on on the inside, I'm guessing those are for the convertible top frame. Wondering if we should weld these up and drill new ones once we put the new frame on?

3) For the visors, has anyone restored these? Or has anyone had them restored?

[RiverPatrol]

Some of those holes on the inside were added after the fact, others were for the hard top roof to attach to.

I'm pretty sure an upholstery shop could restore those visors.

Esteban recently posted a source for the vent rubber.

Just for posterity's sake, the windshield was from a '68/'69.

[mad4hws]

Some of those holes on the inside were added after the fact, others were for the hard top roof to attach to.
.

There are several that look like I drilled them (and i don't mean that in a flattering way) These are more on the interior. there are several larger ones that look like they were done at the factory. I think we'll weld up the ones that are clearly "after the fact" while we're doing all of the other rehab work. Since we are not putting on a hardtop, do I need any of these holes? If not, we'll weld those up too.

Thanks River

[RiverPatrol]

Only if you need them for attaching your top, otherwise weld away.

[Esteban]

I personally will cover the holes you mention on the windshield frame with Bondo, rather that weld, unless you're really good at welding the hole shut. With the weld, the inside is going to rust eventually, since it will be very difficult to protect it.

Years ago, I found some rust developing inside the frame of mine, and I used an acid product (back in Ecuador) to get rid of the rust. I just filled the frame with it, let it do its magic (or so I believed), cleaned, let it dried, and then poured some epoxy primer inside, moving the frame in all directions so the primer would be distributed all over. A very messy job! The exposed holes where the vents are located is where I poured the product.

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Regarding the vents, as RiverPatrol mentioned, I applied the gasket to the vent, rather than to the frame as originally done.

viewtopic.php?f=23&t=2007&p=9657

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For the windshield rubber, I have in my notes that member chrisvoinche used the following profile:
https://www.steelerubber.com/master-num ... 60-0728-99

viewtopic.php?f=19&t=3997&p=33015&hilit=steelerubber#p33015

[mad4hws]

Thanks Esteban.

I have used Eastwood's Rust converter with good results in the past. Excellent idea to pour this into the frame and let it marinate for a bit. Also a good idea to put some epoxy paint in there and slosh it around to get a good seal after the Rust Converter has done it's magic.

I've got an amazon order in for the vent gasket rubber. I did procure a windshield frame rubber seal from newdatsunparts.com. We'll see how that does. I will need rubber that seals the cowl to the windshield frame and another piece of rubber between the top of the frame and the frame for the canvas top.

[RiverPatrol]

Are you getting one of Raul's canvas tops? If so, you'll want to keep the holes at the inside corners of the frame open, the soft top frame pieces attach there.

[mad4hws]

Thanks RiverPatrol. Yes, I already have the frame and canvas top from Raul. Been sitting in boxes just waiting for the right moment.

[mad4hws]

We are continuing to sand and get all of the paint/rust off of the new windshield frame. In the meantime, we decided to finally finish the axles by installing our ARB breather 4x4 differential breather kit:

https://www.amazon.com/ARB-170112-Diffe ... 253&sr=8-3

I was held back for a bit on the fittings to connect to the differential cover. I decided to try the fittings that came with the ARB kit, which worked perfectly, so I ordered 4 more - 2 for the axles, one for the transfer case and one for the trans (those aren't hooked up yet). they work like a charm. I didn't even need to drill holes in my firewall - there were existing holes there that I was able to re-purpose.



For those who are interested, these are 8mm x 1/8" BSP push in fittings, which are pretty widely available. I used the 8mm od hose that came with the ARB kit. According to the literature in the kit, the 8mm hose is preferential because it's wider than the standard type kits, which are 6mm. Seems like one could make this kit up pretty easily and much less expensive than the route that I took , just get some of these connectors and some 8mm tubing and figure out a way to connect it to a manifold as high up as you can manage...

[Esteban]

Well done!

Looks very clean, and definitely will help to avoid pressure inside the housing when the breather clogs, that contributes to leaks.