1989 Nissan BlueBird T72: Rebuild-1

with 8 comments
Parked in debris and left to rot away, this 1989 Nissan BlueBird had suffered through three years of neglect. Unfortunately, it is not just any Nissan or any BlueBird for that matter. It is a Nissan Bluebird with the CA18DE engine; a 1.8 litre, 16 valves with coil-on-plug power pot that chugged out 129 HP to the front wheels. If you are akin to history, you could have heard of George Fury and his Nissan Bluebird performing a streak in the 1984 James Hardie 1000.

I decided to rebuild this vehicle and give it a new lease of life.

This first slideshow details the condition in which I met the vehicle. Notice the amount of dirt and needed restoration. Body has not been worked on before...a plus

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First Job....a deep wash. removed the tonnes of dirt weighing the car down.

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It should be noted that vehicle was not starting at the time. Possible fault was a damaged ECU.

Did some online searches...rigourous because this vehicle was not sold in the USA. Vehicle was manufactured in the UK. I found the ECU code numbers and hit the market...Got a new ECU plus Crank Angle Sensor...Vehicle started after three attempts.

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There was evidently some form of engine wear from the persistent smoke emanating from the exhaust. I contemplated on buying a new engine outrightly but decided to consider a rebuild of the present one. The smoke symptoms were signs of Piston Ring wear.

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We reinstalled the engine and started the vehicle...nice throaty sound.

Next stage would be be the wiring, the body work, the upholstery, painting and other little perps...

Maybe I would be able to get a replica of George Fury's Nissan BlueBird and its appeal...

Here is a picture of the BlueBird that caused a rave at the 1984 James Hardie 1000

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and oh....here is the youtube video of the famous race

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AwV7ZTyHY4M

Stay tuned for more updates
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8 comments:

  1. eddieMarch 4, 2016 at 2:04 PM

    Glued to this page. Can't wait to learn more stuffs

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  2. DennMarch 5, 2016 at 12:15 PM

    thanks...

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  3. musty bawaJune 15, 2016 at 9:38 PM

    Watching from one angle. Waiting for the next updates

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  4. madisJune 17, 2016 at 9:59 PM

    hi. nice to see that you are building t72 bluebird. i have also bluebird t72 GP with sr20 engine. and fully rebuilded,painted . definetly restore this car originally. dont start tuning. it will ruin it. in USA those bluebirds are nissan stanza-s t12/72 and look different. i got from usa rear trunk light panel so back is full of lights . looking fovard for news.

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  5. DennJune 20, 2016 at 8:40 AM

    Hello. It's so nice to hear from you. Main problem in restoration has been getting new body parts to jump this car up. I will keep you updated. Thanks

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  6. DennJune 20, 2016 at 8:40 AM

    Thanks...

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  7. TemitopeJuly 15, 2016 at 10:01 AM

    Just discovered thgis. I have missed a lot. My grandmother's boyfriend used to own this car back in the 90s. Can't wait to see it fully restored.

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  8. UnknownSeptember 25, 2021 at 9:32 AM

    I love this, when you see this old unique glories parked and left to rot on the road, how do you collect them without searching for the real owners. Or is there something you do to get the car

    ReplyDelete