My 67.5 SPL/SR20

[Alvin]

My name is Alvin and this is my roadster, a 1967.5 1600.


It originally had a U20/SU's/5speed:


In 2003 I did a Nissan SR20DE(S14) drivetrain swap:

It's been a daily driver for me and also an open-track fun machine. I love it to death and it always puts a smile on my face

[67 1/2 1600]

Gotta love it! Clean black Roadster! This is your 2nd roadster? Tell me about your first one..

[RCMike]

Pictures finally back!!

[Alvin]

Pictures finally back!!

super old thread! Might as well make it somewhat current

[theunz]

My name is Alvin, and I'm a Roadsterholic

[pebbles]

Reminds me of this song title.
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[Alvin]

I don't think I've posted in-progress pics or the evolution of this car in one place, so here goes!

On a Tuesday morning I visited the Modesto Roadster Owners group to check out Bill Collins' roadster. It was a black '67.5 SPL with a U20/5speed drivetrain.

2001, in the Almazan's driveway just after buying it!



At home in San Jose after I detailed her:

[Alvin]

In 2002 I started tinkering with the car and enjoying it as much as I could.

June 8, 2002: New tires and ride height changes
I ditched the old, cracked 205/60/14 Kmart tires and wrapped the Riken meshies in 185/60/14 Yokohama AVSi's. 160 treadwear was sticky in their day!


Not happy with the raging fender gap I embarked on a slippery slope of lowering the car via several methods:
Cutting springs, lowering blocks


It was too low in the front and rode on the bumpstops/tie rods. Pretty much undriveable.

Comp springs
The following week of June 2002 I drove down to LA to visit Stan Chernoff and pick up full NISMO suspension F/R.
He is going to love this picture!

The car sat with its nose in the air, but it was safer and I could make it to the Mt Shasta Meet in July!


Datsun sport springs, more on this later

In July 2002 I got a roll bar from my good friend Francis. He had a dozen of these made modeled after the one in his '67 SPL. Here it is in bare metal:



On July 14, 2002 I attended my first roadster show at Mt. Shasta



A week later I got my first set of Panasport wheels. 14x6 +15mm from Kspeed. Michael "calspeed" Carion hooked me up with these.

I had 195/60/14 Falken Azenis mounted:


At the time Mike Young offered some lowering springs so I installed those and had the car aligned at Custom Alignment in Mountain View, CA.




In August 2002 I got a new exhaust put it in by a local muffler shop. Crush bends and all! Sounded great though:



Weighed her at the truck scale on De La Cruz, 2120lbs.

On August 27, 2002 I installed amber turn signals:

On August 28, 2002 I hit the 10,000 mile mark!


More to come as 2002 is about to get Gonzo!

[Alvin]

On September 20, 2002 I installed some Sparco 3-pt harnesses. I also installed a really old Grant wooden wheel: I know, what was I thinking!




On October 19, 2002 I attended a 311s.org Fun Run organized by Steve Allen, our fearless leader and proprietor of this forum.
What started out as a beautiful driving experience turned out catastrophic!

We were barreling through a tight, one-lane road somewhere in the hills of Santa Rosa and there was a huge rock in the middle. Everyone flied right over it, but not me! I heard a loud bang and my oil pressure gauge went south.


The competition oil pan had a hole in it.

Steve was amazingly kind enough to drive all the way back to his home and bring his trailer back:

Raul drove 80 miles back to San Jose to get his trailer and take back home. It was pretty chaotic...Raul and Steve saved me.

I had already planned an SR20 engine swap, and this was an opportune time to really get started so out came the U20/5speed.

Beautiful engine, I detailed her while she was out.





Crazy thing is that this drivetrain is now in Raul's white '67.5 SPL, running almost 12 years later!
http://www.311s.org/phpBB3/viewtopic.ph ... ul#p188133


The SR20 engine swap slowly started happening. I sourced a complete NA S14 SR20DE from Marco at SR20store.


She sat for a few weeks while moving from a friend's shop (Danny Youngs) to Z Car Garage:

In the meantime I started gathering parts, cleaning and sending to powdercoaters. Shown below you can see the OEM FWD exhaust manifold from a Nissan Sentra. It was $70 from a local junkyard. I had it ceramic coated along with the OEM heatshield.

B&M short shifter:


You can imagine how happy and excited I was to see the motor actually sitting in the engine bay. Back then it really was an uncommon sight!


I was impressed with how the SR's 5-speed trans came right through factory shifter hole!

At ZCG, Dan Gallmeister and Rob Fuller worked their magic to deliver a turn-key swap


Michael "spriso" Spreadbury was instrumental in helping us along the way!


My initial impressions of the SR swap were positive. I was extremely happy. Find out what it's like here:
http://www.311s.org/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=15&t=15837

Next: New exhaust, wheels, stereo, brakes and more!

[RCMike]

http://www.speedhunters.com/2016/01/lov ... -roadster/

[pebbles]

Neat!

[Alvin]

Ok so where were we? Somewhere around 2005 i think!
The roadster was featured in now defunct SportCompactCar Magazine, July 2005, volume 17
I was contacted by photographer E John Thawley to do a feature while he was shooting the 25hrs of Thunderhill.



My avatar is from this photoshoot!



New exhaust, wheels, stereo, brakes, steering wheel and more
A "No MG" sticker from Mark Dent I think was purchased ~2003. This isn't Mark, but a hardcore MG owner:

I sold my 14x6 Panasports with 195/60 tires to Dan (datsun65) and got a set of 15x6 +10 Panasports with 195/50/15 Bridgestone S-03PP tires.



Fading brakes at various track days led to a Wilwood big-brake kit in 2006. Hindsight is 20/20 and I should have got Spriso's Z32 caliper kit. It's on the current to-do list!



A new exhaust system was installed, this time 2" with a single Borla XS muffler and a megaphone tip. A JT68 stainless system would have been installed if available at the time




Wanted a modern stereo system so I used a Alpine head unit and wait for it...it played MP3s only through CDs. Old school baby! 4 MB-Quart speakers and an amp in the trunk. Kept vintage (not oem) head unit in center console





Finally, a MOMO Competition steering wheel. Still one of the best feeling wheels I've used. Also bolted in a set of RJS harnesses to harness bar that was fabbed up by Dan Gallmeister. Signed by Pete Brock and John Morton:






Custom floormats from Gerardo/Francis:

[bakerjf]

One of the best!

[jfunkdelicious]

Definitely one of my favorite roadsters. Are you still rockin factory paint or have you done a respray during your ownership?

[troyt]

Kudos on the build, tastefully done.