What Happened to Victor's Roadster

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theunz
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Re: What Happened to Victor's Roadster

Post by theunz »

Wow, stunning photographs! Expect to see one on the next calendar.
Mike M

Old enough to know better, too old to remember why!


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rp975
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Re: What Happened to Victor's Roadster

Post by rp975 »

Yes sorry about me being challenged, or as Fonzy used to say WWwwrrrrrr.

The maroon car is stunning and the camera loves it.

Glad you like the photos.

Rob
1970 Roadster SRL311

1974 260Z VQ30det

1998 W210 E55 AMG
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eastmedia
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Re: What Happened to Victor's Roadster

Post by eastmedia »

Rob,
It's been 3+ years, and every time I read your posts I can't help but think how amazing it is that car went to you.

Not to say that someone else couldn't have appreciated it as much...but your level of care, imagination, engineering, hard driving, and communication to this board, really epitomize the passion that Victor had for "Cone Killer" and all Datsuns, and the passion we all feel behind the wheel of a 311. You know too now.

This car could have been just sitting in a garage somewhere, collecting dust, or sold to pay off a credit card, or ripped apart to fix something and still in boxes, or crashed, or vanished...

Hard driving, tinkering, tuning, polishing, basking, enjoying, loving...And sending the steering wheel back to Victor. Class.

Someday I hope you and Victor can meet. You'd get along swell.

Ron
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Re: What Happened to Victor's Roadster

Post by Alvin »

^+1
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Re: What Happened to Victor's Roadster

Post by nismou20 »

Well said Ron! When are you gonna come and hang out with us again? We need our Videographer back.
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Re: What Happened to Victor's Roadster

Post by rp975 »

Thank you Guys,

Thank you Ron, for your kind words.

It has been a most enjoyable adventure so far, I have learnt a lot from some really great guys even thou they are in the next state.

I was lucky enough to be contacted by Lou Mondello who I am sure a lot of you have heard of, he has guided me through many many phone calls and mentored me with his wealth of knowledge about how the car should be set up. Without his help the car would be much worse off, as it stands now the car has progressed into a very reliable and fairly competitive road car considering the motor internals are stock.

I get to run with some really fast guys on challenging Alpine roads and the thrill is addictive!

I am sure the car has had fun in many of the mountain roads and even on the long open plains, the scenery is obviously different and the roadkill on the side of the road as well.

She has seen amazing sunsets and played in the snow, learnt to drive on the other side of the road and the people that come up to talk about her when she parks have different accents. She has been in a television commercial and the news paper as well. Her cv is getting fuller all the time.

One thing I need to mention is that the steering wheel maybe meant to be back on her as after it's 3 month world tour has arrived back here along with the goodies that were sent to Victor.The wheel came back good but the goodies were not good....

I think you will see photos in the near future with a slightly different look for her and with the wheel back on.

Rob
1970 Roadster SRL311

1974 260Z VQ30det

1998 W210 E55 AMG
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Re: What Happened to Victor's Roadster

Post by Daryl Smith »

"... we haven't finished yet, meaning that we were able to get an extra 22ft-lb of torque at 4-4500 revs which is pretty incredible when you think about it, but the carbs would not meter the fuel properly at over 4500 revs. Even when we changed the fuel main jets up we couldn,t get it to work. It ran very lean it that point.
We even tried pieces of hose over the auxiliary venturis (making them longer) trying to calm the area where the fuel is metered from as the pressure inside the tube or carb at that length ram tube is too high for the carbs.

If you have fuel injection then it is a different story as the fuel is sprayed under pressure much closer to the cylinder head.

Anyway we are working on an couple of other ideas to overcome this pressure issue, one being a kind of plenum between the carbs and the manifold.

I have designed something that we will try and now have to do some more fabrication and a new set of rams this time to use on 44mm carbs.

Obviousely you can't fit 170mm straight ram tube into a roadster engine bay, this is why we made curved ones as well to try, they performed only slightly lower than the straight ones but had the same pressure issue."


Rob,
I found the info you posted here regarding ram tube lengths very interesting, and I have thought about it many times since reading it...Last night while reading "The Sports Car Engine" (by Colin Campbell, 1971), I came across this passage on page 231:
"Carburation can sometimes be a problem with tuned induction systems. A pulsating air flow across the main jet induces a greater fuel flow than would be given by a steady flow. Thus a tendency for an over-enrichment will occur at the part of the power curve where ram appears. A second problemis the spray of the fuel that the outward travelling pulse ejects from the open end of the carburetor intake. When Weber carburettors are used special venture extensions can be fitted to reduce this loss. These extensions take the form of cruciform baffles that extend between the auxillary venturi and the midpoint of the air horn. Although described as air-straighteners in the Weber Technical Handbook, the main purpose of these baffles is to catch the fuel sprayed out by the ram pulsations.
A good air cleaner will also absorb this spray, but not everyone is prepared to sacrifice the slight loss in power that inevitably occurs when air cleaners are fitted."


So, it sounds like you are on the right track, and that length, if you can get it to work, should give you a healthy power increase....
Did you try fitting an air cleaner?....Todays air cleaners are much better than those of 45 years ago....
Keep up the good work!
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Re: What Happened to Victor's Roadster

Post by rp975 »

Hi Daryl,

Thank you for your post and comments, we did some testing with aircleaners but not when the long rams were fitted.

One thing we did find was that the solex air filter cover was beneficial, we tried that with the longer ram tubes, so the dome to the housing is clever.

One idea I had was to have a plenum or chamber for each inlet runner that would try to trap or divert the reversion pulse before it got back to the carby.

This way it might have less effect on the metering of the fuel.

The next project I have been working on is two versions of annular discharge venturi.

One is in the auxiliary venturi and the other is doing away with the aux venturi and the fuel delivery is from a custom made choke that delivers the fuel.

I have made the pieces in discussion with Lou, and Lou is going to test them firstly on a flow bench to see if we are getting enough "draw" or suction of fuel in the carbs.

We hope that if the second version works it may give better fuel dispersion and also not have the obstruction of the aux venturi so a higher cfm.

These will be tested probably on Lou's car, dyno'd before and after to see the difference.

Will let you know when we have some results.

Rob
1970 Roadster SRL311

1974 260Z VQ30det

1998 W210 E55 AMG
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Re: What Happened to Victor's Roadster

Post by GoldHawg »

[quote="rp975"] My latest update is that I have fitted Mk2 of my modified spring seats, this time around I have moved them up a little and in the last photo you will see the difference between Mk1 and Mk2.......I also noticed that the shock mounting plate needed to be rotated 180degrees by redrilling it so that the angle is the right way around for the new setup......Here it is re-drilled.....Here is the comparison photo Mk1 on the right and Mk2 on the left in black with rotated shock mount.

Image
Image[quote]

I'm thinking about this mod, so have a couple of questions. On the earlier version, you redrilled holes for the shock mount. In these pics Mk2, did you cut the whole center out and rotate and reweld, or did you fill in the holes that you drilled? Also the holes at the inner mount are now closer together. Is that just a better fit or did you do something else in the suspension that made you go closer (sorry if I missed that cuz you did so much!)? Finally, why did you add so much material above the new hole? I would've thought you could have welded a much smaller piece in and still have same strength. Just wondering in case I try to duplicate this process. Thanks for sharing all your work.
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Re: What Happened to Victor's Roadster

Post by rp975 »

Hi,

I'm thinking about this mod, so have a couple of questions. On the earlier version, you redrilled holes for the shock mount. In these pics Mk2, did you cut the whole center out and rotate and reweld, or did you fill in the holes that you drilled?

(When talking about the shock mount hole it is a plate that you can see in the top photo, this photo is from underneath, the plate bolts to the spring seat from underneath so in the bottom photo you can't see the extra holes because they are in the plate which is underneath.)
(in the bottom photo the left one mk2 has the shock mount plate in it but the right hand of the photo is mk1 and the shock mount plate is removed.)

Also the holes at the inner mount are now closer together. Is that just a better fit or did you do something else in the suspension that made you go closer (sorry if I missed that cuz you did so much!)?

( the holes are closer together because in mk1 was my first try and when in and used I had gone too far so when doing mk2 I used a couple if vinyl floor tiles with grease between then under each front wheel so that when lowering the car on a jack down to the ground there wasn't any side pressure on the wheels which would effect the position of the suspension. I did this with the inner bolts of the spring seat removed and the outer bolts loosened to act as a pivot. I had a second smaller jack under the spring seat so that I could raise or lower the spring seat to get the seat of the spring 90 degrees to the shock and spring. then when it looked right I marked where the new holes should be on the spring seat.)

Finally, why did you add so much material above the new hole? I would've thought you could have welded a much smaller piece in and still have same strength.

( I used the extra metal in the new side pieces to make sure that there was enough strength, if I just used a smaller tab for each new hole then it may be strong enough from just the pressure from the spring but I thought that if there is a torsional twist in cornering loads then I would be better to make it stronger.)

wondering in case I try to duplicate this process. Thanks for sharing all your work.

(I am glad that you like what I have done. I had the extra steal tig welded from both sides, I did not do this myself but had a pro do it so that is was strong.)

I hope my answers were clear, sometimes it is hard to share an idea with words clearly.

If I have not just let me know.

Regards Rob
1970 Roadster SRL311

1974 260Z VQ30det

1998 W210 E55 AMG
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rp975
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Re: What Happened to Victor's Roadster

Post by rp975 »

Hi Guys,

I haven't been on here for a while but thought I would try to post some pics of some of this years adventures.
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1998 W210 E55 AMG
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Re: What Happened to Victor's Roadster

Post by notoptoy »

Great pictures, and nice to see updates!
"When all else fails, force prevails!" Ummm, we're gonna need a bigger hammer here.

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Re: What Happened to Victor's Roadster

Post by rp975 »

Hi Guys,

I have been asked to show pictures of my engine bay brace as all my previous pics have gone.
I made a steel angle iron bracket that mounts to the firewall in 6 places each through a double sheet of metal and spreading the force through different planes.
All the nuts have been welded in place to ease removal and fitting.

At the ends that meet the fenders I made a right angle fitting that mounts under the fender bolts, I added another between to spread the load more.

I used hi tensile bolts with spring and flat washers.

I chose this type of brace as I wanted something that was from that period in time.

It is very strong and clears everything except the hood which rests on the brace.

To take off the rocker cover you have to first take the brace off but it only takes a few minutes extra.

Rob
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1998 W210 E55 AMG
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Re: What Happened to Victor's Roadster

Post by ACote »

I'm loving the rims and white walls on your car! I'm going to have to pick some up now. Hoping I can get mine painted back to stock yellow soon too!
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Re: What Happened to Victor's Roadster

Post by rp975 »

Thanks ACote, I am enjoying them as well and think it looks cool.

The ride is softer which is good for long drives which I tend to do.

Rob
1970 Roadster SRL311

1974 260Z VQ30det

1998 W210 E55 AMG
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