Datsun Roadster Forum-311s.org

I wanted the rear end. I’ll be in Austin and San Marcus the 11th-13th at my daughters graduation. Mathew can you pick up the rear end for me? Let me know we’ll work something out.
Keith

I made some progress on the exhaust! I went back up to airgas and got me a bottle of 100% argon to run in the TIG. I can weld okay on the TIG, but in hindsight, I could have used more practice before attempting a turbo manifold. oh well, it turned out okay. Its done aside from straightening up the head flange a bit, and having it milled flat. I also made the beginning of the down pipe. I put on a T25 to 2.5" V-band adapter as this is an easier task than fabricating a t25 outlet pipe. a 3.5" hole was cut in the side of the engine bay. I'm planning to run the rest of the downpipe down the drivers side fender behind the front tire, into a 20" body stainless glasspack. The glasspack fits nicely below the floorboard between the frame and the body. There is quite a bit of rust in front of the rear wheel that is begging to be cut out and replaced with a dual tip side exit exhaust I made some progress on other stuff, but I will save that for another date. I was just getting kind of excited about the whole exhaust thing

Cheers,
Wade

Nice job Wade!
I’ve been planning a side exhaust too. But I plan on coming out of the body using a marine exhaust like this one Happy to see the progress

Matthew

Thanks Matthew, where on the body are you planning on exiting the exhaust?

I think I'm going to just notch the area out and exit like the photo below

Long time without an update. I have been making small progress on a lot of different areas of the car, and have just been too busy to provide a good post. Right now, my goal is to finish mocking up everything in the engine bay, and plan out what is needed for the rest of the build. Previously, I had the intercooler semi-mocked up. I took the radiator mount cross braces, and cut them down about an inch. This allowed me to mount the intercooler as intended with clearance for the stock hood hinges. I found some L-brackets from a piece of office furniture that we were tossing at work, and it fit the intercooler and rear shifted mounts just perfectly without modification. On the other side of the cross braces, I mounted an aluminum Koyo radiator from a Del-Sol. I thought I was ordering a 3-row, but it is a 2-row. I hope it will provide enough cooling! I have a friend who is big into 240sx's/Sr20s, and did some welding for him. He paid me with a beautiful ISR intake manifold/throttle body/fuel rail that he wasn't going to use. This thing is definitely overkill for my application, but it is pretty and it fits...barely! Also I picked up a new TiAl MVS sport wastegate off of Craigslist for super cheap, so I am going to add that to the manifold and downpipe. I know it is unnecessary, but again... It's pretty, and internal wastegate actuators aren't. Plus, there is a lot more control when I decide to up the boost.

.



Cheers,
Wade

I took some time to work on the long block that is going into the car eventually. I had some of the extra Dr. Datsun block paint, and used it on the lower oil pan, crank pully, and water pump pulley. I have just enough for the alternator pulley, and maybe some touch-up. I really am surprised this stuff still sprays as it is from my first roadster 11 years ago. I cleaned up the upper oil pan and sprayed it silver like the head and other bits, and assembled it. With the exception of the valve cover, the long block is complete! For the valve cover, I always found the "NISSAN" "TWIN CAM 16 VALVE" and the "INTERCOOLER TURBO" on the coil pack covers to be a bit cheesy. Especially if it is going into a classic. So, I ground it off, and am in the process of polishing it. It is almost completely sanded to a 120 grit. I also knocked in the freeze plugs. I kindof wish I had found some brass ones, but oh well. The last thing I really have to mock up is the alternator. I don't want to make any more cuts to the frame to fit the stock 80A alternator. Since I am only going to have the bare minimum to drive this car, and get it inspected, I felt that I could go down on the alternator amperage. The stock alternator just would not fit anywhere, so I ordered a compact 70A. I probably only need 50-60, but this one seems like I can get it to fit. We'll see.

.
.

Cheers,
Wade

On the exhaust side of things, I cut out the rust, and made the 'post muffler' weldment section. I totally screwed up the shape of the cut, and had to add a section of metal. It was one of those brain-fart moments. This part of the exhaust is basically a "1 into 2" 2-1/2" 60 degree bend. It will connect directly to the glass-pack, and I will most likely do a slant cut on it when I know where it will actually sit on the body. I still need to clean up the cuts on the body, and seal up the open areas by welding in some sheet metal.

. .

Cheers,
Wade

Wheels/Brakes

Initially, I planned on doing 16x9.5s all around with 245's. On the back this i fine, but on the fronts, it is just a little too extreme. I was sticking past the fenders way too far, and my scrub radius was absolutely ridiculous. I ordered the same set of wheels in an 8.5"(still +0 offset) and put some 225s on them. Unfortunately these wheels are discontinued and almost sold out, so I couldn't get the same color as the rears. I added some spacers to the upper control arm bolts to add some negative camber to the car. This brought the top of the wheel inward, and lessened the positive scrub radius. I will still have to bring the flares out about an inch to tuck the wheels. Unfortunately these wheels are not "high-face" and will not clear the big Z32 calipers that I had planned on using. I took some measurements, and found some Wilwood calipers that will clear the rotor and the inside of the wheel. I haven't ordered them yet, but they exist .

Because of my work on, and plans with the exhaust, and also trying to clean up the engine bay as much as possible, I decided to order a reverse mount pedal box. This gives me a dual brake master, and single clutch master on the inside of the firewall. I cut out all of the existing pedal bracketry/bracing, as well as the recess for the brake master cylinder. The pedals and master cylinders clear everything, and are temporarily secured with zip-ties while I fabricate the brackets and bracing to mount the assembly. I plan on mounting a remote reservoir underneath that little hood cowl vent thing. I have cut out cardboard templates for the sheet metal needed to replace the cutout metal, and will weld this all up when everything is bolted in place. Also, the assembly came with like 5:1 ratio pedals. I think I am going to replace them with 6:1 pedals to bring them down a bit. They sit a little high.

.
.

Cheers,
Wade

Okay, last post for a while... Interior:

I have been researching seats for quite some time know. I was unsure if I wanted to do a roll bar, and seats with headrests, or go with no roll bar, and low-back seats. Seats either didn't fit the style I was going for, were too expensive, or didn't fit. Then, I stumbled across the OMP Silverstone. It had the look I wanted, the measurements seemed like they would work, and it was pretty cheap for a name brand seat ($400 shipped) I only ordered one because I was still unsure, and then it arrived. It looked great, and fits even better. when it gets mounted, the top of the seat will sit flush with the upper body line of the roadster, it fits on the passenger side (which is slightly narrower), and the quality is more than acceptable.

For the dash, I decided I want to make one. I really like the look of the first generation silvia dash. the CSP311. I want to make my own out of fiberglass, and incorporate some styling cues from that dash. I started making a mockup out of foam board, and tape. I haven't got very far, but It definitely helps me visualize it. I am still researching gauges, and trying to figure out a layout that I like, and suits the needs of the engine.

If you're wondering about the shocks in the back, I had a crazy idea that I want to pursue. I'll leave it at that Also, I started sketching on the body trying to figure out what I want it to look like.

.
.

Cheers,
Wade

Wow! quality stuff. The rear suspension is a cool setup. That's gonna be a real fun car.

Yeah, that's going to be sweet after it's finished. Among other things, I'm looking forward to watching the dash take shape.

ACote wrote: Sun Aug 26, 2018 8:17 pm Wow! quality stuff. The rear suspension is a cool setup. That's gonna be a real fun car.

Thank you! I'm still unsure if I want to go down this route, but I saw a couple examples of it done really nicely, and I think it would look really cool in the back sill area. Basically instead of having the coilovers directly connected to the axle, there are pushrods that will pivot into the suspension. The springs are a little stiff, but i have a spring vendor that i use at work all the time that will do one off springs for a good price. The shocks are from a 2001 yamaha R1.

onsight512 wrote: Sun Aug 26, 2018 10:50 pm Yeah, that's going to be sweet after it's finished. Among other things, I'm looking forward to watching the dash take shape.

Of all of the things, i am most excited about making the dash. For the gauges, i have always liked the Stack product line. I'm debating on going with one of their all in one dash displays, or their individual gauges. Right now, i'm leaning towards the individual gauges. The ST700 is a tachometer that has a small lcd that can display water temp and oil pressure, among other things. Putting that next to their equal sized speedometer, and surrounding the larger gauges with a fuel gauge and a boost gauge. I think that's all the parameters i really need to monitor. I did one of their display systems in my 240sx, and it is really nice, but i don't think I could get it to look very good in a classic car.

Cheers,
Wade

Yes cool work
It will pass TV Inspections?
Careful of the death spear with that power

It should pass if it ever gets finished In TX, cars over 25 years old require only a safety inspection to get on the road. lights, horn, wipers, and brakes. The steering column is the later collapsible one, but yeah, I don't see anything about this car being safe haha.

Wow very impressive. Can’t wait to see it hauling ass down the road!