1970 SRL311 Resto-mod - SR20DET (Lucy)

[beebo]

Hey RustyBucket! It has honestly been a loooong time since I've even typed 311s.org into my browser. Weird it was within only 3 days from you deciding to pester me I hope you and everyone else here have been well.

I have definitely done a LOT since my last actual update with pictures back in January, but it was a pretty rough summer for me, unfortunately. Not too much has happened on the car since my last post back in June mentioning brake lines and such aside from chipping away at the engine wiring harness. I ended up staying at my current job, and taking on a pretty massive project that I was given full ownership of. The workload and responsibilities have been tremendous, and the deadlines have been tight.

Most of my time away from work went towards my family and providing the end of life care for my beloved lab-mix Otto, who I had to have put down in August. I loved that dog and it really messed me up having to go through with that. I got him back in college a couple months before picking up the Roadster, so he was my garage companion for the past 12 years. Aside from when I was grinding, welding, or painting, he was always right next to me during the whole build. It's just a horrible empty feeling going out there without him, and combined with all the crazy work stuff, as well as the consistent 105+ degree temperatures we had down here in Texas, I just haven't touched the car.

My workload should ease up by mid-January or so as I get all of the stuff I am designing into production to stay on the projected timeline. Combine that with the cold temperatures I prefer, and I should be back in business on this thing early next year. I do have quite a few pictures that I have reduced to the size needed to post here, so I will break all that up into a few posts that I will try and get posted between all the Halloween stuff I have scheduled with the kiddos this weekend.

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[Gregs672000]

Beebo, I'm sorry for the loss of you canine buddy... I can certainly relate having had some great 4 legged friends over the years. Their unconditional love is hard to match. People who say "it was just a pet..." simply don't get it, and I feel sorry for them and what they miss out on. In addition to human family members and friends, we lost our super cat Clare this past year, an American Bobtail that I rescued outside of the hospital where we worked. Many years later she got an x-ray during a visit to the vet and we discovered that in the past she had been shot with a pellet gun that would have killed her if it hadn't hit the rib... Maybe that's why she was at the hospital! "Snuggle bunny" doesn't come close to how loving she was, and she was amazingly perceptive of your emotions and always seemed to know if you needed a hug. Research finds that this breed is often used as therapy cats, and I can clearly see why. We miss her daily.

I hope that, when you are ready, another opportunity to experience that love will come along again, and you can share the love for your previous friend with this new one. Love never dies when it gets shared and expressed, and doing so with another will honor your shared past and create more love in the future... and that's the point of life eh? That, and Datsun Roadsters... another form of love.

My best to you... be well.
Greg

[beebo]

Thank you, Greg. He was definitely part of the family for sure. I'm sorry for your losses as well. Can't believe there are the type of people out there that would shoot an animal with a pellet rifle. Sad. I'm glad you were able to rescue and provide a nice life for a loving cat. I definitely would be up for another animal, but have no desire to go searching for a replacement. Just like Clare and Otto, you don't find them. They find you.

On to the other form of love... Roadsters!

Here's where I've gotten over the past year. I'll try and break this up into the different areas of what I've worked on. This one is the brakes. In my last post, I showed the calipers being painted, rebuilt, and installed. I don't have too many pictures of the brake lines I bent up right now, because I just kinda did them while the car was really high in the air, and now it is back on the ground. But all of the brake lines are done and just finger tight right now. With the exception of the hand-brake. That isn't necessary, and I'll focus on it later.

I cut an 8" section of 2x4 and drilled a hole in all dimensions. I have really long drill bits from a guitar build I did a couple years ago. This way, I could shove the brake line back and fourth in the 1.5" long hole, then the 3.5" long hole, then the 8" long hole to really straighten it up. I got cheap bending and flaring tools off of Amazon, and went to town.

These pictures only show the hard-lines for the rear axle, but I've bent all the brake and clutch hard-lines and have them flared and fitted to the car. Everything is copper-nickel tubing and 3/8-16 fittings. 3/8 to M10 adapters for the Z32 calipers.

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When I get the car back up in the air next, I'll snap some pictures of how everything is routed. It looks pretty neat under there. This thing is just so low, I can't get any decent pictures on the ground.

Cheers,
Wade

[beebo]

This post is about the doors. Since I had no door latches, my 3 year old son would always open the doors, and kept almost door dinging my other car. I purchased some cheap reproduction chrome handles and door catches off of ebay. Impressive quality for the price. However, I did not have the linkage from the handle to the latch mechanism. Easy fix.

A trip to Home Depot, 10 bucks worth of stainless all-thread and lock nuts, and 30 minutes with a cutoff wheel and welder. Yes, I know it's ghetto.

Fixed!

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Cheers,
Wade

[beebo]

To figure out how I want all my main power wiring to run, I made a mock battery, which is just a 12v power supply I had lying around stuffed into a cardboard box, and I put it where I want my battery to eventually be mounted. Having actual 12v will help me test everything as I build my wiring harness and I don't have to buy a battery yet. The ground just goes and bolts to the frame, and I made grounding straps for the engine, body, frame, etc. On the positive side, it goes to a terminal block that is connected to the starter cable, the alternator, and a 120A relay that is controlled by my cool little industrial interlock key that I snagged from my work storage closet a couple years ago. I really just like the magnitude of this key and the insane quality of the lock mechanism itself, so I mounted it on that rear trunk panel thing. When you turn this key, it triggers the relay into sending power to the main fuse/distribution block mounted in my dashboard. This isn't like a key where you turn it to accessory, then on, then further to start the car. It is more of just like a main power key. This will just allow power to the car, and all the toggle switches I'm going to build out will control the fuel pump, ignition, lights, and a push button starter.

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Cheers,
Wade

[beebo]

I spent a long time thinking about how I wanted to route all of the fuel lines, and started creating my bill of materials. I ordered it (almost) all at once! it was awesome to see all the hoses, fittings, filters, sensor and pump, all in one big pile of parts. All the fuel line is Teflon lined SS braided hose. AN-8 on the supply and AN-6 on the return. All the fittings on the tank I bought are AN-10. So my fuel system goes like this:

Fuel tank => 2X AN-10 lines => Wye fitting down to 1X AN-8 => 100 micron fuel filter => Bosch FP200-7(044 replacement) fuel pump => 10 micron fuel filter => AN-8 fuel rail inlet => AN-6 fuel rail outlet => Tomei fuel pressure regulator => GM flex fuel sensor => 1X AN6 fuel tank return line => 1X AN-10 Fuel tank vent line.

I also started dragging out the Haltech wiring harness to where it all needs to go and clipping off all the excess wire. This took a while, but I did it over the course of doing the fuel lines, and it really helped me make sense of the wiring harness. You may notice some oil lines in the engine bay as well. Those are all AN-10 fittings, but I used regular Nylon braided rubber hose for that instead of the stainless braided PTFE hose that I used for the fuel line. I like the nylon braided hose better in the engine bay as it looks more like OEM rubber hose. It's obiously not, but it is less standout-ish in that application. I had to go for the PTFE for the fuel line because I plan on eventually wanting to tune for Ethanol. Or... at least have the option to.

All of the fittings, filters, and hoses are Evil Energy brand from Amazon. Obviously some Chinese supplied Amazon store stuff, but I couldn't be more impressed with the quality. Especially for the price. I did a test order with a couple pieces first, the went all in. Pump is Bosch, FF sensor is AC Delco.

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Cheers,
Wade

[beebo]

I have been promising my wife that since I am done with the heavy fabrication on this thing that I will turn my mess of a work bench area into an exercise area. While it is not done yet, you'll notice my tools and such start to disappear in the pictures. I put most of the stuff I never use into a storage unit, and my work benches went over to the side of the house. Since I almost never have the time anymore to for this kind of stuff, it made the most sense to turn it into a space we can both use. I just kept the necessary tool chest and moved it to a different part of the garage. If I need to hammer or grind or paint something, I just take it off to the side of the house. It's nice not always having to clean up a mess every time you do something.

Like I said earlier, I've just been chipping away at the wiring harness from the Haltech. I'm using a combination of black PET wire harness sleeve, Tesa wire harness tape, and black heat shrink tubing. My chances to make progress on the wiring are so few and far between that it takes me a while to come back up to speed on which wires are which and what needs to be done.

But so far, The main ECU, fuel pump, and cooling fan relays are wired in to the fuse block. The injector and coil harnesses is complete. The crank angle sensor and throttle position sensor are done and wired in, and the wires for the intake air temp and coolant temp sensors are complete and awaiting the actual sensors to be installed. The fuel pump and flex fuel sensor are wired in as well.

I even wired the starter up. The starter solenoid goes to a pressure switch on the clutch line, then to a momentary push button on the dash, then to ground. This will only allow the starter to be engaged when the clutch is pressed and the push button is pressed.

I'm trying to get the wiring to a point where I could load a basemap on the ECU and start the engine. Even if there are other things needed before firing it up. The ECU has the ability to self learn the fuel tables, meaning I just build a table of target air fuel ratios, and it uses the wideband O2 sensor to adjust and build the fuel tables. However, being on the lower end of Haltech's product line, It is only capable of running a narrowband O2 sensor. I have to buy a wideband O2 CAN extension module, which I haven't done yet. It does free up the narrowband O2 wires of the harness to be used for a function of my choosing. I'm thinking I can use it for a switch for different tune/boost settings.

I'm keeping the engine and the body wiring harness completely separate of each other. I'll worry about wiring lights and gauges another day (year).

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If you notice the mess of brake/clutch hardlines coming out of the firewall, that is because of how they come out of the master cylinders. All of the Tee fittings are to bring the brake and clutch pressure switches back behind the firewall so I can hide the wiring for it all better. I'm then going to cover all this up with a heat shield or something.

Cheers,
Wade

[beebo]

So that is all the progress from this year. It's been scattered about, but it is still getting worked on. I'm going to just keep it up when I can. This is how it sits now. On the ground, as close to the wall as possible to make it easier to pull the Bimmer in and out, and as close to the garage door as possible to provide a comfortable space for a treadmill and weight set behind it. The trunk is full of parts and things that need to go on the car.

The brake lines are all done and just need to be tightened up.
The clutch lines are the same, but missing the flex line to the slave cylinder.
The main power wiring is done.
The engine wiring is done aside from the wideband O2.
The IAT and Coolant temp sensors need to be mounted.
Fuel lines are complete and just need to be tightened up.
Oil and coolant lines are done and need to be tightened up. Oil cooler needs mounting.
The coolant block that goes into the head still needs doing.

TONS of little things need to happen before this thing gets fired up. I have to have the turbo manifold decked, and the downpipe needs modifying. There was a lot of warping from the welding, and it doesn't really fit right anymore. Everything is just kinda finger tight right now, and It could use a going through with proper torque specs. There are a lot of things where, because of the short bursts of time I had available to work on the car, the work was rushed, and needs to be cleaned up.

Obviously, there are entire efforts that have not been started. Things like mounting the seats, completing the interior, the lower dash with switch panel, body wiring harness, not to mention all the wet-sanding and respraying I have to do to make it look decent. All the re-chroming and rebuilding of the tail lights and trim. Oh, and the driveshaft. There's no driveshaft.

The never ending project.

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Cheers,
Wade

[notoptoy]

You are doing some incredible work. This is going to be amazing. Once finished. Keep up the great work!

[spl310]

How wide is the car at the rear fenders?

[Gregs672000]

Wow man, just wow. You get more done in 20 minutes than I do in 2 weeks! Looks like you're enjoying yourself too!

[beebo]

You are doing some incredible work. This is going to be amazing. Once finished. Keep up the great work!

Thank you so much. Every time I make a bit of progress on it, I get so excited about getting to enjoy it in the future. As much as I wish it was done already, having something to build keeps my mind in shape. Looking forward to getting back at it soon.

Cheers,
Wade

[beebo]

How wide is the car at the rear fenders?

So I measured about 63.5" at the extent of the overall width of the rear fenders, and 62" overall width at the front fenders. The rear tires are inset a little bit and that measures 62" sidewall to sidewall. The fronts aren't as inset, and that measures almost the same. The rears are on spacers too, so there is about 2" of clearance between the tires and the frame. I could easily fit more rubber back there if any need arose.

Cheers,
Wade

[beebo]

Wow man, just wow. You get more done in 20 minutes than I do in 2 weeks! Looks like you're enjoying yourself too!

Haha, Don't be fooled. This was pretty much a full year of progress. I move pretty quick when I'm able to focus and spend the time, but I rarely get it. That's why I try and work so fast when I can.

Cheers,
Wade

[akara]

that beefy widebody goes well with the engine conversion, I love what you've done, keep it up! will be following, the dash is pretty cool