Datsun Roadster Forum-311s.org

The car continues to get better. I have mostly solved the fuel supply problem. A new pickup hose fixed the sputtering around corners. The fuel pump died a few days before the event. I swapped out to the spare which is an OEM 280Z unit. It seemed to work fine. I still have a problem with the supercharger belt walking around on the pulley but it didn't throw the belt off like in the past. It still has way too much power. I'm hoping the set of 23.5 x 13 x 15 R25b radials that are on the way will help with the tire spin problem. There were some problems at the event. The brakes stuck on when the rubber grommet at the end of the master cylinder came loose and got stuck in the push rod. I was chasing an overheating problem all day. Towards the end of the day I smelled something burning. I had let the smoke out of the electric fan motor. It is pretty hard to get the smoke back in the wires after you let them out. I will put a new fan on it but I still think there is a problem. I'm going to check the compression and possibly change the location of the temperature sender. It is currently in the hole where the heater hose used to exit the block. The motor may need circulation from the heater hose back to the radiator. I'm not sure how the KA24DE coolant routing works.

In the end my co-driver ended up beating me for the first time ever and my brother who hasn't done this in years almost caught me. The car had to be winched up on the trailer to get it home and I'm going to have to buy some parts and spend a bunch of time fixing stuff. On a positive note the car ran and handled better than it ever has before. The new 1-1/8" swaybar kept the body pretty flat in the corners and quickened the responsiveness of the steering.

The FW National Tour is in two weeks so I'm hoping to have the current bugs worked out by then and have new tires by then.

Later,

ah, a fellow fan of the "smoke" theory of electricity.
wish my car was driveable sounds like you are having fun!

I installed a new fan. I installed a T in the heater outlet of the block which allows my temp sender and a hose back to the radiator. I installed a new oil pressure gauge. I did a compression check. Everything seems ready to go for the Tour this weekend.

Break a leg Andy!

R

The car ran and handled crappy for a long time. I finally got most of the bugs worked out. The motor had several problems which I worked through one by one. The worst bug was the 100 pin connector at the ECU that cracked and was allowing intermittant contact. I installed a rear swaybar for the last event and was able to regain much of the handling. I made the rear swaybar by cutting the arms off a stock 17mm front bar. I then welded some straight arms on each end. The bar is about 26" long.

The MaxQ Data showed some interesting things. The car was hitting 1.60 G's in the entrance and exit of the corners but dropping to around 1 G in the center of the corner. I think I can pick up time by keeping it closer to the max all the way around. I was accelerating at around .6G's and braking around .6 G's. I compared my MaxQ Data files with an E-Stock national champion and found some interesting things. I was able to out accelerate his Miata (big surprise). I also had more peak cornering and braking G's. He was able to maintain higher speed. He did beat me which is no big surprise either.

Until I get the car sorted I don't really expect to compete well with anybody. The brakes are finicky. The bias is all on front. I am goiong to have to remove the porportioning valve from the rear circuit and install on the front. I also need to check that I don't have the calipers mounted on the wrong side. They have four pistons. Two of the pistons are smaller and two are larger. I'm not sure if the smaller pistons are on the leading edge or trailing. I'm not sure how I have them installed. The motor is running well but not at the power level it once was. I think I can coax a little more power out of the motor and more acceleration by adjusting the timing and hooking the meth sprayer back up. The handling is still way off but I am finally getting it adjusted to the point that I can predict what the car is going to do.