2mAn

oh cool, hopefully I should have the Roadster driving by then

1 hour ago, ahgrafx said:

thanks... you got any suggestions? 

depends on your budget.

both of these have been worn on a Roadster, and look good. Not the common style either...

15" so they will need new lower profile tire, but cheap enough

https://seattle.craigslist.org/see/wto/d/kent-z-turbo-wheels/6976838277.html

14" with tires that will work and a great look, but Im not a fan of the stretch

https://seattle.craigslist.org/sno/wto/d/everett-14-hayashi-streets/6973726199.html

I've hit a wall in the reassembly of my U20 Roadster and have heard about this place. Went and checked him out. He doesnt speak much English and is a one-man shop but by all accounts he looked like the right guy to finish up my car. He told me to call him monday to see about bringing it to him this week, but it looks like this next monday is the day. 

Has anyone had any experience with him? He has an amazing L28 Z with triple Mikuni's on it and a lot of other goodies that I think is his daily driver. That said enough for me, but hopefully my gut feeling is right

6 hours ago, ahgrafx said:

Sorry bud here she is, I have since changed the mirrors

Not a bad looking Roadster! Definitely needs wheels. I think something shiny will look good... The lug pattern is a common Japanese pattern, but the offset will be the deciding factor.

Im hoping my Roadster will be done. It'd be my first attendance, didnt bother registering because I have plans later in the day

I have a trunk lock. no key. PM me if you're interested 

Its pictured with a door lock I have also

On 9/9/2019 at 2:24 PM, ahgrafx said:

Hello everyone! I've been on 311s site for a lil while and I seem to get a lot of flack for my ideas so I thought maybe over here you might be a little more accepting looking at the artwork on the site 🙂 

Its a lot of stuffy old people who've had their Roadsters forever... plus its the internet, anywhere you go you will offend someone.

For example: Im offended that you still havent posted any pics of your car lol😝

I tried a Talbot style mirror in the stock spot, was useless... one day I discovered if I remove my useless antenna I could mount the mirror there and not have to drill any new holes AND it was functional ... win win

22 hours ago, datzenmike said:

You're assumption is that there is going to be a heat problem. Rather than cutting a good hood up, first see if there really is a need to, then try the suggestions to limit/mitigate any heat problems. I think every post was about dealing with heat so not really derailed. I'll add that a 'cold air package' could also be added. As to adding more holes to nowhere in the hood I don't see how this removes anything but a little weight at the expense of structural integrity.

In the OP I said that this is what Peter Brock told me. He said underhood heat was a problem...

I agree that you haven't been derailing, and have been adding ideas... I actually will explore the idea of relocating the fuel lines, there isn't much space to re-route the lines. I wanted to switch to making my own hard lines, but I'm pretty sure those will heatsoak faster than a rubber/ cloth line would.

I also want to make a heat shield for the brake master cylinder, we'll see what I can come up with on that.

The whole idea that started all of this was to find a way to get the exhaust a way out, rather than shielding the heat...  

On 7/11/2019 at 5:52 PM, docbainey said:

After looking at your roadster thread and realizing your never going to cut the windshield off to make a proper race car, I take it you're not going track racing but going to run those rich people things on public roads , the Mille  things? Last run in 1957? In Italy? Wayne Carini comes to mind. Nothing wrong with that. Heat shielding under the carbs and maybe header wrap, get rid of the rubber fuel lines unless you want to see your car burn to the ground,  better yet relocate the fuel lines to the back of the engine compartment not routed on the engine, there's probably a fuel return line that's been butchered  out of site unless your car is pre smog, put in an electric rad fan, get your radiator boiled out and bypass your heater core, you're in  California after all, what do you need a heater for?  just one less thing to fail. Make sur the coolant overflow system is up to snuff. The hood does have a functional scoop, but the limited airflow goes to the top of the rad. Get a custom cross flow rad and then you can take advantage of the hood. But if you don't deal with the oiling issues and the other engine 'opportunities', it will all be for not, but California road crap, its probably all good. Doubt you'll be turning over 6K. U20s eat rod bearings with out proper mods when revd, and the over square short rod U20 with big valves begs to be revd. One good thing, doubt you'll ever break the crank!

 

Don't louvre the hood. You already fd it up drilling holes in it.

 

Just my 2cents.

Lots of assumptions here... Im not a rich person, Im just a guy like many others who likes modifying cars within a reasonable budget. That reasonable budget is what is stopping me from hacking off my windshield to make this Roadster a track ONLY car. I can and will be taking it to the track. If eventually I have the luxury of making it a track only car, there will be more cutting...

I plan to drive this car to the track, at the track, back home from the track, to work sometimes, on the many canyons we have out here and anywhere else I can. Hacking the windshield limits this...

BTW The hood already had holes drilled from the factory, maybe you forgot since its been so long?...

Before, totally stock:

After:

Anyways, back to what the thread was about: louvers and expelling heat from the engine bay. I already have a heatshield between the carbs and headers, and already wrapped the headers, so I guess I will make some other changes associated with keeping the fuel lines cool and extending the heatshield (both things I had planned). 

I guess thats all she wrote for this thread without derailing it much. 

Feel free to go shit on the build thread and we can discuss my other choices there.

-Simon

Time for my annual update.

At the beginning of the year, I took the car into the garage and put it up on jackstands. Pulled the head off and sent it to the machine shop. One of many things I planned to do was to paint the inner engine bay, as when the car was painted they just skipped the whole engine bay... I had to fix that and Im about done. Its not perfect, but this car isnt intended to be perfect cosmetically.

Before:

After:

Ive been also doing  stupid things with a drill and drill bits...here, I found some fat on the hood hinges

midway...

and done...

then there was the hood and this guy:

Before:

After:

Cylinderhead isnt back yet, so I will have a nice powerful update soon

Jesse, love seeing the updates. I have some stuff for you. Text me when you’re free

Watching :)

x2 

:thumbup:

so, 3 months of work and I still dont know how this will go... whats the worst that can happen? Jump in and find out!? Up early and on the road by 6am. I have no top, and cruising on the coast was nice and all, but it was a tad bit colder than I was hoping haha 

another glam shot  B)

cruising on the coast

luckily there were nearly no issues. My tank has been suspicious and I had to stop once because of it, but other than that no issues! I saw two Roadsters on the way to the show, both with their tops up going much slower than I was, so I flew by them. One picked up his pace and we cruised together to the show. I made it and had a perma grin for the next 12 hours... I even took home 3rd place in the "Diamond in the Rough" group, though I think mine should've won.. oh well, Im not in it for the prizes.

Loved this pic because prior to buying my Roadster, I almost bought this other one and he was parked right next to me

after the show, I immediately tore the car apart again. Another guy who was doing a SR20 swap wanted an uncoated tank to trade for his coated tank. I jumped at the chance and am glad I did. I could hear stuff rustling around in my tank after removing it... It definitely had some junk in it still that was causing me problems

Old tank

New tank

and new thank installed... yes I didnt clean or paint the straps. NFG

installed a badge

bought a rear end because I wanted the 3.9 rear end, the rest needs to go.... Ive heard this might be an upgrade for you guys, if you need anything LMK

speaking of rear ends, I drilled into the backside of this lady to but this badge on her

then I moved the Talbot mirror to the antenna location and did some stuff to the interior with POR15 and yada yada... more importantly, I took her out for a spin and am loving it.

She looks happy, and so am I... and you're now up to date. See you in 6 months haha

So lets see if I can update the last ~6 months in just a few words.

Drove it to Willow Springs in February. It made the drive just fine and died at the gate. The alternator/ voltage regulator died so I pushed it into this position to get this glam shot

This began a process which involved changing the tensioner, followed quickly by a few WOT redline runs.... because Im a child 

After that, I started the actual process of replacing the alternator. I figured I would use this opportunity to move the alternator over to the pass side and also upgrade to a GM single wire setup.

Heres the old setup removed. 

Here are all of the parts I made, collected or purchased to make the relocation happen

New setup installed, complete with obnoxiously long fuel line going to the carbs...

After this, I decided to tackle another issue which was the exhaust leak and other general "sins of the PO"

Heres the shiny new 1 5/8" ceramic coated header ready to go on 

collection of old garbage after being removed

Tore it all the way down to this... I couldnt get that one damn stud out and didnt want to break it.

you can still get some parts from the dealership brand new!

Header installed

Intake side installed with my special T3 stacks installed

aaaannnnnnddddddd done!

after it was all buttoned up, I took it out for a spin. One week to go before the Solvang Roadster Show and Im feeling pretty good..... until I start smelling coolant on my way home. No smoke, but I park and see this....

$H!T

stupid amount of money to buy a NOS Nissan Water pump from Grumpy Old Stan, combined with a few late nights' work and ...

Completed the job the night before the show. No functioning headlights meant that I couldnt test it out until the morning when I was going to drive ~130 miles to the show. This should be fun!... next post will pick up from there!

Thanks! 

I have to say something special about T3. I bought some of their Velocity Stacks for my Roadster when I first got it but because of the tight little Roadster engine bay, they wouldnt allow the filter to fit over it. I sent them back and asked if there was a way to make me a special set. It took a while of going back and forth, but ultimately I got a set. Sent the word out to the Roadster community on 311s.org and hopefully he will be rewarded with more business. We need to support the cool vendors who arent assholes  

+1 to T3

I still want to get a cool anodized color in the longer stack as a "race" setup since it should give me a tad bit more torque with no other changes and no paranoia about running with no filter. RACECARBRO

Very cool Roadster!... Those mirrors arent the correct ones, so you might as well replace them. Did they shave the side trim holes? 

Can you take some pics of how they got the tonneau cover around the roll bar? Im about to pick up a tonneau cover and have a roll bar. I have some ideas, but if I can see how they did it, it would help. 

Thanks! Not a bad start!

Thanks everyone. Forgot to check back on this. I thought I would get notified with replies... I guess not. The car is a lot of fun, and its clear someone in the 70s/early 80s truly loved the car because its been repainted, and the interior was totally redone. Ive been really busy finishing up my semester and between that, working a full-time job and trying to be a good husband the car hasnt had much work done since the last post. I finished up the front suspension and it drove great, but it was obvious I needed to hurry up and work on the rear. It was supposed to be a 20 minute job changing the rear shocks,, but weeks later and its still not done. haha

I did however get a seat that Ive basically owned on and off for the last 15 years. I think it finally has found its home. It just feels right.

My buddy checked it with the airline when he flew down here 2 weeks ago. TSA Checked it and deemed it worthy to make the flight from Seattle to LA.

I couldnt resist throwing it in the car to see how it looks. Not the best picture courtesy of the lighting, but it feels good. After this weekend I will be done with school (its a weekend/ evening college for old people like myself), so next week I will finish up the rear Bilsteins, do a bunch of stuff on my daily driver ('88 325i) and then I will be making up some rails to bolt these seats to and bolt them to the car. 

If I can sell some more of my extra car parts that I wont be using (see those boxes in the background!?) I will be able to buy a few more parts for the timing system. I already have a new chain and a couple other things, but it feels like each piece is $300 so I cant buy it all at once. I also want to get an Aasco lightweight flywheel, but again its $400... It adds up quick.

Anyways, glad you guys like it. I will try to keep this sporadically updated 

It was discovered earlier this year in Petaluma and my friend in Napa went and checked it out for me. Car had been off the road since 1987, last registered in 86. Probably older than some of the members here, who knows. It was equipped with dual Solex carbs, the early Type 2 model, it has the big oil pan and has some kind of cam. This is in addition to a repaint, and full interior change. Someone loved this car a LOT, a long time ago... Bought it and after 2 months of carb rebuilding and general BS to deal with,it was ready for a drive home. I flew from LA and drove the car over 500 miles in one day. No major issues either. The love connection happened.

Neglected, but one of my favorite pics

Ready for the drive

SUP

After I got it home, I have been slowly prepping it for VARA. This was my first canyon run in SoCal with my neighbor and his sexy Alfa Romeo GTV

The Datsun held its own, even though it was on old tired suspension and a questionable chain trying to hold the motor together haha

Just finally got the front suspension installed which consists of Comp springs and special Bilsteins. I will be installing the rear soon. Still working on gathering the parts to pull the motor and install all new timing components too... Its a fun little car

Its not slammed on its balls, so you guys might not love it, but I do

No pics after all this time?!... 

Heres the ad, is my price too high? Im not trying to make a profit, just want to sell something I know I wont use.

http://community.ratsun.net/classifieds/item/8190-4875-gear-set-pumpkin-and-lsd-package/#overview

Also just posted an ad on my local craigslist (los angeles area), but I hate dealing with craigslist. 

Thanks Mike, I will post the ad now.

ps your signature is awesome haha

Hey all, Posting here because I picked up a bunch of roadster rear ends and a few LSDs, but came to find out the 4.875 gear set thats in one of the pumpkins is a truck spline, not the roadster. I was hoping to pass it on here and figure I will sell it with a LSD so you guys can build a fun rear end with it.

I tried to post in the classifieds but it didnt let, so Im sorry. Also dont want to seem like some dude here just to sell parts, but the truth is, Im here to pass the part on and maybe come back later in life... once I get my roadster fix :)

-Simon

pics will come soon for those interested. hopefully this doesnt get deleted.

ps moderators dont ban me! :angel: