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KGC10 Skyline 2000GT Build


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Hi guys

 

I've got quite a few friends who hang out here, and they suggested that it would be great if I could share my project over here (long time listener, first time poster).

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I'm Australian and a journalist for Japanese Nostalgic Car Magazine. My project's a 1971 KGC10 Skyline 2000GT, which started life as a narrowbodied 120hp single carb 2.0L six. In Japan it was converted to a 2000GT-R race replica with flares and wings, as the mechanical side was upgraded too.

derek2.jpg

 

Today, it's got a 3.0L L6, pretty built with triples, 11:1 HKS pistons, lightened and balanced bottom end, 72 degree cam, a lot of headwork, Trust headers and exhaust, electronic ignition and a few other little things. Trans is a 280ZX 5spd and the rear end is a 4.6 open R180.

melvin1.jpg

 

I imported the car from Japan in 2007, and it was supposedly a fully-restored ride with nothing to spend, but as often is the case, sadly this wasn't true, and pretty much every aspect of the car's had to be redone or renewed in some way. When I got the car, pretty much nothing electrical worked :), it barely had enough power to cough its way to a 40kmh top speed and rather a lot of its metalwork resembled swiss cheese instead of steel...

IMG_0831.jpg

 

Suspension's Koni coilovers up front, KYB adjustables out back, with Datsport cambertops at the front too.

Nathans018.jpg

 

The head's probably where the most work's been done, the ports are 41mm, it's got bigger valves, a 3mm shave and the chambers have been welded and reshaped.

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derek12.jpg

 

The whole project's been going on for almost a couple of years now, and my build diary can be found here:

http://www.japanesenostalgiccar.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=1600&start=0

 

The diary tells the story from the beginning, and goes thru the day by day journey as we discovered more and more things (some not so good) about the car and the ppl who worked on it before me. Where we are at right now is that all the major things have been fixed and the car is registered and driveable. We're still running it in though, so it's all still untuned and undyno'd...and typically for a car that's been sitting idle for quite a few years, there's been some minor teething troubles to iron out since we got back on the road a few weeks ago.

 

Feel free to ask any questions :) Look forward to making some new friends here :D

Edited by Babalouie
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Thanks for the warm welcome guys :)

 

Well where we are at right now is a charging issue. Last night, I went out for a quick drive when the Hako decided to have a minor wobble....PING! goes the alternator charge light.

 

I limp to the nearest servo and the answer's pretty obvious, the +ve wire coming off the back of the alternator was detached. I've cleaned it up a bit here, but the ring terminal was burnt and the first cm of insulation around that thick wire was toast.

dizzywire008.jpg

 

So was the rubber cap that goes over the terminal

dizzywire005.jpg

 

At the time, I thought that maybe what happened was that the ring connector was getting a bit crusty and maybe some of the wiring was severed...and then when the charge tried to pass thru the remaining (few) strands they burnt out.

 

So I cleaned things up as best I could and Macguyvered the wire back onto the back of the alternator.

dizzywire003.jpg

 

...that I woulda thought, should have fixed it (at least temporarily) but the charge light was still on. The funny thing was, with this bodgy fix the battery was getting some charge in the low 13Vs, which I thought would be enough, but the charge light is still on like a beacon. My initial thoughts were that I'd clean it up properly and put a new ring terminal onto it, and maybe with a better/cleaner contact it'll get more charge and the light will go out...but it seemed more and more unlikely that a new connector was going to fix it, I pulled out the alternator and the voltage reg.

 

The alternator is quite easy to reach once the battery is out of the way, and a L6-ism is now the lower radiator hose has to take the long way around the alternator. But after removing 3 bolts, the alternator can be wiggled out.

alternator005.jpg

 

First thing is that there is nothing visually wrong with alternator....

alternator006.jpg

 

...although I really don't know what I am looking for :), there is nothing obvious burnt or broken.

alternator008.jpg

 

The terminal for the battery +ve wire is a bit crusty and rusted (it's the one where the wire got burnt off)

alternator009.jpg

 

The nut was a little frozen so I decided to use some *cough* penetrating fluid to free it. Oh, look at that, I'm using Royal Purple MaxFilm, all all purpose lubricant with Synerlec, the same revolutionary additive that can be found in Royal Purple's high end engine oils :D

alternator013.jpg

 

(Oh by the way the project is supported by Royal Purple so I hope you don't mind)...anyway after a little bit of cleaning up (which was probably more for psychological benefit) it does look a lot better.

alternator014.jpg

 

The voltage regulator is a metal box that's bolted to the side of the engine bay. Externally there is nothing outwardly wrong, but hmm...

alternator001.jpg

 

It's actually a really oldschool thing, you can see that there are two halves of it, and it actually has mechanical contacts that flip up and down to make a circuit...but when you remove the cover there is a definite weird smell...

alternator002.jpg

 

...and when you look at one side of it, it's very clearly melted to bits.

alternator003.jpg

 

The other side is ok, and this is what it's meant to look like.

alternator004.jpg

 

To my mind there is a bit of a chicken and egg question here....which is whether it was the wire that fell off, which then caused the alternator to overcharge and fry the regulator...or was there something wrong with the reg which then let the alternator overcharge which then burnt the wire, which then melted the reg?

 

I guess it doesn't matter since we obviously need to get a new regulator anyway :) I think it's the same as 240Z or 510 and apparently they are still available new so I'll try to track one down at Ingrams tomorrow. I'll also get the alternator tested by an electrician to see if it's somehow been damaged by this whole episode. Hopefully the alternator is fine, and we can just bung in a new reg and be back on the road in two shakes of a 12mm spanner.

Edited by Babalouie
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eddys toyota wagoon with 6 cyl turbo will be in that magazine soo i think.

 

get a solid stae volt reg when possible and add a volt meter so youll catch this sooner.

 

 

By the time the chargelight comes on inside its already too late in most cases.

just run both light and the VOLT gauge.

do NOT buy a AMP meter.

 

 

you can even use this to give a indication of whats going on.

I route the blk to ground and cut the end off and I jammed it behine the cig lighter. hot wire(it will be on all the time but doesnt drain the battery, looks like a Alarm system). I had a radio Shack version that went to 15volts which is better to catch a OVER volt proplem. and it was cheaper 6.99$ they no longer sell them

http://www.jcwhitney.com/autoparts/Product/Pr-p_Product.CATENTRY_ID:2008149/c-10101/Nty-1/p-2008149/Ntx-mode+matchallpartial/N-10101/tf-Browse/s-10101/Ntk-AllTextSearchGroup?Ntt=battery+tester

Edited by banzai510(hainz)
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Nice car, thanks for the story. There are two in the Seattle area, both GTX I think, but only seen three times.

 

When I went to Japan in 2006, one of the first things I saw from the window of the train was a KPC10 driving along a dirt road. That was the first one I saw. I never did see a Datsun during my 9-day trip.

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cool ass car. I would love to own one or a Z again. I was in japan last year and walking in Kyoto out in the burbs and heard something and turned and it was a skyline looking just like yours. sounded sweet and nice. came by so fast I could not get time to get my camera to get a pic. hold onto that car.

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Yeh, if the sense wire came off, the alternator will really start cranking out amps/volts. When it happened on my 71 521 pickup, thankfully I was at home working on it, and was able to measure some 60 volts coming from the unregulated alternator when the wire broke. For an instant ALL the lights got extremely bright, and within seconds every bulb blew, including the dash lights.

 

Also, I am too a subscriber to the mag, and have been following the cars story. I think your first pic is my new desktop background.

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The pic in the tunnel at the top of the first post is a very commonly requested pic in wallpaper-size :)

 

The word from the photographer who took it (http://www.markpakula.com) is that he just did a quick photoshop to take the camera rig out of the pic, which is good enough for a small size but he'll process a proper version that will look good in wallpaper size soon.

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get a solid stae volt reg when possible and add a volt meter so youll catch this sooner.

 

By the time the chargelight comes on inside its already too late in most cases.

just run both light and the VOLT gauge.

do NOT buy a AMP meter.

 

you can even use this to give a indication of whats going on.

I route the blk to ground and cut the end off and I jammed it behine the cig lighter. hot wire(it will be on all the time but doesnt drain the battery, looks like a Alarm system). I had a radio Shack version that went to 15volts which is better to catch a OVER volt proplem. and it was cheaper 6.99$ they no longer sell them

http://www.jcwhitney.com/autoparts/Product/Pr-p_Product.CATENTRY_ID:2008149/c-10101/Nty-1/p-2008149/Ntx-mode+matchallpartial/N-10101/tf-Browse/s-10101/Ntk-AllTextSearchGroup?Ntt=battery+tester

Thanks for the hot tip. Installing a voltmeter is a good idea, but by the sounds of it, you wouldn't have much warning to shut things off unless you were watching it like a hawk...

 

Alrighty...in the end Mark at North Shore Auto Electrical rebuilt the whole alternator, although the part that was really fried was the rectifier.

alternator024.jpg

 

Remember that bit we looked at yesterday and how I said it didn't look like it was fried? Umm...well it appears that yes it was fried, because we have a new one :D

alternator015.jpg

 

The new voltage regulator on the left, sourced from Ashcroft Ingrams...it's solid state (as Banzai510 recommended) so is totally electronic instead of semi-mechanical like the stock one with the moving contacts and magnets.

alternator016.jpg

 

Carefully button it all together...

alternator017.jpg

 

...fire extinguisher at the ready... :)

alternator020.jpg

 

Turn on the ignition, and the charge light comes on (as it should), start the engine and it goes out (as it should). Nothing seems to be on fire or melting (touch wood) and the alternator/regulator combo is charging like a champ.

alternator023.jpg

 

According to Mark, what probably happened was that the rectifier in the alternator died, and then started feeling AC current instead of DC, which then fried the voltage regulator, which then fried the battery +ve wire. So what I thought was the cause (the broken wire) was probably the last thing to happen in the whole chain of events.

 

Anyway....back to running in now :)

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