KGC10 Skyline 2000GT Build

[mattyhacks71]

Great pics, recognize so many of those internet famous beauties

[Babalouie]

One of the little things that bug me a bit about the engine bay is how the fuel hardline loops up over the radiator hose, and then kinda droops like this.  So it ruins the rubber fuel lines all being nice and straight.

 

The hardline was originally bent to accommodate the FET inlet manifold that came with the car.  That was actually for a 2.0L and was too small, so I swapped it for a Redline manifold.  But the Redline item was longer, and since the carbs were a little further away, I had to hand-kludge the fuel hardline to reach, and it now drooped from time to time.  Whenever the bonnet is open, I just adjust it by hand before anyone sees :) but I might as well fix it properly.  Which, I think, I could do by putting a little support bracket here, over the fuel pump blanking plate.

 

I experiment with some carboard until I get the right shape, transfer the shape to sheetmetal, and cut it out with aviation snips.

 

Cover the metal with masking tape to prevent some stray swarf from scratching it, and the drill out a hole in the middle for...

 

The obligatory dimple die feature :)

 

Shine it up...

 

Then clamp it in the vice, but I recycle some of the cardboard from the template to prevent the vice jaws from scratching the metal

 

Then use a flat piece of wood to make the bend nice and even.

 

Shine it up again, and put a little rubber pad on the contact point where the fuel line is going to rest

 

And pop it in place.

 

And the rubber lines on the carb-side are nice and straight.  Ahh....now I can rest.

[maltese]

Amazing! Thank you for posting your trip. What a show!

[mattyhacks71]

Those dimple dies look great. What kind of set do you have?

[Babalouie]

Those dimple dies look great. What kind of set do you have?

I got it off ebay, it's just a 3-piece set from some Texas hot rod shop (can't remember the name).  They're not a professional tool-steel set, and were $100 I think.

 

[Babalouie]

I've had this Subaru LSD sitting on the garage floor since 2011, where I got all the parts I thought I needed to fit it, and then changed my mind and it's gathered dust ever since.  But now's as good a time as any to chuck it in the car.

 

The R180 rear diffs fitted to STi Subarus since the 90s have the benefit of a limited-slip center, and have the same external dimensions as the R180 diff in the Hako.  So the Subaru diff will bolt right up in place of the stock Nissan item, but there are some critical differences, including the front flange, which is easily swapped for a Nissan-compatible one.

 

But there is one difference which is a showstopper. The axles which fit into the side of the diff are different.  The Hako one is a different spline count and is fixed into the diff with a central bolt, whereas the Subaru axle clicks into place; there's a spring clip that lives inside the diff, that clicks into that groove.  So while you can bolt up the STi diff, there are some engineering challenges to actually getting the driveshafts to mate with the diff.  

 

The solution that Stewart Wilkins Motorsport offers, is to disassemble the Subaru diff, remove the spring clip mechanism, and replace it with hardware that will accept the Nissan-style central bolt.  Stew then obtains side axles from a Nissan truck, which coincidentally have the same diameter and spline count as the Subaru centre, and the outer flange is big enough that it can be milled down into a Skyline-compatible bolt pattern.  This way, all of the torque-bearing parts are either Subaru or Nissan, for a 100% factory-strength solution.  Stew rebuilt my Subaru diff, installed the new hardware, reset the backlash and fitted up a pair of his special axles.  Now, all we have to do is put it in :)

 

The diff bolts to the subframe via four long bolts at the nose of the diff.

 

And at the back, it's located to the floorpan by this transverse bar.  Normally, the transverse bar is fitted to the diff via these studs, but many years ago, my friend John Roper suggested that I swap out the studs for bolts, so that it would be easier to remove the diff.  

 

If we hadn't done this, the diff can only come out vertically, which means dropping the subframe, or slowly backing the studs out of the diff so that the transverse bar can slide out.

 

Then the shocks and driveshafts should be removed.

 

The propshaft unbolts from the diff, and then the four bolts attaching the front of the diff to the subframe are removed.

 

There's not actually enough room to slide the diff backwards out of the subframe, without it clobbering the spare wheel well.

 

So the brake lines have to be unplugged in order to allow the subframe to be lowered.  You can see one of the brake hoses getting a little stretched, and the subframe needs to go even lower.

 

The resto gods must have been smiling down that day, because all of the fragile decades-old hardline nuts for the brake hoses came off without rounding.  I'd go out and buy a lottery ticket, but I think I've used up all my luck for now...

 

With all that done, I loosen the 2 nuts holding up the subframe at either end.  I don't remove the nuts entirely, just loosen them enough to tilt the subframe downwards, enough to get the diff to clear the spare wheel well.

 

Support it with a jack, then wiggle it out.  And when I say "wiggle", what I really mean is to grunt and heave at the stubborn diff, then try to balance it on the jack and then watch it overbalance, then realise the futility of trying to stop a 30kg lump of cast iron when it wants to go to ground, and then watch futilely as it clatters off the jack onto the floor.  Oh well, it's out.

[Babalouie]

Old versus new!  

 

Installation is the reverse of disassembly...well, except for the dropping of the diff on the floor part.

 

Nissan thoughfully provides quite a lot of wriggle-room between the diff and the subframe, but it means that you have to refit these spacers when you do up the bolts.

 

My diff guy recommended straight LS90W, with an LSD additive.

 

I forgot to fill the diff when it was conveniently sitting on the floor, but it's no great trouble to squirt in the new oil with my 500cc oil syringe.

 

As for the driveshafts, the eagle-eyed among you may have noted that the old diff didn't actually have an inner flange, and just had unis which went straight into the diff.  That's not standard, and my diff was swapped out in Japan from the stock 3.9:1 R180 open diff, to a 4.4:1 open diff, and I guess it came with this style of driveshaft.  Stock Hako is to have driveshafts with flanges at both ends, like the top one pictured, which I obtained from Stew Wilkins.

 

The new shafts are from a 260Z, and are a tiny bit shorter than the (admittedly non-standard) driveshafts that came with the old diff.  But the new driveshafts should be fine, they allow the suspension to droop a few more inches than the shocks will allow, to the droop travel limit will be set by the shocks, not the driveshafts bottoming out.  Which is good.

 

I'd also er...forgotten to undo the brake hoses when I dropped the subframe, so the old ones got a good old stretch in the process.  They look okay, but I figured it's better safe than sorry, so I had new ones made up.

 

 

Now it's time to bleed fresh fluid into the dry new lines.

 

I fitted Speedbleeders to each corners years ago, so it's easy to do a bleed by myself.  The ATE Racing Blue fluid is handy too, because you know that when the fluid coming out of the calipers is blue and not the yellow of the previous fluid, that all the old stuff is now bled out.

 

And we're all done!

 

And the LSD is great!  It's a 2-way plate diff, with a 4.4:1 gear (so it's the same ratio as the old diff) and is a nice and tight unit from a Version 6 STi RA.  The Hako was prone to spinning up the inside wheel on corner exits, but that's history now :)  

 

As for the viability of the Subaru diff conversion, well I think SW Motorsports' solution only works on the plate-type LSDs, so it won't work for the more common STi Suretrac/Torsen diffs.  And Stewie said that even among the plate-style diffs, there are two types; a version with a rough-cast pumpkin, and another with a smooth-machined finish to the LSD casing.  Only the rough-cast version will take his inner modification, so if you were to want to do this, you'd have to take off the back plate of the Subaru LSD to make sure it's the correct type.  But Stew is happy to send the axles and the inner hardware as a kit of parts, that any diff specialist can retrofit into a Subaru diff of the correct-type.

 

SW Motorsport has enough side axles to make up a few more sets of parts for converting the STi diffs, so if you want to do this, don't wait too long as Stewie only makes a batch every few years :D

[Babalouie]

Since the LSD went in, I've been enjoying a whole new aspect of the car's handling.  So when the Sydney Datsun Club announced a skidpan motorkhana at Sydney Motorsport Park, I was all ears.

 

Almost all the Sydney Hako owners are members of the club, so we had four Hakos turn up on the day.

 

The latest addition to the Sydney Hako fleet is Chuck's lovely white sedan.

 

But as usual, the SDC served up an eclectic mix of old Datsun tin to take part.

 

Then the cones were set up and the first of the tests were announced.  Being a social day, the tests were untimed, but everyone took it seriously.

 

The Hako proved to be quite a handful on the slippery surface, with just a tiny bit of throttle sending the rear tyres into a fizz.  Long, long powerslides on the lockstops would be the order of the day.

 

But so, so much fun!  This was the first test (which is the diagram on the whiteboard above), which was a longer layout and the Hako did the whole lot in second gear.  I'm using a lot of little stabs of throttle (which I admit is very annoying) but on previous runs, any more pedal and she'd spin.

 

All the other Hakos were getting stuck into it....a hallmark of the SDC is that it's a motorsport oriented club and there isn't anyone that babies their car.

 

After a very spin-ful first couple of runs, I was getting into a groove with the Hako.

 

The second test was like a cloverleaf layout; there are three cones, around which you take a right-hand turn.  The fun was in trying to make the whole course into one continuous right hand donut, which was a bit difficult given that the cones were quite widely spaced.  The Hako is a bit spin happy on the initial rotation, but once the rears are fizzing, it's remarkably easy to control, just using the throttle.  The STi LSD is a good one.

 

Here's the same test but from a different angle (and without the spin).

 

 

 

And here's the final test...er, another cloverleaf, but much tighter together, so it was easier to string together more seamlessly.

 

What a great event.  Hako ran flowlessly all day, heaps of laughs were had and we will be doing more events this year, as part of my 2016 resolution :)

[uberkevin]

Wow.. just awesome

[Babalouie]

One of the photographers at the skidpan day was Sam Law, better known online as 300C-PO, and he took some really gorgeous shots of the Hako in action.

 

This one is amazing. The car is sliding sideways across his view and he manages to get all the detail of the dimple die holes in the radiator air duct :)

 

This one is probably my favourite though :)

 

 

 

 

Beautiful sunset shot with my mate Chuck's lovely white Hako sedan.

[q-tip]

Awesome shots. Looks like fun.

[Babalouie]

One of the things that has bugged me for years, is the poor fit of the front spoiler, which you can see here in this pic.

 

The spoiler doesn't follow the contours of the car very well, and over the years this has forced it to crack in a few places, and the resulting flex has caused it to ovalise, or tear out some of the screw-holes.

 

...which I have kludged with extra screws and random bits of metal to hold it together. But it's gotten quite wobbly, and as you can see is quite unsightly.

 

So for the very first time, I'm going to attempt to use fibreglass to fix it :)

 

The fibreglass kit consists of some fabric, resin and a small bottle of hardener. Add the hardener to the resin, and as you stir it, it starts to get hot and the blue resin turns yellow in a very obvious chemical reaction.

 

It's a hot summer's day, so I only have about 20mins before the resin turns into a useless jelly (and 20mins after that it becomes a rock). I'm filling some superflous holes, and reparing some cracks, so I start by cutting some strips of the fabric, and brush on the goo to hold it in place.

 

In one spot where the crack is substantial, I used a bit of metal bar and clamps to hold the crack together while the resin dried.

 

But you don't need to wait for it to dry, and you can add more layers of fabric and resin while it's all wet. I also put a few drops of resin into the (now sealed from behind) holes to fill them. The whole shebang sets rock hard within a couple of hours.

 

After it sets, I cut some thin strips of material to fill in the gap where the screw pulled through the top and tore the hole. The hairy-bit at the top can be cut with scissors when it's semi-dry...

 

And it's strong enough to be sanded down flat. The front of the spoiler, where I filled the holes with resin, was quite difficult to sand down since the resin was very hard, but I think resin is a much stronger way to fill the holes than body filler.

 

Speaking of which, I did have to mix up some filler to smooth out the repair.

 

It takes just a skim, and the lightweight filler sands smooth very easily. It's done when it's smooth enough that you can't feel the joins when you rub a finger across it.

 

Prior to painting, I wet sand the whole spoiler with a fine 800 grit paper to prepare the surface.

 

For paint, I took the spoiler to VG Autopaint, and they mixed up a few aerosol cans of paint to match.

 

I was worried that using rattlecans would end up with a splotchy and uneven result, but after a couple of coats, it looked like it was going to turn out pretty good.

 

After about 6-7 coats of the colour, the spoiler is actually matte. So I applied 5 coats of clear after a round of wet sanding with 800 grit. I'm quite surprised with the result, the paint is evenly glossy, you can't see the spray strokes, and the fibreglass repairs really aren't visible.

 

The other part of the repair, was the pinchweld seam at the bottom of the front apron, which is normally mostly hidden by the spoiler.

 

The apron had been done in a thick stoneguard paint. Most of it seems to have been well applied, but at the bottom, it's starting to lift and peel. It wasn't going to be possible to just blow some paint over that mess, and I did have a concern that there was some nasty rust lurking under there. So the stoneguard paint has to be stripped off.

[Babalouie]

I start off with these, which are Roloc discs; essentially scouring pads that are powered by a drill.

 

The rubbery stoneguard paint quickly clogged the pads, so I swapped to a sandpaper version, which worked a treat in bringing the pinchweld down to bare metal.

 

Once the paint was stripped, it thankfully looked okay, and you can see the yellow spots where the japanese panelbeater brazed on the new apron panel (I'm pretty sure it isn't the original). My car had a front end accident at some point during its life in Japan, and the pinchweld seam was repaired and is slightly mangled in spots, but there's no rust, so it can just be treated and painted.

 

First step is to paint the seam with rust convertor, which chemically bonds with any rust and turns it into an inert black coating.

 

Sand it all back, and then give it a skim of filler to at least smooth it out a little. There is one small section which would need quite a thick layer of bondo to make it smooth, and I couldn't bring myself to do that, so i just gave it a light skim like the rest.

 

Then mask before painting...I won't be painting up to the mask-line, so it's just to stop any overspray.

 

3 coats of etch primer to start with...as you can see, I'm just spraying the pinchweld seam and just the horizontal bit of the underside of the apron. The theory is that the overspray will blend across the curved lower edge of the apron and be less visible.

 

Then 7 coats of colour.

 

And then 5 coats of clear.

 

Now for the spoiler fitment. I suspect that this actually isn't a Hako spoiler at all, since it has a rounded contour, and the lower seam which it screws to, is made up of three flat sections in a sort of hammerhead shape. There's no way that I can force the spoiler to conform to the car, so I cut some spacers out of 4mm aluminium, which fill the gaps here and there and allow the spoiler to be bolted down tight.

 

I'd seen this done on Hakos in Japan before; I cut two half-moon sections out of the spoiler lip, to accommodate the part where the seam angles back and bulges out a little. It allows the spoiler to fit more flush, and gives it a bit more flex between the middle part and the outer bit.

 

Much better! It's now really solid and is a much closer fit.

 

My only gripe, is that the paint on the spoiler is slightly darker than the rest of the car. I don't know if this is an issue with the paint, or maybe it's the way I applied it. But the spoiler is in the shadow of the bumper, so maybe it won't be so noticeable.

 

And I didn't paint the sides (only the top surface), so it shouldn't be visible as a colour difference when looking at the car from side-on.

 

Learnings: fibreglass is really strong, and it's not really necessary to lay it on super thick. It's also quite easy to sand back and smooth, and is satisfying to work with. Use nitrile gloves and a mask, and I didn't have the itchiness or splinters in the fingers that some ppl warned me about, so I had fun working with it. And I don't have to wince when I look at the front of the car anymore :)

[Babalouie]

For this update, there's a few vanity items, and a couple of important safety items :)

 

Every since I got the car, I've been scared of so much as touching the plastic cover for the dome light, but recently some repros have become available in Japan.

 

The new one is made by Britax, and is more of an opaque tupperware plastic, rather than the more ornate looking oem one (which is branded IKI) The original one is full of fine cracks though.

 

So it doesn't look 100% like the original, but...it's an improvement.

 

The other item in the JDM care-package was a replacement for the very pitted little cover flap for the fuel lid.

 

Removal is pretty easy, you just take off that clip and wiggle the whole lock assembly out.

 

Where you find that the flap has a shaft, which goes thru the body of the lock assembly, and then the end of the shaft is whacked to make it mush-room out to lock in place.

 

I use a Dremel to grind the mushroomed part flat, and that allows the flap to slide out.

 

And the new one clips into place with a new spring and circlip.

 

Much better, but a couple of Hako owners have said that over time, the chrome plating on the repros will lift and flake off, as if there is rust developing underneath.  Just to be sure, I'll wipe some wax over the chrome to try to seal its pores and prevent the internal corrosion.  There is just the one source of the repros at the moment, and the oem ones are long gone, so we have to make the most of what we have.

 

The last items are a replacement for the venerable Yokohama A352s that have seen service on the Hako on road and track, since 2008.

 

They're date-coded to October 2007, so while they have half their tread depth left, the rubber is aged and rock hard.  These particular Yokohamas weren't that great for wet grip when they were new, and when it rains, it's become rather comically easy to slide as the tyres have aged.

 

Options for new tyres in the old-timey 245/50-14 size aren't easy to find, but some googling unearthed some options.  One is the Sumitomo HTR-2000, which wasn't desirable for two reasons.  First was that they were an asymmetric pattern, and the outside had some ugly white lettering on them.  The second was that they were only speed-rated to 180km/h, so it didn't sound like they were much of a performance tyre.

 

The other option (and there was only one, since Yokohama discontinued the A352 long ago), was the Bridgestone SF-330 Eager.  They're a hot rod tyre that was originally sold in the 1980s, and were reissued last year in Australia...coincidentally only in one size: 245/50-14.  A batch was made and sold in Australia last year, and many tyre shops bought them in bulk.  These were manufactured in June 2015, so are nice and fresh.

 

The Eagers are more of a nostalgia tyre than a performance one, and in Australia are remembered for a rather non-PC ad campaign from back in the day:

 

...but they look the part, with a nice rounded profile to the sidewall, and only one side has white lettering, but that side can be facing inwards.  So far, so good, the wet grip has improved tremendously, which is important as I'll have quite a bit of driving to do in the next few rainy days.  

[mattyhacks71]

Those look really good! I've been trying to hunt down period correct looking 185/60R14s. Not a lot out there, especially in Canada. Everything has such ugly sidewalls now  :sick:

[Babalouie]

Had a great day this week at Eastern Creek South Circuit.  


The Hako scored a bit part in an upcoming TV commercial for Nulon.  I won't spoil the surprise, but I will say that if you were to make a commercial that appeals to true enthusiasts, then gathering a whole bunch of interesting cars at a racetrack is a pretty damn good start :)


The cars involved were an eclectic mix of Japanese and Euro, as well as classic Aussie muscle of course.


Apart from the lure of free tracktime, it was also a great opportunity to take a peek into how these things are made.  For example...say if you had an actor who couldn't do a donut, or say if you didn't want to thrash a borrowed car...then what you do is you put the car on four Gojaks, and then...


...and then you get about 20 crew to spin the car round and round, while a smoke machine billows white stuff out of the wheelarches.  From the vantage point of the camera inside the car, it looks just like a real one.  And you can have the luxury of doing 50 takes without hammering the poor Monaro too hard.  

I also learned that if you want to film a burnout, then spraying the tyres with WD40 makes really thick clouds of smoke.  And yes, the owner of the lovely HQ is getting new tyres as part of the deal :)


But as part of the filming, we all got to have some fun on the track.  The forecast was for heavy rain, so that's why I hurriedly had the new Bridgestones fitted.  But luckily the rains never came, and we all enjoyed a dry track for the whole day.

The new Bridgestone Eagers have really deep 9mm tread depth, and they do feel like there is a lot of tread squirm.  This basically means that the Hako settles quite early  into a mild oversteer balance, and while it was secure enough for the fast corners, coming out of the slow corners, you could pull powerslides to last for weeks :)  The Eagers have a bit of a vintage feel to the overall grip level, but the upside is that there isn't a hard cut to the grip limit, and they're quite happy for you to keep on pushing and they never seem to bite back in a slide.  Not the fastest way around a track, but easy enough to drive and a lot of fun.  And probably a more accurate reflection of how these things were to race back in the day on crossply slicks.

Part of the fun was to meet the owners of the other (rather tasty) cars.


This was really nice, a very modded R32 Golf.


The Hako also plays a bit part in a pit scene...


I'm pretty sure this won't make the final cut, but to my eyes the footage looked great and you never know, you might get to see my ugly mug in the commercial.


This was a neat contraption...a steadicam mounted on a very fast Polaris ATV.  The Polaris zips along the grass banking, getting tracking footage of cars roaring by on the track.


The JDM contingent was well represented, with a nice Knight Sports kitted FD


And Supra.  Some of the cars would be driven by the stunt drivers on hand and more close up footage on the track.




The day was a lot of fun, and I can't wait for the ad to come out :)

[five1oh]

Love this thread!! Thanks for continuing to update as time passes

[Babalouie]

Some very nice pics of the Hako have come out of the woodwork, by scottlowe.net, who was taking pics from trackside at the Nulon commercial shoot.

 

I had no idea the Hako rolls so much

 

 

On the road, it does look like the rear has too much negative camber, but once it loaded up the rear looks ok

 

The front looks like it needs more than the 1.7 degrees of camber it currently has though.  This does explain the mid corner understeer I was getting in this particular corner.

 

That Turn 5 is a bit weird though, I think there is an awkward camber change going into it, that makes the car sit on its outside rear very hard, and so your entry speed is a bit slower than you'd expect

 

And then the corner flattens out on the exit and the all of a sudden, there's heaps of grip and it seems like you went into the corner too slow!

 

I think I need to do more trackdays in the Hako, but I do need to do something with the brakes first.

[Stoney]

Love this car, and love the detail you go to in documenting changes.

 

Without me reading through your hundred page thread on JDMstyling again, what brakes are you using? Did you fit S13 Hilux calipers or was it just stock stuff with fresh parts? Ideas on what path you will go with for an upgrade? Wilwood bolt on kit? Datsport front coilover and brake upgrade kit?

 

Do you have upgraded sway bars, because it looks like that's something your car needs.

 

Maybe a set of coilovers for the front end?

 

I can quite easily recommend all this, it's not my money,

[Babalouie]

At the moment the brakes are all stock, except for Endless pads.  I think what I will do as a not-too-hard upgrade, will be to swap over to late-Kenmeri struts, which take the same caliper, but have 272mm instead of 250mm discs.  They're still solid discs tho.  Then I think I'll fit the solid-disc version of the Hilux calipers, with a 7/8s master cylinder.  it should be a nice upgrade without going too crazy.

 

Swaybar is stock, and the front already has coilovers with 250 pound springs.

 

As far as I was told, my car was repainted in Japan in 2004.  But judging by the condition of the paint when I bought the car in 2007, I would suspect that the japanese body restoration dates to at least a few years before that.  And the way the car was presented with a bare minimum of badges and emblems would bear that out.  Today, due to the popularity of the Hako and the sheer number of them being restored, every exterior badge or trim is available either as a reissued NOS part or as a reproduction part.  

 

But throughout the 90s, most of the bits you'd have needed would have been hard to find, or only available second hand.  And at the time my car was painted, I suspect that the original badges were not really presentable, and so the holes were all filled and painted over.  So my car was missing the fender badges, the now-very-common GT-R tail badge, and also the SKYLINE badge on the bootlid.  

 

Many years ago, Nissan had reissued the bootlid badges, and I picked one up in Japan way back in 2008.  But I've never gotten around to fitting it.  As you can see, it's in a modern Nissan parts box with a part number and everything.

 

And since I'll be drilling into the bootlid to fit this, first I measure the four mounting holes very carefully and make a paper template.  The fact that all four holes are in a straight line makes it a bit easier.

 

Then mock it up on the bootlid, and make sure that it's centred and is horizontal.

 

Then centrepunch the spot where I drill four 6mm holes, and needless to say, I'm rewarded with curls of bondo as the drill goes in.  But it looks like I've guesstimated the stock holes quite closely.

 

The badge doesn't follow the curved contour of the bootlid very well though, and is a bit too flat.  So put some strips of 3M Body Mounting Tape to get the ends to stick down, it's the stuff you use to stick on side skirts etc.

 

The 3M tape isn't very sticky at first, but once it bonds, it holds very strongly.  So I clamp the badge into place to make it conform to the shape of the bootlid, and give it quite a bit of time with the hairdryer to get the plastic to soften up a bit.

 

After leaving it overnight...it does!  A 3hr long roadtrip to a car show didn't jiggle the ends free and it's still holding the curved shape.  Some of the body mounting tape has squeezed out a little though, I'll have to figure out a way of trimming that back.

 

In other news, I noticed some witness marks on the fuel tank to suggest that it's been moving around.  The straps are as tight as can be, but I suspect that the hessian straps under the metal straps have disintegrated, and that's what's giving a bit of slack between the straps and the tank.  Does anyone know if there are generic fuel-safe rubber pads I can wrap around the straps?

[mrbigtanker]

Very nice very very nice.

[kneesamo]

In other news, I noticed some witness marks on the fuel tank to suggest that it's been moving around.  The straps are as tight as can be, but I suspect that the hessian straps under the metal straps have disintegrated, and that's what's giving a bit of slack between the straps and the tank.  Does anyone know if there are generic fuel-safe rubber pads I can wrap around the straps?

 

 

 

Ive seen someone use an old bicycle inner tube before, but i'm sure there's something better out there.

[Z23T]

 

 

In other news, I noticed some witness marks on the fuel tank to suggest that it's been moving around.  The straps are as tight as can be, but I suspect that the hessian straps under the metal straps have disintegrated, and that's what's giving a bit of slack between the straps and the tank.  Does anyone know if there are generic fuel-safe rubber pads I can wrap around the straps?

 

 

I always enjoy reading about your car. It's nice to see that you try to drive it a lot.

 

That stuff behind the fuel tank straps is called webbing, and it's common in the trucking industry for mounting saddle tanks. If you look on EBay for "Fuel Tank Webbing" you'll see a few different styles. You could also go to your local Kenworth, International, Freightliner, Isuzu, Hino, etc., dealer and they should have the stuff.

 

Cam.

[Eagle_Adam]

Don't know how I missed this build, but I've been home for the last 3 days sicker than a dog and have spent all 3 days reading thru this and your JNC post......

 

Your car is awesome, and your posts about your Webber tuning issues taught me more than anybody else has to date ;)

 

Great detail and pics, awesome car!

[Babalouie]

Remember the Nulon commercial where the Hako played a bit part?

 

Well, it's out, and it's rather good :)

 

The Hako appears twice, once in an overhead shot sliding around a corner

 

And again in that sequence in the pits where we were pretending to fix the caliper.

 

The Nulon guys reckon that there's some more really good on track footage of the Hako, which they'd like to use.  Nulon will be releasing more content during the year, and it looks like it's worth waiting for.  

 

Go out there, and buy Nulon oil and coolant!