Duke's '72 510 (Carbed KA Autocross/Hillclimb car)

[Duke]

Had another Auto-X event on Saturday.  I've come to the conclusion that there are really no huge faults with the car currently.  The handling is spot on, and it has more than enough power for what I want to do with it.  I guess the biggest issue is the DRIVER!  This last event really made me feel like I need to clean up my driving.  My 3 fastest runs were all ruined by cones, and I never really felt good on the course.  That being said I was still able to take the win in my class and was .03 sec from being the fastest street tired car.  My plan for the next event is to leave the car totally as is (maybe a new exhaust setup, I got a warning for excessive noise this last event  :? ) and really try to focus on learning the course and choosing the correct lines.

Here are some pictures from this Saturday.  There are some pretty sizable bumps on the course that have a tendency to upset my car mid corner...as you can see from the last shot  8) .

[]2eDeYe]

Man, that looks bitchin on the track.

[rusty12ver]

What a awesome shot.

[Duke]

I had been planning on building a new exhaust system for quite some time.  I think I purchased most of the material for the header back in November, and I just needed to get off my ass and get it done.  In preparation I had built the exhaust tunnel so I could tuck it up under the car as much as possible to help avoid any ground clearance issues (this is what killed my old header and exhaust).  I also wanted to make the whole system easy to remove for service or repair.  This was one of the big negatives of my old header, because it required taking the steering box out to remove it.  For the connections in the exhaust I used V-band flanges, one after the collector and one before the rear crossmember, which make taking the exhaust off a very easy process.  I figured if I was going to go to all this hassle, I might as well do it right and use stainless.  This proved to be a fairly expensive proposition, but I think it was worth the expense.  I don’t have many pictures of the actual build process, but it was a very time consuming process of cutting, fitting, re-cutting, re-fitting, tacking, and so on to get everything lined up and fitted like I wanted it.  Here are a few pictures of the build process as well as some of the finished product.  I should be able to get some shots of the exhaust under the car this week as well.

#1 and #2 in place.



The pile of finish welded tubes.



All finished on the bench.





And in the car.



The exhaust system.



And the headers after a few heat cycles.





And a parting shot from the last auto-x I did.  The car has been a bit of a handful at the last few events, so I am revisiting my suspension setup to see if I can make it a little more manageable though fast sweepers.

[Creepy Cruiser]

Very cool.

[Duke]

This past weekend I did my first hill climb.  I have always wanted to do a hill climb, but because my 510 was my daily for so long, I was hesitant for fear of grenading the engine or having an off track excursion. Without those fears now, and with the car developed to a level that I am happy with, decided to do one.  The Hoopa Hill Climb is located about 5 hours north of me and after hearing how great of an event it was from a few guys I auto-x with, I decided to give it a try.  With my dad being the awesome guy he is, he agreed to come along for the weekend and act as my "crew" and help tow the car up.

This is a map of the course.  There are two pretty fast sections, where I was hitting 80+mph and the fast cars were pushing 100!

 

We departed mid day Friday and arrived around 6 and unloaded the car for tech and registration.  The tech inspection was more rigorous than the usual auto-x tech, but my car passed with flying colors. With a little time to kill we headed up to the hill to check out the course.  I had agood idea of the layout after watching videos of previous years, but I was really surprised at how steep it actually was.  The average gradient for the 2.2 mile course is 10%, with many of the hair pins quite a bit steeper than this.  After actually seeing how steep the hill was, I was a little worried about how well my relatively underpowered 510 would do against some of the other cars.  From the hill I went to the new drivers meeting to get a run down of what to expect the next day.  After watching videos of a few runs and getting some advice on lines they laid out the three most important points of the weekend: don't crash, have fun, and DON'T CRASH!

We woke up early Saturday morning and headed to the hill.  The forecast for the day was for high temperatures to be around 100*, so it was going to be a real test on cars cooling systems and drivers ability to stay cool and hydrated.  We were assigned to the second run group, so we got to work the hill first.  We set up at turn six and settled in for the running of the first run group.  Their first runs were pretty uneventful, but things definitely got a bit exciting when a Nissan 370z spun off at turn 8 and ended up on his lid.  A good reminder for an inexperienced driver, like myself, to stay within my limits.  The car was in a safe place though, so runs continued through to lunch, when the run groups would switch. At lunch I did the final prep to my car, setting tire pressures and doing one final check over to make sure everything was good to go.

The car ready to go for the first run, sitting next to the tow vehicle for the weekend.



Lining up for the first run I planned to take it easy up the hill, learn the lines, and get a feel for things.  First run up was uneventful and ended with a time around 2:43.  My personal goal for the weekend was to run under 2:40, so I was pleased with this. Second run up the hill I was a little more confident, braking later into corners and getting on the gas a bit earlier.  There were a few places where I was still hesitant to go flat out, but I figured this would come as I became more comfortable with the hill.  My time for the second run was 236.3 so I was very pleased to have achieved my personal goal for the weekend!  With runs for day 1 over we headed back to town for dinner and a little bench racing.  After dinner I returned to the hill for a couple of slow drives up to go over any places that I was having trouble with in hope that I could squeeze out a few more seconds for the next day.

My run group ran first on Sunday, and I was really excited to see what I could do.  On my first run of the day I felt like I was really flying, going flat through a few of the faster turns, and generally letting it hang out a bit more than the day before. Feeling really good about my run I was excited to see my time. Mid 2:38...well, not exactly what I wanted or was expecting.  I knew there were a few spots that I could gain time, so for my final I really concentrated on nailing these sections.  I was rewarded with my fastest time of the weekend with a 2:33.  !  This was good enough to give me first in my class and 28th out of a 60 car field.  In a field filled with high hp cars (Corvettes, Porsches, Subaru STi's, etc) I was very pleased with this.

The car ran beautifully the whole weekend and never missed a beat. I'm already dreaming up ways to make myself and my car faster for next year with the goal of dropping my times below 2:30!

Here are the overall results for the weekend by overall standing:
http://www.rscc.net/pdf/Hoopa_2013_Final_Rank.pdf

And separated into class:
http://www.rscc.net/pdf/Hoopa_2013_Final.pdf

And here is a nice shaky video of my fastest run.  Any comments/criticisms with regards to my driving are more than welcome.  I know I have a lot to learn!
 

 

[510T]

Hell Yeah Duke!  Nice little slide on the last corner :)

 

Was the course as bumpy as the video would lead me to believe?

 

Maybe I will be able to join you up there next year :devil:

[jalen]

First time seeing this thread. I LOVE YOUR ENGINE SETUP

[Eagle_Adam]

that header is TITS!!! 

[Lozer]

Awesome driving Saturday Duke. You got me by 2/10s of a second for top time on street tires. I pissed off alot of people with that course. :)  It it's easy there's no point.

[DottiBlue]

Looks fun duke! Looks like your back end is a little loose? Maybe just to much horse power!!

[Duke]

Awesome driving Saturday Duke. You got me by 2/10s of a second for top time on street tires. I pissed off alot of people with that course. :)  It it's easy there's no point.

 

Thanks Tom!  I must say that I was really impressed with your driving.  I can't believe you (edit)didn't hit a single cone all day!  I also really enjoyed the course, I wasn't complaining at all.

 

Looks fun duke! Looks like your back end is a little loose? Maybe just to much horse power!!

 

Yeah, it can get a little tail happy.  I have been working on the car setup since installing the LSD and I think I am zeroing in on it.  I still have a bit of an oversteer problem but it is getting better.

[]2eDeYe]

That looks like a great time. Nice driving :D

[510_Dillon]

Still one of my favorite 510's! Love seeing updates on your build. And awesome video Duke!

[Duke]

I have been slacking on updates on this thread.  Nothing big has happened, just a few little upgrades over the winter that will hopefully compliment the overall package of the car.  The first upgrade was the rear control arms.  Nothing crazy (like some of the awesome fully custom setups that I have seen lately), just some proven modifications.  The first was the bushings.  I ran into a problem last season when trying to run a bunch of rear toe in (3/8"+).  It was fine when going forward, but when I put the car in reverse, the flex in to bushing would allow the tires to move outward and they would rub on the fenders.  I took this as a sign that the original rear bushings were pretty much shot.  I contacted DP Racing and picked up one of their spherical bushing kits for the rear arms to solve this problem.

 

 

Because I was doing this work to the rear control arms, I decided to see if there was anything else that I could address.  Looking at them, it seemed like there was a bunch of extra stuff on them that I didn't need anymore (e-brake cable guides, spring seats, random triangular bracket).  All of this was unnecessary unsprung weight, so all of this was removed.

 

 

 

Next, because I have been running rear coilovers for the past year and a half, I wanted to reinforce the mounting point for these.  To do this I boxed in the mount and used a tube to reinforce the stud that the coilover mounts to.  I haven't seen anybody have problems with the stock mount breaking, but this just gives me a little more peace of mind.

 

 

While I was under there I also decided to make some modifications to Byrons camber toe brackets.  I really like the design and function of them, but there were a few things I wanted to change.  I first tacked the nuts for the toe adjustment onto the inner brackets, making it much easier to lock these down with one wrench when making adjustments.  Second I punched graduations on the camber slots so that I have some kind of reference when making adjustments.  Third, instead of using standard washers for the adjustment bolts, I used thick hardened washers to help prevent any distortion of the slots when locking everything down.  Nothing really that crazy, just a few touches to make an already good product even better.

 

 

I was originally planning on reusing the drums from my old control arms, but after thinking about it, this was a perfect time to upgrade to rear discs.  I picked up some brackets from Aaron Suchy to run 200sx rear discs with Maxima calipers.  My first attempt at installation was a total failure.  The calipers wouldn't even bolt to the brackets.  After contacting Aaron, it became apparent that Rock Auto had sent me the wrong calipers.  Luckily there was a '87 Maxima at the local Pick n Pull.  A quick trip over there and I was in business.  I also added a speedbleeders to the new calipers to complete the package.  I don't think I will ever not put these on a car that I own.  It makes bleeding the brakes an easy 1 man job, saving the hassle of trying to find somebody to push the pedal for you at 1 AM as I frantically prep the car the night before a race.

I am still having some problems with one of the pads not contacting the rotor square, but I will address this later.

[Duke]

The next "over the winter" upgrade, and the one that will most likely have the biggest impact on lap times, is the jump to running full slicks.  For the past few years I have run quite a few different extreme performance summer tires, and have been happy with them as they give a good compromise between good manners on the street (as long as it's not raining hard) and good grip for auto-x.  In the quest to go faster though, I knew that slicks would be in my future.  After asking around and reading a bunch, I decided to go with a set of Hankook Ventus Z221.  This is their soft compound for autocross and other short sprint type events.  They might give up a little time when compared to something like Hoosier A6's (the current fastest tire) but they are less expensive and have better wear characteristics from what I have read.

To mount the tires on I needed another set of wheels.  I wanted to stick with the same size and offset that I am currently running (15x7, +0) so the search began.  While browsing a toyota forum I found a guy selling a set of 15x7 +0 Volk TE37's.  I have always loved the style of these wheels.  They are a little modern, but I think they still suit a 510 well.  As another plus, they are crazy light (~10 lbs per wheel).  This, along with the race tires, added up to a weight savings of 6 lbs per wheel.  A good savings considering it is both unsprung and rotational weight.

[Yakuza]

love this car...

[mrbigtanker]

Very nice my friend,very nice. :thumbup: :thumbup:

[ATP]

always enjoy seeing the upgrades you are doing. I love how everything you do is about function, aesthetics is great and you have that too for sure, but function is first on the list. Just curious was size tires are running?

 

 

Andrew 

[]2eDeYe]

Thanks for the update, get's better every time :D

[Duke]

Thanks guys!  The first autocross of the year is Sunday and I can't wait to see what it is like with the new tires! :w00t:

 

always enjoy seeing the upgrades you are doing. I love how everything you do is about function, aesthetics is great and you have that too for sure, but function is first on the list. Just curious was size tires are running?

 

 

Andrew 

 

Thanks Andrew.  Yeah, the car isn't pretty...maybe someday it will get some actual body work and paint...maybe.

 

For tires I currently run 205-50-15 all the way around.

[ATP]

paint is a waste of funds that could be better used to make it faster and more fun to drive!

[15om]

I have the same tire size all around, look forward to hearing how they are since I have not driven mine yet and would love to take mine to the track someday

[DottiBlue]

What time is the auto cross? I'll come out and watch. If you need a hand at one in the am, let me know. I'm usually down!

[DottiBlue]

How did the autocross event go? Tried to come by and watch, but apparently you have to be a pre registered member just to watch and can't bring kids. They let me do a drive through and I saw your car, and I think I saw you talking with a group.