Cooper - 1969 1600SSS Bluebird Coupe

[carterb]

Thursday night I came home and finished the wiring, using all the factory wiring where possible and just running a single new power wire from the coil to the ignition module.

 

 

Then it was time to turn the key.  It cranked over a few times and then fired up but only just.  I hooked the timing light back up and rotated the distributor through the available adjustment to try to achieve the same timing I was running before the swap.  I was about 5-10 degrees away and had no more adjustment.  So I pulled it back apart and elongated the slots in the timing plate with a file.

 

 

With the revised plate and the adjustment maxed out in one direction, I was able to get the timing I needed.

 

Then it was off for a test drive and get everything packed for the competition.  The carbs and seat swap would have to wait 'till another day.

[carterb]

The autocross was on a Friday afternoon this time so Sam, Jeff and I had to leave work a little early.  Here's Sam and I on the way to I-5.

 

 

There was a big 'ol 4x4 between us when we got to the on-ramp but he waved me around - figuring we'd want to be together.  That was pretty cool of him!

 

When we got to I-5 it was a completely stopped up!  Some people call autocrossing "parking lot racing" but I don't think there would be any racing in this parking lot!

 

 

It took forever but we got to the track on time, made it through tech, and lined up for a transponder/timing check.  Now this line I didn't mind waiting in!

 

 

Let the racing begin!

[carterb]

Oh man this was SO MUCH FUN!  I was a little nervous I guess thinking about the higher speeds we might be attaining on a dry course but it was worry for nothing as the extra speeds were held in check with massive amounts of traction.  I have always loved driving Cooper but pushing it around the racetrack has just brought the enjoyment to a whole new level!  I could push as hard as I could and the car has great feedback and completely neutral balance with just a hint of under steer at the limit.  Except for being completely out-powered at the event, my car ran and handled near perfectly.  I loved it!   :wub:

Throughout the night I was able to get my time lower and lower as I learned where to shave time on the course.  It really makes me want to get Rice Wagon on the road now so I can come back with twice the HP and see if I can get closer to the top times as there is no chance now with my little L16.  Still massive fun though!

 

 

Jeff, Sam and I were in the same group all night and Victoria didn't come with her camera so I don't have any on-track pictures to share but here are a couple from the staging line before our last session.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Jeff came away with another trophy.  2nd place 2wd.  Beat by a stripped out E30 BMW with an M3 motor, cage, etc.  That thing was FAST!  Only missing TTOD by a tenth!  No shame in that but now Jeff want's more power too!  : )

 

You local Datsun guys need to join in one of these times.

[carterb]

Saturday morning I woke up and before heading out to mow, I looked ioutside and thought "Hey!  There's a racecar in my driveway!"

 

:thumbup:

 

 

Did I mention this is so much fun?!

 

Oh, by the way, the car runs awesome with the new ignition.  Still vibrates BADLY though sometimes.  I think I will take all the wheels and tires in and check the balance, also look and make sure I don't have the exhaust touching the rear crossmember or something like that, or hopefully find whatever else might be causing it.

 

For now then, I am parking Cooper and driving Granny Car again.

[Eagle_Adam]

It's good to see you out putting the coupe thru its paces!

 

I wanna come play when my swap is finally done

[DAT510]

When is it vibrating? Maybe if could be the halfshafts if you didnt clock them right (might be 180° out??)

That Coupe looks GREAT!

[carterb]

Haven't really investigated yet but will let you know what I find.

Thanks for the compliment!

--carter

[carterb]

Found some pictures on-line from the last autocross.

Mine are below.  I'll let Jeff and Sam post their own.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Thanks for sharing the shots Lucian!

[carterb]

Here was the course by the way:

 

[carterb]

Finally made some time to get the wheel balance checked.

 

 

 

The Longchamps I usually run had two in perfect balance, one out of balance by 1.5oz and one out of balance by 2.0oz.   Now they are re-balanced and the weights are moved to the inside instead of the face.

The Jilba Racing rims I've I've been autocrossing on had one perfect, two at .5oz off, and one 1.75oz off.  The valve stems had more cracks than a plumbers convention so I had the tires dismounted, new stems installed, and everything re-balanced. 

Hopefully the out of balance wheels/tires played a big part in the vibrations I have been experiencing.  I'm excited to get back on the road and see/feel a difference.

(the steelies are for Granny Car)

[carterb]

BUT!  Before we get back on the road...  I wanted to install the CV axles I bought from Futofab.

 

 

Out with the old, in the with new.

 

 

The kit comes with nicely detailed instructions.

 

 

First on goes the adapters.  The exhaust side one comes pretty close to the pipe!  I might have to sort that later.

 

 

All adapters bolted/loctited/and torqued

 

 

Next up was greasing the CV joints.  That's a messy job!

 

 

And now, to lift them up and bolt them in!

 

[carterb]

Now some trouble...

When I lifted the axle up to the flanges, it would not fit end to end.

 

There is approximately 15.5" between the stub axle bolts.

 

 

But the axle measures approximately 15.5" as well.

 

 

 

This doesn't seem right.  I stopped and sent a message to Dave at Futofab to make sure I have the correct axles.

 

I have an autocross Friday and I'd like to run the CV axles so hopefully I'm just being overcautious.  I don't want to have to take the flanges back off and go back to the old half-shafts.

[Dime Dave]

Carter,

I got your email. Todd at Wolf Creek Racing had sold hundreds of these kits over the years with no issues to my knowledge. Your kit was from the stock FutoFab acquired duing the WCR purchase, so it is 100% the same as the kits sold prior to yours. It may be a tight fit, but I have no reason to believe it won't work for you.

 

That said, there always seems to be variations from car to car with our Datsuns.

 

The axle bars on these kits have no hard stop on the innner side of the CV. They are designed to allow the axle to slide on the CV spines. I would suggest removing your coilover to allow the trailing arm to drop. Install the axle and with the coilover removed, move the control arm up to reduce the distance between the CV''s. Keep checking for end to end play on the axle bar by sliding it side to side. If the side to side axle movement stops do not move the trailing arm any further. The bind could damage the trailing arm or diff.

 

Also check to see if there is a difference from right to left side. A 1/8" lateral shift of the diff creates a 1/4" axle length difference.

 

I checked a rear suspension I have out of a car. Not perfectly dimensioned but it measured 16" flange to flange on the right and 15  3/4" on the left. The actual bar length is 15 5/8"

 

Check to see if you have different axle lengths side to side and then trial fit the shortest side and let us know what you find. 

[carterb]

That's the response I was hoping for Dave, thanks!

I'll lower the arm(s), fit in the axle, and check for play.

--carter

[carterb]

Lowered arm, inserted axle, raised arm, axle binds.  Tried both sides.  Bummed.  News at 11.

[q-tip]

Since they don't work for you Carter I will gladly trade you my half shafts for them, both pairs. :lol:

[banzai510(hainz)]

you can flip the timming plate upside down to get to come in closer

 

matchbox had 2 styles which 1 is off like 15-20 degs I think

[carterb]

Thanks Hainz,

It runs great a the moment so I'm not going to fool with it...

[carterb]

Lowered arm, inserted axle, raised arm, axle binds.  Tried both sides.  Bummed.  News at 11.

 

Okay, back to the install.

 

I dropped the coilover and trailing arm assembly down far enough to fit the axle inside the adapters.

 

 

Then I had Brenda slowly raise the arm using a jack so i could check for end-play between the CV axle an the stub axles.

 

 

But before the arm was raised level with the diff, the axle bound, each end locked hard against the two stub axles.

 

 

 

Not much I could do at that point...

 

:no:

[carterb]

If the stub axle bolt head didn't stick out so far, there may be *just* enough room to accommodate the length of the CV axle.

 

 

Of course, the big nut on the trailing arm stub axle isn't much lower profile, but that part must be the same on every 510 right?

 

 

If any of you has a set of these installed, what is the distance from flange to flange of the adapters?

 

I get a level measurement of 14 1/4"

 

 

 

[carterb]

As far as I know, Dave has never had another customer with this issue so there must be something different about my car.  Could the rear track be different on a coupe than a sedan?  Could the Subaru LSD push the axle flanges out just a little?  I may have to try to answer those questions.  In the mean time, I need to get my half shafts back in so I can go racing the next day.

 

When I removed the adapter from the right side of the diff, I noticed that the stub axle had a little wiggle to it.  So I thought, hey, maybe it is not fully seated.  The 14mm socket I was using to remove the adapter is the same as the stub axle bolt so I hooked it up and gave it a twist.  It didn't seem very tight so I twisted some more.  I thought I could feel a little torque building so I twisted some more, then it got easy all the sudden.  Awesome!  I thought.  Maybe I seated it past an o-ring or something that I hadn't done before.  Maybe that will pull the axle in and the CV axles will fit after all.  My excitement was short lived however as I turned the bolt a couple more turns and noticed that it was not getting any tighter.  I had stripped the threads.

 

I reached up, pinched the bolt head between my fingers, and pulled it straight out with no protest.

 

 

Great!  Just great!  :crying:

 

I pulled the stub axle so I could get a look inside and see what I could see.

 

 

 

 

I can tell you I was glad it was the bolt that stripped and not the nut inside the diff.

[carterb]

I've said it before, I have no idea how people build 510s when they don't have a garage full of parts.  I came up with a spare stub axle bolt just like that!

 

 

I first tried threading it into the diff to make sure the threads in the nut were clean and didn't need chased and remarkably, they were fine.

 

Then I reinstalled the stub axle and very carefully torqued it down.

 

 

I tried both stub axles and there is a little play in each.  Both in and out of the diff and also perpendicular to the center line.  Not sure how bad this may be but it does make me wonder if that has something to do with the vibration I had, if not the wheels/tires.

 

At this point though, I just needed to get the car back together and down on the ground.  So back in went the half-shafts.

 

[carterb]

Oh yeah, before pulling the adapters, I did check one thing.  Note the relationship between the stud head on the back of the 510 axle flange when installed in the subaru LSD:

 

 

And here, as installed in the stock diff.

 

 

While I didn't measure, it sure isn't 1/4" or 1/2" different like I was hoping.  Now that doesn't mean that the entire LSD housing isn't wider but I will have to save that check for another day.

 

For tonight, there was enough time to mount the wheels back on, drop the car down, pull out of the garage,

 

 

And park cooper next to Granny and Bruiser for the night.

 

[carterb]

I intend to figure out why this kit didn't fit my car in case there is something to be learned here.

I also intend to modify it to fit by cutting the axles shorter.  Just think of how much quicker I will be able to do the job next time!  : )

 

So the next day was another autocross at Evergreen Speedway.

 

I was excited to drive to work in the morning with my re balanced wheels and experience some nice smooth motoring.  Not a chance.  I think I might just be hyper sensitive now.  It doesn't help that I've been driving Granny for the last couple weeks that that is like driving on a cloud!  So smooth perched up high on stock suspension with 13" wheels and all that sidewall...

 

Oh well, it wouldn't matter once we were back on the track.

 

Here I am behind Jeff lined up for our first run.

 

 

The course was the same basic course as last time except the cones on the 3/8 oval left hander were not R L R L but R R L R R L.   That mad for some serious high speed off camber right hand turns!  And the slalom cones along the 3/8 oval backstretch were TIGHT!  There would be some serious sawing back and forth of the steering wheel.  No where near as smooth and flowing as the last event.

 

We had great weather all night!

 

 

Here is another one of Jeff as we were lined up in the starter's box.

 

[carterb]

For the first time, a couple guys asked for rides.  The first gentlemen (Greg?  Dave?) was a good sized individual.  I wasn't sure he was going to get the seat belt buckled but he sucked it in and away we went.  During the first run I found myself a little late on a couple of cones so I was scrubbing the tires pretty hard in order to bring it back in line.  He had a great time though and couldn't believe how fast the little datsun could corner.  He also commented on the sound (which I just love as you know) so that was cool to hear.

 

He stayed in for another run and I was determined not to make the same mistakes again.  I made it through the first section much cleaner and and then where I had the second bit of trouble, I just nailed it!  Best run around that corner so far all night!  Unfortunately, in my excitement, I did not factor in my now higher speed combined with my 10% higher mass as I headed to the next corner.  My usual quick stab on the brakes did not scrub off enough speed and half way into the turn I realized I was not going to make it, so rather than fall off the pavement at half lock and risk digging a rim into the dirt, I let off the gas, straightened the wheel, and took a cone straight to the nose.

 

I didn't need to look to know what I had done.  There was no way a fiberglass spook could handle that kind of punishment.  But when I came back around to the line again, I popped out to make sure I wasn't dragging anything.

 

 

That's what you call a clean break everyone!  :bye: