Daily Hillclimb Build (s30)

[drummingpariah]

Hahaha no apologies necessary. I like my patrol cap (or carhart hat if it's cold), even if that makes me come off as a bro. I'll say the same about the Datsun. I make no apologies. The beard just happens on its own, I don't make a decision on it either way. I notice it when it's annoying, and that's when I cut it off.

 

No real update to post, I've mostly been re-organizing tools and workflow, and catching up on video editing. I'm trying to publish two episodes this weekend.

[hobospyder]

I have a beanie and a hat I like to wear myself. I tend to be bald myself. And do the same thing with the beard.

[drummingpariah]

I decided that trying to make the front suspension happen by myself wasn't working, so today I switched to the rear subframe pickups. I'm really glad I did, that little change of focus solved my mental block, and I was glad to be back in the shop.

 

[Laecaon]

Sometimes a change of focus is what is needed. I lost focus on my car, and when a friend messed up my radiator while welding it, I changed my focus to another part of the car and suddenly got a lot work done on the front suspension.

 

I love this build, shows a different side to the average car build.

[bonvo]

Well its been a long ti.e but i just got caught up looks like both our projects have taken a turn for the radical though yours more then mine lol

[willz]

I want a driven daily decal

[drummingpariah]

Sometimes a change of focus is what is needed. I lost focus on my car, and when a friend messed up my radiator while welding it, I changed my focus to another part of the car and suddenly got a lot work done on the front suspension.

 

I love this build, shows a different side to the average car build.

I'm definitely not the guy who has pristine original paint under a car cover in the garage. I'm the weird uncle who has stories about how he once drove a car off a cliff, into a lake.

 

... to put out the fire.

 

I should never spawn children.

 

Well its been a long ti.e but i just got caught up looks like both our projects have taken a turn for the radical though yours more then mine lol

I have the weirdest boner right now. I just hopped back onto your build thread, and it excites me. It really has been a long time. I think I've gone through 2 more s30's since we last exchanged parts.

 

I want a driven daily decal

[bonvo]

Yeah its strange how time changes things once the body work is done it goes and gets a cage then gets sprayed and alllll kinds of shit happens

[drummingpariah]

Continuing on that trend, I started welding in the pickups today.

 

The front pickups for the rear subframe:

 

The rear pickup (one of two) for the rear subframe:

 

Every day, it's a little closer to rolling around on its own wheels.

[drummingpariah]

Production quality is getting better. I hope you guys are enjoying the videos.

 

[drummingpariah]

Week07 is live!

 

[Draker]

good stuff as always.

[tr8er]

Missed six all together... Watching

[drummingpariah]

Today's been slow. I'm still recovering from being sick, and everything feels 5x heavier than usual. The hope is that tomorrow's a bit more productive.

 

On the plus side, being out of the shop means I have a bit more time to prep week08's episode.

[drummingpariah]

Well, the s30 definitely won't be ready for the first hillclimb event (Ascutney) but we've been making brisk progress on it lately. This weekend we changed gears a little, and put some time into the race hauler instead of the race car.

 

I had made the mistake of ordering a gasoline filler neck for it a few months ago, which doesn't accept the larger diesel fillers (I didn't know this until I stopped for a fillup). It's still held up by a bungee cord, but at least I don't have to remove the filler from the tube every time I want to fill the tank any more.

 

 

Up next: The coolant system had a slow leak for awhile, but it recently became critical (which is why I parked it). We spent some time isolating the source of the leak, finding the right(ish) replacement hose, and breaking our fingers to get them to fit in place.

 

 

Then we turned our attention to the interior. Ugh. Just ... It was disgusting. This used to be a roofing truck, so there's tar everywhere on it. Seats, in the box, all over the dash, steering wheel ... everywhere. The floor had some housing carpet pad with vinyl on top, and wasn't sealed. Everything smelled of mildew and sadness, and the whole truck just felt soggy. After tearing out the flooring, we found enough dirt to plant a garden. It may have been growing, for all I know. That channel above the rockers had around 6" of packed-in mud.

 

 

After a lot of cleaning, wire wheeling, and some phosphoric acid, we threw a bit of primer & paint at it.

 

 

I haven't decided what kind of long-term coating to put on it yet. I have a bunch of POR15 left over, but I don't know how well it'll hold up to this kind of environment. I'm open to any suggestions you folks might have. Everything's reassembled right now, and the next project will be finishing up the box itself (hopefully this week).

[drummingpariah]

This weekend, a friend was clearing out their garage while moving, and had to give away the last few things that they hadn't sold off. I wrapped up a few final projects on my box truck and made a trip down there. I came back with a bunch of tools, and (at least as exciting) storage!

 

 

I finally have a toolbox that can live in the race support box truck out of the deal too (this was the main selling point for me to head down).

 

 

After unloading it, everything was a disaster. I unloaded the truck and pretty much dumped everything wherever it could fit. I went out for dinner, then came back to tackle the first stage of cleanup.

 

 

After cleanup, it's still an unusable shop ... but all the filing cabinets are empty. Once I label them and organize stuff into them, I should end up with most of the bay back in floor space!

 

[drummingpariah]

We're racing Mt Washington, but need help from viewers to fund it.

 

[drummingpariah]

Prep is well underway. I picked up a spare gearbox, cleaned it up, and replaced the front and rear seals, as well as rebuilding the spare clutched limited slip differential.

 

I picked up some new 245-40R15 tires from Maxxis.

 

I put the car into what I call "service mode"

 

Air conditioning and power steering came out, dropping a lot of weight off the front of the car.

 

Then it all came back together for a bit more fender trimming and basic aero mounting.

[drummingpariah]

Today, I rebuilt the torsen limited slip.

 

For now, it lives next to the clutched limited slip, waiting for me to choose which will be installed for Mt Washington next weekend.

 

We also installed the new VMAXX suspension. This is a pretty fantastic budget setup (right at the $1k mark), and is still pretty compliant. Track setups would be far too stiff for any of the hills we run, so I wanted to find something that was high quality while still being compliant and adjustable. After a rough base tune, we have the car level again. Hopefully we'll have some time to fine-tune before Mt Washingont.

 

Finally, and most importantly, we beat the piss out of the transmission tunnel. Then we cut a huge chunk out of it. Then we could fit the widest seat I've ever seen in my life ... into one of the smallest cabins available in a production car. It took most of yesterday and today to get it all aligned, get the seat facing forward, get the seat level, and make sure I could sit in the car without my head hitting the cage while also being able to close the door. Seat installation sucks.

 

[frank88]

You met Jeff!!

[drummingpariah]

I met Jeff! We actually spent a good portion of the day hanging out, grabbing lunch, talking about differences between Australia and the US. I had a great time hanging out with him (and Mrs. Jeff, who is also fascinating). 

 

 

We ended up missing Mt Washington. As the deadline for the rookie orientation run drew near, we had a hard time getting the car street-legal to bring up to the hill. There were too many little things standing in our way, and not enough time/hands to finish prep, and I had to drop off the roster. We'll have another shot at 2020, and the hope is that we'll have the Datsun available for that.

 

For now, prep continues for Mt Burke at the end of this month.

[frank88]

Shame about mt washington. I'm looking forward to seeing how stock power gets on. I had a supercharged nb for 5 years and recently drove a stock 1.6 and loved it. You always go back to miatas!

[drummingpariah]

[drummingpariah]

We just finished both 2017 Burke 1 and 2017 Burke 2. Race footage is up for both events (I think), but here's a sort of behind-the-scenes video of 2017 Burke 2. Let me know if you guys like seeing this kind of stuff.

 

Now that the car is mostly sorted out, it's getting to be time to circle back on the Datsun!

 

[drummingpariah]

This was a bit more of a rough event, and was the first time I couldn't drive the car home afterward. I think it also bumped me out of the running for Class Champion this season. I should be able to repair it by Mt Philo next month, but I had really hoped to circle back on the Datsun after this one.

 

Here's race footage from one of my practice runs on Saturday. I'm not committing to corners like I would on race day, but it was still pretty quick. Good enough to be 6 seconds faster than my personal best, when I was pushing as hard as I dared.