carterb Posted July 13, 2023 Report Share Posted July 13, 2023 (edited) We have to get up pretty early in the morning to make it down to Shelton before the track day driver's meeting. Wait, no you don't. There isn't a driver's meeting. Or was there? Heck, I don't remember. (see etch-a-sketch above) Anyway, we got up pretty early in the morning and Brenda the pit crew boss rode shotgun as I drove the 620 full of spare parts, racing gear, water, Gatorade, trial mix, mambas, and other race car driver staples down to the track ahead of Jeff and Paul in the D21 - Swamp Thing in tow. As is often the case in the great Pacific Northwest, it was wet! But that's okay, because we are goin' racin'! And a wet day racing is better than a dry day punching a time clock!!! Good thing I'm not insecure because someone could make a few "size matters" comment here. I think Paul and Jeff and I spend just about as much money as we're willing to spend chasing other jalopys around a racetrack. And that seems like a lot! But some of our competitors apparently have a little more, how shall we say, disposable income! : ) Fortunately semi-trucks and RV's and $5,000 BMW big brake kits are not a requirement for entry in a Luckydog race and we came to have fun so let's do it! Hey look! Another Datsun! If I remember correctly, we enjoyed a full day of track time with lots of slippin' and slidin' and singing in the rain while enjoying the best little racecar on the planet (note: If you are currently driving a racecar, it is the best racecar on the planet! Amendment: If you are currently driving a racecar, put your phone away and look where you are going!) and enjoying the fact that we were not overheating, we were not fuel starving, we were not at work, and we were not T-boned by a big fat BMW who forgot you have to get a $5,000 big brake kit up to operating temperature before it will slow your 3,500lb freight train down to pedestrian speeds before cranking full lock into the tight left hand turn 13 at the top of "The Ridge". Pretty sure all these guys were having just as much fun as we were: And who's attention did the Swamp Thing attract? No - not race control smarty pants... None other than Randy Pobst! He has stopped by a few times at the races. And you know what he's thinkin'. He still hasn't come right out and asked but you can tell... : ) Anyway, this time he came by and full on chatted us up for probably 20 minutes! Really great guy. Fun to hear his stories - even if most of them are about his Volvo. ??? Randy has driven quite a few "best racecar on the planet" over his career. We might still be talking but then everyone got distracted by this guy in some crazy record breaking Honda (Acura?) drag racer that was doing demo runs down the front straight. Well, two of them anyway - before his tranny packed it in. Oh well... It was fun while it lasted. Time to start thinking about tomorrow... Edited July 13, 2023 by carterb 4 Quote Link to comment
carterb Posted September 3, 2023 Report Share Posted September 3, 2023 Okay, here's the deal... I regret to inform you all that I need to hit the fast forward button here. This summer was one for the history books and I just have not been able to keep up. We have a race again in a week and I intend to get everyone caught up before the car is on the trailer so hang on here we go: Saturday started out wet! But our enthusiasm was not dampened! Here we are lined up for the race start Super fun day of racing with no problems or issues with the car! Here is Paul rolling through the pits at some point in time. (note the artsy reflection!) And here's Jeff taking the checkered flag: https://datsun510.com/uploads/monthly_2023_07/04232023swampthing(2).MOV.c4c295cff366e91ccfe912fc31f31da2.MOV No trophies for participation but we always feel like we've won when we finish the race under our own power and can drive back to the pits! 2 Quote Link to comment
carterb Posted September 3, 2023 Report Share Posted September 3, 2023 (edited) Here are some pro-shots. Not sure if they are from Saturday or Sunday. I think Sunday started out a little wet too With rain on and off through the day. Everything was going so well and I believe we were in the top 10 in C class with about an hour to go. I was driving and came onto the front straight and when I shifted from 3rd to 4th BAM!!!!! Big noise and it was over... I didn't know exactly what it was but I wasn't about to drive around and make it worse so I immediately got out of the gas and coasted down to the pit out and onto the shoulder where I had to be recovered by a flat bed. I thought they could just tow me in on a rope but they said part of the car was on the ground. Uh oh... That doesn't sound good. So it was a one man Datsun parade then! I feel like everybody got their money's worth don't you? : ) Turns out the exhaust broke in the middle of the bend below the collector. So it was onto the trailer and pack up camp and done for the day. Never fun when other cars are still out there racing but hey, we were only 1 hour short for the whole weekend and everything else went perfect so let's not complain. And we DID still drive it up onto the trailer! A broken exhaust is better than a broken engine, broken tranny, broken car, or broken driver... The only real negative of the weekend was that when I got back to the pits in the flat bed, my dad and my brother were there. My brother was in the middle of battling stage 4 lung cancer and was in hospice care at my parents house. It was not easy for him (or my dad) to get up to the track to see us race and when he got there our car was broke. We could fix the car but unfortunately that was not the case for my brother. He hung on for one more month before passing away on May 25, 2023 one week before his 54th birthday. RIP my brother. The next race is for you! Edited September 3, 2023 by carterb 2 1 Quote Link to comment
carterb Posted September 3, 2023 Report Share Posted September 3, 2023 (edited) The next week we welded up the exhaust and just like that it's ready to race again. With Formula E messing up the schedule there would be no ORP this year and we were not excited about Pacific Raceways so we would just wait 'till September to go back to the Ridge. In the mean time, we had a K motor swap to figure out. The plan is to K-swap this car first You know - to work out the kinks. And THEN swap it over to the Swamp Thing in a weekend when it is all sorted. I still think this might be a trick. : ) Oh well, let's just do it. Lot's to figure out! Oil pan, motor mounts, hood clearance, header, plumbing... And that's just the mechanical list! I'm just going to load up the thread with some pics... They tell most of the story. We are pretty sure we are keeping the balance shafts. Pretty much everyone we talk to that has removed the balance shafts has had issues from excessive engine vibration. When you are racing 7-8 hours straight - we don't have time for broken sensors and such. We'll give up the 10 hp or whatever if it means we can race on the track instead of in the pits. Keeping the shafts means some extra work shoehorning this super tall motor into the 510 engine bay but we'll figure it out. Hey, didn't I say I was just going to post pictures? Jeff's patent pending "half hood" hood clearance checking tool Edited September 3, 2023 by carterb 2 Quote Link to comment
carterb Posted September 3, 2023 Report Share Posted September 3, 2023 (edited) May 17th was motor mount night. Time to replace our temporary adjustable units with something more representative. Not final versions but something that at least puts the motor where it needs to live. Edited September 3, 2023 by carterb 1 Quote Link to comment
carterb Posted September 3, 2023 Report Share Posted September 3, 2023 May 24 was oil pan night. Oh yeah - time to figure out the header as well. Jeff and Paul will have to post the recipe for this thing... snug as a bug in a rug! Pretty obvious at this point that Nissan was not thinking ahead back in 1967. Would you believe there were no previsions for a rack and pinion conversion or a Honda K24 motor? Sheesh! Come on guys! 2 Quote Link to comment
carterb Posted September 3, 2023 Report Share Posted September 3, 2023 Somewhere during this time Jeff and Paul had perfected the Honda K motor valve cover modification to clear the 510 hood. Somehow I don't have photographic evidence of this work. Or maybe I am just acting on the instruction of the JBC lawyers. You know, secret hush hush development type stuff... : ) Quote Link to comment
carterb Posted September 3, 2023 Report Share Posted September 3, 2023 (edited) It was all going so well - until it wasn't. Jeff loaned the Dilly to our oil sponsor so he could tow home his newest acquisition - a vintage Chevrolet Advance Design pickup truck. Unfortunately, this proved a little too much for the trailer and a catastrophic failure some 30-50 years in the works finally happened. The leaf springs broke and spit the axles out the back of the trailer. The vintage pickup and the tow rig were safe but the trailer was D E A D. It was returned to Jeff in pieces within a week or two. What ever happened to returning things in better condition than you found them? What we have figured out since, is that this is a custom engineered trailer unlike anything else out there. So we would be on our own to fix it. It turns out the spring perch on the axles was too narrow for the leafs and so the U bolts were bending the spring which eventually lead to them cracking - all four ends. Some were welded up at one point in time and the two axles were even strapped together with some flat steel for extra insurance but as you can see, this all ultimately failed. So we figured this was a good time to fix a few things on this old trailer and we made a list. And so the K motor swap was put largely on hold so we could spend the summer rebuilding the Dilly. Edited September 3, 2023 by carterb 2 Quote Link to comment
carterb Posted September 3, 2023 Report Share Posted September 3, 2023 (edited) First step was to order some spring steel which Jeff and I machined and sent to a local heat treat company to conduct some oven magic to achieve the required material properties to make this thing last another 50 years. Meanwhile Paul continued to work in the header. Paul! That's looking totally tubular dude! Edited September 3, 2023 by carterb 3 Quote Link to comment
carterb Posted September 3, 2023 Report Share Posted September 3, 2023 The heat treat place took their sweet time but we finally got them back on the 19th of July. Maybe they used a natural aging process? : ) I had made a template for the spring plates I would need to make. Between work and dealing with my brother's estate however, time has been in short supply this summer so I spent some time on line hoping to find something I could buy. Noone makes anything for a 3" wide spring. I was able to find someone that makes them for a 3" diameter axle though so I could just turn them 90 degrees and they would work! YES! Beefy mothers too! I even painted them up to make 'em look pretty. Also got a lighting kit a new control box and of course new U bolts Almost time to start putting some of this stuff together. The leafs were not symmetric so had to do a quick little study to see if they were offset to the front or the rear. Didn't want to go through all this trouble and them rebuild the axles backwards. Nothing to it but to do it then! First step was to widen the spring perches on the axles. No more stress thank you very much! Then to reassemble the spring packs and weld the retaining pins in place And just like that (well, over a few evenings anyway) we had the axles back under the trailer! The Dilly is now re-built, converted to electric brakes, re-wired, fenders re-mounted, and ready to race! And we have a whole week so spare! : ) Good thing Swamp Thing is ready to race. At least that's what we remember... 3 Quote Link to comment
slowlearner Posted September 3, 2023 Report Share Posted September 3, 2023 9 hours ago, carterb said: May 24 was oil pan night. Oh yeah - time to figure out the header as well. Jeff and Paul will have to post the recipe for this thing... snug as a bug in a rug! Pretty obvious at this point that Nissan was not thinking ahead back in 1967. Would you believe there were no previsions for a rack and pinion conversion or a Honda K24 motor? Sheesh! Come on guys! Did you guys design those lazercut parts for the new cross member? Or are they something you can buy online? 1 Quote Link to comment
Icehouse Posted September 3, 2023 Author Report Share Posted September 3, 2023 9 hours ago, slowlearner said: Did you guys design those lazercut parts for the new cross member? Or are they something you can buy online? Me and another guy that used to be on the team used to build and sell them before covid. https://www.jbcoachwerks.com 1 Quote Link to comment
shlammed Posted September 8, 2023 Report Share Posted September 8, 2023 Wicked, thanks for the photos as someone who is doing kswap very similar to you. I will be trying to get some design going soon with the K engine flange and the KA trans bell to get a bit of an adapter plate drawn up. 1 Quote Link to comment
Stoffregen Motorsports Posted September 12, 2023 Report Share Posted September 12, 2023 Honda motor in a 510. Blasphemy. 1 Quote Link to comment
carterb Posted September 12, 2023 Report Share Posted September 12, 2023 Blasphemy sounds an awful lot like Blast By Me which is what every single car did except for one Miata with a "bad" junkyard motor. If we raced on a track with no straights we'd be fine but we just get killed on the straights lap after lap. I think it was covered earlier but we looked at Nissan options and they have made nothing raceworthy after the SR20 and those now cost a mint. We just got back from another weekend at the Ridge... Full race report coming soon. 3 Quote Link to comment
thisismatt Posted September 13, 2023 Report Share Posted September 13, 2023 VQ? 2 Quote Link to comment
BrothersGarage Posted September 13, 2023 Report Share Posted September 13, 2023 Yesssss more Kswaps! Excited to see what you guys pull off around the track. 1 Quote Link to comment
Stoffregen Motorsports Posted September 13, 2023 Report Share Posted September 13, 2023 Sorry, didn't mean to bring up the subject again. Quote Link to comment
Lockleaf Posted September 20, 2023 Report Share Posted September 20, 2023 On 9/12/2023 at 12:30 PM, carterb said: I think it was covered earlier but we looked at Nissan options and they have made nothing raceworthy after the SR20 and those now cost a mint. One of the sadder truths our time. 1 Quote Link to comment
carterb Posted September 23, 2023 Report Share Posted September 23, 2023 (edited) The trailer was finished just in time and Jeff sent proof that it worked on the 4th of September You have to get to the track bright and early for the track day! (well, maybe night bright - but certainly early) Lots of teams were in the process of setting up their pits. We were excited to see not one but two 260Z's on the entry list. Lifting the usual One Datsun to Three. The first one was easy to find - one pit stall away from us. Turns out they and their LS powered Z car were only participating in the track day. They are still trying to prep it for endurance racing but keep breaking stuff with all the power so they are upgrading hardware one step at a time 'till they feel they have a car that can make it through a full weekend of racing. We would later find out that the other Z - from Mad Greek Racing - was left in the garage and they brought their BMW station wagon instead. Oh well. I guess it's just up to us again to carry the Datsun flag. I got to go out first - mostly on account of apparently I was the first guy who claimed he was awake enough to drive! : ) The car ran great and was up to speed immediately. No problems - no surprises. Then Jeff took over. When things are going well, even the Pit Crew Boss gets to sit down for a bit. Brenda was finishing up a Lucky Dog Racing League quilt she made for the raffle. Miata with a Lightening McQueen paint job. Cute! As the hour hand rotated around the dial, so did the needle on the thermometer, and on our temp gauge too! We were running hotter than we were comfortable with after lunch so we determined we would switch the car back to Hot Spec with our Stage 3 auxiliary cooling boost! It's not pretty but it pulls about 10 degrees out of our temp gauge. That would allow us to run Saturday and Sunday leaving both eyes available for mirrors and apexes. We will definitely need to add larger capacity radiator to the priority list going forward. (or at least verify if when the temp gauge says 210, it really is 210) Oh yeah - we also had to replace the front brake pads. We were about a 1/6th" into the backing plate on one pad. Our discs are slightly smaller in diameter than the pad so when the pads wear, they hang over the edge of the disk and look like they are still in good shape. Apparently we forgot to take that into account during the brake check. I'm pretty sure that pad was about done during my stint after lunch - and Jeff and Paul each had an hour after me! : ) Edited September 23, 2023 by carterb 1 Quote Link to comment
carterb Posted September 23, 2023 Report Share Posted September 23, 2023 Saturday turned out to be exhausting! It started good though. At the driver's meeting our team won a $150 gift card for Hawk Brakes and Jeff won a limited edition USA flag themed Lucky Dog baseball cap! Paul started for us, and his confidence was pretty high after a good day Friday. https://datsun510.com/uploads/monthly_2023_09/09092023swampthing(1).MOV.473101db9e9502bfbfa67161593102c8.MOV The rest of the day was a bit of a mixed bag. First Paul got hit by the red Porsche 944 who turned into his right rear quarter at turn 13 on the top of the corkscrew. Later I got hit by Aaron Suchy's Acura RSX on the inside of turn 11. (The thumb) I swear I get bonked every single race! Both instances were light contact but they cost a couple laps when you go into the pits to talk to the race director. Jeff narrowly avoided contact as well by diving off the track on the inside of 8b while he was pinched by another car. After that we mostly stayed out of trouble until about 1 1/2 hours to go and Jeff radioed in to report the car was broken. He'd just shifted to 4th in front of our pitbox (same place the exhaust failed in April) and lost drive. He pulled off the track and onto the pit exit and had to be brought back on a wrecker. This is getting to be an all too familiar sight! We tried to inspect the car while it was up on the truck but couldn't see anything wrong. After some quick investigative work - we determined that the problem was with the right rear stub axle. Click the video link and you can see that the stub axle remains stationary while the rest of the wheel hub turns. https://datsun510.com/uploads/monthly_2023_09/09092023swampthing(2).MOV.8f2847bdf6fc2200bb77ed85e2960551.MOV Has anyone seen this failure before?! A full circumferential weld failure! Add that to our pre-race inspection list in the future.. 2 Quote Link to comment
carterb Posted September 23, 2023 Report Share Posted September 23, 2023 (edited) Now then, what to do?! We have another day of racing ahead so we need to fix this car! We determined that with time and tools available, our best bet was to swap in a replacement trailing arm assembly. The only problem was that this trailing arm was modified for wheel clearance and also (as you can see) we have long studs to compliment our wheel spacers. Jeff tried a couple local Datsun guys but got no replies so he headed back north to his house in Everett while Paul and I stripped the right rear corner so we would be ready when Jeff returned with a replacement arm. It also gave me some time to survey the day's damage. This is from the Porsche love tap Yeah - thanks for that! Fortunately, the Acura contact was wheel to wheel. But Jeff's collision avoidance folded the front spoiler under the car. We'll deal with all that later I guess. Time to initiate drive train repairs. I-405 was closed between Renton and Factoria so traffic was a nightmare. Jeff didn't get back to the track 'till 9:30pm! Although the trailing arm he brought was modified for tire clearance, it needed the longer lugs swapped over so that took some doing - Thank you Mad Greek Racing for loaning us a sledge hammer and sorry to anyone who was trying to sleep at the track while I played Thor the Blacksmith for 30 minutes trying to pound in those studs. We got the car back together and on the ground under flashlight power and it must have been about 11pm before we were able to drive to my parents to get some sleep. The Big Dipper and his buddies were out in full force. Oh yeah, while we were waiting for Jeff to return, I was able to pound out the right rear quarter with a small hammer and chunk of 2x4. It came out pretty good if I do say so myself! Oh yeah part 2: I almost forgot the best story of the weekend. The race was red flagged during Paul's stint for a grass fire off of turn 5. Paul reported on the radio that he *may* have had something to do with that. When the race was re-started, it was Jeff's turn so Paul came immediately to the pits for a driver change. Jeff was out for 2-3 laps and was black flagged for "cumulative off track driving". He had to go to the doghouse to serve a penalty even though the driver responsible was in the pits standing next to me! : ) Thanks for taking one for the team Jeff. And yes, we have some excellent video footage of the arson - er - I mean - incident(s)... Edited September 23, 2023 by carterb 3 Quote Link to comment
carterb Posted September 23, 2023 Report Share Posted September 23, 2023 Here is the end of the race on Saturday that we didn't get to participate in: https://datsun510.com/uploads/monthly_2023_09/09092023swampthing(3).MOV.6265ef8c759325c88e512a4655c90b30.MOV https://datsun510.com/uploads/monthly_2023_09/09092023swampthing(4).MOV.fa9e21906e4839ccb6b0eae5b905e078.MOV https://datsun510.com/uploads/monthly_2023_09/09092023swampthing(5).MOV.cb80d023f06cd1de8a992b6de5b688a9.MOV Quote Link to comment
carterb Posted September 23, 2023 Report Share Posted September 23, 2023 Sunday morning we did a few figure 8's in the parking lot before the race just to make sure that the wheels stayed under the car where they belonged etc. Seemed ready to race to me! I think Jeff was scheduled to start but had family coming first thing so I hopped in and the car did all the cool racecar stuff you could ever want. Jeff was next and completed his stint as well but then just before Paul's first stint was over - he radioed in trouble with the car. No brakes and squirrely rear end. He brought it into the pit and I immediately jacked up the rear to investigate and we found that the stub axle was loose. I dropped the 1/2 shaft and re-torqued the stub axle nut but it was no use - it turns out the real problem was the wheel bearing. DEAD. TERMINAL. Time to pack it up and go home. : ( We aren't sure if the wheelbearing was already bad - full of rust (Jeff said the trailing arm was stored outside - but so are the cars we drive every day) - or if all the hammering from the lug change did some damage - though we tried to make sure all the force went into the flange only. Didn't really matter I guess. We failed to finish another day. At least it is an easy fix and we don't have to spend the next 6 months repairing bodywork or fixing the trailer again. All in all it was another amazing weekend and I feel fortunate to be able to enjoy this racecar, this hobby, this series, and especially this team. Casualties: Early exit: 510's are much more fun on the track than on the trailer: Until next time! 3 Quote Link to comment
]2eDeYe Posted September 24, 2023 Report Share Posted September 24, 2023 What an adventure. Crazy that weld went like that, it is pretty old though. Quote Link to comment
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