"Swamp thing" JBC 510 racecar

[Skib]

Paint job deff looks good on the track 👍

[RyanC]

On 9/17/2022 at 2:09 AM, Skib said:

Paint job deff looks good on the track 👍

What he said!

[carterb]

Sorry for the delay everyone.  Jeff seems to think I'm the only one capable of writing a race report even though there were four of us there.  : )

I've been buried at work and had been looking for ways to NOT spend time on my computer.

Unfortunately, my brain is like an etch-a-sketch and gets a fresh shake every night so given that the race was over a month ago now, please forgive me if I have lost some of the details...

 

Paul and I drove down to the track together in my 620 while Jeff and Sam hauled the car in the D21.  Much to our surprise, we found them shortly after getting on the freeway so we were able to parade down to Shelton together, to the treat of anyone with a brain and a heartbeat traveling with us at that early hour on a Friday morning.  : )

 

Once at the track and unloaded, it was my first opportunity to really see the car in full daylight, with the giant JBC logo proudly on display.

 

 

And here's one for you bum lookers:

 

 

We took to the track, each of us enjoying 30-40 minute stints, getting used to the new gearing and wider tires and stance, when suddenly the car did not re-appear again 2 minutes after disappearing down the main straight. 

 

Sam was driving and didn't have radio at the time so we were left shrugging our shoulders in the pit when finally, we see him being towed in behind the safety truck.  "No chooch!"  Sam exclaimed.  It ran out of chooch!  

 

It seems the engine cut out and would not restart.

 

Thus began a troubleshooting adventure that started with identifying and replacing a blown fuse - only to have it blow once more, to checking the fuel pumps (which would not prime when the power was switched on)

 

 

...to rebuilding a suspect power lead from the starter to the alternator, until finally, the smoking gun was discovered.  Well the smoke was actually long gone but it must have been there at one point in time.  While replacing the clutch master cylinder, the O2 sensor lead was temporarily set aside/rerouted across the exhaust manifold and was mistakenly not put back.  This lead had melted into a crispy mess only Fire Marshall Bill could identify.  The exposed leads had shorted and were the cause of the problem.  (I think Sam or Paul has a photo, I hope they will share)

 

Once we were fixed and back on the track Jeff went out for a 2nd stint only to succumb to a similar fate.  He sputtered to a stop and had to be towed in...  What could it be this time?  Hey, did you put gas in the car?  I didn't put gas in the car, did you?  I didn't put gas in the car...  You?  Um...

 

Fuel gauge still showing 5/8 of a tank (!) but counting back about 2 hours of running, we realized we were indeed out of gas.  *blush*  Fuel added and back to the track he went and the car didn't put another step wrong for the rest of the day.  (note I said the car didn't put a step wrong, I can't say that for some of the drivers)

 

Track day over, we came in and got the car through tech for the race and then added the number panels and sponsorship stickers.  Now it's really looking like a racecar!

 

 

 

We were getting lots of complements on our paint job which was really rewarding after all the effort we put into this car following the Pacific Raceways incident. 

 

Overall a really great day and we were super excited for the weekend's race ahead!

 

[carterb]

Saturday morning - race day!

 

Drivers meeting, national anthem, last minute car prep...

 

 

Sam and Paul participated in the practice/qualifying session before handing the car over to me to start the race.  Here we are on the pit wall before gridding up.

 

 

Note the little Acura next to us.  That is Aaron Suchy's team.  You might recognize him as a fellow 510 enthusiast.  : )

 

Parade lap - green flag - pedal to the floor, and we're off! 

 

I love starting these races, always exciting into turn 1/2/3 on that first racing lap. 

 

I was making good progress through the C cars before going outside on 8a and running out of brakes before taking to the dirt/grass and losing all the positions I had gained.  : )  (found out later we hadn't re-adjusted the brake bias after swapping in new front pads - oops)

 

Got quite a few back and had an awesome stint but engine temps were climbing and getting worrisome.  I was experimenting with short shifting, spending more time in 5th, lift and coast etc trying to keep the temp down but it never wanted to drop below 220.  The 6spd and rear end combo wanted us to spend all of our time way up in the rev range and the morning was getting warm as well.

 

I was able to complete my stint and hand the car over to Paul.  Then I grabbed my camera and spent some time shooting the cars...  Take a look:

Edited October 15, 2022 by carterb

[carterb]

Had to start with ours of course.

 

 

That crazy looking car behind us is a corvette with a caprice body swap painted to look like a K9 police car (in keeping with the spirit of LuckyDog racing)

 

 

This is Paul exiting 8b and heading up the hill to 9

 

 

Another boxy sedan

 

 

Ford Escort.  This car actually did okay when it had the right driver.

 

 

A gaggle of fellow competitors

 

 

 

I took quite a few shots from this vantage point - trying to capture most of the cars in the field.  You can skip down if your are getting bored.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Allot of fellow C class cars in this shot

 

 

 

 

 

Jeff's favorite racing buddy in the RX7

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

So cool to see our little 510 out there bombing around the track - and looking good!

 

 

[carterb]

More shots now at the blind crest turn 9 with the turn 6 carousel in the background:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[carterb]

More Saturday morning shots:

 

 

I wish my old DSLR had as good of color as my iphone.  I may need to look at upgrading.  All these pics look so washed out in comparison.  I don't know which is truer to real life but I love the bright iphone pics.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Here comes Paul around turn 6

 

 

 

 

The engine temps were still hovering around 220 even with the outside temps warming so Paul was able to complete his stint before handing the car over to Sam.

 

 

[carterb]

I found a different perch to watch the cars come down through 13 and 14.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

now some turn 15/16 shots

 

 

 

 

A little note about this one...  The RX7 would spill oil onto the exhaust manifold during sustained left hand corners - then smoke like a chimney!  Jeff had one of the best responses I've ever heard when talking to these guys in the pits later.  You'll have to wait to find out what he said.

 

 

Cool to see the cars really leaning on their front right tires in this corner.  You have to be a little patient getting on the gas here or the rear end will happily come right around!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Some cars, like this one, go wide and deep into 15, turn sharp, and really straighten out the exit into 16 before heading onto the straight.  The theory is that it makes the straight longer but we excel in the corners, not in the straight, so trying that line in our car just made it seem like you were driving farther for no benefit.  What you had to be really careful of though, is when you are racing someone and they take that line, it is dangerous stay low and put your nose along side as they are about to chop it right off!

 

 

 

No your eyes do not deceive you.  That is plastic wrap, not glass, for a windshield.  The chicken wire was deemed unsafe so this was the compromise.  Um... 

 

 

The Celica makes for a pretty decent looking racecar doesn't it?

 

 

 

 

There is a video on the internet/facebook of these two Miatas battling for an entire stint - trading spots many times.  Cool video as they have both in-car cams displayed on the same screen.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[carterb]

A few more shots and we'll get back to the story:

 

 

 

Check out the air under Sam's left front tire!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Get 'im Sam!  Get 'im!

 

 

 

Edited October 15, 2022 by carterb

[Skib]

Car looks great in action! 👍

[carterb]

With outside temps still climbing, and Sam likely pushing the car a bit harder than Paul, temps were now around 230 and Sam decided to cut his stint short before we damage the motor as he reported it was starting to cut out.

 

*sigh*  It was all going so well...

 

Now what do we do?

 

After taking stock of our situation and talking over a bunch of options I put on my gloves and tried to gently release the radiator cap to inspect the coolant level. 

 

There was no gentle here.  As soon as the tangs released the pressure forced the cap full open and a 230 degree F coolant geyser erupted dousing my right hand and burning it immediately.  I de-gloved as quick as I could but the damage was already done.  Fortunately we had an ice chest right there and I spent the next two hours icing my right thumb and index finger but the burn was pretty severe and resulted in some pretty gnarly looking blisters I had to control for the next week.

 

This was a repeat of ORP and I thought I learned my lesson, but looking around for a towel and not finding one, I ran out of patience and brains at the same time and thought I could control the pressure.  I could not.  Please don't do what I did.  My hand has healed up quite nice but it could have been worse.

 

The coolant level was not dreadfully low but there were signs that some of it was leaking in the engine bay.  Our best guess is that it was coming out the vent hole in the overflow bottle where it was being blown onto the distributor which lead to the misfire. 

 

Sam began fashioning a cover/shield for this vent out of duct tape while we set out to maximize airflow to the radiator by removing the grill, lights, and everything else on the front of the car.  We also taped up some of the gaps around the radiator to try to encourage as much air through there as possible.

 

We also determined that straight water is supposed to cool an engine better than anti-freeze and decided our radiator was probably a little blocked up as well so Paul and I went into town to get radiator flush and a bottle of VP Racing coolant additive.

 

Jeff went out with a radiator full of water and coolant flush but even with the increased airflow, he was back in the pits 1/2 hour later after hitting 230F again...

 

 

[carterb]

We decided to call it a day now and focus on fixing the car for Sunday.

 

More discussions ensued on how to "increase cooling" and we determined we could raise the back of the hood and fit a heater core somewhere.

 

Paul and I were back to the auto-parts store (they must love race weekends!) to get heater hose, clamps, a heater core, longer hood bolts, oh - and bailing wire.  I forgot to mention our exhaust hangers had failed.  (you can see in the last picture above that it is hanging pretty low)

 

We drained the water/coolant flush mix and replaced with straight water and additive, then set out modifying our car in an effort to allow us to race on Sunday.

 

Fortunately I had a selection of CRAFTSMAN hood spacers in the tool box.

 

 

Here is the heater core we added.  It came from a Ford Ranger/Mazda P/U.  Same vehicle that we sourced our fuel filler hose assembly from.  : )

 

 

 

Proud of our work and fingers crossed, we all got a good rest before preparing to do it all again on Sunday.

 

We "finished" Saturday 38th out of 57 classified competitors, 68 laps behind the leader.

 

Sunday morning - Beautiful sunrise hopefully brings success...

 

 

 

 

Still looks the business!

 

 

About time to get this thing on the track.

 

 

But first - another driver's meeting and a really nice moment of reflection on the anniversary of 9/11.

 

This time Jeff started the day, taking his place near the end of the C line.

 

 

Stay tuned...

 

Edited October 15, 2022 by carterb

[datsuntech]

"That crazy looking car behind us is a corvette with a caprice body swap painted to look like a K9 police car (in keeping with the spirit of LuckyDog racing)"

 

Actually that's a Ford LTD not a caprice... 😐

Edited October 18, 2022 by datsuntech
Spelling

[carterb]

2 hours ago, Skib said:

Car looks great in action! 👍

 

Thanks!

 

1 hour ago, datsuntech said:

"That crazy looking car behind us is a corvette with a caprice body swap painted to look like a K9 police car (in keeping with the spirit of LuckyDog racing)"

 

Actually that a Ford LTD not a caprice... 😐

 

I hope you've enjoyed today's demonstration of my complete lack of knowledge of 80's American sedans.  : )

[carterb]

Saturday was a 7hr race so we had arranged 1:40 stints.  Sunday's race was 8hrs so our stints would need to be 1:55 plus...  This is a stretch for us depending on how much green flag action there is.   And Jeff had allot of green flag action during his first stint!  Fortunately the car was running awesome and the temp hovered around 180F.  He must have been excited to get out there as his 6th lap was our best of the day at a 2:02.1.  Although I'm sure he'd love to have stayed out longer, he started to starve for fuel and had to come in early.

 

Photo courtesy one of the Lucky Dog photographers

 

 

Jeff handed the car over to Sam who almost made it 2hrs but was black flagged right at the end of his stint and came in to hand the car over to Paul.

 

Paul had a trouble free stint with the engine temp remaining around 180F and also made it nearly the full 2hrs before handing the car over to me with about 2:10 to go in the race.

 

I had a thoroughly enjoyable stint racing with a Miata if I remember right.  We were pretty evenly matched and I just couldn't find the bravery to get past.  My best opportunity was getting a good run through 2/3/4/5 which would put me right on his bumper but before I'd have an opportunity to make a pass on the run to 6 - either the car would go into limp mode (full throttle too long w/o input from the non-existent speed sensor) or I'd have to shift into 5th and loose the momentum or I'd just run out of bravery.  A dive could have been made into 6 lap after lap but it wasn't worth risking damage to either of our cars if I got it wrong or if he/she didn't want to give up the spot.  

 

The speed sensor thing was so frustrating!!!  Ask Jeff how much he liked that.  We've never had the issue at Shelton before but the new gearing just put us right over the edge.

 

Anyway, With about 15 minutes to go in the race I entered 4 or 5 and the fuel started to cut out.  I limped back to the pits for a quick splash of fuel and Jeff did 3 more race laps before taking the checkered flag.

 

 

 

 

https://datsun510.com/index.php?/gallery/image/56113-669581251_09112022swampthing14mov/

 

We did it! 

 

A trouble free - bonk free - day of racing.  So much fun!

 

We finished 15th out of 50 on the day.  Not sure where we ended up in class.  Not bad for a C class car, a black flag, and an extra pit stop.  We were all excited, happy, and relieved.

 

Thanks team for an awesome weekend.

 

Oh, and I forgot to mention, Jeff got us all Cool Shirts and he and Sam installed the cold water system the day before the race.  It was really a nice addition!  Thanks Jeff.

 

Here is a bonus photo from one one the Lucky Dog photographers

 

 

And here are a couple short videos.

 

https://datsun510.com/uploads/monthly_2022_09/1821742839_09112022swampthing(12).MOV.ce3b8acc1fec1a562cb0d2ad26b850e7.MOV

 

https://datsun510.com/uploads/monthly_2022_09/1560210250_09112022swampthing(13).MOV.3e38fa10e9398e00a7f86e971bb7fa12.MOV

 

Now I hope Jeff and Paul and Sam will add a couple memories and photos of their own...

 

 

 

 

Edited October 16, 2022 by carterb

[carterb]

Last week we met at Paul's to do a little cleaning and re-assembly.

 

 

 

I know it looks good in the photos but the blue paint still has not hardened and now is covered in water spots and fuzz from the car cover!  Ugh...

 

Oh yeah, one of the things we did to try and cool the car down Saturday night was remove the thermostat.  We noticed in the process that the rubber gasket was split and out of place.  Could this have been preventing it from opening?

 

 

 

And here is Sam's overflow vent channel

 

 

We don't know if it was ever tested but we didn't have a repeat of the miss fire issue so at a minimum it was good insurance.

 

I never got a picture of my bailing wire exhaust hanger but it did its job, despite *ehem* a couple attempts by someone to knock it off.  : )

 

Oh yeah, last thought...  You remember I mentioned the smoking RX7.

 

Jeff and Paul and I walking down the pit lane - headed to the bridge so we can go up and watch Sam race.  Jeff goes to the RX7 pit and after initiating a conversation, makes a couple big theatrical coughs toward their feet and exclaims "I brought you guys back some of your oil".  Awesome!

 

--carter

 

Edited October 17, 2022 by carterb

[iceman510]

Why was Sam black flagged?

[carterb]

He was getting tired and was having a hard time keeping this beast on the track at the end of his stint.

There may or may not be some GoPro footage that corroborates his story.

: )

[five1oh]

Looks like so much fun! Great job.  Curious if you posted it before but do you know the total weight of the car and how balanced it is front to rear?

[Stoffregen Motorsports]

I wouldn't remove the thermostat completely. Cut the guts out of it and install it as a restrictor plate. Otherwise you'll get too much cooling.

[]2eDeYe]

Great phots and commentary, thanks for sharing 😄

 

[Icehouse]

1 hour ago, five1oh said:

Looks like so much fun! Great job.  Curious if you posted it before but do you know the total weight of the car and how balanced it is front to rear?

 

We scaled it once,  I can't remember if it was 2250 or 2150 way heavier then I was thinking.  That was with the OG cage which had extra bars to make it legal in our series.  

[Z23T]

You guys rock! This looks like so much fun!

[carterb]

Looking forward to next year!

 

https://www.racelucky.com/2023-schedule/

[banzai510(hainz)]

put the stat in hot water and see what it does