Nana Spec 69' 510

[slowlearner]

Having a bit of an issue atm with the bump stop rubbing on the back spring on the passenger side. Any thoughts on this? I know it's not serious, but the sound is pretty annoying! I adjusted it once, but the noise has come back.

[slowlearner]

So, what's been happening? Well, I got a replacement Spartan II wideband from 14point7 the other day. My last unit was 6 months out of warranty, but Alan very kindly sent me replacement. Which was just as well because my fuel table was RUBBISH. Here's a tune from Feb this year...

 

 

Here's this afternoon's tune.

 

Needless to say, the car is running a LOT leaner and smoother than before. I tried to setup the idle the other day before the new wideband arrived and fouled the plugs.

 

In other news, my windscreen rubbers started leaking again. I guess I need to replace it. I'm not looking forward to that at all. Here's hoping I don't find a pile of rust under it!

 

[slowlearner]

Found out yesterday that I'd let the rego lapse. Got an inspection booked and passed on the day but on one condition. The front crank seal needed to be replacing asap. In the process i discovered that the trigger wheel had shifted about 10-15deg for, ie. Advanced. Ouch! That explains why the car has been pinging at 2200rpm and 90-100kpa. I fixed the trigger wheel and changed my ignition table back to what it was. The car climbed a steep hill in 5th gear at 35mph at WOT with no pinging and lots of torque. 🙀

Edited August 26, 2022 by slowlearner

[Aaron Datsun]

Another couple months have gone by. Still liking the maddat fuel filler? 

 

The smell of gas is the main detractors from my 510 right now. 

[slowlearner]

On 8/28/2022 at 1:56 AM, Aaron Datsun said:

Another couple months have gone by. Still liking the maddat fuel filler? 

 

The smell of gas is the main detractors from my 510 right now. 

 

Funny you should ask that. It was going well.... til I filled up the other day. The last tank of gas seems to have a weep somewhere. The stink of gas is back and I'm not happy about it. I haven't had time to pull the boot apart again and find out why. I don't think it's their kit but I'm mystified as to why it's started to stink again. 😞

Edited August 28, 2022 by slowlearner

[Aaron Datsun]

3 hours ago, slowlearner said:

 

Funny you should ask that. It was going well.... til I filled up the other day. The last tank of gas seems to have a weep somewhere. The stink of gas is back and I'm not happy about it. I haven't had time to pull the boot apart again and find out why. I don't think it's their kit but I'm mystified as to why it's started to stink again. 😞

I appreciate you responding so quickly. I'm sorry that the smell has come back though that's got to be frustrating. I hope you find it thanks for all the updates

[slowlearner]

Hmmm, trying to find an engineering signatory who is happy to work with me to certify a turbo on the L18 = massive frustration.

 

I hate living in a nanny state. That's one way where NSW is the worst.

 

So far I've found one engineer who will talk. He wants $250 cash for an initial consultation BEFORE he will tell me whether he will take the job on. Two other guys have told me they're not taking on new work. Another one hasn't got the insurance for engine mod certification. Another one won't return emails or phone calls even though he said he was happy to meet and inspect the car. I'm starting to wonder whether it's worth the effort at all... except I know it is. The turbo on my old bug totally transformed the car. I don't want heaps of power, just that accentuated midrange turbos are famous for. Hmmm... 😞 

 

 

[Motorvated]

On 8/29/2022 at 8:41 PM, slowlearner said:

Hmmm, trying to find an engineering signatory who is happy to work with me to certify a turbo on the L18 = massive frustration.

 

I hate living in a nanny state. That's one way where NSW is the worst.

 

So far I've found one engineer who will talk. He wants $250 cash for an initial consultation BEFORE he will tell me whether he will take the job on. Two other guys have told me they're not taking on new work. Another one hasn't got the insurance for engine mod certification. Another one won't return emails or phone calls even though he said he was happy to meet and inspect the car. I'm starting to wonder whether it's worth the effort at all... except I know it is. The turbo on my old bug totally transformed the car. I don't want heaps of power, just that accentuated midrange turbos are famous for. Hmmm... 😞 

 

 

I can give you the details of the guy who certified my V8 LJ Torana? He was in Leichhardt Sydney when we saw him. It's a bit of a trek for you though 

[slowlearner]

On 8/31/2022 at 1:02 PM, Motorvated said:

I can give you the details of the guy who certified my V8 LJ Torana? He was in Leichhardt Sydney when we saw him. It's a bit of a trek for you though 

Worth a try, I've just contacted a fella in Orange. 

[slowlearner]

Took my youngest son out to his first motorkhana today in the datsun. I think he was hesitant beforehand, but by the end he was demanding a racing license and asking if we could head off to another event straight afterwards. LOL. Not likely. 

 

 

This was literally his first time driving a real car, let alone a manual transmission. There was a fair bit of dumping and spinning, but we had a great time. During the day, he also had some time with one of our club veterans in the car. Peter is able to make a Datto dance with the best of them. This vid shows him only using throttle and off throttle to throw the car around. I was a few seconds faster than him using the drift brake, but his is a lot more graceful.

 

 

The only real dramas we had on the day were a really strong fuel vapor smell. This turned out to be the pressure gauge having come loose on the fuel pressure regulator. I'm looking into get a new regulator. Otherwise we were the only RWD at the event and easily the most fun to watch and drive. 

Edited September 10, 2022 by slowlearner

[slowlearner]

On 8/29/2022 at 10:01 AM, Aaron Datsun said:

I appreciate you responding so quickly. I'm sorry that the smell has come back though that's got to be frustrating. I hope you find it thanks for all the updates

 

So, updates. I discovered my terrible, terrible fuel stink was actually this thing...

 

 

Something happened (I suspect too much vibration) and high pressure fuel was leaking INSIDE this fuel pressure reg gauge... and then outside. And of course, it was dripping onto a hot exhaust and evaporating, but thankfully not catching fire. A new Turbosmart FPR800 and gauge went on today, (not that Nana has a turbo or anyone wants to talk to me about certifying a turbo. sigh). Anyhow, the point is this. NO MORE FUEL STINK! Yay! it did need a bit of a retune though. Seems like it was particularly leaking at idle. No wonder I came home with a headache last Saturday after the motorkhana. 

 

So in summary, the MADDAT fuel filler kit does actually work as advertised. 

[Motorvated]

Nice one. glad to hear you sorted the leak out.

 

No luck with the engineer I take it?

[slowlearner]

On 9/28/2022 at 12:37 PM, Motorvated said:

Nice one. glad to hear you sorted the leak out.

 

No luck with the engineer I take it?

 

Tbh, I've sort of given up. I've got other issues to work on so I'll sort them first. I think the main thing with engineers atm is lockdown projects. Everyone went into the shed and went crazy. I can easily throw a turbo on this car whenever. So I'll wait and come back to it. 

[slowlearner]

Been working on a few bits and pieces. 

 

https://www.instagram.com/p/Cogunc2yuxW/

 

The tank repair was a bit of a nightmare. 4 weeks late but all done with the old outlets welded up and proper AN fittings put on collection pot. 

[slowlearner]

A milestone for me today. I bought this sensor 3 years ago when I first got the datsun.

 

https://raceworks.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/LR-RWORKS-DATA-OPS-131.pdf

 

The intention was to have a good measure of oil pressure and temp. Today, yes! Today, I finally got both channels of the sensor working. So I have a gauge readout and datalog capabilities.

 

 

 

My next trick is to try and set up a safety RPM cut for low oil pressure. Not sure if I can do that, but heck. Why not try. In my journey to get this working, I recently learned how to write INC files, do Excel calculations tables, set up custom channels and generally be frustrated at my own stupidity. But I'm pretty excited about this.

 

In other news, the car is running so much better. It will climb the steepest hills at 35mph in 5th gear and generally has bags of torque. I'm trying to get it to be more economical, but I'm probably kidding myself with a 70mm throttle body. I'm working myself up to putting a SSS headed rally engine is (also an L18) and I've finished this new inlet manifold and large plenum with a 60mm TB and 40mm velocity stacks on Weber manifolds. Gotta say though, unless it's a LOT better than what I currently have, I may regret it.

 

 

And before you ask, yes the car still smells like fuel. What am I missing? Hmmm....

Edited March 24, 2023 by slowlearner

[slowlearner]

So, an update finally. Sorry for my tardiness.

 

 

 

Nana has had a few weeks off the road with fuel tank issues... again. The car was stinking more and more of fuel, to the point where I considered selling it. It was so bad and discouraging. At the same time, I was trying to fine tune the fuel map to get the best fuel economy. Fuel is about about $7/gallon atm, which is a recent price drop. So any improvement I could get was well worth it. Unfortunately, the car's fuel smell just got worse. So in the end I pulled out the back seat and this is what I found... (Sorry for sideways pics, something went weird)

 

 

 

The short story is that old mate who fixed the tank to begin with has had an issue before with old-school Nissan tanks. Apparently the small panel with the outlet pipes has two spot welds and sealant. The acid bath he uses to clean the tank of old fuel also weakens the sealant. It took over a month last time, instead of a week, but he was good to his word and fixed the tank for nothing.

 

Driving the car is a revelation now. I mean. So. Much. Nicer. I even got it a wheel alignment! Yes, I know. Soft, right?

 

https://www.instagram.com/p/CtfkdGESG5M/

 

I drove it all day across the Blue Mountains and had a hoot! Although there was one derp moment. I got to the top of the range and notice my fuel table was only reading up to 89kpa instead of the usual 100kpa. I honestly thought I had a MAP sensor issue. Idiot.

 

 

Anyway, turns out at 3600ft elevation the barometric air pressure is, you guessed it, 89kpa. Barometric pressure. Well, that was a rabbit hole. I was nerding out all yesterday about it. Apparently at the top of Everest, it's only 30kpa! My engine idles a 40kpa. It wouldn't even run! Of course my wife was rapped with that information (no really).

 

Also went to my first coffee and cars event on Saturday. Saw this two gems there. The 510 is an auto.

 

https://www.instagram.com/p/Ct8A_SWyS4l/

 

Edited June 26, 2023 by slowlearner

[slowlearner]

A bit more news. I filled the car up last night and did some maths.

 

296 miles (475km)

9.2 gallons (34.83 litres)

30mpg (8 L/100km)

 

I'm pretty pleased with this considering how old, tired and inefficient the motor is, and that I'm driving up and down big hills around home. It's barely got over 70mph. The ECU is still pulling fuel out of the map on auto-tune, so fuel economy can only get better. It's also driving really nice.

 

I guess I should hook the heater up now and actually be warm in the car. LOL

 

[slowlearner]

Yesterday, I went and raced raced at a khanacross. I spent too much time getting Subaru sized rally tyres to fit beforehand. I will say though. It was totally worth it. The car had so much grip. The tracks we were racing on were very wet and chopped up in places. Lots of tight turns, some where you'd expect to understeer heaps. To my surprise, it hardly did so. Same goes for power oversteer. I could provoke it by doing compression lock ups or dropping the clutch but mostly it just gripped and went where I pointed it. The only real issues were, with such tall tyres my diff gear was really a bit tall. I think it's a 3.7 so I had the longest 1st gear in history. Lol. The other issue was I lost a wheel nut. Really weird because I hand torqued them all at the start. I think these wheels are famous for this sort of thing. 

Having said all that, I was very slow. But who cares about that. Inhad a great time and the car drove over 300km there and back. 

 

[slowlearner]

Today, my daughter and I headed off to another car club event. A gravel motorkhana. She had a great day and by the end of the day, she was powersliding the car. I know you want to see some vids, so here they are. The orange car is a veteran rally driver and 510 expert.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Stoffregen Motorsports]

Cool

[RyanC]

Good to see she is running okay.  I still have contacts for that turbo conversion.

 

Would love to do gymkhana the ute when she is running .. probably single spinners everywhere 🤣

[slowlearner]

6 hours ago, RyanC said:

Good to see she is running okay.  I still have contacts for that turbo conversion.

 

Would love to do gymkhana the ute when she is running .. probably single spinners everywhere 🤣

 

Got another motorkhana coming up in 2 weeks.

[RyanC]

9 hours ago, slowlearner said:

 

Got another motorkhana coming up in 2 weeks.

Where abouts? Your Sydney way from memory?  I'll still be playing with the ute but should be close to blue slip then.

[slowlearner]

Oops, sorry. You just missed it. There's another one in November. Here's some datto highlights from yesterday...

 

If it looks like the car is "self-indicating", it is. I think I need a new indicator switch. I was also using front rally tyres for the first time. Massive increase is front grip. So I'm pretty stoked with that.

 

 

[slowlearner]

Just got the results! I got 4th outright and 1st in class. I was the fastest RWD there too. 🙂