Major Progress This Time

Oil Cooling system.... done

Fuel System... done

Fire system....done (c'ept for last 2 fittings in dash/trunk) awaiting dash/rear firewall.

Battery Box.....done

Tranny tunnel cover...done

Shifter Cover...done

Driveshaft Install....done

Rear Brakes....done

Dash pour...done

Ok, now the pics !!!

Engine with all new Aeroquip fittings and hoses


Canton Oil cooler bypass plate, Aeroquip plumbing, and B&M Cooler.

Safecraft 5lb Halon System. Will have the pull handle mounted to the side of the tranny tunnel.

Custom non-conductive light weight battery box (UHMW).

Super light weight jet-ski Odyssey battery (695 CCAmps).

Custom home-fabbed aluminum tranny tunnel with shifter inset. Floor pad on driver's side too.

2-Part poured foam dash. Swells a lot!

Shaved to desired contour. Next is to spray contact adhesive, lay on headliner foam, and smooth on the black suade cover material.

Fuel cell, pump, and filter. Fire supression nozzle waiting for rear deck cover before final fitment.

Fuel cell breather filter. Using the old fuel fill location on the back trunk panel.

Floor pan and tranny tunnel plates. Nice swirls in the finish eh?


Next up...ELECTRICAL !!! AAAAAAAAAAH!!!!!

Progress Report

Front brakes/hubs refurb'd


Engine accessories getting back in place. Fuel line needs new routing and fitment. Oil cooler and Accusump getting located next. Not going to a dry-sump.

Fire supression system layout in process. Battery needs complete encasement per rules.

Ah, the wiring mess. Got the gauges positioned in the dash tho.

Fuel cell cleaned and re-installed. Fuel pump tested and filter in place now. Need new line from cell pick-up point to pump. Sounds like a small box ofull of spendy red and blue fittings is in my future. Moved the battery from the trunk (fuel area) to the pass side area next to the fire bottle.

PAINT -And some assembly required

Here's the Goal: #311 FProduction Race car with livery reminscent of Datsun color scheme.

Got the firewall and tranny tunnel painted last week. That helped me free up space by re-installing the motor (after being out a year+). Bolted and safety-wired the tranny cross member bolts in place while I was at it. Slight frustration by breaking two 1/16" drill bits on the bolts. I think a drill press fixture may be in the works to steady the bolts for this process.

Then, with that done, a few pics taken in the sun, and roll her back indoors for paint inside the main area and trunk spaces. But not before the neighbor kids waddled by for a look see on my progress. Man, mom needs a new hobby or somethin'...10 kids ?!?!?! Go for a swim!

They asked that I keep the fumes to a minimum in the future. I'll see what I can do.

5/27/2008

Inside is now painted with 3 coats or 2-part base and 3-part clearcoated with 3 coats. I'm not too impressed with my clearcoating skills. I think the inside of a car is a bitch to paint, especially, with effectively a 12" paint gun ( including the feed bowl and attached pressure regulator) and a few more inches for the rigid air hose coupling. Add to that the clear, which with my eyes and fogged glasses I can't see...well, you get the idea. Yes, I was cussing and getting my face full of spray. Wouldn't have that problem if I had a $10k paint booth would I? Fortunately, everything comes off my glasses with a good soap and water rub. Too bad I can't see that well while I'm painting tho.

Anyway, the results aren't horrific and I'm hopefully building skills for the important outer panels that are next. One can easily see the difference between a $700 Seta paint gun and my set from Costco.

Before:

After:

Time to go to bed and rest. Still have that full-time job to go to. No sign of the neighbor kids.

Some assembly can happen now while I forget what a bitch the painting was. I'll call this next phase prep work for the outer panel paint effort later. Maybe when I'm done with this phase I will have forgotten the painting frustration.

CARB REFURB

Having sat for a few years, these carbs were looking dull and dingy. Add in the unknown conditions inside meant it was time they had a refurbishing.

Before....

During.... Lot's of penetrant, carb cleaner, and a soft brass wire brush in the drill press.

The little black spring at the botom of the pic, which holds the float valve parts in place, can and will launch into some other dimension within the garage if not kept track of. Luckily, I have 3 other carb sets from which to borrow parts :-)

After

Needle profiles were reasonably straight and tapered. Hope I can reset it all correctly when needed. An Edelbrock SU carb balancer will help later.

Exhaust Manifolds

Too many of these. Between the mismash of mounting tabs and collectors, it's hard to find the best one of the bunch. Maybe #2 is what I'll use. It's probably from a 2000cc engine.














The rest...ebay?

These are all different and I wonder what their history is. I'll post to the 311s.org and see of those folks know.

Brakes clean-up and teardown

Must rebuild the brakes since the insides are an unknown. If there's rust, better to know before trying unsuccessfully to stop going into turn one.

A before look of the front brake assy...

Front Dunlop/Sumitomo Disc...Not pretty. I really Hope it isn't rusted inside because they are over $280 a pair.

Cleaned the caliper....and clear coated with high temp paint.

Pulled the pistons apart. Good thing I did because they were starting to rust. I hand worked the inside surfaces with 1200 grit paper to remove as mush rust and pitting as possible. Now reassembled, clean, and ready to be re-mounted and filled with fluid.

Rear drums. Cast Aluminum with a steel insert brake surface.
Before...

And after. I may repaint these black since the Panasport rims are silver.

Next is rebuilding the rear brake piston assemblies.

Back Finally !!!!

After much time moving into the new house (last July...sheesh!), the car is finally being worked on again in earnest.

Much to my surprise, I was fortunate enough to hook up with Joe again at TopTechMotorsports to check the engine over. It had been sitting for some time who knew what evils lie inside after the precedence made with first motor tradgedy.

Fantastic bonus was that Joe built that motor many moons ago. Man he knows alot !!!! Good thing I had him review it because the dizzy was out 180 degrees. Rest seems good for a race season. Tranny is looking good too and reportedly has special German syncros in it. I dunno what that means, but someday I'll know the difference they make.

I installed a different clutch pack that was part of the original lot of parts from the car buy. I think it'll be a good change.

Lightened Flywheel for quicker revs out of the corners

Old / New clutch option. Note the backing place is very different. (Besides the rust)

Got tranny cleaned and ready.

Inside of the bell housing showing clutch arm and thow-out bearing. Both lookin' good.

Good looking motor...needs a tranny :-)

Flywheel attached. Used the Blue treadlock here and on the clutch pack bolts.

Flywheel and clutch pack in place. Just add tranny.

4 Bolts and it ready for install. But the rest of the car isn't :-(