Racer Z

Drove it . . . real fast . . . on the track at Chuckwalla Raceway in So Cal. First time at this track and I got to say it is a fun track. The Z had three drivers for this two day event and performed well, no problems at all. Our rear disc brake mod seems to work very well.

Did the final prep for an upcoming road racing event at Chuckwalla in a few weeks. Changed the oil/filter Lubed the four lube points Checked the under-carriage for loose nuts/bolts Washed it in & out Bled the brake for the purpose of getting fresh fluid into the slave cylinders After that the best thing happened. We sold an engine block and some other stuff. I needed the cash and we needed the space in the shop.

Took some loose tires and rims to the tire shop to have them mounted and balanced in preparation for an event in May. In May we're going to Chuckwalla for a two day road race event.

Those things happen even to the most experienced. Instead of being pissed and frustrated, turn it (your view) around into a learning experience. "I learned so much! " is way better than, "I made all these mistakes " We all make mistakes. Some of us learn from our mistakes. I keep on learning. Sometimes I learn the same thing, again and again. LOL

Did some bench racing. I won Put some new rear pads in the Z. Did some more bench racing. I lost

Nice Fiat. My Lady has a red 500 Lounge with a red top. A really sweet car to drive.

Could be oil burning off. Could be tired rings or a rich carb mix. I've been Time Trialing for six years or so and the more common smell is hot tires and hot brake pads. Slipping clutches smell just like hot brakes. You're pushing your car way past it's design limits, so it will get hot and create smells you're not used too. We always get a cool down lap after a session to let things cool off before parking it. Be sure to NOT set the parking brake in the pits. That won't allow the rotors to cool evenly and will cause the rotors to warp. We've been plagued with heat related brake problems so I finally bought some temperature sensitive paint. Our front rotors got up to 1600 degrees. The pads turned ash white and cracked. Most definitely time to run some cooling ducts.

Slicker than snot. I would be very happy to have it in my Z.

So you and the Miata driver actually learned something about car control. Kind of hard to learn how to drive when the car does all the driving. Sounds like you had a grand old time, learned something and had fun learning it. I've been Time Trialing my 240Z for about four years now and my Dad's Alfa a couple of years before that. Although I don't like being wet and cold, a wet track can be a fun track and the time to learn "real" car control. The first time I got my Z on the track I was amazed at how neutral she felt and how well mannered she was. We had her corner weighted while she was bone stock and found that 51% of the weight is on the front axle. Don't need a mid-engine car to have a neutral handling car.

The wires generally do not fail. The more common problem with old cars is dirty switches and connections. And of course the PO (previous owner) that fixed the wiring harness with a chain saw.

It's been way to long since I voiced myself. As my brother said some time back, we got the engine and trans installed. Then we finished our rear disk brake conversion. Fixed up our new-old trailer. Put the car on the trailer and went racing. Pete drove and I was pit crew this time. The engine, trans and brakes worked well as did the rest of the car, so I got to relax and watch the races. Pete finished second in his class loosing to a Miata by a tenth of a second. And that's what we've been doing with our Z Car.

Always check the little things before diving into big things. I've know more than one guy that bought a new carburetor cause his car didn't run to later find out it was just out of gas.

Haven't done much to mine in a while. Life has forced other things to become a higher priority The engine and trans are still sitting on the floor waiting to go back in . . . several months later. Found a good deal on a trailer (car carrier) to haul the Z to the track with. Managed to drag that home without incident. It's been sitting for about 15 years so it needs some work before it's usable.

39 ??? You got room to turn around and fart?

Had I wanted a car with a V8, I would have bought a Camero. Actually, my F250 has a 390 in it, so I do have a V8. lol The L24 is a great little motor with a neat sound and plenty of potential.

Tee hee.

Well, to answer your question as honestly as I can: At the time that I started it I didn't realize just what it would turn into. If I knew how to program for spreadsheet, maybe I would have thought to start on a different platform. As to why I have not changed it or updated it: After a few weeks the post can not be changed. I can't add to it or alter it in any way. I thought about changing it so that I can have it show a table that's hosted on another server. I even wrote the HTML code and posted it to the internet. I asked a moderater to change it for me. I tested my code in a temp posting here and made it work, set him the code. He said he chabged it for me I can't see any change. So, this became an abandoned topic on my part. You're welcome to use what I posted in any way you like. Just try to avoid the pitfalls I fell into.

Sweet. I've been wanting a GoPro but haven't ponied up the dough yet. YouTube seems to be as good as place as any to host your videos.

Hmm, glass install. With the help of my girlfriend, we installed the flat class into the rear window of my truck last summer. Let me say I learned a lot. I used the string method and had to start over a few times. My string was the plastic whip from a weed-whacker. Worked very well. Next time I will use some lubricant like WD40 or dish soap. I tried (not very hard) to install the (aluminum) trim after the fact, but stop quickly before I damaged anything. The trim must go into the rubber before the rubber is installed. That was flat glass on my Ford truck, but I think curved glass will be just the same in a Datsun.

Nice to hear that you got it started and that it also restarts. If it seems to start differently each time, something is probably worn badly, such as the distributor bearings, and allowing things to change on there own. I don't have any experience with fuel injection or turbos, but I would continue to look at the mechanical parts of the ignition timing if it was my car.

Oh, my normal exercise in futility. You know, the three steps forward and two steps back thing. Took a round-port exhaust manifold off a spare motor to find that it was cracked in about five places. The thing was white inside. Just a little lean? Had to chuck that. The previous owner had said it didn't run very good. Makes me wonder if there's any pistons left. Put the new clutch on the (good) used motor (I hope it runs). That almost installed it'self. Found that my 5-speed got damaged during shipping and had to repair that. One dowel had been pushed flush into the hole, had fun getting that out. The hole for the other dowel was squished and out-of-round. Managed to make it round again. Found that my new tranny mount is the wrong one. Was hoping to get the motor and tranny installed today, but they're both still on the ground. I think I did something else, but I can't remember if it was a good thing or not.

Changing parts is only half of the tune-up. The other half is adjusting things. To be a bit more correct, it's "check and adjust as necessary". It seems you don't have points, so that's one less thing to check. You need to check and adjust, as needed: the valves and the ignition timing. The specifics are laid out in the service manual. 15 degrees seems a bit much to me and too much advance will cause the symptom you described in "fighting back". Wrong timing will also cause other problems, such as: running hot, low power, starting hard, pinging.... I usually do a "static time" so that it will start and idle. Then after it comes up to operating temp I use a timing light. I use the light while the engine is running at proper idle. Xnke spelled things out quite well, I think.

"feels like its fighting back" ... Timing is off. Have given it a standard tune-up yet?

Finished machining my new rear brake caliper brackets. Still need to install the steel thread inserts. Maybe Sunday we can remove the stock brakes and install the Mercedes brakes. Won't be able to test drive it though, no motor.

Not exactly today.... Over the last several days I've been machining aluminum caliper brackets for a rear disk upgrade. I'm almost half way done.