Jesse OBrien

Because the new engine is going in, I now have the 'leftovers' of stuff that isn't going into the car in my shop. That means cleaning, organizing, and storing needs to happen (before the car shows up). This is unacceptable: I started by shuffling some parts around, and making room in the 'engine room'. Because I know I won't using OEM EFI on this car, I decided to tear all the extras off of the assembled-spare 13b. I started with this and a beer: And ended with less clutter, and no beer. Here's the mockup housing assembly next to the 'assembled spare' block. The turbo goes on the 'spare turbos' shelf. If there's any kind of market for it, I'll happily sell the harness/ecu/manifold/turbo/lines off to whoever is interested enough to make it worth putting them in a box. I have no idea what it takes to convert n/a to turbo, or if any of this is worth anything. One interesting discovery I came up with is that these two engines apparently have different rotor housings. Otherwise, they appear to be identical. One with no markings on top The other with licensing markings on top. As for accessories, here's one of the spare transmissions (I now have three turbo2 transmissions), and two of the intake manifolds (again, I have a total of three right now). That emissions block-off kit is really disappointing. It's so thin that I can't use the stock studs. I can either draw up a DXF (just put these on a flat-bed scanner and scan them 1:1) and have Big Blue Saw cut out some proper plates, or pull those studs and use bolts instead. Generally speaking, I find that steel studs in aluminum don't come out as easily as I'd like. I'm leaning toward slightly girthier blockoff plates.

No real update, but I can drop this off as a reference of scale. The engine will probably end up slightly farther forward than this, but I think it can safely be called 'mid engine'

No real update, but I can drop this off as a reference of scale. The engine will probably end up slightly farther forward than this, but I think it can safely be called 'mid engine'

Really helpful. I didn't have a baseline to compare against, so I was planning for worst-case-scenario.

I suppose it's time to start talking about what's going under the hood. The current engine is a test mule, something I picked up off Craigslist that may or may not run. A friend of my fabricator happened to have a 13b that had been sitting on a shelf for a little while. I made an offer on it, and just **barely** squeezed it into my budget ... but this solves my "will it run reliably?" problem pretty completely. It's a ported 2rotor running on VEMS that's already been tuned, and is ready for whatever I want to throw at it ... as long as I'm throwing lots of fuel and oil at it. According to the dyno results on this engine, it should be good for better than 350whp. Sometimes, you get lucky and the right deal comes along at the right time. This was my time. It's going to take some time to get it in the car, get the harness wired in, and build the body harness for it, but I'm in full-on thrash mode now. 14 weekend-days left before the first event.

This weekend was a lot of math. I already knew that the g35/350z front subframe would be wider than the stock 280z subframe. I also know that the 240sx rear subframe is wider than the stock 280z rear subframe. The stock front and rear subframes are designed to be the same width. After math-ing, I came up with the following: * Original hub-to-hub distance: 53" * g35 hub-to-hub distance: 60.8" That's 3.4" wider on each side But wait! There's more! The original Datsun wheels were 14x5 (15" diameter by 5" wide), and I'm bumping up to 17x8" (8" wide) for street wheels. I need to accommodate 17x10" race wheels, and my math suggests that I'll have around 6" of those wheels outside of the hub (per side). That's 5" more 'wheel' outside of the hub than stock. At the end, this all means I'm going from a fender width requirement of 55" to 72", which is 17" wider, or 8.5" wider than stock, per side. This car-shaped thing is starting to show how ridiculous it really is. My fender plugs just keep growing and growing. It's starting to get ridiculous.

I could've been more clear and explained that the mounting points were the problem with the z32. It's a lot of work to create upper control arm mounting points, and the z32 exacerbates that work. I should have a meaningful update at the end of the weekend.

Engine The turboII and rew aren't all that different, they're both still just 13b's. I like the accessory packaging and sensors on the turboII more, otherwise they're pretty much equals. Front Suspension I considered FD briefly, but it seems like prices on everything related to them is obscenely expensive. This is a car that I need to be prepared to repair if/when I throw it off a cliff, so replacement part costs are a strong consideration. These are the front suspensions I considered: Corvette - Still a great option, but they aren't designed with nearly as much travel as the z33 design. Bigger brakes require bigger wheels than the z33 as well. Consumables are more expensive. Miata - If not for the massive, spidery front subframe design that makes servicing difficult, would've been a great option. The 5lug Miata would've simplified a lot of things for this, but I couldn't find a good enough price on one locally. Z32 - I looked at it, and it's definitely a "touring car" design. It's a very compromised system, and not one I want to try to work with. Steering Both options are a compromise. The z33 stalks are considerably nicer than the s30 stalks, and aren't 40 years old. I'm going to have to relocate whatever rack I use no matter what, so I might as well just take the more modern (safer, less worn). The same goes for whatever dash I make. Finally, I have to tie the steering column in to the dash bar no matter what. In short, I'm fabricating it all either way. Seat It's a big problem, and I haven't come up with a solution that incorporates this seat. I have a HANS and NECKSGEN (HANS really disappointed me, there's absolutely no side-to-side neck protection), but I'll always take as much safety as I can cram into the car. I have four other fixed-back seats I can use, but I'd still like to find a way to use this seat. Otherwise, it can go into the CRX or RX7. I have some big news in the works, but I'm keeping it under wraps for the time being. I have 58 days until the first event of the season, and the pressure is really on to get this thing wrapped up. In the meantime, this is all wrapped up now.

Because the seating position is so cramped (really, I have legroom because I got lucky, not because it was planned for), I'm going to end up placing the steering wheel and driver's seat a bit closer to the transmission tunnel to ensure that I have ample room. The pedals can go pretty much anywhere, so I can pretty much place myself anywhere I like. The windshield angle is pretty good on these (from a safety perspective) so the FIA bar might be a bit overkill, but I'm pretty sure it'll be a necessity for Mt Washington and Pike's Peak.

Time to update for the end of Feb! Today, I joined up with my friends Dave (click for his hillclimb build thread) and Ian (hillclimbs an NB Miata) and stopped at a local salvage yard on the way up to Vermont. I searched for a long time to try to find a decent front suspension setup, since the s30 fronts leave so much to be desired for my needs. I wanted the following: Match the rear suspension track width as closely as possible Get a double-wishbone setup, rather than the macpherson that I have now Keep myself open to common aftermarket options Retain maximum suspension travel Upgrade to vented brake rotors The 350z/g35 (non-awd) front suspension solves all of these problems admirably. I get 12" vented rotors, floating piston calipers, a great front-steer steering rack, 5x114.3 hubs, and gorgeous double-wishbone suspension. Total cost: $1100. Roughly the same as a set of techno toy tuning coilovers (which are pretty much the best replacement available). I'm pretty happy with how things are looking. Installation will be 'straightforward' for a custom fabrication job. That is to say that subframe pickup points need to be added to the s30 chassis such that the wheels are placed in the right locations and aligned with the body, and the upper mounts (damper hats and upper control arms) are mounted in the appropriate locations to retain stock-ish geometry. I decided that the conversion from front-steer to rear-steer would be a bit of a nightmare to cobble together, so I took the g35 steering column as well. That should ease the transition quite a bit, but it might require adding an extension to the steering shaft (the 350z/g35 really can't compare to the s30 in terms of firewall-to-crossmember-distance). The new engine is in place. Just to illustrate my point of how large the l-series is, here's a size comparison. Cage work is progressing nicely, as Joey ties in more suspension pickup points and triangulates the whole car. It's mostly 1.75" .095 DOM tube, but there's a fair amount of 1" or 1.25" for rigidity reinforcement. I want to ensure that everything outside of the crossmember points works as 'crumple zone' and that everything in the cockpit is treated as structural squishy-human-protection. I'm really relieved with the seating position, for the most part. It's going to end up a few inches taller than it is to clear the floor and be above the sill bars, but I have gobs of head/leg room. I don't really expect anyone else to want to drive this beast, so that's even better than expected. The shifter location is perfect for that, and I found that I could even move the engine back a few inches to centralize the weight even more. The problem with this setup, I found, is getting in and out. Especially after adding the FIA bars (semi-vertical bars that connect the bottom-front of the door to the top-rear of the windshield), the halo containment on the seat means my head has no way to comfortably get in/out of the car. Because it's a daily driver, I'm going to have to do some brainstorming to figure out how I'll solve that.

There's nothing wrong with the l-series, it's pretty much ideal for a street car. Super reliable, low-maintenance, inexpensive, torquey, and most importantly, already in the car. Sort out the chassis/rust and get new bushings in, and let me know if you need a hand with welding at all.

I hear the same story all the time. You are not alone, sir! A good starting point on meeting some more zcar folks is with ZCCNE. Our annual club meeting is right around the corner! Where: Courtyard Marriott Billerica, 270 Concord Road, Billerica, MA 01821 When: Saturday, February 27th Time: 11am to 2pm Otherwise, you'll generally find an s30 owner in my garage on the weekends. Just in Manchester, we have me (crazy-person build), Dylan (who has a running 240z), and Ryan (running 280z), and John is right down in Nashua/Windham (Bad Dog Motorsports). 20 minutes North, we have Dave (futofab) who focuses on the 510, but has a few zcars as well. MA is even better populated, you just need to be introduced to the right people. Since you're in the area, want some parts? I have parts that are never going back into this car. Some are worth a bit of money, others aren't worth the time to post them for sale (280z radiator, for instance). If you're willing to come up and clean out all my s30 stuff, I'll give you a monumental deal. I really just need to clear out some space in the garage, and hopefully fill in a little bit of my budget for this crazy-person build. For what it's worth, I strongly recommend trying to work with what the car already has. The geometry problems are largely solved for the stock setup, and it's been proven to work.

That one's more original than most British cars (that run). The MG Midget is actually powered by a DCOE-driven 4age (which is why it's the toy-let ... Toyota ... then a random L ... then Midget). That one's one of my favorites, if only because it's driven by a pair of 70+year-old-brothers and they tow it behind a Fit. This is the entire 'race support package' including a hatchback-sun-awning and a fit-without-rear-seats-camper. There are a lot of people to admire at hillclimbs, and that's just a sliver of one of their stories. Hopefully I'll have a little time to do a few "Hillclimb Heroes" video features during the 2016 season, where some of those stories can be shared with everybody.

Sorry for the downtime, I got a little distracted with our rules/awards banquet coming up this weekend. I just put together a video from the 2015 race season, just a series of slow-motion startline launches of the various cars that were racing during that run. I got most of them, along with a couple Miatas. I was surprised to see that my launch was pretty much perfect (car 365, right around 55 seconds). What you're looking for is a ratcheting movement, where the tires are right on the verge of losing grip, but aren't free-spinning. I also found it really interesting to see how the different Subarus are front-bias or rear-bias, even those with identical gearboxes and differentials. Also, Sean showed up with his Datsun for this event! Serious inspiration for me to get mine wrapped up.

That's part of the plan. Elbows bend much more easily than knees do in a car though.

That makes much more sense. The concern is getting the seat far enough back so there's sufficient legroom. My plan is to place the seat on fixed mounts, and have moveable pedals. It seems much simpler to just have moving pedals (which are not a safety component during a crash) than to have a moving seat (which I'd rather have as secure as possible than adjustable). Also, the firewall can be moved quite a ways forward with no discernible disadvantage that I can see.

I'm curious as to how taller people design cages that would be more headroom-efficient than this. Have an example handy?

I'm 5'6" and the floors will be mounted to the bottom of the cage structure. Also, the tops are pretty well tucked against the roofline. See the first photo here for reference: http://forums.hybridz.org/topic/123780-driven-daily-hillclimb-2016-build/page-2?do=findComment&comment=1161263

Driver's seat

I discarded unwanted accessories Loaded the 13b turboII And dropped it off in Vermont I also picked up a Sparco containment seat and a NecksGen head/neck restraint, but no photos of that (sorry!)

Slow and steady is ready for the first race. Up in Vermont, Joey added a little bit more material to keep the trees and rocks outside of the car. The interesting design point here is that each tube in the door bar is continuous, which is more consistent/predictable in failure (CRASH!) than a more traditional single-continuous door bar would be. Most older-style door bars have one continuous tube that runs from the driver's shoulder to the driver's shin-area. That's excellent, but the reinforcement bar isn't continuous, it's two halves of a tube coped to fit the single continuous bar. They tend to break at the welds (rather than bending and deforming) and the sharp edges make their way through the passenger cabin. It's a great deal better than nothing, but the tests (and in-person crashes) I've seen overwhelmingly support double continuous bars. I'll still want a vertical reinforcement bar that connects the driver's knee-area to the top-of-the-windshield area for some rollover protection. A little suspension reinforcement in the front always helps too. I'm also focused on logistics for this season. The new trailer design is in the works, but I'm going to wait to update on that 'till I have something physical to show. I'm pretty sure the HANS is getting replaced with a different restraint system. HANS is fine for most forms of racing where a head-on collision is likely, but hillclimbs are just as likely to put you on your roof ... backwards ... 8 feet in the air in a tree (I've seen that happen twice in one season). I really want to get something that secures the head/helmet in side-on impacts as well, and I'm considering a containment seat if I can find something I like at a decent price. The sides need to be removable for daily driving, which is a bit of a problem. If I build this turbo motor the way I've been planning to, it looks like I'll be in SP2 for 2016, then SP4 for 2017 (with water/meth injection). I still need to source the wheel/tire combination I'll be racing with, but that's definitely something I can put off for awhile. More updates to come as soon as I have my CRX back together and can take a drive up to Vermont to see the car in person.

I hear you, some sellers are elitists. That's not me, I just needed selling it to make more sense than scrapping it. I still haven't made it up to actually see my s30. As soon as I finish getting my new daily driver assembled, I'll be able to take that trip.

A little bit of a sidetrack, but I finally have the stickers I've spent far too long designing and ordering tests of, to find just the right supplier. Support the project (and a few other projects) and order some! I'm looking forward to seeing these on some other peoples' daily drivers. https://www.facebook.com/drivendaily.official/shop

the l28et is sold, I got a reasonable offer. It's most likely leaving the garage on Sunday, then I can have some shop space back. When Joey gets to 'go time' he really drops the hammer. There are a few really fantastic things going on here, even though it isn't even close to finished. The sill bars are actually going INSIDE the rockers, and the seat pickups will be connected directly to the cage. I have to thrash another project together in short order, but then I'll bring the engine/transmission up to have everything lined up and get a driveshaft made. It's finally hit the point where it's no longer 'coming apart' and is starting to 'come together'. I'm extremely pleased so far. We're relying on good geometry and design for safety, rather than using big thick materials. Almost all of this is 1.5" .095 DOM Shooting to have everything together and street legal by April, still. I'd say it's on track at this point.

I'd consider $500 to be a reasonable offer, if it saves me the work of having to take it to a scrapyard. I don't have the time to give it to someone. A $1500 s130 won't have good compression, and requires the buyer to have space for an extra car. The only offer I've received was $1000 delivered, and that's not even a remote option. The Datsun Parts group on Facebook is more active than classifieds here or Ratsun, and I've had the same post on Craigslist. I imagine KS has a pretty different market for parts than New England does, I believe I know every member on here, classicZcar, and Ratsun within 200 miles of me on a first-name basis. Craigslist is pretty dead for car parts around here, unless you happen to be looking for hellastance wheels with motorcycle tires on them because swag. While I'm not opposed to donating (I've been a donating/supporting member for most of the time I've been a member here), it's another barrier to entry. I'm strapped enough for time that any of those barriers to entry make me question whether or not the result is even worth it. In this case, I decided it's not.