#1 Trophy

Well I got my first class trophy from the South Bend Region of the Sports Car Club of America. The past two years I got a trophy for being in the top 20 in overall points from the club... and I repeated this year but made it into the top 10! I have won individual events with the Furrin Group, SBR and placed in several other regional events (Detroit, Saginaw Valley and Fort Wayne). I have not however won an annual class trophy until now...

So this is a good feeling... I am the Street Tire Restricted (STR) class champion for my region. I already posted the info about the award... and wanted to show off my new swap... a great roller duffle bag for hauling all my stuff to future races!

For the record four other members and one novice ran in my class. So I didn't just win by default... well maybe a little, I ran the most races and got the most points. Either way it is a win, its a trophy and I am happy with my bag (even though it isn't a tire rack from the Tire Rack. Ha).

STR Champion and Top Ten Overall

Well the final results for the South Bend Region SCCA Autocross season got posted. I already knew, but it is now official that I won my class. This year the Datsun ran in Street Tire R (STR) and even though I won mostly because I ran the most races I am still excited to win and I hope the trophies this year are cool. Last year class champs got garage tire racks from the Tire Rack ($100+ value). I could use a set for the second set of wheels for the Z...

I also now have the final results of the overall points leaders for the entire club (200+). This year I ranked in 7th place overall! We get points for attending meetings, write blog articles, winning races, and for holding leadership positions within the club. This year I was chair of two Street Survival Schools, co-chair of timing and scoring for autocross events and on the autocross leadership team (plan events, set up, etc.). The prize for being a top twenty member is usually a polo shirt or a jacket. I can always use more car gear!

The awards banquet is on January 15th... when I have family in town. So not sure yet, but I think I might take my dad and brother Andres if they want to go. If not, I will miss it and get my trophies later. Just excited to be ranked and to have won my class.

Now on the downside... went to move the Datsun tonight and she wouldn't start for me... sounds like a bad starter or solenoid... so I need to track down that part ASAP. I need to move her and make room in the garage, in the winter we keep the Jetta inside for Heather.

Worried Parent

I took the Z this week into Tough Guy Industries to get the gas tank removed, restored and replaced. It is a common problem on the Zs, and more especially on a 35 year old car that sat in storage for years. You never know if the tank was dirty inside, rusting, or if it is keeping pressure well still.

Whenever the Z is in a shop... I am like a worried parent wondering when the shop will call, what if its a bad news and I have a huge bill, or worse if the call is saying that the car is no good. I lose sleep, I am searching online for new gas tanks in case I need to buy one, and looking at other Zs in case mine is junk and I need to buy a new car.

After a day of waiting I got a call from them... they said the tank had been removed and restored before. The inside of the tank had a new lining, so they cleaned it for me again, and put it back in. Saves me money, and while she was in there they were able to pull off my bumper shock towers for me, so the rear end of the Z is looking good (you have to remove the exhaust and gas tank to get the bumper shocks out).

Now the down side is that this saving me money, but I have not found the issue with why the Z is lacking power... so the work continues on trying to get her faster! At least I can worry about one less item... 

First Publication!

Well it isn't the cover of Motortrend... or a feature about the fastest Z at SCCA nationals... but the Z made her first publications. The student newspaper where I work did an interview with me. Of course my hobbies came up and with it, the Z.

So this week the IUSB Preface has a nice little article about me and a picture of Me and My Z. the article is not on their website yet, but when it is I will link it here for you all to check out.

Full Article: Preface

I was touched that a student wanted to do a profile of me, and glad they showed more than just my work side of life and include my family, hobbies and other items.

All grown up... First Car Show!

The local drive in malt shop on Sundays does a classic car night. I have driven by a few times and wanted to check out the cars. Well then I thought, wait... I should take the Z!

So this past Sunday the Z made her debut at Bonnie Doons. Heather and I got there a little late, so we had to park in the overflow lot. With is alright, I didn't even detail the Z yet. She had a few people walk by and check her out.
We enjoyed the show and of course here in South Bend it means lots of Studabakers. There were a few cool custom hot rods, some classic restores and a few more modern rides and unfortunately even a couple riced up cars as well. The ricey cars make the Z mad cause they ruin the rep of Japanese rides.

So this weekend was a good car weekend. Hermen and I had a Team PLP reunion and did the brakes on the Jetta. We learned about crazy German engineering and it took nearly as long to learn how to use the fancy brake tool I bought. Ha.

Seats... yep two of them!

So I finally got the bolt out for the seat. I bought a stuck bolt remover... broke it... so I just took the reciprocating saw out and cut the backside of the bracket off. So I got the seats in, took her for a cruise and snapped a picture since the lighting was good outside.

Now I really can't wait to get the rest of the interior conversion to all black interior done.

New Seats... well new Seat...

So I have been working on a project to change the seats in the Z. The car came with ugly brown vinyl and tweed seats... luckily thanks to one of my students who spotted a Z in a local junkyard I was able to find a cheap upgrade.

The junkyard Z had white leather seats, and luckily in great condition. They had some spotting and stains, but I was going to dye them black so it didn't matter. My dad helped me go to the junkyard and pull them and the project began. I decided to go with Rustoleum vinyl and leather dye in a gloss black. It is available at autozone and the ratings online were as good as the more expensive professional stuff.

I had some issues dying the seats... not sure if it was a bad spray can, or the temp but on my last coat of dye something went wrong. So I cleaned the seats again and after some work finally got a good finish on them. They ended up looking like new! I should of painted the brackets on the seats as well, but I figure when I finally put carpet in the car I will take the seats out again and I can do it then. I was in a hurry to get the seats in the car so I could wait for more painting.
I got one short delay... which of course happens on each Z project... one of the screws on the bracket would not come out from the original seat. I have tried everything and nothing... I don't want to risk stripping the screw more, so I might have my shop try to torch it out, or maybe just buy one of those screw removing tools

Anyhow... for more pics click HERE. the black interior conversion has taken one big step forward. No more ripped up ugly seats!