Father's Day with my Dad and the Z

I love working on cars... and so does my dad. Not sure if it would of been his number one choice of fun bonding but we did some work for the Z... not on the Z, but for the Z. What does that mean you might ask... we went to a junkyard and got parts from another Z, that will eventually go on my Z. 

 On Sunday, in between World Cup matches we went to a local auto salvage place where they have a Z with tons of parts I wanted. The main item was some leather seats, which are currently white and in great shape. I hope to turn them into black leather seats and get rid of my ugly brown vinyl and tweed seats in my Z right now. I also scored a ton of other parts. Engine inspection light, glove box door, shift boot clips, extra screws, AFM boot, HVAC ducts, and the best item was a second set of the full taillight panel. I want to paint that black. So now I can paint this second set, get it done and ready and easily just swap them out. Then I sell that set. 

It was a good day... I scored the entire list of parts for just $75 which is about what one seat goes for on my forum. So can't beat this deal on a lot of stuff! 

Thanks to my pop for getting sweaty with me out there and working on cars like we did with my old Camaro when I was just 15 years old... We ended the outing with some KFC and watched the Brazil game. Happy Fathers Day!

Datsun Cologne

For a limited time I have been wearing Datsun Cologne to work... you might ask, what is that and where do I get some?

Well it is only for a limited time (hopefully) but here is why I am wearing it to work. My parents are here visiting from Bolivia, and when they visit I loan them my Altima so they can roll around in style (and so they don't have to rent a car for 6 weeks).

Until this year my back up car was a respectable red 2002 Nissan SpecV that didn't produce any funny smells. Well this year my back up car (back up car = race car) is the Z. As I noted before the Z burns oil, and also leaks a little exhaust, and also has some gaps in the taillights that help the leaked smelly exhaust get into the car...

So that means on long drives in the Z, when I get out I am wearing my Datsun Cologne. I might try to market it at Macy's but I doubt I will be able to throw in a free handbag with $60 purchase so it might never catch on.

First Autocross!

It's Go time. Start Your Engines...


The weekend of June 4-6, 2010 was the Great Lakes Division (GLD) Solo Series Event #1 sponsored by the South Bend Region SCCA (my car club). I work timing and scoring for the club this year so I get to help with all the fun tech stuff for the events. It does mean I have to arrive early and leave late, but I like being involved.

So the first two races of the year I had to borrow a car from other members. The first race I ran in a 1986 Mazda RX-7 which is similar set up to the Z. Then the second race a fellow Z driver let me co-drive a 1990 Nissan 300zx Twin Turbo... that thing was a beast and a lot of fun to try and drive.

Well for this event I was able to get the car ready. It is a two day event that counts for points for our regional trophies and for the divisional series event. It drew cars from all over the midwest so it was a strong field of competitors. The first day we had a lot of rain, and the second day was sunny.

The Z was fun to drive! I have a lot of learning how to balance and handle a rear wheel drive car, and the Z needs more work to be competitive... but for not I am just glad I was able to race my Z. I registered here in STR Class and hope to try and keep her in that class. If not I might move to an SP class but we will see in the future. Here are my results:

Saturday
STR - 1st of 1 car
Overall Pax - 66th of 86

Sunday
STR - 2nd of 2 cars
Overall Pax - 88th of 91 (ouch)

Weekend
STR - 1st of 2
Index - 69th of 97

So overall I did alright, I had fun and I got a trophy both days for my class. I got some fun pictures. More Pics Here: First Autocross

Throw some Ds on that Z

Well I didn't get D's (20 inch rims) on the Z, cause they won't fit, and two I am not that bling (18s on the Altima are as big as I go). I did finally get tires and mounted the new rims on the Z. It is pretty exciting because the tires on the car were nearly 12 years old and had horrible flat spots so they road super bumpy.

So this is the biggest mod done on the car so far and man does she look mean now. Here are the specs of what I got:

XXR 513 Wheels in 16x8 with a Zero Offset (XXR Wheels)
Kumho Ecsta AST Tires in 225/50R16 (Kumho)

I have always had good luck with my Kumho tires in the past and the deal from Discount Tire was way to good to pass up. Good timing as always!

So it was a good Z weekend. I got the transmission leak fixed, got the new rubber and rims on her and she is looking mean. Now I can start putting the center console back in the car since the trans work is done.

The rest of the weekend will be yardwork... but the plan will be to get the interior back together as best I can because next week I want to take her to her first race. Hopefully we will be racing at Grissom (SBR Series #3 and #4 races).

Parts, Parts and more Parts

Today I drove 30 minutes up to Michigan to buy more... more Datsun parts. I think it is a scary addition. However this was a good deal that I could not turn down. For $50 I got two boxes full of black interior pieces, a wood style steering wheel, some turn signal lenses, window trim, a full set of gauges and some emblems.

You might not be as excited as I am... but I want to convert my interior to black and this is nearly all the parts I need. Plus the spare gauges will help me when I swap out to new modern gauges.


The cool pick up are the emblems. I have a few different types already, I like these bigger disks, they won't actually fit my model but they will make good wall art in my Datsun garage area.


Unfortunately there wasn't a new frame rail in the box... I still need to find a shop to weld up my floors for me.

Sans Bumpers

Well while I am waiting to get the head rebuilt (I am slowly stock piling all the parts I will need) I decided to work on some other projects. One was to take the super heavy bumpers off the car. In 1975 they added bigger bumpers to the car to meet crash ratings. Well weight isn't good on a sports car, so I took them off and will be shopping around for some used older style bumpers to put on the car.

So here is a before and after picture... I actually really like it with no bumper!
BEFORE:

AFTER:


The rear is also a big difference I will post more pictures later. For now I wanted to share a picture of my garage space. Our house has a small two car garage... and I mean two cars and not much else! So I have to be creative in how to fit everything in there that I need.

I bought a small shelf that converts into a low profile workbench. I organized it and bought a small parts bin rack for all the little odds and ends I will be collecting (and that I already have). I made a space for race equipment and hung up my Nissan and Datsun banners. Until I get to overhaul the garage and really make it car friendly this will do, I like it!

So tomorrow is the second autocross of the season... still not ready to race the Z... gun shy and my friend Fred offered to let me co-drive his 300zx Twin Turbo so I can't turn that offer down! Wish me luck... first autocross in a Z!

Mothers Day Cruise

My friend Fred came over today. He owns a 300ZX Twin Turbo... which is awesome and he offered to come over and help out with my Z for a little bit. He is going to be helping me pull the head and replace it. Today we ended up just doing some odds and ends.

So while I had helped we jacked up the rear end of the car and worked on getting the rear bumper off. I want to swap out the heavier 280z bumpers for either a clean no bumper look or get some 240z bumpers. They came off really easy, but I need to figure out how to get the bumper shock absorbers off. I like the look with no rear bumper.

Luckily it was painted under the bumper, once I had it half off I got worried it wouldn't be painted under there... but the last guy did a good job painting it. So now later this week I want to try and take the front bumper off. Man those things are heavy!

Then we took the Z on some country roads... I finally really burned some rubber on her and pushed her hard. We went and checked out Fred's Z and the work he is doing on it. He is doing some stereo work so I will be able to help him with that since he can help me with more mechanical work.

Autocross on May 16th... I think I might give the Z a shot! If not, Fred said I can co-drive his Z. So either way this Sunday I will be autocrossing a Z!