We love to help a fellow Datsun owner out especially if they have a long history with their dime. Kent Morgan isn’t the original owner of this 510 wagon;  his father bought it brand new and Kent eventually got his hands on it.  The wagon dropped a valve and needed some work to get back on the road so ZCG came to the rescue.  Rebello helped rebuild the cylinder head and Rob worked on a few other items that needed attention.

This Datsun isn’t a weekend toy or garage queen. Kent works in the upholstery business (40 years strong) doing custom interiors for Pebble Beach-caliber cars. He is a one-man show and the wagon is his daily work vehicle.  The car was re-painted about 25 years ago and Rob couldn’t resist completely detailing the exterior and engine bay.

Kent tells us that not a day goes by without someone stopping him to ask if he would sell his wagon…we understand why he wouldn’t considering how long it has been in the family.

Datsuns are Driven!

Loren S. picked up this ’07 roadster recently from fellow Z fanatic Scott S. The Z already had Tein springs, dual-JWT pop chargers and a mint set of 19″ Volk ProgressiveSpoke wheels in gloss black with polished lips. The bolt-on friendly VQ35HR engine was begging to be uncorked even further so Loren brought the car to ZCG for some exhaust upgrades.

Here are the ART Pipes and full Bassani dual exhaust:

Baseline #’s were strong at 262hp/238tq at the wheels. With the ART pipes and exhaust installed a whopping gain of 25hp/20tq was seen for a total of 287hp/258tq to the wheels. With Rob’s tuning the Z now makes 291hp/260tq!

      
We love the HR’s responsiveness to minor bolt-ons and Loren can enjoy those extra ponies top down and in style.
 

 

Rob at ZCarGarage is now the proud owner of this 1967.5 Datsun 2000 Roadster. For many Datsun fans this specific model is well known as a highly collectible and sought after vehicle. What makes it so special?

The Datsun roadster was produced from 1962 to 1970 and it came in many flavors and trim levels with exterior/interior and drivetrain changes thoughout the years. Early on the roadster was offered with 1500 and 1600cc pushrod engines both with 4-speed transmissions. In 1967 though, Datsun introduced the “2000” model with a larger 2000cc OHC engine backed by a 5-speed transmission and a host of go-fast goodies like a 160mph speedometer and 8krpm tachometer…things dreams were made of back in ’67.

 

Following the factory hot rod theme Datsun also offered a “Competition” package that boosted output from 135hp to 150hp with the addition of twin Solex-Mikuni carbs, hotter “B” camshaft and a deep, 7qt. finned aluminum oil pan. Needless to say Datsun won plenty of races with this setup:

 

On the outside, a new handsome “D” badged grille, Satin-finished headlight buckets, “2000” badging, and a thin metal license plate trim helped identify this rare specimen:

 

Only 1000 of these ‘67.5 2000s were made and according to the registry less than 100 are accounted for in the states: Rob’s is SRL #00248. For more information on the ’67 2000 and roadsters in general please visit Datsun.org.

Though not a factory “competiton package” optioned car it does have all of those parts installed. The suspension consists of Mike Kerr front coil springs, NISMO rear leaf springs and larger front sway bar.The light blue paint is color code 563: Sora Blue. It is difficult to photograph and changes from a pastel blue to almost turquoise under varying light. The interior has red seats and panels with black carpeting, a combo not offered from the factory with Sora Blue paint but still very cool to us.

 

A little history on the car…SRL-00248 gained notoriety by its owner from 1998-2003: Michael “Calspeed” Carion. He made sure this rare Datsun was not a garaged-trailer queen.  He took it to road courses all over California and made some impressive road trips too, inspiring roadsters enthusiasts(including me).  Rob remembers vividly how Carion gave him his first ride in a Datsun roadster back in ’99.  Carion added the go-fast parts, Panasports with AO32R tires, racing stickers, roll bar, front spoiler, and other nice touches with the help of restorer Mike Young. It was not uncommon for folks to refer to the roadster as the “Calspeed” car:

 

In 2003 Raul L. caught the roadster bug and started acquiring several Datsuns. He bought #248 and enjoyed it immensely.  We had a friend help us remove some of the racing decals and I remember cruising with Raul in my then U20-powered roadster…good times. He even let me drive it for a few days and I will never forget the sound of the Solexes accompanying the thrust as the tach needle swept past 4krpm…see videos below!

 

Just recently Rob was given the opportunity to own SRL-0248. When Raul wanted to focus on getting his other roadsters running he decided to give Sora Blue a new home. Rob couldn’t be happier as this was his dream car and the keys were passed from one Datsun Nut to another. Raul took great care of the car as it was pretty much exactly as I remembered it in ’03: sweetness.  Phenomenal shape with clean footwells and a few things that needed work like hydraulics and some carb tuning. Note how clean the inner rear fender is!

 

Even the 45year-old speedometer is spot-on! Sora Blue is a blast to drive:

 

Here are a few videos of  the roadster running after being in storage for years:

 

Rob’s vision for the roadster is to keep the car as close to stock as possible without doing a “Rob” full-on restoration. Preserving some of the “patina” its acquired over the years is the goal.  Undoing the “racer” image started with removing low-hanging front spoiler and remaining decals. The most striking change is in the footwork:  the Panasports were replaced with freshly some powdecoated steelies with whitewalls…the result is beyond words:

 

Notice though how wicked the stance is with the taller sidewalls filling the wheel wells. Camber + zero fender gap = awesome. It is equal parts of the mystique and aura created by the poster below, mixed in with some bad-boy hot rod mojo:

 

Congrats to Rob, and welcome to the Roadster Brotherhood! We look forward to seeing you Enjoy the Ride!

Lots of detailed photos in the gallery to enjoy!
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Scott W. came to ZCarGarage for some bolt-on goodness on his Nismo 370z. We started with JWT intakes:

The intakes produced modest gains of +5hp/3tq at the wheels:

Next up we installed some Berk Hi-Flow cats:

The HFCs gained 6hp/3tq at the wheels

With UPREV tuning, cats and intakes the Z now makes +16hp/7tq for a grand total of 317hp/261tq at the wheels.

 

The Datsun roadster you see above is the creation of Todd Green. He is one of those die-hard Datsun guys that still races a vintage Japanese car against modern sportscars in the highly competitive SCCA Solo autocross series.  On the race track Todd is known as “Todzilla” because of the way he drives…and wins! In 2005 Todd won the SCCA National  Championship in EP class with his Datsun, a tremendous accomplishment considering the level of competition. Here he is in 2005:

The roadster has an interesting racing history from over four decades ago when it was raced as the Barton Special.  Todd recalls how he eventually acquired the car:

“When I was 11 years old my father and brother raced (Solo2 or gymkana as it use to be called) a 510 with all of the BRE parts but it had the interior in it and was driven on the street to and from events. My oldest brother got a 2000 from a junk yard and we made it into a regional DP car. He did solo with it for a couple of years, then got married and sold the car. Since then I wanted to race a 2000 and win a National Championship,” and 35 years later, he did!

The car was set up to E prepared regulations with U20 Carillo rods, Cosworth pistons, Ported head, tulip valves, cam, double disc Tilton clutch, UC tranny, 4:88 gear, 240Z brakes on all four corners, 3-link with a Watts link designed by a friend of his, coil-overs, and 7″ Panasports with cantilever tires. It made about 170hp at the crank:

Beneath those sexy handmade fender flares and bodywork is a full tube-frame chassis that Todd built from scratch. About the only thing OEM Datsun are the clutch master cylinder, uprights and spindles, trunk lid and doors. The best part is that he did all of the fabrication work in his garage with a Mikita 90 degree grinder, cheap drill press, a file and his trusty 34 year old Lincoln Tig 250.

“We got a steering rack from a Rover and fabricated a new one, steering arms, tie rods and column for the car. Fender flairs were made from riveting aluminum flashing to the fenders and laying several layers of fiberglass weave over the flashing, then drill out the rivets and peel the flashing away. Take a cheese grater and file to shape the fiberglass.”  It looks fast and mean just standing still.

The VQ35HR Madness Begins

“I got moved to DP and had to race Miatas (which have more HP than my 15:1 Hot rod engine) and I had to weigh 300 lbs more than they do.”  The SCCA got rid of A Prepared and B prepared and came up with X Prepared: 1200lbs min. weight with +200lbs for every liter of displacement.  Lots of high hp and high $ machines to compete with. In other words, it was time for the U20 to be replaced by something with more power: enter Nissan’s VQ35HR.

We all know that this engine can be uncorked with minor bolt-ons and make 300whp easily…this car weighs under 2000lbs ! It now has a quick-ratio rack from an Australian stock car, Wilwood brakes, one-off zero-scrub front end, over 700 ft. of tubing, Toyota rear axle and gear drive, 4:88 gears and Goodyear 23.5×11.5×16 slicks on very wide custom Panasports.
The handmade exhaust headers showcase Todd’s fabrication skills. 18″ tubular mufflers finish them off. We can’t wait to hear this thing at full song:

The XP class is said to be filled with $100k cars but Todd has spent a little more than a new Nissan Versa on this VQ-powered Datsun Roadster. “I have an SRL311 that looks just like the racer without the larger fenders and wheels. It has been idle since 1989 because I have put all of my time and money into the racer.” Will it be enough to win another championship? With his driving skills, winning suspension and more power we hope to see Todzilla on the podium! Thank you Todd for keeping the Datsun spirit alive.

You can see more pictures in the gallery below:
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