Keith Y came to Z Car Garage for dyno tuning on his Datsun 510 “Brock Buster” tribute. This Dime was a complete build performed by our friend, fellow racer and Datsun guru Troy Ermish.
Troy’s restoration of this car was fantastic and we love the 13″ Libra-style VTO with white-letters-out tires:
Underhood lies a Rebello 1700cc L-series with dual-Mikuni carbs and the chassis treated to a host of Troy’s suspension goodies:
When Keith brought the car to us it was not running correctly. Baseline numbers were 94hp/106tq. With Rob’s tuning the L-series now screams past 7ooorpm, making 125hp/114tq to the wheels. Gains of 31hp/8tq!
Enjoy the L-series music on the dyno, we included both engine and exhaust points of view:
Keith is happy and we are impressed (as always) with another Ermish creation. Coincidentally, the original real-deal Brock Buster 510 is being restored back it former glory as we speak at Troy’s shop! Looking forward to seeing it on the road.
At Z Car Garage we love dyno tuning vintage race cars that are being brought back to life in addition to event veterans. Stan T came up from Socal on referral from fellow racer Steve Link to get his Datsun 1200 back on the race track.
The Datsun 1200
A few words on the 1200 for the uninitiated, as this small but feisty little Datsun surprised many. The car was Nissan chassis code B110, sold in Japan 1970-1972 and in North America in 1971-1973. Known in the states as a “1200” from its 1.2L engine size and referred to as “Datsun Sunny 1200” in Japan, The 1200 had a rich racing history with success both here and abroad with much of it prowess coming from a lightweight chassis and potent A12 powerplant.
Stan bought his Datsun about 10 years ago as a barn find, tired SCCA H Production racecar. The SCCA logbook that came with the car showed only two races ever entered. It was mostly stock, with a bolt-in Autopower roll cage. Stan tells us about his build and desire to build it with period parts wherever possible:
“Back in the day, one could literally build a Datsun 1200 racecar out of the pages of the Datsun Competition parts catalog. Everything from engines to gearboxes to LSD rear ends was available. Factory teams and independents flocked to the Datsun nameplate, using the available go-fast bits and pieces. My thought with this project was to build up a tribute car in the vein of the original SCCA C Sedan class cars from the 70s, using parts from the Datsun Competition catalog as much as possible. No later, larger engine. No bigger rear axle. Everything was to be as close to period as possible, everything was to be restored with an eye towards authenticity and durability. No Tilton or Wilwood braking systems…I re-fabricated the braking system using historical pictures as a reference.”
“I’ve searched for several years gathering bits here and there from around the world. It was a tedious process – racers naturally use up parts, parts which were not plentiful to start with, and the stockpiles of available pieces had grown smaller over the years. The F5C56A close ratio 5-speed transmission came from New Zealand. A quick shifter and some engine parts came from Japan. Reproduction tail lamp housing gaskets came from a fellow 1200 enthusiast in the Pacific Northwest.”
What about that cool two-piece rocker cover?
“The one-off alloy rocker cover was CNC milled by a genius 1200 owner who took pity on my plea for a two piece unit that would make valve clearance adjustments considerably easier in the pits and back at the shop.”
Race prep advice came from retired 1200 racers who provided a treasure trove of knowledge. The engine was built by master machinist John Edwards in Costa Mesa who, when he was an automotive shop teacher, persuaded Nissan to donate dozens of the A12 engines to the school district for training purposes.
“This engine is an old SCCA warhorse that was run for years in the San Francisco region. The engine features a ported GX head and a slew of NLA Nismo bits along with trick “modern” pieces like ARP head studs & rod bolts and B-Projects rocker arm collars. It is being resurrected for vintage racing, using a bit more moderate state of tune for longevity and reliability. (if 12.8:1 compression can be called “moderate”)”
Below is a video showing Stan’s A12 motor on the R&D SimTester. It has a variable speed electric motor connected to the flywheel end of the crankshaft, spinning the motor. An oil line connected to the inlet side of the oil pump pressure feeds clean oil to the engine. The tester allows a ‘clean room’ run in of the freshly built engine to bed all the assemblies in, check for oil leaks, find weak/stripped bolts, ascertain clearances of rotating bits at various speeds etc. without generating heat and racket:
Stan adds the final steps of his build before dyno tuning:
“Final assembly and fabrication was done by Vinny Torres at Steve Link Racing in Anaheim. While the parts chase was going on, I stripped the body down to a bare shell and had it soda blasted back to bare metal, then repainted it the way it was when I bought it. During that phase, heavy rust was discovered in the cowl area which demanded attention, and after the heavy undercoating was stripped off, it was found out that the front clip of the car had been replaced at some point in an amateurish fashion, requiring a trip to the body shop alignment table to tug things back into some semblance of square.”
Dyno Tuning
With the car on the dyno Rob and Josh went to work checking things over in the engine bay. They set the timing correctly, worked on the A/F ratio and fixed a few items in the engine bay.
The car made fantastic power screaming to 8500rpm:
It was a win/win and Stan was more than pleased:
“1st dyno run (blue) showing how poorly the engine ran when I brought it in, then the last dyno run (red) showing the Helen Keller Miracle Worker version, where at the end of that run we all high-fived each other and shouted “Done!” Watching Rob & Josh work together was like watching a couple of master musicians in a recording studio bouncing musical ideas off of each other, with each building on the other’s talents until all of a sudden everything clicks, and a hit is born. They make it seem almost effortless until one steps back and realizes the personal database of tuning knowledge they have has been amassed through thousands and thousands of dyno runs and hundreds of days at the track all feeding back on each other. All the while I stood there awestruck, just happy not to get in the way and to learn a few things while watching the masters at work.”
Thank you Stan for bringing your 1200 to ZCG. We look forward to your next race!
Happy Thanksgiving from all of us at Z Car Garage! We hope you can find time to Enjoy The Ride over the holidays. Please note our hours of operation below:
We will be closed this Thursday and Friday for Thanksgiving
ZCG will close on the 20th of December 2018, reopening on the 2nd of January 2019
We are excited to sponsor and be a part of the 2018 Japanese Classic Car Show this Saturday 9/15 in Long Beach. Stop by the Z Car Garage booth to see our Big-Brake kit for small wheels, CV Axles and pick up some free swag.
On display in the ZCG booth is one of our latest builds, Randy Jaffe’s 1970 Series 1 240z:
We are also very proud of ZCG customer James S’ 1972 240z. He will be driving his turbocharged L-series down to JCCS and displaying it with fellow owners.
The show takes place from 9:00 am to 3:00 pm in Marina Green Park, and it is the highlight of all J-Tin shows! Catch a glimpse of what JCCS is all about in our report Last year’s show. Z you there!
Brian K is an avid Datsun fan and talented machinist. He is also the man behind our Z Car Garage CV Axles. When he’s not enjoying Datsuns, Brian owns/operates KaD Models machine shop in Berkeley, CA. In addition to the fully restored yellow S30 shown above, here are a few cars in his stable:
We are proud of Brian as his 1967 Nissan Patrol was displayed last weekend at the Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance! Brian visited Z Car Garage for a few things on his Z including our Big-Brakes for small wheels, door seals and dyno tuning.
Finding the ’72
Let’s start with a brief history of Brian’s 240z. It’s an early ’72 built in 11/71, early enough to still have vertical defrosters and elastic strapped seats. Brian bought the car with the intention of doing a period correct restoration with some current tech modification.
In June of 2016 I found a very good candidate for this build. A factory 112 colored 240z. The car was purchased in Los Altos and driven home. For 5 months I drove the car and made notes of trouble areas. In December I stripped it, sent the body to the body shop and engine to Rebello.
Meanwhile I had my 1967 Datsun 2000 to build so I was happy knowing I had storage. The body work took a solid 14 months and the engine was ready in about the same time. The engine is a numbers matching “purists” build making 302hp on the engine dyno. The transmission is a zx 5 speed…a rebuilt Craigslist find:
The clean aesthetic and details in the engine bay showcase Brian’s restoration skills:
Z Car Garage CV Axles
With significantly more power than stock, upgrading the stock half shafts adds piece of mind as well as smoother operation. Power is sent to an open 3.54 R200 courtesy of Junkyard Jenn, and transferred to the rear wheels via Z Car Garage CV Axles. Brian installed the CV axles himself (with our blessing) 🙂 Note the Z story exhaust, more on this later:
Brian visits Z Car Garage
Upon completion of my ’67 Datsun 2000 I had the opportunity to meet Rob at ZCG for a dyno tune that Alvin set up. This was my first face to face with their shop. What I found was a lot of Datsun/Nissan passion and a shop that is well presented. I found many similarities in speaking with Rob. When researching brakes for Z cars I found many types…and because of the web I found all sorts of confusing and conflicting arguments. I knew ZCG made a big brake kit but my temporary Konig Rewinds were to be replaced with my still in process 15″ Volk Racing centerlocks.
ZCG Big Brakes for Brian’s 240z
A couple months later there was a write up on Glenn Chiou’s Fairlady 240Z-L…this was about big brakes for small wheels and that’s all I needed to hear. From what I know of Rob and ZCG, they don’t sell things until they are sure to perform better than other options with little chance of failure. My car wasn’t yet running but I made an appointment for the install.
Brian came in to ZCG and we installed the ZCG Big Brakes, replacing the factory disc/drum setup:
Front:
Rear, including the fully-functioning parking brake:
A few more detail shots of the 4-wheel discs:
Brian also had a few things on his mind and we took care of them:
When I arrived at Zcar Rob asked if there was anything else he should be aware of or I was concerned about. Mind you I had had the car together for all of 8 days and 78 now 134 miles. I gave him a list: Speedo drive is not engaging, precision rubber door seals are making me cry, one stripped rear stud and exhaust hitting things issue.
The Z story exhaust system was hitting the chassis so we re-aligned it eliminate rubbing:
ZCG Door Seals
Brian was having trouble with door fitment so we put the ZCG door seals on it:
All doors were aligned to make it open/close nicely. Before/after:
Brian was happy with the results and he doesn’t let just anyone work on his cars. Actually, he’s always done it himself:
I was a Honda then Chrysler ASE mechanic prior to becoming machinist. This was the first time I was leaving my car in the hands of another shop aside from Factory maintenance on my late model cars. Was I worried…. slightly. I left though in a loaner. I received pictures throughout the day on status and was invited to pick the car up and run a dyno tune. There were some issues that I was sent away as homework so the dyno tune although showing a healthy 235 whp was full of scatter.
You can watch the dyno run and hear the Z story exhaust in this video below:
Getting Brian back on the road
Brian was heading back to our shop for a quick dyno tune on his way to the Mt. Shasta Datsun Roadster Meet when a last minute setback occurred:
I was invited to return the following Wednesday before the annual Mt Shasta Datsun roadster meet. I’d opted to bring the 112 z and my 67.5 2000. The previous weekend I I had driven many miles, had done a Fun Run had put an additional 600 miles on the car. While running down 880 I was zipping along in 5th gear and just before exiting to ZCG I was in neutral. I knew right away…. someone forgot to stake the nut. It was 730AM and the day was not going well. I arrived at Z car and Rob greeted me and said let’s do this… I said I have bigger problems. 5th isn’t with us anymore but I think the nut backed off and I am pretty sure it’s okay but no dyno. Rob said “ do you want me to yank it and put it back together today?”
Brian indeed had an early Z 5-speed and they are known to have the mainshaft nut back off resulting in 5th gear loss:
We removed and replaced the transmission, got on the dyno at 3pm and put him back on the road to Shasta where the Z won 2nd in its class! Thanks for trusting us to work on your freshly restored beauty. More pictures in the gallery below and you can follow Brian on Instagram. Enjoy The Ride Brian!
For reports on other customer cars running Z Car Garage Big Brakes and CV Axles, please visit the links below:
