Shop Talk for
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Happy 3/11 day to all Datsun Roadster owners across the globe! Give your Fairlady a hug and get out and drive! Here are a few memorable roadsters that have been at Z Car Garage over the years. Of course, Eric Straw’s SR20VET-powered beauty is high on our list:
Rob and myself have been Enjoying The Ride in our roadsters. His 1967 Datsun 2000 and my 1967.5 SPL:
More roadster-related content HERE
When we learned that a Nissan Silvia was in our area Z Car Garage got excited. This is not the 90’s Silvia (Nissan 240sx here) we know and love, it is the ultra-rare 1965 Silvia CSP311. Only 554 examples were made from ’67 -’67 and never imported to the US.
Fortunately for owner Rick K, he was able to acquire this Silvia from our friends at JDM Legends:
“My son (Matt) and I were searching for a nice 240Z. Throughout our search, Matt kept telling me about the Silvia (CSP311). One became available through JDM Legends. I just wasn’t sure about it until we saw Myron Vernis’ beautiful Silvia featured in a recent JDM exhibit at the Peterson. When we saw the car in person, we were hooked. We purchased the Silvia from JDM-L. It is built on the Nissan/Datsun Roadster chassis and drive train, so it is fun to drive and reliable.”
The Silvia is special for many reasons. As Rick mentioned above, this car was built on the Datsun Roadster chassis, meaning it is a body-on-frame platform sharing the same R16 drivetrain as the Datsun 1600 (SP311). All were hand built and right hand drive with a gorgeous interior. Fairlady owners will notice familiar gauges and switchgear–all borrowed from the contemporary Datsun Roadster. The body was designed by Kazuo Kimura with influence from Albrecht Goertz (of 240z/2000GT fame):
Although it was a beautiful, robust little coupe it was not a sales success for Nissan. It did however pave the way for the larger S30:
“Nissan shipped one to the fledgling Datsun distributor in the US. They did not think it would sell in the US (re-naming it a Datsun 1600 Coupe) and that was the end of CSP311. It never made it to full production. We believe ours is one of 5 currently in the US. Most are in Japan with a large group in Australia as well. We guesstimate that there may be 150 still in existence world wide.”
Rick brought the Silvia in to us for an inspection and to ensure it was road-worthy. We thank owner Eric Bizek of JDM Legends for referring Rick to us!
“Eric at JDM told us about Z Car Garage and Rob. Knowing that one of the best shops in the country was 10 minutes from our house gave us the confidence we needed to buy the car. We knew we had a great shop to work on it in the Bay Area.”
We developed a plan to address some deferred maintenance and sort out the tired suspension. A surprisingly clean underbody (remember this came from Japan!) revealed some corrosion:
To satisfy our curiosity we placed the Silvia on the scales and it checked in at a scant 2210lbs:
We even put it on the dyno to make sure the engine was healthy. Could this be the only Silvia in the US to be dyno tuned? 😀
The Silvia put down a stout 67hp/81tq to the wheels, enjoy the video:
Rick and son Mat have been enjoying the Silvia and sharing it with other enthusiasts.
“Matt and I enjoy driving it often. We also have taken it to Cars and Coffee events in the Bay Area and most notably were welcomed with position A at the Wrigley building in Santa Cruz. The Driving While Awesome Cars and Coffee was one of the best we had been to.”
We also spotted it at the 2019 Saratoga Classic Car Show:
While Rick and Matt were at the shop we let them drive Butters, our 1970 Series 1 shop demo Z. They were hooked:
“Hi Rob, It was great to meet you and your team. Matthew could barely sleep last night after driving Butters. Thanks so much for letting us take it out. Truly amazing. We want a Z just like that.”
Big thanks to Rick for letting us work on the Silvia. We suggested that a car this rare and significant should be as close as possible to a factory correct restoration which we agree with. For now they are just Enjoying The Ride!
Kevin is a long time Z Car Garage customer with his pretty Cherry Red Pearl Slicktop Z32 300ZX, so we happily obliged to take on the 411 project. We knew that it would be a challenge as his 411 was the very rare, “SSS” model. Not familiar with the 411? It is a hybrid of sorts with a body designed by the Italians and mechanics built in Japan by Datsun.
The Bluebird had a 1300 cc engine and its body was designed by Italian coachbuilder Pininfarina. The SSS was a high performance sedan version of the Bluebird that used a slightly modified version of the engine from our beloved Datsun Fairlady 1600 sports car. Let’s take a look at Kevin’s history with the 411…
In 1978 at the age of 16, Kevin’s first car purchase was this 1967 Datsun Bluebird 411 sedan. He had many fond memories in it as a teen:
“I drove the car all through my time as a student at Cupertino High School and at De Anza College. The 1980s! It was kind of a funny looking car, but I just adored it. I drove it to my high school Junior Prom, as you can see from the photos. My brother and I once even drove all the way from Bay Area up to Sweet Home, Oregon to visit our mom. A bit gutless going over the big grades, but we made it there and back without many issues.
I drove this car all over the Silicon Valley, to school, to work, Santa Clara Vanguard rehearsal, ‘Tino football games, to midnight movies, to KOME where I volunteered, to KFJC, my college radio home, to the beach in Santa Cruz via the Old Santa Cruz Highway, and especially up and down Highway 9.
At some point while going to college, the head gasket blew and Kevin decided to sell the car. He regretted selling it, considering all the memories the 411 gave him. On his 50th birthday Kevin remembered the soft spot he had for his Bluebird and purchased one in 2013 from noted 411 expert Tom Neely:
“I was so excited to have this car in my hands. It was very nostalgic driving the car once again. The sounds, the smell, the look and feel were all too familiar. The difference is that this was the RL411 SSS, a more powerful version of the Bluebird I once new. I drove it all around the San Francisco neighborhood where I live, picking up loads of smiles and thumbs up.”
Kevin was able to enjoy his “new” Bluebird until the engine made a horrible noise. He visited Z Car Garage in 2014 and we diagnosed the R16 with a rod knock. Kevin and Rob discussed a restoration with premium replacement and NOS parts at the heart of the build. We knew that finding parts for a car like this would be very difficult and accepted the challenge. Early stages of the build included a hot-rod R16 engine from Rebello, refurbished brakes/hydraulics, upgraded ignition and gaskets.
The original exhaust manifold crumbled to dust once removed so another one was sourced and replaced. The custom exhaust system built by Neely gets great reviews from other RL411 owners. Note the downpipe is routed through the fender:
“Rob Fuller and Z Car Garage’s vast network had somehow found one last RL411 water pump! The unicorn! I could not believe the news. The part was installed, and I received the car shortly thereafter.”
The engine was treated to new upper/lower radiator hoses and a new Nissan gasket set:
With the hot-rod parts being installed into a chassis from the 60’s, everything needed to be gone through to make it road worthy. The braking system was overhauled with new calipers, F/R wheel bearings and new rear wheel cylinders. We also rebuilt the suspension:
What vintage Datsun would be complete without a set of Panasports?! We couldn’t resist fitting some 14×6 Panasports with Star Spec tires. Lowering blocks in rear make it look sharp! More pictures in the gallery below:
We really dig the interior on the 411s as they have a very classy look and feel. The dash was worked on with attention to the gauge cluster and trim. The heater core was removed/rebuilt and the control valve pressure tested to ensure the heater/defrost was functional:
New seats sourced from another 411 with a matching rear bench and new carpeting were installed:
We convinced Kevin to breathe some life into the old paint with a cut and buff…the results were impressive. The car was undercoated and detail painted, here is a before/after:
While buying some parts for Meghan’s 312 Bluebird we got a set of NOS 411 bumpers and hooked Kevin up.
We replaced all the fluids, installed an upgraded East Coast Datsun distributor (Thanks Tom!), upgraded alternator and brand new set of factory plug wires. Rob dyno tuned the R16 with Z Therapy SU carbs making 79hp/95tq at the wheels:
Kevin took delivery of his refreshed 411 and he was stoked:
“I headed down to Z Car Garage. Rob handed me the keys and said, ‘take it around the block. Tell me what you think.’ I did so. The car was like another beast. The engine roared to life. It seemed was fresher and angrier. That extended out to the test drive. What performance! The Bluebird was was back! More performance than before and zero backfiring. I could really wind out the R16! “Well?’ asked Rob. ‘Amazing!’ I exclaimed.”
Kevin was so excited that his Bluebird was fresh and ready he made the long journey to attend the 2018 Japanese Classic Car Show. There, he was recognized for his long drive in the Bluebird from San Francisco to Long Beach:
“I received an “Iron Butt” award for distance traveled to the show. Even more importantly, the Bluebird made the trip home, as well. Since JCCS, I’ve shown the car locally at the ZONC show and got a lot of interest in the car. Again, it’s so odd that even Datsun enthusiasts had never seen one before. It can’t really win car shows, as there is no category for these oddball 411s!”
He joined us on a local Holiday Fun Run through the Santa Cruz Mtns:
He even attended the Route 66 Classic Car Show in Williams, AZ where he joined a few other 411 owners, again driving all the way there and back!
We enjoyed the journey to bring Kevin’s RL411 back to life and it makes us happy to see him Enjoying The Ride:
“I thank the Datsun gods for putting this project into Z Car Garage’s hands because they came through for me in the end. I don’t believe I would be driving the car if it weren’t for their knowledge and persistence. Here’s how the car looked after I picked it up from Z Car Garage.”
Big thanks to Kevin for sticking with us through the build and everyone in the Datsun community that lent a hand like Mike Young. Datsuns Are Driven!
Last week we had the pleasure of dyno tuning Eric Straw’s magnificent 1969 Datsun 2000 Roadster. Eric is a long time friend of Z Car Garage and we first dyno’d this roadster in 2012 while a few years later we enjoyed tuning his RB26DETT powered DR30 Skyline. In addition to being a talented fabricator it is clear that Eric has a penchant for white paint, red valve covers…and turbocharged Nissan powerplants!
After restoring his roadster with an S13 SR20DET drivetrain a decade ago, Eric started working on the next evolution with a totally revised chassis and new engine (the previous setup sold for a customer’s roadster). The new drivetrain consists of an S14 block (JE pistons, K1 rods, P12 oil pump) with a P11 VVL head (Kelford turbo cams, Tomei cam gears, Taarks VVL relocation kit, R35 coil packs) all mounted to the roadster frame using a Spriso Motorsports HD motor mount kit.
Providing boost is a GTX3071r turbo with Tial exhaust housing mounted to a Straw-fab’d custom tubular manifold with CNC 1 piece collector. On the cold side is a custom intercooler with Garrett core and custom intake manifold. It’s both pretty and functional considering the roadster’s tiny engine bay:
Backing the SR20VE-T is a 6-speed (CD009) transmission normally seen in the Nissan 350z. The SR mounts to the tranny via a Mazworx bell housing with an OS Giken Twin disk. The shining star in Eric’s craftsmanship is the chassis preparation with a heavily modified frame with tubular x-member and bolt-in reinforcements.
It would take another blog post to dive into the suspension but if you are curious about the restoration and more please check out Eric’s roadster featured in this Speedhunters article by Naveed Yousufzai HERE.
The tuning session was conducted with driveability and longevity in mind. Outright peak power numbers were not a priority. Eric’s hometown in Salem, Oregon is where this car would be enjoyed with premium fuel and the occasional 100 octane splash. Surely more power could be extracted with E85 but Eric is 50 miles from nearest station. Rob comments on the choice of engine management for the SR20VE-T:
“When Eric contacted us about about building the SR20VVL we discussed EMS, and ZCG is a Haltech Pro Tuner. We really like how user-friendly this product is for a tuner. It’s perfect when you need to map out all of the different phases, complete control of ignition/fueling, cam control, idle air…everything to take this car you’ve dreamed of and make it drive like it came from an OEM factory.”
Rob dyno tuned the SR equipped with a Haltech 1500 Elite. Initial passes were performed on 92 octane. The plots below show without a boost controller (387hp/287tq) and with a boost controller, making 425hp/331tq to the wheels:
Of note is Nissan’s wonderful variable valve timing (VVL) at work with a very flat torque curve and incredible, spine-tingling cam changeover sound. See video below! Eric and Josh drained the fuel tank to add 100 octane for the next passes. Fueling is supplied by a custom stainless tank (Aeromotive hangler/bladder), custom stainless lines all dash 6, 1300x Injector dynamics and a Radium Fuel rail:
On 100 octane the SR20VE-T made 491hp/393tq at the wheels. That is roughly 570hp at the crank. Keep in mind this little Datsun roadster weighs 2250lbs with a hardtop and 14 gallons of fuel!
Following the dyno session we had to take the roadster out for a drive. This video shows multiple dyno passes and test drives, volume up!
Here are a few driving impressions from the three of us, enjoy!
“The car went from being an impressive car to completely coming alive and becoming a rocket ship that just keeps pulling. The VVL is like another level of performance. The power comes on very progressive and linear to give the chassis the best chance of getting as much as possible out of it. We made multiple setting to help with driving goals based on the roads and situations we are in.”
“The suspension has been a lot of work and has really paid off many times over be able to get this power to the ground and drive the car like it was intended. The rear suspension is so predictable and precise that immediately I had a lot of confidence to be able roll some power out of the corner. Rob had truly made this dream come alive and make this car so very impressive.”
“The cam control and air flow from the VVL is staggering, just really super cool. I’m not surprised…from being around the DR30 and seeing all the cars Eric and Michael Spreadbury have built over the years. This roadster continues to evolve as they continue their craft with each chapter revealing a new level like a boost controller: 5 years ago was 10lbs of boost, 2 years ago 12lbs, and now 22lbs (this roadster should only be driven on high!) Eric Straw isn’t just one man. He seems to be a mass of people to not only design an engine bay and make it work efficiently but also bolt a non-matching transmission, and then that rear end suspension….obviously one of the biggest things when modifying a 50+yr old Datsun with high power levels is trying to put it down. His engineering accounted for enough tire, brake and balance. The setup Eric built for this roadster I could not believe how we could deliver 500+hp/almost 400ftlbs of torque, and yes we were lighting off the tires but…I still felt like I was in control. We were on ice, but I felt like I was on Speedvision from back in the day of World-rallying Championship..with just a slight motion of the steering wheel I could rotate that car wherever I wanted.
Alvin
“As a passenger and long-time roadster owner…it’s not easy for me to ride shotgun in a high-powered car but I still can’t fathom how smooth it felt under intense acceleration. These are super tiny cars and to see both Eric and Rob harness it was a testament to Eric’s chassis engineering. I’ve been in other Datsuns with turbo SRs and they will pitch sideways under full throttle but this one was planted even on our rough downtown roads. Watch the video. It’s epic.”
All of us concluded and shared similar sentiments: Eric’s suspension enabled this roadster to manage all that power. When boost hits and the tires break loose it can be seemingly glide controllably with steering input…no hopping or skittering. The rear suspension consists of a hybrid rear axle built by Moser based on a Dana 44 with a Torque arm and 3-Link Watts with Ridetech coil-overs. Up front are custom Ridetech coil-overs and sway bar. R33 GTR Brembo brakes provide stopping power. The Watanabe wheels are wrapped in 225F/245(!)R tires which are massive for a stock-flared roadster body.
We had blast spending the day with Eric and tuning his roadster. We can’t praise him enough for the ingenuity and execution of his build. Eric would like to thank Julie Straw, Michael Spreadbury and Rob Fuller. More pictures in the gallery below and Enjoy The Boost Eric!
Our Z Car Garage-built Datsun Roadster is featured on the latest episode of Hoonigan Autofocus! with Larry Chen Photo. Enjoy! #DoItInADatsun
