Z Car Garage wishes you a Happy 5/10 Day and Happy Mother’s Day! We enjoyed driving our 1971 Datsun 510s on a beautiful day in San Jose. Turbo6, our 80’s revival, is back on the road and running great with its turbocharged 6-cylinder L-series. Look for a full report soon:
Rob, Meghan and Tank were in the SR20DET-powered 510:
A few photo-ops in Downtown San Jose:
We got the Bay Area Datsun Dealers race 510 out too!
Enjoy The Boost in this video of the 510s in action. We hope you can Do It In A Datsun today too!
This weekend at Sonoma Raceway (October 4-6) CSRG is hosting the Charity Challenge featuring the John Morton Cup. The race is for Historic B-& C Sedans and includes our hero and legendary driver John Morton. Don’t miss this event it promises to be an epic gathering of vintage Datsun racers! Check out the schedule below, Group 9 is the one to watch for B-Sedan action:
The Historic B & C Sedan Challenge will be joining The John Morton Cup (through CSRG), and it was created by our friends and fellow racers Glenn Chiou and Dave Stone. Check out their site for more info on the series HERE
Z Car Garage Supports Five Datsun 510 Race Cars!
We will be providing race support for the following five Datsun 510s this weekend, enjoy this video preview of them below:
There will be a field of 38 B-sedans with 12 Datsun 510s mixing it up at Sonoma Raceway. John Morton is Grand Marshall and will also be racing a Datsun 510!
#7 Rob Fuller
ZCG owner Rob Fuller will be piloting the #7 Bay Area Datsun Dealers car
#51 John Morton
John Morton will be driving the #51 car owned by Taz Harvey. You might find this 510 familiar as it was built by our friend Troy Ermish and the previous owner was Wayne McAttee! Car is currently being prepped at ZCG!
#80 Howard Swig
Howard Swig is driving the #80 Red Farmer car (also owned by Taz). Swig is an Auction Manager at Bring a Trailer and this 510 was purchased via a BaT back in 2014 (link). Car is currently being prepped at ZCG!
#72 Tom Dockery
Tom Dockery is driving the Ex-Norm Balzer 510. This car made its debut in May and we are excited to share its full story and profile Tom’s journey into racing soon.
#52 Alex McDowell
Alex will be driving the 1967 Bluebird Coupe.
510 Friends!
Many notable Datsun 510 racers will be in the group, gunning for the trophy. We look forward to the challenge!
#33 Glenn Chiou
Glenn will be driving the Ex-Finn/Harris U2.5L Trans-Am ’68 510. This car made its debut in May at the SVRA event at Laguna Seca. Glenn did an admirable job (as always) getting this historically significant 510 back on the racetrack!
#93 Dave Stone
Dave Stone will be driving the #93 Ex-Frellsen 1973 National Champion 510. Dave is fast!
#52 Jim Froula
Race car driver and restoration specialist Jim Froula of Racecraft is running the Ex- Harry Stewart Datsun 510. Can Jim’s large shoe size give him the advantage this time?
Join us at Sonoma Raceway this weekend for the John Morton Trophy race and enjoy some B-sedan action!
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!
We are extremely happy for our friend and fellow Datsun enthusiast Tom D and his newly acquired B-sedan Datsun 510. This is a historically significant race car built and run originally by Norm Balzer. Here it is at Road Atlanta in 1977:
Tom brought the 510 to Z Car Garage to have it prepared for the upcoming race season:
“I bought the car rough three years ago from Steve Link with the help of Dave Stone. Since then I exchanged information with MaryLee Balzer (the original builder and owner’s widow) and Jon Koobation, the last guy to campaign the car. Both kept all the records and materials associated with the car. They graciously gave me all of it, even Norm’s race jacket (so cool). My plans are (with Rob and ZCG support) to get the car track ready. The car will be campaigned with its original livery and as much of the original equipment as possible, including the FIA prepped L18.”
The car was wildly successful on the West Coast. Many, including Larry Oka referred to the car as the “other BRE car” since it was built with the help of Mac Tilton and hardware from the BRE garage as the Trans Am series ramped down. Tom plans to run several events this year including CSRG April at Infineon Raceway, The HSMA Festival of Speed in Late May, The Rolex in August and the CSRG Charity Event in October. We are currently breaking the car down for race prep. It is shockingly original and a treat to see!
Enjoy that twin-Mikuni carb’d L-series sing!
A Rich Racing History
Purchased from a local Datsun dealer in 1971 for a one dollar, Norm Balzer took this Datsun 510 which was damaged in shipping straight to the garage to create one of the most successful B Sedan race cars on the West Coast. With help from Mac Tilton, many parts were sourced from the BRE garage. Norm raced the car from in B Sedan from 1973 until 1979 and then later as a GT2 entry in 1980.
Willow Springs 1976 and RA in 1979:
Jon competed with the 510 in GT2, GT3 and IMSA/GTU Special Group 2 from 1981 to 1992, amassing a number of first place finishes including a win in IMSA SP2 at Laguna Seca in May of 1983. Together Norm and Jon took this Datsun 510 to the podium forty times with thirteen first place finishes and six Southern Pacific Division Championships. Overall they competed in eighty-six races between 1973 and 1992.
Stay tuned for an in-depth look at this historical Datsun race car!
It’s official! ZCG is going to the 2018 Classic Motorsports Mitty April 27-29 at Road Atlanta in Georgia. This year, Nissan is the featured marque!
Road Atlanta has been home to The Mitty event for over 30 years where Datsuns dominated the racing scene. Names like Bob Sharp, Walter Maas, Jim Fitzgerald, Kirk Allegro, Don Devandorf and of course our hero John Morton have all won at this historic race track. RA was also the location of this epic Datsun commercial with John:
The BRE Datsun 240z driven by John Morton at The Mitty
We are extremely thankful and stoked that owner Randy Jaffe invited us to The Mitty. John Morton will be piloting the #46 BRE 240z once again! The entire ZCG crew will be running pit crew beginning 4/23 for testing through the race weekend ending 4/29. Somebody pinch us, we are running pit crew again for #46 with John Morton…our last race event with the legendary driver was the 2017 Rolex Monterey Motorsports Reunion at Laguna Seca. Following the Historics, we performed post-race maintenance to prepare #46 for its trip back home to Randy in Georgia.
He showed the Z at several shows including ZCon 2017 and Atlanta Festival of Speedand now it’s time for it to be on the track again with Morton at the reigns!
Our tent will be in the paddock alongside Nissan and their fleet of historic race cars! Please stop by and say hello, we will have refreshments and love chatting about Datsuns.
Datsun Racers Making the Trip
Sweet historic Datsuns/Nissans will be racing at The Mitty. We will be transporting the Jim Fitzgerald “Designated Hitter” car (full story in a future post) and Bluebird Coupe with help from the good folks at RacecraftNW:
We are very happy for our friend and fellow racer Glenn Chiou. He is making the trek to Road Atlanta to race his VIP’s Z:
We also hear that a large contingent of West Coast Datsun Roadsters will be attending: Bob Studdard ’67 2000 (owned by Phil Mendelovitz), Ron Carter’s ’67 2000 and Michael Anderson’s recently acquired Rock Vest 2000:
Bring Out Your Nissan/Datsun!
This year the Classic Motorsports Mitty is showcasing Nissan as the featured marque. That means the track and infield will be bustling with historic examples. Bring yours out and enjoy the weekend at Road Atlanta. We were impressed with the showing of Datsuns back in 2010:
Speaking of history at Road Atlanta, when we spotted this blue KA24E-powered Datsun 510, Rob recalled an inspiring story about its creator, the late Tom Wyatt III (Turbo Tom).
Tom entered his turbocharged L-series Datsun 510 at The Mitty where he consistently outpaced much more powerful sports cars. By the end of the day he was racing with the Corvettes and Cobras. He beat a Porsche 930 on a lap by nine seconds, and a race prepped 427 Cobra by 3 seconds. The race staff didn’t know what to do, so they gave him a custom made trophy and told him not to come back next year! That is how you DO IT IN A DATSUN!
