Stall Torque Defined

Activity Begins

Saturday, January 26, was a milestone day for the team. Big Daddy and Wrench got the day started by organizing the garage and making room for the project. It went much better than the last time we had to do this. The project at that time was to paint BD’s Cobra and the reorganizing effort took much longer.
In a few short hours the garage was prepared and “Dottie” was motored in and placed upon her throne (4 jack-stands). With this accomplished, we were off to the first official team meeting. Order was call with everyone present and accounted for. BD, Wrench, Crash, Kamikaze and Leezard all arrived on time for our meeting at Hooters in Kennesaw. Aside for some questionable service for our lone female team member, the meeting was very productive. Everyone is very enthusiastic about the project and lots of great ideas were shared. Enthusiasm was so high that the meeting adjourned back to the Wrench’s garage for a late night work session.
By the time we were ready to call it a night Dottie had been stripped to her skivvies. The gal has seen a lot of hard miles. As expected, the floor pans were gone. Fred Flinstone could have driven this thing! But there is some good news (aside from the fact that whatever built the nest behind the speaker on the driver’s side had already vacated)…
An inspection from underneath revealed that the transmission is not original. It is painted silver, indicative of being a rebuilt unit or from spending some serious time in a transmission shop. There are also hints that the clutch assembly may not be that old as speculated since some of the associated parts don’t look like they’ve weathered that much.
In addition to that, we had a bite on our recent Craigslist add for “misc Datsun parts for sale”. A guy named Mark came by in an identical Datsun. This car was the guy’s daily driver. He had 240,000 miles on it and was bragging about how well it ran. His complaint was that it looked like a piece of crap. He thought Dottie looked much better. He wanted everything, interior panels, T-Tops, seats, rear hatch, trim, etc. He wanted… Unfortunately, he didn’t have any cash and the only thing he had to trade was a wheel. We traded him an interior panel and some ratty carpeting for the wheel. We agreed to a future trade of the T-Tops and door panels for the 4 wheels and tires on his ride after he gets some 15” wheels. The rest we’re holding for cash.
Speaking of cash, stripping out the interior was better than most scratch-off tickets. $3.47 in coinage was recovered from the heap (although needing some serious disinfection). It’s hard to imagine how much was lost over the years through the holes in the floor. This booty will be deducted from our purchase price and be put towards the performance of the car. What to buy??? … Hmmm… Maybe a sparkplug, perhaps a couple hose clamps, possibly a couple feet of heater hose, the possibilities are endless!We’re out of the blocks and on our way.

Kershaw, SC -182 DAYS AND COUNTING!!!

Its a Datsun...

After searching Craigslist, the local paper, trader mags, and back alleys, we found this diamond in the rough. A 1983 Datsun 280ZX with 180,000 miles and by the looks of it they were rough miles. The title says Georgia, but rust like this is imported!

The good... The 2.8L straight 6, 5-speed ran reasonably well out of the box, even better after we plugged a huge vacuum leak. It needs some tuning and more that one vacuum leak traced down, but the running gear doesn't seem to need anything major. We ran it yesterday long enough to determine it doesn't overheat. It revved to 6300 rpm and all of the rods and bearing stayed in place. From 60 feet away it doesn't look too bad. It should be a great platform, from a handling and performance standpoint.


The bad... The floor pans are made of Swiss cheeze. There's a lot of rust. We think most of the rust is structurally insignificant, mostly cosmetic. The clutch is questionable. The original fuel injection system was sitting in the passenger seat. The previous owner gave up on the FI and installed a dual carb setup. The electric fuel pump that the previous owner had rigged only works sporadically, but hey, he showed how to get it going again by tapping it with a hammer. Redneck Technology!

We also discovered that the fuel guage works. Damn Japanese cars, E actually means empty. After a tuning session (we stuck a bolt in a hole to plug a vacuum leak), we took it for a test drive around the neighborhood. We ran out of gas!

We hope to sell some pieces that we won't need to put some cash back into the budget. Somebody might be interested in the FI setup, the rear hatch, glass T-Tops, etc.

In the beginning...

Hot Rod magazine ran an article in it's Dec. 2007 issue about this crazy racing circuit called "The 24 Hours of Le Mons". The race include all kinds of irreverent rules and procedures. The masterminds behind the circuit were either completely wasted when they conceived the series or were brilliant vissionaries that knew real racing wasn't about sponsors, million dollar budgets, or even the latest in performance technology. Real racing is about man and machine versus man and machine on an even playing field, that and going really fast with no concern for tickets, insurance premiums, or that kid chasing that ball out from between the parked cars. This race isn't about fame or glory but the blood, sweat, grease, and the thrill of it all.

The article inspired Big Daddy and all he could think about was putting together a team in time to make a race - if there was one within reasonable traveling distance. After a little research (i.e. checking the official website) it was obvious that the July race in Kershaw, SC would be the goal. Now all he needed was a car, a team, a modest budget, and a bottle of tequila for bribing the acceptance committee.

The first piece of the puzzle came together over the Christmas holiday when The Wrench joined the conspiracy. Along with his commitment of mechanical skills, tow vehicle and seat time he offered the greatest commodity - a garage to prep and store the machine until its date with destiny. This was an offer so great that Big Daddy was willing to forget the fact that the last racecar The Wrench drove he turned into scrap metal.

And so, the mission has begun. The search for the perfect (i.e. cheap and running) vehicle and co-conspirators begins.