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The New Toy!!!! - S14 Production Sports Car, 2B Spec


PZG302

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Why?

Perfectly OK.

Makes it easy to pry back off and repair/replace outer skins, and tub the upper inners, f need be.

 

Why? Because race car. Quarters are structural Jason, basic race car rule, always leave it stronger than you found it. I am disappoint.

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Ah, Richo, in your case, yes, the plastic fantastic zx, with no cage, needs ALL the torsional rigidity it can get.

Best to weld your doors shut, then!

The S14's cage, bracing and tagging to the body is plenty enuf.

Can easy get away with plastic panels all round, ala imsa GTU.

 

Wheres that pic of the S30 space frame car, with every panel in f/glass, all held on by tabbed Dzus fadteners?

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Richard I haven't cut any structure of the rear quarters, just folded the lip over.

 

If I was cutting the quarters for flares, then yes I would be welding the rear quarters, but folding over a lip, never worry about it.....

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  • 3 weeks later...

Some more bits done to the car. Hopefully it will be off the rotisserie in the next few days and I can get a garage space back for the ute.....

 

So from last time, I repainted the wheel wells and engine bay with the left over KBR to make it a bit neater with a more consistent colour over these areas, and also to cover the etch primer in the wheel wells where I flattened the guard lips so no more rubbing now I have worked out tyre sizes, will be using a 240/640/18 or 270/650/18 slick that will work nicely with the 4.3:1 diff and standard box with the motor planned.

 

Wheels, at this stage planning to use Koya semi forged wheels, nice and light and able to get a custom offset as needed when I measure everything up...

 

First step in getting the suspension back in was to fit the hardlines for brakes and fuel and get the fuel tank back in where it lives.

IMAG0507_zps4e7c07fe.jpg

 

I also bolted up the front cross member, because it was easy and it got me more room in the garage....

IMAG0506_zps4a02e678.jpg

 

Next was making sure the rear cradle was right to go, including installing the diff and driveshafts. I can't believe I stuck with an old Zed for so long, how much easier is it to put a diff in and bolt up the drive shafts!!!!! I wish I knew about this much earlier......

IMAG0508_zps5a467610.jpg

 

Not the best photo, was beer o'clock and I had had enough for the day. Was an exercise to get the complete cradle onto the shell by myself, though an engine crane, ratchet strap and some imaginative thinking got it all fitted up in the end.

IMAG0509_zpse3ba76f3.jpg

 

Paul at Option 1 has lent me some shocks so the car can get off the rotisserie, which was much appreciated as was being able to raid the bolt bins for the LCA bolts and also for the use of the rattle gun to pull apart my front suspension I had so I could clean up and paint the upright and fit to the aftermarket LCA. And also not forgetting a big thankyou to Paul for fitting some 18" rubber for the right price on some 350Z rims I bought from Matt, Deus Ex, not long ago.

 

So here is the rear end all bolted up and the brakes thrown on to see how the look. Being a Datsun, evrything just bolts up, as long as you know which bits you have and need.....

IMAG0512_zps45a75d48.jpg

 

And now with wheels.....

IMAG0514_zps6e2969a0.jpg

 

Today was time to get the front suspension sorted out and fitted up. All pretty easy, just a pain in the arse to pull stuff apart to be cleaned and painted and then fitted up.

 

Easy bit was the aftermarket arms to the cross member, the castor rods will have to wait until it is on the ground as the brackets for the castor arms bolt to where the rotisserie is bolted to the shell.

I had some old front hubs I had bought off Ebay, and they were ABS hubs so I have the special hub ring that I should be able to use with the Motec for wheel speed in conjunction with GPS speed. I also took the opportunity to fit up the Z32 brakes I scored off Ebay for very cheap with new rotors, and again being Datsun it all bolted up not a drama. Getting stuff unbolted did prove frustrating at times.

Again blurry photo because beer o'clock....

IMAG0518_zps66c4c007.jpg

 

And a couple of pics for how the car is sitting at the moment.

IMAG0520_zpsc6f59276.jpg

IMAG0521_zps8834df8d.jpg

 

Once it is on the ground, then I can look at fitting the dash in around the cage and to start planning the wiring for the lights and accessories.

 

Until I get some work I can't spend money on the car, which is frustrating, as it only needs the hydraulics, electrics, suspension, motor, ECU, wheels and tyres, a lick of paint and it is ready to hit the track.....

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Another step forward for the build.

 

The suspension is in and once I have the fun tickets will be getting some very nice coilovers custom built to suit and the final set up of the suspension.

 

The car is now on the ground and for the first time with wheels on it. Next week I plan to get the garage re-organised so I can get a spot back for the ute.

 

So here is how the car is sitting at the moment......

IMAG0531_zps05f9b2b9.jpg

 

And a view of the front suspension with the castor rods attached....

IMAG0526_zpsb0fe6e22.jpg

 

IMAG0525_zpsf3073050.jpg

 

Plenty of room for the brakes using the 350Z wheels so the race wheels I am planning to buy should be a no brainer......

 

Next is to start on fitting the dash up and also some work on the doors, which will include removing the intrusion bar and cutting away as much of the inner skin as possible, but still be able to fit up the electric window motors and mechanisms.

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  • 1 month later...

Not much happening with the car at the moment as I am working again, and as with those things, when I have time - no money, and when I have money - no time.

 

At this stage the suspension will be done in April/May between trips to Indonesia and then some more stuff for the brake lines and other little bits that are cheap and easy to do.

 

I did have a play today with an old door i picked up for $50, so it was time to see how much lighter it could be made, bearing in mind i will be keeping the fast glass as I am lazy, and the doors are frameless so not easy to fit plastic windows like the old zed was.

 

The door I had with the door card removed but complete otherwise was 25.5 kg

IMAG0581_zps3bce30a9.jpg

 

After stripping the door down to nothing but the mirror attached the weight was 16.3kg

 

 

I then set about removing the intrusion bar to see what weight could be saved there, in the end about 2.5kg for the bar

 

The glass was weighed seperately and came in at 5kg, surprisingly heavy.

 

With all the window mechanism put back in, but as much of the inner door skin cut out as I dared to keep some rigidity for operating the windows the door came in at 17.5kg, so once the plastic window is fitted, probably near 19kg all up.

IMAG0582_zpsefe08d0f.jpg

 

I don't know if the hassle of cutting out the intrusion bars is worth the effort for a 2kg saving, but removing the wiring harness, the bits of the door locking and opening mechanism not needed and cutting away the inner door skin is worth the 4kg saving from the original 25kg.

 

The other option would be to go fibreglass or carbon doors, but there are advantages to metal over other materials, mainly being that in door to door there will be contact between cars. With metal doors a dent is a pretty easy fix and doors are still common and reasonably cheap. Fibreglass or carbon tend to shatter or break and generally can't be repaired after a decent hit, and are more expensive than a second hand standard door.

 

 

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  • 1 month later...

And some more slow progress......

After playing with the doors I have been busy with work and just started uni for this semester and getting two assignments out of the way before I head off to Indonesia for my first stint this year, so the S14 has been sitting tucked away up the back of the garage gathering dust and boxes and other crap, it will be tough flying business class and spending one week working in Sumbawa, and then two weeks working in Bali ;D

 

Any ways, back to the car.....

 

The plan was to get the suspension finalised when I got back from the first stint, but that is now on hold as the engine is being sorted out. The top end is being done at the moment with the head that was chosen for the race motor getting a service, new larger valves and porting to suit the valves, plus a pair of HKS bumpy sticks.

 

When I get back from Indonesia, the bottom end will be sorted, we should be able to use the standard crank that was good out of the two motors I had, and will just need a set of pistons and rods and the block machined to suit and then it gets all buttoned up and I save some dollars for computer and wiring harness.

 

The suspension will hopefully be sorted when I get back after my second stint, working in Sulawesi, for Ramadan and hopefully have some more fun tickets stacked away for bouncy stuff.

 

The other problem I have is that my Charger is progressing at the same time and a lazy  :o $10k has been thrown at it to get it into colour. Curse me wanting a shiny black Charger with not so shiny bonnet patches and stripes.... takes dollars away from the other build..... But it is slowly progressing, not bad for a six week rebuild that I started 15 years ago....... I'm told, like the S14, it will be ready Friday, I just don't know which Friday.

 

If all goes well, I plan to have the car on the track late this year for a shakedown with a view to race in 2016, hopefully both in the PSCRAQ sprint Championship and the Willowbank 300 plus the one hour endure up here. In future years I want to do the three 300km races or the sprint series and local one hour on alternate years as the budget won't be there to do both each year.

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  • 6 months later...

So sitting in the office in Mataram, Lombok waiting for the driver to take us back to the hotel, though I would give a quick update since this had slipped to page 3 in the list of builds.

 

Basically nothing much has happened in the last few months. I have working in Indonesia, seeing plenty of the country and having a fun time.Jagged a second project in Lombok that sees me head home on Wednesday for a weeks work in Sydney and return early October for a three week stint, Uni exams after that then it looks like I have a few weeks work to take me through to Christmas.

 

But enough of boring stuff, here is the updates on the car:

 

Sitting in the hotel room in Jakarta I see this pop up on the feed of the book of faces:

1908052_10153558694741870_71915505766738

 

So I sent a message, then some dollars and now I have a set of slicks in 27/65R18 size waiting for me to be wrapped in black plastic and stored in my work area under the house, nice and dark.

 

And then on the train from Jakarta to Yogyakarta, this came up in my feed at a price too good to knock back:

11951840_10153567897971870_4447396027525

 

So again, a message about about why am I shown these things, a couple of messages back and forth and I have 8 nice green wheels in 18X9 to put the fancy black bald tyres on for the price of 5 enkei wheels the same size.

 

So, on my one day off in Brisbane before I head to Sydney I will be picking a ute load of tyres and wheels.

 

The next update should be one about spending lots of money as before this current trip I spent some money on some lumpy sticks and some removal of aluminium some a big rectangular lump and some rocker stoppers and other stuff sitting in my study......

The block is being machines at the moment with all the fancy stuff and i have some rods and pistons apparently that will be put together shortly.

 

Will have some pictures when that is ready.

 

And I will hopefully be ordering the coil overs at the end of October when I get back.

 

So moving slowly forward, but moving.

 

Christmas break will hopefully be spent wiring stuff like lights, wipers, windows and looking at putting together my switch panels. Engine builder will get the fun wiring to do as then if it goes bang, not my fault. I also have a nice kit of DTM connectors for the wiring to make it as reliable as possible in keeping the smoke where it belongs.

 

So as work and life gets in the way of the race car it gets frustrating but there is progress. Who knows how long it will take, but a couple of good contracts and I may have it done in 12 months.

Edited by PZG302
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  • 1 month later...

So it's been a bit quiet in the office over the last couple of days here in Mataram on the island of Lombok, and I got to looking on line for detachable steering hubs for the S14.

 

I hope to get the seating, pedal positions and steering wheel location all set up before christmas, and then the paint can be planned and organised. At this stage the car will be covered in overspray as a couple of us bodies are painted in white, so will save me a lot of dollars, and being race car only needs to be a 10 foot paint job as the sign writing for my company will cover a lot of the car anyway.

 

I already the steering wheel I will be using, a Personal 340mm suede wheel that I used in the Zed. I like the size of the wheel and the thickness of the rim as well as the shape and feel around the 9 and 3 marks for thumbs to sit on the rim and not inside the rim.

 

I wanted the wheel to be fitted to a detachable hub to make getting in and out of the car a bit easier, and also a bit more theft resistant when stored at home.

 

Looking at options available on line, the cheap ebay detachable hubs were quickly disounted as were the nrg hubs, didn't like how the mechanism worked or the general design, might be OK for your fully sik street drifter, but didn't look sturdy to me. 

 

Searching for motorsport bolt on detachable hubs proved a little more challenging. They are available, but not much range and bloody expensive in Australia. So onto my favourite shopping website, Demon Tweeks in the UK, where the range was much larger and the pricing much more palatable.

 

So I ended up with......

bb8c2b15-4f31-48e8-a4dc-d8fb6fd999ed_zps

.

Which has a decent locking and shaft engagement so it will work properly and be safe.

rsa_snap_off_boss_kit_d6_zps7tyieevo.jpg

 

And as my steering wheel is the less common 6x74mm pcd I had to buy and adaptor ring for the 6x70mm hub and I also got a snazzy steering wheel cover to protect the wheel when not in use. All for nearly $200 cheaper than the closest equivalent bolt on detachable hub I could find in Australia.

 

I'm pretty sure I still have the boss kit from the Zed, but if not they are cheap enough to get off ebay for something that is reasonable quality. But I need to get the seat mount in relation to the pedals sorted first and then I will get the steering wheel location sorted. I have kept the standard up/down adjustment in the car, the nissan brackets are welded to the knee breaker bar in the cage, but I need to get some floor mounts made up to get the seat as low as possible and in the right spot for me as it will be hard mounted to the floor with no adjustment and I will then work out if I need a standard or shorter hub with the detachable hub.

 

So hopefully the work I have lined up when I get back to Brisbane will give me some time after Christmas to get a lot done before i head back again to Indonesia next March.

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  • 1 month later...

So not a lot of progress due to work, and the usual when I have money no time and visa versa.

 

But something happened today....

 

Sold the hairdresser car, it got picked up today and I got given a piece of paper that made me happy, so I messaged Option One about some Coilovers so then this happened.......

 

hr_coilover_2s_1_3.jpg

Some BC HR Coilovers have been ordered, they will then be sent up to some old bloke and his son in the Sunshine Coast Hinterland to have the valving tweaked and the standard spring rates of 10kg front and 8kg rear swapped out for rates more suited for the set up of my car fitted. I believe for the price I am paying I will have a very good bang for buck set up that will make the most of the other components used and the tyres to be used.

 

They should be close to ready when I get back from my next work trip. I head to Manila on the 7th december and return home on the 19th, so should have these bad boys waiting at the shoop for me to get the rolling shell over there to fit up and set up so it can roll properly. i may also have to get my arse into gear to get the steering rack refurbished as well.

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Because I basically get a set of coilovers custom made with spring rates and valving to suit a lot cheaper than getting the full blown versions.

 

I don't need to go to the extent of a full blown MCA gold, but need a bit more than the red, and for a few dollars more than the reds I achieve that.

 

Taken a few months research and lots if discussion to get this far.

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  • 10 months later...

Holy crap it's been a long time between updates, nearly 12 months.......

 

And a little bit has been happening in the last 12 months, but not a lot...... thanks to work.

 

So I have had an eventful time, with starting a 12 month stint in Manila in January, that ended up being a 3 month stint over 4 months as I was put back on the Indonesian project I worked on last year and now am in Indonesia for another project that will be ongoing for the next couple of years, so FIFO forlyf, with passport stamps and business class travel.......

 

On the S14 front......

 

Suspension: the coilovers arrived in December and were sent away to be rebuilt to better suit the tyres, diff and adjustable arms, this meant revalving the dampers and changing the spring rates to better suit the car and my driving style. At the moment they are in a box on the floor of the workshop who will fit them, along with a seat mount and some other bits and bobs to finish off everything so the car can be called a roller, this will incude also fitting longer wheel studs all round and getting an electric power steer system set up. For the power steering I am not sure if I will go the full electric route like Richard, or just the electric pump, ala astras. I will talk to the guys at Ultimate Power Steerinng about which way is the best to go in terms of dollars and ease of fitment. If I go the full electric, then I need to source a manual rack, or at least depower the existing rack. If I just go the electric pump, then it all stays the same, save the pump can be fitted anywhere in the engine bay.

 

Engine: The head has been sitting on my desk in the study for around 12 months now and the bottom end sitting at the machinists waiting on bits to be sourced. I now have a set of these on the way.....

14825751_10208901602352108_1965743044_n.

 

Some scat rods. Pistons will be next, and hopefully the bottom end will be ready to be screwed together in the next couple of months when I should be home, and the head attached so I have a motor on a stand wrapped in plastic waiting for a car to be finished.

 

Body: I am getting the hanging panels made out of plastic, the same as your green or white garden chairs, so the weight saving will be significant for bonnet and bootlid, and the serviceability of the panels will be better for door to door racing where a touch here and there is expected. I will hopefully get the notification to make a quick trip to Adelaide and back before Christmas to pick up two sets of panels. And if the market with the dorifto and flat brim crowd is there it might be a nice little generator of beer money.

 

Once I have all the panels and seat mount welded in then the car will go for a ride to be parked next to a bus in a paint booth and some overspray will be applied inside and out to make it pretty. Good thing the bus will be painted white, as that is the colour I want the car to be.....

 

I also hope to make up my switch panels and do the accessory wiring for the car/ I will do things like lights, wipers, electric windows and the engine builder will do the engine harness and computer. That way I know he will be happy with everything that he needs and if the computer goes bang due to wiring there can be no finger pointing. And I will probably be talked into a PDM rather than the circuit breakers I was looking at using.

 

Brakes: As I have already installed the Z32 4 spot front calipers and rotors for the front and R33 GTR 2 spot calipers and T3 rotors out the back and utilising the standard steel lines that were on the shell, I will be installing a 1" non ABS master cylinder, unboosted, on the firewall and will need to rearrange the brake lines to suit. Also I will be installing braided flexible lines for all four calipers. This should be a proven system with a pretty good balance out of the box. Pads will be Hawk DT70 on the front and maybe the next compound down for the rears or DT70 pads all round, depending on the recommendation from the tech guys at Hawk. If I need to adjust the balance then an in line adjuster will be used as I am using the standard pedal box.

 

So hopefully over December there will be some more updates and some more pictures with actual progress on this thing.

 

Whilst I am enjoying the work in far flung exotic locations, it certainly does get in the way of building toys....

Edited by PZG302
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Getting the hanging panels vacuum formed out of the same plastic as your garden chair.

 

There are some advantages to this material, namely:

  • Weight, the standard bonnet is just under 20kg, the plastic one should be around 2-3kg, the boot lid will see a similar reduction in weight. The guards will see a little weight saving.
  • Serviceability, if contact is made, rather than shatter or break like 'glass or carbon, the plastic will deform and pop back into shape on its own or with a little help, but doesn't need panel beating like metal panels. If the hit is big enough, then the panel will split. However repairs can be made by gluing back together with acetone, basically a bottle of nail polish remover on the split. The plastic will be at 80% strength or so after about 10 minutes. Also the plastic is white, so no need to paint them, just get the shell painted to a close match in white.
  • Cost, after the setup costs of getting the molds made it will cost me a couple of hundred dollars in materials to get a set made. It has cost a bit to get to that stage, so to recover costs, I am looking at selling them for the drift and flat brim crowd. If myself and the manufacturer can keep the costs to similar to 'glass there should be a market. The biggest costs is getting the molds set up.

Also making modifications to the panels is pretty easy, by cutting or gluing for flares on guards and venting the bonnet if needed.

 

So a little method in the madness of taking advantage of the freedoms in the 2B rules.

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Dies would be expensive though wouldn't they? I assume that you have provided the original parts from which dies have been made. Agree that it's a good idea, particularly for a race car, I'd love some plastic doors for the Z31 project.

 

On electric steering, I'm using a S14 PS rack, so that it still has lubrication a little bit of oil is left in the rack. The two oil fittings near the centre of the rack are connected and the rest are blanked off. That's it.

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All up so far costs are around the cost of 2 complete sets of hanging panels in fibreglass and I own the molds, that includes the panels used to make the molds, which I acquired with the various S14's and parts I have bought and shipping the panels down to Adelaide from Brisbane.

 

Would never consider plastic or fibreglass for the doors from a safety point of view, even with the high door bars the cage has, the metal doors provide a lot more structure and protection from puncture and ingress into the car than other materials would, aside from structural carbon fibre, but I;m not rich enough for that, looking at prices for some doors made for an MX5 that I know of.

 

Looking at the Ultimate Power Steering site they show a Skyline with the conversion done and the video said it was a manual rack, whether that was depowered or not I don't know. But a depowered rack may be OK with what should be a reasonably quick ratio compared to most manual racks.

 

The electric power steer pump may work out cheaper and easier than the full electric conversion, downside is I don't get the adjustability, but also simpler, will come down to what the experts say at the time.

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