The Riceburner 3.1L

[vramjee91]

Another small update, I managed to squeeze in a little more work on the doors. Both door frames were stripped then painted with color matched spray cans, the finish came up very well. Also I stripped back the drivers door to find 80% of it was full of bog.... and for no real reason. I think it in very good condition with two or three small spots that will require a tiny bit work, the rest is dead straight. Passenger door looks to have no filler. Also have the new door cards ready to go on finally!

 

Love the car, looks mean as!

 

Just wondering tho, did you use a 2 PAC paint for your doors?

[Riceburner]

Love the car, looks mean as!

 

Just wondering tho, did you use a 2 PAC paint for your doors?

 

Thanks. So far I've only done the door frames , I got color matched spray cans as the panels in there was in pretty good nick. Everything else will be done in 'De Beers' two pack.

[peter mc]

the cam timing wont help Gareth  its part cam part lenth of inlet runner , longer bells help

[Riceburner]

Cool thanks Pete! Anyone know where to get loooong 41mm i.d. velocity stacks? Webers/mikunis have a different bolt pattern 

[Zedman240®]

There is a metal spinner factory behind my work with dies for 40mm trumpets; they may be able to make some for you any length you want.

[peter mc]

cut them and fit a hose over them and make them as long as you want

[Riceburner]

cut them and fit a hose over them and make them as long as you want

 

Good idea Pete, didn't think of that!

 

More dodgey Iphone vids...... I felt like Mad Max or the Beverly Hillbillies and damn it was freezing  Test drive down the driveway, went really well and seems to have plenty of power. Constant wheel spin, was very very hairy to drive. Plug color looks spot on!

 

 

 

 

Also got the new diff brace made up, clears the finned cover nicely and that means the rear end is now finished! Woohoo, one down... twenty five to go.

[Agno]

Next time you are working on the car do you mind snapping a photo of how you mounted your fuel pump? It never hurts to see what others have already done

[MaygZ]

That's a nice driveway Gareth.  Is it simply 1/4 minus bluestone or have you used something else?

 

Nice green paddocks too.

 

I miss home  :'(

[Riceburner]

That's a nice driveway Gareth.  Is it simply 1/4 minus bluestone or have you used something else?

 

Nice green paddocks too.

 

I miss home  :'(

 

It's my parents property, they do a lot of work to keep it looking thats good. I believe it was '1/4 road base' and it took heaps of it!

[Riceburner]

Next time you are working on the car do you mind snapping a photo of how you mounted your fuel pump? It never hurts to see what others have already done

 

I put mine in a small neoprene stubby holder and then used a spare coil bracket to hold it. There's a captive nut in the chassis above the diff and thats where I bolted it in. I run a filter on the fuel tank supply line before the pump and another one before the carbs. The one before the pump gets quite a bit crud in it, usually I change it twice as often as the one in the engine bay.

[Riceburner]

Few updates. I got an Innovate LM-2 air fuel meter to check the tune on the FCR's. 13.5afr at idle, 11 when the throlttle is cracked with acc pumps, then between 12-13 all the way to redline    I have not touched the jetting in any way since I fitted these, I did a quick sync once fitted and I only had to adjust the throttle cable as I was only getting 2/3 throttle whe doing videos before I hooked up the LM-2!

 

I also got a chance to fit the Nismo short steering arms with the new tie rods I had. The old one were trashed so hopefully the urethane boots last longer on these, otherwise it'll be rose joints.

 

Fitted new DBA gold rotors which are cross drilled & slotted. While I had the hubs apart I threw in the nismo long wheel studs too.

[Riceburner]

I ended up repainting the calipers 'New Copper' which looks a little less boy racer. Next on the list was the start button which was an elcheapo i had run for a while. It worked well but looked a little to modern for the interior, so I found a start button from an old Peterbuilt Truck! Check out the patina 

 

I managed to get the doors on and aligned too.

 

It's been nice to have some easy work to do for a change, the FCR's have cost me a lot of time so here's hoping the build pace picks up from here on!

[Sirpent]

Nice retro feel about that starter set up, sometimes period just cant be beat............nice

[RB30X]

Nice diff brace. Got any pics of it fitted or at least in position?

[Riceburner]

Nice diff brace. Got any pics of it fitted or at least in position?

 

I'll take one when I'm working on the car next. It's made from solid bar, to the specs in the plan below which IIRC is for an R200 finned cover.

[acf321]

Hey Gareth,

 

I love your car, as you know but the absence of one mod had got me intrigued. With all the fine detail and performance mods, the bit that I do question is why you are still using those six boke carbs? Please don't yell at me here, but I would have thought some crazy PMC inspired F Inj set up, or the authentic Mikuni's fitted in the early days would have been installed by now?

 

Of course, i'll bet the current setup sounds the best, but is it giving you the best horses?

 

Cheers

 

Adam

[Riceburner]

Hi Adam, I did think seriously about FI. Cost was a factor but something unique and individual was also a thought. I chose to ditch the old CV's and get FCR flat slides instead, apparently they are about as close as you can get to FI when tuned properly.

 

Supposedly FCR's & MSR's have been a performance option in Japan since the 80's, but outside of that there is very little to no info in english. I've done a huge amount of searching and come up with very little info relating to datsun or S30Z.

 

Alas no dyno yet, it would be nice maybe one day. Very happy with the PMC head, it's transformed the engine!

[acf321]

That's the answer I was looking for Buddy ... ie you've gone and got some insane carbs that were period quick bits, that operate just like F Inj. Having said that, (and pardon my ignorance) what does FCR and MCR Flat sides stand for?

 

On this topic, how has the head changed things, can you describe it? Does it give better low down torque, or top end, or is it noticeable throughout the full rev range? How about sound, any change there? Reason for asking was that James Flett did a completely OTT head for me that took a long time, and cost a small fortune. He's a Group Sc racer, and last time I checked he was getting well north of 125hp/litre out of these NA L26's.

 

When is the Dyno test coming?

 

Adam

 

 

[Riceburner]

MSR's are a flatslide carb produced by Mikuni. FCR's are made by Keihin, they're basically an evolution of CR carbs which were common on superbikes. They reworked them for max power and added an accelerator pump. In terms of power they should be very good, at WOT there is no venturies/choke/butterfly/throttle shaft in the way. There's just a needle, so it'll be 41mm of unrestricted fury 

 

The head is awesome, heaps of power down low and it just goes harder as revs increase. It's more noisey all round, but that's to be expected.

[acf321]

Sounds absolutely awesome Gareth, just like all your mods.

 

Suspect you (and I) should go and buy some shares in Shell to help alleviate the pain at the pump!

 

Can't wait to see this car of yours in person, and meet and greet when the opportunity comes about. Perhaps next year on the Thredbo run, but which time I am praying that my car is actually going!

 

Cheers

 

Adam.

[Riceburner]

Haha, Cheers Adam hopefully we're both going by then!

 

Here's a pic of the diff brace fitted, not on my car but it's mounted in exactly the same way.

 

Also got some brake temp stickers, they go on the calipers and show what temps your reaching. The max temp is 50F below my fluid boiling temp, Should be very handy info for track days.

 

 

[Riceburner]

More bracing  plated both side then stiched in, the firewall side has a right angle that is stiched to the sill also.

 

While I was under the car I also noticed a crack where the floor rail meets engine rail just back from the bottom of the firewall, the underbody paint had actually cracked off too  Cleaned it up and made a small section of new rail which I stitched over the top. Shouldn't get anymore cracks with four new braces in the front!

[Riceburner]

Got some new stacks for the FCR's, tig welded to the bases for extra strength and a light polish 

 

Due to spacing of the carbs the standard blue stacks have factory 'flats' on the bellmouths for clearance to the next stack, it's super tight between carbs 1&2, 5&6. With these new ones the bellmouths are 80mm instead of 65mm, so I had to shorten stacks 1&6 by 20mm to allow enough clearance  :'( I have four at 105mm and two at 80mm.

 

Ideally they should all be the same length but with my setup it's not possible. I have seen bike carbs setup with the same configuration, my old blackbird carbs were like this and even had a smaller main jet in the carbs with shorter stacks. If it good enough for Honda it's good enough for me.

 

I was going to paint them black, like the rest of the engine but with the way they've polished up I'm tempted to clear coat them as it. Opinions please?

[KatoKid]

Theres a whole science in inlet optimisation in cars through variable length manifolds and through the motorcycle industry with variable length trumpets . Modern day Moto GP and Superbikes have infinitely variable length trumpets driven by stepper motors from the fly by wire ECU. This has now crept into some production bikes but tends to be either on or off at a set RPM where the top of the trumpets are lifted off the base to give a shorter inlet tract. As you've pointed out many production bikes have different length fixed trumpets to spread the torque curve and make  a softer transition when the inlet pressure waves ideally match the cam and exhaust.

 

I reckon you're the man to adapt motorcycle variable length stacks to your FCR's Gareth. Go on, you know you want to.