so i would say that roughly a year after purchase, i was finally able to drive the car for the first time, it was with the SU's and it ran pretty good, once in a while it would pop and sputter and fall flat on its face, or would lean out (no oil in the SU's)
up to the point i hadnt had a carb'd car since 1997 (1965 Corvair)
so i had no previous knowledge of SU's
talk about a learning experience..

so anyway, around Christmas a really good friend (the one that showed me the car to begin with actually) told me he had a "gift" for me, and i owe him big time.
I was not sure what to expect, i thought maybe he had bought me a pair of front flares, or something simple and smaller like that. i felt incredibly guilty because i had no idea what he had paid for this mystery gift, so i bought him a PSP and hacked it and loaded it up with games, and some misc programs.
we joked back and forth for a couple of weeks, and the anticipation was driving me nuts. he knew that i needed some stuff for the car (it was missing all of the OEM switches from the center console, and the window switch harness, amongst several other misc things)


are you curious about the gift yet?
it was driving me CRAZY..

I will post pics of the gift when i get off work

Interestingly, V50 make this:


It's a vacuum tank that goes inline with the booster hose, and basically gives you additional vacuum capacity, and should, in theory be the same as having a bigger booster. I asked around, and it seems that this was a reasonably common mod in multi-carb race cars (with small brakes!) in the 60s and 70s, since at the end of the straight, after being flat out for a time, the amount of vacuum in the booster might not be enough for a really big brake application for the first corner.

It's on my list of things to try to make one-day

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so FINALLY my buddy called and said hey, can you drop by today and get this shit out of my garage LOL i said.. uh ok?

BUT before i show you what he had for me, heres a comparison of the OEM booster, and the bigger GC110 booster.



ok.. brace yourself!


Triple DCOE40's and an FET manifold!




you can't see in the pics, but the studs were bent up, and the jack shaft was missing most of the parts including all of the linkages.
The carbs were missing the main jets, and the bolts that hold the cover in place.
he explained to me that the guy that sold me the car called him up and told him that they didn't want to give me the carbs with the car, and had no use for them, so they gave them to him!
i was pretty pissed about it, but at the same time, i was stoked to have a set of weber side drafts!!
I cleaned the carbs up and found that the gaskets were really gone inside, especially the cover, it wouldn't even line up with the bolt holes, i guess over time it had shrunk and was much too small.

i finally took the time to go through my boxes of extra parts and luckily i found some of the parts for the carbs (the top cover bolts were there thank goodness)

so i immediately called (well... I'm in Japan, i emailed) Pierce manifolds to ask if they could give me some ideas of what jets to order, i also emailed Kev many times to get an idea of where he thought i should go on the jets.
based on all the feedback, i ordered the jets i felt made the most sense,
i ordered up 3 sets of redline o-ring gaskets, three rebuild kits, and a full triple linkage kit.
got the parts in and the of course... the eye bolts for the linkage were a no go, wrong thread pattern, and i didn't have my Tap/Die kit, all my real tools are in storage while I'm in Japan
SO i contacted Mike Pierce and asked him if he would give me store credit if i send the parts i couldn't use back, and he said yes, no problem. (i used that credit to order my synchrometer and weber manual!)

after weeks and weeks or research, and repairing parts, and cleaning, the end product?
Before:

After:

<3

winning

blah blah blah..
at this point i was piecing things together that i was missing, such as the console switches, i was missing the courtesy lights knob thats by the radio, i was completely missing my visors.

hmmm

no horns, no wiper sprayer, the center console harness was missing, uhhhh

anyway, lots of patience and time spent on the auctions, and i found MOST of that stuff. I'm still missing the washer switch for the console

i also had to modify the throttle cable bracket for the jack shaft, and the throttle cable fell apart on my way home from a trip to the next city over, that was pretty shitty!! once again.. Yahoo to the rescue.(ANd Rob, my buyer..)

good old yahoo to the rescue.

Tim's build thread - yeah!

sweet car mister!

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1970 Nissan Skyline GT + 1973 Datsun 240Z + 1974 VW Karmann Ghia + 1998 Toyota LandCruiser + 2006 MINI Cooper S

Wookie - I've been wondering where I could see pics of this thing. Car looks beautiful. A Hako, in Japan with "Y" plates. I'm sure people get mixed emotions seeing that. LOL It's just refreshing to see it in good hands and being loved.

yea... i get some shitty looks, and i get a LOT of respect especially if i open the bonnet.

well i took the car out and did a little shoot at Komaki onsen here in town (a very famous onsen here in northern Japan)




this was before i put the wing on as you can see.

not much more to tell about that.

also went on a mountain run with my buddy (He was riding a super cub, it was a really fun trip)
Started out beautiful!

(thats my go-pro on the roof BTW)



we were going to see the "rice art"
in this one city farmers get together and plot out a field and plant different types of rice to re-create famous art, this was the art they planted this season.

other field:


We visited some shrines..

caught some tree frogs!
then...

SiLeNt HiLl !!!!!!!



it was insane! enough about that i suppose.

Great pics!!

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1970 Nissan Skyline GT + 1973 Datsun 240Z + 1974 VW Karmann Ghia + 1998 Toyota LandCruiser + 2006 MINI Cooper S

i couldn't find any of the newest upgrades pics, i think i have it all squared away now, i will post more later, i need to get pics of it with my new modern tires too.. looks WAY different (to me anyway)

Car looks really good. I like the fog photos. must of been fun driving in that.

That rice-field art is insane...(only in Japan eh)

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new tires ? you change the size ? what did you get. need more

awesomew pics cant wait to get back to okinawa....

yea, the rice art is AMAZING, they do it every year and change the picture every time, its a fun drive, and well worth the art.

i bet if you google Inakadate rice art or if you just google rice art you will probably see more of the past ones.

Japan is truly an amazing country!

yea, i have some Neova's on the front, and some potenzas on the back i think??

ok, here is a little update..
don't judge my iPhone photo skills.... LOL

when i first bought the car, i went through a HELLISH period where both doors decided they didn't want to close properly.. like ALL the time. i tinkered and fought with them, then started ripping them apart, i pulled all the internals, cleaned all the 40 year old grease out of the, and adjusted all the rods inside, and put both doors back together. after some adjusting, i finally had them perfect, but the strikers were worn really bad, so bad infact... well i will show you the pictures..


this striker is DONE. the aluminum main body is broken into three pieces, and the center piece is just MIA. who knows where it went LOL
Also, the plastic buffer, and spring are lost, and the rubber bumper is gone too.
while surfing the auctions one day i stumbled upon a real find!!
a fresh set of strikers, and i NEEDED them bad, so i had my buyer fight for them, and Yay me, i finally sourced a set of really nice strikers. i had been quoted by one shop that these two little pieces would cost me around $150 plush shipping. i paid a little more than $50 for the pair!

here is a comparison of what the Old one looked like with the new one.


here is a close-up of the new piece. so fresh and pretty!!


well, I've had a rash of bad luck lately with the car. the first incident happened the day after i swapped the new tires on. i knew the car would be much lower with the more modern tires on, but i had no idea it would be TOO low.. it may not look JDM low in the pics, but you have no idea how horrible the roads are in my prefecture!
here are a few pics of the new tires:




i think i may need 16's

Side shot


from the back


front


well it looks sick in person, BUT the speed bumps exiting the base.. well they didn't like the car too much





at first, i thought my header collector took the blow ( actually stopped the car dead in its tracks, and stalled it)
turns out the mid muffler was the contact point, it was really low, the impact bent the roll pan out of shape, and broke every exhaust hanger/mount under the car.

so i drove the car to my buddys shop with an open header (L6 sounds MEAN wide open!!!!)
pulled the carbs, dropped the remaining pieces of the header, and checked out the rest of the car



heres the new exhaust hanger ohhhhhhh ahhhhhhh


sorry, no pics of the new header, its a used stainless unit that i got from the auctions, its header wrapped, and since i dont plan for the car to get wet hardly ever, i left the wrap in place..

more to come!

so I've been doing some surfing on ebay, and i found a shop that sells some really nice Z parts. My starter has been acting questionable, at first i thought it was the battery, but it was really intermittent, i decided that it was unlikely that my redtop was going out, so i figured the starter was around 40 years old, might as well upgrade it if i can.

this shop (datsun shop i think its called??) has a High Torque starter and they also offer a starter relay kit thats supposed to help with hot start problems on Z's, and i figured for $15 i would chance it..

Old POS OEM starter


~New~ high torque starter!


Side by side


Relay kit


i was skeptical of the starter, AND the relay, but i have to say, the new starter sounds BADASS.. you can tell it has a TON more power, and it really turns the engine over super fast, HOWEVER not sure if the timing is just that far out, but it takes forever to start the damn car typically. this is with a brand new MSD coil, MSd 6AL, starter relay kit, AND the new starter. i tried to start it yesterday, and it roared to life almost instantly, so maybe whatever problem i had has worked itself out, who knows. the car is in storage right now because of a problem with my frame

i went a little crazy when i ordered the starter, and got this too.. i KNOW someone will run right out and get one, and i can't prevent it, but dammit, i had it FIRST!!

rising sun timing cover!!!!

Its billet machined aluminum! so sick! and it came with a new gasket, mine was leaking so i had to get one anyway! also bought a new valve cover gasket, and new intake/exhaust studs, but i haven't swapped them in yet, i want to get a new intake/exhaust gasket first.




i had originally painted the velocity stacks flat black, and it was OK i guess, but i decided to make some changes to the engine bay, so i blasted those and i like the outcome a LOT!


I should blast the carbs too!! they would be so much cleaner, but what a BITCH to get all that media and dust back out..


I adjusted the valves while i had the valve cover off for the new gasket, and it was CRAZY! the exhaust valves.. TOTALLY FINE!

Intake Valves... damn near completely closed! so i reset them all back to Z specs, which may be a bit off, but it runs AMAZING now, and just purrs. took me about 20 minutes to get them all reset.

While i had it apart, i found that one of the oil squirters is a little bent up, and the gasket is toasted so i pulled one from one of my other engines, and it was the same. so i pulled the cover off, and RTV'd it a little to get it to seal.

looked like the cam was taking a little bit of a beating because if the lower oil pressure to that one journal, it should have no problems supplying oil now that that cover plate is sealed.

on one of my many trips to the local hardware/everything you can think of shop, i found this!

I've been looking for a way to close up that dumb lighter/power port on my radio surround, and this will definitely make me happy!! I'm not a smoker..


enough for now i suppose!

Nice little trip log you posted. I'm sure it's a day you'll remember for a lifetime!

Excuse my ignorance, but what is the significance of the Y plates?

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-Cam
1988 Mazda RX7
1980 Toyota Celica
a bunch of cool other cars I'm not allowed to list

the Y plate just means that I'm NOT Japanese. I call it a Yankee plate LOL