My 1970 KGC10 2000 GT

ericbauer · **Posted:** Sun Jul 08, 2012 4:21 pm

UPDATE - Pic Heavy - sorry...

Streets of Willow - Evening Session (4pm to midnight) 7/7/2012

Rented a uhaul trailer & hooked it up to the LandCruiser...
Funny that it took a good half hour to load the car, both at home, and Saturday night after the event - but it was quick and painless to drive the car off the trailer both times... Practice makes perfect I guess

Sennavsprost showed up in his persimmon / blood orange 1970 240Z with a brand new Rebello motor ...

I borrowed a buddy's GoPro (Thanks Brandon!) - here are a couple stills:

We were running Streets of Willow in CounterClockWise and it took a little bit of practice to get the hang of it... I've run it over a dozen times clockwise but this was the first time CCW... The Toyo R888s definitely got a work out - but performed well overall... Just using them the way they were meant to be...

In between sessions, and right around sunset we moved both cars to a couple different locations to take a handful of pics... I'm pretty happy with the way they came out...

Once it was night time, about half the turns were illuminated with spot lights...
We were instructed to run with low beams, but within a lap it was clear that at minimum you needed high beams to see apex... honestly you would either need more lights on track, or more lights on your car to make it really fun... Still a great experience..

One more GoPro pic - grainy though due to it being night time - sorry...

All in all, a great time was had by all...
Both the Z and the Skyline performed well with no mechanicals of any kind.
It was a good shakedown for both cars, and I know that my car's a bit softly sprung and I need to adjust the suspension to my liking a bit more...

Maybe we'll see more of you at a future track event ?

kev · **Posted:** Sun Jul 08, 2012 5:01 pm

Sweet! How did it handle?

ericbauer · **Posted:** Sun Jul 08, 2012 5:19 pm

I definitely need to sort out the rear toe issue cause it's working against me... A proper set of swaybars would help too - I've got the stock front and of course no rear...

Springs & struts feel a little soft but I'd do the above first and then reevaluate if I still need to upgrade them

The right foot and the steering wheel equally steer the car which is a pleasant kind of 70s loosey goosey... But I would definitely not describe the car as being tail happy - the tires are too sticky for that....

kev · **Posted:** Sun Jul 08, 2012 5:41 pm

FWIW, I'm using 1100lb rear springs (225mm free length, but with 1/8 of a coil cut off), and 250lb front springs, basically similar to the Suzuka spring kit at Rubber Soul. I also found the stock bumpstops come into play way too early with the low ride height, so the front bumpstop is removed (and I'm using a regular bumpstop in the shock). At the rear, it's a urethane bumpstop in the stock location, that's a lot shorter than stock.

I can't remember what my rear toe settings are, but I don't think they were outside of the right ballpark when I had it aligned

ericbauer · **Posted:** Sun Jul 08, 2012 6:04 pm

Kevin

I don't remember from your build thread, but did you do anything with rear toe adjustability? My car's rocker flange sits at an even 5" (the oil pan is at 3.5"!), and at that height I've got excessive toe & camber in the back

I think I'll go with the datsport 510 DIY kit eventually

kev · **Posted:** Sun Jul 08, 2012 6:39 pm

No I didn't add any adjusters to the back, and it's at zero toe. I guess ideally it should be a few mm of toe-in, but with all that Yokohama rolling stock back there, it never seemed to be a problem

I'll measure the ride height when I get home, but I suspect that I'm only running a hair higher than your car.

Oh BTW what brakes are you running? Mine turn to mush after about the second lap

ericbauer · **Posted:** Sun Jul 08, 2012 8:05 pm

Mk63 4 piston calipers up front
Optional aluminum drums in back
Tired looking stock brake booster & stock 7/8" master cylinder

Yeah I was surprised - no brake fade!

ericbauer · **Posted:** Fri Jul 13, 2012 9:07 pm

I got some cool pics emailed to me this week from the friends we went to the track with last saturday evening...
Thought I'd share a handful of them! Photo credits for each below...

I'm used to running Streets of Willow clockwise, not counter-clock as we did last weekend, so I still think of this as "Turn 1".
Picture by Kevin

With Dave's beautiful 1970 240Z - I love this color, the also available baby shit tan color, and the orange my Z came in - Nissan had some great great colors back then...
Picture by Kevin

Need some swaybars!... lol... This is the first turn when you run SofW in CCW... no camber, dead flat, very abrasive tarmac just in this area...
Picture by Kevin

I had signed up for Advanced group, but they threw us in with Super Advanced which for the most part were dedicated track cars... I did a lot of waving by to give them right of way...
Picture by Brandon

Last run group went on track around 11:45 PM! Last cars came off the track somewhat past midnight. This is from about 10pm-ish... Low beams weren't enough, HIGH beams weren't enough... I wish I would have had more lights... Next time the organizer says they will bring out twice as many temp lights to illuminate the track... Notice how my brakes aren't hot at all? I was definitely holding back on account of not being able to see the apexes very well...
Picture by Yukio

ImPo · **Posted:** Fri Jul 13, 2012 9:46 pm

Man! All you need now is a 4 door hako with a fresh power plant to chase you around the streets of willow! lol jk

Eric, have you ever considered HID's? I've seen the conversions on ebay. It might be nice to swap in a couple sets of 3000k or 4000k kits for track nights.

ericbauer · **Posted:** Fri Jul 13, 2012 9:58 pm

hmm... maybe... one day... we'll see

i'm not planning another night time track session for a while - next one will be day time at either buttonwillow or thunderhill

but yeah, we could use a 4dr chasing us around!
you almost done with yours?

i'm thinking cars & coffee irvine next saturday the 21st... will confirm end of next week...

kev · **Posted:** Fri Jul 13, 2012 10:30 pm

Heehee....night driving with 30W Koito high beams

You might as well have gone blindfold and used The Force

Looks awesome on track

Rad2Ltr · **Posted:** Sun Jul 15, 2012 7:13 pm

ImPo wrote:

Man! All you need now is a 4 door hako with a fresh power plant to chase you around the streets of willow! lol jk

Eric, have you ever considered HID's? I've seen the conversions on ebay. It might be nice to swap in a couple sets of 3000k or 4000k kits for track nights.

HIDs would be out of place. I'd look for a set of Cibie housings with a good set of H4 bulbs. Its all about how the light is focused, less about the color of the light. I have a set of Marchal driving lights off my Alfa that are stunning, and they are 40+ years old. The light is well focused and projected.

What size are Hako headlights anyway?

Will

ImPo · **Posted:** Sun Jul 15, 2012 10:58 pm

ericbauer wrote:

you almost done with yours?

i'm thinking cars & coffee irvine next saturday the 21st... will confirm end of next week...

The engine is complete, I'm planning on dropping it back in within a day or two. The only thing I'd be waiting on is
the wheels to come back from polish and paint. I give it two weeks max. (fingers crossed)

Oh! I forgot to ask, How did the trunk partition turn out?

Rad2Ltr · **Posted:** Mon Jul 16, 2012 1:22 pm

ericbauer wrote:

hmm... maybe... one day... we'll see

i'm not planning another night time track session for a while - next one will be day time at either buttonwillow or thunderhill

but yeah, we could use a 4dr chasing us around!
you almost done with yours?

i'm thinking cars & coffee irvine next saturday the 21st... will confirm end of next week...

If you make it up to Thunderhill, let me know. I'll see if I can get my car out there as well. Thunderhill is an awesome track. I'd love to run the roadster with a Skyline.

Will

ericbauer · **Posted:** Mon Jul 16, 2012 1:35 pm

I'll let you know Will....

I love TH too... haven't been there in a good 5 years though... but i used to frequent it often...

-e

Rad2Ltr · **Posted:** Mon Jul 16, 2012 8:12 pm

I haven't run the roadster at Thill since 2006. I've never run it on race tires there. The last thing I drove there was a '99 ford escort for 24 hrs of Lemons.

Will

dsalni · **Posted:** Fri Jul 20, 2012 8:33 am

finally done - both of Eric's JNC beauties. Hope you guys like!

Davboy · **Posted:** Fri Jul 20, 2012 11:52 am

Wow, that looks great. :tu:

kev · **Posted:** Fri Jul 20, 2012 8:47 pm

dsalni wrote:

finally done - both of Eric's JNC beauties. Hope you guys like!

That's quite a talent you have there, my friend

dsalni · **Posted:** Wed Jul 25, 2012 1:12 pm

thanks guys! those sketches don't do Eric's cars justice!

My 1970 KGC10 2000 GT

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