"The Goon" Build (KA Datsun)

[WagDatto]

So I brought the car home today. We bled the brakes and fixed the clutch master cylinder problem. The brakes still feel like they need to be bled, I don't know what to think of that issue, but I'll figure it out at some point. It's noisy as all hell, but it spins its wheels like a champ, and gets sideways when you tell it to! Exhaust needs to be done this week/end at some point, and I'm also going to bring it in to get a quote on a paint job (no harm in shopping early, yeah?).

I do owe you guys at least a picture of a big burnout, and I'll make sure to do so... but I kind of need to get the thing insured and registered before I feel too confident in blasting around the streets, ya dig?

I'll get it out on the roads soon and get some nice, scenic shots for you guys in some real daylight! I've pretty much spoiled you all with fluorescent lights from my brother's garage this whole build, so I honestly don't know if it'll be better or worse in sunlight! We'll find out soon!

[kcndizzle]

I know a guy that does insurance , nah jk lol. But seriously tho, we need burnout pics! Better yet, maybe give some local peeps a burnout ride????

[phobos]

Dimes ftw.

I want to go ka-t on my dime as well I'm just scared I'm going to kill myself! And, unfortunately, I don't get that feeling in a 240 (sorry 240 lovers) lol....

[WagDatto]

240's are fast with KA's, sure... But when you shed a few hundred pounds and have a car that rattles and shakes with every blip of the throttle, it's a different story all together! Haha, I'll give you a ride as soon as it's legal-ish!

[fbiphil]

Screw the ride-along- I want to drive it again!!
This has been a really fun build- it's actually motivated me to work on my 240 again!
And my wife thanks you for taking it out of our garage yesterday- ready to start on the truck?

[WagDatto]

Oh snap! One step at a time, let's finish making the Silvia purr, THEN I'll help you with the truck!

[WagDatto]

I'm about to go FINALLY fix the coolant leak, and then take it to get the muffler replaced. Don't worry, it'll still be loud! I'll get pictures and video!

EDIT: Coolant problem fixed, car stays at a nice temperature now! Exhaust not fixed. Maarco was slammed today, so I'll get over there later this week/end. This weekend, Phil and I will (hopefully) finish wiring, and install an alarm! That way, none of y'alls can come mess with my car without me knowing! Although... if I'm within 5 miles, I'll hear you start it anyway, which is kind of an alarm in itself!

In my dad's words, "The ONE good thing about this noise is that everybody, even kids with annoying subwoofers, will hear you and make way..." Other than that, though, he dug it!

Anybody know where a good place to get an alignment in the Sacramento area would be? That, and who wants to turbo and paint my car? I'll repay with you sexual favors!

[fbiphil]

OOO! I'll paint it for you! Like we always say, "It's not gay if it's incest!!"

LOL

[WagDatto]

Phil, where near the front-driver-side of the motor would I be leaking oil from? Small splotch when I park it...

[WagDatto]

Side note:
(If it was a Zilvia member, I apologize in advance!)
When I was taking it to Maarco to get the exhaust redone, some dude and his girl in a grey-blue, old Honda gave chase, failed miserably, and then I got 'The Shocker' from the girl, and 'The Rocker' from the guy who incidentally had his tongue out and his face all mushed up. Not sure if he was jocking me cuz it was a Datsun, cuz it was loud as fuck, or cuz he couldn't keep up, but it made me giggle...

My first "Jocked Whilst Driving" (JWD) came from a dude in an 80's Honda Hatch...

[silnismo]

THAT WAS MEEE!!! cant you take a joke???
















kidding! haha yea most JWD's usually come from the honda community.... sigh

[WagDatto]

Id have felt bad if it were someone on here, cuz my first thought was "what a darsh" but I guess it was cool that someone dug it, you know?

[ericcastro]

Its cruising the streets now, huh? nice

you get all the timing issues figured out? What color paint?

I remember when that article came out with Corolla and his Datsun 510. Forget what mag, but it must have been over 5 years ago. I also saw a BMW of his that he tried to bolt a Mustang turbo kit onto. Blew the motor, it was sitting at a BMW shop in the Valley.

i had a dude give me a head nod the other night. It was Friday, stuck in traffic into hollywood, and the dude was in a bright yellow lamborgini convertable with a hot chick. He looks past her and give me a head nod, while Im in my 240, crazy. Made me feel good! lol

[WagDatto]

Timing is all worked out, things are working like a top! If you look back a few pages, the plan is to go with a red/white two-tone. There's a body line (mid-doors) that circles pretty much the entire car, so we'll go red below it, white above it, and maybe a blue pinstripe separating the two (BRE/Datsun colors were red white and blue).

As for cruising the streets, I've taken it out on a few jaunts, but nothing spectacular yet... As it has no insurance yet! Keeping it local, taking it when there's something it has to be there for, like the exhaust shop or to Phil's house, etc. Since I just fixed the coolant leak, it's a little more reliable.

PS. When the gas station fillers "click," telling you you're full, I leak fuel. Full=Too Full. Just a little mental note...

[WagDatto]

Good news to report:
I drove it around a bit today to burn off the extra gas in the tank that was dripping (presumably from the breather tube), and even though I drove with the fan On the whole time (not brave enough to check the temp switch yet!), the OEM temp gauge seems to be accurate. It stays pretty level in the center of the gauge, now that I fixed the coolant problem. When I was really getting on it, and when I was stuck in traffic, the heat rose to around "M|P" (TEMP is written on the gauge, needle went right between the M and P), and when I started moving/dropped the rpm's a touch, it went right back to the center. All is goo to report, it needs some better suspension upgrades all around, though. I scrape BIG TIME over speed bumps, and I think the Ground Control coilovers in front need to be swapped for something a bit better suited for the car, as bumps tend to give me a big knocking sound (car landing back on the coil). The rear is okay, but I have a few new ideas for it too. First and foremost, I need to get the rear springs dearched and stiffened to get it lower and eliminate the 2" blocks I have back there. I want to also upgrade the front leaf spring mounts to a solid mount (been done for use with Roadster springs) to keep it from squishing around as much, and I want to do a "Torque Bar" type of mod to keep the axle from twisting on launches and slamming into a new gear, which is causing the nose of the diff to grind on the tranny tunnel (Rapid-fire banging noise).

Once that's done, though, I'm pretty confident that the 'Goon will be clear for takeoff! I'm going to try to get over to Maarco's tomorrow to get the exhaust finished up (for the time being), and kill this noise that's bound to get me unwanted attention.

O snapz @ teh PoPo!

[DJButton]

More good updates!

[WagDatto]

DJButton asked for more good updates, so here comes a pretty good one!

I got the muffler swapped out for something a bit different today! Some will cheer, some will cry, but it sounds way better now! No, I didn't film myself doing donuts with the loud exhaust, but it's still plenty loud, and you guys should have a video and some pictures of said donuts this weekend. When I got home, I called up Maarco Muffler and asked if they were too busy to get me in there today, and they assured me I should come right over.... so I did.

I revved, parked and got some love from an employee of the shop next door (some custom build shop of some sort). He was cool, asked if it was an SR without even seeing under the hood, so I knew he kind of knew the usual swaps for the car, and I filled him in on what it had so far. Even for a guy that drives a 62 Chevy, he said the muffler was too loud for my little car. I finally drove it up on the lift, they brought it up and I started snapping off a few pictures for you guys.

After checking out what they had upstairs, we looked at a few Fart Cannons, and they even had a stock Evo MR muffler (3" in, huge barrel), but honestly, when it came down to it, they were either beat to shit, too small/big, too noisy or too ugly for my to really want to put it on there! Old Tim picked up the Dynamax muffler and said if I wanted a quiet, muscley sound, that the Dynamax would probably sound pretty good. Being that he's nearing at least 200 years old, I took his advice. What was nice is that it had a "left in, center out" setup, so I could get the muffler moved a little further away from the fuel cell. I doubt it would have made a HUGE difference, but I didn't want my gas to be hot...

He cut off the old, welded in a new bracket and hanger, and welded on the new one. I was amazed how easily he welded the top of the pipe, but he assured me that mine was easy. He does it for a living, so I guess he's seen some wacky shit in his day. When I pulled up onto the lift, it was loud, abrasive and annoying (especially when I opened up the taps), but when I started it and backed it off the lift, I liked what I heard... It was really mellow and sounded pretty deep and meaty when you brought it to 2k...

Before: (2.5" pipe to the straight-through, custom Flowmaster)

Old Tim cutting off the old muffler:

Barren:

New front suspension shot:

Dynamax 2.5" in and out:

Tim welding her in:

Gettin' her done:

The New Rumble:

Finishing touches:


Like I said, I'll update with some new footage this weekend. Anybody in the area want to get together?

Edit: I just realized this thread has gotten to almost 10 pages long, and has over 10,000 views, so thanks everybody for the love and support so far, and I'll try to keep progress moving along steadily! Next on my list is rear suspension, and then some body work, so I should get some interesting pictures when I get there!

[Bubbles]

Originally Posted by WagDatto

He cut off the old, welded in a new bracket and hanger, and welded on the new one. I was amazed how easily he welded the top of the pipe, but he assured me that mine was easy.

Any welder worth his weight shouldn't even blink at stuff like that.


BTW - I seriously want to see some video of this thing doing nasty, NASTY things.

[DJButton]

Ask and ye shall receive indeed, that update worked!

[WagDatto]

Originally Posted by Bubbles

Any welder worth his weight shouldn't even blink at stuff like that.
BTW - I seriously want to see some video of this thing doing nasty, NASTY things.

I agree, but I'm not a welder worth my weight... I weigh maybe 10-20lbs in welding, but I'm still shy about 230lbs!

As for nasty things, I'm thinking of getting together with another 510 and filming what they do with a cup. Mmmmm... I want to take it to a track and see what it does in the 1/4, as well as around some corners. It'd be nice to have some "before" to compare it to when I upgrade suspension parts and tweak what I've got, you know?

Originally Posted by DJButton

Ask and ye shall receive indeed, that update worked!

Glad to hear it! I've said it before, if there's anything you guys want to see better pictures of/more pictures of, PM me or request it in the thread, I'd be more than happy to whore it out a little!

Sunday, I believe is the day that I'll get a new video of it doing something. Better sound, dialed in timing, a few burnouts in its history, and I've swung it around a few corners... I feel confident in maybe a few attempts at a circle or two! At the very least, I'll be sure to throw out some smoke for the sake of the Zilvia!

[J-Style]

I just went through your build man and I love it! I have a good friend whom is trying to build a 510 two-door with a KA...but he isn't having much luck. I will definately show him this!

[cbcustoms]

Awesome build

[cbcustoms]

Paint it laser red

[WagDatto]

Originally Posted by J-Style

I just went through your build man and I love it! I have a good friend whom is trying to build a 510 two-door with a KA...but he isn't having much luck. I will definately show him this!

Have him check out the510realm.com and dimequarterly.com. Both of those forums have a lot of knowledgeable guys, and a few really good writeups. Tell him to man up and post some pictures, too!

Originally Posted by cbcustoms

Awesome build

Hey thanks... It's been a lot of fun, I've learned a lot and I've enjoyed doing things right on this car!

Originally Posted by cbcustoms

Paint it laser red

FAIL.

[Aeroscraper326]

I love you...

[WagDatto]

Originally Posted by Aeroscraper326

I love you...

Constructive feedback is always welcome here... I guess...

Spring break is officially on, I'll try to get a video of exhaust tone today, as kind of a teaser for you guys! I have insurance now, so I'm a little more comfortable driving it, plus it gets less stares because it's not as loud...

[kcndizzle]

+1 for insurance and having a running car

[Aeroscraper326]

Haha... I'm sure it sounds much better with teh new muffler.

Get on those rear flares as soon as you can! can't wait to see em'.

[WagDatto]

Originally Posted by kcndizzle

+1 for insurance and having a running car

Wanna go for a drive? I have a large cargo area....

Originally Posted by Aeroscraper326

Haha... I'm sure it sounds much better with teh new muffler.
Get on those rear flares as soon as you can! can't wait to see em'.

I love the new sound. Almost like a muscle car at idle, but still screams a bit when you get on it!

As for the flares, I don't know when I'm going to... The work involved is insane to do it right, and I need to get some money in the bank for other things, too! I need to fix all the locks and tie them into automatic locking for the new alarm, we need to finish wiring, do some bodywork overhauling, replace the oil pan gasket (minor leak, will be a bitch), get new motor mounts, get new gauges/make the ones I have work... For now, I don't even have wheels to stuff under some massive flares! I think I'll probably wait until after I turbo to do the flares, even if it means getting some new paint work done. Hell, maybe I'll just have it painted gray or something for now, and when I end up doing flares, I'll paint it how I want it. I just don't see flares or turbo coming up too soon, they're big projects, they're expensive (unless you want to donate some 15x9 or 15x10 rims or turbo parts), and I want to enjoy my car!

It hauls ass and looks/sounds pretty evil doing it right now, and I love every moment of it. I smile every time I blip the throttle, and when that gets old, I'll start thinking about getting a "pshhh" sound added in there.

[kcndizzle]

Originally Posted by WagDatto

Wanna go for a drive? I have a large cargo area....

Was that a fat joke? But do I wanna go for a drive, do you even have to ask!?!?!? Lets do this! I'd ask if you wanna ride in my 14, but it's not nearly as pimp-0-rific.