"The Goon" Build (KA Datsun)

[WagDatto]

Gimme a call this weekend, we'll go for a cruise or something. Wear those sexy underwears you know I love so much...

[DOOK]

god i want a 510 so bad... fuck the east coast and our god damn rust

[kcndizzle]

Originally Posted by WagDatto

Gimme a call this weekend, we'll go for a cruise or something. Wear those sexy underwears you know I love so much...

Consider it as good as done. and as for the undies, is it homo-erotic in here, or is that just you? lolz

[Devios88]

No Hooommmmoooo!

[WagDatto]

Originally Posted by Devios88

No Hooommmmoooo!

LOL! QFT, man, but I don't care... You should hear the conversations I have with Phil!

[cbcustoms]

Originally Posted by cbcustoms

Paint it laser red

Sorry it was a 350z color I painted a 240 around here. It looked really nice. Good luck with the project though great build

[WagDatto]

Phil and I wanted to get some footage today, for the records and for Zilvia...

Drove to the usual spot, and had a blast on the way there. His SR definitely beats me from 3rd on, but off the line, he thinks I might have the advantage in torque, and could hold my own a little better. We'll see!

We got there, whipped out the camera, and I volunteered to go first. Mind you, this really is my first 5-speed, FR car, and I'm a noob when it comes to donuts/drifting in general, besides a little slide or a burnout here and there. I knew my rear suspension was squishy, so I just wanted to gun it, crank the wheel, and whip the tail around a few times and call it good until the suspension is all dialed in. But, as I'm sure you guys will see when Phil uploads the video and posts, my first attempt just didn't do what I wanted at all, so I went for a few circles... And that's when it all went bad!

Right when I was coming around, trying to get on the throttle a little harder to actually make it spin freely, I busted what we think was an axle shaft. When I lined up to do the burnout, it was made clear that the driver side wheel no longer spins (spooled diff). No big deal, I knew I could at least limp it home and park it until we get something to replace it. By the way, anybody have an AE86 rear axle for sale? Or maybe an older Ford 8"?

But besides the fact that it sucks to have happened at all, I'm not too upset about breaking the car. I loved the sound of the new exhaust bouncing off the rev limiter, and the car really is a blast to drive! Better that I broke it locally than at Thunder Hill or at a SF meet or something!! I made it home fine, obviously, and I still have a DD, so I'm not out more than the price of a new axle!

He brought his RHD SR Silvia, and had to one-up me, so maybe he'll post up his smoky donuts! We just put in some rear subframe collars on it, and installed an alarm in mine today, so we were productive as well as destructive today! All in all, though, it was fun, and the car still made it home, so it's not like anything TOO massive went down!

[fbiphil]

Well, here are some videos:

The Goon- On The Road!
[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tklHh9dK0nE[/ame]

Sean's Car (can you hear the axle snapping?):
[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=juNp4upgkAA[/ame]

...I had to get in on the action a little, too!
[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GYq289bySQY[/ame]

We need a bigger, flatter parking lot for the next session- but this one is on our shop's property, so it's a little "safer"... for now!

Hopefully we can get a new rear suspension under the Goon in time for a good semi-local drift day- I want a chance behind the wheel, too!

Sean's poor car- when he gets on the gas, the whole rear shifts to the left like a hound dog! We'll get her back in shape and better than ever, though!

[WagDatto]

Before anybody asks, too, yes... The gold wheels on the Silvia are the old gold wheels from my 510. And yes, they're probably quite bald after ripping 2nd gear around the parking lot. Fortunately, though, I have Phil's Hayashi's, which Phil's tires, so payback will be just, and we will be even.... when I can drive my car properly again.

Soon, I'll have to get some better footage of the 'goon driving. Or maybe put somebody in the 'passenger seat' of the S13, rather than have the RHDriver try to take footage. It was fun tooling around, though. Phil felt bad for egging me on and then having me break my shit, but like I said, it's not irreplaceable, and it's not like it got buried into a wall or anything!

If you watch really close, you can see the rear "dig in" when I tried to run some donuts, and that's when it broke. It will be restored, not too big a deal, and I'm serious... I know from where we stood to video tape, it looks like there's almost no room in the parking lot, but it's on a slope, so it makes it look really narrow, but there's plenty of room to spin around in the lot, so long as you're watching for anything to go wrong (oh, I don't know, say BREAKING YOUR AXLE!), but I agree, Phil, we'll have to find something a little more flat and open next time!

If anybody has an AE86 "GT-S" axle they want to donate/get rid of, you have a buyer like NOW.

[kcndizzle]

yay for footage and donuts! Oh noooooooesss for a broken axle! i guess I'll have to wait for my ride...

[Jimmy Up]

Al Gore says your the cause of global warming..... Jimmy Up

Sick thread

[916S14]

was that Becks furniture you guys passed in the video? But yeah this thread makes me wanna drop a KA in my 71 datsun truck. I might be asking you for advice.

[WagDatto]

916:
Haha, yeah, the Beck's on Folsom... I used to work for a shop called Fender Bender Intl, and Phil's actually the General Manager, which is why we feel a little safer fooling around out there. It's right down there on Mercantile. It's pretty much the spot he'll go to whip off donuts in the morning before work, and especially on weekends, when the whole block is pretty much empty.

KCN:
Yeah, I brokeded mah car... I'll get a new axle, have you help me put it in, and THEN I'll give you a taste of the 510... Yup... Sometime coming up here, in the near future....

Slidin:
Thanks, man! Once the car's done (again), I might need to get a gold sticker from ya! It's all about supporting the Zilvians!

[Jimmy Up]

Right on man,

BREADBOX ftw. Keep on doing what your doing, she's gonna be sick

[Mr. Jesse]

Sweet build on a cool car. I love 510's

ps. I hope you got your tires on the right sides.

[WagDatto]

Originally Posted by Mr. Jesse

Sweet build on a cool car. I love 510's

ps. I hope you got your tires on the right sides.

Hrm... This was brought up a few pages ago, that the car wasn't running, and the wheels/tires were tossed on to roll it around on and take pictures. There was never any plan of driving with them reversed, and before the car even fired, they were switched.

Thanks again, Slidin! Broken now, but it'll be back to tearing up the streets with a vengeance!

[89singlecamnoob]

awesome build, subscribed for reference when i get my 510 (hopefully next week )

green squares for Sean

[WagDatto]

Sick, thanks for the props! Make sure to post a build thread of your own when you get it, I'll be interested to see what/how you do things!

A little update:

I have a new axle shaft and a new fender, I'm getting a new wheel bearing today, and a few cans of cleaning products. I'm going to start assembling the new one, and then I'll try my hand at replacing the broken one... I'll take pictures of the carnage!

[WagDatto]

!!Past-Due Update!!

Okay, so yesterday, I FINALLY got around to putting in the new axle shaft. I've had an old, weather-worn, rusty, corroded axle shaft sitting in the side yard for about a month and a half to replace the one I shattered trying to do donuts, as video documented a few posts back. I go to Phil's for guidance, clean up the old one and look up in the book how to change axle shafts.... So I broke the driver's side, and the shaft/backing plate are from the passenger side, so I really needed to swap backing plates and put a new bearing on to make it work. Umm, right...

The book says "If the wheel bearing needs to be replaced, please leave this job to your local Datsun garage, as a new bearing will take between 4 and 5 tons of pressure to seat it correctly." Great, this was going well... After debating in my head for a few minutes, Phil and I decided to say fuck it, reuse a 30something year old wheel bearing that is filthy as shit (though it spun relatively well, considering!), and just run the backing plate upside down. I didn't care anymore.

Luckily, the correct way to remove the broken splines on the axle shaft was easy enough... You just remove both axle shafts, undo the drive shaft, pull off the front of the differential, remove its guts and take out the broken piece that's stuck in there. This job gets better and better, right?

To hell with the correct way, I got a telescoping magnet and removed the broken axle shaft so I could stick it in there and retrieve that piece like you score a pair of keys you dropped in the sewer drain with a stick and bubble gum.... Except that the magnet wasn't strong enough to pull it free. More issues! I removed the other axle shaft and we had to poke through the other side to pop it free of the diff to drag it back through with my magnet. But finally, I had the axle shaft AND the broken splines out, and I could worry about putting everything back together.

Fuck drum brakes, by the way. As Phil brought up, why the hell did we invent drum brakes first? The engineering behind them is way more difficult than disk brakes. They're heavy, hard to work on and they suck teet. Anyway, I hooked everything back up, we bled the brakes and surprisingly, the car felt exactly the same under braking as it did before I used the wrong-side backing plate. Fuck it, I'll roll like this for a while, until I get access and time to be able to use a bearing press and fix it for good.

Anyways, on to the pictures:

Axle shaft, splines are completely ground down at the end from driving with it broken and wobbling around inside. No biggie:



Splines are bent from the stress caused before it broke... I'll turn this into a key chain!



So it's not obvious from the pictures, really, but there's quite a large chunk missing from this equation. Holding the splines to the shaft shows a big piece that isn't there.... The metallic color of the oil inside my axle hints that it got ground into powder... So I won't worry about it, it hasn't caused problems yet, right?

So yeah, does anybody in NorCal have a bearing press and an afternoon to spend fixing my axle correctly? LOL!

I have talked to some 510 gurus, and they suggest that the wagon axle can actually hold up to some pounding with upwards of 200-250hp at the wheels... This leads me to believe that the fact that my leaf springs are flimsy and I have 2.5" blocks in the rear, giving enough leverage to cause some severe axle-wrap put way more stress on the shafts than is normal for the power I'm putting down... I need to get some new leaf springs/have mine stiffened and de-arched to get ride height corrected without blocks. Hopefully I'll be able to do that within the next month or so, I just need to see if Chris is willing to let me borrow some leaf springs, or if I can buy them fo' cheepz!!

That's it for now, check back for more!!

[BigVinnie]

That is some mad axle shaft damage!
Haven't seen anything like that well pretty much ever, unless the diff would be blown..

Talk to Roseberry hydromatic transmissions in Concord, Cali. I had them install and warranty my OBX helical. Awesome work. Although if I were you go through rock auto and get your own parts. They charge double on parts.

As for the drum brakes and there design, I would agree that they just overall suck. More pieces are involved although I believe that drums work better for trucks do to weight capacities. Rotors are much more simple and effective, they make less brake dust too. Nissan is a parts bin manufacturer though so if they buy items in bulk from other companies, that would more than likely explain how silly drums get manufactured on a car.

[WagDatto]

I might look into that, thanks for the advice, man! Like I said, though, the guys on 510realm suggested that the stock axle/shafts should be good up to 200-250hp at the wheels. It was axle wrap that was causing a lot of extra stress on the shafts. Once I get the new springs and do a panhard bar, I should be fine with what I have. Once I go KA-T, I might have to think about other alternatives, so we'll see!

[mr.lonelys12]

i wouldnt try using another diff out of a 510, try something more beefy thats larger than an h190, you have possiblities like a diff out of a 200sx, pick ups, pathfinders and so on, they should all fix.

[mr.lonelys12]

*oppss i knew i was off, you have irs.

[WagDatto]

I don't have IRS?

[BigVinnie]

Subaru differential is the best upgrade for the 510 coupes. The ford 8.8 diff is the best to use for the wagons once you shorten the axle shafts very durable for a lot of power.

[WagDatto]

Yeah, I'd be going with a Ford 8.8 from a turbo thunderbird, because they had some badass gearing and disk brakes. But I don't have money to drop on it yet, I'll hold off until I go KA-T.

Quick flick giving a few small revs of the exhaust. It's super throaty at idle and cruise, and on revs, it's pretty noisy. I love it.

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5S3CUvuoPU0[/ame]

[fbiphil]

The Goon is alive!!! YAY!!!! My wife thought it was going to be stuck in our driveway, so I was super happy to see it go back together.
Keep it together so I don't have to haul you around on that drive you've got coming up!

[WagDatto]

I'll be posting this in the Tech Section as well. I looked, but couldn't find an answer, so I'll request the aid of my readers! Two nights ago, under deceleration, the 'Goon bogged down and died. Okay, no big deal, just a fluke? It happened a few times that night, I figured it was just the idle being adjusted a little wrong. Unfortunately, the next day (yesterday) it was the same story, as well as today...

With my car, I have the IACV blocked off, and I'm using the TPS (adjuster screw) to set my idle. I've had no issues before now. One thing I did find out is that the IACV came unplugged (shitty vacuum plug) and I thought that was the culprit. My thinking was that I was letting too much air in (through the TB and IACV) and it was causing me to run much too lean and die on decel toward idle. However, I sealed it using actual heater hose, and I still had the same issue.

1st, 2nd or 3rd gear, as soon as I decel to around 3k rpm (guesstimation, I don't have a tach) it starts to bog. Sometimes it will die, sometimes it will sputter and finally catch idle and be okay to go. KCNDizzle suggested MAF plug/wiring, as the MAF is the usual suspect for any problems around 3k rpm. I will check them tomorrow when it's light outside, and make sure everything is plugged in and secure, and there are no effed up wires.

Anybody have any other suggestions?

[WagDatto]

People fucking suck. Such is the lesson life taught me today. I go through the day like usual, even making use of my tax return to buy a coolant reservoir that I may or may not return and get a smaller, cheaper one, even though it fits in there nice and snug.

The day started out normal, waking up, deciding that since I showered yesterday before work, I wasn't going to shower this morning, and leaving for school. Mind you, the Datsun is not yet my daily driver, and it still sputters and dies, more often when I stop hard or turn under deceleration. Until I fix those issues, I won't bring it to a community college, I'll leave it out front of my parents' quiet house in a nice neighborhood. Or so I thought.

When I got home, I came from the opposite direction from where I left, meaning I was coming toward the front of the Datsun. My heart sunk. I saw that the chin spoiler, or Spook spoiler, was hanging off the valance and was missing paint. After parking and walking up, I see that all but 3 rivets were torn from the fiberglass and the lip itself was torn almost completely in half and was pretty beat up all together.. I had to force the rivets back through my broken spoiler, drill holes in this $150 piece and run zip ties just to hold it onto my car..

I'm not a happy camper.

But on a plus side, I did get the car aligned and the sensors said that I had 3.5* negative camber! And the caster wasn't too far off from where he'd usually set it, so we just adjusted the toe and called it a day. Now the yellow line pointing up on my steering wheel means that I'm going straight, not left! Yay me!



I'll add more pictures later, that was my 'I'm sad and hurt' photo.

[kcndizzle]

Oh nooesss!!!! we should find who dun it and run a pain-train!