$2015 Team Alavanche Racing entry 280Z

finished my driver's door panel, then traced it to the passenger side sheet so i can make that tomorrow.

2 weeks no update. wtf? i've been working like mad with, you know, work. late days, trying to get daddy time in before the kids fall asleep. i've been doing boring 20 minute here and there stuff, mostly cleaning up wiring and waiting for little nickle and dime bits to show up.

today i got the lid for the fuel cell enclosure made. it's very close to finished, just need to add a lip around the door and a small foam strip to seal it when closed. the aluminum was a garbage night freebie and the hinges and latches were about $4 at home depot. the seam sealer i used was a .66 cent tube of liquid nails max grip from lowes on clearance.

switch panel almost complete, just need to enlarge the last hole on the right. i bought a 3 way switch to add rear turn signals so i do not get killed on the street. yes, this is total racecar that's going to get street duty here and there, because why not? it's registered, that plate is my actual plate i get to run legally, and it's insured. i've yet to wire them but plan to just wire them to the reverse lamps and toss in amber bulbs. the rest of the lights work after i fixed the headlight grounds. brake lights even work. had to extend the neutral safety switch wiring because i moved the shifter about 8".

still no idea what the 3rd switch does, everything seems to function without it.

oh yeah. managed to find time to pull seat, vacuum and wirebrush interior, paint floors, install new harness, put seat back, odoban and vacuum mouse poo out of seat cover, and put most of the nose back together.

Glad you're still getting things done. I look forward to seeing this car at the challenge.

DatsunS130 wrote: Glad you're still getting things done. I look forward to seeing this car at the challenge.

my first ever auto-x is on the 27th, and i plan for that to be the shakedown run so i have t-minus 2 weeks to have this thing done and testing.

big hurdle taken care of today, somewhat a pain in the behind i was putting off as long as possible. the rear wheel studs are 1/2x3, perfect. fronts are 7/16 dorman long ones, and the knurl was a touch small for the holes. one spun trying to remove the wheels so i had to torch the lug nut off without ruining the aluminum wheel. luckily i'm good at torching lug nuts without harming wheels, i have too much experience with that. so i wanted to step up to matching 1/2x3 front studs. ordered moroso studs and some new lug nuts(no challenge hit, safety list items) as well as proper drill bit to get the hubs drilled out. while the calipers were off i test fit the vented rotor/toyota truck caliper setup that came with the car, unfortunately the calipers rub my wheels and since i've got brand new r-comps, not stepping up to 15's anytime soon, so no brake upgrade.

FYI - harbor freight machinist's drill press vise is one of their best tools.

hooray for safe new wheel studs that match the rears.

once that was done, i got motivated to weld the front structure back together. it was hitting the hood, had to section 1/4" out of the tube and glue it back together with molten steel wire. i even got nuts and mounted the trans cooler, the welds on it's brackets were broken off before i picked the car up.

i even managed to paint the cowl panel and reinstall it, only scratching the fenders a little bit doing so alone. got the old hood pins reinstalled at the cowl in new holes, they were too close to the edge before. i know i have some more old hood pins laying around somewhere for the front of the hood.

things left before test:

change oil

top off trans fluid and coolant

neaten plug wire routing

wire turn signals

mount coolant bottle without it being ugly or looking stupid(it's from engine donor via parts store universal coolant recovery bottle, so it's both ugly and stupid)

finish fuel cell door seal

hope to get some time in the next 2 nights after kids go to sleep and get those bits wrapped up and take it out wednesday after work for a spin around the block, then if that goes well maybe a little farther. thursday i am off work, and have to put new brakes on the saab so my wife doesn't get killed driving to michigan friday. that should take all of 30 minutes. then have to diagnose trailer brake problem on car hauler so it'll make it to florida without killing me and order parts. so after that i might be able to wrap up more loose ends.

patgizz wrote: drag tires acquired. $100 for lightly used 26x11.5x15 hoosier quick time pro's with tubes. i knew craigslist would help me out eventually. wheels were $50 for the pair on clearance at summit racing retail store. working on cobbling together the muffler right now. have a 2.25" in/out thrush chambered muffler off the engine donor that i cut the inlet and outlet off of back to 3" and welded 3" pipes on it.

$50 a pair!! What size?? They have anymore available??

I love the red turbines . . .

they always have clearance wheels. they just happened to have my bolt pattern and 2 of them in the same size at the same time. lots of their wheels are 1 here or there, sometimes they have pairs, and this time i got lucky. 15x7 i think. i was aiming for 24x8.5 or 26x8.5 tires at the time but i was having a bear finding them used cheap so took what i could get there.

Wow, what a blast from the past! That car spent some time with me as well. I bought it from Andy right before my divorce and in the following months ended up selling/trading it back to him because I lost my shop. Losing that car is one of my biggest regrets. Glad to see it in good hands! Here are a few shots of it back in 2010.

And A couple Shots from the Nelson Years..

Thanks for the pics. It now has 'glass fenders and the full 'glass version of that hood. Same air dam. Anything else you have to share I'd love to hear/see it!

patgizz wrote:

DatsunS130 wrote: Glad you're still getting things done. I look forward to seeing this car at the challenge.

my first ever auto-x is on the 27th, and i plan for that to be the shakedown run so i have t-minus 2 weeks to have this thing done and testing.

At Neoscca? If so, I'll see you there!

Pat, all the pics I have of it are here... Tasty Datsun Goodness Feel free to help yourself!

Esoteric Nixon wrote:

patgizz wrote:

DatsunS130 wrote: Glad you're still getting things done. I look forward to seeing this car at the challenge.

my first ever auto-x is on the 27th, and i plan for that to be the shakedown run so i have t-minus 2 weeks to have this thing done and testing.

At Neoscca? If so, I'll see you there!

i was going to go to mid ohio sports car club, they have a relatively small group and what sounds like a long course as the FTD for last event was 68 seconds.

sanyarcosean wrote: Pat, all the pics I have of it are here... Tasty Datsun Goodness Feel free to help yourself!

awesome. sounds like everyone who has had it regrets selling it, but i was at the right place/time when don decided to sell, and i don't presume it's leaving my hands for a long time. i intend to keep it challenge budget even after the event so it's available yearly to compete. i don't have room to build a new car every year as i already have 5 other toys. have half a mind to bring my truck next year, as it's well under budget with big block, 5 speed, and i have a full used drop kit, ginormous sway bars, and a 9" going under it in the spring.

sanyarcosean wrote: Wow, what a blast from the past! That car spent some time with me as well. I bought it from Andy right before my divorce and in the following months ended up selling/trading it back to him because I lost my shop. Losing that car is one of my biggest regrets. Glad to see it in good hands! Here are a few shots of it back in 2010. And A couple Shots from the Nelson Years..

So many memories. Thanks for posting these pictures!

garage saled up a $3 K&N air filter assembly.

It looks mean in those old land speed pictures. Now it'll look great while it looks mean.

It's hard to believe that I originally bought that car for $49.99 on 6/21/2006 thru an eBay auction. I have about 25 build pics. I will look for the info on the eBay sale.

I tore up some parts up sorting that thing out.

Thanks for making the hood whole again. Jim Thwaite made the fiberglass hood. The steel hood was made with old fenders in order to get the curves identical to the car's curves.

i snuck out on the street this afternoon to run to the side street less than a 1/4 mile away and back to see what the cooling fan does with air going through the radiator. good thing i just ran up and back, as i ran out of gas pulling into the driveway. oops. have some carb and timing tuning to do, but as of tomorrow when my agent gets in her office and checks her email, i'll have insurance. my wife and kids are going up to michigan for the day so when i get done working i should have some tuning time, once i put some gas in it. i have to wire the turn signals before i really go more than around the block as i do not want to get killed.

also, i forgot to put the dipstick tube back in post header install so i puked oil all over my freshly painted engine compartment. more oops.

also managed to cut a 1950 chrysler into enough pieces to fit into my pickup less the rolling chassis that my dad's going to use and the parts my uncle bought it for to help finish the body on the 49 plymouth gasser that i sold him.

Looks good, Pat.

Wow. That car looks stunning ith the white/black. Good work

so there's this

i have a big oil leak up front on the engine from the balancer area. i seem to recall if no fuel pump pushrod is used then a bolt needs installed in one of the holes next to the timing cover or you'll get a leak. oiled the windshield and engine bay pretty good, again, after cleaning it.

also have a nasty vibration on deceleration. jacked up rear, have almost 1" deflection in the moustache bar bushings, they're shot and hope that is my cause. i have no idea what else it would be as the rest looks nice and tight, so hoping that's it.

moustache bar fix, zero time to order parts and didn't want to pay for them. scrounged some poly bushings from a $4 bushing grab bag from summit racing's good old clearance days from 10+ years ago. they fit perfect inside a 1 3/4" roll cage tube, which i have exactly one foot long scrap of from an old cage project. that tube just happened to be slightly too big for the bushing sleeve of the factory rubbers. i lit them on fire, ate pizza, tapped the roll cage pieces in while still smoking hot, and tacked them in place.

cut bushings and sleeves to length, perfect fit.

reinstalled moustache bar with zero slop, i really hope that vibration is gone.

going to plan on pulling the balancer wednesday afternoon and checking it's seal, the timing cover to oil pan seal, and putting a bolt in that hole i mentioned before. will probably smear something on the oil pan end seal and change out the balancer seal just because i have one.