DATSANITI - 1980 Datsun 210 Wagon VQ35 Swap - $2018 Challenge

Looks amazing!!

Another night of local 1/8 mile drag racing in Datsaniti. This time I drove it the 70 mile round trip to the track and back, which I find much more pleasant with ear plugs. No issues the entire night! Cleaning the accelerator pedal sensor seems to have done the trick and I could do full throttle pass after pass. I beat a stock Challenger SRT8, Chevy SS sedan, and some mean sounding 90s Mustang. I lost narrowly to a different Mustang and a tuned up STi that "puts 450 to the wheel". I was on my 3yo BFG Rivals which actually did alright.

Can your fender flares do this?

maschinenbau said:

Another night of local 1/8 mile drag racing in Datsaniti.  […]. I beat a stock Challenger SRT8, Chevy SS sedan, and some mean sounding 90s Mustang. I lost narrowly to a different Mustang and a tuned up STi that "puts 450 to the wheel". I was on my 3yo BFG Rivals which actually did alright.

Well, a Chevy SS on fresh Michelin’s (??) ran 14.25 in the quarter at OneLap, so I’ll guess you’re on-track for being in the 13’s, at least 

maschinenbau said:

Another night of local 1/8 mile drag racing in Datsaniti. This time I drove it the 70 mile round trip to the track and back, which I find much more pleasant with ear plugs. No issues the entire night! Cleaning the accelerator pedal sensor seems to have done the trick and I could do full throttle pass after pass. I beat a stock Challenger SRT8, Chevy SS sedan, and some mean sounding 90s Mustang. I lost narrowly to a different Mustang and a tuned up STi that "puts 450 to the wheel". I was on my 3yo BFG Rivals which actually did alright.

Can your fender flares do this?

That's a lot of work for a place to put your pizza!

I built a simple shifter console out of more rain gutter. 

Your build and mi e are going to be fun to compare. Love tge detail work and completion youre doing here.

In reply to Dusterbd13-michael :

The two of you really are putting the most into the challenge concept.  With your multiple year build cycles and extended testing and refinement, your projects are turning out just beautiful.  It's been a pleasure to watch.

In reply to TVR Scott :

Thanks scott! 

However, i fear that datsaniti is more than my build can compete with both cosmetically and dynamic time wise. However, im going to try!

Machinbeau: what kind of placement did you get last year? Im thinking you have a solid top 10, and probable top 5 this year.

Thank you Scott. I probably take the Challenge too seriously, but it is seriously fun to build a car like this!

In reply to Dusterbd13-michael :

I only got 14th last year due a bunch of lame excuses: on street tires, driving it myself (I suck), no front brakes, and half of my runs scrapped due to limp mode getting triggered. I had gotten it driving literally the week before the Challenge. They did a separately timed 500ft sprint on the long course, which I was only a few tenths behind the leader. However I did score 19/25 in Concours with it looking like this. Yes that was the static ride stance...

Can't believe we're already coming up on another year. I'm going for the big win this time.

Car show today, autocross tomorrow! I made a subtle livery change last night. Just need numbers now.

Im impressed! Really just dramatically changed with the livery change 

Bitchin! 

That thing is magazine-cover ready!

Dang it looks good!

maschinenbau said:

Car show today, autocross tomorrow! I made a subtle livery change last night. Just need numbers now.

Looking GREAT!

I'm happy to see you enjoying the car and using it as intended.

I just noticed the Infiniti caps on the wheels. Nice touch. 

The wheels, the flares, the stripes. It’s all perfect. You’ve done a great job tying it all together.

If this thing doesn't make the magazine cover, there's something wrong...

Thanks everyone for the kind words!  The typical car show crowd was mostly pretty confused by it, but there were a few that really appreciate what it is the more time they spend looking at it. Shows like that are a great place to practice the "concours pitch". I even printed off a little write-up about the Challenge and budget to put in the window. Gotta spread the good word of GRM!

Yeah, most of the cruise night/car show crowd doesn't get it. However, practicing the pitch at autocross and drag racing to people who do may be very beneficial. 

I love the look, but as long as we're going micro...

How about some black pinstriping to tie the red and white stripes into the whole amazing package? 

Inspirational build, to say the least.

Ho ho, Santa made a visit in July. Bill doesn't care because he's a cat, but I'm excited to test this portion of my Challenge-winning secret recipe.

Nice! that thing is awesome and I can't wait to see it in person come October.

Sticky! Can't wait to see how it hooks with those 

Also here's an autocross shot from Sunday. Did pretty decent on the old, used, rock-hard Rivals I keep street driving and drag racing on. Look how aired-down I had them. These tires owe me nothing.

Tires are mounted on Jeep wheels #5 and #6. I still have 3 more of these identical Jeep wheels in the stash. I'm planning to hit the real drag strip this Friday. I'm also going to test out nitrous if I finish it in time. Big ol' bucket list item for me ever since growing up playing racing games like Need For Speed. I just want to hit a button and watch the world get all zoomy and wooshy around me.

I'm building a single fogger wet shot system. That means both fuel and nitrous are sprayed and mixed at one point into the intake, in my case after the MAF but before the throttle body. The ECM should still act as if everything is normal, because the air metered by the MAF isn't changing. A/F ratio and shot "size" are controlled by fuel pressure, bottle pressure, and jet orifice size, housed inside the nozzle, which meter and mix the nitrous and fuel together. Bigger jet means more flow. General rule is to air on the side of rich, between 12 and 13 AFR. I'm using this old 350z forum thread as a starting point for jet sizes. I'm aiming for 50 hp and working my way up to possibly maybe 100hp by Challenge time. Any higher and they say you really should pull a few degrees of timing. I don't have that option but I'm willing to throw those dice at the Challenge. 

First up is mounting the nozzle. Drilled a hole in my home depot intake tube. I had to buy an 1/8" NPT pass-through fitting which clamps down on the intake tube and allows the nozzle to thread into it. 

I put a tee in the fuel line to feed the fuel solenoid and using 1/4" brake line to plumb it over. 

I disassembled, cleaned, and tested these very-used solenoids I found on FB marketplace. The last thing you want is the nitrous solenoid to stick open. Here's my solenoid test bench. They both work. 1000 PSI is pretty scary when it sprays all over your workbench. 

edit: I should let you all know I really have no idea what I'm doing, but I'm pretty good at using the internet so here we go.