Toyo R888R.

I've run R888's for a while, the R888R is the newer version that supercedes the R888. I was going to try Nankang AR-1 (much cheaper and supposedly pretty close in performance), but found the Toyo's on eBay for $140 each delivered to your door from Tempe Tyres. Not sure why so cheap, and only available cheap in the size I run (195/55/15). I was thinking older stock, but the set I got are manufactured in the 17th week of 2017 so pretty fresh. $140 is getting close to half what I paid for the last lot of R888's I bought.

As of tonight, they still have them listed http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/Toyo-Proxes- ... Swo-NZqs1i

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1970 ex Group A Rally P510
1971 P510
1972 180B SSS
1965 SP310 Fairlady
1966 SP311 Fairlady

Hey Dave,

Thats an amazing price, I'm not sure how I woudl go with 55 over the 50's that I run. I'm tempted to try some....

Regards,

Trent

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1600 Build: http://ozdat.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=59&t=22694

New engine time, the old girl left her mark on the floor of garage 35 at Bathurst (and all the way down conrod straight........)

Now I just need to decide what engine to build ?????

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1970 ex Group A Rally P510
1971 P510
1972 180B SSS
1965 SP310 Fairlady
1966 SP311 Fairlady

Bugger!
When did it happen? Did you get some laps in before she went?

What happened?!
Overrev? Or just old and tired?

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1972 Datsun 1600, S14 SR20DET Engineered (204rwkW @ 17psi.)
viewtopic.php?t=6579
#SR20Datsun @SR20Datsun

Got some decent laps in, but not many. Saturday was very wet, 1st session was almost a washout with rivers running across the track at the chase causing aquaplaning (not fun at 160-ish). 2nd session I enjoyed, got some good clean laps in on what was just a wet track in lighter rain, no standing water. Session3 was dry, with a dry race line on track.Got a few laps in but was held up badly across the top of the mountain by cars that were slow here but fast down and back up the mountain so I struggled to get past. Sunday session 1 went OK, but the exhaust came adrift from the extractors on the last lap, the charge light came on during the session as well. Sunday session 2 started badly (well, started with a push as the battery was flat). Overheated between leaving the pit lane garage and arriving at the dummy grid. Quick look under the bonnet on the dummy grid showed the radiator was stone cold, everything else was boiling. Diagnosis - thermostat stuck closed, off to supercheap. Fixed it up, seemed OK but went out for the last session and it was wasn't running well. Coming down conrod on the warm up lap and it started blowing smoke, pulled off the racing line and back into the pits to discover a large section of the rocker cover gasket had blown out, oil absolutely everywhere.

I'm guessing I did some damage when it overheated, and it suffered from blowby / head gasket / something like that that pressurised the block and blew out the rocker cover gasket.

Only just got home from Bathurst so it will get banished to the shed tomorrow pending a pull down to see exactly what went wrong.

Still, a bad weekend on Mt Panorama is better than a good weekend anywhere else !

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1970 ex Group A Rally P510
1971 P510
1972 180B SSS
1965 SP310 Fairlady
1966 SP311 Fairlady

I'm loving your optimism Dave

What are you leaning towards with the engine? Basically rebuilding to similar specs or going all out?

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green200b - aka Alistair

The fleet:

Australia:
'80 200B GX - the green200b - hibernating
'81 RX-7 - 12A extend port - daily
'74 RX-2 - 13B bridgeport - cruiser

Europe:
'93 200SX - CA18DET - tourer

Depends what's wrong with it.

It may be something as simple as a blown head gasket, in which case I'll just fix it for now so I can get on with racing it. But I've decided that its just too slow so I'm leaning towards a KA24DE head on L18 bottom end in the longer term (ie before Bathurst next year)....

I wasn't the only optimistic one, we had close to 50 Datsuns in our group at Bathurst this year, quite a few had issues ranging from mechanical blowups to accidents and one day was close to a wash out due to heavy rain but pretty much everyone felt the same - it is simply an amazing track and to be able to run on it is a real privilege (admittedly an expensive privilege....). Not just the "competing" bit, but to be camped in the official's paddock for 6 days in "Club Z" (Qld zed club came down in force), flag marshal for the supersprint part of the event with some seriously quick cars & drivers on track, just a great way to spend some time away with great guys.

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1970 ex Group A Rally P510
1971 P510
1972 180B SSS
1965 SP310 Fairlady
1966 SP311 Fairlady

Good to hear you got some good laps in!
Totally for my enjoyment, I hope the head is irepairable and you have to go the KA route, and then a snail finds its way under the hood. You will have no issues with overtaking across the top then!!

Good luck with it all.
Mick

KA24 head sounds ace. Could be a good excuse to get it going!
Hoping it's nothing serious though. Interesting how the exhaust manifold came off the head. It would be good to understand the root cause on what caused a few of these things (other than the stuck thermostat?)

I'd love to have a rip around Bathurst. It's definitely on the bucket list...
How many turbo Datsun's were there Dave? Were you competing in a specific category? (which basically means: would I be allowed to join a group...)

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1972 Datsun 1600, S14 SR20DET Engineered (204rwkW @ 17psi.)
viewtopic.php?t=6579
#SR20Datsun @SR20Datsun

Challenge Bathurst has two categories - "Supersprint" and "Regularity". We compete in regularity. The only benefit of the supersprint category is two extra runs of 20 mins each over the two days (so 8x20 min sessions instead of 6x20 min sessions for regularity), you can do faster than 2:36 per lap (good luck with that......) and it costs an extra $1000.

I go with the Qld Z Car Club who got a foot in the door early before Challenge Bathurst was run for the first time last year and managed to fill a fair percentage of one whole group (there are 5 groups in regularity) in 2016 and all but 3 spots out of 55 in one group this year. They also provided a large number of officials. They are a great bunch of guys and welcome anyone.

The group this year consisted of lots of zeds in various configs right up to RB turbo engine versions, plus quite a few other random Datsuns (1200's, 1600's, 180B's, 200B's, R30 skyline, a Sunny, 240C coupe, a Fairlady plus an original factory Gazelle that was raced by Mark Skaife and a factory Pintara TRX racer. Also had an extremely quick R33 GTR, genuine XA GT Falcon, a trio of Fiat Abarth race cars, a few FD RX7's and probably a few others I've forgotten. They range from "real" race cars down to road cars driven by people who just want the experience of doing Bathurst.

So yeah, pretty much anyone who wants to have a go can do so. Only requirements are the usual supersprint type preparation (tow hooks, extinguisher, etc) and the car must be either road registered or logbooked (due to being a State-level event). No cage required, not even driving suit - it really is on the same level as a normal club / multi-club supersprint.

There were a few turbo Datsuns there - Shawn from Sydney Datsun Club in his old faithful SR20-engined 1600 was just one.

Its not just a track day either, quite a lot of us go up early (on Wednesday) and volunteer as flag marshals on Thurs / Fri for the sprint then compete on Sat / Sun. If you volunteer for even one day, you get free camping in the paddock campground for the duration of the event, otherwise you can still camp but it costs something like $80 a day (I could be wrong on cost). Because Qld Z club supply such a large number of competitors and officials we get our own little corner of the campground and are allowed to set up a central area to sit around and discuss the day's shenanigans each night. I love it, one of the best tracks in the world, a well run event and great group of guys in our group the last two years. Definitey bucket list stuff ! Only downside is its addictive.....

Club Zed under construction in the paddock vvvvvvvvvvvvv

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1970 ex Group A Rally P510
1971 P510
1972 180B SSS
1965 SP310 Fairlady
1966 SP311 Fairlady

I vote ka24 de head. Stock valves and porting would be as good as the best l series head. Bit of comp and some Kelford cams and springs will make a great club engine

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Circuit Race 1600 in the build

That's pretty much what I'm thinking at the moment. Basic headwork (tidy up the ports a little, good valve job, cams and springs), lash out on some decent custom pistons to get the comp up but still work with some cheap / readily available conrods, run carbs with a crank triggered ignition setup. That should get more than enough power for me.

If I feel the need to tinker further I might try to make it look a bit fancy by casting an "LZ inspired" rocker cover and a custom cover for the front of the head that will mate with the L-series timing cover (depending on how complicated machining will be for the upper timing chain tensioner).

Looks like this weekend's tasks will be to get it off the trailer and into the shed then dig out the pair of KA heads from the darkest recesses of the shed. I'm almost hoping that the current engine is completely dead so I'm forced to build a new one.....

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1970 ex Group A Rally P510
1971 P510
1972 180B SSS
1965 SP310 Fairlady
1966 SP311 Fairlady

Bathurst with the Zed guys sounds awesome Dave. Thanks for the overview.
When is the next one?

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1972 Datsun 1600, S14 SR20DET Engineered (204rwkW @ 17psi.)
viewtopic.php?t=6579
#SR20Datsun @SR20Datsun

Currently planned for the same time next year, 17-18th November for the Regularity.

There was a caveat mentioned, it may change depending on the yet-to-be-released V8 Supercars timetable. The track at Bathurst requires a huge amount of volunteers, not feasible to run two events on the same weekend that will compete for volunteer resources.

_________________
1970 ex Group A Rally P510
1971 P510
1972 180B SSS
1965 SP310 Fairlady
1966 SP311 Fairlady