A 50 year old Japanesse lady: SRL311 01228

[2mAn]

Well, today was a long day. It actually starred yesterday. Took another Spirit flight to Oakland, this time a one-way. I lucked out and Bob (Tinkerer007) happened to be heading to Sonoma County from Fremont and was nice enough to take me to Wills house. A true Uber drive when he showed up in his Polaris EuroM30 E24. Sorry no pics.

While all of this was going on, Will was working hard putting the finishing touches. At this point we were content with the mechanical side so he polished her up. He took some pics too at the Golden hour







Even with it being very dark when we arrived, I could still see the shine in the paint. It was going to be hard to sleep...

Woke up at 6am, tried to get some good rest but I couldn't wait to get my day started. It was going to be a long one too.

I planned to take the scenic route down 1 but that wasn't possible and I definitely didn't want to drive I5 because it was going to be crazy hot and with no top I'd probably die, or at least want to be dead. The plan was to make a quick stop at my parents in SanJose and then take 101 instead of 5 since it was about a 20* difference.

We grabbed breakfast, and I packed up the car, fueled up and reset the trip meter.

We fit the top in the trunk and I hope to never install it on the car, its crap but I won't throw it away



Will couldn't resist showing me the old fuel filters. These had less than 100 miles each. This comes into play here soon. He also showed me how to blow out the fuel line because there's something still in the fuel tank that blocks the fuel line.





We didn't know what the shift knob was and this bottom side is more proof. Maybe now I can finally drill that cue ball and make it a shift knob too?...



Enough of that, let's hit the road. First leg of the trip was just over 100 miles. Loving it already and got plenty of thumbs up and saw some people take pics too. This car definitely gets a good response from people



Upon arriving at my parents house the engine noise felt louder and made me really nervous. What I failed to notice was that these Type2 Solex carbs have some weird issues and I guess they go from a ~750 idle to like 1500!

I was paranoid and my brother was also moving his stuff to SanDiego so I thought screw it, let's get a Trailer and save me the risk of breaking down..... buuuuut it wasn't meant to be. Not really cheap but the problem was the 1.5 hour each way we'd have to go to get the trailer. Oh well, let's do it!

Left my parents and got moving. The car started to stumble and I remembered what Will told me . Pulled over and pulled the fuel filter, blew into the line and as I was about to put the filter back on, I noticed the crud at the bottom. Makes sense as I just drove 100 miles. Luckily we bought 3 new filters from Napa, so I installed one of those. Now we're moving! This was basically me for the next 450 miles as I took the "scenic" route



I stopped in Santa Barbara to test drive a 85M10 car, it was a pile but I did get this pic



I found the car was happiest at 3500rpms and I actually got 30mpg while going around 75mph

Car hadnt been driven since '86 and in the last 2 months Will had done about 2-250 miles. Today, she did 550 and really didn't give me any problems.

This is going to be a fun one. Time to rip out the nasty 70s carpet and put some more miles on it.

[2mAn]

I cant wait to be driving it!

[BlackbirdM3]

So, oil in the diff and transmission is changed, the transmission shifts so much better. I also got most of the grease fittings in the front end done, there were a couple that wouldn't take any grease. Brakes work (shitball pads and shoes, but they work correctly) carbs are the best I can get them. They aren't perfect, but they are pretty good. I'll be really interested to see how they are on a WBO2 sensor. No coolant leaks, a few random oil leaks (not really a surprise). I'll do an oil change on it tomorrow, and it should be as good as its going to get. I'm still trying to figure out why the headlights took a crap. (I'm really puzzled on that one.)

I've had a few complements on the car from random people. I think you will get lots after its really cleaned up and fully sorted.

Will

[BlackbirdM3]

Agha, We have to go for eh ride and get ladies in the sports car....

This evening it just took one tall white guy driving to have two women want to go for a ride in it... That never happens with my car, and my car is better looking. hahaha.

I put another 40 miles on it this evening, didn't miss a beat. The car is such a contrast to mine. Mine is like a wild beast looking to eat an unsuspecting person standing there, whereas Simon's car is almost timid in comparison. Women seem to not be afraid of it. 60 mph in 5th gear is 4k rpm in mine, its 3rd gear in your car. My car is loud, brash and fast, whereas yours is much more humble. Once it has a new exhaust on it, it will sound really good, but not that loud. (carbs are loud, but that is a good thing)

Will

[2mAn]

Bought my plane ticket to fly up this weekend and pick her up. I'm having a weird deja vu right now haha

[2mAn]

This is so so so rad. Hope I can see it sometime :)

Agha, We have to go for eh ride and get ladies in the sports car....

[freeride53]

This is so so so rad. Hope I can see it sometime :)

[BlackbirdM3]

Did the idle issue get sorted out?

Yes. It was an odd one. Both carbs were leaking from the gaskets that go between the carbs and the insulators. Why? That is a very good question. They were new gaskets that were used. I started at a torque setting of goodntight, then went tighter, and they wouldn't seal. I pulled everything off and put a thin layer of silicone grease on both sides of the gaskets and reinstalled the carbs. That sealed the leaks up and I had a stable 600 rpm idle at 15 degrees BTDC. (A little low, 20 is the stock setting at 750 rpm.) I set the static advance made a couple small adjustments with the idle circuit and suddenly it was a driveable car. I can't say that the main jetting is spot on, but I don't think its that far off.

Its only taken a month, but I think I'm finally where I wanted to be when Simon headed home. The new issue that I need to figure out is the head lights. They worked on Monday, but don't work now. Its not a fuse issue either. I really hope its not the relay, they are rare and expensive.

Will

[2mAn]

Yea Will threw on the distributor from his car, so overall the car is running good. Theres still a weird charging issue, but overall its being driven without any major issues

[MrBurgundy]

Did the idle issue get sorted out?

[2mAn]

Well... looks like I need to get my stuff ready otherwise the BMW is getting kicked out of its spot too when this gets down here

[BlackbirdM3]

I managed to put over 80 miles on the car today. There were a few hiccups, but they were sorted and the final drive was pretty uneventful. Its not fast, but it does go, and seems to be getting closer to being ready for the drive to LA.

Will

[2mAn]

^Nice!!

A Fairlady from a..... Fairlady?

Exactly! I figured the nicest part on the car being purchased my own fairlady would be pretty cool.

I was tempted to have her buy the anti-sway bar, but I figured this would be more special haha

[IceWhite]

^Nice!!

A Fairlady from a..... Fairlady?

[2mAn]

Late birthday present from my wife, even though I arranged the purchase. NOS Fairlady emblem for my Datsun

My Fairlady by 2mAn

It will be the nicest thing on the whole damn car, but eventually the entire car should be pretty sweet to match the sexiness of this thing