Daily Driven Track/Autocross 4 Door 510

[Uber Deaf One]

So after autocrossing my dad's '06 Mazda 3s I just had to get a nice car for myself. My Protege has no potential at all...

I wanted a smog exempt car so I was looking at pre-1975 cars. I was originally going to get a 240Z but remembered 510s and figured a 510 would handle better and be more fun overall. It actually has back seats too lol.

My dad and I have been looking for a nice 510 for a while.... nothing but beaters and abused 510s on Craigslist though. I decided to post a WTB ad, got an email from some guy selling a really nice 510 who ended up flaking on us about 5 times over the course of 2 weeks. Then I got an email from the previous owner of this 510. I wanted to find something mostly stock and simple so I could do all the work myself, but the more I thought about it the more I wanted something fuel injected. Had my dad call this guy up and 20 minutes later we decided we wanted it, without even seeing a picture of it lol. It's still a project, previous owner just got something else to work on and figured I needed or wanted it more than him. But all of the hard work and expensive stuff is done, all that is left is really stuff that is going to take time more than it will take money.

Paid $2500

-Rebuilt KA24DE Engine
-5-Speed Manual Trans 240 SX
-New Short Throw Shifter
-New HD Clutch/Lightened Flywheel
-New Clutch Slave/Master Cylinders
-KA24DE Engine Swap Kit (Urethane Engine Mounts, Trans Mount, and Custom Sway Bar to fit oil pan
-KA24DE ECU (Auto Trans) Complete Wiring Harness, MAF
New Ball Joints, Tie Rod Ends, Aftermarket Strut Rods, Rebuilt Idler Arm
-280 Front Struts, cut and modified for 510 w/ 250 Lb Aftermarket Springs
-New GR2 Front Strut Cartridges
-New Coil Over Front Shocks
-New Front Camber Plates
-New Front Valance
-Fuel Tank Professionally Modified to fit the 240 SX Fuel Pump
-New Fuel Lines
-New Brake Master Cylinder
-New Steel Braided Brake Lines
-New Front Brake Calipers/Pads
-New Rear Wheel Cylinders/Shoes
-New Rear Brake Drums and Pads
-New VW Radiator
-New Header modified for Smog Exempt Car (2 1/2" Collector)
-Rear Plate Modified for 2 1/2" Exhaust
-Subaru LSD Differential with 3.70 Gears
-New Rear Axle U-Joints
-New Panasport 15x7 Wheels
-New 195-60-15 Tires
-New Front Wheel Bearings
-New Aftermarket Lowering Springs in Rear
-New O2 Sensor
-New Spark Plugs
-New Distributor Cap and Rotor

Needs:

Engine/Body Wired
Exhaust Finished
Radiator Mounted and finish cooling system
Heater Core
Driveshaft Shortened for 5-speed
Slot rear control arms for Toe adjustment
Alignment
Carpet
Ignition Switch
Minor body work/priming
Minor interior work
Finish installing brake lines/bleed brake system
Custom Intake system
Spark Plug Wires
Windshield
Front Bumper
Fuel Filter Installed
Finish Fuel Lines in Engine Bay

http://i559.photobucket.com/albums/ss37 ... r/new4.jpg

http://i559.photobucket.com/albums/ss37 ... r/new5.jpg

http://i559.photobucket.com/albums/ss37 ... r/new6.jpg

http://i559.photobucket.com/albums/ss37 ... r/new9.jpg

http://i559.photobucket.com/albums/ss37 ... /new10.jpg

http://i559.photobucket.com/albums/ss37 ... r/new2.jpg

http://i559.photobucket.com/albums/ss37 ... r/new8.jpg

http://i559.photobucket.com/albums/ss37 ... r/new7.jpg

http://i559.photobucket.com/albums/ss37 ... r/new3.jpg

[bertvorgon]

If you are going to slalom, torque aside with that motor, I would be looking at some shorter gears for that thing. What you entertain to use, interms of tires, is similar to what I run, which means with your overall gear ratio, you will be quite lazy in accelaration, at least in solo use. Gears will buy you more performance ( and shorter tires), than a lot of other things. I solo'd for 27 years, and those with really short gears had acceleration to their advantage, as did I, on tight courses. Just a thought, as you howl into this project. Think acceleration first, he who gets from point a to point b the quickest, is what usually wins the race.Other than that, 150 MPH 510's are fun too.

[Uber Deaf One]

Of course. I am actually probably going to try to trade these 15s for some nice 13s... I may at least try these first though. If the tires don't rub these will be great on the street... and I can just pick up some 13s for when I Autocross.

[bertvorgon]

That's what I used, 13" with either a 9.5 x 20" or 21" race tire. With that and my 4:6 rear gears, I was competitive with the best of the naturally aspirated cars on tight courses, and killed them on the faster stuff. I run 15's on the street.

[Uber Deaf One]

Word. I'm worried about the sluggish acceleration... I'm sure 15s feel great just cruising and hitting potholes, but I am gonna want to have a little fun here and there. Should I go in the middle and get some 14s? How are 13s on the street?

[defdes]

13's are fine for the street, there are a few of us purists who still run them, but the problem is now finding good 50 and 60 aspect ratio tires in that size.

[Uber Deaf One]

Humm... thanks for the info. I'll have to look around... see what I can find.

[bertvorgon]

As Defdes said, 13's work just fine, just picks the rpm up quicker, which is what you want, and, it just makes the engine a bit "buzzier", when you are at highway speed cruisng in 5th gear. That being said, what's buzzy? These are not quiet cars ( at least for those of us where weight was an issue, NO interior) so I wear ear plugs anyhow. Depending on how tall a tire you get, you will be maybe 500 - 700 RPM higher up, in a gear. For example, in my car, the difference from my 23" tall, 15" tires, to my 21" tall 13" tires, makes a difference of about 600 RPM in 5th gear. For the most part, it makes my 5th gear feel like 4th gear. As I have some RPM capability, it is no big deal.
You will have the advantage of some good bottom end torque, so, even with the 3:7 and a short tire, it should be not bad,,,kinda.

http://www.angelfire.com/fl/procrastination/rear.html

This is one of the tire/gear calculators I use, so you can see the speed difference, and where your RPM is.

You will have to see how it works at the slalom, which is where I'm coming from, that real competitive streak, where having the ADVANTAGE, was the be all and end all. That's what racing is all about anyhow! Up here, the solo course degenerated into very tight, Honda Civic type stuff, which was tough on our 510's. WE fought back by getting 20" tall, 9.5" wide slicks, and running 4:3 or 4:6 rear gears. I stuck with my 4:6's because I just plain like acceleration, and have a motor than can handle high rpm.

I ran quite a bit of castor even at the slaloms, as the induced negative camber on tight corners, sure helped the turn in ( understeer) ( + a tad of toe out )

To bad your in California, I'm thinking of selling my 13" Panasports, with 032 yoko's on them.

[Uber Deaf One]

Yeah I'm with you, I am OK with sacrificing some things by running smaller tires.. I'd just like to be able to cruise at 70ish in 5th at a decent RPM. I will have the car more or less setup for solo courses, decent amount of camber and like you, I like a lot of caster I guess I'll just get the car on the road and figure out what I want to do as far as wheels goes... if 13s don't lower the gear ratio too much I will definitely get some of those. What size tires do you guys run with 13s?

Those 13s look sweet! Yes I think shipping 4 wheels and tires out of country may be too expensive :p I'm sure I can find something local if I go that route though.

I still haven't figured out what spring rates I want to run, I was told to talk to Troy Ermish and see what he thinks. The previous owner of this car had 175 lb springs up front and after he swapped the KA in the front end just dropped to the ground lol. Anyone with a KA swap care to chime in? I guess I'm getting a bit ahead of myself here but I do like to plan ahead a bit.

I also plan on building a cage later on down the road. I'd like to build it so that people can still sit in the back seats, and I have no intentions of stripping the interior at all. Has this been done before? Would it be possible? Cage wouldn't be build to SCCA specifications or anything, but it will be a solid cage.

[bertvorgon]

Make sure you read the suspension section.....or re-read it.

Control of body roll, hence weight transfer, is key on our 510's, IMHO, for combat solo use. Not saying it is the be all and end all, but, with 300' front springs, and a 1 1/8th inch front bar...and sticky tires, you would still be amazed at how much roll ( kinda) that still may have on a hard toss in. Most of us up here run this type of rate, or at the high end of 200 for sure. This helps both the body roll, and of course the transfer of weight to the front, which is the LAST thing we want, on a car that is front end heavy anyhow, and has a penchant for understeer if pushed too hard into a corner.

then...there is the shock issue....

[CCAT Racing]

Car arrived last night! More pics soon...

[Uber Deaf One]

got it started last night wiring is temporary... now we pull the wiring and engine, seam weld the engine bay and body then the engine goes back in. all of the wiring gets soldered and installed permanently. should all be done within a few days, and then the hardest part of this project = DONE! everything else that needs to be done is EZ PZ... especially compared to this electrical clusterfuck lol.

[okayfine]

Car arrived last night! More pics soon...

[Uber Deaf One]

We know how much you guys like your pics... but you're gonna have to wait a little bit It is startin to rain over here so we had to clean up and cover the car for now... when the sun comes back out we'll get pics for sure

[Uber Deaf One]

Sorry it took so long, but here are some pics! There are a LOT of pics so I'm gonna post a few here. The rest are on our Photobucket which is public. http://s559.photobuc...510%204%20Door/

The wiring is obviously temporary... we just wanted to make sure the engine and all of the sensors and stuff works, which it does. The radiator is also temporary, we have a nice radiator with a shroud and 2 fans on the way. Next we pull the engine and seam weld the engine bay.