Turbo Rotary
Datsun 510
Engine
A turbocharged 13B Mazda rotary engine was one of the original and unquestioned
aspects of this car's design. I had completed several
other 510s with various engines and I had been
planning on building a turbo rotary when I
obtained
this car.
The 13B engine was ported, blueprinted, and rebuilt in June 2007 by Cam Worth of Pettit
Racing
The
rotary engine conversion wasn't as straightforward as usual
because this engine is lower down and further back than normal. The engine mounts solidly
directly to the front crossmember. I had to make my own oil pan and pickup. I had to raise and
enlarge the transmission and driveshaft tunnels and modify the firewall to make the engine
fit.
Driveshaft
Custom made, gloss black powder coated oil pan with magnetic drain plug
3-inch turbine outlet pipe
Exhaust tunnel, driveshaft tunnel, and muffler enclosure.
The aluminum muffler cover was later gloss-black powder coated.
Ron Davis Racing crossflow radiator with SPAL electric fan and built-in oil
cooler
Installed radiator
The
turbo system is designed to put the turbo in a position where
everything is accessible and heat is less of a problem. It's a RotoMaster T04B turbo with
a very large turbine wheel and housing, as well as a large compressor, sized to run about
one bar of boost on the 13B rotary with minimal back pressure. The ceramic coated exhaust
manifold is hand made from 1/8-inch wall steel tubing.
The
exhaust system is 3-inch ceramic coated tubing all the way. It is
carefully fashioned from mandrel-bent tubing to avoid any tight or sharp bends. The
RotoMaster wastegate connects directly into the turbine outlet pipe. The raised area under
the passenger seat is where the 3-inch Flowmaster muffler lives. The bottom of the muffler
is no lower than the frame rails. On the outlet side of the muffler, I made
a tail pipe that exits just ahead of the passenger side rear wheel. It has a
short but wide outlet with a built-in, adjustable, Flowmaster-style baffle
for a little bit of extra noise reduction. I made this tail pipe very easy
to remove so that it can be traded with a special temporary tail pipe I made
that can be connected to a metal dryer duct. This is for piping the exhaust
outdoors while running the car in the garage.
I had the exhaust pieces (manifold, turbine, and turbine outlet pipe, and tail
pipe) ceramic coated and polished. The above picture shows the assembled
turbocharger with ceramic coated turbine housing and powder coated
compressor housing, ceramic coated turbine outlet pipe, ceramic coated
exhaust manifold, and ceramic coated exhaust tip.
The
lubrication system features a gloss black powder coated custom
steel oil pan with magnetic drain plug. Dual external oil filters mounted upright for easy oil changes without
spillage. FL-1A oil filters. Oil cooler incorporated into custom Ron Davis
custom aluminum crossflow radiator. All Aeroquip braided stainless oil lines with anodized aluminum
fittings. Gloss black powder coated aluminum oil filter bypass block on engine.
Oil temperature gauge on dash with sender in oil filter adapter housing.
The
fuel system features an 8-gallon FuelSafe fuel cell which is
clear, eliminating the need for a gas gauge (sort of). The electric fuel pump delivers adequate fuel
flow and pressure but is small, light, quiet, and draws only a few amps. A billet aluminum
filter is included. Aeroquip line is used throughout.
I decided to switch to a
different carburetor because the one that I had initially selected, while good for power, was too big
for good low-end, non-boost conditions throttle response. I decided on a 390-CFM, 4-barrel
Holley double pumper. This is not an easy puppy to find! It's a race carb. I made a few
modifications, had the fuel bowls, metering blocks, main body, and various
smaller pieces powder coated gloss black, rebuilt it, made a few
modifications, and assembled it with all new chrome
hardware, high-performance floats, and anti-pullover discharge nozzles.
Because the carb is so low in the engine compartment, I was able to fit a
very tall stainless steel velocity stack style K&N air cleaner housing with
a K&N foam air filter.
Rear Suspension
Interestingly, the front and rear
suspension were designed in different ways. I wanted to run the widest possible
streetable, treaded (pronounced
dee-oh-tee ... Not!) rear tires of the proper
height that I could find. I did not want fender flares. These two goals dictated the
design of the rear suspension (actually the whole back of the car). Since I obviously
don’t want such large wheels and tires in the front, my primary goal in the front is
to have decent suspension geometry - a pretty lofty goal, considering the ride height.
The first step in the Jaguar rear suspension conversion was to
find a used rear suspension from a Jaguar XKE. I wanted a relatively short
rear gear ratio, which was not easy to find. The next step was to
disassemble the rear suspension completely so that it could be rebuilt and
narrowed.
Shortened, ultra heavy-duty rear drive shafts
Radically shortened,
gloss black powder coated control arms
with nylon bushings
Rebuilding the hubs. All roller bearings and metal
bushings were replaced with nylon bushings
Determining the correct height for the rear suspension.
This has a major effect on the suspension geometry.
Making the rear crossmember. Note the cardboard template
at the left, showing the rear tire size and position.
Same thing, viewed from the front.
Rear pinion mounts, connected at bottom to the outer ends of the front tie
bar
Rear control arm mounting brackets
Rear anti-roll bar components
Gloss black powder coated anti-roll bar end links
Chrome moly tubing and aluminum rod ends and jam nuts
Adjustable aluminum coil-over shocks
One of many test fittings of the rear suspension
The
rear
anti-roll bar utilizes a straight bar with aluminum arms. This setup is ultra-light weight: the bar with
the arms weighs less than four pounds! The long vertical links (chrome-moly tubing with
aluminum rod ends) minimize geometry change during suspension travel. Each
arm has three holes for adjustable stiffness.
Radius rods
Radius rod bracket
The rear radius rods are made from one-inch OD .095-inch wall mild steel DOM tubing.
They utilize a double shear mounted aluminum rod end on the chassis end and a hand made double
shear clevis on the outer end. The radius rod inner mounting points are
located precisely in line with the control arm inner mounting points.
Completed rear suspension, at full droop
The size of the rear
tire makes the suspension
and
brakes look tiny!
The ride height as shown can be lowered about another two inches, or
raised several inches, with the coil-over adjusters so there is plenty of
adjustability there. With four soft springs and four adjustable shocks, the
rear suspension is very compliant. Camber change during suspension travel is
minimal, which helps keep the wide tires in contact with the road.
Brakes
The
brakes on a car with this kind of power-to-weight
ratio and performance potential obviously had to be good. For the front I selected Corvette aluminum calipers
which are lightweight and strong. A large Nascar-style vented rotor was selected and
custom aluminum adapters were made to attach the brake discs to the stock Datsun hubs. A
steel bracket was required to attach the calipers to the struts. The rear uses the stock
Jaguar inboard disc brakes, which are a good bit bigger than the original
front
brakes on the 510!
Various experimental rear calipers
Bare struts with custom caliper brackets
Assembled struts with vented rotors and custom aluminum adapters
Installed struts
Here you
can see what the brake rotors and calipers look like through the front wheels. The big
discs really fill up the 16-inch wheels!
Installed brakes viewed from inside
Under-dash pedal bracket and master cylinders
Red powder coated pedal bracket, Tilton brake and clutch master cylinders
To help tune the brake balance, a racing pedal assembly with an adjustable
bias bar was selected. A remote control allows adjustment while driving the car. An
under-dash master cylinder assembly was selected to keep the appearance of the engine
compartment as clean as possible. There is absolutely no sign of a braking system under
the hood!
Chassis
The chassis and
roll cage
design were aimed at light weight results.
To begin the
rear suspension installation, the rear wheel wells and the
surrounding
sheetmetal was removed completely. This actually removed a lot of
weight from
the chassis which would be replaced by aluminum wheel tubs and
panels.
Note how wide a 12-inch wide wheel looks without a tire installed!
Making aluminum rear wheel tubs
The relationship between the wheel tubs and the chassis tubing
A test assembly of interior panels
Firewall modification
Transmission tunnel and exhaust tunnel
Oil cooler mounts and anti-roll bar pivots.
The weight of the car is now under
1700 pounds. At
350 HP,
which is definitely realistic, that's less than 5 pounds per HP!
Sumber : http://www.bryanf.com/510/
