Project Drag 521

[Madmax]

i love the truck and the Z with chevy!!!...dont call it cheap, call it hotrodding, building a car with your head and hands, Not your WALLET, anyone can build one that way...i had always wondered what the stock Datsun motor would do n a 521, all mine are modified already...keep the pics coming and any budget mods u do!!!

[EricJB]

Thanks Max. My eyes are bad. I've seen you post here before, but thought the pic was a S10. I just realized it's a 521. What are you running for power? Do you have a cage? if so post up some pics and give me some ideas. Do you have a bench or bucket? My head damn near hits the headliner with a helmet on. I have a poly bucket, But the bench is in good shape.

 

I haven't found many 521's set up for 1/4 mile. Always looking for ideas. Feel free to hyjack this thread and show me your truck.

[Jester]

This should be a cool ride to see run the 1320!!! I am curious about your electric water pump set up. How did you do that?

[EricJB]

The water pump was easy. I bought it from MSA. I dont remember if it was in the catalog, or that flyer they send out. Not long after that they had a disclaimer that it wasn't for street use. I dont even know if they still sell them. I was like $270.00 if I remember right. Perfect for my application, but I dont know what a Z car guy would do with it.

[EricJB]

Busy,busy,busy.

I realized last month that the track is opening 6 weeks earlier than 2011. So now I'm in serious thrash mode.

Thanks to Mike K for the disc brake kit. It practically put itself on the truck. I barely have time for hardware runs, and thankfully Mikes kit came with everything needed.

In the beginning. YIKES!!




Sandblasted hubs, new bearigs, seals, rotors, and calipers.

And now





Next the old engine came out, and a quick pressure wash.



New engine in. Sounds good, No leaks.Ready to get run hard to seat rings.





Here is my coolant hose from the timing cover to the back of the head. 5 minutes at 2500rpm (5 times) the coolant only hit 160. Please excuse the wiring. That was todays project.





Yesterday I started on the 4.88 diff ( thanks Wayno)

Today, I finished it up, and the battery went dead in the camera.


Bleed brakes

wiring

Hang sheet metal

Adjust everything

And then some lightening.

Four weeks left

[wayno]

What did you do, look for the worst looking rotors you could find, it would take weeks to find something that ugly at the wrecking yards around here.:lol:

Awesome progress, your getting a lot done fast.

Do you think you will get the front tires off the ground?

[mklotz70]

Very nice :)

[EricJB]

What did you do, look for the worst looking rotors you could find, it would take weeks to find something that ugly at the wrecking yards around here.:lol:

Awesome progress, your getting a lot done fast.

Do you think you will get the front tires off the ground?

 

Those hubs were on a donor truck at my buddy's house. That truck has been sittng there for ten years. The good part is, they were free. The bad part is they took some time to clean up.

 

I tried the bone yards, and only found 4x4's.

 

I dont think it will do a real wheels up launch. Maybe a 1st to 2nd bounce. I really dont have any kind of baseline for what it will run or how it will behave. It just does what it does. I haven't found another L powered 521 set up for 1/4 mile, so theres no comparison out there. Thats what makes it fun.

 

I would love to see a wheels up,13.5 at 98 mph. But if I say 14.2 at 90 mph, than I wont be dissapointed, or saying shit I cant back up.

 

In southern California, the exact same set up has 300hp and runs 10's. Its known as the Orange county correction factor. But up here, it's 135hp and 14.s

[datzenmike]

As the cylinders are only cooled by oil have you thought about oil squirters like those used on the KA24DE? You are going to run 89mm KA-E pistons in the 2.3? If so the car KA-Es used fully floating pins, Hardbody motors used press in pins. You would have to bush the rod small end. But looks like nothing much scares you anyway. The oil squirters lubricate the floating piston pins but mostly they are for keeping the piston temperatures down to prevent detonation.

 

I found a local RB20 engine that had them..

 

 

 

 

The KA uses a dual tip that sprays two cylinders from one outlet. This way only two are needed. Naturally you should use a high volume oil pump with this because the sprayers act like a leak on pressure. (you should have a high volume pump on it anyway if racing) The oil hold on the rods could be tack welded closed as not needed.

 

 

 

And it looks like I missed the second page. :lol:.

[EricJB]

Man, I keep seeing pics of KA's, and they have some really cool features. First the main cap girdle, and now these oil squirters. I may have to go get one from Pick and Pull and stare at it while scratching my head.

 

I did end up running full floating pins. The Silvolite # is 9115. I drilled two 3/32 holes on the underside, and honed the rod itself .001 over the pin. I didn't bush them. We'll see if it works. 200 passes down the track and back is 100 hard miles. It'll go or it'll blow. Many things about this shortblock is really a test. I saved my good stuff for later. Excluding the crank, it's a bunch of crap. Next time I will use a Z22 block, forged pistons, and build a head with much nicer hardware.

 

While I do have a high volume pump, (actually two) I didn't use it. The pump in the old engine always put out good #'s, so I just ran it. It's been too long to recall, but I seem to remember shimming the reliel valve spring in it. As loose as this thing is, it still puts out 60psi.

 

Our house is the one where all the neighborhood kids hang out on the weekends. I dont know why, every where we move to, thats how it is. So I hide out in the shop and put shit together, and make the GF deal with the booger eaters.

 

If it blows up, I'll just have to stay out there another few months.

[EricJB]

Offerings to the God of speed

 

2 U joints, and yokes.

1 dogleg trans

1 trans mount

 

And a linelock switch

 

It has now been confirmed, that the LZ23 has a Hell of a lot more torque that an L20. All of the running gear parts above were destroyed on the same launch.

 

So far this year, I either spin the tires clean through 1st gear ( no linelock to heat the tires), or blow shit up.

 

I did get it down the track yesterday, but I had to leave about 1/8th throttle, and then roll it on. So the 60ft time is tragic.

 

1st pass 15.28 @ 88.4

2nd pass 15.30 @ 86

3rd pass 15.21 @ 86 This was 1st round eliminations. I redlighted by .007( 7 thousands of a second). When I saw the redeye, I flogged it (pissed).

 

Theres is easily a 14.xx in it. But not with a dogleg. I will upgrade that next.

 

Rich at Driveline service in Bellingham built me an awesome 1 piece driveshaft. I dropped off the carnage, and a measurement from the output shaft to the diff flange on wednesday, and had a direct bolt in on Friday. Highly recomended.

 

I have month till the next TnT, so I'm going to work on a trans to swap in, and take some more weight out.

['70dime]

I love this thing

[datzenmike]

15s!!!! Lots of 60s V8 couldn't do that. My stock '70 Dart ran 14:20s and 93. But hell that's 300 hp. Nice going.

[]2eDeYe]

This truck. Bad. Ass.

[wayno]

Put a 720 truck tranny in it, there might even be a way of using one of the bigger engine trannys in your truck by using the 1980 720 case on one of them heavier duty transmissions, Datzenmike would know more about what trannys will except the 1980 case.

Before you start having them make you another driveline, you need to decide what trans. you are going to use, as longshafts are the most plentyfull, and you would need a shorter drive with one of them.

[EricJB]

I have an 84 720 trans. I also have a couple of Z car 5 speeds as well. I was going to try to swap a Z car bell housing over, but I haven't even put them side by side yet.

Are the Z car and 80 720 both long? (31"?)

[]2eDeYe]

Yep, they are both the long case transmission.

[datzenmike]

I'm surprised you have the dogleg in there. The stock 4 speed would probably rev high enough in 4th will 4:88s and top speed. Do you get it into 5th?

 

I would say getting into 2nd fast is better for lower times than getting into 5th at the top end. The faster you can get away from the lights the better your times.

 

Any '79 or '80 truck has the really low 1st gear ratios. All diesels and 4x4s also have this transmission (if yo don't really need the speedometer) The later 720s also had the shotr 26" that should fit without a driveshaft shortening. You would have to putan L front case on it.

[EricJB]

I agree, I have outgrown the dogleg. I started putting doglegs in 521's 20 years ago, for daily driver duty. The trans I killed was in the truck for 13 years. It's the only thing I did'nt change.

 

I'm not in 5th yet at the top end, but about 6200 rpm in 4th. If I can get it to leave full throttle, and get my 60ft time down, I may need it.

 

I will look into doing a short 720 trans this weekend. I need 2 of them so I have a backup. Thanks for the tip.

[wayno]

Remember to buy the best 1980 sized bearing available for the lower cluster gear front bearing, the 1980 case has the small bearing, unless you have machined it out to the 1984-6 size bearing already.

As far as I know, the shortshaft 720 tranny with the 1980 720 front case should bolt right in where the dogleg was, driveline and all.

The LZ23 has a little more torque you say, :lol: :lol: I would agree.

[EricJB]

I will probably bore the L case for the bigger bearing, if there is enough meat around it. I think it would be stronger that way. If I start killing the 720 trans, I will put the auto from the ZX turbo I stripped last summer in it.

But it's too much fun grabbing gears, so I need to try everything available before trading fun for reliability.

 

It would be more consistant with an auto as well. Probably win more races.

[wayno]

I will probably bore the L case for the bigger bearing, if there is enough meat around it. I think it would be stronger that way. If I start killing the 720 trans, I will put the auto from the ZX turbo I stripped last summer in it.

But it's too much fun grabbing gears, so I need to try everything available before trading fun for reliability.

 

It would be more consistant with an auto as well. Probably win more races.

 

 

There is enough meat, as it's the same case size as the 84-86, but you will need the front cover off the 84 case, otherwise you will have to turn the front cover also.

If you ever run across a diesel transmission that is bad, grab the front cover, as it is steel, not aluminum like all the rest.

As I said in an earlier post, I beleave the 720 front cases will fit some of the bigger/heavier duty transmissions from the newer trucks like the KA tranny, I have heard talk in the past about it, don't know if the tranny mount is the same though, or there length.

[EricJB]

Getting old sucks. I fucked my back up, unloading the dishwasher. So now I'm stuck in the house with a heat pad, when I have shit to do.

 

A few weeks back I decided to move forward on the trans upgrade. I picked up a good (allegedly) 85 720 4x4 trans for $200.00 after striking out at the boneyard. The fluid and drainplug looked clean, but when I pulled the front case off, I found aluminun chunks, so I went deeper and found this.

 

 

When I went to pull the parts from the longshaft donor trans, I found that it had steel shift forks. So again, I went deeper.

 

 

I ended up swapping the mainshafts, machining the 5th gear hub to fit, and missmatching the shiftrods to make it work, but this is what I ended up with. The big bolt sticking out of the reverse switch hole is drilled vertically and horizontally and will be the breather when finished. The other switch holes were drilled and plugged with 3/8 allen pipe plugs.

The later trans with the aluminum shift forks have really beefy roll pins, so I swapped those out too.

Short shaft, steel front plate, steel shift forks, and double roll pins. Ready for battle.

 

 

 

Steel front cover.

 

I also found that mustang door bushings make great bronze shifter bushings with a little "massaging".

 

The whole thing is now together and ready to install, as I sit in a chair unable to bend in the middle. Getting old sucks.

[Z chopper]

Getting old sucks. I fucked my back up, unloading the dishwasher. So now I'm stuck in the house with a heat pad, when I have shit to do.

 

getting old does suck as it is not optional, growing up is optional though.

 

where was the wife/girlfriend, child slave labour force to unload the dishwasher???

[mrbigtanker]

I like the crossed out slave.that's a women's job.go make me a sandwich bitch.haha