Datsunworks

Look what UPS just dropped off.
Vintage Tank Soloutions
Exactly the tank I’ve been waiting for. I’m currently running a swirl pot that I’ve wanted to switch to in tank as well as adding a tank sender that would play nice with my Speedhut gauge. For me prior to this tank being available my options were either buying a Pro Alloy aluminum tank, building a custom tank or modifying an existing steel tank. For the price this was the best path forward.

Super impressed with the quality. I was expecting something a little more of a short run item. Also surprised with the thickness. This is my first poly tank experience and I was expecting something a little flimsier. I’m actually happier with the poly tank over steel now that I have one in my hands. Well worth the money.

Picked up a batch of heads today from the foundry. I think they left one in the heat treat too long because it shrank.

SN016 sent me some great pictures and a video of his build on the run test stand. This is the first total old school build with carburetors and a distributor. Sounds and looks great.

Working on the next batch of TL70 shifters.

In preparation for my pilgrimage to Z Mecca this weekend I took my Z with the TL70 for a shakedown run up I75. Ran it at 80 for and hour total up and back with zero issues. 3.54 rear and the .767 6th gear in the TL70 had me taching at 3K which was fine. Generally my highway cruise speed is 75 so I’m golden. Of course the KN20 was just getting started at 3K so no issues there either.

Just picked up 10 TL70 bell housing castings from the foundry. Starting the machine work tomorrow. Contact Godzilla Raceworks if you want to pre order. https://www.godzillaraceworks.com
Thanks,
Derek

TL70 First drive impressions

LOVE IT.
So it’s everything I wanted out of a transmission when I decided to develop the CD009 bell housing. At an idle there is no input shaft rattle and overall it’s quieter. Some of that may be due to the adding of the heat shield but the quiet idle is all transmission. The CD009 has a little better off the line performance due to the 3.78 vs the 3.62 of the TL70 but it’s very slight. I also found I’m holding in 4th longer but again these are slight. I’m super happy with the feel of the shifter since the shifter on the CD009 was rigid mounted and made a lot of noise and vibration transmitting into the cabin. It was more responsive for sure but I’m street driving so comfort is a tradeoff I’m willing to make. One thing that I noticed right away is how much more responsive the motor was due to the lighter rotating mass of the TL70. Chris and I are working on some hard numbers but there is at least 20 pounds of rotating mass difference between the TL and the CD and on my lower HP motor I noticed it right away.
I know it seems like it has taken forever to make this a reality but truthfully this was a lot harder to pull off than the CD009 conversion. I like to think that it will be worth the wait based on how I’m feeling. Godzilla is working on an install video and I’m finalizing the the shifter and shift boot instructions. I’ve ordered ten more castings from the foundry so hopefully we will have stock again soon since the first ten are spoken for.

Thanks
Derek

TL70 is in.....Mostly:)
Decided to pull the CD009 I was running and give the TL70 6 speed a try.
As someone who has done both a CD009 and a TL70 conversion let me tell you how much easier the TL70 is. No cutting the brackets from the tunnel. No drilling through the floor pan plus it’s so much smaller in height and width. Really excited to drive it to see how it compares to the CD009. I decided to heat shield the tunnel while the transmission is out since the CD009 was a bit of a hot box.

New oil pan prototype finally ready to hold some oil!

Finally finished up this batch of camshafts. Very tedious work with the equipment I have. I guess a table saw isn't the best choice for this kind of work:)

Prototype reverse tilt motor mount brackets finished.
I fought the reverse tilt and the.... reverse tilt won.

I'm working with Sean at Z story on developing headers for the KN20. I needed to reverse tilt the motor in my test car in order to get some good data for him so I figured the best thing to do was to design brackets and standardize them. Not meant to be pretty just to get the job done.

Look what I just got from France !
Click on pics for more info.

Making more progress on the TL70 bell housing kit. This is a templet I'm working on to make marking and cutting the bell housing a lot easier. One of the issues with the TL70 is the bell housing is so oddly shaped that making a straight cut line was pretty tough. The template will help that for sure.

Final ( I hope) cross member mockup for the TL70 heading to Godzilla for test fit. This is not the final design but it is very close. It's mostly to verify what I created in the 3D world matches the real world. I chose to use BMW transmission mounts because there are 3 different urethane compounds available as well as OEM and aftermarket rubber.

Making some DOHC chips. In case you didn't know they are different than single cam chips :)

TL70 Pilot Adapters

These are 1018 cold rolled steel with a standard 12X15mm oilite bronze bushing. Since it is technically a wear item I didn’t want to make the entire piece custom. By using a steel body with a common press fit bushing it’s a more practical approach for this type of item as opposed to a fully machined bronze adapter bushing.

I drilled and tapped the back side so you can use a M6 socket head screw to jack it out of the crank if need be.

Let the games begin.
Starting the machining on KN20 heads SN019-SN022.

Bell Towers

TL70 conversion bell housings nearing completion. All the machine work is finished. All that’s left is some deburring and final QC. I think the TL70 is going to be a great choice for for a lot of people that want the option of a 6 speed, the availability of brand new and used transmissions, plus you don’t have to cut the car.

First batch of TL70 conversion shifters are done.

Machining KN20 manifolds

As a pattern maker I have machined a fairly large range of materials over the years but this is the first time I ever machined sand. I’m thinking my end mill isn’t too happy:)
This is an inner core for the intake castings, They were designed for a normal tilt motor. They worked fine on reverse tilts like RK’s Hako and Behemoth because they were injected and there was some latitude on the angle of the dangle. Now I have two customers that want to tilt their engines and run carbs and there just isn’t enough material on the manifolds I have to make it happen. I was just getting ready to send this batch of cores over to the foundry and came up with the bright idea of trying to remove enough sand to add more metal to the casting. Total kludge but it’s actually working.

SN003 stopped by to (finally) pick up his head and he dropped this bad boy off for me to use. Guess I have no more excuses. Time to start the stroker build.

Gun drilled S7 tool steel cam blanks just arrived. Got a whole lot of chips to make before they are camshafts.

Machining cam towers for the next batch of KN20 heads