Each year the Historic Sportscar Racing association (HSR) organizes the largest and oldest event for Historic race cars on the East Coast. It’s called the Classic Motorsports Mitty and it took place at Road Atlanta, GA from April 27-29. We attended The Mitty to provide race support for Randy Jaffe’s #46 BRE Datsun 240z (driven by our hero John Morton) and Alex McDowell’s Datsun Bluebird Coupe and Hakosuka Skyline.

Nissan was the featured marque for the first time with John Morton serving as Grand Marshall so naturally every Datsun-fan was drawn to The Mitty. I took a Thursday night red-eye flight from San Jose with part of the ZCG crew and when we arrived at Road Atlanta our paddock was an absolute feast for the senses. Nestled primely across from the front-straight footbridge, we had an impressive display of West-Coast racers, from L to R: The BRE Datsun 240z, BRE 370z, Comedian Adam Carolla’s #44 Frank Monise Datsun 2000 Roadster and Bob Sharp 610, Alex’s Hakosuka Skyline and Bluebird Coupe, the Friselle GTU 240z, Dave Stone’s Frellsen B-sedan 510, Jim Froula’s (Racecraft) Datsun 260z, our friend Glenn Chiou’s VIPS/Loren St. Lawrence 240z and Bob Clucas’ IMSA GTU 240Z.

Take a Lap With John Morton

At 76 years of age John Morton is still formidable behind the wheel. Here he is piloting the #46 BRE 240z that we prepared around Road Atlanta; the very same track where he won the 1970 and 1971 National C-Production Championships!

Well, That’s Racing

The sweet smell of race fuel, frantic adjustments, checklists, and engines blaring to warm-up for the next session all reminded us how much we love racing!  From the on-board video above, you can see the BRE 240z performed well with John Morton at the wheel but what it does not show viewers is the not-so-glamourous side of racing: part failures. The Z ran great in Thursday’s practice but when we arrived at the track Friday morning, Rob told us the engine failed during the first session. He needed all hands on deck. What followed absolutely humbled me; the ZCG crew went to work in a supreme effort to get the #46 BRE 240z alive again for Saturday/Sunday’s races.

John Morton Must Race

To get a first-hand perspective of the Z’s revival I asked ZCG Lead Technician, Josh Corwin, to give us the play-by-play of the heart transplant. Please read on to see a video chronicling the events!

1) How, when and why did the engine fail?
It is still too early to know exactly what went wrong with the engine. A complete teardown will be performed to isolate the root cause. I can tell you that during Friday practice, John Morton was accelerating up Road Atlanta’s back straight coming up the hill before turn 10, in top gear at wide open throttle well over 100mph. That is when a major engine component let go resulting in multiple holes being punched through the engine block, affectively turning the engine into a boat anchor.

2) What was the plan to get John Morton back on the track?
Get an engine, put it in the car, put John Morton in the car, and put the car on track. Simple enough, except finding an engine that could perform was the challenge.

As word spread through the paddock that John Morton needed an engine, the Datsun Community banded together, and offers of engines came swarming in.  Multiple race engines and high performance street engines were all up for grabs. All were seriously built engines, but none of them felt right.

Rob’s ultimate plan to excavate a couple E.B. Parkinson motors, like dinosaur fossils, was crazy to say the least. But, going with his gut, the resurrection of a true vintage race engine was put in motion. Half of the crew went with Randy to his storage to look for a replacement motor, while other half, including myself, received the green light from Rob to began the task of removing the expired power plant in anticipation of the Datsun Relics arrival.

3) Technically, what was involved with swapping parts and prepping the 40-yr old parkinson motor?

The old engine came out quickly, as many hands made light work.  It was then tucked away into the back of the trailer, to be disassembled at a later date, as we worked on getting the car ready for its new engine.  Prepping the vehicle was pretty simple, but there were necessary steps and precautions that need to happen to make this a successful transplant.  We only had one shot at this, so nothing was left to chance.

Below, (L): Gary Brizendine and BRE Engine Chief John Caldwell lend a hand and knowledge: Caldwell is confirming the jetting on the 50mm Mikuni carbs.  (R) The original exhaust system from the 1970s is removed from #46. Morton had already blown apart the exhaust tips on the first session!

  

With any catastrophic engine failure, one of the concerns is metal bits getting stuck in the oil cooler and lines. So, first thing is to remove the oil cooler and hoses and flush them out.  Any leftover engine material in the oiling system can destroy a fresh engine in minutes. Luckily, Road Atlanta’s used oil disposal shed also had 2 solvent tanks, which we used to back flush the cooler and clean the lines of any possible debris. While all the reusable pieces were getting cleaned internally, we moved on to cleaning the mess of shrapnel and engine oil that coated the engine bay.  Just as we finished, the oil cooler system came back fresh and clean, and shortly after engines arrived.  We could finally switch gears to the reassembly of the BRE 240Z.

  

The crew brought back two “long block” engines, meaning the cylinder head and engine block had already been assembled. At first look they were identical in every way and definitely appeared to have been sitting for 40 years. Looking closer, we found one of the engines did not have the timing chain installed which led us to use the one that was “more complete.” We put a wrench on the crank bolt and it rotated 720 degrees, smooth as butter. The next task was to take all the undesirable accessories from the old engine. The 40 year old water pump, alternator, flywheel, crank pulley, thermostat housing, oil filter adaptor, and valve cover were all tossed.  We then tackled a quick clean up, removing years of dirt and grim that had built up while sitting. 

  
[ …[read more]