Happy 3/11 Day to our fellow Datsun Roadster owners! We hope you were able to Enjoy The Ride this weekend as the weather was fantastic. Our friend Kurt recently took delivery of his freshly restored 1967 Datsun 2000 (#520) and took it for nice ride around town.
The car is finished in my favorite color, Sora Blue and Steve Pettersen performed a stunning, frame-off restoration:
Expect a full feature on Kurt’s SRL and dyno tuning to make those twin Mikuni-Solexes sing! For now, please enjoy this video of us driving our roadsters around on 3/11:
ps…we may have driven a few other Z Car Garage project cars in this video as well 🙂
Sunday was a beautiful sunny day in the Bay Area, perfect for a quick drive in our Datsun Roadsters. Our destination was Uvas Reservoir and I joined Rob and his family in Sora while I drove my ‘67.5 SPL. Leaving our meeting point of 76 on Foxworthy/Almaden:
Z Car Garage shop dog Kane loves riding in the roadster!
Despite being only 25 miles from the heart of Silicon Valley, the landscape near Uvas Reservoir is entirely different with farmlands, rolling hills and idyllic bridge crossings:
At the reservoir we flagged down this Datsun enthusiast, also out Enjoying The Ride! It was none other than David Carroll in his beastly 1975 280z:
You might recognize David’s Z as a contestant in the Optima Batteries Ultimate Street Car Competition and numerous road course/autocross events. Dubbed “570Z” when he initially ran a LS1, the Z now sports an LS3 with over 500whp. Those are 315/30/18 tires at four corners! He gave us a nice fly-by check out the video below:
We snapped a few more pics of the cars and headed back home, it was fun to “exercise” the roadsters:
More pictures in the gallery below and remember, Datsuns Are Driven!
Datsun Roadsters hold a special place in our heart and we had the opportunity to tune a very beautiful example. Brian K is the owner of this rare 1967 Datsun 2000 #427. Although he hails from the East Bay, we first saw his roadster when we visted Spriso Motorsports in Oregon. Brian had just completed a full, frame-off restoration on the roadster and embarked on a long roadtrip/shakedown: Datsuns Are Driven!
After breaking in the Hasselgren-built U20 engine, Brian wanted to have the roadster dyno-tuned and test different air filter setups. Here is the U20 below, sporting dual Mikuni-Solex 44 carbs, C cam and .040 over pistons.
We supplied Brian with the correct main jets for the Mikiuni’s and tuning commenced! It was interesting to see (and hear) significant gains just from the open (early) vs closed (late) OEM filter housings. Brian’s roadster baselined at 121hp/122tq and left with 142hp/134tq to the wheels:
The dyno plot reveals nice gains throughout the entire rev range in addition to higher peak numbers. Well over 100tq is available from 3000rpm to 6600rpm! Keep in mind this is on 91 octane running 9:5:1 compression. A good tune is priceless. Brian was stoked on the tuning session.
When he’s not enjoying his many Datsuns, Brian owns/operates a machine shop called KaD Models and you can catch him on Instagram under “kadmodels”. Enjoy The Ride Brian!
Our local Datsun Roadster owners enjoyed a great Sunday drive yesterday. I’ve been organizing these “Fun Runs” for several years and it always makes me smile to see fellow Datsun owners Enjoying The Ride on our backroads here in the Bay Area. We began in downtown Saratoga with a meeting point just before Big Basin Way. By coincidence we spotted ZCG customer James S in his 240z coming down the mountain!
The first stretch of HWY 9 down to Boulder Creek was exhilarating. We picked up another roadster on the way to our next meeting point in Felton:
The cars and participants
The six cars represented an assortment of colors, years and trim level. Everything from SU and Solex-equipped U20s to R16s and SR20 drivetrains. Shown above are 1970, 1969 and 1968 with their distinct rear end treatments.
John B’s 1969 SRL
John B recently moved from SoCal to the Bay Area and has yet to explore the fantastic backroads here so I was excited to have him join us. His ’69 2000 is a prime example of how a Datsun 2000 would have looked back in the day. Sporting period-correct parts and even vintage tires John’s SRL was featured in Automobile Magazine driven by John Morton!
I drove my 1967.5 1600 with SR20:
Joe and Lisa’s 1968 SPL
Joe is an avid rally driver participating in this year’s Faultline and Snowball events with the roadster. He purchased it recently and it has a 5-speed from a U20. Lisa got some seat time in today’s run too!
Stacey’s 1970 SRL
Stacey joined us in Boulder Creek with his recently refreshed ’70 SRL. This car got engine/chassis overhaul and a host of upgrades. It was great to see stacey enjoying his new mods.
Aidan’s 1969 SRL
Aidan is the youngest roadster owner I know being a high school student. He is restoring his ’69 SRL by himself and recently completed the 600 mile journey to the Mt. Shasta Datsun Roadster meet. We are proud of him.
Eddie Wu’s E9 BMW
Ed is no stranger to Datsun Roadsters. He owns the famous “SAKE RKT”, an SR20 swapped ’66 SPL. He didn’t drive his roadster, but instead graced us with another silver beauty, this E9!
Mike B’s 1967.5 SPL
Mike B has been my go-to roadster driving buddy for a long time. His ‘67.5 SPL is built with period looks and modern conveniences. He was our fearless leader/hot shoe.
After we met Aidan in Felton we headed back up 9 to Skylinetowards Alice’s restaurant. Then we took 84 down to Pescadero. It was fairly warm even at the coast.
After a quick lunch break at Arcangeli’s Bakery we took Alpine Rd to Skyline and ended at the vista point.
Filed under: Events
by Alvin G @ 12:34 am on February 3, 2017
Dear Zcarblog readers, this is my 2016 Solvang Datsun Roadster Show report. Although long overdue, it serves as a reminder that the 30th Annual 2017 Solvang Datsun Roadster Show is just around the corner. So mark those calendars for April 22! Enjoy.
-Alvin
The 2016 Solvang Datsun Roadster show took place on April 23. Now in its 29th year, this gathering continues a tradition of uniting owners from all parts of the world in a little town just outside of Santa Barbara. There is something for everyone here: shopping, food, wine-tasting, outdoor activities, and the last weekend of every April a huge gathering of Datsuns. I did not drive my roadster this year but I still enjoyed the show with my family!
On to the cars! Here are some highlights from the day…there were only a handful of 1967 2000 roadsters this year. Some of these cars are considered the “cream of the crop” with full restorations or OEM levels of detail like Mike Young’s SRL #266 and Rodney N’s SRL #485:
Winning best of show was SRL #233 completely frame-off restored by Kevin of KRD:
Speaking of attention to detail…fully restored factory gauges artfully assembled by Jon Frampton could be seen on multiple cars. The gauges are truly little jewels that give owners a range of options with lighting, lettering and even inner workings all without going to aftermarket gauges.
Right: Factory gauges converted to electronic behind Harlan’s SR20DE-powered SPL
While were on interiors, check out this cool Datsun Competion (by Kaemeri) steering wheel looking great in Corey’s SPL:
At the other end of the spectrum and far from stock is Shannon’s ’69 SRL. Modern gauges and A/C vents adorn the dash with a touch screen in the center console: …[read more]
