Fast on the heels of the 2023 BFE GP (Part 1 and 2), we have a full 24 hour race to prepare for. After the dust settled, we called a retro and evaluated both the ZX2 and the 280ZX's performance. Both cars held up well, but we had work ahead if either were going to last 24 hours.

We had several drivers unavailable for the race in September, and between that and maintenance concerns on both cars we elected to run only one, the Datsun 280zx. It's the car we've spent all year building. It's the car this blog is (mostly) about. Of course we're going to flog her through 24 hours of hellish glory.

We had a short list of big concerns, and a long list of smaller ones. The big concerns were

• The Oil Leak(s?) - we ran through at least 5 quarts in 14 hours at the BFE. In case you're not so good at math that's about 5 quarts more than we want to go through
• The Cooling Problems - we had to borrow a radiator from Bakit Racing to survive the BFE GP, so we need to replace that (and give them back their radiator). We also noticed a leak from the water pump.
• Transmission leak(s?) - not as bad, but clearly losing fluid
• The long list of little shit

The Oil Leak(s)

As we dug in, we noticed cylinder 5 plug pretty fouled, and decided to do a compression and a leak down test. Good news on the compression front:

We centered our efforts on the oil pan gasket, clearly leaking quite a bit. Fun fact, according to the manual removing the oil pan from a 1981 Datsun 280zx requires you to remove some motor mounts and lift the engine. We are, of course, a Lemons team so we just unbolted a bunch of suspension and hit it with hammers.

Eventually we got it clear. Cleaned a ton of gunk and oil and scuzz off all the surfaces, and mostly got things back together without too much trouble. One fun fact: the oil pan of a 1981 Datsun 280zx has 33 bolts attaching it to the engine. 33.

We're now several days past this new gasket, and some minor seal packing, and it looks like we've addressed the engine oil leak. The 24 hour race is in 8 days, and we haven't dripped oil yet. Yes, we actually refilled it.

The Coolant problems

As we had to pull the radiator anyway, we used the opportunity to closely inpsect the water pump, and discovered some clear seepage there. Friends, this was the dreamiest little operation we could ask for. Simple and straightforward: remove the radiator, remove the fan, remove the water pump. Assembly is reverse order.

There was a lively discussion around "deleting" our power steering while we were in there. Reduced weight, and a potential engine performance boost sounded pretty attractive. Really, power steering isn't a great thing to have in racing. We ultimately decided to keep the belt off, but not actually remove the components. We are getting limited track testing, and if the steering has issues we need to be able to put it back together quickly. Fingers crossed!

How does the car cool now? Great question! We'll be at the track the day before the race testing. Haha stay tuned I'm sure it's going to be great!

The Transmission leak(s)

When you think about it, we really shouldn't be surprised that our 42 year old car is leaking from nearly every system that contains fluids. And so it goes with our transmission. We've identified two leak areas: the speedo cable o rings, and the breather tube. This transmission has a breather tube, which is supposed to relieve some internal pressure in the trans casing. Ours ... had certainly relieved some pressure.

The Long list of little shit

This list is technically two separate lists:

• The long list of little shit we have to do to make the car ready to race in a 24 hour overnight race
• The long list of little shit we have to do for our theme

The former includes headlights, and interior lighting, and exterior illumination of our numbers. There are several rule changes this year governing illumination for night racing. We are super supportive of them, night racing sucks with lightbars and other distracting lighting. Having to close your eyes on track is never a good time. We've also replaced the valve cover gasket, our PCV valve, sort of fixed our janky wipers, bought a more permanent interior ventilation system (usb fans), and a second set of wheels and tires.

That second list, the theme list, is a topic for another post. For now let's just say we're really excited about our theme. We think it is the right mix of relevant, relatable, stupid, and engaging to really shake things up in the Halloween meets Gasoline competition. If we can't win the race, we sure hope we'll win the theme. Again.

Green flag is calling. See you at the track!