There’s something to be said about the racers who thrash through an intensive rebuild just in time to make it to their next favorite event. It’s proof of their undying passion and dedication to the sport. Queue Jordan Connor—his turbocharged Ecotec-powered '72 Datsun 510 was in pieces just weeks before #GRIDLIFE Midwest, but in a race against time the re-build was completed in the nick of time to join in the #GRIDLIFE fun. Their level of execution was clear when the Datsun took to the track, nabbing 5th place in Unlimited RWD by the end of the weekend. “I went over 3-seconds faster than my previous best time just during shakedown,” Jordan gushed.
Teardown of the Datsun began in November 2016 and it would be four days pre-event before firing up again. A larger PTE 5558 turbo was one of the key upgrades of the build. The turbo called for slew of other changes—a different manifold, downpipe, wastegate discharge, intercooler and coolant pipes were installed to accomodate it.
Proper weight distribution is important for all racecars, and Jordan wanted to raise the Datsun’s handling capabilities to new heights. For starters, he cut out the floor and firewall, nudged the engine & transmission farther back in the chassis and secured it by fabricating engine and transmission mounts. With the engine moved back, Jordan then customized a front subframe to mount a MR2 steering rack to. At the same time, he made the front control arm pickup points adjustable for roll center-correction and anti-dive. Shorter ratio steering arms were used, and the steering rack was mounted further forward to improve steering geometry on the track. To complete the package, Stance Suspension made a custom set of three-way adjustable coilovers.
Jordan reconstructed the rear frame and trunk floor to make room for a new fuel cell. The entire cooling system was also moved back and re-ducted. Jordan modified the transmission so the shifter bolts directly into it—essentially moving the shift forward by 12-inches, and in turn, shortening the driveshaft. Rear subframe mounts were made adjustable to height and pitch for better roll center, axle and driveshaft angles. And because more speed equals more safety measures, the chassis received some strengthening via a beefier skeleton for the firewall and transmission tunnel along with a reinforced roll cage.
Before the Datsun could get fired up, a quick rewire of the chassis was done along with finalization of the new fuel system. The clock was ticking... an alignment and corner balance was done. Jordan still had to install all of the parts to make the car work—such as the seat, doors, windows, tunnel panels, and so on. He pressure tested the systems and headed to the dyno two days before departure. The following day, the rest of the floor and tunnel was finished in aluminum and the Crude Engineering team loaded the car on a trailer. After work the next day, the team headed to the grid. Yes, this entire build was completed while maintaining a job to pay the bills. #becauseracecar.
All went well during Friday morning’s shakedown session at Gingerman Raceway. Throughout the weekend, the Datsun ran flawless, putting down extremely fast times. When considering this car's 290-whp and 205 tires, in comparison with the 670-whp C5 Corvette on 335 tires finishing just in front of him, the Datsun's 4th place finish was impressive to say the least. We can’t wait to see what Jordan Connor and Crude Engineering accomplish next.