Turbo Rotary Datsun 510

Story
Design
Chassis
Roll cage
Front susp.
Rear susp.
Steering
Wheels
& Tires
Brakes
Engine
Interior
Body
& Paint

Driving
Tuning

Comments

Other cars

Turbo rotary powered 1969 Datsun 510

Interior

The interior is functionality first. The Momo suede steering wheel, which actually (really!) came from an Electramotive Nissan GTP car that Geoff Brabham drove, attaches to the custom steering column with a quick-release hub. There is no pin to push or pull. The main dashboard is made of a single 6061-T6 aluminum sheet and weighs less than three pounds! It's wrinkle black powder coated and contains just six gauges. The pedals are gloss black powder coated aluminum. The pedal bracket is wrinkle red powder coated. It can be adjusted up and down, fore and aft, and can be tilted slightly too. The pedal bracket mounts three Tilton master cylinders and has a brake bias bar to which I attached a remote adjuster. The seats are black plastic with vinyl covers (they're not the best seats in the world but they are very light.) The original driveshaft tunnel was way too low, especially in the back, because the car sits so low over the Jag rear suspension, so I had to make a new one.

Welding dash mounts to the roll cage

Dash mockup and fitting

Some aluminum interior panels

Cheap but lightweight seats

Door panel

Next I started my carbon fiber adventures by making door panels. I started with door panels because they were the largest carbon fiber pieces that I planned to make, so I wanted to get them "out of the way". It took a good while to make them but they came out great! Currently I am continuing these adventures in carbon fiber by making other carbon fiber composite parts for the car, mainly trim (non-structural) pieces so far.

Billet aluminum, black powder coated rear view mirror
with black powder coated aluminum bracket