SPL311-12768 Scarlett (formerly MrGreen )

[Pjackb]

I’ve been meaning to do this write up for a while now but as they say time flies ,

The Story :

I know I’ve told the story a few times before but I felt in love with the roadster when I first saw a picture of a 67.5 while searching for a Porsche Speedster replica to replace my 987 Boxster S in Nov 06, it was love at first sight and there debuted a search which took 2 years to find the right car and then another 18+ months to finally get her home.

I was already very lucky to find a very nice and straight California car, but I count myself extremely fortunate to have had the car worked on by none other than the man himself Mr. Jim Tyler of Datsun Restoration Products (DRP)

In December 2018 after having searched for almost 2 years I knew exactly what I wanted and JT understood that and offered to build me exactly the car I wanted , we had talked about it before but the timing was right for me and we made a plan for him to build me what I consider the perfect driver drivetrain.

Working with JT has been an awesome experience and I felt throughout the process that he listened to what was really important to me and made decision and suggestions in the build to give me a reliable very fun driver’s car , I also felt that he took a lot of pride in this build like everything he does and worked on it as if it was for himself or for a family member so a huge THANK YOU to him . this is part of why you always see me recommending JT first to anyone who will listen.

This is the one I’ve been looking for and I plan to drive it as much as I can lol, It came home last week of august and I’ve already put almost 800 miles on it and plan to drive it a few more before winter storage


The Car :

This is a very straight California car that was bought new in Clovis California by Bill Atteberry and Sold to Jim Morgenstern also of Clovis in March 1969 . Jim kept the car for the next 40 years keeping meticulous records and was a regular at Solvang and other gathering , I believe may have won best of show in 2003 at Solvang but have not been able to verify yet . in 2009 Jim passed on the car to the previous PO who enjoyed it for the first few years but for some reasons let it sit and deteriorate for a few years before it got to me via a circular route which included passing in the hands of Mike Young , I’m only the 4th owner of this car.

I believe the car started as 531 Silver beige before being painted orange for a few years and then it’s current deep green in 1998 , the original R16 is long gone and a H20 was put in by the PO.


Vitals:

My objective from the beginning was to have a 67.5 SPL with a 2L powertrain ,I preferred that combo because I would not feel constraint to keep it stock as I would a real 67 2000 , so I asked JT to build something fun and oh boy did he ever the main specs are as follows :

- Low miles rebuild U20 with new accessories
- DRP hi-comp head 10:1 with fresh cam and rockers
- 123 Electronic Ignition
- Rebuilt 5 Speed
- DRP Billet aluminum flywheel and HD clutch kit and all new hydraulics
- Rebuilt Mikuni PHH40s , with new heatshield and DRP center linkage
- DRP Full front and back Bilstein Package with MY front springs
- DRP’s beautiful and awesome sounding SS exhaust system
- DRP Front Wilwood brake conversion
- 16x7 ET10 Rota RB 205/45/16

To say this car drive great is an understatement , I wanted a car that had a lot of usable power in the meat of the powerband where I drive not a Dyno queen that showed big numbers on the top end , an that’s exactly what Jim built . we chose the 40 specifically for that reasons and the car pull so strongly from 2500 rpm on I cannot stop smiling .

Over the coming winter month, I will be refinishing the interior and it might get a repaint to make the aesthetic match the powertrain .

To conclude if you’re thinking of getting anything build by JT and hesitating just give me a call and I’ll gladly let you now why you should

Thanks for reading

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[Gregs672000]

Great write up an an truly beautiful car, congratulations! I bet it makes great power and won't need octane booster! While it can be frustrating and sometimes more expensive than one wants, some dyno tuning may be worth the effort since you have better control over timing and carb jetting you can dial in. A good operator can help you set max safe torque at the point this engine likes, and make sure the jetting is good. Have fun!

[Pjackb]

Thanks Greg
It still needs a little fine tuning we know but I haven’t touched anything yet and just been enjoying it as is for now. Also finding someone in my area that really understand how to tune an ITB carburetor is not an easy task

What I may do first is just put it on a Dyno to get a baseline and see if there are any areas that needs improvement and go from there
Remember I’m more focus on drivability vs power

[Gregs672000]

Ya, up here it's $130 for two pulls, and they add another $50 for plotting air/fuel ratios. If they start tuning the cost can go up quickly. With a wideband you can do a lot yourself, but if I'm any example of the average Joe you can still be way off. You have some great jetting resources in Dave Premo and others and a more or less stockish timing curve will work fine. There is an example in the dyno thread that showed significant improvements on a well running engine. They mention carb jetting as the issue and what they adjusted on the mains for better output (I dont know if they were lean or rich, but it must have been way off). What I've read is that a ratio between 12-15 will produce nearly the same power, below that and you start costing power, and obviously leaner is not good and potentially dangerous for a higher compression engine. Timing however makes the most difference, and an operator can set the timing for max torque by running it at a steady rpm while making small timing changes. Then you can pull out a couple degrees if needed to provide a safe cushion.
So yes, drive it and play with it some, listen for ping and read your plugs, then when you think you're close do a baseline run, add or subtract a few degrees of timing to see what that does and then you'll be set! As long as it's not drowning like mine was, you'll get good timing info and you can tweak jetting for your environment.

[JT68]

O2 system is already on board- its just slightly rich deliberately. most likely only the idle/transition circuit will need slight tweak/adjustment for elevation. Possibly one jet leaner on the mains. With the cam, exhaust and FW it's going to be hard to keep your foot out of it lol.


Thank you Jack, You made a lot of great choices on the parts selection--really made it easy to build such a fun machine. What a great car, so much to like:

Rebuilt Mikuni's and DRP improved street cam
Bil's all the way around
Porsche spec vented rotors w/dynalite calipers and correct master cylinder
Bushings&ball joints (nothing from taiwan)
Mike Young front springs_by far the best
123 distributor and high output EI coil
THE BEST clutch and light FW available
Hitachi RH Alt kit
DRP reman waterpump
DRP reman FP
DRP flex lines and clutch flex line
Braided hoses and lines

Nice top boot and roo bag additions!
What a sweetheart of a car....Glad you are enjoying it!

It will really be a stunner with the new paint and interior- enjoy the ride

[Gregs672000]

You certainly do great work JT, whether it's making parts or building cars. I'm always talking Bilsteins! Sounds like it's well set up. It would be fun to compare timing maps to show how much I need to pull out vs a more reasonable street compression ratio. Good times!

[Pjackb]

As JT mentioned an A/F meter is installed, that was actually one of the must have for me after reading many of your comments about having to have one . I do not have one in my other cars and I'll definitely install one as it take away the guessing game .

When I look at the base timing curve that was put into the 123Ignition other than having final timing at 34 it's not dissimilar to what can be found on the threads were folks were sharing their timing curves . What I plan to eventually do is put the car on a dyno to look at the power delivery and see how my seat of the pants impressions translate into objective and measurable data , this will help determine the course of action if any required for final tuning.

The car feels great and strong so not expecting a lot to tune

[sports imports]

I like the fact that your license plate reflects the work of JT68- Quebec plate J68 TSX !!! Une belle voiture.

Ross

[Pjackb]

I like the fact that your license plate reflects the work of JT68- Quebec plate J68 TSX !!! Une belle voiture.

Ross

Funny , I didn't even see that
I was going to get a vanity plate for that one as well I guess I can't now

[sports imports]

Oui, ta voiture est Tres SeXy

[Pjackb]

Took Mr Green to the dyno a few weeks ago to put numbers behind the seat of the pants feeling

It did not disappoint, you can check the story here
viewtopic.php?f=2&t=34365&p=314694#p314694


We've had unbelievably nice weather this fall and normally at this time of year cars are sleeping for the winter but instead we got to enjoy top down cruising in mid 60s weather all week again
great fun ,
these are probably the last few pictures of it running as Mr Green since it will have a full paint job this winter just don't know what color yet

[Gregs672000]

Car looks great my Friend! I love the green so I can't advise you on the color... go green!

[JT68]

It sure photographs well!

And what a blast to drive....

[Linda]

The paint looks nice from 2000 miles away...
If you paint it another color you will have to change Mr Green’s name...

Linda

[jwilk]

Lovely car