B13Birk
HalfDork
11/1/21 12:22 p.m.
So... I have decided to start some threads for my dad on a few of his projects that we agreed this crew would find interesting. I caught the Motorsports bug from him really bad. He and I have a great relationship and I'm super grateful for that. Motorsports have been at the center of so many of our memories over the years so I'm excited to help him document some of the incredible projects he is working on.
My dad raced GoKarts and formula cars of different types for many years. He also raced drag bikes for many years and a company he started/owned for a while built the first turbo kit for the Hayabusa. So it just seemed fitting that his next project brought those worlds together. My dad and I have a bad habit of sitting around and just talking about "You know what would be cool...." car ideas. Conversations about light tube frame cars with motorcycle engines have often been a part of those talks. From snagging a cheap legends car, to thunder roadsters, to the nasa mini cup cars etc... Sports races have always been something we talked about too but they are always extremely expensive and the goal is just to build something stupid fast, kinda cheap, fun, and easy to work on.
So about a month ago on my daily FB Marketplace browse I found a 1988 D-sports racer that was rough but all together.... The car was log booked, had all the original parts and had been sitting for a long time. And it came with the BODY MOLDS! . The car won't be raced W2W, it will be a fun TT and HPDE car. If I can talk my dad into going up north at some point to do a hill climb event that would be cool too!
So here is how the car arrived and where the project starts.
GPZ900 Engine burns some oil.... so... he gone.
Body Molds are a huge win.
And here is what we are working on....
Snagged a great deal on this Busa motor. Got the header off ebay... and BOY is she sexy. Plan is to start normally aspirated to really get the car locked in then add boost later.
Brakes are being upgraded:
Working on a better LSD solution and bunch of other stuff.
Follow along for the Chaos and fun!
In reply to B13Birk :
Ok. I will follow for chaos and fun.
nocones said:
In reply to B13Birk :
Ok. I will follow for chaos and fun.
Thanks for following directions well HA!
Your not going to need boost. I can tell you that.
wearymicrobe said:
Your not going to need boost. I can tell you that.
But he might WANT it. I want him to want it.
While we may not NEED boost. We will definitely want it. Noting super crazy. But a little crazy. Boost will be down the road a good bit as my dad has a bunch of projects going all at the same time. Including the LS swap on the 240z Track car, My turbo miata, the Nsu Wankle Spider, R33 skyline, Cab over dodge, Nissan Silvia, motorcycles out our ears etc. I'll post more about all of that later.
But here is where she sits. Her own special space amongst the organized chaos.
My dad is off on Thursdays and spends most Thursdays there so Ill have some updates then. In the meantime. Here are some pictures from other stuff happening at the hangar.
Got some detailing and road miles done on the 305 Dream, Suzuki Re5 and the 69 Silvia
And the XJ is getting repainted. My dad decided he would rather ride with my on our overland trips than having his own rig. So this rig will be up for sale soon.
I wish someone would come up with a racing series using a concept of something like your car (with bike engines, minimum weight, no wings, no undertrays, maybe a restrictor plate, etc.) as a "poor man's Can-Am".
Not much progress on the D-sports racer lately has been photo-documented.
But a bunch of fiberglass work has been done on the car. It had way more cracks in it than we realized. So the body guy my dad uses came through and actually had a good bit of experience working on bodies like this. He did a ton of reinforcement on the body and it should be ready for paint here soon.
I have a bunch of updates coming on driveline details ad we have made some great progress on. It's been interesting to go down the rabbit hole with this car.
We have figured out a solution for the rear differential which was HUGE. All of this will be better documented in the coming weeks as Ill have time to go down to his shop and get some good photos.
stroker said:
I wish someone would come up with a racing series using a concept of something like your car (with bike engines, minimum weight, no wings, no undertrays, maybe a restrictor plate, etc.) as a "poor man's Can-Am".
I couldn't agree more. It would be a cool series for sure!
B13Birk said:
stroker said:
I wish someone would come up with a racing series using a concept of something like your car (with bike engines, minimum weight, no wings, no undertrays, maybe a restrictor plate, etc.) as a "poor man's Can-Am".
I couldn't agree more. It would be a cool series for sure!
I tried to gin up some interest here, but it fizzled out...
In reply to stroker :
I see that! It was a valiant attempt.
Snagged two pictures of the progress of on the body.
I'll be honest. I can't wait for him to get rid of the Yellow!
The current plan he has is to do a white and green paint job with some type of Sinclair Oil livery. He has a 50's cab-over Dodge Sinclair truck project that I think he still plans to use to haul some of his cars to tracks. I think it will all look pretty awesome.
That looks like a bunch of fun. I'm in!
B13Birk
HalfDork
5/15/23 11:45 a.m.
Unfortunately due to my father passing away in December Im having to work through his collection and make some hard calls on what we keep and preserve and what we sell. This car will be sold as a project here soon. Just posting an update on that front. A good bit of stuff has been done to the car since then. Ill be posting updates and an official for sale post here soon.
Very sorry for your loss. From your posts, he certainly seemed like a very interesting person and good father.
In reply to BoulderG :
Thanks! He truly was. I really miss him. But im grateful for the time we had and to have the privilege to preserve his automotive legacy by caring for his collection.
