A variety of aftermarket camshafts were evaluated with varying levels of success. "I had tried several different reground camshafts, but I was getting tired of noisy cams that wore out fast and didn't work like they should." Savage eventually copied a cam that had been ground for a friend's car and it made all the difference. "This specific grind has a 0.520 lift and 280-degree duration. The engine has great torque down low in the revs, but it still pulls hard to more than 7000 rpm." Since then, Savage and his good friend Kelvin Dietz have run the camshaft in a number of other hot L-motors, including Kelvin's 8500-plus rpm L16 racecar. Norris springs, lightened followers and a shortened 240Z spray bar round out the bumpstick operation in Savage's car.
Which brings us upstream to the intake system. Just about every knowledgeable Datsun devotee who peers under the hood of this car can't help falling head-over-heels for the fuel injection system. Monster dual 48mm two-throat TWM throttle bodies with air horns are mounted on TWM port-matched runners. A custom aluminum air box and conical K&N air filter supply cool, clean air to the engine, while the TWM fuel rails and Lucas 30 lb/hr injectors handle the fuel-squirting duties. A fully programmable Electromotive TEC-I ECU controls both EFI and spark management. Savage has spent more than a few hours fine-tuning the fuel maps and ignition curve to get a car that now puts out an estimated 200 hp. "I don't recommend tuning the Electromotive system by yourself," Savage said. "You really need someone else driving the car if you're going to play with fuel maps on the laptop at 100 mph!"
Putting all of these ponies to the pavement is the job of a Nissan close-ratio five-speed transmission and Subaru limited-slip differential. Fuji Heavy Industries in Japan supplies differentials to both Subaru and Nissan, and the R160 LSD units out of Subaru XT Turbos are an easy swap into the early 510s. Savage experimented with 4.11-ratio gears in the car (from a 1990 Subaru Legacy), but he eventually switched back to the original 3.70 gear-set after dialing-in the engine. "With the torque available from the 2.2, I've found that the higher gear-set [lower-numerical] gives the best all-around performance for the car."
Horsepower is one thing, but the Datsun 510 is known for its superb road-holding abilities. This car is no exception. True aficionados of the badge refer to the sweet handling characteristics of a properly set-up 510 as the "Dance of the Dime."
The secret is a logical balance of springs, shocks and anti-roll bars. Savage's car is outfitted with 280ZX struts with Carrera coil-overs on the front and custom-built Carrera coil-overs on the rear. Shocks are KYB four-way adjustables on the front and Carrera three-way adjustables at the rear. Suspension Techniques anti-roll bars, front and rear, keep body roll to a minimum and custom front control arms with heim joints and urethane bushings keep the sprung and unsprung parts working in symphony. The original 13-inch Libre rims were replaced with 15-inch American Racing "Spyders" shod with Toyo T-1 rubber. The result is a car that turns corners as well as it accelerates in straight lines. Savage has regularly won Top Time of Day (TTOD) in the highly competitive Oregon autocross scene, was class champion in OSP several times and has set three NHA hill-climb records in this daily-driven car.
But performance is only half of the story. The task of keeping up outward (and inward) appearances was not forgotten. With the exception of a four-point roll bar, Momo steering wheel and competition seatbelts, Savage left the pristine interior pretty much as he found it. The exterior of the car, however, received the full Savage treatment. The emblems and license plate lights were shaved, then the entire car was sprayed with a deep Sikkens Isuzu spark blue paint. While nearly impossible to capture in a photograph, visual examination of the sheet metal behind the front tires reveals phantom pearl BRE stripes that appear wraith-like in bright afternoon sunlight. "Brock Racing Enterprises made 510s famous in the old Trans Am races," Savage said. "A lot of guys paint their cars with the big red and blue stripes like the BRE cars, but I wanted something that wasn't so loud." The results are intangibly beautiful and they serve as a subtle tribute to Brock and all the other Datsun racing pioneers of the early '70s.