Tai / Retro Z's 1973 240z L28et Resto * Lots of Pics*

Hi Everyone i thought its about time i introduce myself and start a build thread since i've been a member for a few years now.

So.. My Names Tai currently 25 yrs old and reside in Melbourne. I'm a qualified but now Ex-Mechanic with a Bachelor in Mechanical/Mechatronics Engineering. Worked for about 6 years at my brothers Performance Garage in Sunshine (VIC) on and off while studying etc. Had since moved into corporate work with the ATO for the last few years but now in a situation where i need to find other work as my hours have got cut back drastically.

Have been into cars since i was a kid, as my 3 brothers got me into it. Have owned about a dozen imports since i've had my license for example: Ae86 Levin (4age) , v8 Soarer, R33 gtst, 96 MR2 GTS, 270kw 180sx type X, stagea rs4, another r33 gtst showcar and a 400kw R32 GTR, and a few non imports such as Ta22 Celica x 2, 120y with Ca18det, J32 Maxima along the way. Most of the cars i have owned have been the same purchase>Strip>Rebuild>Paint> Sell etc as i get bored rather quickly and enjoy working on the cars more than driving them.

Here are some pics of my old Skylines

To say I've been spoilt for choice is an understatement. As mentioned my brothers owned a performance garage and imported cars so everything like tools, parts and cars was in reach.

I basically sold and changed cars every 6 months or so. After building a showcar R33 and then a 400kw r32 GTR i kind of got bored with it all and quite fed up with all the cop troubles so i sold up both and bought the Maxima and decided to leave the car scene altogether and also stop working as a mechanic and save some money to buy a house.

12 Months or so had passed working as a office b*tch and then i got the itch again, but didn't really know where to start..i knew it had to be different as i found late model turbo cars rather boring. I also needed something not too expensive as i spent too much money on cars in the past. That's when i bought the Ta22 Celica's and the Datsun 120y although i enjoyed them it wasn't the same, the cars had no heart and my friends and family didn't like them either saying that i had gone Crazy and Stupid, luckily i didn't do much to them so sold them on for a small profit.

Which now leads me to the Z's----

Now with my pockets full and nothing to spend it on i went online to look for a Datsun 1600 or 240k. Although i've always liked and wanted a 240z i had never really looked into it as it always seemed to be that elusive un-obtainable vehicle that people talked about,  that HALO car! whether it be the high cost or rarity i don't know.

Anyway i was looking through Ebay for that Datsun 1600 when i came across a 260Z 2+2 and thought to myself hey that looks like one of them 240z's...but why so cheap??. There was 8 minutes left on the item so i bidded away and won the car for $1700 i was ecstatic!. The next day got a trailer and picked it up at 8pm after work (night) and paid for it sight unseen not really knowing what i was getting at the time. The Next day i took the tarp off and had a look at it and thought to myself "this doesn't quite look like a 240z" i was rather disappointed with my purchase not knowing a 2+2 is different to the 240z. But after i had my cry i thought i'd have a play around with it since it didn't cost much.

The car wasn't running when i collected it, but after a few minutes of diagnostics and checking fluids i got it running and it went sweet with no odd noises or blow-by with good compression on all 6 cylinders that's when i noticed the EFI and 'HKS Turbo' on the inlet pipe. I thought "What the?, Turbo?, EFi? aren't these cars supposed to be Carby?" Had a look around and noticed in fact it was a turbo. Due to my non existent knowledge for anything pre-1986 i called my brother over who said the engine was not original. We took it for a drive and it was quick and sounded very healthy, in fact it suspiciously ran too good considering the vintage and the price i paid for it.

Thats when i joined this forum to get some info. I immediately got PM's from people offering to buy my engine for $1500+ i thought i must look into this further and upon investigation found out i had the sought after P90/F54 L28et engine from a 280zxt. It had a aftermarket turbo, external wastegate, forged pistons and a Microtech ECU with MAP sensor 'all else is a mystery' guess the Previous Owner didn't know what he had . So after all the good news i decided to keep it, but not the car!, i couldn't stand the way the 2+2 looked. The roof hump kept bothering me, plus it was full of bog so i sold it for $1500 minus the engine. I then bought another blue 2+2 from the same guy for $800 and took off some parts and immediately sold it for a small profit.

I was then on the hunt for the elusive 240z, 260z 2-seater after only 6 weeks I found one on a site called Firesport.com  it was a 74 260z 2-seater that was owned by a young bloke named Josh and apparently previously owned by Dimitri and Benny on these forums. The car was rough as guts but i thought I'd give it a go. I got right into it and done a fair bit of work on it, but it seemed never ending, missing a heap of parts and i was in way over my head so i sold it to a Member on here (DriftMonkeys)

. Just when it sold i came across my now current 240z on Ebay as if was meant to be, It came with Rotisserie and a spare donor car with most of the bits to make one complete car so i bought it and done 2 trips with a trailer to pick it all up. Since then i have had the car for about a year and never once thought about selling. Out of all the cars i have owned this is my favourite by far. I love it and will never sell it as I've learn't so much with this car and have literally put in blood sweat and tears into the thing, and its not even finished.

http://img88.imageshack.us/img88/9030/20110905135230.jpg

So that's my Life Story, thanks to those who have taken the time to read it all. And sorry for my poor grammar.

Enough of the boring stuff. Now for the Restoration.

*I will be posting in stages as i get time* So watch this space.

Nice story Tai.  I think you have found your soul-mate now 

Nice. Loving the early type hks plenum

Thanks guys. Will post up the next part tonight when i get on my PC.

Wow that 260z 2 seater looked rough mate, good luck with the 240z though, theres a step in the right direction

How gold is the fact you bought that initial 2+2 and it had all that yummyness bolted to it!

Well done Tai!

Look forwards to seeing the progress shots.

How gold is the fact you bought that initial 2+2 and it had all that yummyness bolted to it!

Well done Tai!

Look forwards to seeing the progress shots.

I know huh. I practically got the engine and fuel system for nothing, and including the Aircon and other bits i took off the blue 2+2  i think i done alright

Ok. So before i start documenting the build i'll include a list of bits i have acquired and have fitted or will be fitting to the 240z.

-L28et.

-Manual Conversion from (Lochie)

-Fibreglass Front Fenders from (MOSSY)

-Kameari Style Airdam from (MOSSY)

-Rare spare Floor pans.

-Topstage rear wing

-Topstage Front & rear FRP bumpers

-Topstage FRP bonnet

-Topstage FRP centre console.

-Topstage ZG flares.

-Restored Dashboard.

-Rota Rb-x 17x9/9.5 and tyres.

-Pallnet Fuel Rail

-Bosch Fuel Pump

-Front and rear strut braces from (Stivva)

-Alfa Motorsports Headlight buckets.

-Full Urethane Bushing kit from (Benny)

-Rear Kings springs from (Benny)

-260z Aircon system

-Chevrolet Orange 2pac Paint

Here's some pics.

And my wish list.

-Full rubber kit.

-STI LSD r180 diff.

-Lonewolf Intake.

-Interior Re-trim

-Exhaust

.FRP rear hatch

-New doors (mine are badly rusted)

-Coilover sleeves.

With the L28et sitting in my garage i thought i'd give it a general tidy up and a lick of paint aswell as replace all the gaskets etc.

So i started by unbolting everything and degreased, sanded, and scrubbed everything to get it ready to paint.

I chose to paint the block in a Gloss Black High temp engine enamal.

I then Painted the rocker cover in high temp red paint with a few coats of clear and re-installed distributor and leads along with a red breather filter.

Because the L28et that i had was Auto, i quickly sourced a Manual Gearbox and pedal/slave cylinder etc, from a member on here called (Lochie) who was wrecking a 280zx about 10 mins from where i live. Once i had the box home i proceeded to also clean and get ready for paint along with the starter motor, aircon pump etc.

Once that was done i moved onto porting, shaving and de-webbing my inlet manifold aswell as deleting the EGR as recommended by a few people. (to date i have not finished manifold, need to get EGR and some bolt holes welded up)

Following this i moved onto cleaning, porting and painting turbo manifold, wastegate and turbo housing.

Note: i will most likely be going with a new turbo and wastegate in the future, but i'll see how this goes. Once that was i got my flywheel machined and bought a new spigot bush (required for manual conversion) and rear main seal and installed the gearbox onto the engine.

Since then i bought another inlet manifold which apparently is superior to the one i already had. It's a 'NAPS computer systems' version with a slightly larger Oval shaped twin butterfly throttle body. I'm not sure if i'll use it, but if anyone can chime in with their opinions, that would be great.

That is all. Next Post will be about the bodywork and rust repairs i have done. See you next time.

Tai, what is the cast mark on your old manifold???

Depending on what it is and the size of the throttle body, you could be better off with that manifold than the naps manifold. When my motor was put together I used a turbo manifold, N47, from memory was the cast mark, and it had a throttle size of 64mm, a lot better than the twin set up of the naps manifold, which from memory was only about 80% of the area of the single butterfly, which is better than the standard L28/L24E manifolds. Another trick is to use an XF falcon throttle body, size 65mm, or a BMW one, type escapes me at the moment.

Zedevan on here has my old motor, so maybe worthwhile PMingf him to get the cast number of the inlet manifold.

Tai, what is the cast mark on your old manifold???

I just had a quick look at the 2 inlet manifolds and i cannot find the casting numbers on either. All i could find was number '1' on my original manifold and number '2' on the NAPS. The casting could have been on the webbing part that has since been discarded?.

The NAPS manifold appears to be larger overall. It looks longer and taller, with longer runners than my original one has. The NAPS has One big and one small butterfly in a oval configuration. While the original manifold has 2 medium identical sized butterflies. My original manifold looks different to a Patrol/280C/280ZX Manifold, But was told its a US spec Turbo Manifold, but i honestly have no idea.

Here are some pics, let me know what you think.

Left original/ right NAPS

Tai, the cast mark should be on the top of the manifold, looks like it has been ground off. But looking at the manifolds, the naps one will be the better one. Measure up the two butterflies in each manifold to work out the area of both and use the one with the largest opening. The longer runners on the naps manifold will help with torque.

My manifold had a single butterfly only, the twin butterflies work as a "staged" system for airflow, similar to primaries and secondaries on a carby (my simple explanation) and work well for around town. The single butterfly works better for track, and of course the bigger the better.

As said before, a good trick is to use a XF throttle body, relatively simple mod to get a bigger throttle body if you can now find an XF falcon. It would also be worth getting the runners opened up a bit and flowed to get a bit more air in and to even the airflow through each runner. I found that number 2 runner can flow a bit less air than the others, just part of the ordinary design.

My manifold had N47 (I think) cast into the top and the log didn't have as big a change or narrowing in the shape as your non naps manifold does. The runners on mine were also about 3/4" longer than a standard L28 manifold which did cause me a few dramas with getting full throttle using the rods, about three hours of fiddling to get it sorted.

Time to change the undies again 

Tai, the cast mark should be on the top of the manifold, looks like it has been ground off. But looking at the manifolds, the naps one will be the better one. Measure up the two butterflies in each manifold to work out the area of both and use the one with the largest opening. The longer runners on the naps manifold will help with torque.

 

My manifold had a single butterfly only, the twin butterflies work as a "staged" system for airflow, similar to primaries and secondaries on a carby (my simple explanation) and work well for around town. The single butterfly works better for track, and of course the bigger the better.

 

As said before, a good trick is to use a XF throttle body, relatively simple mod to get a bigger throttle body if you can now find an XF falcon. It would also be worth getting the runners opened up a bit and flowed to get a bit more air in and to even the airflow through each runner. I found that number 2 runner can flow a bit less air than the others, just part of the ordinary design.

 

My manifold had N47 (I think) cast into the top and the log didn't have as big a change or narrowing in the shape as your non naps manifold does. The runners on mine were also about 3/4" longer than a standard L28 manifold which did cause me a few dramas with getting full throttle using the rods, about three hours of fiddling to get it sorted.

Thanks for the help appreciate it. I'll start looking for a xf throttle body. When its time for engine install i'll decide which manifold to use or just buy a aftermarket manifold from usa if i can't find a xf tb by then.

Mate, go hard or go home. You've hit the ground running with this build, good on you.

You're not the first ricer that's gone 'ol school' thats for sure.

OK. So since a few of you guys are interested in my progress i thought I’d get off my ass...and well get back on my ass (computer chair) and update my build thread.

Its been about 3 months since my last instalment and not much has happened since then as i have been cleaning my garage and selling off some un-needed items and also stocked up on some new items and also because my garage is freezing like Antarctica. Just to avoid confusion my build thread hasn't been running in real time, i'm actually about a year ahead from where my last instalment took place.

But i will fill in the blanks to bring you all up to date soon enough.

This is how I originally got my car.

It was missing the driveline, suspension, floors and hanging panels, interior. Basically a shell.

But it did come with a very very rusty 72 240z donor car which is where most of the driveline/suspension/steering parts will come from.

The shell had oil of some sort rubbed/brushed into every orifice or bare metal surface. The roof skin had also been removed at some stage. Aswell as a dodgy flare job on the passenger rear quarter. But otherwise not much rust. No battery tray rust and no rust in the hatch slam panel or roof or quarters. Overall not a bad shell compared to my last 260z 2-seater

I then set my self a task to work on one area at a time, starting from the front wheel wells, then radiator support then engine bay.

I spent days with a heat gun and scraper/chisel in hand, meticulously heating and scraping away at the tar/deadener in the wheel wells and nose-cone bit by bit then used a paint stripping disc and paint stripper to get off any remaining residues, I then rust treated all areas and used a zinc phosphate etching chemical so no flash rust happens while I do the other areas,

For the front end (windscreen forward) only one of the wheel wells had rust but was only a 50cent sized piece. And 2 small holes on the radiator support panel. So out came my welder and tinsnips. (note: First ever attempt welding thin sheetmetal)

I then proceeded to strip all the paint in the engine bay. Using, paint stripper, paint stripping discs, sand paper, elbow grease and the before-mentioned rustproofing/ zinc etcher. Gladly no rust or accident damage in the engine bay or battery tray area.

With the engine bay, wheel wells and entire nose-cone, clean paint-free and rust-free.

I used the KBS 3-step system. De-grease (again) > Rust treat (again) > Rust preventative Paint (similar to POR-15) I prefer it over POR-15 seems to adhere much better.

I let it all dry and harden over a few days, then gave the wheel wells a light Scuff with a scotch brite pad, seam sealed everything and let it all dry then hit it with 3-4 thorough coats of Wurth Spray on stoneguard. Also gave the front radiator support a  few light coats aswell to prevent stone chips which may lead to future rust.

MORE TOMORROW>

Looks Good

By the way gutsy move putting it on the rotisserie with out any bracing

and with the roof cut out

Paul

Looks Good

 

By the way gutsy move putting it on the rotisserie with out any bracing

and with the roof cut out

 

Paul

Yeah i bought it that way, all measured up fine in the end. Roof skin itself doesn't really give any support and the pillars, roof frame, gearbox mount were all still in place so flex/distortion wasn't and hasn't been an issue.

Looks good Tai.......and very familiar! Keep at it mate.