Andrew's 240Z, Sydney Australia

[240Z_au]

Hello everyone. Thought to share with other Z owners my latest project. I have owned 240's since I was 17 y.o, I'm in my 40's now. I bough this car on ebay about 3.5 years ago.





It was a site unseen from country Vic. owner who had the car stored in a shed for 5 years, this was after buying the car from a friend of his only a year earlier, the friend had it stored for 11 years prior. (combined 16 years in storage). In the last 3.5 years I drove my Z occasionally with  group of Z owners here in Sydney and on some selected weekends.



Late last year, I took the car on a 7000 km drive (in 6 days) in the outback. This was a very first drive of this kind for me in a very old car.



The car is a 1973 build. For the last 3.5 years I slowly worked on what I though needed attention at the time, there was a small oil leak from the rear seal, which encouraged me to drop the entire gearbox and recondition all of the synchros and put a new clutch and a lightened fly wheel . I have also replaced shock absorbers (adjustable koni) as well as fuel pump, all of the engine seals and gaskets (still running original L24).  Earlier this year I decided to tidy the interior up and bring it up to its original look. I've replaced all carpets, vinyls and re-trimmed seats. Everything on the car was in a reasonable condition, but I really wanted to have a very clean looking Z with as much of the original character of the car left over as possible (not looking for pure originality per say, just clean, tidy, period look with everything in great shape, working and without any obvious signs of things being worn out). I will post some pictures of my rebuild progress as I go along. This time I'm looking to change the color of the car (wont do the engine bay just yet as I know when I decide to pull the engine out it will be a mater of months before I get it back on the road and I will want to place a high level of detail, replacing or renewing all of the tired looking plastics, rubbers and coatings.

On Friday I decided to get the car ready for the paint shop. As the panels have been removed, the condition of the car is nothing short of remarkable in terms of the metal panels and the lack of any rust. Having owned several 240Z's, I was aware of the usual trouble spots, but this car as can be seen below has literally no rust.



Above, my 240Z getting stripped yesterday among some notable exotics, I've been hooked on 240's since my late teens and my very first car was a black 240Z, thinking going black again, but I know the pain of the dark colour, so haven't decided on the final colour yet.

[acf321]

G'day Andrew

Welcome to the forum, your car looks fantastic. Would love to see it in person, so if you're about any time at the weekend/s drop me a PM and I can come and have a look.

Doing that trip looks a hoot, how did she go, and what sort of fuel consumption did she give you? Did you use Yellow Koni's that are externally adjustable, or the red's? I am planning on getting a set, so would be interested in your experience.

This is a great forum, that you'll get a lot from.

Enjoy it, and well done on saving another great 240Z.

Cheers

Adam
The Brown Hornet

[chris240]

welcome. 
1st question....whos workshop is that !!!    you could buy 128 zeds for the price of those exotics 

[gav240z]

Awesome car Andrew I love it. I think I recall when it was for sale on eBay.

Looks very tidy as you mentioned and just needs a refresh. I particularly like this photo:



I know there was discussion of a cannonball run, not sure how things are progressing with that, but I'd like to drive a 240z through outback Australia. Although I imagine it wasn't an air-conditioned palace and it can get quite hot in a 240z. I recall driving my 240z on a 40 degree day in Melbourne and absolutely roasting. Had the windows down and was on the freeway going at 100 km/h and just recall the heat on my face being like a blow dryer ahaha.

Was the car originally red from the factory? Sure looks like it was.

[240Z_au]

Adam. The drive was the best thing I have done with a car for a while. One notable experience was pulling over at a road house about 100km's from Tennants Creek. I was told that TC is a "black fellas town" and that I was mad to drive there at night and park anywhere (threats of seeing my car burned out or on bricks in the morning). Happy to report the car was not burned or stolen, and TC is not as bad as the road house would make you believe, drinking with locals in a pubs in the middle of no where was a hoot. A friend of mine (964 Porsche Turbo) and I ware told that we look like we came "out of space". There ware places where the local teenagers have never seen a 2 door car (mostly 4WD's anyway), let alone a vintage Japanese red sports car. I did not measure fuel consumption, carried 2 x 20l fuel cells with me, but only had to use one once. I was getting somewhere between 400-500 km per tank, although in N.T. pushing the car along at a higher then 'normal' pace, increased consumption drastically. (I don't encourage or condone speeding on public roads, but I can confirm the 240 is a genuine 200km/h car IF the GPS system and following car are to be believed.)  The shocks are yellow KONI adjustable from top. The difference was huge. Car sits flat, corners beautifully (King springs). I have it set on medium and all works very well as I tend to drive on a sporty side (own and race other cars).





In terms of the workshop, I own it, my guys work mainly on European cars, my 240Z is an exception and for a good reason!.

[garvice]

Welcome mate, very interested in the build and subscribing to see how it comes along.

[wildy55]

Hey Andrew
Looks like Zs are on a roll here in Sydney (and red ones at that). Where abouts are you? I'm Northern Beaches and use my '72 daily. Be good to meet and swap ideas?
Cheers
Martin

[Brabham]

Hey Andrew,

awesome looking zed and amazing condition, excellent find. Good to see that there are more Sydney zeds coming out of the woodwork, I almost thought they had all gone to Melbourne. . Where are you in Sydney? I would be keen to catch up with you and Adam sometime. Cheers.

[gav240z]

I was just reading about the Ferrari F40 crash in outback Australia a few days ago. Decided to look this up based on your photo.

http://www.deseretnews.com/article/354912/FIERY-CRASH-LEAVES-4-DEAD-IN-AUSTRALIAS-CANNONBALL-RUN.html

[GL240GTR]

 Hi Andrew, Looks like a fantastic trip, us Victorians go down to Tassie every second year and do a lap around the Island in about one week. your car looks very original and in good condition. I love those photos to. Cheers.

[240Z_au]

Thank you All for your kind words and the enthusiasm. I'm up for a meet with other owners when the car becomes one piece again (this may take a little while). If there are any opportunities to meet up in or around Sydney I can always join if cars other then the Datsun's are allowed. I'm still contemplating the colour change for this 240. I will post some more pics tomorrow of the strip.

Meanwhile, some additional pics from the trip as few have asked. I'm open to any future trip suggestions.


Coober Peddy


Outback drive in the Z


I did not wash the car for the entire trip, but the red duco still looks clean next to the muddy 4WD's


Extra fuel does come handy on a trip like this.


Outback sunsets are something else.

Oh, news just in (had to post online to get a response). My new Watanabe's are ALMOST there (waiting fr 4 months now!)

---------------------------
Hi Andrew,
 
First of all I would like to apologize and I'm very sorry if I haven't been able to answer your email for the past few days. I just got back home today here in Alameda from our warehouse in LA as the container from japan has arrived for this month at the port a couple of weeks ago and have to handle all the release of parcels and deliveries. Once again I sincerely apologize if I haven’t responded to your emails for a while, just been very busy lately.
 
As for your wheels Andrew I also got a call from the watanabe factory in tokyo last week and said that your wheels have just finished the final stage of polishing the barrel-lip this past week. They did 3 stages of lip polishing they said to totally remove the grainy finish residue made from its sand-casting process. All 4 wheels' spokes are now painted in dull matte black and will be packed and ready to ship by next week according to the dispatching department. You should be receiving this soon. Your package will be in 2 boxes to be sent thru EMS air to the address that was indicated on your paypal. They said they will be forwarding to me your package tracking number as soon as it's released by next week.
 
Just a little more wait Andrew and I'm sure by the time you see your wheels all the waiting would be worth it. Once I receive the tracking number within the week I'll forward it to you immediately so you can also monitor your package. If you need to reach me my contact details are below. Many thanks.
 
Best regards,

-----------------

[240Z_au]

OK, My 240 went off to the paint shop on the truck this morning. I think I've decided on the final colour, its going to be red again, but much deeper. I wont say I've decided on a final shade, but I think red will stay.

[acf321]

Hi Andrew,

I think staying roughly the same colour is a good idea, especially with red too, a colour thats very hard to beat on a 240Z. For what its worth, I think the best red on the market now is that used by Honda on their brand new range. I've seen it on an accord Euro and a Jazz, and its definitely a darker hue than your typical bright red car, and looks very smart in the flesh. I'd say its got a bit of a blood colour to it. Probably reasonably accessible too, being a Honda colour. Have a look for yourself, its very nice.

Good luck with the final decision anyway.

Adam.

[GV260]

Nice clean Z. For what it's worth Andrew, if you're not modifying the car then keep it in the original red (http://zhome.com/History/ZColorGallary/index.html). Either way I'm sure you'll have the best duco going around when its done!

Where abouts in country Vic did you buy the car?

[240Z_au]

Hello again. Have been busy with life and away in Europe for the last 6 weeks, so has been hard to catch up on all things 'Z'. I visited my painter today and I was blown away with the end result. After close inspection I was able to pick 3 fine dust spots, but that will be buffed out shortly. The entire car is so straight!. I'm scared to ask how many hours of work it took for the car to be as it is. I really pressed upon the panel guys that I did not want to see any bumps, orange peel, ripples (I see them on many older cars where the panels just don't look 100% flat) and wanted the car to look as new from the panel perspective. Colour you ask?..Well, I did think about this on and off and was swaying toward a black (my other 240Z I never quite got into showroom condition, but my very original and first 240Z I owned at 17 years of age).  I also considered burned orange from a Porsche GT3 RS. At the end I decided to go for red when a friend pulled up in his F360 next to my 240. The painter added some additional spice and the result is just what I wanted even though I did not see the final colour blend when I was away in Europe. The car will be towed back to my place on Friday. I will take some pictures and post. Now I'm getting anxious about placing some of the old parts back on, I don't want to be overly pedantic, but some new rubbers, trims and chrome bits are definitively on the cards.