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Andrew's 240Z, Sydney Australia

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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.  :D
1st question....whos workshop is that !!!  :o  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!.

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