A Lime 240Z spruce up

[WA240Z]

Hello all,

 

Too hot for anything outside today so thought I might upload a couple of photos the end result of work completed over the past six months. As some of you may know I have had this car for 22 years now and in the family for 25 years, my father actually gave it to me for my 21st Birthday . During this time the car has only received very regular general maintenance, while been driven for weekend blasts and the odd weekend away. The car only still has 65,000 genuine miles on the clock.  So the time had come to give the old girl a bit love. First thing was to have the chassis floor rails replaced. Nat0 in SA supplied me a set that goes back to rear sub frame. Photos in his post. I had these fitted by a young guy in WA called Martin Fadelli. He has started his own restoration business called Fadelli Restorations. While there he also repaired:

 

The guards where mud flaps had been fitted at one stage,

A small rust piece, 50mm, in the lower front guard, I think an earlier damage repair not completed properly..

Some small surface rust in the rear hatch area, around 10mm.

Small rust spot at base of windscreen. Leaking rubber.

Filled mounting holes for the old plastic headlight covers.

Prepared the sills and front air dam to be painted body colour.

Ground back under body sound deadening and coated in body colour Upol.

Replaced windscreen and all body rubbers.

 

All of the work was completed very professionally. This guy is not a "fill it with bog" back yarder. All work was done correctly. It really is fantastic to see this level of work being undertaken by a new young guy. He trained under one of Perth's premier restoration guys. I can not recommend Fadelli Restorations enough for anyone in Perth.

 

The straight forward paint work was completed next door at a panel shop. The fresh paint on the sills and guards was blended into the rest of the car with clear. The completed job is fantastic. The car had been repainted sometime before our ownership, 25 plus years ago, and to date there has not been one imperfection come out. So I am quite confidante the sub surface must be in good condition.

 

Next job was the suspension, and after much discussion, I decided on the the old tried and true setup of lowered King springs, Koni adjustable yellow shocks, and whiteline bushing. All components was supplied and setup was completed by Wilkinson's Suspension. I cant speak highly enough of the team there. They are extremely helpful and understanding. While I had the the rear suspension out at home for the fitting of new setup I had all the components sand blasted and powder coated satin black. I also had all the nuts and bolts either replaced or re-zinc plated. I left the front cross members and control arms with only a very good clean up for now, I was running behind schedule to have the car finished for the WA Z car club show day. I will do these as I did the rear when I pull the engine out for its birthday. I am very happy with this set up. The car handles beautifully, and the ride is not harsh or crashing in anyway. Next test for it will be a few sprints this year on track.

 

The car was always too busy, kind of '80s dress up, so all of the bump strips and crap are gone now along with the hideous big black mirrors. I replaced these with '60s style bullet door mirrors. They look the part but really are pretty use less as a mirror. But hey that's a small price to pay.

 

Finally on the outside cosmetic and handling front I purchased 15 x 7 Konig rewind wheels from the states and had them fitted with 205/60 15 Dunlop Z1 Star Spec tires.

 

The interior has always been in pretty good shape, though I purchased replacement plastic sections from the US. The old sections particularly around the rear quarter windows are starting to crack a little as they are egg shell brittle. So these are being replaced. I am also currently making up my own set of replacement carpets for the whole car. Seats and diamond vinyl are still in excellent nick. I am still searching for a replacement center console though. Thought I had one a week ago on ebay, I was out played at the last moment. Bugger the hunt continues.

 

Any way enough text. I attached a before and a few after pics of how the car looks now. I think an improvement, I am really loving how the old girl has come up. One of them is from the WA Z car show day late last year, where I was absolutely stoked to have picked up the peoples choice award.

 

Next is to work on some more HP to match the cars handling and appearance. Will be staying with the original L24, but still thinking about details while I save up a few pennies for the work.

 

Cheers Guys.

 

 

 

 

 

[WA240Z]

The after shots.

 

Last one at the show was before I had fitted the new suspension components in the front, the reason it looks high in the front.

[cracker]

Looks fantastic! Well done

[Mikey]

Well done mate..

That's a great looking z..

[gav240z]

Amazing what some small changes can do for the look of the car over all. Although personally I don't think you need the front spoiler on it, would be fine with the standard valance piece also.

 

Great that you've had the car for so long now. Would be hard to let go of such a car with so much history in it.

[Zedman240®]

I think a nice set of triples so the sound will match the looks of your Zed!

[acf321]

Wow Billy, the car looks and sounds amazing. Like you, i'm also extremely pleased with the Koni Yellows and King springs and can't think of a better handling setup i'd use for the road. Have heard of others with coilovers and so on that are just not suited to road use. Dimitri's comments echoed here too, but then you already heard me say that!

 

Well done, its a beauty.

 

Adam

- The Brown Hornet -

[WA240Z]

Cheers for the comments guys.

 

Gav, yes this one isn't going anywhere. I would like to think it will always stay within the family.

 

Yes some nice induction sounds is very much required.

[datberger]

Very nice car you have there.  I must admit I voted for it at the Zed day - it is a very striking colour.

[MyEnquiringMind]

beautiful car mate... congratulations are in order...

 

Cheers, Jarrod.

[nat0_240_chevZ]

Very nice billy,

Glad some of my parts helped you to continue the life a much loved family relic.

cars mean so much more with even a lil history.

She looks very sleek, love this colour, love the stance/wheels etc.

cheers Nat0

 

[JDM_240z]

The wheels and the amount you lowered look absolutely perfect on that car, well done

[WA240Z]

Well 12 months on, and what do you know I have finally finished the interior. Basically just the carpet and the all elusive center console. The carpet I had customer cut from quality German loop pile using my old carpets as a template. My Buddy Adam had this completed in Sydney while having a set cut for the Brown Hornet at the same time.

 

As I had the chassis rails replaced I had to remove the old sound deadening, I replaced this with Dynamat. To replicate the OEM rubber type liner under the carpet I used 3mm Dynaliner, and then had the edges over-locker stitched similar to OEM.

 

I finally came across a 72-73 center console in fantastic condition advertised on the this site, thanks Geoff. This was to replace the modified 260 console in the car before we owned it, finally the interior looks the way its meant to. I still just need to get the small plastic badge/decal for in front of the ash tray. I have a set of luggage straps as well, I just need to get the steel re-plated and will replace the old faded straps with new ones.

 

Anyway here are a couple of pics how it has all come up.

 

Cheers Billy.

[Riceburner]

Such a nice car and that color has to be one of the best on a 240z 

[zzzzed]

I hate seeing lime yellow zeds now I don't have one any more :'(

Nice work mate.

[WA240Z]

Its a public holiday here in Perth today so thought I would take a couple of photos and update you all on what I have been doing with the old girl over the past 6-8 months. 
 

As the rest of the car has been shown the love over the past few years it was the engines time for a bit TLC. As my goal was to keep the car relatively factory original along with period modifications, basically a factory hotty, I have stayed with the car's original little L24. So out with the engine and over to Sydney it went to James and Brett at MIA. I also managed to hunt down an elusive E88 closed chamber, kidney shaped, cylinder head. The boys at MIA completed a full engine rebuild, bore 0.5mm, headwork, bigger valves, hot cam etc. James also supplied a period mallory twin point distributor and upgraded to electronic ignition. I purchased a set of Stuart Wilkins headers and had them ceramic coated.

 

 

While this was all happening with the engine out it was the perfect time to restore the engine bay. So I stripped the engine bay of everything and sent the car to Fadelli Restorations again. Martin sand blasted the engine bay to make sure there wasn't any hidden gremlins, I was pretty confident there wouldn't be, and no rust or previous damage was found. So then he had his spray painter finish the engine bay off with a nice shade of lime,112, paint. Back to my place I re-fitted all the engine bay hardware, I had all the steel work re-plated, and installed the engine and gearbox. I ran the engine in using the old hitachi's, headers and exhaust. The engine had just so much torque, and life about it, I couldn't be happier with the result James and Brett have delivered.

 

In the mean time, to top my hot little engine off, I sourced a complete set of Mikuni 44's along with an original Nissan Motorsports inlet manifold. These unfortunately took the best part of 6 months to get to me, but at least I have them now. So on these went along with a new 2.5" mandrel SS exhaust and heat shielding. And the result, absolutely bloody fantastic. I swear the 44's are like driving with fuel injection, and the sound of the whole package is wonderful. I have read for years some people saying that 44's and 2.5" exhaust are too large for a little L24, I think these comments must have all been made by people who haven't experienced a professionally built and prepared package.

I fitted a wide band A/F ratio meter to help dial the carbs in before having the engine dyno tuned, its running a bit rich still even after a couple jet changes, so I have some more jets on their way and once here will get the car on the Dyno to be tuned properly.

To complete my factory look I did a cut a shut on a couple of 240Z air boxes along with a cold air induction setup. I think its come up pretty good. I am really interested to see the difference in horse power between just ram tubes and my modified factory air box.  So a couple of pics as it all sits now.

 

[Cozza]

Fantastic, James & Brett do a great job and are so easy to work with. I've had a good experience with them too.

Nice job on the air box, I have thought of doing the same thing.

Are you running an air cleaner and ram tubes?

More pics of the inside would be great.

Cheers

Mick

[gav240z]

Yes love the airbox also, looks fantastic. I'd be interested in what you are using for filters and how you cut the inner plate(s) for the Triples. Are you still running air horns on the triples?

 

How is the sound with the airbox on? Still get that nice induction noise?

 

Oh and where did you source that airbox clip?

[WA240Z]

I have 25mm ram tubes on the carbs and use two K&N 240Z replacement filters, cut and glued together. Ideally I will source some better flowing full radius ram tubes, probably about 30-35mm in length. When I get the extra jets and get the car onto a dyno I will get a true indication how well this modified air box works or is a to restriction of performance. As far as sound, with the air box the induction sound is of course muffled to some degree, but at idle you get to hear that sweet high compression ping in the extractors. 

 

The mounting plate was very straight forward cut from 2mm sheet steel in a long oval to match the radius of the back of the original air box. Then just marked out the centers and chamber breather holes, used hole saw and file finish for the throats and drill and file for the breather holes. I cut one air box in half and used the centre section out of the second air box. This meant two joins rather than using 2/3 of each air box which would have meant only one join. This way it is symmetrical but a real pain in the neck for my poor fabricator at work to keep the whole thing square and true while welding the three cover sections together. He must of used 12 clamps to hold down on a true surface while welding. The pattern at the front lines up pretty good. And I used the original air box wing nut screws, just relocated.

 

The clip, that was easy, its just a couple of suit case clips I bought from bunnings and then I bent coat hanger wire for the wire part that goes behind the back side of the air box. Then had them plated in the gold colour.

 

Oh, and if your interested in the air box colour its powder coated, Coats Hire Orange.

[Sirpent]

Fantastic result and modification on the air box

[PB260Z]

Hi Mate

 

Great progress. I love the airbox and have been waiting to see someone do something along those lines.

 

 

Cheers

 

PB

[WA240Z]

Thanks guys, for those who asked here is a photo showing the back plate.

 

[GK510]

Looks great all round. I can only hope to get my car to a similar standard one day.

 

Hopefully I get to see it in the flesh on the streets of Perth.

[d3c0y]

In reference to your earlier post (and I'm no expert), but pretty sure you are loosing some HP through the lack of volume in that airbox with 44s behind it. In addition to that your really short velocity stacks will be costing your some torque.

[gav240z]

I also managed to hunt down an elusive E88 closed chamber, kidney shaped, cylinder head.

Is that head from an R30 skyline? The EFI version of the E88? If so we can add it to the reference guide here.

http://www.viczcar.com/forum/topic/4286-overview-of-l6-engine-heads/