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Lurch’s ‘Early Girl’ 240Z!


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If you still have an R180 I recommend the Torsen LSD's they are great!

The R180 in it atm, it's the original unit that's done over 250,000 miles - I don't particularly want to kill it on the track!

I have a 3.9 R200 I'm going to build up that will go in it ;)

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Lurch, why go to the R200??? The extra weight is a killer for bugger all strength.

 

I have used R180's in my 240, just weld them up and away I go, haven't broken one yet in about 10 seasons of hard racing. The only time I had one fail was when a customer tipped it over emptying the oil when it was on the floor waiting to be put in, even then it did 10 laps of Amaroo Park before it let go!!!!!

 

If you want a 3.9 diff I have a 3.9 R180 open diff you can have, just need to get it Melbourne from brisbane, I'm sure Jason will find room when he runs at Sandown. You just need to get a LSD centre to go with it, or for track only weld it up.

 

The other advantage is cost, the most I have had to pay for an R180 has been $150 and that included being couriered to Brisbane from country victoria. There also seems to be a better variety of ratios readily available compared to the R200, I have 3.9, 4.1, 4.6 and 4.9 diffs.

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Thanks Peter - yeah I got down to a 1:33.5 which isn't bad for a stock(ish) 240!

What time is Noel down to?

 

Back to the topic at hand:

At Sandown we decided to take the 280ZX airbox off & try & free up some more ponies - which was a mistake :(

It's turned out it's not a manifold gasket, but a head gasket :(  :-[

We took the giant 280ZX air-box off before my 4th run and it's must have lessened the restriction (= more air) leaned the poor girl out = the h/gasket let go due to lean detonation.

Guess you have to be careful when your running 48deg of full advance...  :o

 

I'll whip the head off tomorrow night & get it all checked out.

Time for a competition head gasket & some ARP studs & fasteners...!

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Well I got the head off tonight (no damage other than the stuffed gasket) and it's going in for reco'ing tomorrow.

I call that freshen up, an 'upgrade'! ;D

Cam is stamped '6D198' - anyone recognise the style of stamping?

 

I also have a 'High Energy' pod filer to go on - once I get the rest of the plumbing & ducting sorted.

Then it's onto building the new 2.5" exhaust system, once it's running again ;D

That a quick retune... ::)

 

Hopefully I'll be ready for P.I. on the 29th of August...

 

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Anyone who attended the John Mott at Sandown & saw me compete would have noticed the new addition to the Zed...

 

P1030009.jpg

 

P1030008.jpg

 

At least half of my OEM gauges are not reading correctly & the cost to get them rebuilt was... well not cheap!

So for a few hundred $ more I bought this digital race dash with a GPS unit for lap timing.

It has loads of functions & it more accurate than a OEM gauge (even in good nick) could ever hope to be.

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Well the 'early girl' is running again :) Many thanks to Peter Mac for the head gasket, as for some reason I had the wrong one  ::)

And the gasket is now clamped by ARP head studs, so it shouldn't be going anywhere...!

 

I also decided to remove the 280ZX airbox that was bolted to the front of the radiator (as it was restricting airflow to the radiator & engine),

and make & fit a new 3" intake pipe with HI pod filter.

 

25072010353.jpg

 

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And this is what happens when you run a lot of engine timing & remove a restictive airbox from the intake tract:

 

25072010355.jpg

Instant lean-out & detonation = bye-bye h/gasket :(

 

This was not a totally bad thing to happen though as I decided to have the head checked over while it was off, & I'm was glad I did!

The reco included:

Repair of some water gallerys holes.

Chamber No4 had a crack in the roof(!) into a water gallery, which was repaired (I was wondering why it was slowly loosing water...)

Cooling system pressure check.

3 new valve guides.

Valve seats re-cut & Vaccume tested.

New valve stem seals.

Head surface.

 

:o

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I've just redone the tappets to the HOT setting & it feels really crisp thanks Mark :)

But as I'm yet to get the re-tune done I'm not going to give it a hard time, lest I pop the head gasket again...

The only way I'll get a 55 at the Island, Dimitri, is if I get a tow from Gordo in his GTR! :P

 

And stay tuned as over the coming week(s) I'll be building my own mild steel 2.5" mandrel exhaust...

 

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Very cool, reminds me of an F1 wheel with the shift lights, all you need is a mini diagram of the circut on there! What was the approx co$t if you don't mind saying...

Thanks Gareth :) PM Sent.

 

What are the inputs like for the speedo? Is it GPS based/mechanical driven/electrical driven?

There's 2 magnets glued to the tail shaft & and a sensor mounted to the body to pick the magnets up.

OR you can switch the dash over to pick up the GPS signal & get the road speed that way ;)

 

Why not stainless Lurch, sounds better?

Tim, one word for not using S/S: COST.

I should have this system built for less then $250 using mild steel.

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