RS30-00981 260Z 2 seater

It will take a while, and be very much one step at a time. We’re competent with mechanical things, can get by on electrical bits and pieces, but welding, body work, sheet metal fabrication, and spray painting we will be learning as we go!

Plan is an L26, manual, with some upgrades such as triple webbers, disc brake rear end, and maybe a Subaru A/C system. Yellow, with perhaps a body kit. 

So after lurking around here for a while now, we’re no longer an imposter because we actually own a Z car! Our second Datsun after the 1600. 
 

Cheers, Richard

Well im slowly making room for my new datsun project to start happening so figured would try and put up a build thread here.

Its a 76 2 seater automatic in need of some tlc. Wanting to take it back to original colour scheme of the blue outside white/cream inside.

But first to get it mechanically sorted enough for rego. Then maybe some bodywork or manual conversion.

After a wash if I can get it to start I think we are done, not that hard really.

• Suspension components – all parts
• Diff
• Tail shaft
• Grill
• Drum covers
• Removed panels

This actually took about 8 hours and the body we left to another day which was another 14 hours.
The body is extra labour intensive as the tar sound deadener and rust proofing on the under body actually needs to physically removed before the blasting as the granules of sand whether standard dry sand blasting or wet blasting will bounce off the tar rather than take if off – so out comes the vibrating scraper tool again – awesome for this hard task but it will still take you  12-15hours to remove the tar from the under body –kill me now. Also note the seam-sealer will also not blast off so if you want new seam sealer remove that also before blasting. Did I remove the seam sealer yes I did 90% of the time there was no rust under the seam sealer so not really worth it in my case but I guess it goes brittle at some point  so it might be the best to get out now.
 
I followed the dustless wet blasting with the POR-15 Marine Clean and then the POR -15  rust converter and which neutralizes rust and seals the panel with galvanized type of finish –both these process  (Marine Clean and  Metal Ready) use water so the whole process should work well the water based dustless blasting. The POR-15 systems will get very good penetration in to all the surfaces of the panels getting into the overlaps and creases  . I also invested in some of the Rust Bullet paint this kills of neutralizes rust as well – comes with a 10year guarantee in fact, and is the industry’s best rust treatment solution by all the supporting evidence I could find. I am going to use this stuff for all the area where you cant see or get into , chassis rails, seams, inside panels , structural pressings around bonnet and inside the frame of the rear lift back frame , rear lift back hinge cavity – basically anywhere rust could or could resurface. This stuff you can see visually removing rust with each application and it also seeps deep into the rust, fully neutralizing  - the POR-15 is similar but not a as aggressive what I mean by that great for areas that you get to remove most of the offending loose rust – but for areas where you can’t the Rust Bullet is more effective and is also backed with warranty!! On all the body work inside and out all the suspension parts, driveline I used the KBS rust sealer and the the engine bay rear boot space and the underbody the KBS body seal – I can only go application not on time being the true test - but for the money the KBS is great stuff works well and easy source and half the price .
 
The sunroof delete has been a considerable source of contemplation I read everything on the forum and studied anything else I could find on the net. At one point I decided I was going heat form some 8mm thick arylic/Perspex to the shape of the roof and make insert to plug the hole. End result would have been moon roof .I was thinking of going this way because I am 6ft 2 and having the feel of more space with a sunroof and a fixed moon roof does not reduce the height of the roof line, this appealed to me, the hole is also larger than normal being a slide back is larger with nice curved corners so it will look good with tinted roof flush fitted acrylic insert. But I did a crazy amount of research on this and I found out that Perspex would expand maybe 5mm to 8mm possibly with the size I had to fill - which means you have to sit shaped pane of Perspex on a reassessed shelf with 5mm bed of silicon with 10mm silicon track around the whole Perspex’s roof to absorb the expansion from the heating on a hot day. So the idea of all this movement on a fragile roof skin made me abandon the idea. Now I am going to weld in the original sunroof blank and put this to rest.
 
P-A-I-N-T  originally I was going to keep the original Light blue its classic yes! but I wanted something a bit more muscle car and vibrant. I started to look at all the wild green options in the end after much contemplation and looking at and imagining the z in this colour for some time – 12months of seeing it that way - I settled on the
MOPAR colour PFB SUBLIME GREEN METALLIC #5163154AA 
 
 

 
 
The sunroof delete
Plan to weld in the original drop down and slide back sunroof blank.
To do this by welding in inner lip around the inside of the sunroof hole, this would make it much easier to get the sunroof blank to fit at the correct level to existing roof line and also put metal around the edge to absorb the heat from welding and this would reinforce the hole in the roof line .
So for these lip parts I was able to use the strengthening bracket which where folded into the edge of the existing sun roof blank this. These brackets are already shaped to the curve of the roof line and are quite strong.
I got these welded in top place no problem front and back was fne and the sides to took a lot more fiddeling around because the side need more spacing to match the roof line
 
 
 
In regards to Tyre/  Wheel Sizes - From what I can ascertain these are probably the biggest tyres that I can fit under standard rolled guards with MCA coil overs installed – I am giving you the tyre/wheel size just in case you think is worth changing the diff ratio?
 
I plan to run in these in the future:
·         16 x 7 (4mm offset) with 225/50 on the front – with Toyo R1R Tyres – Mags Made by Rota, RB model
·         16 x 8 (4mm offset) with 245/45 on the rear – with Toyo R1R Tyres  – Mags Made by Rota, RB model
 
Will run the stock Alloy Mag Wheels (supplied with the car) five slotter kidney Bean until I have the budget to get the bigger wheels mentioned above. Stock wheel measurement are as follows
 
·         14 x 6 (10mm offset) with 215/65  on the Front – with Bridgestone RE92 tyre - Mags 5 slot Kidney made in Aust. Samson Brand
·         14 x 6  on the Rear (10mm offset with 225/65 on the Rear – with Bridgestone RE92 tyre - Mags 5 slot Kidney made in Aust. Samson Brand
 
With the help of wheel calculator it says that there is minimal difference in the diameter is I go with this set up 67mm less circumference with the new wheel set up if the calculator is right.
 
Front EXISTING
front NEW
Diameter
635.1mm
631.4mm
Circumference
1995.2mm
1983.6mm
Poke
66.2mm
84.9mm
Inset
86.2mm
92.9mm
Speedo error
0%
0.59%
Reading at 30mph
30mph
30.18mph
Reading at 60mph
60mph
60.35mph
Ride height gain
0mm
-1.85mm
Arch gap loss
0mm
-1.85mm
Compared to your existing wheel, this new wheel will have an inner rim which is 6.7mm closer to the suspension strut. The outer rim will poke out 18.7mm more than before.
 
 
EXISTING
NEW
Diameter
648.1mm
626.9mm
Circumference
2036.1mm
1969.5mm
Poke
66.2mm
97.6mm
Inset
86.2mm
105.6mm
Speedo error
0%
3.38%
Reading at 30mph
30mph
31.01mph
Reading at 60mph
60mph
62.03mph
Ride height gain
0mm
-10.6mm
Arch gap loss
0mm
-10.6mm
   
Compared to your existing wheel, this new wheel will have an inner rim which is                                                            19.4mm closer to the suspension strut. The outer rim will poke out 31.4mm more than before.

HS30-100650 - Matching numbered L24 with original E88 head. Original 5 speed manual gearbox. 11/72 Date stamped spare wheel TOPY and same date stamped on seat base. 

The dream: As much as i'd love to do a mid 80's/90's Japan FairladyZ ZG build, i've decided to do a complete OEM restoration - as if the car drove off the assembly line and straight into my garage. This means original TOPY wheels, hub caps, exhaust etc. The only difference my car will have will be a completely body colour painted underbody. The car will be going back to its original 901 Silver paint in due time. 

The car was originally Metallic silver - I assume once it had its front end accident, one of the previous owners decided to paint it green. It was painted green everywhere except for the interior (underneath carpets/trims etc)

I knew about this particular Z for over 10 years. Everytime i met with its former owner, i would hassle him about buying it - until one day the message came that he was ready to let it. It sat idle in one spot for over 24 years until i got to save her.  

Shady past: After getting it back to my storage yard (House was being built) I took off the front end panels to see what i was working with. Right away it's past accident history pops up. It has what seems to be a 260Z front end from the firewall forward. So this would need to all come off, be repaired, and be refitted. Lucky for me, whoever "welded" the front on from the firewall forward had simply stitch welded it quiet poorly which meant that if i was careful enough, i could simply grind away the stitch welds and the panels would be like new. (no need to drill out spotwelds, which means i can refit it using a proper spot welding machine, giving me the OEM spotweld look). I did do that, and it came off really easily - literally an hour's work.

Pictures tell a thousand words so i will let them do the talking mostly. 

A few months later, new house is built and the strip down can commence. (Aug 2021). I did find another pair of guards in the mean time to replace my rusty 260Z ones with - but i have since found mint examples since then. 

\

It did not take long at all the make the car a complete bare shell. Alot of cross bracing was added to the car to make it structurally rigid whilst it was being repaired. I'm sure you all know how much metal these car's dont have, so this is extremely crucial when removing majority of the bodies rigidity. 

Once it was all finished, this is what I was left with. Not much of a 240 left! 

The car got sandblasted and left in Epoxy primer - once the car is all back together, it'll be sandblasted again and put in a few coat of Epoxy primer again. 

Repairs commenced! Both rear wheel arches with lower inner dog legs repaired. 

Rear roof frame gutter area's needed attention. But from what i've seen, this is not too bad around there. 

These lower gutter A pillar spots were very rusty on both sides. 

I had Lachlan F make me up some rain gutters for both sides, i then replicated the inner piece and welded it into the car. 

The windshield lower cowel piece was completely gone. Had to reproduce this.

  Still need to remake the wiper motor mount but that'll be pretty easy. 

The floors were completely gone too, so new KFvintage ones are now in.

Now for those who like long stories:

As most people with the Z bug, I never actually stopped looking for another Z, preferably 2-seater (most have always been out of my budget), or if the right 2+2 appeared, I would still be happy, but this was not at the front of my mind during 2020. We all know prices started to creep up, and then we got of lockdown for the summer, I started paying more attention! April 2021 came around, an orange 260z appeared on Facebook for $40k I believe, but sold the same day. It was that day the wife and I discussed a budget should something like that appear on the market again. The seller also had a white 2+2 for sale as well, so I thought I'd go have a look. Not my thing, but he had another 2-seater, but as I umm'd & ahhh'd, it sold later that day. DOH!

After chatting with Gavin, I decided to put a wanted ad on facebook and gumtree with a budget of $40k for a Z I could essentially hop in and drive. A couple of projects, some rust buckets and a couple of Zs for $70-90k.

Then one guy just NW of Melbourne,  messaged me and said lets talk. I have a white 260z (originally silver) with a 4.4L V8 from a Leyland P76, Supra 5-speed (W58), R180 diff (assuming OEM 3.7), he sent me some pictures and had a decent price range around my budget. I was a bit snobbish about the idea of the motor, and we also just went into yet another lockdown, so I kept the conversation open and said we will organise inspection after lockdown. He said no worries, I am not in a rush, and I am not going to list it. He wasnt even looking to sell it, but saw my wanted ad, I guess they work. I message him early December to see if he still wanted to sell, and he said he will let me know in a couple of weeks, so I reached out again and he gave me a non-negotioable price under my budget. Sweet!
Organised to go have a look at it with the Z Godfather, and to both our surprise, the body was in very good condition and barely modified to fit the motor, and currently on club permit with the motor. We agreed on price, and said he will hold it until I am ready to collect it. 

January came around, picked up the car and took it to a mechanic, who said it wouldnt be an issue with the motor regarding the RWC, he would give me a list of things I needed to fix, and he also got the carbie sorted, so she starts up first time. Then the fun started, he did some work on the motor and the carbie, got it running, then tells me he wont give me a RWC without an engineers cert. (Car has previously been registered and on CPS with this motor, so not really his concern).

Off to another mechanic, and the list of things to fix was relatively small compared to what I was expecting. 
- drivers side seatbelt freyed
- door rubbers
- tires cracked
- bonnet safety catch missing
- gearbox mount hitting metal
- engine mounts to be replaced (standard 260z mounts)
- exhaust too close to the steering arm (less than 15mm, could cause binding)
- headlights not working (headlight switch and also loose connection at drivers side headlight)

(The Japanese Torana)

I have been lurking around these forums for a while now and dreaming of owning a classic z for quite a few years. Anyway I will cut to the chase, I'm 17 and I have just sealed the deal (putting a deposit down tonight  ) for my very first car which is a questionably purple 260z 2+2

It is currently unregistered and a fair way off being roadworthy. I have fairly basic mechanical know-how however I have a few connections. I currently have no other plans other then to get this beauty on the road.

It is defiantly a project and there is most certainly allot more then meets the eye with this car especially as these photos were taken around 2010.

Anyways, there will be more when I get her home 

Also, I understand that the paint is disgusting and who knows what was going through the pre-pre owner's head haha

She's a bit rusty.

OK, a lot rusty!

In fact it might be extremely costly to save her.

But there is hope! For where there was once life...

...there can be life once again.

That is if I replace every part here.

And every part here.

I'm sure I can afford to replace everything in this photo.

If I step on this it will just go away. Problem solved.

I don't need to worry about this section - if I try real hard I can always just stare forward.

But what is this! A donor car!? That's only half rusted...

It is possible we just might hear this engine sing again...

And this body roll with pride again...

And this plate shine again...

For her 50th birthday.

Been wanting to get the build thread on the Z for a while now and finally the time has come.

Currently White 73 240z unfortunately Auto with a L24 engine. New plans are to strip the engine and the 3 speed out and slip in a L28 with a L28 5speed.

The flairs are definitely going to be taken off and if needed replace the inner and outer guards. Interior will get replaced with a new kit from the U S and A and I'm replacing the Recaro seats back to factory seats. I recently purchased some seat covers that will need to get put on the stock seats I have.

Colour I'm still not sure if I should stick to a off white or head down the 918 orange path. Both will look nice but I'm not 100% on this one.

Just thought I would share.

I last year bought a rusted 1970 240z  roller they had also came with an L28 that was mated to i think a 4spd Auto. I had always planned to go down an RB route but couldnt get started till now. So here I am now

So anyways, Ive got a bit of a project a head of me but prior to placing it onto rotisserie and sending it off to the blasters, I wanted to mock fit the RB26 and new r34 GTT Gearbox into the car first to see how everything fits and check if anything needed to be modified within the tunnel as I was told engineers could become quiet difficult and picky once the tunnel has been modified. RB needs to come back out anyways as i will require a rebuild.

I purchased the swap kit from CX Racing. LINK: https://www.cxracing.com/ESK-OP-RB26-240Z

- Oil Pan

- Oil Pick Up

- Engine Mounts

- Transmission Mount

So everything arrived by the 2nd week of January (mainly waiting on the RB from Japan).

First off, L28 engine+ Auto comes out.

The original oil pan bolts are too short to fit through the new oil pan.

Ive got some M6 x 30mm bolts to mock fit the sump on.

Then i mated the tranmission to the RB (Sandwich plate is not installed as I dont have one yet but im only mock fitting for now)

I noticed, there is still a small opening between at the bottom behind the oil pan into the bell housing. The original oil sump covered this area. Not sure on what to do here, either I make something to cover it up or look for a bracket. If anyone knows or can point me to the right direction that would be great!

Anyways, engine mount goes on.

Left side

Right Side

Also note. The original oil dip stick will need to be relocated as the oil pan is now towards the rear.

Here we goo!! (Got the wife helping  )

I gotta admit, this took me some time to get it all in, aligned and mounted properly.

Had to rest it on stands, adjust the chains and rotate it every so often to get it in place.

Left side

Right Side

Underneath

From the front

I do have concerns at the top where cam breathers are. Not sure if the bonnet would latch and shut properly so I'll give that a go over the weekend.

I might still be able to rejig the engine around as I have fully secured it all down yet.

Transmission mount plate with Nismo gearbox mount. It mounts directly up to the orginal braced mounting locations which is perfect for me

So yeah... that its from me for now. It will come back out very soon for sand blasting, panel work and paint.

If anyone has any pointers or things to look out for that would be greatly appreciated.

P.S experiences with engineering an RB in NSW would be greatly appreciated too!

Cheers!

Tim

So a bit of background, my son Matt was quite an accomplished driver through karting and then Formula Ford.  On our many trips across to Victoria from Adelaide, we would often talk about one day building his dream car.  One that we could both share the build, and also enjoy driving it after.  We looked off and on for a 240/260 2 seater for some years, and eventually this one popped up, and after road trip to Arrarat, it's ours.

The basic plan is a stock LS3, 4 speed T10+, roll cage, and upgraded suspension, brakes etc.  It will in the restomod theme, where it will remain cosmetically sympathetic to the original, but then upgraded for competition use underneath.

I have a couple of builds under my belt now, having just finished a 1960 Split Window Kombi, and prior to that a 750HP LSx454 into a 93 HSV Senator.  The idea of this build is for me to teach Matt as much as possible, as he really wants to be  very involved with the build.

We wont get started on it for some time, but at least we have the car.

This will be sorted by Lachlan of C.A.R. fame.

Along with the rust repair there will be a new 5 piece G-nose, reproduction headlight covers, fiberglass rear bumper and factory copy rear spoiler.

The Zed had a back to metal respray originally in 1990 (the only time mullets were fashionable), see pic of me in the car and mate with genuine mullets.

I'll hand you over to Lachlan to continue the minor rust repair journey...

After a little bit of a search, I have bought my 2 seater '75 260z! I am so friggen over the moon right now!!! Even now in its unkempt and unmodified appearance, it still looks bad ass. Can't wait til i start fixing it up a bit.

I got this car off a very nice guy in Frankston. It popped up on carsales a few weeks ago. He has been the owner for the past 15 years, and although it has been a little neglected, it is in not too bad shape. The dash is cracked, the interior needs an overhaul, it's in desperate need of new paint and there are a few rust spots, but apart from that, it's pretty good.

As he passed the keys over, he told me it probably needs a tune. Driving it around today, it is lumpy as fudge, just how I want it!!! The engine bay looks very clean, but I didn't get a pic, will do later.

Luckily just when I received my new toy, my girlfriend was around to take some pictures for me.

Someone somewhere along the line has lifted up the carpet, taken off that sticky shiver everyone hates, and put down what looks like a black rust treatment:

Rust near the fuel cap, the worst of only a couple of rust bubbles, I will attack it with righteous fury:

This is my happy face!

I'm looking at doing the following stuff. I'll mark things off as they get completed.

Get a roadworthy certificate within 28 days or my rego gets suspended - Done

Remove rear bumper and smooth over the holes

Sand back to primer or bare metal (undecided) and remove rust, based on the rust bubbles and poor previous paint job, maybe its best to go to bare metal?

New front bumper - Purchased

ZG Flares - Done

BRE Spoiler - Done

Airdam - Done

Paint in orange, with flares, front bumper, airdam, rear spoiler and tail light area in satin black - Done

Wheels - CCW 16x10.5 -32 rear 16x9.5 -19 front, 225 and 205/50R16 tyres - Done

Arizona Z Car coilover and camber plate conversion kit, low with camber on rear wheels - Obtained

s2000 seats - Done

Black Carpet - Done

Diamond Vinyl trim - Done

Reskin Dash - Done

Fix crack in centre console - Done (just bought a new one)

New badges - Done

Fendor Mirrors - Done

L28 conversion eventually, and other mechanical upgrades when I learn more about that stuff (I know jack all).

http://www.viczcar.com/forum/index.php/topic,12472.0.html

Basically just picked this car up from Sydney and drove it home (to Brisbane) on Saturday. Big trip but she made it. I've got plans for it but it's going to need a bit of work.

Rust is mostly restricted to surface rust, nothing really structural I've seen so far. Here are a few pics of the first inspection on her:

Hello everyone, my name is Captainofthezea  I figure now is a good time to actually put my project as a write up, as its been progressing since April 2019. (posts may be a touch choppy due to being previously posted through driftworks~!

Thank you all for joining me on this journey! ~

We picked up a 260Z 2+2 1976 after getting sick of newer cars, (despite still owning two) The car was pretty good from around a metre away, however when up close it was definitely not in the best condition. From the worn down interior and the lack of carpet(these cars have zero sound deadening as it is) to the rust in certain common and uncommon areas.

The car looked like it was resprayed prior although it also seemed like it was sandblasted.

Motor is a L series 2.8L with 240z Carbs and a 5 speed rebuild manual transmission.
So after the owner got literally spammed with around 200 odd messages, I managed to snag the offer!




L28 power and SU's!

Interior had a previously restored dash, however unfortunately for the rest of it...other than the wheel there wasn't much! Missing carpet and gearboot etc.

Since the vehicle was a factory auto prior, it has been converted to manual with a 5 speed "??" gearbox fairly certain was a 280zx.



Now since I had wanted one of these for so long and it was running and driving, I was torn as to what I wanted to do, should I refresh? Should I rotisserie? Should I do it on a budget? What is my budget? Should I stray away from the legendary L series? RB? JZ? yada..yada..yada.. endless!

I inspected a lot of the car to get an idea as to how bad the rust was and came to the conclusion that it was going to be a touch worse than when I originally inspected the vehicle.

just purchased this car from Adelaide flew over  on saturday and paid $2500 and drove it back to sydney

story so far

gearbox sh#t itself about 3 hrs  out of the city so my son and i drove the car back to sydney in 2nd gear doing between 70-80 km/h it was a hard long drive, fuel gauge was faulty, wipers didnt work(and of course it rain heavly)no radio.

car has a bloody hole in the roof which will be the first thing to go, rust in a few places eg beaver panel , sills and floor, amazingly no rust under the battery (george can verify)

plan at this stage is to get a new box for it and drive it around for a while.

will eventually do a full rebuild but like to enjoy driving it for a few months

not sure what the overall build will be but leaning towards a rb motor and box, bright orange paint, black ZG flares and black rota rb wheels 

i would like to thank george, peter , mike for caming over tonight and discusssing a few items about the car

heres some pics

Ok, next Sunday the car would have been sitting in the same place, 5767 days without having moved an inch.

So you all know the story from the intro I posted, and now the long dance begins, this morning I went to the garage where the "Z" has been stored for the past 16 years and took some pics on my mobile phone, not the best but will give everyone and idea about it's condition in general (Have posted them in the gallery section for now until I can figure out how to attach them to a post).

Included is a pic of the L20 injected turbo motor in it, its going on Ebay today, looks like I have tracked down a rotisserie and some 45DCOE Webers for it also.

Next weekend I'll have it towed home to a cleaned out garage at my place and the strip down begins.

I will add pics as the process continues.

Hopefully I will also track down pics from its pre-storage days which Im turning the house upside down to find ATM.

Stay tuned.

After seeing the great work done on GAS RB26 installation, I thought I'd give you a few pics and insight into my lil mule.

It's a 73 240Z that had a turbo L series, now being replaced with an RB25DET.

I went with the 25 as I like them for the variable cam timing and inlet manifold. Many view the 26 as the one to have, and that's cool....it certainly looks the goods; but for driveability, I prefer long inlet runners and VVT along with ball bearing turbos to maximise response.

My engine is basically stock internals, but with a GT35/40 turbo (internally gated), Nismo 740cc injectors, APexi FC controller and the R33 twin synchro gearbox. I was a bit luck with the tail shaft as the front piece off the standard skyline fitted without modification (except for replacement of the diff flange with the skyline unit...they go straight on, altho I added an external slinger to stop dirt getting at the seal.

I removed the gearbox saddle from the body, and sectioned it as well as reconfiguring to suit the modified gearbox cross member from the skyline.

The car has also got power steering from a Subaru, so I retained the R33 P/S pump to serve the Subie rack.

Here are some pics

Really looking forward to getting this project moving and getting all of your input and advice along the way!

Names Ryan, I have been a lurker on here for a very many years now. I am the long time owner of a 1971 240z here in Perth. Vin is HS30-001063

I have owned the car for 10 years. When I bought the car it was in rough condition, tried to get it running to enjoy for a while but the previous owner had neglected it too much. So I decided not to waste money or time and wait for a ground up resto. Then it took me 8 years to find a decent space to start the resto (my dads new shed). 

I started the tear down in late 2018 but then had my son so it went on the back burner for another 1.5 years. Now I am almost finished the tear down and excited to get some real work done. Unfortunately I have another baby due in November! Damn! Lol 

I have also started a YouTube channel to document the restoration. At the moment they’re pretty boring dismantle videos but I plan to make them better quality and more exciting in the future. Your support would mean the world to me!

http://www.youtube.com/channel/UCHZhre0vm7sL2Kl7hUQFVkg

About the car:

History unknown, bought it from a very energetic guy who pretty much ran it into the ground, was completely neglected and unmaintained. I knew I wanted to do a full restomod however, so this was not an issue for me.

Car has a L20 engine and may be an originally automatic gearbox, hence the L20 swap and that the gear lever barely lines up with the hole in the trans tunnel. L20 will be thrown in the bin.

Car is green originally and has had a terrible quality respray. 

Car had a relatively minor front end collsion, bent sugar scoop/front bumper support and some light repairs to radiator support

Basically everything on the car needs replacing/restoration, nothing is reusable in a sense I can just rebolt it on the restored car.

Plans for the car:

Due to the car not having the original engine I see no point in going back to stock original. may as well create the car I want, so many things will not be stock

- Color change, unsure as to color just yet but leaning toward original datsun white or a pearl white

- L28 stroked

- Triple Weber set up but thinking of keeping SU's initially to save some $$$

- BC Coilovers, techno toy tuning 3 point strut brace in front and 3 point strut brace in rear

- Initially all suspension components will be restores and reused to save $$$ (however I havent ruled out installing some pretty techno toy tuning/ apex engineering components at a later date)

- Brake upgrade to front and disc upgrade to rear. not going big brakes as I dont like big rims on the 240z

- Custom interior - I am an upholsterer by trade and am going to be doing the interior myself and upgrading it. Think Alcantara and leather 

- wheels are undecided but something of the period, watanabes/rotas etc 

- Fender Mirrors for that classic japanese sports car look

- Majority of the chrome will be painted in a satin black, I am not a chrome fan unfortunately.... (I know this will upset many of you)

EDIT AND UPDATE- MOST BROKEN LINKS FIXED ON FIRST 3 PAGES, SAVED WHAT I COULD

PAGE 1: Introduction, making new battery harness, fitting fender mirrors
PAGE 2: Getting hektic exhaust, repairing the radiator, which f**ked everything else LOL
PAGE 3: Making a centre console autometer gauge panel, painting rocker cover, starting the teardown
PAGE 4: motor removal, tear down, building a rotisserie 
PAGE 6 ONWARDS: Watch my fabrication skills go from noob to expert as i fix the rust in the car..... yeah there is abit! 

Ok so my names Rudolf, hailing from Sydney and for the longest time Ive been a Silvia nut job. Ive owned 3 S13 grey imports and now my current daily driver is a S15 200sx.


For the longest time Ive had a love for the 260z, Wangan midnight only made my love for them grow even more, ever since i was a kid, it was the one true "slick" old school jap sports car.

So my story to find the right car started about 6 months ago, with a budget of around 8-10k max, you can imagine all the ones i had seen were in a pretty poor condition. I was starting to loose hope in finding a good car when i stumbled upon a barn on the outskirts of Sydney where a guy sometimes referred to as the "wood chipper"  had about 6 zeds for sale, the barn was filled with about 8 cars, there were a few outside as well as Nissan prince skylines and a few other odd eccentric cars.

I took a panel beater friend of mine late December to have a look at the cars with me, we inspected all the zeds for sale, and we picked the best of them, which happened to be this one:

it looked good from far, but it was far from good, i was told it had a fresh paint job, as the top coat was faded, and that it had no rust, in reality, the person who painted it got lazy, and didn't sand it back to bare metal, as a result, the nice new paint job was worthless, as it has crows feet through the whole paint. So pretty much, it will need to be taken back to metal and re sprayed. On top of that, we did happen to find a few rust spots, mainly in the rear hatch where the window is, and also where the quarter panel meets the boot, its looking like the metal skin that folds over from the quarter panel into the boot channel has lifted, so maybe rust under there. Not much at all, and the car is straight as a arrow and never been in  a hit, also all the door gaps etc etc are perfect.

Unfortunately the car was in a million pieces, so we agreed on a price to supply the car assembled and running with a blue slip. It did take quite abit of time over our agreed completion date to get her together, with many late nights and back and forth, nearly 2 months later, but good things come to those who wait, and today i picked up my car!

while it was getting the final touches at the mechanic/blue slip station:

so much running around today and we got the car registered and i drove her home! the blue slip inspector must have had mondayitis, because the drive home was interesting to say the least, but i could not wait anymore!

What i noticed on the way home!

-no door mirrors, the one that was held on by tape fell off, and is on the great western highway somewhere!
-no reverse lights
-its easier to say only the tacho works, nothing else, no fuel gauge, no oil temp, no coolant temp, no speedometer.
-misfire at low load rpm, at about 2-3k, in the 1000rpm band, then it clears up.
-i have about 7 keys for the car, and cant lock the drivers door from the outside and the boot wont lock.
-no carpet
-alternator not charging, stalled her and had to push start her to get back going, lucky i was on a down hill.

so it was the most interesting driving experience ive had in my entire life! and what a story to get the old girl home! but we made it!

home safe:
 

so first things on the list before i drive her on the open roads again is:

1. fix door locks
2. fix speedo
3. fix fuel gauge
4. make brackets for mounting license plate to original screws.

long time plans, ZG flare kit, duck tail spoiler, either watanabe's with fat negative offset or some work equip 03's, work the L26, big cam, triple webbers and stroked.

and my custom plates are ready to be picked up from the RTA or so this letter in front of me says, so ill need to take care of that too!

hopefully all of you will help keep me motivated, and keep the updates coming!

Rudolf.
 

As you see from the pics it's a very clean example of a rust bucket.

I have heard this car calling for my help from over the ranges for a few years now and

Now I finaly get the cas to save it

Any way check out the pics and enjoy