C.A.R. Posted June 9, 2019 Share Posted June 9, 2019 (edited) I said to a fellow forum member last year (2018), that if a suitable Z race car came up for sale, I'd seriously contemplate purchasing one. Then late last year, I received a call from said member: "Lurchos, I just got off the phone from Noel Edwards - he's retired from competition and is looking for a new owner of his 240Z race car. I straight away though of you! You better call him ASAP." Me: That's REALLY tempting mate. I'll give him a call now... (Note: I'd had a little bit to do with this Z a number of years ago via Peter Mac of PMC Race Engines). I manged to contact Noel, had a quick talk, and Noel said it was in storage - he'll get it out and down to his mechanic in a couple of week so I can view it. A couple of weeks later I went and viewed the Z with Noel, however while the Z checked out, Noel hadn't settled on a price - much to my frustration... A week later Noel and I came to an agreement on price, and a couple of weeks later I picked it up: It was originally a very basic club car in NSW, before Noel bought it down, and over the next 10 odd years upgraded it a LOT... Specs are: '73 HS30 all steel body Stripped interior Bolt in full cage Sparco seats & 5 point harnesses Racepak Dash F&R spoilers Adjustable suspension (konis & coil-overs) Adjustable suspension arms all round. AZC Wilwood brakes all around. Wheels are Simmons FR17's wrapped in Khumo V70a 225/45/17 Semi-slick tyres. Peter Mac built, injected 2.9ltr All the good internal parts. EFi Hardware TB's controlled by a Haltech E85 fuel Kamerari gear-set kitted S14 71C gearbox R200 LSD Diff (still need to confirm ratio) Punches out 187kw at the rear hubs (approx 315hp @ flywheel) Edited June 9, 2019 by C.A.F. Howdy, Brett240, Zedhead and 5 others 8 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Administrators gav240z Posted June 9, 2019 Administrators Share Posted June 9, 2019 Now I get to call you a f'ing idiot*. * When I told you I bought the white 71 I believe that was your first response. Well done. Looks like fun. OdinZ 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderators PB260Z Posted June 9, 2019 Moderators Share Posted June 9, 2019 Awzome purchase. Lots of fun just waiting to be had. Cheers PB Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zedhead Posted June 9, 2019 Share Posted June 9, 2019 Good on you Lachie , she looks and sounds great in the sideways action vid. Cheers! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brett240 Posted June 9, 2019 Share Posted June 9, 2019 Ohhhh that's my old car! I could probably still answer a lot of questions about it if you have them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brett240 Posted June 9, 2019 Share Posted June 9, 2019 It was a street car that I used to supersprint. If it's still the original LSD then it's a 3.7. Since your tracking it you can run a 4.1 pretty easily. I put the coil overs and adjustable suspension in it and put the injection rail on it. The motor was 2.95 litres when I had it. L14 rods bored out and a ported P90 Head. Good to see it still kicking around! Will try and find some old photos Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Administrators gav240z Posted June 9, 2019 Administrators Share Posted June 9, 2019 I thought it looked familiar I remember it as a street car when you owned it Brett. Didn't you go to Swinburne University around early 2000s? I remember I would catch the tram in and sometimes see it when waiting for the tram. I seem to recall it needed rear 1/4 panels at 1 stage? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brett240 Posted June 9, 2019 Share Posted June 9, 2019 Nah wasn't me. I had the car in Sydney, bough it in 99, was a nsw car all its life before I sold it to Noel in 07 or 08 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
C.A.R. Posted June 9, 2019 Author Share Posted June 9, 2019 (edited) 4 hours ago, gav240z said: Now I get to call you a f'ing idiot*. * When I told you I bought the white 71 I believe that was your first response. Well done. Looks like fun. Thanks mate Finally a proper track Z... Edited June 9, 2019 by C.A.F. gav240z and OdinZ 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
C.A.R. Posted June 9, 2019 Author Share Posted June 9, 2019 3 hours ago, Brett240 said: Ohhhh that's my old car! I could probably still answer a lot of questions about it if you have them. 2 hours ago, Brett240 said: It was a street car that I used to supersprint. If it's still the original LSD then it's a 3.7. Since your tracking it you can run a 4.1 pretty easily. I put the coil overs and adjustable suspension in it and put the injection rail on it. The motor was 2.95 litres when I had it. L14 rods bored out and a ported P90 Head. Good to see it still kicking around! Will try and find some old photos Ya kidding, Brett?! Jeeze this Z community is small!!! Yes definitely send me some more photos (I'll PM you my email) I'd love to add them to my album. It's had a few changes under Noel's ownership, but obviously not as much as I was let to believe... The diff is supposedly a 4.375 LSD now, but I'm not convinced. I have another 4.375 LSD I've recently had built, so I'll be swapping that in, in due coarse. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brett240 Posted June 9, 2019 Share Posted June 9, 2019 (edited) 4.375 will be great if it is, you'd run out of revs at Philip island and bathurst with it though. no probs send it through. i have photos from when she was a bone stock road car as well. the differences i can see form when i had it are the cage and interior strip out, plus if it has willwood brakes now then those have changed, plus theres been some work to the injection system. i had 300ZX vented fronts an AU falcon rears on it. the spolier and wheels i put on it, though i used lighter 16 inch rims for the track. Will have to change my profile pic now that the new owner has turned up! Edited June 9, 2019 by Brett240 C.A.R. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
C.A.R. Posted June 9, 2019 Author Share Posted June 9, 2019 (edited) 14 minutes ago, Brett240 said: 4.375 will be great if it is, you'd run out of revs at Philip island and bathurst with it though. no probs send it through. i have photos from when she was a bone stock road car as well. the differences i can see form when i had it are the cage and interior strip out, plus if it has willwood brakes now then those have changed, plus theres been some work to the injection system. i had 300ZX vented fronts an AU falcon rears on it. the spolier and wheels i put on it, though i used lighter 16 inch rims for the track. Will have to change my profile pic now that the new owner has turned up! I've actually changed the gearbox to a Nissan 200SX S14 '71C' gearbox with a Kameari Ultra-Close-Ratio gearset - 5th is 0.75, so a 4.375 diff ratio will give it plenty of legs. The old gearbox (which I still have) I believe is an FJ20t unit - but the shifter knuckle was so worn out, I kept getting 3rd instead of 5th out on the road. Wouldn't be desirable situation on the track... I remember when it had the old brake setup, as I replaced the under-floor chassis rails in it around 2010/2011 for Noel. PM Sent! Edited June 9, 2019 by C.A.F. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
C.A.R. Posted June 9, 2019 Author Share Posted June 9, 2019 So after taking possession of the 240Z from Noel, a few things had to happen: *New drivers 5-point Harness. *Move the seat back - I'm 6'4" and Noel is 5'7" wringing wet... *Change the gearbox - see above or reason why. So with these items completed, I entered for P.I. on the 27th of April with the MSCA. It dawned a perfect Autumn day, cool but clear - perfect for good lap times. Unfortunately it wasn't to be... On only my 3rd lap, getting used to the Z and bringing the tyres up to temperature, coming up towards Hayshed the engine dropped onto 5 cylinders. Upon returning to the pits, we diagnosed a dead coil-pack. Without any spares or any locally available replacements (a genuine GM LS1 coid pack is required) I packed up and drove home Also during the first couple of laps, I wasn't convinced it was performing 100%, so I felt a dyno tune was in order... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
C.A.R. Posted June 9, 2019 Author Share Posted June 9, 2019 (edited) A few weeks ago, after replacing the coil pack (and ordering a spare!) I booked in with my local Haltech tuner, so make sure everything was in order. Long story short - it wasn't. We cleaned the injectors, new fuel filter and spark plugs. Then we strapped it to the hub dyno. Some fuel and ignition map inaccuracy's were discovered, but thankfully the tuner put it all right. Peter Mac also stopped by to lend a hand and adjust the cam timing. At the end of the afternoon, it netted 187kw at the hubs - quite healthy for a 2.9ltr! Edited June 9, 2019 by C.A.F. OdinZ 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
C.A.R. Posted June 9, 2019 Author Share Posted June 9, 2019 (edited) Sandown was the next outing as per the thread here: Unfortunately failure was rear it's ugly head again, when my best mate Alex, on his 2nd session - came crawling into the pits unable to select gears. Upon jacking it up we found the slave cylinder was working, but the clutch wasn't releasing. We couldn't do anything else so by late morning we packed up and headed home - defeated. WTF?! Is this thing cursed?! We removed the gearbox and clutch this afternoon, and found this: After speaking to Les Collins I learned some new things about clutch's... An upgrade is on the cards! Edited June 9, 2019 by C.A.F. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KatoKid Posted June 9, 2019 Share Posted June 9, 2019 You managed to keep that well quiet mate! Car is awesome, sounds so good howling down the straight. Bummer for the clutch issue but gearbag should be sweet which is the main thing. Kudos to you sir. C.A.R. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Administrators gav240z Posted June 10, 2019 Administrators Share Posted June 10, 2019 On 6/9/2019 at 5:16 PM, C.A.F. said: Thanks mate Finally a proper track Z... I think if I get another, it will need to be a dedicated track car. On 6/9/2019 at 6:05 PM, C.A.F. said: At the end of the afternoon, it netted 187kw at the hubs - quite healthy for a 2.9ltr! Nice power! Especially given the weight of a Z. C.A.R. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Administrators gav240z Posted June 10, 2019 Administrators Share Posted June 10, 2019 On 6/9/2019 at 4:05 PM, Brett240 said: Nah wasn't me. I had the car in Sydney, bough it in 99, was a nsw car all its life before I sold it to Noel in 07 or 08 Sorry, got it confused with another orange Z. I do remember seeing it at the Nissan Datsun Nationals in 2005 though! What I find scary is that it was nearly 15 years ago! Yikes.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ZED660 Posted June 10, 2019 Share Posted June 10, 2019 That car got me into Z's, Brett and his brother are friends of my son and when he turned up at home with the car it rekindled my appreciation of the Z and I bought my first one a 240 in 2000 for $2500! and later i purchased my 260 which i have now. gav240z 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
24 Dat Posted June 11, 2019 Share Posted June 11, 2019 Ah finally the cats out of the bag, Congrats Locky, i guess i can now change my Challenge Bathurst lists to who you really are OdinZ 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cozza Posted July 3, 2019 Share Posted July 3, 2019 Congrats on the purchase Lurch, couple of teething problems but it sounds like you've got a great starting point. Now you just have to find some spare time to get to the track! Looking forward to hearing how things progress. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
C.A.R. Posted October 3, 2019 Author Share Posted October 3, 2019 So after a conversation with Les Collins in which I expressed my displeasure of parts not up to the task and wanting a proper fix once & for all, a new clutch assembly was ordered from Jim Berry of "Race Clutch" in QLD. Jim can be a right PITA to deal with, but he's forgotten more about clutch's than anyone will ever know. However there was a problem: the new clutch won't fit the lightweight flywheel I had. The new clutch is MUCH smaller, MUCH narrower and requires an offset AND a receiver step in the flywheel to bolt to. My old flywheel couldn't be machined (not thick enough), so this meant that a new one had to be made... Two months(!) and many hundreds of dollars later, Les had this work of art ready for me. It's a once piece steel flywheel (4140) weighting in at 5.66kg - it can be lifted with one finger! The clutch assembly is equally ridiculous - it come in at just 3.85kg It's a 200mm assembly, billet aluminium pressure pressure plate rated to 2500lbs clamping force, along with a 4 paddle unsprung ceramic driven plate. Les assures me it won't be 'too' vicious... Cost - I'm now living on 2-minute noodles Ponyo240z, ScottyD, MikeZ and 4 others 4 1 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
C.A.R. Posted May 1, 2020 Author Share Posted May 1, 2020 (edited) Well it's probably time for another update... After the clutch/flywheel assembly when in, I entered another Sandown track day in early November with my best mate Alex as pit-bitch. Rain threatened from Midday onwards on the day, but I remained optimistic. The organizers however had different ideas and showed their incompetence - I didn't get my first run until 12:30PM, then once my run finished the rain hit... HARD. No point continuing, so we packed up and went home. However the Z proved itself fit for duty, and it was now ready for... CHALLENGE BATHURST !* 2019 was the 50th anniversary for the 240Z, so CB2019 was a big deal. I'd committed on the entry early on, so I was not going to miss it. And I'm glad I didn't! Bucket list item ticked off! I could write an entire magazine article on the adventure, but for the purposes of this thread I'll stick to the Z. Bathurst is scary in a grunty Z, and it showed a few shortcomings of the Z and more so the meat-sack behind the wheel... Saturday I was inside the top 10 in regularity, but that didn't last As I got more familiar with the track, I went faster but the Z couldn't 'quite' keep up - after the long run down Conrod and into the chase (where I hit 222kph on the GPS into the kink), I experienced chronic fuel starvation heading down into Murray's - this got worse and worse as Sunday progressed. To the extent that I got 2 laps into the last session on Sunday, before calling it quits. I was not interested in detonating the engine. (I have a couple of theory's as to why, and I'm currently working on a solution.) Regardless I had a great time and full credit must go to Dave and his crew for their amazing organization. And that's where I leave it for the moment. This Beerflu has nobbled any use of the Z and it's currently in my shed up on axle stands waiting to be unleashed again - hopefully later this year... *Full thread here: And a big thanks to Ned (OdinZ) who came along as my co-pilot for the trip. Bruce (Lightmaster) for his great photos of the event. Oh, and Gordo won the CB19 Regularity for the 2nd year in a row - they tinny bastard. Edited February 13, 2021 by C.A.F. OdinZ, 24 Dat, ScottyD and 2 others 4 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OdinZ Posted May 4, 2020 Share Posted May 4, 2020 ***Patiently waiting for update regarding turbo & fuel system uprades haha On a serious note, thanks for letting me tag along and enjoy the wonders of the AU! PB260Z 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
C.A.R. Posted November 7, 2021 Author Share Posted November 7, 2021 (edited) Time for an update on this pile... It's more or less been unused since CB19 and TBH after it's behavior at Bathurst and also due to the Beerflu not letting any events run, I lost a bit of interest in it. But that has to change. I munted 4th gear synchro at Bathurst, and not wanting to damage the very expensive Kameari kitted 71C gearbox further, I built a new (standard ratios) 71C box for it and that had now been swapped in. After pulling the injectors out to be cleaned some time ago, a wire pulled out of the injector plug. This was a minor issue as I don't possess the correct terminals and crimpers to repair it. But it did give me an excuse to tidy up the birds-nest that is the engine bay wiring... Cue a call to a Z owning mate who does a bit of wiring work for me from time to time, asking if he could repair and tidy it all up. Thankfully he said yes, but he's also ended up regretting it a bit! Old Injector loom wiring: New: And the crap he removed: And the rest of the birds nest complete with many spliced joins! And wait until you see the cabin buchery: How many wires would you like cut, sir? And check out the chocy block joining the headlight wiring together! Barring any other 'discovery's' he should be finished soon... Edited November 7, 2021 by C.A.R. gav240z, KatoKid, OdinZ and 1 other 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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