HS30-00211

[C.A.R.]

When the 240Z was first delivered to me I noticed the gear-stick hole had been cut out (badly) further forward and a later model - Bluebird or 280ZX - gearbox was in the cabin.
As we are returning the 240Z to original specification, I needed to find a 71A box and tailshift - no easy feat as most have been scrapped.

Fortunately after speaking to Les at Les Collins Racing in Oct '22 about this issue, he went on the hunt for an 71A gearbox & TS on the understanding that he would get the job of rebuilding it.
Needless to say he came though!

New Nissan Bulk Rings
New bearings.
New Nissan gaskets & seals
Re-machined and improved shifter mechanism
Hydro-Jet blasted cases
Re-plated fasteners

Rebuilt Tailshaft

And before anyone asks: Yes, it all cost the GDP of a small African nation. But what a piece of jewellery it is!

 

[240ZBUILTBYME]

On 2/23/2024 at 5:29 AM, C.A.R. said:

This was all done so we could fit ALL the panels back onto the body shell and turn a MASSIVE corner with the project:

Absolutely stunning work as usual! 

 

Edited March 16 by 240ZBUILTBYME

[C.A.R.]

The wiper linkages needed to be rebuilt, so in May '21 these were carefully disassembled but annoyingly one spindle was seized in it's aluminum housing.
I carefully heated it up with my OxyAct and quenched it in water, and I was then able to wind the spindle out. Unfortunately I cracked one of the pot-metal bushes, so I'd have to make a new one.
The parts were all Hydro Jet blasted, and re electroplated (with all the other parts) ready for reassembly.

In September '23, I machined up a new bush in plastic and locktite'd it into position in the alum housing. Then reassembly could begin:









(Completed photo missing - TBC)

When I was disassembling the wiper arms in '21, I then went though the box's of parts to find the wiper motor and bracket. I couldn't find it, so I searched the box's again. Nothing.
I then spoke to the owner in case he had in in Sydney. He looked and reported back that he didn't have it either! Bugger! I'd have to source an early 240Z wiper motor and bracket...

[C.A.R.]

Onto the suspension.

Aug '22:
The front engine cross-member had clearly been damaged in the accident - the kink in it was a give-away.
However I also noticed that it had inner LCA eccentric eye bolts fitted, presumably to get the camber back to somewhere normal - check out how far it's been slotted!

I thought about fixing it, but it wasn't going to be economically viable, so I went through my collection of crap and found one.
This was media blasted and painted.
(The old one went into the scrap bin).







We then moved onto media blasting an de-oxidizing the suspension components.
Then they were given a coat of Stain Black as per factory.







When we were reassembling the brake components, they all looks very new.
I queried Tony (the owner) and he confirmed that the brakes and wheel bearings at all four corners had been recently reco'd. This was good - one less job for us to do.
I did think it was strange considering the state of the rest of the vehicle though...





The heater box, fresh air duct and fan housing was also given the same treatment:

Edited May 13 by C.A.R.

[C.A.R.]

The original wiring loom for the Z was an utter dogs breakfast: Dirty, extra wires, soldered joints, cut wires, crimped joiners, broken plugs, broken & burnt(!) pins and... SCOTCH LOCKS!!!








Not surprising given the condition of the rest of the vehicle, and obviously there was no way I could fit this to the restored Z...

Fortunately I have a friend who builds wiring looms as a side-hussle, although he prefers to build Millspec MoTeC race looms, I pleaded with him to remake the factory loom for the Z.
He said yes, on the proviso that he able to acquire the correctly coloured wires and that I order two looms (fine by me) and that I NOT hassle him for it.
After some searching, all the correct coloured wires were obtained in the correct gauge, along with new plugs. Mint!
I waited over 18 months, but he did deliver with a new body loom, engine bay loom, headlight fly leads and a checked and refurbished dash loom.
The original Nissan wiring tag was also able to be saved on the dash loom!



Refurbished dash loom:



Cost was eye-watering as it's build by hand, but I can now guarantee that there won't be any electrical issues with this Z when it's finished!

[gav240z]

On 4/18/2024 at 2:49 PM, C.A.R. said:

and... SCOTCH LOCKS!!!

If there is 1 thing I hate, it's those hideous poorman connectors. I had to remove them in my white 71 as that was how the alarm system was integrated into the car. Ugh...

On 4/18/2024 at 2:49 PM, C.A.R. said:

Cost was eye-watering as it's build by hand, but I can now guarantee that there won't be any electrical issues with this Z when it's finished!

Pretty sure he doesn't want to do another after that also?

[C.A.R.]

Through the restoration of the body I'd also been keeping track of what parts we did and didn't have as I came across them.
More concerning, was that I wasn't sure what parts were missing that I didn't know about!

Upon discussing this with the Tony, we decided to 'dry build' the Z as I didn't want to be drilling holes and/or scratching the new paint if we find missing items.
So that's what we are doing and I'm glad we are!

Up on the hoist with the body-shell and we got the brake and fuel hard lines out to install them.
The hard line isolators were perished, but a friend of mine has a 3D printer and used the old isolators to recreate new ones of of a material called TPU which is oil, water & UV resistant.



From the RH side accident, it appears the fuel hard line was damaged and cut off near the firewall.
The rest of the hard line was in good condition and I couldn't be bothered remaking the whole length,
so we cut the the pipe back to under the gearbox tunnel, then we set about remaking the front engine bay section with some new bundy pipe of the correct diameter.
A sleeve was then turned up, slipped over the join and silver soldered into position.





The front brake pipes were also missing, so new ones were make up in Kunifer with new flare nuts.
All this will then be replated along with some other items that didn't get done with the first lot of plating.

We'll be refurbishing the brake and clutch master cylinders in due course.





Next, the painted front components went in, along with a reconditioned steering rack from SW Motorsport.



Followed by the rear suspension:



Next the new wiring loom was fed thought the body to make sure the terminations were in the correct places (they were):



And the natty engine bay inspection light that we refurbished.

Edited May 13 by C.A.R.

[C.A.R.]

Time for another update.

With the wiring loom in place, the painted pedalbox was assembled and bolted in, then we cleaned up the steering column and installed that to.
The assembled heater box and fan unit were then bolted in.
The dash was retrieved from storage, the gauges were checked over and installed along with the refurbished dash loom. Then it was bolted into place.
The centre console was also sat in place, but it needs some love...



We also installed the new tail lights from Resurrected Classics along with the finishers that will be painted in gunmetal as per factory:



Les @ LCR also finished rebuilding the original 3.9 R180 diff.
Les said the CW&P were in remarkably good condition and that it had been rebuilt previously with new bearings, but it was FILTHY inside apparently.
It was stripped, everything was hot tanked, the wipe was checked on the CW&P, the housing was repainted and the aluminum components were hydro-jet blasted.
New seals & gasket, plus re-plated bolts.

Almost looks too good to put back in the Z...



We then decided to install the (dummy) engine + carburetors and gearbox to check fitment - thankfully no issues.





At which point I couldn't help myself, so I bolted on the wheels that it came with and rolled outside for some glory shots:

[C.A.R.]

The seats were in a pretty sad way: the covers were split, the foams were disintegrating and the support straps were broken.



Unfortunately it appears I don't have a photo of the old covers.

I handed them over to my trimmer who carefully disassembled them, then I collected the frames, sandblasted them, welded up some rust holes & fitted new cover tabs, followed by an application of 2k satin black by our painter.
I then handed them back to my trimmer, ready for reassembly.







Tony (the owner) had already bought an interior trim kit from a ZFactory: seat covers, new door cards, trans tunnel & rear strut tower diamond vinyl.
My trimmer is going to make the headlining and carpets as he already has patterns.

And I have already bought seat foams from Interior Innovations.





It was at this point we had no more parts to fit to the bodyshell to finish the dry build.

Bookface Marketplace and eBay yielded some excellent buys though:
Original Koito sealed beam headlights, NOS 'twin spar' wiper heads, NOS grommets, NOS interior door step trims, NOS emblems, NOS luggage straps, NOS EGR hose, NOS cigar lighter housing (old one in the dash was stuffed!)
Reproduction indicator assemblies via Japan (there was none with the Z when it arrived at my shop).













So then it was time to give the Credit Card a hammering go shopping in the USA!
I went with the ZStore as their shipping was cheaper coming out of Cali.
Just over AUD$10k later I had two boxes of new parts arrive, being a mixture reproduction and - where available - OEM parts.





New door winder mechs from T3:

 

And new interior plastics from Resurrected Classics:

[hmd]

you are just having fun and getting paid for it.

[AndBir]

1 hour ago, C.A.R. said:

And new interior plastics from Resurrected Classics:

^^^ Those do look nice when fitted 

[240ZBUILTBYME]

17 hours ago, AndBir said:

^^^ Those do look nice when fitted 

this is making me seriously consider a set.... 

[240ZBUILTBYME]

19 hours ago, C.A.R. said:

Reproduction indicator assemblies via Japan (there was none with the Z when it arrived at my shop).

Hey @C.A.R. did Australian cars originally come with the clear lenses? mine came with clear but wasn't sure what was the standard 

[C.A.R.]

21 minutes ago, 240ZBUILTBYME said:

Hey @C.A.R. did Australian cars originally come with the clear lenses? mine came with clear but wasn't sure what was the standard 

Yes, clear.

[C.A.R.]

Early 240Z were supplied ex-japan with front Fender (Wing) mirrors fitted.
These didn't comply with Australian regulations at the time, due to the glass in the mirrors being convex.
So dealerships had to remove them, have the holes in the fenders filled & repainted, then new door mirrors fitted.
This Z was no different with repairs in the tops of the front guards being visible.

However having driven a few Zeds with reproduction fender mirrors fitted, they are a pain to use as the viewing area is so small being so far away.

Talking with Tony we decided to fit a Genuine Nissan door mirror to the drives side only, so it could actually be functional...

[C.A.R.]

The original cast exhaust manifold came with the Z and it was in good condition. It will get media blasted and coated in due course.

However, there were no secondary pipes - these are 2 into 1 that bolt to the manifold and finish at the gearbox cross-member.
During a conversation with Les Collins he mentioned he had a couple replica sets made - one for someone in interstate - and a spare. What like it?
Goes without saying!

With the dummy engine in place and the exhaust manifold & secondary's bolted up, I wanted to sort the rest of the exhaust system as I didn't want to potentially damage fresh stone-chip / paint if it gets done later.
While this Z is going to be factory fresh one deviation from this is the exhaust system.
I have a dislike for mild steel exhausts on my restorations as I think they look cheap, and the local exhaust shops don't do a good enough job for my liking.
(In fact, one shop refuses to do work for me on the restorations as I'm apparently too fussy...!)

The engine is only 2.4ltrs, so it didn't need to be a large diameter.
I settled on 2.25" for the system.

So I contacted AMRON in Melbourne and they sent me up a box full of goodies:



2.25" S/S mandrel bends, 2.25" S/S lap clamps, 2.25" S/S hotdog, 2.25" centre/offset S/S muffler.
It should sound great without being noisy and/or droning.

I enjoy the process of building mandrel exhausts, but I'm no guru exhaust builder so it does take me a while to make them - this one took me nearly two days (so I'm not going to make a career out of it!), but it's tucked up nicely under the Z and it still clears everything.
Only thing I might alter is the fitting of a S/S flex joint to the front of the system to reduce NVH further.

[C.A.R.]

Time for an update!

By September we'd checked fitment of all the parts on the 240Z so the 'dry build' was complete, so there was nothing left to do but pull it all apart and prep it for high-build primer.
Annoyingly my painter decided to take a month off from Mid-September to Mid-October, so the project stalled for four weeks, but once he was back we could begin.

My painter cast his critical eye over the whole thing, then once he was happy the WHOLE car was dry sanded inside and out with 240g soft pads, prep-solved, masked up and tinted high build primer was shot at the body & panels.







With all that done and the primer dry, the body shell and front guards was back-taped, so the underside could have stone chip applied.
We spent a LOT of time on the underside of the Z to dress any of our welding repairs and also fix any of the average work done by the little Japanese man on the production line in Yokohama...

As we wanted to do a 'better than factory' job of it, the underside frame rails are also masked off so no stone chip is applied to them - this makes for a more atheistically pleasing look.
The seams are then seam sealed, then the paintable stone chip is applied:





And the inside of the guards:





This whole process of masking, then de-masking takes bloody ages...
But it's all worth it, because next the ACTUAL colour is applied!!!

When I first received the Z it had been media blasted and all remnants of the original colour were gone - along with any paint code sticker.
However not EVERYTHING had been removed and Epoxy'd over - there was the remnants of an original grommet for the fuel tank vent pipe - still holding on for dear life - and when I carefully peeled it back...



YES!!!
I consulted the factory colours for 1970 and there it was: Nissan 907 Green!
So that's what it is being returned to.

The body shell was then prep-solved, seam sealed, primed and Direct Gloss colour was applied (wet on wet) to the underside of the body over the stone chip, then the engine bay and cabin.
All I can say is that it looks bloody amazing - even straight off the gun in DG!















Needless to say my painter is a legend.
I'm stoked and Tony the owner is over the moon to see colour on it finally!

Now we start bolting the driveline in to make it mobile...

[gav240z]

That looks great, after all this work and time.

[C.A.R.]

By now you might have noticed a major component is missing...?

When the Z was delivered to us originally, the matching number L24 engine was barley secured in the engine bay - a couple of bolts and an occy strap!

When we extracted it and I had a good look at what we had: Matching numbers L24 but the head was only secured with a couple of bolts, so I lifted it off.



Everything 'looked' ok, but when I discussed the engine with Les at Les Collins Racing, he asked what the casting number was?

'E88' I said:
'That's a 260Z head' says Les. 'It should have the higher comp early E31 casting'



Blast...!
Another thing that was wrong and that I'd have rectify.
The early E31 heads are REALLY hard to come by now, but undeterred I starting calling and emailing around - without much luck 

Then I called Paul Wolfe in QLD: "Yes I have one here, but it'll need a rebuild. And I could freight it down to you in a week or so if you want?"
Yes!
It arrived a week or so later expertly wrapped in carpet!



Now I'm not stupid enough to think a 60yo aluminum Datsun cylinder is going to be ready to bolt on to an engine,
I took it into Les Collins Racing and Les sent it off to Head Stud Developments to have it stripped, tanked, inspected & reported on.
It wasn't good: the casting was soft, it had lots of water jacket corrosion, it was warped (typical), guides were shot, valve seats were shot, damaged threads... But it wasn't cracked anywhere, so that was tiny bit of good news.

The quote to fix it from HSD was BIG dollars, but Les suggested that if I weld up the corrosion myself using his 3-Phase TIG, I'd save a lot of labour cost for Tony.
So that's what I did - I spent a solid half day on the TIG welder in at LCR, welding up the coolant galleries and damaged thread bosses, heating the head back up with the Oxy/Act as required.
Once finished, Les helped me Peen the welds down while the head still had temperature in it.

But we weren't done yet!
"Are you wanting to put a small cam grind in this?" Asked Les.
I guess so?
"OK, come with me - we have some porting to do." (!)

Onto Les's porting table and he set about showing me how to basically port a cylinder head.
Les ported an inlet & exhaust to show me, then left me to do the others(!)
It was late when I finished...







I'm still hugely appreciative of Les for allowing me to do this, because it's uncommon for him to show a non-engine builder how to port a head!

The head then went back down to HSD for them to weave their magic:
It was re-heat treated back to the required hardness, straightened, new hardend valve seats, new valves, new valve guides, threads repaired, new core plugs, coolant passages indexed and milled in, decked then hydrojet blasted.
It was then returned to LCR to be reassembled:









As close to a new head as we could get!

[gav240z]

Nice. Sounds similar to the E31 head from HS30 00150 I sent to Les a few years ago. In terms of work required to repair it.

[C.A.R.]

With the head back at LCR, it needed to be assembled.

240Z's came with an oil 'spray bar' that bolts to the side of the camshaft towers, that sprays oil onto the camshaft lobes.
This is a poor design as the tiny tube and orifices' can easily block up with gunk and worse, the bar itself can fracture over time & fall into the cambox...
Nissan fixed this later in the bigger 2.8ltr engine (L28) with an internally oiled camshaft.

Thankfully Les had enough junk L28 heads in stock, so the cam towers from one were used on the E31 head, as they are a direct swap.
Because the top and bottom head faces had been decked, a set of cam tower shims were installed to bring the camshaft 'wipe' back into the correct geometry.

Next a suitable camshaft was fitted. As the engine is relatively stock, we didn't want to go to wild.
The grind is from Clive Cams, and is a direct copy of a Wade 733a. It's very very mild with just a tad more lift and duration over a stock grind cam.
Unfortunately the original valve springs were worn out so a good set of used L28 valve springs were installed, along with new thicker lash pads/caps and refaced rockers.
It was all reassembled, checked and pronounced good to go - it's almost a shame to put the tappet cover back on!







The tappet cover was also given the Hydro-blast treatment.