acf321 Posted May 6, 2014 Author Posted May 6, 2014 The Hornet's built a nest and is hibernating, BUT I did take it to the shop last weekend and was mobbed on arrival by some guys that wanted to salivate all over it. When I got home, my 5yr old daughter also admitted that 'she liked my yellow car much more than that red one' (being the 250GTO I was just watching for the 8th time inside).. She does have a way with words! Serious question now though, with all the 'fun' I was having in the car, I seem to have very nearly broken the rear right outer Uni-joint, just inside the rear right wheel. It's not packed up totally, but is making a horrid speak when I drive and the odd clunk too. Suspect its only got moments left. Can anybody recommend either an new Uni joint product, or a place to take this stub axle (is that what its called) to have it properly repaired with a new uni / or CV? Thoughts? Quote
PeterAllen Posted May 6, 2014 Posted May 6, 2014 Might be a wheel bearing. The uni will nearly always make a clunking sound when you start off and/or decelerate quickly. The wheel bearing will whine louder as you take corners. Jack up the rear and with the parking brake on try to move the driveshaft (the shaft between the diff and axle shaft/hub). If the uni appears okay then release the hand brake - chock the front wheels first - and spin the wheel. You will hear a grinding noise if the bearing/s are damaged. Quote
acf321 Posted June 2, 2014 Author Posted June 2, 2014 You need an update. I took the Car the Terry Hills yesterday to Cavallino Cars and Coffee .. if you live in Sydney you MUST come to this. Its an Italian restaurant where once a month every nutter this side of timbucktoo takes their hot cars. I've now been twice and seen; AM DB5, five McLarens, Miura's, F40's, the actual car from Back to the Future, Lambo everything, Porsche everything, Ferrari everything, Hot alfas, fast volvo's, GT40's, YOU NAME IT... Lotus everything etc etc etc, RX7's on serious ROIDS ... etc etc. starts 8am once a month on Synday.... yesterday was the last one .. so the next one is in 4 weeks! So the little Brown Hornet was and IS the only 240Z to be there ... Yesterday I was totally mobbed by a stack of guys ,,, all with the same comments; "I remember these", "these are awesome", "Does this have the L Motor", "the colour is unbelievable" etc etc etc. I have ordered my carpets that are being made bvespoke, albeit we have trial fitted Billy's (WA) actual original set in the car, from which the new set are being cut. We are using Black German Loop Pile - 100% wool. Really very exciting. Should be about two weeks off. I did something foolish yesterday, but under strict controlled conditions (so its not really foolish then is it?!) I wanted to see how fast the little Hornet would accelerate in a real life situation - have not really tested this before, and the Odo is showing 800 miles now. Pulling out of a street from a stopped position, onto a HWY type situation that is 90kph, I needed to move very fast as I'd left precious little space (there were two lanes, one for me to chicken out if needed - the other with a fast moving van, about 40 metres from my stationary position). Guess which lane I pulled into? OMG ... the little Hornet huffed and puffed and FREAKING TOOK OFF .... I did NOT wheel spin it, but left my foot down to the warrantied level (thanks James!) of 8250 in 1 2 and 3 ... That van just got smaller and smaller and smaller and I could NOT wipe the grin from my face for the rest of the day. The Hornet is freaky fast, and I should point out that it has an OEM 3.9 open diff and the relatively uninspiring 71B with 3.3 first gear. I will be changing to a factory shorter gear set (2.9 first) in due course, but have not had time to get the car to have this done. The thing with the motor is just how fast it spins up and the power it generates higher in the RPM range. I was gobsmacked. Should I mention too what this sounded like? Just wanted to share that ... Quote
PeterAllen Posted June 2, 2014 Posted June 2, 2014 Good news Adam, and glad the rear end stood up to it. What was the outcome of the earlier issue? Quote
GK510 Posted June 2, 2014 Posted June 2, 2014 Nice one. Good to hear you took it out for a squirt. I hope you got some pics of the 240Z amongst all the other machinery. Having only just joined the forum, I read through your whole build thread last night. What an epic journey. I can only imagine how over the moon you must be with the results. The car looks mint! Although currently living in Perth, I'm originally from the northern beaches in Sydney and know James, although havent been in touch with him for quite a while since I moved to the other side of the country. Good to see the quality of his work is still top notch as it always has been. I suppose if you were ever feeling disheartened during your build, you could have just dropped in and had a look over James' Z and it would have given you all the motivation you would have needed to keep going. I was with James when he first took has car to the Datnats at Goulburn in 2005 I think it was, and I remember all the comments and praise he was getting about the car. You would most likely be getting similar praise now whenever you take the car out. Cheers, Graham Quote
acf321 Posted September 11, 2014 Author Posted September 11, 2014 Yes, the Header is correct My June 1971 Australian delivered RHD 240Z (HS30-00683) is now for sale by expressions of interest. Quck summary; * 5+ year no expense spared nut and bolt restoration - colour McLaren Papaya Orange. Driven 800 MILES ONLY. * Period correct L24 Group S spec high CR motor ~235hp+. Built by renowned Datsun race engineer James Flett * Optimised OEM suspension with Koni Sport shocks / FIA approved MK63 brakes / Panasport Ultralights (4.3kg) / Dunlop Road legal tarmac rally tyres / Stewart Wilkins tuned ceramic coated extractors / 2.5" Stainless exhaust with Stainless Motorsport mufflers * Period correct complete interior. * all details / photos on build thread. * This is a genuinely very capable sports car built to period correct specification for use in anything from Normal driving to full-on tarmac / road racing. Please PM for genuine enquiries or call; oh.four.oh.oh.8300.five.five Quote
acf321 Posted January 11, 2015 Author Posted January 11, 2015 Hi Folks, Long time, no update so I thought i'd give you one. So far i've had several inspections of the Brown Hornet, but it's not sold. Selling my 2.7 Carrera took a year, so by that yardstick i'm doing fine. Even got the old "Hi I work on a ship and can't make it to shore" trick as well, which made for some interesting reading and email exchange. Anyway, if you wondered how popular 240Z's are these days know this; as of tonight, according to the Car-sales website, my ad has generated a whopping; 69,314 'result views', with 10,209 'detail views', with 35 people having 'saved' that vehicle. I must say I was somewhat shocked by these numbers, so wanted to share it with you. The car is up for rego again this month, and like the last two sports cars I owned, its done 1,260KLMS only since it went on the road a year ago. Trust all is well with you all, and I hope you all have a Happy 2015. Cheers Adam Quote
Administrators gav240z Posted January 11, 2015 Administrators Posted January 11, 2015 Adam, I think it represents excellent value. I think interest in these vehicles has gone crazy as of late. Thanks for sharing the perspective from the other side so to speak. PS: You still owe me a drive Quote
acf321 Posted January 12, 2015 Author Posted January 12, 2015 Gav, If you can make it to my place (over the bridge) this weekend, you are welcome to have a spin mate. Bring ear plugs though! Adam Quote
Moderators PB260Z Posted February 14, 2015 Moderators Posted February 14, 2015 Deposit taken I suppose congratulations, but must be a tough call to sell after all that work. Look forward to hearing about the next project whenever and whatever that may be. Cheers PB Quote
chris240 Posted February 22, 2015 Posted February 22, 2015 Clark rubber has a special on above ground pools, $1200 with free ladder.... Quote
acf321 Posted February 22, 2015 Author Posted February 22, 2015 The incredible Brown Hornet just drove off down Pitt St ... on its way to Melbourne. I was smiling, and so was the new owners - an elderly retured couple from Vic. It's been an epic journey, and i've appreciated every one of your comments and help along the way. I'm not out of Zeds ... I might even buy another tidy 240Z one day, but for now its the house, pool, Wife and three young Kids that get my full attention. Cheers all, and thanks again. Adam Quote
C.A.R. Posted April 29, 2015 Posted April 29, 2015 Time for an update, as the build continues! Now as anyone who has rebuilt a car from the ground up will tell you, the last 5% of a restoration is what makes the vehicle. Fail to complete that last 5% & the vehicle becomes that thing in the shed you love, but that you hate driving because it doesn't do everything that you want and THAT detracts from the whole experience of driving the vehicle. And so it was with the Hornet. On the drive home from picking it up from Sydney, Alan - the new owner - & his wife, had a few electrical 'issues' & so he asked Adam if he knew of anyone in Vic he could take it to. Adam asked me, & I informed him that he should take it to Glen & Ben at Loose Wire Auto Electrical here in Warragul: http://www.loosewire.net.au/ I'm also not far away & I figured that if anything non auto-electrical was required, it could be handled at at the same time. A couple of months ago the Hornet arrived at LW for Glen & Ben to start on and a couple of days after it arrived I went and had a look at it. First thing I noticed was the colour - it really stands out and the paint job itself is REALLY nice. Glen was working in the engine bay replacing the old buggered battery cables & asked me if the bonnets had a spring on them. I looked down the the spring rods weren't there! Hrmmm... The next thing was while I was admiring he tidy engine bad, I saw this: Whoever fitted the manifolds, obviously had no idea what they were doing. They've taken a hammer to the tops of the primary's on the SW Motorsport extractors to clear the intake manifold casting. It's damaged the ceramic coating and crushed the primary's a good 3rd of their diameter & can't be doing the flow of them any good... A later photo with the carbies removed showing how badly they've been molested: It was obviously too hard to use an an intake manifold that would clear! Unfortunately the only remedy for this is a new intake manifold & new Extractors - something which Alan didn't want to do. Ironic thing is, Adam went on and on & agonized earlier in the build process about what type of pipes to get & which would be best for this build - then this happens to them! Then the carbies: Probably the same individual tightened the mounting flange nuts up. There was NO movement in the O-rings & over time this can snap the mounting ear off the carburetor itself More on this later... In the end, Glen spent nearly a solid WEEK on the Hornet - fixing things like replacing the old Batt. cables, fixing gauges, heater fan, intermittent lights - the list was substantial... Alan then asked Glen if he knew of anyone who could look at a couple of other mechanical issues that he had with the car - mainly the noisy Kameari timing chain idler. Glen asked me, so then I called Alan... To be continued... Quote
Moderators PB260Z Posted April 29, 2015 Moderators Posted April 29, 2015 Wow, not what I would have expected from the Hornet - somewhat lost for words Quote
Agno Posted April 29, 2015 Posted April 29, 2015 Like I said on Facebook, that is incredibly disappointing for a vehicle of this supposed caliber! Quote
Cozza Posted April 29, 2015 Posted April 29, 2015 Yeah, I remember Adam mentioned the crushed primaries in his build thread. He wasn't overly happy about it but t seems that others weren't so surprised about it. http://www.viczcar.com/forum/index.php/topic,4168.msg100861.html#msg100861 Quote
Retro Z Posted April 30, 2015 Posted April 30, 2015 I also have TWM manifold and it fouled my extractors also, but i ended up shaving material off the underside of the flange and runners on the TWM and it is not visible at all. My extractors and its ceramic coating remained untouched. There is plenty of excess material that can be removed on the manifold without having to go to the extreme of ruining those swm extractors Quote
Administrators gav240z Posted April 30, 2015 Administrators Posted April 30, 2015 I also have TWM manifold and it fouled my extractors also, but i ended up shaving material off the underside of the flange and runners on the TWM and it is not visible at all. My extractors and its ceramic coating remained untouched. There is plenty of excess material that can be removed on the manifold without having to go to the extreme of ruining those swm extractors That's what I would have thought also, I remember speaking to Adam when I saw the Hornet in person and he was a little upset over the extractors getting ham-fisted like that. I guess these things happen, even with professionals. It didn't detract from how nice the car was in many other ways. Quote
Riceburner Posted April 30, 2015 Posted April 30, 2015 Who fitted the manifold onto the car? It's as rough as guts, I would've thought anyone would know that's a poor way to fit something. I'm sure it they mentioned doing that way to Adam he would've found a way around it or purchase a different manifold that fits properly. Regarding the tensioner, I'll need one of these, how loud are they exactly? Quote
Brabham Posted April 30, 2015 Posted April 30, 2015 Hi Locky, could the SW pipes be straightened out? It may be worth trying to save them. How would you go about straightening out dings in headers? Cheers Quote
C.A.R. Posted May 1, 2015 Posted May 1, 2015 Hi Locky, could the SW pipes be straightened out? It may be worth trying to save them. How would you go about straightening out dings in headers? Cheers Very difficult Alex, but it could be done. Maybe with a den't puller or cutting & replacing that section of pipe. Whether it'd be financially viable to do so though, is a different matter... Quote
Administrators gav240z Posted May 1, 2015 Administrators Posted May 1, 2015 Isn't there a tool you insert into the pipe and turn with a teacher that expands inside the pipe to push out dents? I can't recall the name but it is specially designed to help fix crushed pipes. Quote
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