240Z Engine Prices

[sco_aus]

Hey mate.  Firstly, can you please fill in your location in your profile, that way we can tell you which travk to go to.

Zeds are great to drive, even without power steering (untill you get bigger wheels etc).  You are situated more towards the rear of the vehicle, so it is a diferent feeling to a normal car, but none the less, a good one.

L series engine is the best way to go for racing as there tends to be a lot of rukes in racing that don't allow for much engine conversions.  It will help keep your racing events options open.  The engine is a tough engine and can be made to get moderate power from, but you tend to have to spend a fair bit of money to get really good power out of them.

[stevo_gj]

The 260z was my third car, I had owned a barina then a lancer before it. I was used to cars that lacked power steering, but even for me the Z steering was quite heavy at first. Once you get used to maneuvering in car parks you'll love it. If you get the car and decide the steering is too heavy, which you almost certainly won't, there is the option to put a power steering rack from another car into it - for a price.

[sexual_sushi]

i think you'll be fine mate. Buy a cheap 2+2, drive it for a few years, park it in shopping centers and don't worry if someone opens there door onto it, get some gutter rash from not knowing where your tires are and then run up the ass of someone cause you were busy eating a burger or changing cd. Once it's all out of your system, if you still like them, buy a nice Z and treasure it but still enjoy it... after all, nearly anything can be fixed

 

I am another one saying go for the l28. Mainly because it is so much less hassle and won't have to be off the road that long. If you are lucky you may even be able to find an l28 for free, there are a lot of them just lying around in peoples sheds. Get it rebuilt and don't skimp on machine work like porting and polishing and balancing the parts.

 

In regards to being hard to drive... I believe these cars are hard to drive, especially if you are learning in it. This is mainly because the accelerators can be very touchy when taking off (you usually have to ease them on slowly and gradually) which can make it hard if you aren't used to using the clutch and accelerator (usually the hardest part when you are learning in any car). If the gearbox isn't in the best shape then you may have to double the clutch or be more accurate on your gear changes. You sit quite low and the windscreen is quite narrow compared to other cars so you don;t have the best viewpoint. The steering can be pretty heavy (especially if you are as weedy as I was when i was in high school, good for a workout though) and the turning circle isn't the greatest (especially the 2+2's). Then if you take into account the possibility of worn out suspension/steering components/bushings, your ride might be all over the road. Although a lot of this depends on the condition of the car you buy and most of these problems can be fixed with stock replacement or through modifications.

 

After saying all this, don't let any of that scare you, if you learn to drive in a Z you should be able to drive nearly any car (and I say it's harder, but it's really not THAT hard). And not to mention you will have a ton of fun. In a zed you feel connected with the road which is something you don't get in every car.

 

[620Z]

Ah you crack me up with your comments Lurch. (Bit late on this) Whilst sound advise I remember no one could tell me what to get as my first car when I was 17. So a turbo it was. Whilst I never stacked it I did nearly write my self off about half a dozen times because I thought I was invincible and sped everywhere. Hmmmm not much has changed. But seriously get what ever car does it for you. At that age most guys want something a little different and something they can be proud of. I think we all agree Zeds are pretty cool. But don't beleive them about 2+2's. They might be cheaper but still a great car.

Sounds like your starting early and getting some good advise. Get to work and you could have a nice Zed ready for the road when the time comes. Just remember Insurance can be a hassle with these cars.

[Zeddophile]

As far as tracks go, the Alfa club in victoria runs two sprints at year at each of these tracks: Philip Island, Winton and Sandown.  They also do a driver training/race craft day usually in march, the day before the first Winton sprint.  Pretty cost effective at approx $200 a meet, $90 for the CAMS licence for the year, and whatever CAMS affiliated club membership you get.

 

As far as a Zed for a first car?  I'd get a Zed as a project while having a cheap, low powered rear wheel drive car (RWD part is important!).  I wanted an Alfa GTV6 to have on my P-plates, budget didn't allow and I ended up with a 4 cylinder GTV.  Now a GTV sticks to the road much better than many other cars, is very forgiving in a slide, and the 4 cylinder only has about 130hp (dynoed mine at 55kw at the wheels on a trade school dyno, carbies were a bit crook).  I still lost it three times.

 

  Once in the wet about a month after I got it, turned down warrigal road off riversdale heading down the hill there, the back stepped out and I for some weird reason tried to drive out of it.  Doesn't work well going downhill in the wet if you are inexperienced, the wheels with no traction naturally gravitate to the lowest point.  I had a flat rear quarter on one side for a couple of years, and on that occasion I missed the back of a landcruiser coming the other way by about 2 feet, as I was going backwards across the oncoming lanes.

 

  Once out the back of south morang, came into (another!) downhill corner on the brakes, and hit gravel on the road.  I was doing 80km/h at the time, and the road in question had armco railing on the outside of the corner, one lane either way, and about a 200 metre dropoff behind the armco.  On that occasion, I overcorrected the slide, then overcorrected again and made the decision to just let it go and jump on the brakes hard.  This was (unknowingly) the right decision (and is one of the first things you should be taught at a sprint meet, when you've lost it properly, clutch in and brake as hard as you can until you completely stop), pulled up very quickly facing the wrong way, put it into gear and drove away with a look over the edge.

 

  And one time (actually when I went to look at my Zed!), turning off fitzsimmons lane? to warrandyte at a roundabout there - casually ROLLING around the corner in second with no throttle at all, lucky to be doing 35km/h, and the back just went into a dead slide.  Flicked the normal (I'd learned by this time how much opposite lock was required to catch a slide in this car, from a lot of wet days) amount of opposite lock in, no change at all.  Wound more lock on, and hit the steering stops, and still no change.  There must have been oil or diesel on the road, because it was like ice, and it went into a 4 wheel slide even with near new Pirelli tyres on it and no speed involved.  Only regained grip once I got onto the concrete driveway thing that happened to be exactly in the right spot.

 

  I had a paddock bomb when I was growing up too, a series 1 landrover shorty with a holden 161 in it.  Used to do great fishtails on a gravel road under power, and the steering wheel was the size of a bus one, with about 8 turns lock to lock.  That practice still didn't help me when it came to wet bitumen.

 

  If I'd had the GTV6 from the start, I'd be dead, in a wheelchair or in jail now.  And to be honest, by driving a low power but nicely balanced rear driver, you learn so much more about a cars handling and grip levels than you ever can in something with heaps of torque and power.  With something low powered you can rev the ass off it through 4 gears, and stilll be doing about the speed limit.  I'd honestly say buy something like an Australian delivered sprinter (with the carby 4AC lump), Datsun 180B, maybe an old NA Gazelle etc etc.  Something fairly light, that doesn't really do burnouts, but with reasonable handling.  I'd personally say no commodores for two reasons - 1. P-plates on commodores REALLY attract police attention.  2. They are great for burnouts, just don't try and turn one into a roundabout fast on a wet day.  I vividly remember the first VN I drove - it was a loan car from work, and I was taking it somewhere.  Turned the wheel to navigate through one of those chicanes they put in some suburban streets, at a speed the Alfa (my daily) would easily handle, and bump bump.  Straight over the top of it.  Not to mention everytime the auto changed gears the back would come out.  Doesn't teach you much about car handling if the car doesn't handle at all.

 

  A mate of mine had a Honda CRX on his P-plates (2nd gen).  Pretty quick little front driver, he could keep it stuck to the road like you wouldn't believe - and unstick it from the road like you wouldn't believe, I can remember being in the car one day while he held it sideways for about 20 metres in a straight line.  Got himself a Aus spec Toyota sprinter (80hp) some time after his P-plates expired, and put it through a fence on the second week of having it registered.  Swears to this day he was going slowly around a roundabout, and his girlfriend backed him up (she hated him driving like a knob).  Still don't know what he did, but I can only conclude part of it was that he had never driven a RWD car, and had no instinctive feel to catch it.  I drove the thing in the same trim, and it was pretty well planted to the road.  Nevertheless he rooted every panel down the left hand side.  He now has a white front guard and door on a red car, and a ripply back quarter half in primer, and he hates it - what was a very clean car when he bought it now looks horrible on that side, but he can't afford the money and time off the road to get it repainted, as the CRX deceased itself sometime after buying the sprinter.

[Zeddophile]

Well that was a biggy 

 

Yeah sorry about that....  Concise version basically is get yourself something cheap and low powered with rear wheel drive to use on your P-plates while you take your time building up a nice project Z.

 

To be honest, now I've done the V6 conversion and everything else on my Alfa, I'm thinking I should buy something like that... You just can't thrash the Alfa anymore, second gear will lose your licence in most areas, and 3rd will probably lose the car as well, so I drive around in 5th at 2000rpm the whole time.  Can tip it in to any corner at ludicrous speeds, and it just sticks.  Fantastic handling, awesome power, just not so much FUN as a daily.  Girlfriends peugeot 306 is more fun in some ways, probably cause it bodyrolls like crazy and you can reach its limits without reaching the speed limit, yet it still actually handles very well.

[stevo_gj]

*Wall of text hits you for 5000 points.

*You are dead.

 

 

 

 

haha just kidding, that was a good read man.

 

On that occasion, I overcorrected the slide, then overcorrected again and made the decision to just let it go and jump on the brakes hard.  This was (unknowingly) the right decision (and is one of the first things you should be taught at a sprint meet, when you've lost it properly, clutch in and brake as hard as you can until you completely stop), pulled up very quickly facing the wrong way, put it into gear and drove away with a look over the edge.

 

I once did the same thing and unknowingly made the same right decision which is the only reason my Z isn't written off.

 

I'm 21 and my 260z is my first rear wheel drive car. I've been to a couple skidpans now though so I'm a lot more confident with driving it, but I am still very very very cautious in the wet.

[Zedman240®]

I've heard a few people say when its wet, its like the power in your car is multiplied by a large number. Not sure how true it is but it has some sense!

[.]

it is usually true. its because the air entering the intake is more dense. When it ignites it needs to take up more volume thus giving more power on the piston. The multiplication factor would be different for every car though. I think it would only be around 5%

 

Shame its not the reverse....I want more power when its safer to use it 

[sco_aus]

Turbos and damp air go very well together   Canberra rocks for turbos

[zzzzed]

im heading for tazzy when i get my l28et up and runing

[Zedman240®]

I meant also in a traction sort of way too. Like when it rains around my area where I work, the wet roads seem to attract all the Crummydore and Gemini drivers out from their caves to start hooning; seems like their car only "performs" the way they wish it did after a few mm of rain...

[620Z]

Sounds like a few people here need some good tyres. Whilst I know "R" spec tyres are expensive, they could save your life, as mine have done on a few occassions. I say the best insurance is good tyres. Mine stick like gue in the wet. (Just ask Sulio, the big girl screeming in my car. Ha ha).

[Zeddophile]

Sounds like a few people here need some good tyres. Whilst I know "R" spec tyres are expensive, they could save your life, as mine have done on a few occassions. I say the best insurance is good tyres. Mine stick like gue in the wet. (Just ask Sulio, the big girl screeming in my car. Ha ha).

 

I've found on the racecars I test drive that the R's really don't perform that well in the wet compared to a good normal road tyre, but maybe they're better with some temperature in them, as I only go round the block in them....  Might stick my "new" R's on once I get them on my second set of rims and see...

 

Can't agree more with you that the best insurance is good tyres.  Contrary to what my previous post may suggest, I've never and will never put cheap tyres on my car, no matter what it is (the VN as I said wasn't mine, and did have fairly cheap tyres on it).  Those incidents were all on Pirelli tyres, the last being on near new P6000s.  Not to mention I have a habit of replacing them when they're only halfway to the wear indicators.  After all its the only thing holding you to the road at the end of the day, why cut corners on it?

 

Currently running Bridgestone Potenza RE001 on my Alfa, and I have to say these are the best tyres I have ever had in the wet.  Admittedly they seem to be in the "Really high performance" category instead of the "high performance" that I used to buy from when it was a four cylinder, and I now have an LSD, but holy crap.  I have not yet managed to get wheelspin out of them on a wet day, with over 200hp at the back wheels, and I've given it a fair try.  Sure, they'll spin if I dump the clutch in first, but I can put the foot flat to the floor mid corner in second on a wet day, and it takes off like it was dry.  I've managed to get a tiny squirm out of them on really poor surface, but no wheelspin and/or back end slide.  Kind of boring really, I was expecting this car when built to be a constant battle of opposite lock on a wet day, but all you do by giving it a violent throttle stab is break the speed limit.  Safe, but not as much fun as I could have with the little 4 cyl and an open diff.

 

All that praise of the RE001's aside, I can think of 3 backstreet intersections straight away which I will guarantee to reward anything more than light acceleration with extreme wheelspin, due to buses turning at low speed through them and dumping diesel fumes.  And ultimately that was (not highlighted at all) one of my points in the previous post - regardless of tyres, driving experience, power of your car, road conditions can and will catch you off guard at some stage or another.  Whether you're going a bit fast, and its gravel on the road combined with trail braking, whether you're driving sedately on wet bitumen with a nice coat of coolant/diesel/etc on it, somewhere sometime, you will find yourself not going quite the way you expected.  Whether you end up with damage, a lose, or just a quick flick to recover, it will happen, and the more torque and power you have, the easier and faster its going to happen, especially as an inexperienced P-plater. 

 

 

[chris240]

arrrrr Jason, if I was 16 again !!

strange how after 23 years of driving, Ive never owned a front wheel drive car. we did ironically just sell our "family" car which was a front wheel drive Alfa.

when I was yoooung, my dream car was a 1980 alfa GTV6. funny how I almost bought one off ebay a few months ago 

from all the advice it looks like you should grab a 7/10 condition 2+2 and start your journey or save some more sheckles and go for the 240. oh, & dont listen to your parents.

[Zeddophile]

when I was yoooung, my dream car was a 1980 alfa GTV6. funny how I almost  bought one off ebay a few months ago

 

The one on Ebay wasn't a 1980 model was it?  If it was, it was an import, but also probably worth quite a bit due to being such an early car.  The first ones landed in Australia in 1983, with the early GTV 4cyl style dash (speedo in front of driver, tacho and other instruments in the centre of the car) and seats.  In 84 they changed to the one piece style dash with speedo, tacho, and CLOCK in front on the driver.  Very Italian that one, the only reason I can see for a clock as big as your tacho and speedo is to time yourself up the mountain!  The one piece dash GTV6s also had recaro seats, much nicer car inside.

 

Far out Zeddophile. You are king of giant posts 

Your not a woman are you   

 

Jane 

 

Not last time I checked....  Just tend to start writing, and keep thinking things I want to add along the way, in the end finishing up with a long rambling and incoherent post that was probably utterly pointless!

[Herbert7]

Thanks for all the advise guys and I'll do exactly what 'chris240' said, I'll buy a 2+2 and drive that while i start saving up for a nice 240Z

 

i hope to one day have my display picture like most of you guys, with your beautiful cars.