Tim's White 71' 240Z aka 570Z

[RB30X]

The re-assembly continues.

 

Can't really tell in the pics but she's a little shinier today after buffing for three hours.

 

 

 

And I couldn't help but take a vid after moving it back into my shed.

 

[Riceburner]

woohoo sounds awesome Tim, revs up very quick. Nice job with the indicator light adapting.

[RB30X]

Well after lots of blood sweat and tears, sleepless nights and an hour at the Main Roads counter today, my Zed is finally on the road. I bought it almost seven months ago and put a million hours into it since then. I'll have to take some video action of it.

 

 

 

[Riceburner]

Well done mate, sit back and enjoy now. It looks, sounds, goes fantasic and is a credit to you 

[luvemfast]

Sounds so good, can't  wait for more

[chartoo]

Congratulations. Now to start cruising 

[GV260]

Congrat's on your achievement and workmanship. I've enjoyed reading the thread. Once you get over the first stone chip you'll be able to drive it as you always intended! No doubt you already have other plans for improvements, etc. It never seems to end............ Enjoy the ride!

[RB30X]

Thanks for the comments guys.

 

I've done 60 miles in it so far and I love it. Picked the boys up from school today, (luckily they finished at different times) and they were stoked ("IT'S A BIT LOUD ISN'T IT DAD").

 

When I drove it yesterday I though it had developed a miss again. Just one pot, and only under load. Fiddling around with leads today with the engine running and I see the boot of a spark plug wiggling around in its hole. Apparently the dodgey bloke that replaced these plugs last only put this one in finger tight as the crush washer wasn't even compressed. So it was firing but most of the compression was leaking out through the thread, acting more like a 7.25 cylinder engine. So I did that up and she sounds more like a symphony than ever before. Did I mention I love it.

 

It's hard to judge the speed of this thing as its so light, the engine doesn't really load up it just accelerates according to how much accelerator you use. I haven't been able to give it much at all, one because the gearbox fluid isn't exactly fresh and changing gears is like trying to give a worm tablet to a cat, and two, you punch it in second gear and could lose your license in any state of Australia.

 

Speaking of speed, I've been getting used to reading a mph speedo. Have a look at this link to see how easy it was to calibrate mine (different style obviously). I totally rate these products, and so cheap to import them from the US.

 

http://www.autometer.com/tech_faq_answer.aspx?sid=2&qid=40

 

 

 

 

 

[RB30X]

This ones for Peter.

 

 

[peter mc]

very cool  ls1 conversions are mad

[RB30X]

I was actually stirring up another Peter but thanks anyway. I drove the zed to work tonight and weighed it on the weigh bridge. 1180kgs with about 30kgs of fuel on board. I was hoping for less but there's a lot of driveline under that little shell.

 

 

[Scoota G]

Pure Magic . . . Well done Tim 

[luvemfast]

I drove the zed to work tonight and weighed it on the weigh bridge. 1180kgs with about 30kgs of fuel on board. I was hoping for less but there's a lot of driveline under that little shell.

Don't think the extra weight should be a problem with the torque monster you have 

[RB30X]

 

I’ve recently confirmed some question marks that have been loitering just under my bonnet since I bought this car. This isn’t really Datsun related, but interesting for me and possibly others. It turns out my LS1 engine is actually an LS1 engine. Confused? Allow me to explain.

 

The late model VT’s and early VX’s got the first series LS1 engines, the ones where some engines chewed a lot of oil. Then the series two VX’s got the LS6 engines (no the 6 doesn’t stand for 6.0L, those are LS2’s). Apart from fixing the oil issue, the LS6 engines got a more efficient intake manifold and larger injectors to suit the extra air flow. Swapping out the restrictive LS1 manifold and installing an LS6 usually nets gains of up to 10kw straight up. When the previous owner of my car bought the LS engine he (and possibly the seller) assumed the VX engine was an LS6. What does this mean for me? I glad you asked. I called the workshop that performed the mafless tune for the engine (pre-installation) and he confirmed the tune was for an LS6. This means my PCM is running the engine thinking it has a better intake manifold and larger injectors. I will still drive, it just won’t perform as well as it should. Possibly a bit flat down low and doughy up top. I did notice some up top doughyness, but I put this down to the standard valve springs which are known to ‘float’ well before peak revs. This is why in my little vid above, I only really took the revs to 5k as it wasn’t pulling much above this. This week I picked up an LS6 manifold locally for cheap. A bonus attachment to the manifold was a spare throttle body. These throttle bodies have a sharp taper from the larger diameter of the throttle body opening, down to the smaller diameter throttle blade. This also hurts flow and a very easy mod is to port the inlet of the throttle body to smooth out the transition. I had done this mod previously on my Clubby so it won’t be an issue to do the same thing to this one. Swapping the LS6 manifold in as well as the ported and polished throttle body should bring my tune closer to where it should be, and liven up the engine even more (not that it was slow to start with). Then I will track down some better valve springs to replace the weak factory ones, allowing me to use all of my factory rev limit of 6200rpm. Finding some LS6 injectors shouldn’t be too hard, as these only support engines up to 300rwkw then run out of flow, so are commonly replaced with higher flowing items. Then early next year, I hope to take my car in to have the tune checked on a dyno and touched up if necessary.

 

I also cleaned my K&N pod filter recently which I’d been meaning to do since I started driving the car as it was literally covered in dust from sitting in a workshop for over a year. I washed it in a bucket of water which turned brown very quickly and the amount of dirt sitting in the bottom afterwards was amazing. You can actually see through the filter now. I can’t wait to see how this thing goes with some simple breathing mods completed.

[RB30X]

 

Next to my mates 400rwkw GTR aka "little brother".

 

 

 

[RB30X]

I weighed my car again at work tonight after someone asked what the weight distribution was last time. I rolled up with a full tank on board and all my work stuff and weighed 1280kg, got out and it was 1200kg. Rolled it back so the rear Tyres were off and it was 640kg, and I got out and you guessed it, exactly 600kgs which means it is exactly 50:50 weight distribution.

[kevinlvy]

gotta hand it to you love the newly done paint and the power of the engine, can't wait to see further enhancement to this wonderful beast. 

[RB30X]

Thanks a lot mate.

If you were starting a project and wanted to make an S30 really haul ass for cheap and you didn't mind not using an L series engine, then you'd have to consider one of these conversions. I think I'm getting around 11-12L/100km too just to rub it in. Not sure what an L series would get you??

[C.A.R.]

Skid pics not loading.

[garvice]

Skid pics not loading.

Looking at a couple of forums at the same time and thought, wait a minute, this is auszcar not performanceforums, 

[RB30X]

Skid pics not loading.

 

Use your imagination.

 

I'm still waiting to see pics of yours

 

[RB30X]

I've got all the parts I need for my stage 1 upgrades  (I've been playing too much GT5)

LS6 manifold

LS6 injectors

I've ported and polished my throttle body to 78mm, and will port manifold to suit.

PAC 1218 valve springs (rev limter here we come)

 

Removing fuel rail

 

 

 

Throttle body off

 

 

LS1 manifold off

 

 

 

 

LS1 on left, LS6 on right.

 

 

 

Waiting for the LS6 manifold installation

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[RB30X]

Well the LS6 manifold has been installed but after also installing the LS6 injectors, I was advised to wait until it gets a tune otherwise they'd run too rich, so the LS1 injectors went back in.

I think the seat-of-the-pants-o-meter has picked up some improvement in the top end just by changing the manifold.

I ported the entry to manifold as well as spare throttle body which required me to make up a new 78mm throttle blade as the factory size is 75mm. I haven't installed this bigger throttle body yet.

 

 

 

 

 

I really need to get a wheel alignment and check out everything to do with the rear end handling. At speed the rear end feels very soft and I don't mean just because its accelerating hard. Almost like if you were used to having a rear sway bar, then you removed it, kind of sloppy. This makes it very figity at high speeds. I want to get a BRE rear spoiler one day to hold a the back down a little too but in the mean time I might look at the mostache bar or something, see what sort of condition those rubbers are in.

[RB30X]

The ignition barrel in my car has always been a bit dicky. You have to hold the key a certain way to get it to fire, and the key itself is quite worn and I’m afraid of snapping it off in the barrel. So part of the set I bought a while back was a new ignition barrel key’d the same as my other locks.

 

You have to take the plastic covers off.

 

 

Drill out the snap off studs with a 5mm drill bit.

 

 

Unplug and remove the old barrel.

 

 

Make sure the new one works before installing correctly.

 

 

It’s like starting a new car now.

 

 

 

I got this Billet Products short/quick shifter with my car so I’d thought I’d throw it on today as well. The factory shifter are like a spoon in a bowl of porridge and these ones are not only shorter but are gated so the 2nd to 3rd shift is impossible to get wrong, you just push straight up and springs push it across etc.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

You can see a little solenoid push rod below, that is a reverse lock out. Stops you grabbing reverse instead of 5th gear. It’s supposed to get 12v sent to it at less than 10km/hr to retract the solenoid allowing an easy reverse selection but if 12v doesn’t get there the shift is incredibly hard (two hands). I’ve been having problems with mine so this was a good time to check everything. And for what its worth mine wasn’t getting 12v but it will be soon.

 

 

 

 

 

And if the car didn’t feel racey enough before it certainly does now. The shift is apparently a 65% shorter throw now and goes in so much easier, not to mention the lighting 2nd to 3rd shift. 

 

[haul]

You are making me jealous, Now that I am on a break for Xmas, I will have to get the MSD sorted and get mine going.

  Be interesting to see a turbo against the LS, But I think it will be a no contest.

Cheers Tony