Agno's 1975 260Z.

[C.A.R.]

Glad to hear your getting some use out of it again

 

RE your front struts: Try a shorter spring first. You appear to be getting coil bind, which sounds like it's giving you the under-steer...

[Agno]

Just saw your post now Lurch. A taller, stiffer spring with less coils would reduce the likelihood of coil clash, but I think even just sectioning the front struts 30mm below the threaded collars would go a long way to fixing my problems.

 

In other news I have a new (old) C-pillar emblem to be put on the car tonight after I go and pick it up!

 

Also I have decided at the end of the year to take the car off the road and restore it from the ground up. Although the car is in OK condition it has always bugged me that the car is a bit rough around the edges and not exactly how I envisioned my dream Z to be. This way I can start over and build it exactly the way I want without compromise.

 

This leads to a very tricky question however, and that is weather I should buy another, stocker S30 chassis car to base my build off.

 

While the values of these cars will probably keep on increasing, I am worried that I am spending a small fortune into a slightly less desirable 260Z 2 seater shell where the finished product wouldn't be as valuable as a 240Z. For me the main cost would be the time I would be waiting for a good condition 240Z with the trim and colour combination I want to pop up, plus I would be without a car for a while, but I think I have a workaround solution for that. My brother thinks I'm talking crazy talk but I thought it would be good to hear what other people have to say.

 

If I was to keep my current Zed it would most likely be going back to it's original colour which is 305 Light Blue Metallic, undecided about flares. I'm trying to imagine what it would look like with a G-nose and flares painted in a similar style to original ZGs (gunmetal grey lower front section, spoiler & flares) and it's sounding pretty cool to me. If I had any idea how to use photoshop I would knock something up but I might have to ask a mate who knows how to do more than open the application!

[d3c0y]

260Zs will continue to go up as 240Zs get harder to get, but as you state i doubt they will be quite the same. You could always put 240Z tail lights and dash in it though and it would take a keen eye to pick the difference then.

 

 

It seems a shame to take it off the road since you have seem to not had it running with the triples that long. Once you take it off the road for that kind of resto, dont expect to be driving it again for the next year or maybe two. No to mention the amount of money you will end up spending getting all the little bits and pieces right.

 

 

The plan i'm taking with my car is get everything set up right, suspension, brakes, engine, drive line and flares drilling all the holes i need and seeing which ones i can cover up. And when it's all done running correctly rotisserie it. That way i will get to use the car for a majority of the time it takes to build it up.

 

 

Just my 2c having restored one before.

 

 

 

 

 

[Agno]

Admittedly I will not be starting any work on the car until early next year at the earliest so I will still have plenty of time to drive it, I'm just a sucker for planning and if I'm really going to do this I want to make sure I don't miss anything.

[dat240z]

Id say get yourself a 240z as they are the pinnacle of s30's. A good restoration is 50k + and at least a year of buiding, searching for parts, waiting for lost parcels etc.  Your 260z is fairly neat from what I can see. Perhaps see if selling it can help bridge the gap to buy a clean 240z and start that? Or keep your 260z, and in the meantime search, buy, build your dream 240z

[C.A.R.]

False economy Alex & you're thinking too hard about it!

 

Talking from experience, the 2-seaters all seem to pull the same $ when they come up for sale in similar condition...

 

If your after a 240Z in better condition, then you are going to pay a larger premium for one that is rust free / had the body restored already.

You will also lose a large amount on the 'change over' on your 260, because of it's current condition.

 

My advise: Fix the visible issues with the body now (without pulling it completely to bits), repaint where necessary & then drive the ring off it.

When your flush with $ later on, THEN go the Full Monty with the car

 

[nizm0zed]

I'll play devils advocate.

 

Why do you want a 240 over a 260? Is it the name? the dash/tail lights?

Is it for resale value later? Are you doing a period correct original restoration?

 

I think thats well worth having a think about and answering to yourself.

there were less 260z 2 seaters than 240z 2 seaters released in Aus. I would wager that with all stats evening themselves out over long periods of time there is probably less 260z 2 seater chassis left than there is 240z chassis.

If your planning on selling it later (hence starting with a 'valuable' 240z chassis) then it cant really be a dream car? the way i see it you'd keep a dream car forever (or as long as possible anyway) even if it ends up club registered and only goes out for an occasional track day/charity cruise ect.

the dash and tail lights can be changed to the 240z shape and 95% of people wouldn't be able to tell the difference.

Id imagine that 3% of the remaining 5% would be the type that would give you a lecture because its not concourse original.

sure, its not a bolt in affair but if your going the whole hog on a resto its really not that big a job in the grand scheme.

 

At the end of the day though, you need to work out what you want and do that, not what other people say you should do.

 

My thoughts?

Buy a R33 as a daily, build a Rb25/30 for it, drive it while you sort out the body and suspension of the zed and the bugs out of the engine/driveline of the skyline, then rip the engine and driveline out of the skyline and slot the whole running/tuned/proven package into the zed 

[Agno]

Valid points. I have plenty of time to think about it and mull it over anyway. Right now though it's all about saving up some money to put towards the resto while also just enjoying the car the way it is.

 

Adam was nice enough to donate a weathered C pillar emblem to my cause (thanks mate!) so the car looks slightly less sad now. Next up: Getting the wing on!

[adam]

Nice to meet you and thanks for letting me take your car for a spin!

[Agno]

No problems Adam, cheers for the replacement badge!

 

A couple of days ago I ripped the door trims off to try and work out why my driver's door rattles so badly, plus also have a quick suss to see if the door shells can be reused. Without stating the obvious I think someone had a go at these at some point in a past life.

 

Plus a couple of speed holes for good measure:

 

There were identical "modifications" on the passenger side as well, but no rust. In the end I found an incredibly large amount of gunk/mud/crap at the bottom of each door (plus some bog on the skins) but much more importantly that the door rattle was caused by this rubber block rolling around loose inside the door, which in turn explained why the window rattles so badly when it is wound down! A quick clean and a new clip (same ones as the door cards by the looks of things) and we should be ready to party again.

 

One question I have though is that for some reason the actuating rod for the door mechanism on the driver's side is about 5mm longer than the passenger side. From what I could see it isn't adjustable which is incredibly annoying because the inside door handle rattles like there is no tomorrow as a result. I was thinking of cutting it down to size but I was wondering if anyone else has ever come across this before? A pic for reference.

 

Note how the loop isn't in contact with the latch, whereas on the passenger side the latch is held quite firmly in place by the loop.

[mossy]

Alex those two bolts that hold the door handle on should have elongated holes and by the looks of your pic you should be able to loosen the bolts and push the handle towards the front of the car.

 

Also do you have the little rollers for the glass clipped onto the top of the door shell?

[Agno]

I can't believe I missed the elongated bolts, thanks Mossy. Adjusted them but there is still a bit of play in them in comparison to the passenger side. The FSM says they should have a bit of play so I guess it's an improvement on what I started with.

 

I have a roller on the LHS but no roller on the RHS. A quick Google search tells me the RHS roller is NLA. What a bugger!

[mossy]

There is a used pair on ebay at the moment

 

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Datsun-240z-260z-280z-70-76-Coupe-Used-Window-Rollers-2x-Left-Right-/140998395870?pt=Vintage_Car_Truck_Parts_Accessories&hash=item20d428c7de&vxp=mtr

[Agno]

Thanks for that. I tried searching on eBay Australia for a set but I couldn't find any, even when searching worldwide. I'm guessing the results from searching on eBay USA are different to searching on eBay AU. Duly noted for next time.

[mossy]

Don't know why it does that but thats why I go to ebay US as well as you will often find items that say worldwide postage. 

[Agno]

Just bought a NOS finned diff cover to suit my R200 from Yahoo Japan which should be a nice addition to the rear end along with the RT diff mount I'm getting from the group buy organised by Jake. Now I should get off my ass and make a diff brace so I can actually fit the diff cover!

[Riceburner]

I have a detailed diagram of the rear brace with measurements. I can email it if you like, just send me a pm.

[C.A.R.]

Diff brace?

[d3c0y]

Moustache bar

[dat240z]

Moustache bar or traverseve link?

[Riceburner]

Yes sorry, it's the rear link, the one that braces the rear control arm mounts. Moustache bar remains the same.

[Agno]

After digging around inside my doors for the last few weeks I have come to the conclusion that I would rather just get new door shells and build my doors up from there. Luckily Adam (cheers mate!) was turfing a complete door he didn't use in his 240Z rebuild, it's got a bit of a rusty skin but importantly for me the shell looks to be really solid:

 

To add to my list of things to do I decided to once and for all work out why my bloody radio wouldn't plug into anything. In a rather common sense fashion I worked out it's because the harness for the radio isn't in my car at all. I am also missing the hazard switch wiring, window demister wiring and the choke light wiring. All I had was a rats nest of mess:

 

I spent ages trying to work out what the extra blue and green wires were and why I had an additional earth attached to the heater core. Well a bit of a facepalm moment here because the answer was literally staring at me in the face the whole time:

 

It never occurred to me that my car shouldn't have a voltmeter standard and it wasn't until I looked close enough that the gauges were obviously different. That made me feel a bit silly but at least it explained the extra wires. As a way of fixing all of my electrical problems in one go I decided to have a go at relooming the car with a known stock harness, without much luck locally I thought I would have a go at sourcing one from overseas and trying to make it fit so about a week later this has arrived from the USA:

 

It's a wiring harness from a LHD 1976 280Z. I decided to have a go with a 1976 harness so the voltmeter would work without modification and because it was cheap! That way if this little experiment of mine (adapting a LHD harness to a RHD car) doesn't work the way I intended it to it has only cost me a handful of dollars and some time. In the photo you can also see my new diff cover, you can probably also see it's a plain cover and not a finned cover. This is because I referenced the wrong part number when I was buying it. Win some and lose some I guess.

[d3c0y]

You are probably switching from a series 1 260Z to a series 2 260Z harness too which may add complications.

[Zedman240®]

You'll find the LHD US loom is a heap longer under the dash as it goes in the same place in the engine bay as the RHD version but goes way over to the left for the light/wiper controls. Also, theres a few extra items / functions that the Australian models didn't come with like seat belt lights and other chimes and switches. If your dash had the amp meter, just join the two white/red wires together and attach the 260 volt meter wire there and you will have volts.

[Agno]

 

I have no idea how the front spoiler broke given the car hasn't turned a wheel in 6 weeks. In addition to this I also took apart the tail lights, cleaned the buggery out of them and put them back on the car but now the RHS (driver's tail light) appears to have an earthing problem. Swapped the tail light harnesses left to right and no change.

 

1 step forward, 2 steps back... every single bloody time 

 

Update: I have narrowed it down to one tail light harness. One globe was busted so I replaced it. No change and the wiring looks fine with no breaks. I cleaned the buggery out of them with contact cleaner and still no dice.

 

When I turn the parkers/headlights on one brake light comes on with both filaments as if I am braking. The other globe is 100% non responsive. When the headlights are off both brake lights in that tail light do nothing. Indicators and reverse lights work fine. I'll take a more thorough look at the wiring and globes tomorrow I think.