Tj's '77 260Z 2+2

[Tj]

Hey guys, I'm new here.

My name's Tj and I've just bought a 1977 260Z 2+2! 

 

 

I mentioned in my introductory post that I'm selling my '08 Ford Focus XR5 Turbo to get back to basics and get back into some old school J-Tin. I'm in the finishing stages of my last build, a 1975 Mitsubishi Galant hardtop coupe powered by an N/A 4G63 twin cam that's actually my girlfriend's daily driver, and was developing a hankering for something of my own (Pro Tip: don't pull apart your significant other's pride and joy telling them that the engine conversion will only take "a few weeks" only to spend the next 18 months spending every spare moment on the car  )

 

Anyway, back to the Zed.

 

I spied this car on carsales down in Frankston. The main issue was that I'm in Sydney. I kept searching but the only cars in sydney were either way to expensive or needed way too much work. The reason I was looking for a 260 2+2 was that they're significantly cheaper than the two seaters and while I'm not disputing the worth of them, I just didn't have $25k to spend on one.

I know that the roof line is a bit different and they're longer but I don't mind. They've still got the looks and more importantly they've still got the L-series straight 6!

 

Luckily this car was just perfect. Either way, my girlfriend and I had planned a weekend around the car to make it worth while making the trip to Melbourne just in case the car turned out to be a dud.

 

That's not to say It wasn't an adventure though. We planed to fly down on Thursday night after work on the June long weekend only to find out as we got to the airport that our flight had been cancelled (bloody tiger) only to find out later still that all of tiger's flights to Melbourne that night we're full (several of the remaining few were later cancelled as well, that mob couldn't organise a fart in a curry eating contest)

After forking out twice as much again as we paid for a our tickets, we hopped on a Virgin flight much MUCH later that night.

By the time we made it to where we were staying in St Kilda it was well past 1AM. We left my house at a bit before 4pm. We very nearly could have driven in that time 

 

The car however made up for all the hell we went through getting down there. Bar a horrible misfire which I had to deal with until I got it home, I liked it and I laid down my cash for it

 

 

Before we drove it home to Sydney though, it desperately needed new rear tyres and some attention made to that misfire. Problem being, it was Saturday arvo by the time I bought the car, and we were to drive it home Sunday morning. I somehow remembered that Kmart Tyre and Auto were sometimes open on Sundays and that might just get me out of strife. Luckily we found one in Preston that had my size tyre got them to have a look at that miss while they were at it.

All they did was swap a spark plug but it did make an improvement.

So some hours after we were meant to set of we were finally on the road.

 

 

And that's where it got un-eventful. The car didn't miss a beat... well, except for all the beats it was missing due to that misfire  and made it home in just about 10 hrs the whole time impressed by the huge amount of leg room and surprisingly comfy seats, given that they're original. May have been re-padded, who knows

 

Now onto the car itself.

 

It's nice and straight, and reasonably rust free, the only spots being on the bonnet facing edge of the passenger side guard (about an inch long) and a bubble about the size of the very tip of your pinky finger on the bonnet itself.

The paint is in real good nick, all things considered. From my understanding the car was "restored" sometime around 2006-07 by an elderly gentleman here in Sydney to keep himself occupied during retirement. He unfortunately passed away not too long after finishing it. It then ended up in Victoria and changed hands i think twice before I came along.

It's a real good and thick coat of two-pack that doesn't show any signs of dodgy work. There's understandably a few minor scuffs and in need of a good polish but all in all it's good. I cant tell what the original colour was (is that red original??) as theres no paint I.D sticker in the engine bay and I'm yet to find any differing paintwork in hidden places.

 

The badges are a bit of a jumble up. As you can see there's one on the grille (not anymore ) and theres actually one tucked under the back bumper half covering a long oval shaped hole just near the exhaust. Is that meant to have a grommet in it?

 

The bumpers themselves aren't too bad. The back one is pretty clean but the front (not yet fitted to the car) is a bit of a mess. I spent quite a while just last weekend trying to fit the front bumper but I couldn't get the damn thing to line up. The brackets aren't bent (they're still the mirror image of each other) and there's no creases in the bumper itself but the drivers side corner sits about 30mm proud of the bodywork. I just can't figure it out at the moment so the ugly-as jungle gym hanging off the front needs to stay  :-\

 

Now the interior is where it sang it's alluring siren song. It's completely original and mostly untouched bar for a cd player (for which i have plans, but more on that later) a half skin on the dash and the wrong gearknob and choke lever knob (both of which I'm hunting original replacements for) Oh and the clock's on the fritz and the speedo twitches about and reads 15k's lower than what you're actually doing (GPS to the rescue)

 

The only issue inside was the steering wheel, which while original, is knackered. The foam grip is completely perished and swathed in a rather repulsive and uncomfortable wheel cover. I hate wheel covers 

 

Thus bringing me to my first little tidy up job 

Firstly, during the build of my GF's Galant I started a bit of a pictorial journal of all the work being carried out. I'd like to do that again here. I find it really encouraging to hear peoples reactions to the work I carry out and often pick up a lot of pointers in the process.

 

What did I do to the wheel? Binned it... well, not really. It's in a parts tub in the garage but that sounds much less dramatic 

After talking to my brother in-law (who's a big datsun fanatic) he dug out an old 240K steering wheel he'd been stashing away.

 

The original wheel

 

The 240K wheel as it was given to me

 

It was pretty grubby, it looks as though it came out of a smokers car judging by the gunk it was covered in.

I filled up the laundry tub with a mild solution of sugar soap and hot water and scrubbed it gently with a scouring pad. To my surprise it's a timber wheel! 

The spokes only needed a gentle rub back to get the rust spots off after which I gave it a few coats of etch primer and silver paint.

 

The end result:

 

Due to the cruddy weather of late there hasn't been enough light to take a photo of it on the car but it looks the goods! On a side note, the big 'Z' horn pad off the original wheel fits it, but looks a bit odd. The K wheel isn't as dished as the Z wheel so it juts out and looks a bit ungainly. So for now I'll live with the old D motif.

 

 

There's a lot more work to be done. Even though my old man, who's a mechanic by trade (truckie now) cleaned and balanced the carbs, which did make the world of difference, the engine's a bit how's you're father. #4 cylinder (the one that was fouling the plug in Melbourne) is about 20psi down on compression (pretty sure that's what the old fella said) in a dry compression test and then higher in a "wet test" suggesting theres a dodgy ring in there. It's not missing any more but it's rough at idle (lopes like it's got a fat cam, pretty sure it doesn't though  ) and it's quite down on power, enough to struggle up hills.

Hopefully it'll hold out for a while.

 

And then there's the suspension. Actually, that implies that it has suspension  It's stuffed. There's oil running down the passenger side strut leg. It's all floaty and scuttles and wobbles over bumps. The steering rack feels tight though, so there's that I guess  :-\

 

So the plan of attack, more or less in order is:

 

• Replace shocks and springs and all rubbers (spying off that full underbody nolethane kit on fleabay) and maybe bigger swaybars. Don't think I'll go down the coilover route just yet, it's a bit pricey. But the stance is soo gnarly looking.. I'm torn 
  

• Look at upgrading brakes, or at least overhauling them
  

• Tint the windows and get the AC regassed before summer.
  

• A few cosmetic things like headlight covers, a BRE chin spoiler and rear wing. After seeing THIS GUY'S 240 with no flares, I think I may too avoid the over flares path. That thing just looks so tidy.
  

• Gotta do something about those wheels. I may find something a little more attractive on the cheap until I can justify the $$$ of some old school japanese wheels. Thinking Hayashi Streets or SSR Longchamps, just to break the Wats trend.
  

• A hidden stereo. I mean completely hidden. I want to source an original radio, don't care if it's just AM, dont even care if it doesn't work, it's just gotta look correct. I'm pretty handy with a soldering iron so I was going to pick up a 2nd hand head unit that controls an IPOD and has a good remote (not one of those cruddy thin card type ones) unpick the IR receiver on the head unit and hide it in the dash somewhere. Then hide a few speakers (I hate seeing speakers cut into original door cards)
  

• And then, only then, build up a strong motor. Not sure what, but it WILL be an L series (After the galant I don't want to do a modern conversion again. Too much stress and time off the road.) I'd like to chase a decent amount of power but I want to strike a decent balance between power and driveability. Gotta remember its my road car after all 
   
  

 

 

On a plus side however, It passed it's blue slip today! (I know, I'm surprised too) Going to the RTA tomorrow to register it properly and get some NSW plates on it! I'm happy a pig in it at the moment. I was worried that I was going to end up with another car on stands in the garage for months again (seriously within days of finishing the Galant too  )

 

Anyway, If you want to see more photos check my photobucket out There's photos of the Galant build in there too if you're interested.

 

More to come!

[lightmaster240z]

Welcome Tj look like you pick a really nice car there I look forward to reading your progress a you make the car yours

regards

Bruce

[Zedman240®]

Welcome again TJ,

Sounds like you have some sensible plans lined up. That's good to hear! Keep us up to date....

[Tj]

So progress on the old war-horse is moving a lot slower than I would really like. Recently my employment situation has taken a bit of a turn so while I have plenty of spare time on my hands I've had to more of less lock myself out of my bank account and there's very little I can do to the car at the moment without spending money  :-\

 

I have however been able to take it out and enjoy it and all it's niggling problems, for example, losing all power inside a multi level carpark in Manly only to come good again after parking it up for a few hours  Probably just needed a rest.

 

Anyway, just last friday night I picked up my Girlfriend and my buddy Pete, who's getting right into photography, and headed out for a drive.

Among the places we cruised around taking night shots through the rather crappy weather we ended up at Mrs Macquarie's chair. On the way out, noticing that the place is empty at midnight I pulled up out front of the art gallery of nsw, parking right across the road for some shots of the Zed.

 

 

It was a very wet and misty night but all things considered they turned out alright 

 

The next shot was a bit of fun. We later ended up over at milson's point north of sydney harbour taking shots and generally dicking about in front of Luna Park. It was then that we noticed that the space alongside the pools there and out front of Luna Park itself was more or less a big driveway, no gates, no bollards, nothing. There weren't even any signs to deter us from driving the car straight down there in front of Luna Park.

So that's exactly what we did 

 

 

Unfortunately because of the amount of light blazing out of the front of the park, it made it quite difficult to get some light on the car, this was about the best we could do.

I still like it, and it was a heap of fun!

 

All these shots courtesy of Pete Podlaha from Injected Ideas

[chris240]

a big welcome !

great read...you should be writting articles 

[gav240z]

Hi mate,

RE: Your problem with sudden loss of power. Any chance of seeing some pics of your engine bay? I know various Z's have had vapor lock issues due to heat in the engine bay. I'd like to see your Engine bay set up and see if this could be your problem? Since this will show me what carbs you are running and if you have an under-tray still installed etc...

 

Could also be a faulty alternator I've had a bad alternator cause a loss in power all of a sudden when the fan kicks in (had electric fan).

[Johnboy]

Nice Pic's Tj.

 

And welcome also..

 

Johnboy

[kobes]

An alternative idea to the I?R "hidden" stereo, might be to try and pick up a cheap one that works on bluetooth rather than IR.. 

 

I did this and the remote work on bluetooth, so no need to mount the IR in dash as the signal goes a few meters through just about most things in a car!

 

the other benifit is if you have an ipod / iphone you can transmit you music all while the radio itself is totally hidden...

 

 

If you come up with a good way to hise the speakers let me know.

 

At the the moment due to my loath to install them in the door or sidewalls anywhere, i have just made up a loose carpeted box, and only connect them when i want, and normally place them in the back somewhere.

 

Kobes

[saxon]

I'm like you, I don't want something lighting up like a winamp skin in my console. I'd like good sound, but I want it sort of hidden. This is what I'm envisioning (I don't even have my Z yet):

 

Head Unit:

http://www.retrosoundusa.com/products/details/id/63

 

Sub:

I've seen them mounted behind the chairs, and in the spare wheel well. Behind the chairs is probably the best.

 

Speakers:

Somewhere not in the doors, probably make a a box for them to sit in in the back.

 

It's probably on the bottom of my things to do though. So many things I want, so little money.

[kobes]

100% the same unit i purchased.

 

Been usuing for over a year now with no problems!

 

Awesome unit.

[Tj]

Not a great deal to report of late.

Since I first posted, the Zed has, somewhat reluctantly, entered active service as my full time daily driver, having sold my prior daily, a 2008 Ford Focus XR5 Turbo.

Thankfully it hasn't been a problem yet as shortly after I made that first post I lost my job and havent needed to rely on it every day yet 

 

The poor original motor is somewhat worse for wear, but still goes alright with the exception of #3 cylinders appetite for spark plugs.

While having a play with it last week trying to get it to run a little better, Dad and I discovered that, on the rear carb, if you push the bottom of the jet upwards (i.e back into the carb itself) it runs a whole lot better. At least until you rev the engine again which brings it all out of whack again. Not so bad that you can't drive the car, it just makes it rough. Plus the idle speed just wont return to the same spot twice making it near impossible to set. Evidently the carbs need to be rebuilt.

 

But I have a better idea.

 

I just bought stevo_gj's motor instead!

 

That ought to fix the problem with the carbs! 

It's almost exactly what I wanted to build myself, with the exception that it's not a stroker motor. I think it'll still be more than adequate though.

 

Before I start bolting in horsepower to the car I desperately need to do something about the suspension. It bangs, crashes and wobbles all over the joint. In fact, whilst tinkering with it last week my Dad (who's, lets say, generously proportioned) was leaning on the passenger side guard whilst working on the carbs when, without him moving, the car suddenly dropped about an inch or so 

Needless to say that insert is stuffed.

 

I've been eyeing off the Tokico Illumina's for some time, but hesitated spending the money just yet. Then the AUD dropped 

I've spied a set in the for sale section just today actually so I'm trying my luck there, I'm usually too slow with this sort of thing though.

 

To add to this I'm also looking at the complete nolethene kit of ebay. I need to have a good thorough look through what's in the car first and make sure that they haven't already been done, but I'm fairly sure they haven't.

 

Anyway a few weeks back a good mate of mine called me up and asked, rather last minute, if I wanted to bring the Zed and my other project, my girlfirend's '75 Mitsubishi Galant Coupe along to a photoshoot that night.

 

The results were pretty good, shame the Zed's a little rough around the edges though 

Is that the 'Safari Spec' factory suspension option?

These wheels look an awful lot like Work Excels. I haven't taken them off yet and had a look for any casting marks but it'd be a nice bonus if they are. I still think they're pig ugly though...

Oh yeah!, I forgot to mention. I got the front bumper on! but it's pretty bent. looks like its bent up right in the middle too..

And here's a good shot of the 240K steering wheel in place

 

Quick! someone get a front apron on this car, stat! The front subframe thingy needs covering up ASAP!.

What is that thing btw?, is it a 2+2 only thing? I've not seen it hanging down on any other cars like that  :-\

 

It's worth mentioning that I had no time what so ever to actually clean the car. It's pretty grubby in this shoot, but it hides it fairly well 

 

More soon!

[Zedman240®]

Very nice pics of your zed...

 

With that lower subframe thing, its a late 260Z thing; 240Z and earlyish 260's had one that was a tad higher up and hidden. A nice set of wheels and lowering would finish it off I think.

[Lynton]

Tj the 2+2 badge on the tailgate should be straight and the forged elongated hole in panel under the rear bumper is standard, by the look of the gear stick height and the stick boot ......maybe the gearbox is out of a 280zx?? and also the original steering wheels are becoming a hard to get item so consider refurbishing it if that is possible Lynton

[Tj]

Tj the 2+2 badge on the tailgate should be straight and the forged elongated hole in panel under the rear bumper is standard, by the look of the gear stick height and the stick boot ......maybe the gearbox is out of a 280zx?? and also the original steering wheels are becoming a hard to get item so consider refurbishing it if that is possible Lynton

 

Thanks for that! I'm looking at a ducktail wing in th. e future so the badges may end up coming off (all the other badge holes have been filled in anyway) but it good to know. 

 

Now those wheels, do you mean they're original? They're actually in pretty good nick. They're reasonably shiny when they're clean. The car was pretty dirty in this photoshoot.

 

The gearbox could be anything. The engine is a bit of a bitsa. Is an E88 head on an L26 block, not an L26E so I think its a cedric block (or is it the other way around)

The box feels ok but it needs new shifter bushes.

 

It'll all be coming out soon anyway 

[Tj]

Caught up with some mates from the XR5 Turbo Focus forums today and they had a little photo shoot. I parked off to the side but a few of the guys still came around and took a few snaps of the Zed.

Enjoy!

 

Me trying not to look like a badass 

 

[Tj]

Been a while since I've posted but there's been plenty of progress, but unfortunately there's not a lot of photos  :-\

 

Anyway, a few weeks ago an old buddy called me up and recruited me to drum for a band he was putting together. I've been playing on bands for years but this is the first time I've had to cart gear around in the zed.

If anyone tells you that you can't fit a 5-piece drum kit in a 2+2, tell 'em they're a dirty liar 

 

 

Like a glove.

 

I also picked up that tokico illumina set and installed them. WOW! What a difference!! the car looks and feels a million times better. I haven't got any shots of the ride height at the moment but it's significantly lower.

I also replaced as many of the bushes with polyurethene. I couldn't get them all but I have all the parts so it can be an ongoing project 

 

Anyway, that poor old motor has been huffing and wheezing it's way to and from work. Oh yeah, I got a new job a few months back and I've been really relying on it to get me to and from work and it's only let me down once when I discovered it wasn't making any oil pressure. Evidently, this was because there was no fuggin oil in it 

Anyway, the carbs have continued to play up and suffer from heat soak and when they actually do run, they use a ton of fuel. I calculated it (roughly) to be about 25L/100km  Christ on a stick!, this thing is going to bleed me dry the way it's going.

 

So then I did this last weekend 

 

The engine bay is way messier than I'd really like but at the moment the main priority is to get the motor running. Dress it up later.

 

It's worth noting that before the engine went in the car I gave it a good freshen up with new main and big end bearings (the old ones were ok with the exception of this one:

 

 

It's not too bad but I figured I may as well while it was out. On top of this I replaced the Front and rear main seals as a precaution. Better to do it on the engine stand rather than laying on my back under the car.

 

 

Next up was the water pump. It sounded a little grumbly so I figured I'd throw a new one on, they're only cheap (as are all the other little things I replaced) and good thing i did.

 

 

Ee gads! 

 

Luckily, my brother in-law rallys a Datsun 1600 and has a shed full of bits including a whole box full of front timing covers. So luckily I was able to pilfer a good one off him and replace that nasty looking one.

Also fortunately, that was all that needed attention and it didn't cost me too much 

 

While the motor was out I tore out the AC gear. It doesn't work, and if I go to all the expense to get it re-gassed and then patch any inevitable leaks it'll still be pretty poor and will have cost a bomb. Stuff it. I'll live without it for now.

 

So as of this afternoon it's all bolted in waiting on throttle linkage, choke cable, fuel lines and a vacuum line for the brake booster and then, fingers and toes crossed it'll fire!

 

But it wont drive :-\

 

There seems to be a problem with the clutch. I used the clutch that came with the motor but it doesn't seem to engage. I can have the car in gear and it'll still roll around the garage 

Looks like I'm pulling the gearbox out tomorrow, not happy about it but it needs to be done. With a bit of luck it'll be something simple! Common sense is telling me that I should go and buy a new clutch and be done with it. I was being cheap before and putting it off but now I'm at the point where I don't give a stuff and just want to throw money at it till it runs. But I've got buckleys chance of picking one up tomorrow, otherwise I'll have to wait at least two three weeks for it and I just can't be without the car for that long.

 

Oh, here's one last shot. Yes this happens from time to time, no it's not staged and yes she did hand me a beer (without me asking) just moments earlier 

 

[Tj]

Oh and I really have to do something about this front bumper. I realised it bore a resemblance to something.... a little unsavoury....

 

 

hmmm........

[benny]

was the clutch a different height to your old one?? if so you need a longer thrust bearing carrier.

[peter t]

That's one mean harmonic balancer, looks like the fly wheel is on the wrong end. Great TA as well.

[53-681]

ZOMG SHE IS ZEDALICIOUS HOTTT!!!!  :o :'(

[Tj]

Once again it's been sometime since I posted.

In fact, I completely gave up on the car not too long after making that post back in December.

 

The thing was driving me nuts. Once that new engine was in it was running like shiver. I dropped it out to Stewart Wilkins who's been looking after my sister's and brother in-laws rally cars for years and got them to re-jet the carbs. The old duck managed 140HP at the wheels (their dyno's old school I think) and the guys told me that they had no problems doing power runs with it and were happy with the mixtures. I was a little disappointed that was all  :-\

Problem is, power runs on a dyno don't really emulate driving to and from work everyday in traffic. It stammers, has a minor flat spot down low and carbons up the plugs fairly quickly.

On top of this it developed an issue of vanishing water and a few minor electrical gremlins and then one day I took a good look at it in the garage and decided that I just didn't want anything to do with it anymore.

I figured to get it running "right" and looking how I wanted it to look would cost me thousands and I just wasn't in the mood to open my wallet.

 

So I put it up for sale  :'(

 

I was convinced that this was the car that broke my heart. I was full of hope and admiration when I brought the thing home from Melbourne nearly 12 months ago now but that had all but disappeared. All I saw in the garage was a time bomb. And in fact I'd grown to hate the look of it. The munted front bumper, the crappy wheels, the 2+2 hunchback.

I convinced myself that a 35 year old car was no sensible thing to be expecting to be usable daily transport and then I'd gone and dropped in a cantankerous, stroppy and completely inappropriate motor into the thing expecting an improvement. What the hell was I thinking, I needed another car.

The thing is though, I have a bit of a problem. I can't have boring cars. They irritate me to no end, I just can't stand being forced to do what I enjoy most in a mechanical beige cardigan. So the hunt was on for something interesting.

 

I looked at XR4 Fiestas, thinking that back to modern was the way to go. I'd come from an XR5 Turbo focus (a phenomenal car by the way) and figured it's little sibling would be the trick. Too expensive it turned out, I'd still be forking out money out of my pocket.

 

Then I started looking somewhere between my 70's J-Tin wish list and the modern crop of cars. I looked at a GTI-R pulsar for a while. Had the potential to be a brutally quick car that was also not very common and laden with stigmata from the tuner scene (a la WRX, EVO, GTR etc...) but it also had the potential to be a massive money suck. Fixing one would be mega costly if it went fritz.

 

Then I turned my attention to an AE86. "here we go" I thought, best of both worlds!. Classic Japanese sports car, but more modern but still simple mechanically. I was so convinced that I singled one out that was a japanese import that had been built as a streetable track car. Had all the go fast bits, a supercharged version of the 4AGE, LSD coil overs etc etc.

 

Problem was, it just didn't do it for me when I went and had a look at it. It was quick. Astonishingly quick actually, but it was rough, noisy and missing half of its interior. Don't get me wrong, it wasn't some half arsed drift pig slapped together out of spare parts, it was well built but it was too far over the track car fence for my liking.

I could have bought it, softened the suspension, sourced an interior and made it into a quick street car but again, that meant spending more money on it. Plus it was interstate so I'd have to add a full years rego plus engineering certificate costs to it. It was a great car, but not great enough to go and spend all my money on.

 

Mean while, over the course of maybe three months I had one serious enquiry about the Zed. One. And even then, after grilling me on the phone for a few days (dude knew his way around zeds) and setting up a meet (meanwhile I spent an entire day detailing the car) he came out, walked around it once and then told me it wasn't what he was looking for    fkn time wasters.

 

I started weighing up options. Should I sell it cheaper and wear the loss? should I pour some money into dressing it up to make it a bit more attractive? (should I just set fire to the damn thing  ) but all of this meant spending money and not getting it back.

 

And then one day I saw this photo:

 

 

Sweet Jeebus! It's from an old classified ad on zclub.net from the UK. At first I had to double and triple check that it was a 2+2, it just looks to mean

 

I fell in love all over again. The Zed stays. And I'm doing THAT to it 

Well, close to that anyway.

That car is orange for a start, but the wheels I later found out after a bit of digging are 15x9 Minilites (which I believe are a little different to superlites) They, and/or 15x9 Watanabe's are just too expensive. Especially for a daily. I'm not going to put $2500 worth of wheels on a car and then be terrified of hitting a pothole (I DO live in Sydney after all) or gutter bashing them. So I've settled on the Rota RBX.

I couldn't give two shiveres about the whole Rota hate that gets around sometimes, they look great and are affordable. Thats all I need.

 

Big question is what colour do I go? I was originally set on matt black because of that photo, but then I see a few cars with black and polished lips on them and that makes me doubt my choice.

I pitched the idea to the little lady about this and she reckons polished lip. In fact she photoshopped this for me.

She took this:

Yeah I know they're watanabes but they look similar and are sized similar

 

And stuck em on my car..... Apologies to the owner of that stunning 240 :/

 

Not the greatest but it gives you an idea.

 

I still can't make up my mind though, what do you (if you're still reading this far down) think?

[Tj]

I forgot to menton, the Rota RBX's I'm looking at are 17x9 -13 fronts and 17x9.5 -19 rears. No half measures, right? 

 

Also, I scored a set of sweet fender mirrors on ebay that'll be arriving in a week or two. They look pretty close to factory

http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/270967000891?ssPageName=STRK:MEWNX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1497.l2649#ht_3486wt_1348

Also, I bought a pair of used bumpers off Carlos out at Sportsclassic too. I got a straight front bar that I'm going to paint black as well as a shabby but straight rear bar that I'm going to weld up and make into a one piece bar and then paint. My rear bar is way too nice to molest like that.

I still need to source a front air dam, the one from Fibresports in Sydney looks ok and I'll save a swag on postage as I can pick it up, I can source flares locally too but for the mean time I'll run without a rear wing. Carlos showed me a BRE style one he had and sat it on the back of the car but it just didn't sit right, was too short. He started talking about getting a run made for 2+2's but who knows if that'll ever eventuate. I'll look at it later.

 

All of the fibreglass will be painted in matching black as well as the bars. I'm thinking a semi-gloss of some sort, not too glossy but not completely matt as it will show all the dirt and marks.

[peter t]

Don't give up mate. My BUS is great. You just have to renew everything then it will go all day and any where you want to go. I have kept mine pretty much standard and is so reliable but with a few mods looks great.

[peter t]

Pics of mine.

[EMPRACING]

I love that orange I can't wait to see how yours comes out with the rotas etc I wont flare my 74 but the newly accuired 76 its open season  between us all we can claw back some respect for the bus..s