HS30-00408 3 YEAR REBUILD

[C.A.R.]

Yes Paulo, that is so true, I was 18 when I first saw a zed and fell in love with the body shape, and therefore bought one, Evan to this day I still love the look of them

 

Even when you owned a Porsche...?

[Gordo]

Yes mate the zed was the more affordable sports car at the time. When I hit the age of thirty I had to have a 911 with a turbo body kit . It was sex on wheels. But then I got married ! But I have always had Zeds .

[GV260]

Thanks guys for all your great comments and I really appreciate the feedback. In particular, John’s comment that it should be called project Tsunami is to be honest somewhat of a stretch as my build compared to his and David’s (and others doing major upgrades) is but a ripple when compared to what these guys are engineering. For all you guys on the forum doing your own rebuilds I am always envious at how much skill you all display. Whilst I am handy with timber and house building having done hands on major house reno’s in the past, my car building skills (metal, mechanical, electrical) are very lacking to almost being non-existant. Hence in my case I had no real option but to farm out the technical stuff to the pros (specifically Rob, and Mike & Simon @ PowerPlay whom I all can’t speak highly enough of). I am somewhat of a perfectionist and whilst I would  have loved to have attempted to do the work myself, I don’t have the space at home and with a young family and excessive work commitments, it just would not have got done. I was fortunate however that Rob let me do all the grunt work in his workshop giving me 24 hour excess to it whenever I could fit it in. So many a late night was spent there doing whatever he directed me to do. So my direct involvement was really limited to stripping the car, non-skilled manual work, stripping & painting parts, assisting putting them back into the car and refitting the interior. The way I looked at it, to acquire the skills to do the job properly would take me a lifetime, so instead I I work hard at my job to give me the financial means to spend on the car to get it done quicker. Hence why I am envoius of all your skills. Still I am proud of it, its mine, I planned it, worked on it and paid for it!

 

To provide some background on the car, I purchased it in 2002 of Andrew Dunne from the NDSOC as somewhat of an unfinished project car but running. I had already started to modify my 260Z 2 seater and was about to commence turning it into a targa car when Andrew put his car came up for sale along with a list of parts. Essentially what he hadn’t done to it mechanically I had done to my 260Z so I swapped the better parts from the 260 onto the 240 and then sold the 260 and unwanted parts to Peter Mac which is now his awesome track car (refer attached photo). I first came across the 240 when I joined the NDSOC back in 1987 so I was aware of its long history. In fact the rear bumper of my 260 was sold on put on it back in 1990! Prior to the 260 I started my Z addiction in 1984 with a 2+2, modified it and then moved to the 2 seater 2 years later. So I’ve been a Zed owner continuosly now for almost 30 years, which is about how long I know Gordo (I've only seen pictures of the porka and besides, we all make mistakes in life, right Gordo!)

 

David, as for the dogbone on the front calipers, they were already fitted when I purchased the car but I believe Daniel Moore may have done the original fitting although Mike did make improvements to the setup. As for the Merc disks, I’ll have to dig through my files and get back to you with the part number. Simon choose them because of their thichness but he had to do some slight machining on the hub to get them to fit, as well as slotting them, but otherwise they measured up really well for my rims.

 

Unfortunately I can’t make theXmas BBQ as I’ll be competing in the Geelong Speed Trials on the Saturday but I’ll be there in spirit at least! But I need to first bring it back from Targa High County in one piece! And yes Gareth, there should be plenty of incar footage all going well.

 

If nothing at least perhaps this thread is the shortest complete rebuild! Hopefully it will inspire others to complete theirs and enjoy the fruits of their labour!

[acf321]

What a fantastic thread Graham.

 

Well might i first say well done, and on the money front, I FEEL YOUR PAIN!! Suspect I have made the exact same comments re cost, and the wife and the guilts and all, but as they say; "whatever blows your hair back". My build is near on identical to yours, albeit I have had a massive rust problem along the way (mine's the Brown Hornet).

 

On the Fullriver battery, are you happy with that? I was looking at Odyssey, but note the FR is cheaper. Do you find that its OK for a street car? Love those wheels too, where did you find those?

 

Great to see the thread..

 

One more thing HOW DOES IT DRIVE ? are you happy, and for God's Sake, can you get us a video of the thing?

 

Many thanks again.

 

Adam.

[GV260]

I have long been admiring yours from a distance and yes whilst a money pit, you would only probably blow it some other useless hobby!! Would I be correct in guessing you may have out bidded me for the rally clock on ebay?

 

Yes the Full River is very good value for money compared to the Odyssey. It weighs next to nothing (7 kg) and is ideal if you leave the car sitting for long periods. However, you must isolate the battery (applies to both) if the car is sitting for long periods otherwise if will drain the battery and whilst they can be recharged they don't hold a full charge as well. Still at $135 on ebay they're cheap to replace. I've had both and for my mind the Full River is the better but that will depend on your level of use/application.

 

The rims are made by Enkie but are Nismo branded. They were made for the R31 Skylines. I got the first set brand new when they were released for my previous white Zed and picked up another set second hand from a forum member who has a contact in Japan. They are super light and strong.

 

It drives very well. I'm very pleased with it. At Targa High Country it was fantastic being able to throw it around with confidence. The Yoko's A050's are highly recommended if you intend to do some track time (but not as a road tyre). We had a mechanical issue half way through day one which held us back somewhat for the rest of the rally but we still able to pull out very competitive times, to finish 16th outright from 52 classic cars, a pleaseing result all things considered. 

 

I haven't had a chance to look at any of the incar footage yet so hopefully it went well! I will put some up in due course.

 

Thanks for the comments, much appreciated and all the best with completing your masterpiece.

 

Cheers,

 

Graham

[acf321]

Hi Graham,

 

Sorry for not getting back to responding earlier, time just flew by. I will look for a Full River battery as you have suggested, and as for the Rally Clock, no I actually bought mine from a fellow member that had it sitting on the shelf in his shed. They are great too, so I recommend it if you can find one.

 

On the wheels, you might have seen, but I just bit the bullet and bought a set of Panasport eight spoke 'race application' wheels. These are almost as light as the the magnesium wheels by Watanabe, and I think look ab fab. Having said that, the Enkei wheels are a real treat, so well done.

 

I know I keep saying this, but my car is getting much closer to being completed, so I look forward to seeing your and mine in person.

 

Keep up the good work on the Zed.

 

Adam. 

[C.A.R.]

Thread bump!

Guess who's Early Girl is in at LCR!

 

 

Graeme got in touch with Les about getting his gearbox rebuilt (after seeing the ads I'd been posting on this forum about the gearbox's I was selling),

as it was getting fairly tired after doing many competition events over the last few years.

 

There were a couple of issue's:

One was that Graeme's gearbox still had steel synchros (Porsche) & for a competition car it really needed to have brass ones fitted (Warner).

Secondly, while it was CR 260Z gearbox, they are a bit too short & the shifter comes up through the wrong spot in the shifter hole. This makes the shifter position very un-ergonomic!

 

The solution?

Use the 260Z CR gears in a longer 71C gearbox!

 

(photo placeholder)

 

But first, a custom cross-member has to be fabricated as the 71C rear extension housing is longer & the original gearbox cross-member won't line up.

 

 

 

 

More photo's & info to come shortly

 

[Riceburner]

Oh nice to see some more build threads getting updated Graeme's car is amazing, So many good things to see you don't which way to look!

 

Without giving too many secrets away do you guys use the 71C's bigger selector rods and shift forks for this mod?

[gav240z]

Good work on the gearbox mod, might need to speak to you about that at some point for my early girl.

 

As a side note this is build # 408 and still has the vents in the rear hatch. I wonder what the highest number early car was with the vents in hatch still.

 

 

[smugley]

I owned 415 and it had the hatch vents .

[zed74]

Good work on the gearbox mod, might need to speak to you about that at some point for my early girl.

 

As a side note this is build # 408 and still has the vents in the rear hatch. I wonder what the highest number early car was with the vents in hatch still.

I was surprised to find Hs30-00532 still had rear hatch vents!

 

[jeff43]

Really amazing build with exceptional attention to detail, especially as it is used predominantly as a "race car". For anyone who hasn't looked through the whole build do yourself a favour and have a look.

 

Well done.

[Gordo]

This car is fusstilisly maintained and still looks brand new. On the out side you could make the assumption it's just another nice looking zed. But a close look behind the hinged panels reveals a hole lot more. With every mechanical part having the once over.

And Graham's not afraid to push it hard on the track. Nice one Graham.

[gav240z]

Just looking at all the Rust Repair photos, awesome work that Rob at Zfactory does. You don't fully appreciate how good the work is until you have given it a go.

 

Seen the car in person also. Fantastic looking S30z.

 

Got a short video of it here:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B_tGt5V5rGDVZU40a1IyY2I1Y3c/view?usp=sharing