Ol Yella, Sushi's 240z

Ol Yella

Sushi's 1973 240z

I hang out on the forum a fair bit and just realised I don't have a build/journal thread for my 240z.

I bought the car in August 2006 off of another forum member Nigel, you can see his feature on the car here http://www.viczcar.com/member-rides/nigels-stunning-1973-datsun-240z.

Over the years I have been maintaining the car, buying new shiny parts and upgrading bits and pieces as I go such as adding an s14 gearbox. I just recently replaced most of the suspension bushings, tie rods, ball joints and wheel bearings under the front of the car and performed the Hilux caliper mod (I'll add a post on this later).

I have also just order a rear disc brake kit from <a href="http://www.silverminemotors.com/Stage-4-Rear-Big-Brake-Kit-Stage-4-Rear-Big-Brake-Kit.htm">Silvermine Motors </a> which uses a caliper from a 2006 Mustang. I have also ordered the hardware so that I can finally install my 3.9 Subaru LSD (currently running the stock auto 3.54 diff) and replace the rear suspension bushings.

Anyway I'll try and keep this up to date with the mods & maintenance I do to the car and update with pictures as often as possible!

Vacuum Hoses

My brake vacuum hoses are really starting to fray and it seems pretty much impossible to source moulded hoses that fit RHD vehicles. I read a post about a guy who used an internal wire to give the hose its shape. I have also been using a plastic braiding called FlexoPet to do the electrical wiring on a arcade game console I was making and figured I could use this on the car too. It doesn't look original but I think it looks pretty tidy.

Here was my mockup, the wire I had on hand was too thick (first 2 pictures). I ended up using a coat hanger wire which seems to work alright although may be a little soft.

Here is the clean hose next to the original:

http://www.shaun-maluga.com/Images/Z/24tzd/240zBrakeVacuumHose.JPG

And the braided sleeve hose next to the original:

http://www.shaun-maluga.com/Images/Z/24tzd/240zBrakeVacuumHoseBraided.JPG

Shaped hose with coat hanger wire and braided sleeve ready to go on :

http://www.shaun-maluga.com/Images/24tzd/VacuumHose_003.JPG

Old vs new comparison in car:

http://www.shaun-maluga.com/Images/24tzd/VacuumHose_004.jpeg

New hose installed (I was meant to trim a bit off of the manifold end of the hose but forgot so it is currently a touch to long):

http://www.shaun-maluga.com/Images/24tzd/VacuumHose_005.jpeg

Top view:

http://www.shaun-maluga.com/Images/24tzd/VacuumHose_006.jpeg

What do you think? The soft coat hanger wire means the bends aren't as 'sharp' as I'd like. I'll have to get something a bit thicker. I would also like to get some nicer hose clamps to finish it off.

I am yet to go for a drive to see how it holds up to the heat over the valve cover. I have previously redone the electrical wiring on the alternator side of the car in this sleeving and it has held up fine with no issues.

frigging awesome :-)

I have some fencing wire at my place if you want to try it instead of the coat hanger wire.

I am hanging out to hear if it impacted the operation of the suction.

I just ran a piece of normal hose through the bonnet catch mount, then you dont need the S bend.

Looks nice with the wrapping though.

Very keen to hear how the rear brake kit goes...and the balance. What calipers on the front?

Car looks great bud. I love the yellow, super clean and tidy

Thanks Greg, I'm driving it to basketball tonight so I'll let you know how it goes

Thanks d3c0y, I considered doing that but thought the bent pipe might look a little neater and wanted to give it a go.

I have just put non vented hilux calipers on the front. Silvermine sell the non vented Hilux calipers on the front as a "stage 3" and the vented Hilux as a 'stage 4'. The mustang rear is also considered their 'Stage 4'. I asked Edan what he thought about the bias would be like with the mustang rear and 2 different hilux fronts and he replied with this:

with stage 4 kits on front and back the bias is almost perfect. almost all our customers don't even use a proportion valve. some people who do a lot of auto x and canyon driving say the front is a bit to strong, so they use the valve to turn the front down a bit.

 

i would say the stage 3 front with stage 4 rear would work very well together. your probably would not need a proportion valve at all.

I'll let you know how it goes when they are on. Two of the pistons on the non vented Hilux are slightly smaller than the vented version so I'm envisaging hoping it should be quite good. I am going to get a 1 inch master cylinder too as I am still running the stock one.

Thanks dat240z

Yeah you will want a 15/16 or 1 inch for sure. Bigger booster may also be required....

I'm jealous of the nice photography too.

I read it as the wire is still inside the braided hose. Is that right?

Haha yeah I think the wheels are the most valuable part of the car! I wish I had of bought another set before they shut down.

Yeah the hose is kept in shape by the wire that is internal. I trimmed it a centimetre shorter at each end as I didn't want it fowling on anything. Being coat hanger wire it is a little soft but it had kept it's shape today. Like I said earlier, the bends aren't quite as sharp as the pressure from the house rounds the wire out a bit. Will definitely go with a slightly stronger wire next time, I was just being impatient! I would be interested in the process of creating the original hoses, surely it can be recreated. In this thread http://www.viczcar.com/forum/index.php?topic=12474.new;topicseen#new I noted that Goodyear Rep state on their website that they can make moulded lines, not sure on cost or if it is possible for small orders. I'm pretty sure the original braided line is a lighter colour.

I took the car for a brief drive tonight and I didn't notice a different in the brake pressure and the techflex has held up fine. Now to do the rest of the hoses in the engine bay

I'm jealous of the nice photography too.

Haha thanks. If anyone wants to pay for a photo shoot hit me up I'm gearing up to go out on my own and try a few different endeavours and could do with the business!

RT Style Diff Mount

The diff mount I ordered from http://www.technoversions.com/DiffMountHome.html arrived today. $60 US each plus $51 US shipping. You can combine 2 mounts in the one box for the same shipping price which makes it quite affordable. The mounts look great, very professional looking and well finished.

The red energy suspension mount also  pictured is an optional extra:

Looks like a good bit of gear. I got a SW Motorsports race mount for mine. does your come for both r180 and r200 ??

Ahh I didn't even think of looking at SW. Oh well it was still cheap and only took a week to arrive!

I assume it fits either the r180 or r200 but that's just a guess. The website says for 240, 260 and 280z and also mentions the need for this better mount when upgrading to the stronger r200 so I would assume it should fit both.

Ah ok, yeah it looks like a good bit of gear, and you saved a few hundred bucks from SW also. Im keen on their luggage stopper from technoversions. I see they only accept cash and or money order. How did you purchase through them? or used to old phone method?

Are you going through this site? http://www.technoversions.com/DiffMountHome.html

If you add the mount to the cart and then add the additional shipping to Aus you can then use Paypal on checkout. I followed up with an email to TachMatch@aol.com to confirm that he would combine the 2 mounts in one box. He is pretty quick to reply too.

Silvermine Brake Hardware

1 package arrived from Silvermine Motors today, looks good so far. I am told the 2nd package with rotors, calipers & pads will arrive later as they take longer to have rotors drilled.

Ill go back to sleep, completely different site!

Hi Shaun, I have got one of those diff stoopers. Great guy to deal with where you got it from. I couldn't figure out how the red overhead mount was to bolt on to the diff so used the the standard underside mount. If anyone wants the red bit it is hanging my shed. I also have spare black bump stops if you cut yours too short like I did. 

Looking good as always Shaun. Brake kit looks quite complete too.

Peter, the red mount attaches to the diff and the mount like below. It's worth a good $50-60 if you want to get rid of it Peter.

You do need to sand a bit of the rubber off the bottom of the mount so that it fits over the top of the mount.

P.S. Shaun, I finished the front end repairs on the 1600 so I'll clean up the shed and get it back to normal so that you can get the car in the air. (repairs in the link in my signature if you're interested).

P.P.S Love the fact that you are working on the kitchen table.

My diff mount from SW has entirely eliminated to old clunk....... The clunk has now been replaced by a whine tho - from RB power 

I couldn't figure out how the red overhead mount was to bolt on to the diff so used the the standard underside mount.

I ordered the red mount too, wasn't sure which mount I was going to go with. I emailed the supplier and he suggested the standard mount would be best. The red one pushes the nose of the diff a bit further down which apparently is good for V8 applications.

P.S. Shaun, I finished the front end repairs on the 1600 so I'll clean up the shed and get it back to normal so that you can get the car in the air. (repairs in the link in my signature if you're interested).

 

P.P.S Love the fact that you are working on the kitchen table.

Thanks Brad, I need to work out a plan with the Mazda too. 1600's looking good, need to get it done so you can finish your z off I was thinking the diff from the yellow car might not be ideal as I think the knock in it backlash, the one at Greg's house might be better. You can take the yellow car for a drive and see what you think though. Haha it's not the kitchen table, it's our workbench at work!

Is there an Aussie car that comes with these calipers and pads?

I asked this question in another thread a while ago, I was hoping someone would know but haven't heard anything. I'll look up part numbers when I get a chance and see if I can find an overlap anywhere. Worst case scenario, I'm not too worried as this is just a weekend car I can afford to wait for parts to come from America if need be. Not sure if they are cast iron or alloy, I'll weigh the whole kit before I put them on

Yeah they work with the handbrake which was my major reason for getting them. I always wanted the Arizona Wilwood setup but didn't want to wait around for a handbrake solution considering it has been in development for years, although I hear it is close to being available. I looked into Wozza's design but he said it could have been improved, the handbrake always needed adjusting and that the one Dave at Arizona Z Car was working on should be better. There is also a company in the UK who have the patent or something on a handbrake cable attachment for certain models of Wilwoods however from what I could tell the calipers with it were quite lightweight, built for cars around 750kg.

I believe the diff mount may elimante 1 source of the clunk. I think the clunk in my rear end is from backlash in the diff though. Hopefully the combination of diff mount and new Subarau diff will eliminate this anyway!

Pads, calipers & rotors arrived last week! Lightmaster is hitting me up with a 1" Wilwood master in July. I'll try and get the kit on one weekend in the coming month along with the subi diff and front diff mount. Definitely booking in some time on Brad's hoist soon

Also just saw this new rear brake kit on Hybrid: http://forums.hybridz.org/topic/113199-yet-another-rear-drum-to-disk-conversion-option/ I didn't read many of the details as I was on my lunch break but might be worth keeping an eye on too.

And lastly some pics from a drive on the weekend:

http://shaun-maluga.com/?p=1118

And a drive back in March with the Z Car Club of Qld:

http://shaun-maluga.com/?p=811

<a href="http://shaun-maluga.com/?p=1118"><img src="http://shaun-maluga.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/ShaunMaluga_SausageRun_948.jpg" alt="" title="ShaunMaluga_SausageRun_948" width="948" height="676" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-1217" /></a>

<a href="http://shaun-maluga.com/?p=811"><img src="http://shaun-maluga.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/XBorderRun_948.jpg" alt="" title="XBorderRun_948" width="948" height="676" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-1216" /></a>