FrankenZed...The weird and wonderful journey

Well this is my Zed. Its a 260z 2+2 that someone got creative with before me.

I picked this up off a friend of mine after they moved interstate.

This was the condition it was in....covered in dust

Pretty much fell in love with it. So i grabbed it and took it home. After we got it off the trailer I left it to idle in my driveway and all of sudden fuel was gushing out of the exhaust. So I turned it off and go to cleaning it.

The motor....an L24

Interior...this is where it starts to get weird

Pulled this out of number 6...thought it could have been the reason why it ran so rich, so I replaced it. Still no luck

So starting poking around the engine bay...it had a weird fuel system setup.

After a few weeks of playing around with different people we came to the conclusion that one of the fuel lines was "supposed" to be a fuel breather. It connect to the number 6 runner of the inlet manifold, completely bypassing the carby. Could have done its job when it had the twin SU carbys on it, but with the single one it was creating a vacuum and sucking fuel straight out of the tank and in number 6.

So we blocked it all of and it ran a treat. Only problem now is, I dont know how long it has been running this rich (basically it has diluted the oil giving it an extra half a litre when I changed the oil).

A few arty shots....

Yesterday I picked up a 280zx to use for parts. The chassis rails looks like its been driven through a volcano.

Plan is to rip the L28e out and shoe-horn it into my 260z along with the interior. The interior in the 280 is complete..unlike mine. Any parts I done use will be going up for sale.

The 280 parts car

Drivers door...basically bog

Interior shots

Replacement light

L28...needs a bit of work

Welcome...

A couple of good pickups there...it never ceases to amaze me what people do to cars

At least you sorted the issues and got her going...

Cheers.

I'm a bit of a photography nut, so every time I do something I take pictures of it to keep a record.

Hey mate... Was your mate a member on here? I remember some of those styling options, such as the nissan thing on the front and the exhaust plate.

Could have been.

Name would have been Coxy or some variant.

Edit: Old Project thread http://www.viczcar.com/forum/index.php/topic,7191.msg67013.html#msg67013

A few quick questions...

Will my gearbox from behind my L24 (5spd) bolt up to the L28?

I'm presuming since they are all relatively the same car there shouldn't be a real big problem.

Also will a 280zx interior fit inside the 260? I've found the doors are differnt bit I dont know what else is.

I'm fairly new to Zed cars do be gentle

The gearbox is a direct bolt-up As for the interior, I'm not quite sure how that will work.... You have both cars on site right? Get out a tape measure and see how the width goes, it could be an interesting conversion!

Will you be going fuel injection with the motor or keeping it carbureted? EFI will require an ECU, so the 280zx wiring might be a good swap??? Someone else might be able to comment here. As for carbies, the engine would be a direct swap, but perhaps some SU's or triples instead of a holley!!

I'm always interested in interesting swaps, but to me putting a 280zx interior in to a 260 would be a bit of a step backward, but whatever floats your boat. Just as an FYI, the 240/260/280Z are all the same, more-or-less, the 280zx is a new model with a lot of new parts so I'm not sure how it would go for parts to swap into the 260, but probably not well. You may find you're best off (easier, cheaper) just nicking the motor from the 280zx and selling the rest of the car and getting another 260z 2+2 for a parts car.

Good point. Its just hard finding another 260..mind you i havn't really looked. I just thought about the 280 interior as it is complete and in pretty good condition. Both cars are on site yes, only a few feet away from each other. Also awesome about the gearbox, thought they would.

I would like to stay EFI and I'm thinking that I'm going to have to go after market ECU like a megasquirt.

Moved the parts car under some cover and put the rear on some jack stands. Seems there are some semi-decent Pedders shocks in the rear (with king springs *sigh*).

Pulled the front end off

rust is a bitch.

Got the 280 off the ground today

Started taking the suspension out and realised I need some more tools. So decided I'd take the dash out..

Seems to be fairly low k's

The red car watching from behind the fence...

Some nice shots of your 260..

Love the FrankenZed concept, I reckon it would look very interesting with the 280zx Dash in it...might be a little too wide, might have to shave her down a bit on both ends..... the 280zx seats are more comfortable as well.

you just need a bit of Z31 in her as well...to complete the whole Frankenzed feel.

Working away at getting the L28 out, then we can rebuild it and drop it in the 260