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Came across this youtube gem thought I would post it up for all to enjoy

Featuring our very own @gav240z

After the BBQ, Les Collins Racing was able to squeeze me in for a look over and maybe a quick tune up. I was able to sit (stand) through the whole process as Josh went through balancing, changing the floats and we changed over the main jets a couple of times. The initial bench jetting (based of Les' recommendations) was close, but in the process of getting the Z driveable, another mechanic had gone to rich on the mains to combat the float levels being out. Lambda sensor attached, we went for a few drives trying to iron out the lean spitting down low, and sorted out the richness up top. Les jumped in for the final adjustments, changing the idle jets a couple of times and got it as close to perfect as possible. One of the downsides to OERs is sometimes they can be a bit lean on very slight throttle. Further modifications to the carbies will be needed, but that will be for another time and perhaps when we change from the HM style headers to the SWM headers. Aside from the above, Les/Josh didnt comment on the difference between them. Main positive is that the OER carbs I ordered are set up with Weber Jets, which makes tuning easier if you carry as many spares as LCR do. The downsides to Mikuni's these days is availability of spares, and some hardware are just complete odd ball sizes. And now for the first video after tune, as Les calls it: "An angry L28" *Note: this engine was NOT built/refurbed by Les Collins Racing, only the carbs were tuned there

Some more making parts look nice: *mechanical fuel pump to be removed

Hey lads, hope everyone’s been well! It’s been a good two years since my last post. Unfortunately, a family health situation changed my plans, but praise God everything is well now and life is getting back to normal. I had Andrew from Motorsport Solutions in Castle Hill sort out all the braided lines, fuel lines, turbo lines basically, lines, lines, and more lines! His workmanship was top notch. It was a bit costly, but looking at the quality, I’m glad I had him on the job. The car’s finally out of its garage hibernation and off to the mechanic to finish up all the nitty gritty bits that my big fingers would probably break anyway (and I’d end up sending it out regardless haha) There’s a long list I handed to the workshop, and they’ve been progressing smoothly. I’ve had to order a heap of parts 180amp alternator, starter motor, PRP timing kit, PRP pulleys, ATI Super Damper, timing belts, and more. Thought I didn’t need much… definitely wrong there! Still on the list: I need to order the tailshaft, sort out the Hypertune intake, drive-by-wire full kit for the RB26 ITB setup, and track down a 370Z pedal. Also need to grab a flex sensor and a few other bits, these parts never end! Anyway, it’s going to be an awesome journey getting this 240Z over the line and on the road. Cars is very dusty and needs a massive detail when done. Until the next post, enjoy your weekend, everyone! VID-20250619-WA0037.mp4 VID-20250619-WA0036.mp4 VID-20250619-WA0035.mp4

Update time! In 2025 Daniel contacted me saying he's like to continue with the restoration of his 260Z, so in October '25 we extracted it from storage. As we'd already done the body shell, the panels needed attention next. On inspection the hatch frame was beyond economical repair, so I ordered a new one. I had the bonnet blasted and as expected that was damaged and rusty around the perimeter, so a new non-vented one was also ordered. Front guards were typically rusty at the bottom where they bolt to the sill, but the rest of the was ok. Se we set about removing the rear brace and repairing them bottoms of them: And the inner braces on both were reconstructed at the bottom: With the guard repairs complete, we turned our attention to the doors. This wasn't going to be easy... Later 260Z doors are different to 240Z, and 260Z door shells can't be bought new currently, so our only option was to repair them. We removed the skins (one had been replaced with a rare spares skin already) as they were both had rust at the bottom. The shells were pretty bad - espically the right door. The hinge mounting was gone, so we removed the inner reinforment and fabricated a new patch then welded it in. With the repairs to both doors done, the guards repaired I sent everything off to my media blaster so all the paint & surface rust could be removed...

Time to start putting everything back in, I have to say, I am very glad we decided to zinc plate the hardware and paint the block and anything else that needed painting. Next post, the engine and gearbox will be installed in the bay

It's on again! Date: Sunday 7th December 2025. Time: 11am Onwards. Location: Same as previous years, Gordon and Sharon's property in the outer East near Lilydale. Please prey for dry weather! PM me or @Gordo for the address if you haven't been before. Bring your Zed, food and Drink and a chair. The wood fired BBQ will be provided. Bring your Wives , partners and kids. All welcome!

Great to see everyone, perfect weather and mint cars. Once again big thinks to team Gordo for hosting.

Joe you kept my motivation going, thanks. Update: I set the "Fun" level to 10. I bought a flaring tool. From EFI Solutions I bought: steel 3/16 brake line and stainless brake tube nuts (M10x1.0mm) so an ape like me can't strip them again. I've had a crack at double flares and finally got them tight enough to sit nicely against the nuts - I guess until I pressurise them I won't know if I did a good or a bad job. It's not like I'd have to undo the whole thing if they were bad....oh... The brake juice had stripped all the paint off my rails so whilst I had parts removed and some access...first attempt at rust converter last night, it's a mess. Then some primer later today straight over it. What could POSSIBLY go wrong? (/sarcasm) Anyone feel free to correct me if I am off course. Next: primer, then rattle can of VGPaint 306, then tape it all up ready for more leaks, then bend the brake lines into shape, test fit, redo it x10, then bleed brakes.

Sounds like it wasnt put back together too well. Was it honed or sleeved? Was a new rubber seal kit installed? It will be the rear rubber seal inside the master around the pushrod that is leaking. Master needs to come back off to fix it. Hope this helps. Please keep us updated as to your progress. <Edit> The seal/s in question are not around the pushrod; I wasnt thinking straight when I typed the reply. The seal around the pushrod at the rear is a dust boot, the seals that would be leaking are inside the bore of the master cylinder.

Here we go again...

C.A.R. doesnt find cars...cars find C.A.R.

With the repairs complete, we spent a week or so making the panels fit nicely adjusting the panel gaps to 5mm. The body was then scuffed with 240g and given a fresh coat of 2k Epoxy. After this it went off the to paint shop!

Yes, Chris from S30 World was in Australia a couple of weeks ago, we took him to see Les Collins and he got to meet a couple of members here. He was only in for a quick stop over, so planning wasn't the best, but the 432 was a project he took on late last year and was something we discussed in Japan with both @HS30-H and Kats helping contribute to sourcing some of the original missing parts. It should be an excellent restoration and the owner seems to be quite comfortable with what S30 World are going to do. Be good to see one done right!

Are you blind?

LH is indeed incorrect. Can yo see evidence of it being modified? Did you ask your RW inspector why does it matter? As long as no part of the hose assembly is touching anything, it's performing the same function. There's no need to change the strut. No. That's not correct. There is no such shim for that purpose - perhaps clarify with him what he means. What 'I think' he's talking about the anti-rattle shim that goes between the brake pad & the caliper piston. They do go missing, but are easy enough to obtain through someone like Stewart Wilkins at SW Motorsport. RW Inspectors are a strange breed - they almost always focus on some obscure issue, while missing something else obvious...

And finally... And on the 28th of December 2025, I borrowed a mates enclosed trainer, loaded the 240Z up, drove to Sydney and personally delivered to Tony the mother of all birthday presents: 4 years (with 6 - 8 month break in the middle). 1682 Hours (lots not accounted for). Lots of lessons learnt. One VERY happy owner of 240Z HS30-00211 Would I take on a project like this again? You bet I would.

Hi Folks, There was an issue with the forum recently, I am in the process of troubleshooting it. Looks like a post update issue with a template file and a custom 'hook' call was causing it to break the template code for the page. I've just cleared all caches and made a few small changes as part of debugging. It looks to be working again, although I cannot exact explain what change I made that resolved it. Perhaps a combination of clearing old template files and forcing them to be regenerated fixed the issue? Hard to say for sure, but let me know if you still have issues going forward? I can raise an issue with the IPS support team to have a look. Our current hosting environment may need to undergo some changes to meet requirements of the newer version that will be pushed out soon. So I may need to do some ongoing updates/changes in due course.

@C.A.R. @gav240z You were right, it was the valve stem seals - you guys rock! Last week I got booked in with Richard at Allcraft and he's worked his magic on it, she's up and running again. It took a lot of work. Shout out to him and Lou Mondello - Allcraft Automotive 23 Wren Rd, Moorabbin VIC 3189 (03) 9532 2919 When I asked him what we should work on next to get it past RWC he rolled his eyes and said "where do I start....?!" Yeah. Enough said. It's a restoration! I'm sourcing an airbox for the twin SUs then he can dial it in on the dyno...she might even make 3rwhp! Right....back to admiring Nedz ride.

And now the crown jewels, the triple OER45s on the Kameari Harada manifold:

Engine & gearbox in: Engine bay wiring harness off to the auto elec From this: To this:

We're not that old, first thing to do would be confirm where the oil burning is coming from, if the motor has sat a long time, it may simply be dried out valve stem seals leaking oil from the top end of the motor into the combustion chamber. Replacing those may fix your oil burning issues. Otherwise it will be bottom end oil control rings. But it's worth a shot, since I had that issue years ago and replaced the seals and it was fine after.

Big thread bump from 2010, but I managed to meet the owner and got a ride in this car recently in Japan. The owner Tomitaku San was a great guy and he spoke about as much English as I did Japanese, but we had a few laughs as he drove it through the Japanese country side. Will share some videos soon. Also the original SpeedHunters link in this thread is broken, but you can still find the article here: https://www.speedhunters.com/2010/04/car_feature_gt_gt_office_tomitaku_s30/ Although SpeedHunters is kind of on hold or taking a hiatus as of late. At least the images and content is still there. I also on the same trip managed to meet Dino Dalle Carbonare who wrote the article back in 2010. Which was also great. The trip was part of the S30 World Team 2025 expedition to Japan, of which I have become part of, to try and help promote and celebrate the S30Z worldwide.

Hi guys. I recently purchased a 1975 260z and had it brought up from Melbourne to sunny, tropical Goulburn. (well, it is for at least a few days). It's largely complete but very tired. The body appears to be in excellent shape, though. L28 engine, auto. Plan is to ditch the auto and keep the rest as it is, maybe add a few go fast bits as we progress, and change the interior trim to black. Motor is tired, blows smoke and brakes are barely working, so had it towed home. Transmission is vague, so hit it with some Lucas transmission stop slip and it seems to have improved it a little. I am a long time fan of the z cars ever since I took one for a test drive when I was around 20 years old. Sadly, it has taken a further 42 year before I can say I now own one. Because it was brought up from Vic, it now has to start afresh with a blue slip. I think I am going to be in for a ride.

Hi guys. I had a second go at it and this time pulled apart the mechanism and cleaned up the terminals /contact points. One side was in poor condition. Hit it with some super fine steel wool and put it together. Wasn't expecting much, but suddenly discovered I had a win! Blinkers work perfectly again and no smoking.

George had done a lot of the big jobs like fitting the suspension, drivetrain and dash. But once #19 was unloaded we took stock of all the parts: Some parts needed replacing, some needs refurbishing and some needed painting. The doors needed to be assembled with their glass and mechanisms, door cards installed, the tail light panels needed repairs and painting, the fiberglass centre console need repairing and painting, it needed carpets, a front bumper, bonnet hinge torsion rods straightened and installed, interior plastics installed... Basically we were going to be undertaking the last 50% of reassembly. So on with the photos in no particular order: The window tinder mechs were seized & in terrible condition, so we bought new T3 items. Checking 1/4 glass frame fitment: Plumbing the fuel tank: TBC...

I am Without Speech! The one thing that is bothering me is the bonnet release cable. I dont know what to do to hide it. Any options out there?

uhoh, what's going on here: anddddddd, she is no longer a V8 Z. A somewhat sad moment

Had a good think about this, although its tempting its not worth the money they are asking. Haven't seen the old ones selling for crazy prices as investment purposes Could put money towards the actual car but everyone is different. Im more of an Omega kinda guy

How to start/warm up your classic car's engine : Discussion around lubrication system, using the choke, rpm etc.

Given you paid to have it restored (which I assume was the bore only because the outside looks unrestored), I’d take it back, tell them what’s happened, and see what they say. Worst case, they don’t accept any responsibility, and you either have to pay them again / more, take it somewhere else, or do it yourself. But, at least it gives a chance they might fix it under some sort of warranty, or provide some explanation that might help decide the way forward. It would cost nothing to take back to see what they say…so nothing to loose, really.

2-seater or 2+2? If you want to bring it down to Moe 3825, we can finish it off for you.

Nick is a member here, but can't recall what his username on here is. He is selling his project 240z with Maserati engine swap. https://www.ebay.com.au/itm/177946514562

Thanks man, really appreciate this! I'll find out a bit more, not sure if it was modified or why there's a difference - probably someone's great idea at the time.

Great watch 👌

A small achievement cleaned and rebuilt a hatch vent. The plastic/rubber components where all good but painted and dirty, they cleaned up ok I got some generic speed nuts that fitted Used some 8mm open cell foam and cut it to size and stuck down with double sided tape. I will have to repeat this step as the tape stuck the speed nut so it was hard to jiggle into position for fitting the vent. Satisfying couple of hours Its easy to see how the cost of restoration builds up. 4 clips to hold components to hatch $110 Speed nuts $18 2 packets Barrel clips 4 $16 Vents $150 Had the foam and tape Nick

After a couple of small set backs and trying to find the time to get some things sorted, new rocker cover gasket, replace the brake master and re-do the fuel hose path as we got it wrong the first time, finally got the Z for an alignment and also just made it to the annual Z BBQ at @Gordos. This car has not missed it since I have owned it. It made the drive from Berwick to Lilydale and back, with coughing and lean spitting, it still needed a good tune and the floats adjusted out of the carbies (OERs have float adjustment screws).

Hey All, been a long time, trust you're all doing well, great to see pics from the BBQ get together as usual at Gordo's place. My ex 240z is on the market, tempted 😀 https://www.carsales.com.au/cars/details/1973-datsun-240z-manual/SSE-AD-19207068/

The vapour honed rocker cover and the 71B gearbox reassembled:

See if Carlos from Sports Car Classics Sydney has an engine laying around 0418284776 https://www.facebook.com/share/17NrD7b2HX/

Nope, you MUST only get the 152G webers that come with the 4 progression holes, AFAIK the plain 152 webers came with 3 progression holes from factory. And of course you need to ensure that the jets/tubes etc are suitable for what engine you have. See this post : https://www.viczcar.com/forums/topic/15533-drilling-a-progression-hole/

Very cool. Thanks mate

I found this on facebook & youtube:

I’ve cut 200mm out of the boot, I’m trying to match up a 2 seater rear quarter. making the long flat topped windows get that iconic 2 seater a look will be hard. im contemplating putting the door window mechanisms in on a bit of an angle and putting the front windscreen on an angle as well. maybe even building part of the drip rail into the door top to get the right radius for the side look. for the wheel well. I’m keeping the long 2+2 wheelbase. I might just keep the front of wheel well and turn it into a huge flare over the rear wheel.

Hellow Fellow Zeder’s it’s been a while since I have posted, I have had a leaking oil pan from day one, since the full engine rebuild, cork gasket fitted. Engine was rebuilt by Les Collins team, so no doubt it was done right - as well it could have been done. Because I had a new Apex Engineered Cross member to fit and oil pan gasket to be fixed, but I didn’t want to remove the engine. I made up Engine Stand that bolts in four locations to the engine under the car while I have the car on the Quick Jack lift I have . Building it in two pieces makes it easier to get under the car the two locations, adjustable feet to make sure that the height is right and Bolt sections cut to length to marry up the front stand to the back stand so they don’t walk around. I used the two bolt hole tabs at the back of the engine, and the alternator mount on the left and then made up plate that spans the 4 bolt holes of the AC mounts, which I welded on vertical plate with hole to be the bolt hole location. It worked perfect the engine did not drop a 1mm. If you have not seen a Quick Jack they are awesome, I leave Quick Jack on the ground back the car over it just slide into the middle when not in use, spread it out to under the chassis Rails when I want to use it , the chassis rails are only about 20cm above the ground so its that’s to low for most jacks or lifts, but the quick jack can handle it, I did have too cut down the rubber blocks a little that it comes with. KEY Point I made up some steel reinforcing plates where it jacks from on chassis, highly recommend doing this, to protect the rails long-term. Some times I have the car up on the Quick Jacks for weeks at a time, once you raise the car locking trailing arms drag into position when you bring the lift back down a little and the trailing arms lock into a rail ladder, a pivoting cam at the end of the trailing arm flips back to let the splayed edge of the trailing arm hold-firm, so the lift is not holding on the hydraulic rams. Great design I have used the Quick-Jack stands 100s of times. KEY Point I made up some steel reinforcing plates where it jacks from on chassis, highly recommend doing this, to protect the rails long-term. Sometimes I have the car up on the Quick Jacks for weeks at a time, once you raise the car locking trailing arms drag into position when you bring the lift back down a little and the trailing arms lock into a rail ladder, a pivoting cam at the end of the trailing arm flips back to let the splayed edge of the trailing arm hold-firm, so the lift is not holding on the hydraulic rams. Great design I have used the Quick-Jack stands 100s of times. Anyway the idea was making a engine stand that holds the engine - so I can remove the Cross member and all the front suspension and the oil pan . Why all this craziness you ask. Well I got Apex engineered, Front Cross Member and Techno Toy steering Rack to fit as well and I also invested in a special Buna Nitrile Rubber matt that was only available from two locations that I could find in Australia, I used 4.5mm matt. This matt is used for making custom gaskets quiet often remote locations, mining sites ect, its high temperature, and has great sealing properties, and is highly oil resistant. I really could find anything to guide me to much in the process but once you have the Black Flexible Matt – Not Cheap, the rest is basic DYI really. Use Oil Pan flipped to cut the outside template, I used a soft lead pencil to mark the rubber around the outside of oil pan and mark all the holes for bolting through . I used a new box cutter style knife to go around the outside, I used a spare Oil Pan Cork gasket to mark the inside width for the gasket, I made up a punch out of the outer metal casing of a Dyna Bolt as it was the right diameter – I sharpened the outer edge buy mounting the casing to a cordless drill chuck a combination of metal file and sand paper to put a 45 degree angled cutting surface . Leving it in the drill on hammer mode with the spinning function as will carefully lined up all the holes and cut out the holes, I cut through pushing firmly vertically down, while having a plastic thick sheet of nylon plastic underneath so it helped keep the tip of cutting punch sharp, worked perfect My Oil pan it pretty beat up few knocks dents and repairs from the previous years before my stewardship – it shows some rough panel beating and even some welding when closely inspected so the mating surface on the oil pan not perfect and it would say a tiny bit warped at the rear end of the pan. So leaking from the cork might have been more of problem for mine than others. But my assumption that because of the raised central ridge design that that the Datsun Oil pan has on the mating surface this pushes into deeply into the cork if you apply to much pressure they will tend to leak ,if you don’t have enough pressure they also leak, would be much better if the mating surfaces were dead flat and thicker metal in my opinion and that would allow the use of gasket maker silicon to also work well in my opinion. But the stock pan is not that like and I don’t think you would get gasket maker silicon to work well either as it will just squash out left and right which means you would end up with silicon inside the oil pan which could clog up the engine. That’s why I tried the Buna Nitrile Rubber matt and guess what – it worked, the pan sits lower by about 4mm which adds about a half to 1 litre of oil to the capacity of the engine as well. No leaking so far. So what about the Apex engineered Cross Member and Techno Toy Steering Rack you ask? Well I went for the additional strengthening braces as well even know I already had custom fabricated my own brace previously that span the bolted ends of the Tension Control Rods, The braces that are optional with the Apex Engineered Cross Brace go back and bolt to the side of the steel pockets that house the end of the Tension Rods into the chassis rails. The mounting of the cross member not really hard to do, the mounting of the braces back to the side pockets was a really hard job to do, having the engine in place still made it harder no doubt but it was still OK with accessibility as you need drill three holes into the pockets, the holes are drilled to match the end plates of the braces, it’s hard to get the perfect alignment, but the other thing every chassis is bit different because of inconsistency in production or what your car might have been through in its lifetime so far, you may have to space-out the end of the brace on one side vs the other, which I had to do in my case I had to make up a 3 alloy spacer plates on passenger side brace, which was additional complication but not to hard to do just time consuming. It is pretty impressive once fitted not doubt considerably stronger and then you have about 5 positions to play with in terms of the lower control arm pivot point height positions, I used the second height pivot point in the end after the third position up made the car drive too erratic . I run the evolved Techno Toy steering knuckles as will with a spacer on the bottom of the struts so my Hight chosen for LCA pivot may be a lot different to some one with a stock shock set up. The MCA shocks were rebuilt after 5 years of use just weekend usage, the Right Hand Drive Techno Toy Tuning Steering rack also fitted tried it with the two bump steering plates fitted when I was trying the 3rd pivot location up, went back to one bump steering plate, when using the second potion for the LCA. The rack is said to have a ratio closer 280zx I think Techno Toy was saying which is faster ration than the 240/260z – But feel pretty perfect through the twisty’s, F1 Like minimal steering input needed, almost feels like a motorbike you look left around the corner and the cars already going that way - intuitive you could say. It was bit of coin and lot of time to fit but the combination of this whole new front end with techno toy gear, the MSA shocks, the new steering rack, the additional chassis bracing is pretty impressive, the handling way better than before, very commutative and firm, holds a line tenacious, with the previous set up doing rapid consecutive sharp terns like you would do to warm up tyres the car would just feel big and slow now sharp and reactive with great control - Its like 100% better in this circumstance . Every car is different and a drivers perspective on Suspension set up and feel is also quiet subjective – for me this was great improvement.

I had idea to add a graphic to the inside of the bonnet the Z is sort of begging for it really - I took a while to find a image that I liked the grove of, i came pretty close to using a neon city-scape scene from Japan but in the end went with stylized strong Geshia Girl graphic matched the vibe of the car pretty well could always change it out down the line potentially but it was not exactly easy to fit.

You will need the following: Cash, Cash, Cash, Time and More Time. And some hair colour for the whites that will come out half way through the build. Enjoy VID-20190506-WA0001.mp4