RBZ 260

too late for that

this discusion prob be better in a post of it own. LOL BUT.................. also less weight wins races too proven by 1.6ton commodore with 7L v8 and Sh$#laods of torque vs nible 2 door sports car with 2 liters and 4cyl. while the commodore is smoking the rear end on the line im 2+ cars ahead of him. and he has no chance to even get to use the tourque where it counts. nothing beats their look afterwards with their head between their legs beaten by a milk and orange juice capacity 4 cyl as they commonly refered as

Stock Specs: RB30ET 150kw/ 296 Nm of tourque SR20DET 147kw/ 265Nm of tourque thats close but dont forget SR20det all alloy and 4 pot= lighter in weight and in fuel usage. thats not even looking at what car it is in. I love them both dont get me wrong but i have a soft spot for the SR20DET. its amazing engine I had mine for 10 years and still hasnt been rebuilt and has been driven hard.10 years of 15psi boost 4 clutches 3 gearboxes and 1 diff. engine and turbo still OK and no signs of troubles. hence i got both of them SR and RB. but what to keep in mind the SR20det are still fairly expensive with the variable cam prob around 4k for a kit plus installation and modding required to fit it. which still makes yours a bargain for a drop in job.

no probs havent mounted mine yet. plus mine came with the adhesive tape on the badges. so just peel the backing and align the holes. though mine is not the vented but the early 70's one with 240Z logo. if u want to use double sided tape use 3M stuff can be bought from most crash repairs or crash repair shop. not cheap for a 10m roll so prob just go to a crash repairer to sell you some for what you need. as for badge i think i paid mine $20 each for the early type. but i bought over $370 worth of stuff and postage was $30. i got all the badges rear hatch vents interior bits and some hard to find rubbers and pair of brand new pull handles.

use fishing line to remove the double sided tape by sliding between the badge and the tape.try stay clear from the paint work.if they do have pins work around them. use thin strong plastic to lift off or try to mask it with masking tape under the badge and than lift it of with a thin metal. i find the valve clearance gauge work good just dont use anything bellow 0.5mm or it will bend the gauge. i got the old style 240z pillar badges from ebay US and few other goodies for the 240z. it was close to 50% off (with postage) compared to nissan. but this was prob about 1year ago. seller not around anymore.

for a second there i thought someones playing a joke on me. LOl same colour. nice car. thought the engine probably needs to be little bit more detailed to match the rest of the car. still very nice car.

LOL thats what commodore and ford v8 boys think. till they find the hard way what SR20DET can do. and i still return 10L per 100km. stevo you be suprised how SR20DET pulls knowing it only a 2l 4 cyl. go for a drive in a sr20det powered silvia 200sx or 180sx. than do the same in a skyline and commodore. and tell me which one went better.keep in mind to have similar mods. BUT STILL THIS IS A GOOD DEAL. its preety much instant turn key power upgrade over the weekend.

you can get the boss kits fairly cheap from the importers.they usualy universal fit to nardi and momo steering wheels. igot mine from the importers it was a nissan one but not sure which one. my mate gave me his 180sx one which was calopsable type but it wouldnt fit. so i assumed it was from an earlier nissan the one i got. check local ebay for cheaper prices. they do pop up evey now and than. also that type of wheel you can also get from importers as its a popular style in Japan.

Just to make sure to make this clear as Rev allready said what happens with using arc. pretty much use arc if u want swiss cheese effect on your car. ive noticed with arc anthing less than 1.5mm thick will just burn through.even using small diameter electrodes. Gas mig is probably the best if u cannot afford the tig. tig is bit nicer finish and has less heat which reduces warping. but even a half decent mig will set you back over $1200. than you got to pay for BOC bottle rental and gas itself which is at least 200+ per year for one recharge. (last year i used 2 bottles) havent used the gasless ones but ive heard mixed results. mostly negative. Someone else commented if workshops advertised here could had made money. lets face it everyone hates paying top dolar, so dont think they do well. everyone knows what workshop charges. and they have to. but lot of people are looking at saving a few hard earned $. Hence Rev got bit of interest in his offer. Again Rev good work and hope someone benefits from your unselfish offer. pitty im overloaded and can't offer any of my services. cause it annoys the hell out of me for some prices people pay for some easy work.

most probably for RTA reasons. most probably they would be obstructing view if on driver side. as i can see it from the pic they are just above 3 original pods. and from that angle they wouldnt obstruct the view. I guess?

Good work Rev and very nice of you to give the younger ppl a hand with their Z and try to help them save some money. i try to help too but sometimes seems to be bit of waste of time oh well. we can only try and help but its up to them if they want to recieve it. i bet your son cant wait till the car gets done. just keep him busy at it. like i always say no work is better than your own. keep it up.

Gav has some good points too. pretty much what he said i agree besides few things like PAYING more and TRUSTING! there are people out there that do lot better jobs than so called respected workshops. like he said check their work. have a look etc..... before any of that you start. ask for rules and regulations. than start shoping around. some engineering can cost lot of money. but i think QLD is fairly good with their modding allowance. ive been around these so called proffesionals for years. and only person you can trust on work is yourself. sorry guys i lost all faith in proffesionalism. its all about making money the quick and easy way. the ones that do good work they usualy dont have bussiness and work from home. again check their work it will speak for them. ive started writing a project on my car in project journal section of this forum. bit long and boring but heaps of info.have a read and you see the steps i went through and prices i paid. so far i havent been burnt by any of the guys i delt with. if something was wrong it was fixed without an issue. you just have to get to know the right people in the right places.

I run Nardi leather that came from an early wrx and MX5. i like it looks classic but that little modern twist. also run nardi alloy pedals. as for gearnob im trying to find a nice nardi but at he moment i got my old Grex TRUST alloy one. other gearknobs that i vouch for is RAZO. brilliant gearknobs. as a rule. i never even bother looking at MOMO or ISSOTA. big heap of S#%T

Pedro, i run 4.4 Lsd in my 260z with Rb20det with VG30det turbo. like you i also preffer the revs and top end rush than the slugishness of the Rb25 motor. though i do believe that 4.4 is prob bit too short. max boost in first is around 0.8bar (while its preset to 1bar) 2nd and 3rd are fairly good but gearchanges are frequent. i think 4.1 or 3.9 would be great in a 2+2. having the bigger turbo which in terms will create more lag but in my case turbo picks up at around 3k and pulls very hard till 6700. after that car seems to run out of speed and another gear change is needed. for highway driving it sits around 3000 in 5th. right on boost. so to overtake no gear change needed just mash the foot down and before you know it you hitting 180+. but this does come at a cost of fuel. at the moment im leaving it as it is till i visit the drag strip. as the acceleration off the line wipes the wrx by a half a car.rolling start from 80 will be quicker than the new mighty gen4 commonwhore with few changes on it. not sure what the prices for rb20det vs rb25det but when i did mine it was 3 times more expensive. and im sure my rb20det will keep up with rb25det. other option is to fit rb25 internals to a rb20 making it rb23. you still have the rb20 response with bit more tourque. this will be my next step if i need more power. at the moment its FUN.

Steve, why is it better to have engien closer to firewall its been answered above. As for gbox just use the Sr20det one. also as said above plenty around and reasonably priced. also dont feel like the truck box of the original Z car. plus prob bit stronger. I have killed 3 gboxes in my s14 200sx. with few mods and decent clutch and a rough left and right foot and quick gear changes destroys them quickly. but if u dont flat change gearbox should last a fair bit. as for conversion. you realy need to shop around. here are some tips to get a good deal for both engine and labour. 1. DONT EVER EVER come across as a novice. so read about as much as you can learn about correct terminology ask smart questions.question y this and y that but not everything otherwise they will figure you as a novice and spin you lot of crap. you dont need at least 50% of the crap they try to sell you. 2. be polite and friendly.if they busy and not in good mood just ask a simple question can it be done and rough cost. than walk away.prob even better is to call them prior. dont give your real name. 3. when buying front cuts or whatever. u got to options to buy the engines. "A" from importer or "B" damaged car auctions. from importer it pays to visit them regularly and get to know them. if u see something small that you may need buy t. dont haggle much. work out when times are worse for them. expecialy when left over stock or stock that was sitting for a while. also when they need to recieve a new container they need money. any reasonable offer wont be refused.just have to be there at the right time and right place with money. i got my rb20det front cut for $1300 prices elsewhere at that time were 2000 to 3000. at auction make sure the parts u need are not damaged. but you need to take the whole car home.so make sure you got room. 4. to save lot of $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$ dont be afraid to do things yourself. if you can work out how to use a mobile fone or a pc you can work on a car too. use stock stuff forget spending big money on aftermarket this and that. get it runing right stock. reasons to save money. after you can mod it and make it faster. also if you can plug in a dvd player to the tv you can do the wiring on the nissan engine (if transfering stuff from front cut to the z chasis. i could easly talk you through the wiring). 5. hardest thhing would be getting the engine brackts made up. again if u can use a ruler you can get the basic bracekt orginised by a accrediter welder. 6. again where ever you go be polite make sure you know what you talking about. dont piss ppl off thank them for ther time and you think about what you just found out. do lot of walking and ringing around. talking on forums etc.... get as much info as you can so you stop them ripping you off... i can give you more info on how to save money when buying to tell you the truth if you were in adelaide i could do a turn key job quite easily for about half the money. anyway.... any more questions im here to help.

At this stage the obsession of trying to find a Rx4 was huge and luck has it i found one and really wanted it...... but wait it was on ebay. the car was in Melbourne and was genuine RX4 with a piston engine fitted. price was good but it also reflected on the car. it needed bit of work. work no biggie i wanted the car with good rust free chassis. while negotiating the price for the rx4 and doing all the relevant check to see if the car is in the clear a local defected 72 240z also popped up on thezgarage.com. dilema dilema. the 240z was local but the price was 3 times more than the Rx4. Went to check out the 240z before settling on the RX4. It was in Adelaide hills so bit of a drive out of suburbia.to make things easier my workmate llives in the same town. so of we went after work to check it out and drop him home. the price for the 240 was 3K on initial glance it looked good but it had few big badies. like 2 defect stickers, blown head gasket on the l28 and some butchered work on left chassis rail. nothing that cant be fixed but the price was bit too high. i offered 2k but owner said no. so i said to him offer stands for a week otherwise not interested as i got another car lined up. never got the call so i proceded with the RX4. few days later i got my yellow 74 Rx4 coupe. now i had another toy to think about and play with. bad move on the 260z which had few weeks delay because of the mazda. findign info on how to do things and what to avoid. Also was hunting to find my first Rotary engine. it had to be turbo and 5spd. Originaly the car came with 13b so naturaly was going to replace it with 13B plus efi and a huffer on the side. the SR20 went to drain for the RX4 beacuse now i was a firm believer in non cross breading (at least engine wise) eventualy found a S5 rx7 13b turbo engine with 5spd and all the electrics for price that was a steal sub 1K . so i have my first rotary engine and my heart was set. so got my arse in gear and started to concentrate back on the 260z. at this time i forgot all about the 240z. some more pics PS some pics are shown while the mods have been made and than assembled to the car when all got painted and detailed. so there would be some early shots going to final shots and than back to early shot again. i thought ill do section by section from start to finish.

more pics (take 2)

few more bits the car was always going to have a power steer. so hunting i went. a Mazda rack was purchased and later discarded as being too wide. so the path of the Subaru rack has emerged. sold the Rx7 rack at a loss on ebay and purchased a reconditioned Subaru liberty/Leone. Searched on forums to see what people did with the mods. didn't like what i was seeing. Chunks taken bit here bit there. didn't think RTA would be happy to see that. so got all the bits together and started experimenting. the aim was as less mods to the subframe as possible. my power steering guy told me that the Subaru power head can be rotated 180 and work perfectly. obviously the new lines had to be made. the help of Phil from Kent Automotive got that sorted out really well. in the equation also fell 5 stud front conversion and 4 spot brakes and vented rotors. had R32 items but to adapt to the stock shocks proved bit of a nightmare and again RTA wouldn't really like it. (RTA in SA rule book, if things are welded need engineering checks and to be welded by a accredited welder (big $$$$$) other option is to use parts of other cars. can drill and bolt things up without special licence but the bolts obviously had to be high tensile with locks which can be easily checked and verified by engineer and RTA) so to avoid using a licenced welder i went down the path of finding alternative parts that can be bolted up. the trick was to find a car that has a strut assembly that can bolt to hub assembly that has 4 spot brakes and front mount rack. could have used rear mounted and swap left to right. but the issue i came across is the struts themselves. it had to have a smaller diameter spring seat. to remove spring seats on a gas strut was difficult and expensive. (welding issue pops up) S13 and S14 Silvia/200sx had most of the benefits but being hard to get and very expensive i looked further down the chain. Visiting a Mazda rotary specialist to try find my first obsession the Rx4 coupe i told him about my dilemma. than he pointed out that s4 Rx7 has the same properties what i wanted but even more. the front struts had a small diameter seat. a quick measurement here and there seemed like a good alternative. especially having lower ball joints that are removable with 2 bolts. a swap with him for s4 Rx7 hubs and lower ball joints for my R32 gets front brake setup. found 2 crappy struts and home i went to put the puzzle together. the lower controll arms mods were necessary and some none structural welding was required.redrill 4 new holes and weld the old ones up was pretty straight forward job. at the same time stabiliser pick up points were borrowed from Rx7 as well. so still stock stabilisator bar can be used. the whole thing was than brought to the subframe. marked where "dents" had to be put in to clear the power steer lines.also the right engine mount bracket had to be slotted to pass the rack spindle. bit of heat and few hits with the hammer got my shape. few cuts with grinder i got my basic setup sitting quite nicely. to reinforce the slightly slotted right engine mount bracket. 1.5mm thick plate has been shaped and double welded to the bracket. that reinforced the right engine bracket. at the same time the engine mount holes have been slotted as per R32 skyline frame. R32 engine mount have been used as well. while at modding i thought ill install a slight adjustment on the lower controll arms. so lower controll arms holes on the subframe were slotted and guide welded in. thanks to Nick 240ZR for the idea as i seen his rack with similar mod. new lower ball joints have been purchased as well as new Rx7 struts. so i had sorted out the lower part of the bolt up. with subi rack shortened and tie rods from n12 pulsar were used to connect the rack to the Rx7 hubs which had 4spot calipers vented rotors and 5 stud hub. so far so good. the next issue was the strut tops. this was easily done by using stock z top hats that had the hole slightly enlarged and "D" shaped to accommodate the RX7 strut. fairly easy mod. now in between we are missing a spring. Mazda had a conical shape spring small diameter at the bottom with large at the top. Z had smaller top by almost a half than the RX7. so stock springs are out. A trip to universal springs or Aurora springs with my strut and hat setup. the guys were helpfull and made a custom spring to suit. didn't cost a fortune. bit more than lowered springs. all was put together and looked like it just came out of the factory. so that sorted out the power steer, 5 stud, and 4spot vented brakes conversion. the above setup was my work and its the only Z around at this time with that setup. not sure how Nick ended up with his but he was looking at doing the same thing. the beauty of the above setup is that i can use Mazda Rx7 coilovers ( tein,hks,mazdasped etc...) with slightly modded cap with camber adjustments which are in abundance. next on the agenda was rear which ill explain bit later. at this time probably anyone reading this is half asleep. sorry peeps.

was it new? i got mine from the state brand new i think it cost me around 40 mark.

yeah my self dont know whats that big deal with the mesh style. but everyone to its own. to me does look like a save a peny exercise on behalf of nissan. but also these mesh ones are lighter by few grams mesh wont be hard to match. just need to source the flimsy metal bits and corners and you can poprivet one at home LOL... fairly simple things.

i got a brand new 73 booklet and in fairly good condition 260z 76 one. as for service manuals they arent that expensive and can get them from nissan still. hand booklets are bit rarer and fairly pricey for what they are. as for reprinting them possible issues with copyrights. expecialy if made to be sold. but none one can stop you to make a copy of your own and use it while the original one is in storage in a safe place. lets face it 240z/260z didnt have 6 million switches and dvd players etc... the books are fairly thin im sure ppl can remember how to change the seat position and adjust the mirrors.

nicely done car. LOT of time and LOT of detailing been spent on that car. not my choice of powerplants but regrdless its still a very nice looking car. personaly i do like it. and the type of moding suits the car. not everyone is in the JDM look and stock colours. though i do like JDM look as well but i can see beyond the same flares same rear spoiler and same engine mods and same rims and same front spoiler. seems as if its a same car with different colour. Kinda boring sorry. sometimes to tell the difference between them is to look at the number plate. if someone gave me that car or was for sale at same price as a stockish one im sure none of us would complain and grabbed this one. send us the link of the video i love to see how it goes and sounds like. i guess like V8 LOL

here are some pics.

for that money i would definetly want leather. seems a bit steep. Try looking else where im sure theres lot of upholsterers around Brisi. i got my front and rear seats redone for $250 but material was mine. but we are talking 4 seats. as for leather being more durable ill probably argue that point. has anyone seen 25year old leather seat. it may not unstitch but after fairly short time it will start developing wrinkles and the colouring will disapear. have a look at some latish model bmw ie 98 and drivers leather seat. 99% it will be wrinkly and discoloured.Thats from a bmw.My parents had a brand new Pajero with leather seats done after 15,000km it was showing signs of wrinkles. And my old man wasnt a big guy. good quality vinyl will far outlast leather in aesthatics. expecialy if its been looked after bit better. My 1974 mazda RX4 has original vinyl seats. besides the abuse they got from sharp objects in few spots they are remarkably in good condition. driver seat looks in very good shape. some datsuns ive seen have also good vinyl. though as for heat and tropical climate in QLD both vinyl and leather will suck. been there few times i know how it is. if i was you prob go for velour based on the original theme. some 260z did come with optional velour and cloth seats on top with vinyl surounds and back. my 2+2 come with velour while seats in my 240 are cloth (they are 260z seats) search the web for 260z interior images to get the factory look. otherwise if not fussed let your imagination run wild. When i get home ill post few pics of Z interior black velour it looked quite nice with some embroidery for that personal touch. also have tons of other styles leather vinyl etc............

ive just added one of the Z's from above to my collection. now i got a 1970 240z #227. This will be my special car. In honour of my late friend Eric and to keep some of his Z's in SA. still lot of parts and a 1974 matching number car.