Whittie

Hey Guys, Not to take away from the discussion, but I'm trying to make plans for a visit for the nationals next year and was wondering if any planning had started. Read the thread and it looks a bit bleak, but if it went ahead, any idea on WHEN it might go ahead? Last time (2007) I was able to tie the trip in with the PI historics, so I left the car and just flew over twice in the month. Something like that again would seal the deal for me to make another trip to a great event. I hope the event doesn't die, I know my dad and I had a HUGE time in 2007 coming across the plain to see and meet everyone.

I bought mine in partnership with my father on Friday 29 July 2004, the eave of my 16th Birthday. I first drove it at barbagallo raceway on the 30th July, my 16th birthday and I got my learners permit on Monday 1st August. almost 8 years later the body repair is finished (paint is all that is left!!!) and there is probably only 2-300kg of steel left on the car that was original and not another single part. I've been fortunate enough to live my boyhood dreams whilst still a kid and I will never sell this car. Talk of selling a car to save a house: How far would the 10-20k really go if you're on the brink of losing a house? Personally I would not sell this car for anything, but then I'm playing with fire trying not to stall my career so I can stay in town and enjoy it when it's finished and it's been behind most personal decisions of the last few years so I'm almost too committed to let go now.

L28 2,800cc (40 thou bore), mild cam (I mean only slightly bigger than stock, mild), 45mm weber's, extractors, shaved head and block Just to clarify, the faint line was the before extractors result, solid line post extractors. And I know it says flywheel hp, but I'm assured it's actually hub hp, the correction was set to 1, ie disabled. This car is the epitome of compromise: It's a fast road car and must be driven on the road, which means it has to idle, it gets run in motorkhana's and hill climb's which means it has to have down low down power and torque and it gets run at the track where it's all about the 5,000-7,500 rpm power. This motor did 20,000km combined driving over 5-6 years where it was double entered in every event by my dad and myself, traveled across the nullabor twice and was driven to and from the track every time (cept when I blew 5 gearboxes in 5 events, then it was towed home....) So, whilst there is plenty more power if I wanted to drop in a larger cam, I'm VERY happy with the compromise and hence have just rebuilt it with the same gear (cept new harmonic balancer, clutch, flywheel and bolts/studs - non HP changing mods) and don't plan to change much.

It takes the average owner 120,000km to bring the prius to "carbon equivalent" to an economical petrol of the same size. It's a funny number because it's also the number that most users get to before the batteries need to be changed, making them INCREDIBLY environmentally UNFRIENDLY compared to a normal car. But that's ok, they use less fuel to drive and are therefore good for the environment. I'm not putting electric vehicles down, I think they are a fantastic idea and the work being done to improve electric/battery technology is fantastic, it's just that they aren't yet as environmentally friendly as everyone touts, the opposite in fact.

They are quite small aren't they, I would like to do that very much. I was told it would be too hard, but now I know how to do it I'll make sure they get done! Nationals at PI again sounds like a winner. I did the last one there actually (2007??), see if I can't make it 2 from 2!! More "Longest Distance Traveled" awards always look nice Doubtful for bathurst (easter?) far too soon and far too much left to do still.

The vents on the guards, according to the sticker on them are: holden hk ht hg gts. I got them from rare spares for about $50-$70 each or so. Not too expensive, but more than I thought they would be when I originally bought them. Here is what they look like done, should look ripper on a zed!

8 January 2012 Well, we’re now into the New Year and the project is coming up to a year late on my ideal finish date. However, soo much more work has been required that the original goal for finish was never going to be achievable without an army of people and a bottomless pocket. Believe it or not, despite the build to date, my pocket is not bottomless! It’s been a month since the last update on the diary so here is a recap of a few visits: A little bitter-sweet really, the car is approaching being finished and yet at every turn more rubbish previous repair work is found. Read on to discover the next chapter: 24 December 2011 I went to see Will today, he’s been working hard and will be over Christmas so the least I could do was drop in a carton to help it through it. No photos, I left the camera at home, but WOW do I need to get some photos ASAP for you guys! The fiberglass man and Will had a look at the panels and the decision has been made that it would be far too difficult and expensive to do what I wanted with them and it would be easier and cheaper to just use steel guards. I really didn’t want to use steel guards on the car, but having talked to Will at some length, it’s going to make the whole process much cheaper. I dropped the panels off a week or two before this visit, in their ‘virgin’ heap-of-a-condition because I hadn’t stripped them as I was never planning to use them. Will has got them back to bare metal and tells me they weigh at least half of what they did with all the bog/tar/rubbish on them. At the end of the day, it’s not ideal for weight loss but a much better solution overall. I like efficiency and this is it playing in full. Pics next visit! On an even less exiting note, on this visit it turns out that the reason the fiberglass guards didn’t fit on the passenger side is because of the accident it had way back when by a previous owner. About 6 years ago Will replaced all of the front chassis rails due to a near roll-over in the sand I had caused them to crack as they had rusted through. These repaired parts of the car were straight but the dodgy repairs from when the car was hit in the front meant that the entire passenger side of the engine bay was bent. The rails are straight, but the reinforcing bar at the top is bent and therefore the panels don’t fit…. Yay? So much for a good body, Will now has to spend a couple of weeks cutting up the front end, pulling it straight and welding it back together. 29 December 2011 The Christmas rush is over, I finished moving house for the second time in 8 months and I managed to fit in a visit to go see Will! The guards are coming along well, but like the rest of the car, they were in TERRIBLE condition and it’s taken a fair whack of time to get them going. Here is a pick of the drivers side: Looking AMAZING!!! Oh, that’s right, I forgot to mention that using the steel guards means that I can now have the vents that I originally wanted, they couldn’t be moulded in to the fiberglass, but you can weld them in to steel. I didn’t get the weight out that I wanted by using fiberglass, but aero efficiency is back on the agenda for this build. Yeah baby! The passenger side has also had some work but isn’t finished yet: And the inside of the passenger side guard before venting and rust replacement but after Will has ground all the tar off: 2 January 2012 The second day of the New Year and parts are going back to Will to be installed on the car! This is a pretty momentous occasion; the car is going back together! I had nothing more to show than the wheels and suspension loaded up in the car waiting for delivery to Will: He’ll be using the stuff to work out how much the guards need to be adjusted to get it all to fit. It could be an interesting discovery, another to add to the list at least. Keep posted. 7 January 2012 I popped in today to see Will and to keep him motivated with some of the cold hard stuff. Progress is going well and the front end is finally straight and fits together! Dad took the last photos and so this was my first trip to see the steel guards: Wow was I impressed or what! I was greeted by this site on walking in to the shop: It looks AMAZING in the flesh. The other side of the car is not looking as good tho, here is the passenger front guard: Rust More bogged up rust from previous repairs: More rust: VENTS! Some of the rubbish cut from the guards alone: Will spent a lot more time over the last week straightening the front passenger side of the car. He tells me that the rails were straight (he did rebuild the front rails 6 years ago, so that’s to be expected) but forward of the suspension towers the entire front end had concertinaed on top of itself and was pushed downwards. Will measured it all up, got cutting and welding and now it’s straight again. Not an ideal situation, but I’m super happy to know that at least the car is now perfectly straight, free from Bog, super light-weight and rust free! Here are a couple snaps I managed to take of the remnants of his hard work on the front end: Behind the headlight bucket: It’s all now dead straight, check out the gaps: Considering that 2 weeks ago the panels wouldn’t even fit and allow the bonnet to close, that’s one hell of an achievement right there. The passenger guard is not rust free yet, but here are a few pics of the rubbish that came out of the driver’s side panel, including remnants of SUPER dodgy previous repairs that were just begging for rust to set in: The headlight bucket is not bolted in place and I snapped this pic before Will could position it where it will end up, but check out the gap on the guard, how amazingly straight! The next job is to finish the rust in the guards, mount the suspension to determine how much work needs doing and ‘pump’ the guards to tuck the wheels. That was it for this last visit, however I got home today (day after these last pics) and I have a missed call from Will from this afternoon, so I’ll be getting back to him in the morning but hopefully it’s good news for a change and not more completely f’d body/chassis notifications! Oh, the interior is in primer and now Will is just working on rusted guards and then paint!

Thanks all or the very nice comments, it means a lot! I am sure that the very first couple of trips to the track will be VERY... interesting, experiences. On my part, I am going to line up 3 friends to come and do some professional photos shoots before the car travels it's first 10 k's. I want to be able to capture the perfection of all the work the moment it will look best, when it is very first finished. After the photo shoots then it's fair game and rocks will surely take their toll on the panel and paint. However, with the finish on the car and the rust work that's been done I've been assured of 15+ years of trouble free motoring and then the rest. Well, time for another update: 10 December 2011 Well, I went to see Will again today, I even decided it would be a good idea to do the 47k return trip on my push bike in 30 degree weather, and I have no photos because there has been no progress. It’s been 3 weeks since the last visit and Will has been busy with other projects and tells me he needed a break from such a long and drawn out car. I think this has been his longest rebuild to date and he’s a bit sick of working on it. None the less, I’ve been promised the next 3 weeks exclusively so I’m sure there will be some good progress next visit. Unfortunately, Will has found quite a few flaws with the fiberglass parts on the car. He showed me some spider looking cracks in the gel coat and he says that usually when you see this, rather than just coating it, it means that the part needs more work or to be re-done. I didn’t pay much for the parts and Will tells me that these sorts of issues are why you can’t charge a lot for parts. If the parts had come in ‘Ready to be painted’ condition then they would command a premium price and would be true ‘paint and go’ material. Not to worry, Will will be sanding back the gel ever so carefully (It’s see-through in some parts!!) and then going over it with bog to fill and fix all the imperfections. Will’s mate over the road, who is a fiberglass specialist, will also be having a look at the panels and devise a method of how to ‘roll’ fiberglass guards. I have a feeling it means cutting out a section of the panel and re-moulding a piece that the wheels will fit under.

Hey Kobes, I have the same (or very similar, the excemption number may be different) note on my rego. I went to the ADR website and had a good look around and as far as I could work it out essentially the car is TOTALLY excempt from ADR revisions 2 onwards (which are the only ADR's I could find mentioned in the rules anyways, hence excempt from any current ADR regulations) due to being a personal import. Cars were only given this status a long time ago, all imports these days are required to meet ADR's so we are quite lucky. In my searching (not 100% thorough by any means) it basically means that you must have working headlights, windscreen, working wind-screen wipers and seat-belt, seat etc. The basic necessities only, otherwise you are free to do whatever you like, more-or-less. I don't know what road rules there are relating to cars that are not ADR's (headlights and windscreen wipers I think fall in this category of must-have non adr's) however I am sure if you look hard enough there are rules that even our cars have to comply to. FYI, there are a whole bunch of different condition codes that all have the same text. You'll have to go digging through the regs to find out exactly what yours means, but I take it at face value "Exempt from complying to ADR's". I beleive this is because the laws inports had to comply to in state of manufacture or original sale were sufficient to meet local conditions. I do not know if it means that cars still have to meet the laws from the country they were imported from or they are simply not required to comply with local laws. Like I said, I did a little research and settled myself with "If shit ever hits the fan it's VERY likely I'll get out of it" which is good enough for me. Sorry for the quick, brief reply, the pub is calling and work is closing.

7 December 2011 Wowsers, why is it that 5 weeks always turns in to 3 months for me! If it wasn’t clear from the last post, I was on an aeroplane. Not any aeroplane, Dad and I went to Europe for a month. The trip was a belated graduation gift with a catch: Get first class honours in chemical engineering and I would earn a trip to France. To drive Formula 1 cars! Well, short of the long and we were on our way to France! This really was the trip of my life. A day does not go past where I do not think of the main day of this trip. The whole trip was fantastic (London, England, France, Holland, Hong Kong) but that 1 day in France. The best day of my life. Bar None. The in car videos showed up and however irrelevant to this build thread (blog/life story) it’s going to get a mention. Have a view here, just unbelievable! Tom Incar: John Incar: Well, enough of the self-promotion and on to the car-promotion! I’m in a strange spot here at the moment because I remember all of the last 3 months like it was yesterday and yet so much has happened that I haven’t written down. For starters, my last visit was 3 weeks ago and will had logged 515 hours on the car… Yup, 515 hours of professional restoration. And he wasn’t even finished!! More on that later tho. I guess the best spot to start is the first visit after the euro trip. THE euro trip… As always, Dial-up is pointless and I do not apologise for the onslaught of pictures because I can almost guarantee that is why most of you are here regardless of how good (or bad, probably…) my words are. 30 September 2011 My first day back in town and stop number 1 after dropping my bags is to see Will and how much he’s done in the last 5 weeks since the last visit. A lot (I think, time is merging here for me). Will has put 4 solid weeks in to this car since I left and the rear end is fully in primer and starting to really look good. You can also see some good progress on the inside of the rear wheel wells. I didn’t just take this photo to show off the job he did of rolling the guards, I promise!! The roof is also looking better since the last visit and from the outside you would never know that it was ever removed in the first place. Unless of course I showed you pictures of it before/after, which I have… Will keeps all the rust he cuts out of cars until the end of the project. It might seem strange but it’s actually a fantastic guide to just how much work has gone in to a car. Here is the pile as it stands on this visit: I would normally talk about where it came from and how hard it was to remove and replace, but to be honest I can’t place it at all. I just know it came from my car…. The cowl has finally seen some love and is looking fantastic in a thin veil of primer: Will has also finally spent some time working on the doors, which were probably in worse shape than the rest of the car. Or actually, maybe, just similar shape to the rest of the car… 01 October 2011 Well, there are a lot of things I wrote down on my “To Do” list when I started this restoration. There are also more than a couple of things that I most certainly DID NOT put on the list. They either didn’t make the budget (HAHA!!!) or I decided that they weren’t necessary because they were already upgraded and I couldn’t justify spending the money on them (BAHAHAHAHAHA!!). I would list the list of “not necessary” upgrades, but most of them are already covered in the above 50 (yes, 50) pages of the word copy of this diary/life journey and so I won’t bother you. 1 thing that I was ADAMANT I would not touch, however, was the suspension on the car. That was until one fateful day. One this day, some time ago now (or not, I’m still confused by dates) I was unpacking my draw to find all my tax receipts. In this fateful draw was my last car registration paper. Normally these are not exciting pieces of paper, least of all because all of mine generally seem to have a bill of $500 attached to them. This one, however, was special. It wasn’t because of any reduction in the bill, infact that probably went up, or any changes in the colour of the paper used (works for some people I’m told). No, this was special because it was the first I’d actually ever interrogated. If it weren’t for the fact it was tax time and I literally couldn’t find enough things to waste time on then I would never have read this unassuming bill. However, I did read the paper, even, including, the fine print. WELL, wasn’t that a delight worth reading!! Listed in a little box near the bottom of the form is a ‘notes’ section and what do you know, it has something in it…. I know, I know, “GET TO THE POINT”, I hear you scream. This is worth it, trust me. Listed in this box are the greatest words I’ve heard about this car in a long time: “Personal Import. Exempt from compliance to Australian Design Regulations”. That’s right folks, EXEMPT from compliance to Australian Design Regulations!! This probably rates as close to, now, the second greatest day of my life. Bring on a history of being able to do whatever I like to this car without risk of B-Reg or getting yellow stickers that can’t be removed. I present, the (almost) un-defectable zed!!! It’s not defect proof, but as close as one can get. Armed with this new-found glory I got a little carried away and paid a visit to one Stewart Wilkins on the recommendation from my primary sponsor, Wheels World. Stewart and I talked for a while and 2 weeks and some pay-cheques later I brought home a little treat: That’s right folks, Adjustable coil-overs. Totally unnecessary and yet totally appropriate. 250Ib fronts, 300Ib rears, 300zx adjustable koni yellow shocks all-round, custom top-plates to lower the car without sectioning struts, weld-on sleeves. What Stewart calls ‘The ultimate zed package’ and now I cannot (I believe, yet to be proven in court) get defected for it Talk about win-win. For reference here is a shot of the old springs and struts (which are available for sale for anyone interested by the way, just PM me…): 22 Oct 2011 Ok, time to get this diary/blog moving again and hurry up. On 22/10/11 I went to see will again. Now that the zed is his sole source of income he’s actually getting some work done on it. Another shot here of the cowl, not sure why I took it, but it looks good: The doors are now smoothed and in primer, looking fantastic. Will has also, through-out the whole project, been going back and touching things up as he progresses. One of the many areas to feel his gentle caress is the fuel filler cap, which now actually fits the car: That was all really for this trip. It doesn’t look like much for 2 weeks work, but I’m told there has been a lot of ‘going over’ that will pay dividends in the final product that don’t look like much now. 28 October 2011 Well, only 1 week since my last visit and that’s, unashamedly, because I was late for a progress payment…. Will has been busy as always (working 7 days a week, he really can get stuff done!). This time I was VERY surprised to see some real progress. I wouldn’t say I was happy, more shocked. Here is why: That was a floor and rails once!!! What is happening to this car?!! After my initial shock died down and I got myself composed I was able to appreciate the work that was being done. I even managed what I would call an artistic shot (by my standard anyways): I call this one “Inverse manufacturing” owing to what was once a lack of a roof and is now a lack of a floor… Here are the left-overs of what was cut out of the floor. You can see just how bad the car was and how masked it was until Will cut it apart to reveal the true Frankenstein: The ‘floor’ that Will insists was done by ‘the apprentice’ (He has said this about most of the car, especially considering the poor state of repairs when it was back to bare metal last time) Here is the crushed in part of the engine bay where the battery tray used to be. It is understood that this car had a front end bingle that resulted in the wheel crushing the metal underneath the battery tray. (15,000 words ) That was it for this visit, a very insightful indication of the low quality of repairs done on this car in the past. However, given this car was an English resident in its first life, with all the salt roads and snow, it’s really not that bad! 20 November 2011 Almost a month since the last visit and things are still moving along well. Will has spent most of the last month re-doing the work some ‘apprentice kid’ did to the car in the past, along with fixing up all the damage that Dad and I have done to the car in the past 8 years. No, we didn’t do dodgy repairs or have an accidient: The forces we have exerted on the car have stripped threads and torn diff and gearbox mounts. Will has spent a lot of time remanufacturing the sway bar and diff mounts in 1/8” steel to ensure that they don’t bend again in the future: Old mount vs new steel used to replace it: Not only that, but it turns out that the Bad Dog frame rails are useless in this build. The whole point of the Bad Dog rails is that you cut off the original rails, leaving a ‘tab’ to weld the new rails to. Unfortunately for me, the old rails were so rusted that even with 1/8” steel the Bad Dog rails would have been even weaker than the rails on the car due to the poor state of any tab that would be left to weld to. (Unsurprisingly, I have a pair of bad dog frame rails sitting unused in perfect condition looking for a new home. Make me a silly offer, they are worth nothing to me sitting in a box). Here are a couple shots of the new rails that Will bent up himself for me: The floor is also back together and looking like a factory product that was meant to be there: Will really knows how to please a man and is making me very happy showing off his skill and proving just why he is panel-beater of choice for DADSON racing (This is his third project for us). He even got around to the front wheel wells and that busted battery tray: Despite how vehemently will detested having the car on a rotisserie, you can see by the burn marks just how much he’s been spinning the car around whilst working on it. He really can’t help himself Also note how a replacement floor should look, none of this bendy flat plate nonsense, only the best will leave Will’s shop. Here are a couple photos I took of a couple spots of work I spied that Will never pointed out to me: Will has also still been keeping the ever growing pile of rusted metal of the car. Here it is at the last count: Just notice how bad some of the metal in the car had been eaten away by oxygen: Today is the 7th of December and I am a week late for seeing Will (ANOTHER late progress payment ) and so I’ll be stopping by his place this weekend to get a progress update. When I left on the 20th October he was promising that the engine bay would be done, he’d be starting on all the fiberglass parts and that he’d be doing another round on the car with bog to get the final shapes correct before some more undercoat and then a round of final colour (Which is still a secret I believe, you’ll just have to wait to see it!!). Bonsoir friends, my glass of red wine is empty, my warm bed is waiting and the sleeping cat in my lap and dog on her bed are all telling me it’s time to call this one to an end and check back in another time.

Hey Sinisha, Any more info about them other than a name? I'm up to the point of deciding what I'm going to do with the brake system as I put the car back together and this looks the goods! I'm going to be running new lines anyway, so as long as this fits without too much hassle it seems like a good idea at the moment. What's the quality like? When do you think you'll be up to installing it, I would love to hear how it goes and performs.

Hey Brabham, Lexan is good, scratch resistant and doesn't go off in the sun. It can't be heat formed to the shape of the window (read: bad fit) Acrylic is cheaper, not scratch resistant, goes off in the sun (can polish it out), can be heat formed to the window (read: better fit) and cheaper I went acrylic for the cost (1/3) and even got it in tinted form The likelihood of scratching a rear window beyond visibility is pretty low and given that if you have an original to mold it to, can be formed to shape makes acrylic the clear winner, imo.

I would love to attend!! Anyone got some snatch-strap and willing to tow my car on a rotisserie?? Have fun boys!

Hey Funzies, Send me a PM and I can lend you some stockies to get you over the pits. They have 215/65/14 fitted, would that be an issue? They are the stock 14x5.5 rim, just with giant balloon tyres. Stupid thing is they are likely legal and yet FAR more dangerous than proper ratio tyres. Pics here: http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v621/Tommo560/Datsun%20260Z/?action=view&current=P2100300.jpg http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v621/Tommo560/Datsun%20260Z/?action=view&current=PA020100_small.jpg http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v621/Tommo560/Datsun%20260Z/?action=view&current=PC020287.jpg

Hey Guys, Here is the incar footage I promised: John: Tom:

I didn't read the whole thread, but there should NOT be clunking in the rear end. period. Those bushes are supposed to be setup one on top, one on bottom, the way they were setup could have been the entire issue, it would also put the diff alignment out by having the rear diff mount bolts too high. Check the front diff mount, they can tear and allow the diff to flop. Check that the leather strap isn't broken/stretched/tearing. With a good condition diff and proper mounting there should be no clunk. Also check out the moustache bar, I managed to crack mine which caused all sorts of slop and clunking. If checking and fixing the diff mounts doesn't do it then check the uni's, a cracked/wearing uni joint can cause clunking as I found out before I blew two of them up... I now have zero clunking in my car and can drop second with the only noise the sweet sound of tearing rubber against bitumen I just saw the reference to the Uni's: Just as a note, when they are off the ground the angle they are at causes the small play to become VERY pronounced. With my car jacked up off the ground with both wheels at full droop I can turn the wheels about 1/8 of a turn relative to each other. If you jack the suspension up tho to normal ride height you will find NO slop, so it is not likely to be a uni joint issue. If you can't get the rear end off the ground with the suspension level, then just stick your head under the car and try and turn the CV shaft with the car stationary. You should not be able to turn it/a slight wiggle only. If you are getting slop in the cv shaft with the car on the ground that could point towards worn cv's.

If I'd seen this earlier I would have said to get down to the Z-day that was last sunday, pity you might have missed it. I've been out of the scene for 18months or so, but Martin Falconer (tuneright - google it) usually know's what is around. I'm sure you can find a running car for 7k without too much difficulty.

I was going to start cutting and welding my struts until I ran into a very helpful suspension tuner. I'm now rocking 300zx front struts front and rear on the car and he has replaced the strut tops with solid units. You get 50-60mm of extra suspension travel by replacing the strut tops and then winding the springs up to get the height of the car back. Admitedly, I haven't installed them yet, but he's done 6-7 cars in Perth and he does this to all of them and yet to hear of a single issue.

Well, there you go. The easiest thing is probably just to not let rego lapse and don't get caught :-\ John, I can vouch for the over kill of these rods, they are HUGE. 1" tube for the rod and the mount is made of 1/8" (guessing here) steel. It's not going to fail any time soon, that's for sure! They also weigh a metric tonne tho, a kilo or more each compared to the standard rods. You do neeed to keep an eye on the nuts that hold the rod-end to the body mount, I had one rattle loose and fall off, which was totally my fault for not checking they were tensioned. TTT make all of their stuff far stronger than it needs to be, it's one of the reasons I have pretty much their entire catalogue installed on my car now, purely ease of mind knowing I'm not going to snap something like I did with the standard t/c rod.

www.technotoytuning.com/productdetail.php?p=668

I went with the techno toy tuning tc rod. Nothing ever in bending, solid mounting, rod ends, it's the bees knees. It's also a race only part unfortunately so is not appropriate for every application.

I'll bring photos...?

I had a lot of trouble getting mine to stay cool and I took the easy option: ally radiator. However, that just solves the symptoms, not the underlying cause: Not enough air through the radiator flowing at the proper speed for efficient heat transfer. You do this by getting air OUT of the engine bay and/or restricting the air opening into the radiator. However, that takes a lot of effort because the inherent problem with zeds is that the radiator opening is too big and air just piles up in front of the car and doesn't flow into or out of the engine bay. 2 options: less air in or more air out. Both require a lot of fabrication. The right middle ground in my opinion is to check to make sure that the radiator is working properly. If it's fouled on the inside or the out, it will not work. First step is to get some of that radiator cleaning chemical from your local super crap auto or similar and run that through a couple times to clean out the inside of the radiator. I would think that the water circulation is not the issue with your setup, so next step if the chemicals don't do the trick would be to make sure the outside of the radiator is transferring heat to the air efficiently. Make sure there are not too many bent, blocked, damaged fins. your next option would be to try a different radiator. I had a 3-core holden radiator for the longest time and that with a 14" fan worked awesome, however when it started getting old and fouled it stopped working, with exactly the same symptoms you have now.. I now have a PWR radiator and 2x12" davies craig fans. It's an awesome setup, low power draw, low weight, but rather exxy and I wouldn't recommend it unless you really want it or can't get other options working first.

Cheers fellas. That ebay one looks scary john, a very serious bit of kit. You've got me thinking about what I want now. I didn't want anything 2 weeks ago! Given it's a weekender not a full race unit I might just go worth the arizona stuff considering it sounds like their stuff is reasonable quality. Peter, what would you normally put on a regularity car? If you don't mind me asking, that is. Club race stuff level. But, it's gotta be a quick car.

280Z or 280zx pete? Mine is a 280z technically, but can't see that bring an issue, it's identical to a 260z.