saxon

I’ve been working on sound treatment on the Z and I’ve been planning from the start to hit the tail light area with sound absorbing foam. Reason is that due to the shape of the car, sound frequencies will accumulate there and project straight back out at the driver like a trumpet horn. Especially low level frequencies that contribute to droning. So I have cut out a piece of acoustic foam and stitched it onto the tail light cover panel with acoustically transparent fabric. The idea is that troublesome droning frequencies will be funneled down there by the shape of the cabin, pass through the fabric, and then get absorbed rather than project back out. I took it for a test run today and I swear it make a huge difference. Prior to adding the foam, the engine getting very woofy at around 4.5k rpm. Like it would go RrrraaaaaaaaaaWWWWHWHWHaaa. I know it’s not to do with the exhaust or engine cause the woofy sound isn’t there from the outside. Now with the foam it goes Rrraaaaaaaaaaaaaaa all the way up. Pics here of what I did, execution can be cleaner, I need to iron it and tighten it up but there it is.

Yeah my quarters look something like this but I probably won’t put foam in my doors though, due to potential for it getting wet and growing mould. I’ll load them up with butyl rubber only.

Possibly! Much of the body is in primer right now but might bring it anyway. And yeah I’ll be treating the doors too, giving myself a whole weekend to do doors cause I got no clue what I’m doing. There’s a bunch of other stuff I need to do in there like rubber. I got a bunch of other plans to kill resonance inside the car, like using sound foam in the roof, and acoustic fabric rather than normal roof liner, so sound waves can pass into the foam and get absorbed rather than bounce off it. And make a bass trap of some sort at the tail light area, my plastic interior tail light cover is all cracked up so I have no issues butchering it into something that absorbs sound.

It’s been a long time between posts here, it’s been interesting looking back and seeing the journey I’ve been on with this car, so an update is due so I can continue to look back on this story in the future. There has been much progress over the years. Most notably, the Z now has a Les Collins built 3.1L stroker with triple webbers. And an engine bay make over. Speedhut gauges are in too and a bunch of rust repairs and body touch ups from Lurch’s shop. I’m over the moon to have the car at this point and it puts a huge smile on my face to drive. The sound is glorious. And it’s great to have the power to match the aggressive styling choices I’ve made. The car needs a repaint now but other than that, I consider the original vision I had for this car is more or less complete. Thing is, I’m no longer a young man and the vision has changed. I can’t really deal with no ac so that’ll need to be addressed. I’ve found inspiration from what MZR have done and where the restomod scene has gone recently. So an interior make over is now on the cards. And I’ve been putting a lot of thought into how to get a nice sounding sound system into the car. Browsing the forums, some people say getting good sound quality can’t be done, so just put speakers in the back or the kicks somewhere. I take that as a challenge and I have some crazy ideas cooking up. Luckily the interior stuff is more within my limited capabilities so I’ll be more involved with that. I’m half way through stripping out all the interior and doing 3 stage sound treatment - butyl rubber + closed cell foam + mass loaded vinyl. With only the back done the difference is big, engine still roars but I can have a conversation while cruising without having to yell. Lots of work to do, I have a list that feels like it’ll take another year to get through. I’ve hit many points where I’ve thought that financially I can’t keep up and the car will need to be sold, but feels like those tough times are done and I’ve got this car for life now. That’s it for now I think, I’ll try post more updates as I go.

Another pic

Cheers Bruce, will bring it to a meet once this craziness has passed

Coilovers in, drives much nicer now, doesn’t feel like it’s trying to kill me anymore. old springs and top ends available for free pickup in thomastown if anyone is interested just let me know.

Yeah I agree that something is clearly missing, but I just dont think those panels solve the problem, still looks like something is missing and then patched over in a way that doesn’t quite blend in. Even if 100% colour matched it’s still not a look I like. I think it’s due to the indicator, it should bulge out entirely or not at all, but half way between is weird. I saw this yesterday, I like this look the best, looks clean and functional.

Yo yeah I’ve been thinking of what to about the bumper delete situation. I’m not a fan of those either though as it moves the colour change up which looks weird to me. i think the solution is to stick matte black plastic circles over the holes, it would look cleaner because all the holes would then look same size, and would give the illusion that they are all doing work to hold the front spoiler on.

Cheers ☺️ I took her out last night, here’s how she’s looking.

It’s been a long hiatus but my zed is up and running again. I took it into Nissco /dat1600 workshop and they did a great job fixing up a decent list of things for me and getting it going again. I couldn’t find much in the way of forum reviews on them but decided to give them a go and couldn’t be more happy with that decision, they’re very professional, have great communication, and know these cars well. Plans are going ahead to build a 3.1L or 3.0L stroker. And I have a little list of cosmetic stuff to work on in the mean time. Right now I’m finding it a real pain to find a steering column cover, if anyone has a spare let me know

And pics of the triple weber kit and P90 head being sold separately.

These goodies included in the 25k asking price. Exhaust includes pipes all the way through. And other bits and pieces for an engine rebuild I was going to do.

It’s coil over, sleeves, camber plates, and springs

Latest photos.