AK

Hi Mate - it was just the largest format Outside Decal UV Stabilized commonly used for real-estate boards - that you order through for Office Works. It up to you supply the graphic - just have a chat to office works about the resolution requirements to get a sharp image. Cheers AK

Tyres – I had some pretty good Michelin Pilot Sport 4s 225/ ZR 17 and the rear ended up being 235/ ZR 17, I would rate as one of the best tyres I have used on public roads, great feel right to the edge of traction and predictable beyond the edge of traction, reliable no punctures, wore evenly, back went before the front – understandable. Track day at Warick did bring out some problems, track is so much different, did not feel too comfortable on the edge here going much faster, front end was snaky under hard braking and the front tyres centres started to carve out that’s after 3 laps. Never had Yokohama’s before, Japanese car, Japanese Tyres cant go to far wrong, AD009 Cut Semi Slicks pretty much, its early days don’t know about the wear yet, but 1st proper road test, Great I was hoping for a 20% improvement and overall I would say: · all-round grip is 15-20% better · stability under brakes 30% better · grip under hard braking 30% better · stability while cornering through large g-outs 30% better · high speed edge grip 10% better · hooking up out of corners 20% better · aesthetic better · steering is a whole new level 30% better What’s Fitted · Yokohama Advan Neova AD09 Front 225/45R17 94W · Yokohama Advan Neova AD09 Rear 235/45R17 94W This is all subjective seat of the pants feel, but feel is important and initial impressions, new tyres do always feel better and steering always feels improved with new tyres, trying to factor that into to the impressions above. If you spend the time and look at reviews and testing across the globe, it builds picture of what the tyres perform like in very extreme track testing going much faster than I ever will, early days, they seem to be the pick of the bunch. It would be good to personally test everything, but that’s expensive and time consuming, I sure there is some other very good alternatives, But can only talk about what I have and compare it to past rubber.

Cheers Ritchy Rich - Deborah Harry always good - would be pretty cool when you a blasting some matching tunes ! Digital version G-Nose to Race on GRAND TURISMO wild ride 317 bhp 826kg - gives 2mill Super Cars a run for the money Clean Side View pic She was a bit thirsty after strong run.

Always wanted a 6 speed - Not for the faint hearted this, i used a Godzilla Race Works Bell housing and a cd009 brand new gear box, you only have to cut of the font of the cd009 gear box then bolt on the Godzilla Race Works Bell housing- easy as, then bolt in the Apex engineering gear box mount and a V2 CD009 Gearbox Shifter relocation setup GK-TECH Australia,m Likewise Weighted Stainless Shift Knob with the clamp on threaded mount so you customise the height of the shifter, Custom Silk Shift boot - How does it go - its strong, pulls harder now, about 10km faster everywhere.

Like everything its an evolution, carpets I have always had a Japanese theme carpet in mind but finding something is next to impossible. but eventually something came up, this will not be everyone's flavour but I don't care my car I will do what I like - and if you think plain black carpet look cool power to you. These are custom printed mats rubber backed and then a marine carpet put on the back then they are edged - came up pretty cool I think .

Grill Up Date Vinyl wrap on the slats silver, red, Blue Carbon Fiber Look. Red on the top silver in the middle and Blue on the bottom just like the Datsun Logo and the Engine that sits in the belly of the beast.

It been a while a few Up dates Sound System Grill Up Date Stainless Exhaust Gear Box - 6 Speed Seats Carpets Custom

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.

Awesome Build Mate - would love to see it going one day on up on the sunny coast - if you want to catch up.

Hopefully it will be open by then!!!

Hi Millerman - Keep a look out for the bright lime green 260z 2+2 and say Hi

Hi Guys - hope all is going well you and your rides, decided to go to the SA Nationals and give the car 4400km round trip run. Anyone thinking of going from the VIC club?

LOOK LIKE IT WILL COME UP PRETTY GOOD - LOTS OF WORK - JUST CHIP AWAY!

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.

Nice Work - Peter - well honed skills at work!

Merry Christmas Zd'errs - Let's hope COVID is on the way out!

Nice Cars Welcome - Good to see some USA variations. Hope the roads are not icy

Just a few Complete photos - Done Now. GOING TO HAVE REST NOW!

At this point I was close to being done. With the Build that is, The WHEELS they are round and roll – Hmmm if you took a look at my Pinterest page I have literally hundreds of inspirational designs and constructions from around the globe I finally went with a Mag wheel I sourced LOCAL from PHAT WHEELS in Kunda Park in QLD it’s a remake of the classic Simmons GOLD Mesh wheels, made by a company called OS FORMULA and distributed by https://www.chrisnealewheels.com.au. Unlike Simmons the are one piece forged construction so hopefully stronger compared to the 2 piece construction of Simmons or other custom wheels, the centre core is undrilled and thick where the wheel attaches to the center hub of the wheel lugs. This way they drill to your stud pattern and machine off the excess to get the perfect offset so you fill the guards perfect, in a legal way that meets the AS standard and will also hopefully negate the tire rub if your TIRE GUY know what he is doing- Angelo at PHAT TYRES is the guru he knows a lot more than most tyre shops. He carefully measured the car on the hoist front to back and calcaulated the perfect offset – PRICELESS. THE End result for me was perfect PHAT Tyres and non-rubbing within the normal guards with a quality performance street tyres . I wanted Michelin Pilot Sports – if you have driven them you will understand – perfect predictable grip all conditions with progressive let-go and good wear - best tyre for spirited road use I think hands down. So the wheel selection for me was all about the grip and the tyre selection first because that’s what counts! The original kidney bean 15 inch were pretty cool actually made here in OZ actually had them polished to mirror shine but could not get the tyres I wanted for the road , some pretty crazy cut slick options around but might be dicey in the wet ? But I got them as a back up. Front Tyres ended up being a 225/ ZR 17 and the rear ended up being 235/ ZR 17 45 very happy with fitment and the performance, After the wheel fitment - I bit the Bullet and got some Techno Toy Lower control arms as we couldn’t get the required set up really with the standard arms as far as camber was concerned and it just felt not as good as it should, being very low DOESN’T HELP, WOW Techno Toy units are a awesome bit of kit so beefy and all the adjustment you need, and easy to set. The steering is much more direct and now and more precise some of this due to correct camber no doubt but a marked improvement, no harsh feed back and just as quiet as the factory units – extremely impressed! In the rear I run adjustable eccentric housing in the stock rear wishbone pivot it seems to work fine for now and delivers the camber I need for street use .

Hope you all had good one

The Louver to fit or not to fit. Well I live in QLD and its Hot and I like the look when they are made out of metal sharp clean edges with clean statin surfaces, that original Lamborghini Countache that had the lovers on top of the guards and above the engine bay and I think a few of Lotus cars - pink panther style had the nice louvers as well this inspired me somewhat. I did consider making one out of the Carbon Fibre but it would be another 100s of hours project and when I did it a bit of costing quite expensive they I would have to build it here. Also had concerns how long it would last in the hot sun of QLD. I found one a Off the Shelf for Louver for sale through a USA parts on seller pre COVID who specialized in Datsun parts - to get one to fit a 2 + 2 was pretty lucky. Is this DATO now a COVID baby Hmmmm maybe? This louver is built in the Canada by Willpak Industries Inc. Astra Hammond Option Pro Automotive Accent Products. The quality of workmanship and materials is very good, and the way it mounts to the car is also pretty well thought out and so far has worked out well. Even the instructions it came with are good. It comes in two halves that slide and interlock into each other so it even transports in a semi compact way. I took a few photos of instillation process as I thought it may be of interest to other crazy Datsun people? People? Pictures of it fitted – to inspire you possibly.

Hi Pete Thanks again it was pretty neat welding so it kind of makes sense - wonder if thread locker will be enough? I have new ones in now - did a quick 50km today - with the Techno Toy lower control arms and support arms and it feels great at the moment.

Thanks Mate Much appreciate the info

We all pay homage to lead designer of the Z by driving and maintaining our cars today - RIP Yoshihiko Matsuo - condolences to his family and friends.

Hi Guys - I am after a steering rack for my 260z 2+2 1976 model - the current one has the inner tie-rods welded on and they need to be replaced - not sure I will be able to get them of without permently damaging the rack so I would like to have a back up at least before attempting. Located in QLD Sunshine Coast. - Cheers AK