After 5 years of lurking these forums and doing the equivalent of nothing on my Z, I've decided to make an account. Skip to the very end if you want a "too long; didn't read" summary.
A bit about me
I'm a 20 year old student located south of Brisbane that lucked into buying a 1971 240z (HS-00654) 7 years ago as a joint project with my father. I study full-time and work part-time at the auto retail store that will fit floor mats for free; having a classic project car was the logical choice to achieving financial ruin.
As much as I'd like to say otherwise, I'm not very experienced mechanically; I can service a car, do some engine work and know a bit of the theory but certainly haven't done a full restoration. Have really only dug deeper into the technical side of this in the last few years.
I raced karts for about 5 years before outside factors forced me to stop. I go to the occasional autocross event, but my work schedule means I miss most weekend events. I've visited a few neat places over the years - Nismo Omori, Star Road, Daikokufuto, the Nurburgring and Summernats and have kept pretty up-to-date with most things JDM. I've got a bunch of other interests including Japanese pop-culture, literature and sewing.
I've previously designed stickers and t-shirts for a few online vendors, mostly via vector art.
As for the display name - I had no better ideas and settled on a terrible play on words. Sorry.
The Z
Sadly don't have many pictures of my Z, so I'll write a bit about it while I chase them up. The previous owner (name eludes me) was from Victoria and looking to prep the car for Targa Tasmania, however, stuff happened and I ended up with a shipping container full of Z bits in my front yard. HS-00654 was battered but not beyond salvageable, with minimal rust in the usual spots bar the floors pans. My father and I chose to go down the full rotisserie restoration path, getting the body tidied up and prepped for paint by a local body specialist. Sourced fibreglass panels through Otomoto for weight reduction - aiming for a sub 1 tonne Z.
The car came with two engines - an L24 and an L28. We decided to rebuild the 2.8, settling with an N/A F54/N42 combo, 11:1ish compression. Intention is to go EFI with 45mm ITBs running through a Haltech Elite 750 (lack of knock sensor input is making me consider alternatives). Not really aiming for big power numbers, more a solid engine with excellent response. An LCR engine is the dream, but until then I'm pretty content with what I've got.
Suspension, brakes, interior trim and all of those fun bits were sorted out as well, however, family events put the project on hold for the last 5 years. Sadly my father has moved back to working on his own project, so I'm treading unknown ground now.
I finish my degree next year and am pushing myself to get this Z on the road; this car has become symbolic of a lot of things to me. The ultimate vision is to have a responsive, tight drivers car that can hang with modern sports cars around a circuit, whilst still being street-able.
I will likely make a few posts in the sales page - if you want a full set of "D" hubcaps in good condition or have an overwhelming desire to race a go-kart amongst other things, send me a message.
Future plans are as follows:
- Get the Z painted
- Get ITB kit that's actually decent
- Finalise brake conversion
- Finish exhaust system
- Re-upholster / refinish interior (seats + dash)
- Get some decent rims and rubber
- Not cut the guards
- Put everything together and not crash it immediately
The end?
That post went on for way too long; sorry guys. If you actually read all of that you deserve some sort of a medal. The Z community has always stood out as something pretty incredible and I'd love to be a more active member of it.
tl;dr: 20 y/o in Brisbane with Z project, will make a build thread, ambitious but rubbish
