vosadrian

We have the matching engine numbers L26, but it is not complete. Basically just the long motor. Also we have no gearbox to match. Not sure if it is more effort to go L series first and basically do all the work for an L series that we intend to remove later.... or try to rego with the RB and have the hassles of rego of a different engine, but just do it once. If we were after an L series box, clutch and everything as well as L series ancillaries (carb, manifolds etc.), is this sort of thing available for a reasonable price?

The engine number we have also matches the paperwork for the car back to original sale. The colour of the car is unchanged (but resprayed), and we have photos from decades ago of repair work from a minor front end accident. I will definately get onto the rego stuff. We need to know what needs to be done before doing any work on it. At the moment, I really just want to get the car together and running and try to get it rego'd. We can do wheels/suspension/brakes etc. later. I'm just not sure how difficult this will be with the RB engine. I was hoping if we went for a RB25 with similar (less) capacity than stock and no turbo that this might be easier, but not sure of that.

We don't have the compliance plates, but we do have the chassis number. We also have receipts for work done to the car dating back decades as well as a sales receipt for the car dating back to 1978 for a second hand car sale (the car is a 77 model). So we have quite a bit of info on the car. It seems to me that the car was in for restoration work in the 90s at Chris Milton in SA, and possibly there may have been a finanical dispute and the car was recovered by the owner with partially complete work (the engine is partially built). Part of that work was the engine bay clean up. They would have removed the plates to do that work, and it seems in whatever happened they were never refitted and have been lost. We have done a PPSR on the chassis number and it is clean... not listed as stolen or written off. I agree with you that I need to find out what I can do rego wise before committing heavily to this car... otherwise it will become a race car I guess!! But if you can import a car from another country and get it registered... surely a car that has a clean chassis number and has been registered before in Australia can get whatever is required to be registered again? I will have to speak to some workshops that deal in this kind of thing.

After a little advice here. This is related to NSW rego. Our car has a chassis number stamped on the firewall. But the under bonnet area has had a "bay shave" and it seems any identifying plates were removed and we cannot find them. We have done PPSR on the chassis number and it is all clear. Does anyone know if we need a compliance plate or any other identifying plate in order to get rego? And how we go about getting that if we do? Car is a 1977 model if that makes a difference to the relevant rules.

So our car arrived in Sydney: We were expecting a few surprises and there are a few, but nothing major. I think this is part of being annointed into a S30 restorer! We will be on the lookout for a few bits but it seems to have the hard to get bits. I can see we are missing some large bits: * Fuel tank * Bumpers * Windscreen * Hood liner It has a partially dissassembled L26 (with turbo and manifold), but no gearbox. It seems to have a rear diff upgrade but we need to work out what it is. Our current plan is to get a RB25DE neo engine and a matching 5 speed manual (R33 RB25??) and fit that and get it running as stock initially. We have plans for RB30 hybrid and cams/porting etc later, but I think it best to debug the engine management and everything on a used engine rather than a new build. We will have to talk to an engineer first and see what we need to do that. The car has no rust which is great. It has a few knocks that will need some minor repairs and panel alignment and it will be getting a respray at some point, but probably we will get it all sorted and registered and then in the running state we want it in, and then dissassemble for painting as a final step. Seats and dash are in good condition. Just one minor crack in dash.

For the money, the CX Racing sump option looks good if it requires no mods and is an "upgrade". The mounts are a bit expensive, but the sump by itself is US$550 with pickup. Probably US$900ish delivered.

Nice work guys. So is that bolt on without modification to fit RB25/30 to S30?

Thanks!

Copied this post content to first post.

Thanks guys! Our thinking was RB30 bottom end with some descent rods/pistons etc. to do 8000RPM and RB25DE series 2 (with NVCS) heads with some aftermarket cams to get it to make peak power in the 7-8000 range and hopefully still idle and cruise OK. Combined with ITBs and should sound nice and make around 200kW flywheel. Is anyone aware of a workshop in Sydney who knows the ins and outs of these hybrid RB engine builds? Is it time for me to start a build thread to keep off topic out of here? Cheers!

Just editting this first post so the thread makes more sense: Hi All, I'm new here and my son (who will probably chime in here shortly) and I are embarking on a 260Z project. It may be too early to start this thread, but I inadvertently started some discussion on this build in another thread, so creating this now to move discussion to where it should be. We have been looking for a Z for some time, but had difficulty finding anything we could get to during COVID. A few cars we were interested in fell through as they were interstate and we could not get to them quick enough due to lockdowns (we are in Sydney). We wanted a project that we could make to our wants rather than a completed car, but we wanted something with a good body as we are no experts in bodywork, and we wanted something that was cheap enough that it was worthwhile not just buying a completed car. We realised pretty quickly that our budget was not going to stretch to a 2 seater, so we had been mainly focusing on a 260Z 2+2. This is actually good since it will be nice to be able to take the whole family of 4 out for a drive. We do however prefer the look of the 2 seater, but a 2+2 looks great also. We ended up taking a bit of a risk and winning the following auction sight unseen. So the only info we have is in the auction: https://www.grays.com/lot/0001-60011043/classic-cars/1977-datsun-260z-5speed-manual?spr=true It is in transit currently. When we get it, we will find out whether we did really well or really badly!! Our plans for this car are: * We want a nice modernized retro JDM aftermarket styled external look... so larger but era correct wheels etc. * Drivetrain is planned to be RB25/30 NA with ITBs... want to retain the Z NA 6 throaty sound while getting some more power and modern reliability. * Interior will try to maintain stock look but add in modern sounds system etc. The car will not be a daily driver, and will be garaged when not in use. But we do intended to use it often for weekend drives/cruises/meetups etc. My family is into cars but this style is new to us. I have a lot of experience in modified 90-00 JDM cars and have a 500hp WRX I use in motorsports that I pretty much built myself (except the engine bottom end). I used to work in aftermarket engine management, so I'm good with auto electrical. I am an Electrical Engineer and my son is studying to do the same. Anyway, that is about all I have so far. Will update when we get the car about a week from now and then we start sorting through what we actually got! Cheers! Thanks for the tip! I believe there is some tricks to getting the RB25 head to work with the RB30... and possibly with getting the RB30 sump into an S30. Is there a build thread that details any of this you are aware of?

I'm no expert on the older pre injection Nissan/Datsun stuff. My GC8 WRX is around 500hp with a big turbo on E85 (does high 10s), so we have a big power car. The S30 would be more about being a nice looking retro JDM sports car with a nice NA 6 sound but bringing the tech of fuel injection and twin cam multi valve heads etc, so it can rev to 7500-8000. Enough power to be comfortably quick without the need to be a power house like my WRX. And hopefully reliability to cold start nicely and run well in all conditions with low maintenence. I see it as taking the appealing traits of the original drivetrain and modernising it while maintaining the feel. We have not done much research yet... but we find the idea of RB30 bottom end with RB25 heads and ITBs appealing. But there may be challenges with that approach that we have not found out yet. If I didn't have another car with big turbo power.... something of the L28 turbo variety would have lots of appeal!

Thanks for that! We will see what the mystery prize box provides! We are not too fussed on making it factory original. We want it to capture the JDM modded S30 era style externally, but drivetrain will probably be RB based (NA with some nice induction noise), and we may modernise aspects of the interior. Our skills are mostly mechanical and electrical. If we can avoid rust repair and panel beating, that would be great! I will start a build thread once we take stock of things. Cheers!

Thanks @gav240z! That is the car! The car appears (from photos in the link you provide) to have good body condition and the interior appears to be good and complete. The engine bay is basically stripped except for the engine mounted. There are several tubs of parts that we are hoping contain any missing bits, but it is a bit like one of those american auction shows. We may end up with a car with lots of valuable bits or we may end up with some tubs full of rubbish. We took a risk in the purchase with minimal information or inspection, but I think we got a good price, so even if it is just a clean shell, we should do OK. Of course good price is relative these days. I would not have payed near what we payed for this 5 years ago!! My experience is Subarus mostly (I have a highly modified GC8 WRX that is pretty quick that I pretty much built myself) though I used to work in the industry (aftermarket engine management) so have worked on many Nissan/Datsuns in my time. It will be a learning experience! I've always loved the Z, and my son loves them even more, so will be a great project to do together. At the moment we are just trying to take stock of what we have and work out which direction to go. That is why I was was trying to find out some car history so we can avoid any surprises later. Thanks for your help!

Hi All, I'm new here. This is my first post. Sorry if come across that way! My son and I recently (Dec 21) won a grays online auction (Adelaide) for a 1977 260Z 2+2 that is partially restored. We bought it only based on the photos and short decription as we are in Sydney, so this could end up being a massive mistake or a gold mine. We will see. I came here expecting to find this thread may have some details on it (since it appears to have made brief appearances on Gumtree and Grays), but could not find anything. Car is currently in transport to Sydney. It seems people here know a lot about any S30s of note in Australia. This car appears to have quite a bit done to it... but I have been unable to find any history of it googling around in forums etc..... so perhaps the previous owner was not much for online discussion. I wonder if anyone knows anything about this car. I am just looking for history and perhaps to find out the spec of drivetrain etc. The body has had a rotisserie restore of the body and is currently painted yellow. The drivetrain claims to include a L26 built for turbo (including Holset 35/40) by Milton engineering and the transmission appears to be some sort of drag sequential box going by the photo of the shifter. The drivetrain direction of the previous owner is not really the direction we want to go, but it would be good to find out what it is and see if we can use it or work out how to sell it on. We are more after a nice looking/sounding street car that is fun to drive but not a powerhouse. Anyway, appreciate any help if anyone knows about this car! Cheers!