Karl's 240z Project :)

Restores, Revamps and Repairs
Post Reply
User avatar
Karljsw
Posts: 208
Location: Auckland

Karl's 240z Project :)

Post by Karljsw » Thu Jul 03, 2014 1:14 am

Hi Guys,

Well as some of you may know I've recently acquired a nice little 240z!!!

The car is set-up for a supercharged 350 Chevy, with Willwoods up front, and skyline 2 pots at the rear. I believe it has a 280zx braker booster as well as a Willwood brake bias valve. It has a bolt in half cage with side intrusion bars, with loops for a 5 point harness. The whole chassis has been reinforced and undercoated so quite a lot of work has already been done.

Image

Image

It has a few oddities like the 260z dash and a weird cylinder underneath the seat

Its also in a million pieces, so I can still call it a build :)

Anyway I'll get a few more pics up tomorrow of what we have done so far, mostly disassembly and doing some touch ups/ replacing bolts.

Cheers
Karl
Last edited by Karljsw on Fri Jul 18, 2014 11:15 pm, edited 1 time in total.

User avatar
Karljsw
Posts: 208
Location: Auckland

Post by Karljsw » Thu Jul 03, 2014 1:15 am

So here is a pic of what the front looks like now. I've sprayed the reinforcing bars matt black as the engine bay had too much orange going on. All new nuts, washers and bolts as I wasn't a fan of the allen key bolts that were holding the bars on.

Dad and I broke out the welder and attached the brackets that the fender sits on. The welds aren't picture perfect but they hold and I'm happy with them for a first go at welding on the car :)

Found some foam to go on top of the mounts to hold it in the right place and stop it rubbing and making noises.

Image
Last edited by Karljsw on Fri Jul 18, 2014 11:39 pm, edited 1 time in total.

BRONZEE
Z Club Member
Posts: 7200
Location: Auckland

Post by BRONZEE » Thu Jul 03, 2014 10:15 am

Watching with interest. Always fantastic to see another one being prepared to go back on the tarmac. :D
Next - Z Club events:
= Check out events page here or our Z Club NZ Facebook page.

User avatar
nzeder
Site Admin
Posts: 1503
Location: Auckland
Contact:

Post by nzeder » Thu Jul 03, 2014 1:01 pm

If you are going to run a manual you will want to replace the large 280zx booster with a more suitable 260z booster that will allow the installation of the standard clutch cylinder - the 280zx booster covers the stock location if I recall.

If you need a 260z booster I have one that is in good condition.

badhabit
Posts: 330
Location: auckland

Post by badhabit » Thu Jul 03, 2014 9:32 pm

So what are plans? V8 back in? Nissan V8!?!
Bought my Z in a million pieces, just adds to the journey!!
1973 240Z - NZ new - RB25det build in progress
1973 240Z - USA new - 1 owner! In the drivers seat right now. Home soon.

User avatar
Karljsw
Posts: 208
Location: Auckland

Post by Karljsw » Sat Jul 19, 2014 12:11 am

About time for an update. Have been doing lots of little jobs and trying to decide plans of when and what to do.

So my plan is to use the Chevy V8 out of my other car and the new gearbox that came with the 240z (i believe its a th700r4), stick it all back in and drive it.

I'll be sticking with an automatic gearbox for now as I'm curious to see if I like the V8 in the car and can't justify doing the work for a manual conversion if I dont like the V8, plus Mum says I should get it on the road first. :)

So I've been spending quite a lot of time on trademe, ebay and Yahoo japan auctions looking for some tail lights as the car didn't have any. I found a pair of Us spec ones in japan a week ago and they arrived today.
Image

I have some pretty good lens in the garage so I wasn't bothered about the crack. I used a guy called Jesse Streeter (http://jessestreeter.com/) to import them to me as most yahoo auction sellers wont send internationally. Pretty much cost me $10 + Postage for Jesse to send them to me and they arrived in 3 days which I was pretty stoked about.

I've also decided to have a go at repairing the dash after reading a DIY forum post on Aus Z car forum. Its got 5 or 6 nice sized cracks in it and the frame was a bit rusty and as I was pulling most of the bits off it for a clean and polish I thought what the heck.

Dash top and the cracks
Image
Dash Frame Primed
Image
Dash Frame in Matt Black
Image

Still a work in progress but thanks to the sunny weather I've been able to get a bit of painting done.

Lots of little cleaning and touch up jobs have been done, Dad's taken on the responsibility of painting and refitting the front lights and also is in charge of refitting the dash components, Apparently he knows where every screw goes.... we'll see in a week or two :lol:

We are attacking the front first and working backwards so hopefully this weekend the lights will be put back together and both fenders and the front panels will be bolted on and gaps sorted out.

Cheers
Karl

User avatar
us2
Z Club Member
Posts: 1876
Location: Weymouth by the sea.Auckland.Don't dream it ,be there

Post by us2 » Sat Jul 19, 2014 9:39 am

This might help with the dash Karl. It's probably similar to Aus Z Car.

http://www.classiczcars.com/forums/inte ... tures.html
!972 240z
Retirement is great. Growing old sucks.

User avatar
Andy
Site Admin
Posts: 2020
Location: Auckland

Post by Andy » Thu Jul 24, 2014 2:16 pm

Karljsw wrote: I used a guy called Jesse Streeter (http://jessestreeter.com/) to import them to me as most yahoo auction sellers wont send internationally. Pretty much cost me $10 + Postage for Jesse to send them to me and they arrived in 3 days which I was pretty stoked about.
Hey Karl good progress, looks like we better run a Drag strip meet next year to try her out against a few wheesy old sixes!

Thanks for the info above, aren't forums great. Also for those that dont know about it NZ Post runs a "Youshop" service from the UK and USA so you can purchase off non NZ friendly sites using a UK/US address. Works fine, freight prices are a little high but sometimes lower than the seller and if the seller offers free local freight, it can be a winner.

User avatar
Karljsw
Posts: 208
Location: Auckland

Post by Karljsw » Wed Aug 20, 2014 1:59 pm

Hello about time for a small update, progress has been slow but it is moving :)

The Dash 'restoration' is now complete and it is sitting patiently on the pool table waiting to be fitted.

Image

I'll get a picture of the top when its installed, looks pretty good.

You can just see where the cracks were but I'm happy with it and it didn't cost more than $80 :)

I finally sprayed the inside of the bonnet with primer and finished sanding the edges

Image

And it installed on the car

Image

I also attempted to straighten the grille as there were a couple of bent bits and got the welder out to fix the bottom mount which had snapped off.

So drilled out all the rivets, unscrewed the rods (which are incredibly fragile especially when the person who sprayed the car covered the threads with 6-8 layers of paint....), sanded off the clear and loose bits of paint, gave it a coat of matte black like the front reinforcing, new rivets and back on she goes!!

Image

I'll get a better photo when the weather improves, the matte black helps break up the sea of burnt orange on the front of the car :)

Dad and I have also started on the front section of wiring loom, removing and replacing broken cables and connects and removing bits that are no longer used for the v8. Its spread over the pool table at the moment and we are just waiting on some connectors and the proper crimping tool.

Image

And last night we started on the brake lines which were snaking all over the inside of the cabin. So far we have removed 3 sections that were unnecessary and in the process of getting the lines from the master cylinders bend to roughly the correct angles for a template to get nice shiny new ones.

Image

And then these arrived from the US today.

Image

My tail light seals and new turn signal lens.. Ones got a nice 2-3cm crack in it so will be going back and i'll have to wait another month for a new one to come back...

O well plenty of other stuff to keep me busy :lol:

Cheers
Karl

BRONZEE
Z Club Member
Posts: 7200
Location: Auckland

Post by BRONZEE » Wed Aug 20, 2014 6:46 pm

Coming along nicely. 8) What colour is that, paint?
Next - Z Club events:
= Check out events page here or our Z Club NZ Facebook page.

User avatar
Karljsw
Posts: 208
Location: Auckland

Post by Karljsw » Sat Aug 23, 2014 10:26 am

I'm not too sure what the paint code/ colour is. On the trademe ad it was listed as tiger gold. But on the tin of paint I have for it the name is red metallic orange?
Last edited by Karljsw on Tue Sep 16, 2014 7:21 pm, edited 1 time in total.

User avatar
Andy
Site Admin
Posts: 2020
Location: Auckland

Post by Andy » Sat Aug 23, 2014 11:44 am

Would have been called Bronze Wine back in the 70's

User avatar
nustad
Z Club Member
Posts: 551
Location: Auckland

Post by nustad » Sat Aug 23, 2014 2:31 pm

Pretty sure Tiger Gold is a Holden colour from the late 90's early 2000's. In previous photos in the sun your car does look like that colour. Not so much in the garage......

I am pretty sure your car used to be tangerine orange in the early 90's. I saw it at pukekohe when it had a supercharged chev in it. I will have a paper photo somewhere........
72 240z plus bits

User avatar
Karljsw
Posts: 208
Location: Auckland

Post by Karljsw » Tue Sep 16, 2014 7:28 pm

Hi

Another small update as things have been rather slow.

Put the hatch on to give me a boost

Image

Still needs panel and paint but the car now looks a lot more finished even without any glass installed :)

If any one has a hatch lock mechanism I'm in need of one as the one I have is rusted completely.

Have 2 orders coming in with parts to complete the build so hopefully in a week or two I will have 99% of the parts I need and it will just be a case of finding the time to put it all back together.

Also managed to put the dash in yesterday to help mock up some brackets that I need to fabricate for the centre console and dash.

Here are some pics of the dash top after I restored it. I know its the wrong dash for a 240z but I can't afford to purchase the correct one at the moment so this will do for now. Makes the car a bit more unique as well haha

Before:

Image

After:

Image

Image

Image

Image

Cheers
Karl

User avatar
Karljsw
Posts: 208
Location: Auckland

Post by Karljsw » Thu Jan 08, 2015 12:28 pm

Hello

Engines in :)

Image

Karl

Post Reply