Evandavis73

My thought was that with a spacer, I may be able to use a front rotor for the rear or one if the other options that people use (280zx or something). I can mill my own brackets, so that's not a big deal. The issue with the Wilwoods is that they don't have dust boots which poses a problem for racing in dirt. I'm looking at other caliper setups too. I'm mainly trying to peace something that will work for a while until I eventually get a better setup (eyeing the AP racing calipers from Essex). My rear drum setup is basically trash after sitting for 30 years and I don't really feel like rebuilding it. Regarding balance, I'm using a Tilton floor mounted pedal box and balance bar setup. The chassis and the r200 are really the only parts of this car that will still be Datsun.

I'm looking at piecing together a brake setup and was wondering if anyone has tried it. I was thinking of going with the Toyota 4x4 calipers on the front and dual front calipers on the rear (one for the foot brake and one for the handbrake). Budget is really the only reason this came to mind. There are plenty of lighter 2 piston calipers out there, but how many can be had for under $50 each.

I've got my eye on those MCA's. Just emailed them, I'll let you guys know on the price.

It's been a while since I've posted. I've got another 2 youtube videos up (refer to above links to find my channel). The car is now on the rotisserie, sandblasted, and I am seam welding and cleaning up old crappy fab work. I found a little cancer that needs to be cut out. Luckily it should be an easy one. So far I've got a magazine feature locked in for this car. I'm working on a few other places to have it featured. I also had a 3d render of the car done so I can start doing some marketing for this car.

Episode 2 now up! I started. I got most of the crap out of the engine bay. At this point just the brake master cylinders and the remaining wire for the halda pick up still need to be removed. Front right suspension is off, I'll finish the left side tomorrow. I need to go clean and organize my storage unit for all the parts that need to go into hibernation. I also found some frame damage that I'm not sure what to do about. One part is right in the front above the factory tow hook and the other spot is just behind where the front crossmember mounts. The car must have taken a hard hit on the front left nose first off a jump or something seeing as it was never actually crashed. There is no documentation of it in the logbook, so my thought is that it either happened towards the end of the car's rally career, or Mike just never saw the full extent of the damage because of the oil cooler that was covering it. Link to episode 2: https://youtu.be/u0sSJoEpKFY

Alright guys, time for some updates. I finally started stripping her down to get her on the rotisserie. I never thought I would have so much trouble removing headlights. Haha. It doesn't help when the bolts vary between standard and metric and are all rusted. I can already tell how much I'm going to love this project! And the sad thing is, my car is practically rust free compared to some of the other builds I've seen. I also started my youtube video series documenting the build of this car so please check it out and subscribe if you want to see more! https://youtu.be/jfTTPPS5N2Q I would also love to connect with you guys on instagram(@evandavis73) or facebook (Evan M Davis). I know I'm already in touch with a few other members.

So apparently, when you use the phone's photo editor to rotate pictures, they still upload sideways.

As requested, here are some of the more interesting pages from the log book.

I didn't realize how long it had been since I posted. Plans are to pull the 302 from my friend's Bronco this weekend. I just picked up a T5 last weekend, so my main driveline components have been acquired. I've also found a local guy that will blast the chassis for a very good price. It looks like things are starting to finally come together. I also rearranged the shop.

I'm fairly sure Brian runs Bilstein Motorsport struts which is what I want to have built for my car, but I would have to ask him. I've been trying to get in touch with him, but haven't had any luck. I'll just have to talk to him at the next rally I see him at. I ran my Subaru at Idaho and Mendocino in 2014, but it's currently torn down for improvements. While that has been going on, my interest has shifted to the Z, so I probably won't be back in the Subaru for a while.

Is there anything in particular that you would like to see?

Some small progress has been made. The Z is now in my shop, though I may be moving into a new shop soon. I'm trading my friend the 351w that I have for his 302, but I won't have it until we tear his Bronco down to get built. I've decided to keep the engine fuel injected and have picked up a TFS intake manifold for it since the stock truck manifold most certainly won't clear the hood. Along with the intake, I picked up a 75mm throttle body and some shorty headers. After looking at them in the engine bay, it looks like the shorties won't work for my side pipes. I will most likely have to build custom headers. I also made the decision to go with a manual trans instead of an auto for a few reasons: more power to the wheels, more simplicity, less expensive, no trans cooler. I am shooting for about 300whp, which would give the car a better power to weight ratio than a brand new m3 and just marginally less than that of a Challenger Hellcat (didn't expect that).

Well, disappointingly, the only thing I've done since September is take all the random parts out of the back and put them into a tote. I have decided I am going to go with the 302 and not the 351w mainly due to weight and size. PS: would anyone be excited to have a brand new 15x8.5" Dick Cepek all terrain tire from the 80's? If so, it's up for grabs.

Awesome! Keep 'em coming!

Well said!

I'm still in the process of building my Z so I can't chime in on this just yet, but I am curious to see how other projects have turned out. Obviously, we're not building these things for hypermiling, but I would imagine that with the right gearing in such a light car, that some are seeing relatively good fuel economy for a v8 powered car. My thought is to create a thread where people can post their numbers up just to see what our cars are getting. Post up any relevant info as it applies to fuel economy (i.e.:engine size, carb or efi, etc.). Get as detailed as you would like regarding driving conditions. I'll use my truck as an example of what a good post might look like since the z isn't running yet. EXAMPLE: 1999 Dodge Ram 3500 2wd Dually Engine: 5.9L ISB Cummins Transmission: NV4500 w/US Gear O/D Rear end ratio: 4.11:1 Additional info: Edge tuner, upgraded wastegate, Banks 3" exhaust Observed fuel economy: 24mpg cruising at 60mph in 5th gear with the overdrive engaged ~16mpg around town ~15mpg towing roughly 10,000lbs at an average speed of 55mph in 4th gear with overdrive engaged

I finally got the car moved out to my shop in Nevada. Here's a picture of it being unloaded from the trailer. I also got bored and decided to throw some Hella lights on it so it would look more like it used to. As I look at the car more, I am starting to face new dilemmas. I'm still on the fence about whether I find a way to use the 351w that I have (would need a different oil pan and pick up tube, and a different intake) or sell it and get a 302 instead. If anyone has any knowledge about the 351w and what can be done to put a lower profile pan on it, feel free to chime in. After finding a pan for the 351, I would have to see if it would clear the hood with a carburetor. I think the deck height may still be too high.

Here are some photos of: - the way the cage ties in to the front strut towers and frame tie-ins. - the motor mounts - custom aluminum ducting for radiator, oil cooler, and trans cooler - the roll cage The car is in a trailer right now so it's hard to get good photos of anything, but it's something to look at.

It looked like an r200 to me as well, I'm just not familiar with these cars yet. It does have a Datsun Comp LSD. The ratio is 3.545 from an auto trans car. That part was documented in the logbook, but the diff was simply referred to as a "big case diff" so I was unsure if it was a later r180 or an r200. This diff was installed in 1984.

Anybody recognize what diff this is off the top of their head? Sorry the pictures aren't very good. I've done a little bit of googling but the diffs look pretty similar from the bottom.

Ps, I'd love to see some pics of the real struts. They sound neat.

Thanks for the info! I'm sure you're right as to what they are. I'll take some pics of the car when I get it to my shop. 2 are brand new with cardboard still over the shafts, those have perfectly legible stickers on them, so it should be a piece of cake to identify them. I'm sure they're the American rally option though. The last owner got them from "Datsun Comp" according to the logbook. He's the one that called them Safari Rally struts, but I too couldn't imagine how those would be obtained. It's like you said, conversation starter or sell them to someone who sees them as collectible.

So, I looked up the part number of the companion flanges and they came up as 86 300zx. Is there any reason you would use those with the r180 k or would that indicate that the diff is likely an r200?

I would never cut those up, that would be a tragedy. If they were rebuildable I would use them, but as far as I can tell they are sealed monotube. Ideally I would sell them to someone building a Safari Rally replica that wants the real deal.

Hi guys, new to the forum. I'm sure I will find myself on here a lot more often as I progress with my project. I have a 1973 240z that I bought for $1 (no typo). It's currently a roller, but will be getting a 302 out of a 94 Bronco. A little background on the car, as far back as I can go, it started life as a road race car back in the 70's. I'm unsure if it was ever a street car. It is caged front to back including plated and reinforced strut towers that are tied into the cage. The cage is very well done for the time period. In 1980, the rolling chassis was sold for $1800 to a rally driver named Mike Gibeault. He built it as an open class rally car. Back then, awd cars hadn't made it into American rally yet, rallies were run from 11pm to sunrise on open public roads, a simple roll bar was the only required safety gear, and pretty much anything that was street legal was allowed in open class. In order to be a top competitor in it's class a Ford 289 was installed with a c4 transmission with a sequential shifter. The car was raced until 1987 and then parked on the side of the house for what became 26 years. Unfortunately, the car suffered overheating problems which were never resolved and changes in requirements for safety equipment put an end to the car's rally career. Fast forward to 2013, I asked about a 510 that Mike had sitting in his yard. It was complete and just needed some TLC. He explained that while many people were interested in it, the wife wasn't ready to let that one go. He then chuckled and added, "but I have a 240z." I had to clarify and make sure he was referring to the one with weeds growing through it and he confirmed that wad the one. What the hell I thought to myself, I asked how much he wanted for it. Last time the car was for sale, he was asking for $1300. I told him that I would think about it. I knew that it was an undertaking that I wasn't terribly interested in taking on at the moment in conjunction with the Subaru rally car I was already in the process of building, particularly for $1300. I bought an ae86 Corolla instead for a daily driver instead. Several months later, I could take it no longer, my soft spot for 240z's had been gnawing away at my reasonable decision making skills for months now. I called and told him I wanted to come look at the Z again so I could decide if I wanted it. I figured I could probably pick it up for around $500. Unsure of when I could make the 3.5 hour drive, I made plans to possibly head up there in a few weeks (this was on a Friday morning). After finding out Friday afternoon that Mike decided he wanted to sell the car to me for $1.00, I immediately informed him that I would see him in a few hours with a truck and trailer. We inflated the tires which are horribly flat spotted and rolled it out onto the driveway where we proceeded to clean it up a bit before loading it into the trailer. Mike showed me a few things on the car before taking me into the living room. He brought out a Haynes service manual, a vintage replica 1:10 East African Safari Z car, and a notebook. There were also several trophies from his days with the car that he showed me. Back to the important part, the notebook. Mike was an engineer for the Air Force and like most engineers documented everything meticulously. The notebook documents many intricacies of the build like charts for flow and pulse lengths for the custom headers he built for the car and charts of the suspension geometry as well as the systematic diagnosis and correction for all of the issues that were encountered with the car. When you read through the notes, you can imagine that you were there. Since I acquired the car in late 2013, it has been sitting in a storage unit waiting for funding. Upon the recent decision to offload my desert truck project, revival is hopefully to begin shortly. The car needs an engine, trans, and custom driveshaft to move. The plan is to use the 351w from the truck, sell the e40d with transfer case, pick up a c4 and get to work, using the money from selling the rest of the truck and parts to fund the Z build. I'm just now getting into the intricacies of figuring out what everything is. Update 3/9/16: Traded the 351 for a smaller, lighter 302 and I have decided to go with a manual transmission instead of an auto. The car currently sits on authentic Datsun Comp Rally struts.. In addition to the ones on the car, I have two brand new front struts. I can say relatively reasonably that I believe these are probably the only two brand new struts left in existence unless Nissan has a secret stash somewhere. The struts lift the car approximately 2" from stock height. Through Mike's testing, the car runs stock safari rally springs in the rear and cut rear springs in the front. This apparently gave it the best ride height and handling. The control arms have all been extended 1/2" to correct the change in geometry from the lift. According to the log that came with the car The car has a "big case diff" with a clutch type lsd unit of some sort (have since found out it is an R200 from a 280zx turbo). It also says they modified some mount and changed out the companion flanges in 1984. The car also has a unique "oversteer pedal." The car was originally a manual but was swapped to an auto trans. The original clutch pedal is the brake pedal and the original brake pedal now operates only the rear brakes acting like a hydraulic handbrake. The car has fiberglass hood, fenders, and rear hatch. There are tons of other interesting features, but this novel isn't getting any shorter. The goal is to revive the car back to a driveable state and race it in SCCA Rallycross. Here is a short term list of plans for the car once I get it into the shop. 1. Remove seats and clean the chassis (still debating if I want to repaint it) 2. Assess the brake system. (They still seem to work fine, going to flush them and see what come out) 3. Pressure test the radiator. 4. Get the engine and trans into the car and running. 5. Build custom coilovers most likely using Bilstein 46mm motorsport struts. 6. Get new wheels, the PanaSports that it's on are wasted and Mike says the offset made it handle poorly. 7. Probably going to run proper rally tires on it, but may go with all terrains instead. It used to run 26" mud terrains. I think that pretty much covers it. Now for some pictures. Attached are a few pictures of the car as well as a picture of my shop which I live in. You can also see my other rally car.