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Full frame 240z


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I bought my 240 two years ago, i was unhappy with the power of my straight six. decided i would put a 302 in her and that would be good enough for me. about a year later i decided i wanted more, i am in the process of converting the unibody in to a full frame car.

i decided i would go with a mustang 2 ifs and crosmember, an 8.8 rear end and custom made frame. as for the motor, im going with the ford 302 with some modifications. 347 stroker 351w high flow aluminum heads, still throwing around the idea of a supercharger.

as for the body how could i keep it stock, i looked around for a while and saw what some other people did with body mods and came up with my own design. i am in the process of gathering funds and more information on how this can be done.

i have found very little on the subject of full framed z cars, to be quite honest i havent found any one that has done anything like this.

Edited by RB26powered74zcar
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I'm out of Dawsonville, 60 miles north of Atlanta.

I have always liked the body style of a 240, but i am also big into muscle cars. My idea is pretty much a muscle car with a 240 body.

I want it to be very cut and dry, flat firewall squared out finder wells, and not much of an interior but a roll cage and seats.

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  • 1 month later...

After Doing some homework on the project i realized how much weight i would be adding if i made a full frame for the z, so i went in a little different direction. instead of doing a 1/8 thick frame the full length of the car, i only did the front frame rails as a solid unit. from the floor pans back i reinforced the the body with a tube frame.

 

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I began the project by taking some measurements of the frame rails, measured for the center of the wheels so the fenders would line up right when the crossmember is welded on. I drew some prints for the frame and began the precess of saving money for the metal and suspension parts.

 

After taking careful measurements of everything i felt that i would need i cut the front of the body off at the firewall, i then began grinding the old rails back to the firewall. after everything was cleaned up on the front of the car i cut out the old rusted floorpans, and a few other various things i felt were unneeded.

AS for the rear of the car i pulled the suspension off, cut the shoctowers down to the wheel well and cut out the spare tire enclosure making room for the fuel cell and 8.8 rear end that will be added later on. At this point the car is completely gutted there is nothing but the body left. post-29572-005835800 1343348953_thumb.jpg

 

 

after a few weeks of saving i was able to purchase a mustang two IFS, crossmember, metal, and other materials needed to build the frame.

 

I am uploading some pictures of the progress and also some concept drawings

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At firs for the rear end I wanted to put back and independent setup, but at a price I couldent afford. The alternative was a ford 8.8, I had looked in to several different options for linking the rear end to the body. The best setup I found was a triangulated four link.

I did some research on it and wasent able to find much on intergrading it into a 240.

I perchased a universal kit and began the process of installing it. After spending some time looking at how I wanted to approche the build I began mapping out the setup.

I was able to install the four link with relative ease, only miner fabrication was nessisary.

I will be piston pictures of the setup shortly

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Looks like you got your mustang II setup going. Good for you. I really considered almost exactly what you are doing except for the four link. I'm looking at a little different approach right now to keep from cutting the floor out and I'm also looking at using the YZ body kit so I'll be going wide. I'm pretty handicapped right now so it will be a while. I've subscribed to your thread and will be following your progress, enjoying your updates and offering moral support. I'm anxious to see how your project turns out.

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Here are some more pictures of the rear end build.

i still have some more welding to do on the frame, then clean everything and seam seal.

As of now, im in the process of saving money to build up the 8.8 with disc brakes, axle shafts and gears.

I am also cleaning the undercoating off the bottom of the car, a quite tedious task.

 

 

I appreciate the support, and the interest in my build.

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Sense I cut the front clip of the z as one complete unit I am able to use it as a base to build the custom front end.

I bolted the hood back on the front, fitted the finders to get the lines as close as I could. The panels are quite flimsy at the lower rocker, so I'm going to weld some bracing to add strength and keep it frommoving around.

I'm going to use bondo to to cover all the gaps, block sand the panels to get them as smooth and straight as possible. Then make a fiberglass mold of the complete front end, merging the finders, hood, light buckets and the little hatches on the side of the finder.

My idea is to brace the fiberglass front end with metal skeleton, the whole thing will open as one.

The plan is tohave the engine bay as bare as possible, once the front clip is opened it will reveal the engine and the front suspension. I'm wanting the wheel wells to open with the front as well so you get the full view of the engine from all angles.

My only concern with this is there will be no real core support as the radiator will be bolted to theframe rails and brace bars to hold it in place. This would make a front end colision devastating to the engine. So I may concider adding a tubular bar infront of the radiator to act as a bumper to keep anything from reaching the engine.

The drawing I had posted previously is the body style I am trying to create, the only other difference I'm considering is changing the lights to a more modern look.

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  • 2 months later...

You are going at your build the exact way I had/have in my head, with the exception is I am not going to have a lift off front end... Which leaves me to ask.. If you were not going to make a mold of the front end.. would you have taken it off anyway? I am not scared of Fab.. I just was thinking if I didn't need to.. I just bought a Z and its my first (non classic muscle) build I haven't even pulled the 6 thats in it yet to get a good look...but will hopefully will the room after the first of the year to begin this project.. Thanks for the pictures,, seems pretty straight forward.... Good Luck!

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  • 3 weeks later...
  • 2 months later...

Beautiful fab work. Glad I stumbled across this thread. I am looking at doing more of a extended roll cage into the engine bay for strengthening, but I really like the idea of a lightened front end with fiberglass. Are you going to make the whole front pivot up for service. Like the old hoods? Or are you going to require it to be completely removed for engine service?

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  • 4 weeks later...

From the beginning of this build i have been doing a lot of research on whats piratical and what works, at this point the pivit hood and finders are not what i think is good for this build. i have decided to have bolt on finders, and have the hood open from the front as opposed to how it was before.

As of now i have most of the parts for the engine

347 stroker kit, scat cam, forged aluminum pistons 9.6.1 compression trickflow twisted wedge 170cc aluminum heads 

TFS hydraulic roller cam 291 duration 510 lift with factor rocker arm ratio

SBF roller lifters, 1.7 ratio aluminum roller rockers

Holley 700CF Double pump carburetor

 

Its a slow process at the moment but i hope to have the car rolling and engine built by june 

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From the beginning of this build i have been doing a lot of research on whats piratical and what works, at this point the pivit hood and finders are not what i think is good for this build. i have decided to have bolt on finders, and have the hood open from the front as opposed to how it was before.

As of now i have most of the parts for the engine

347 stroker kit, scat cam, forged aluminum pistons 9.6.1 compression trickflow twisted wedge 170cc aluminum heads 

TFS hydraulic roller cam 291 duration 510 lift with factor rocker arm ratio

SBF roller lifters, 1.7 ratio aluminum roller rockers

Holley 700CF Double pump carburetor

 

Its a slow process at the moment but i hope to have the car rolling and engine built by june 

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