Kirkster Posted September 15, 2013 Share Posted September 15, 2013 Well I was finally able to go pick up a 73 240Z from my buddy. It was last on the road in 1984. My buddy picked it up from California in 2006 and it has been in one of his garages ever since. He referbed the interior, the suspension, and got the old L24 running but had problems with the tank being rusty and not getting clean fuel. So it went into storage... The Good... The car is absolutely rust free. It has just a tiny bit of surface rust in about an inch of the passenger floor in a seam and that is it... I went over it inside, outside, and under and it is clean clean clean... The bad... It has ding and dents on the body all over the place. The front bumper is fairly knackered. The hood has seen better days and the drivers front fender is not good (looks like someone beat on it with a bat). I was feeling a bit bad about what I am going to be doing to the car as it is soooo rust free, but with all of the dings and dents I am not feeling as bad about doing the flares with all the other body work I will be doing over the winter... I will be spending the fall/winter/early spring prepping the car for SCCA BSP autocrossing. My buddy provided a bunch of spare parts that basically replace anything with any issues, front drivers fender, gas flap with no hole, fairly pristine center console, etc... The best part is an L28 with only 40,000 miles on it that he gave me. He also gave me a Diff that he took out of his automatic Z when he turned it into a 10 second monster with a grand national engine. So I have the 3.54 diff that I needed for my build Here are some photos... The included a L28 motor. Which is what I needed for my build. With the N42 Head which I also wanted as it was the last of the 280Z cars before the 280ZX line which I can't use due to SCCA rules.. Finally, Here is the car with it garage mate... Yep... No brakes but the marginal parking brake, New brake lines are installed but not connected... I can't wait to get started, I would be working on it tomorrow but heading to the Ravens home opener... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Domzs Posted September 15, 2013 Share Posted September 15, 2013 Looking good . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kirkster Posted September 18, 2013 Author Share Posted September 18, 2013 Got the engine and tranny seperated. Got a few more feet of my garage back... I read through the strut sectioning faq as this looks to be my first project once the Coilover kit show up from MSA... I also have a full weatherproofing kit coming with all the soft rubber bits. Still looking for the best bushing kit as they are all coming out of the car and being replaced when I do the various suspension work and other bits. Any suggestions??? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kirkster Posted September 30, 2013 Author Share Posted September 30, 2013 The plan for the upcoming year is to get the car running with the L28 as it stands right now. Then at the end of next season I will get the motor built. I also will just run a wrap on the car this coming season and then do all the body work and such next year when I pull the motor... So I have the L28 motor most of the way to stripped down. Still have the front of the motor to do but the manifolds are off and the old wiring harness all is undone and removed I have finally decided what I am doing for the ECU. I am going to run a Megasquirt MS3-Pro. I am also looking at Rebello's Racing Harmonic Damper and accompanying trigger wheel. I have already sourced the LS-1 coils and plug wires mentioned in RTz's thread I have to figure out the hose for the heater pipe as I am going to be running a COP ignition and the bracket made by RTz requires relocating the hose in order for the ignition coils to mount under the plugs... I guess I will have to look at it again when the bracket finally gets here. I really want to run a sequential fuel and spark system but I am not sure if I can do it without a cam position sensor... Any Suggestions or thoughts??? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kirkster Posted October 14, 2013 Author Share Posted October 14, 2013 (edited) Well the 240Z is underway. The suspension has been yanked. One of the spinel pins was original and the other was obviously replaced at some point in its life.. Probably when my buddy put in the Tokico shocks and springs. It was never on the road since then so the shocks and springs are mint, but out with the old in with the new. The spindle puller I got from jtburf was a beefy piece of kit and it did the trick with no discernible wear and tear on the tool... Thanks jtbruf... The fronts I got all stripped down with no issue. The rears stub axels on the other hand laughed in my face. My 600 foot pound battery impact was just laughed off. I went to my buddies house and the first bolt came loose with his Air Impact tool but no joy on the second one. Finally with his bench vise and 2 foot breaker bar and our 400 pounds of meat finally got the second one to come loose. Do those nuts really need to be that tight??? Then it was on to getting the spring perches off of the struts. As this was my first time grinding on metal or cutting things with an angle grinder it took a long time for the first one. The second one went much faster. So by the time I got to the fourth one it was a pice of cake. Still have not cut off the brake line tabs on the front struts yet may not do it but don't know yet. My pipe cutter finally showed up on Saturday afternoon and I got busy cutting some 2 inch pipe into 1 inch rings. Now I just have to do a bunch of measuring before I cut the strut tubes down to size. I am doing Koni 8611-1259 inserts and they are double adjustable ones with the compression adjustment on the bottoms of the inserts so I need to make allowances for this in the fronts. I have done extensive reading on hear about how to deal with the adjuster and it looks like the only thing you can do is cut the bottom and then take the two bolts at the bottom of the struts off in order to adjust them while they are still on the car. Has anyone found an easier way to make the adjustments on the compression easier than taking the knuckle arm off of the bottom of the strut? That is it for today. Will section the struts some time this week during the evenings. No rushing as it has to be right the first time... Edited October 14, 2013 by Kirkster Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kirkster Posted November 18, 2013 Author Share Posted November 18, 2013 (edited) Well it has been a while since an update. I have been busy. I have the struts sectioned and my brakes from Arizona Z cars finally showed up. My welder took a while but finally came through. If you look closely you can see my boo boo. I don't know where I had a math/measurement error. I knew the total length should be 14.9ish inches but somehow I cut too much out and some how I got 14 inches. I even measured it again after thinking I was cutting an awful lot out of the top section of the strut. Well I got an extra weld in... but it all came out ok. Got them all painted up and started with the fronts. Next up was starting on the front hubs nice ARP studs pressed in. Little did I know that I should have pressed in the bearing races first to make things easier. So here are the Wilwoods in all their glory. I got the parking brakes but not sure about the cables yet. I picked up a set of bearing and seal pushers. Was not too sure about the set but for 30 bucks what could go wrong. So putting in the studs too soon made me work a bit harder to get the bearing races pushed in as I now had to contend with the extra long studs. So I got the Wilwoods bolted to the strut but then ran into an issue where the hex cap on the brake caliper itself was a 9mm. I do not have a 9mm hex socket or even a 9mm hex key. So it was on to another part of the project. My OS Giken came a couple of weeks ago but I ran into the dreaded 110mm ring gear on my old 3.54 diff out of an auto 240Z. So after getting a couple of scammers trying to sell me Diffs for 400 bucks on other sites I found blue72 had an auto diff out of a part out car and he got it shipped to me. But as I was in the middle of the strut project I did not get to it till last week. Then figured out that I needed to get a new set of bearings and that took a week also. I pressed on both bearings and if I had it to do over I would only press on one bearing, as I had a bunch of difficulty getting the bigger OS Giken with both bearings pressed on into the diff housing, but I finally managed it. I put new oil seals on for the output shafts and O-rings on the inside of the side covers and have a new gasket for the diff cover. So I will put that on and get it all buttoned up and ready to swap the rear diff and get all the new bushings put in at the same time. One question, I have never worked with non sealed bearings. There was a TON on old grease in the space between the bearings in the front hub. I throughly packed the bearings and liberally greased the spindle but did not add a bunch of grease between the bearings. Is this just a bunch of buildup that people don't clean out between re-greasing their bearings? Edited November 18, 2013 by Kirkster Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RebekahsZ Posted November 18, 2013 Share Posted November 18, 2013 So how did you handle access to the lower shock adjuster? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kirkster Posted November 18, 2013 Author Share Posted November 18, 2013 Since the strut is now shorter I find it very easy to unbolt the two strut bolts on the bottom and swing the strut out and adjust it with a screw driver. Not as easy as hoped, but a 5 minute job on each side of the car. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Meph Posted November 19, 2013 Share Posted November 19, 2013 Looking good. You need to clean out the old grease, and replace it with new stuff. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kirkster Posted November 19, 2013 Author Share Posted November 19, 2013 Looking good. You need to clean out the old grease, and replace it with new stuff. I did pull out all the old grease. I just did not pack tons of grease in the space between the two bearing races inside the hub. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kirkster Posted March 5, 2014 Author Share Posted March 5, 2014 So it has been a while since an update happened... I have been busy but have not put anything up here. So first things first the Wilwoods are on all four corners. Still have to finish sorting out the Arizona Z Car parking brakes. While I still had it on the stands I figured it was time to drop the gas tank. Of course all of the lines were dry rotted and I have ordered new ones. The tank is fairly rust free, just a little surface rust on the top which I will take care of once I Red-Kote the tank. My buddy who had this car was never able to get it to get clean fuel and seeing the bottom of the tank I can understand why... The issue is this... I have banged out a lot of this stuff, I figure that the gas that was in it in 1984 turned to sludge that subsequently hardened. More has been coming out when bang on the tank every weekend, not as much now but still some chunks. Not sure what I am going to do to finish cleaning out the tank. Not sure if I want to go to muriatic acid yet. Will try out Super Purple first and see how it does. Next up was the wheels. Well after lots of talking to a few very knowledgable autocrossers and car builders for autocrossing they finally talked me into 18s. So I ordered up a set of 18X10s on Dec 31st... And yes those are the Marugen Shoukai ZG flares as I did not want to fool with the ill fitting flares that are floating around... I still need to get some photos up in the Marugen thread in the group buy section... I spend most of last night reading Mike Kelly's build thread so I will be putting these up pretty high as I have to have wheel travel to accommodate 18 inch wheels (pretty much the same ones MiKelly is running except mine are classics) Big thanks for posting up those details MiKelly. I was super stoked that when I put them on the car there was no rubbing on the suspension (I had figured on needing half inch spacers in the front), the fronts do rub on the front edge of the front fender and I will have to trim that when I do the fender flares. but other than that no fitment issues. I may have some weird toe issues in rear and the front definitely needs an alignment but that will come once I have the car running. Seaking of getting things running. I have been cleaning up the 77 280Z motor and stripping all of the emissions crap off of the engine as well as the fan and whatnot... I am still waiting on my buddy to ship me the 82-83 dizzy he has on the shelf, as well oil pump / dizzy shaft that is eluding him at the moment. I have a center force clutch and a fidanza lightweight flywheel to finish off the transmission. Then it will be time to start putting all of this stuff into the car along with the 77 280 motor. I have spent a lot of time reading the MS3-Pro manual and trying to figure it all out. I have my work cut out for me in wiring this up as I have no clue what I am doing when it comes to getting power from the ignition key I am sure I will be posting up some questions in the future in the EMS section of the forum, especially when it comes time to get the base map figured out... It is getting exciting seeing things come together and hopefully be on the road in a month or so for some autocrosses. Now it just has to get warm here so I can coat the fuel tank with Red-Kote. Plus there are a ton of little details waiting to bite me in the ass of that I am sure... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hwvigo Posted March 5, 2014 Share Posted March 5, 2014 Looking great so far keep it up, And I love those wheels. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ryan Merrill Posted March 5, 2014 Share Posted March 5, 2014 Looking great! Those are the wide flares by the look of it. What rims offset did you go with? The flares fit perfect? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kirkster Posted March 5, 2014 Author Share Posted March 5, 2014 Looking great! Those are the wide flares by the look of it. What rims offset did you go with? The flares fit perfect? Yes, they are the wide flares. I also have the normal flares but don't know which ones I will finally put on. The wheels are a little tucked in with the wide flares. I went with 18X10s all the way around with a 5.5 inch backspacing... Though for sure I would need a spacer up front but even with the 285/30 Hoosier A6 the tire is not rubbing the springs or suspension. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kirkster Posted July 14, 2014 Author Share Posted July 14, 2014 Been a while since the last update... If not for Tony D I would not be nearly this close to done.. Will be heading down to the tuner this coming Saturday. Hope to get 200hp out of it... So right about 10 months ago I started. Have a friend doing my hood tomorrow (he owns a painting company). Will try and get an alignment this week and will try and hit an autocross this coming Sunday... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Leon Posted July 14, 2014 Share Posted July 14, 2014 Very nice! Reminds me of Clive's old LS Z. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kirkster Posted July 21, 2014 Author Share Posted July 21, 2014 Well she went on the Dyno this weekend. She then went to the autocross on sunday and we had some fun. After 10 months of wrenching it was nice to drive the car. Well except for the fuel filter that I had to clean between the 2nd and 3rd runs and the fact that the battery strap broke on my last run causing the car to stop running when the battery hit some wires in my terminal block and caused the fuel pump/injector relay to blow its fuse... I coasted it into the grid and safely off course. we then found the battery problem and I immediately knew that the lack of fuel pump noise meant that the fuse was probably blown, and it was when I pulled it out, we changed it with the Fan fuse and it started right up and we loaded it up on the trailer before the engine got hot... Now to get rid of that nice vintage wood steering wheel... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Datz44 Posted July 25, 2014 Share Posted July 25, 2014 Nice!! What was best time after the runs? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ihavearustedz Posted July 25, 2014 Share Posted July 25, 2014 nice car! how much power did you put down? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RebekahsZ Posted July 25, 2014 Share Posted July 25, 2014 Consider having your tank cut open (a big hole) to clean it out. I NEVER could get all those flakes of resin out of mine and it was a pita and stranded me regularly. Not only did the filter get plugged, but the line was usually plugged too. I pulled tank on four separate occasions for cleaning by a radiator shop with a variety of chemicals but the vertical wall in the tank made it impossible to w rinse all the crap out. Cutting a huge hole in it let me get it clean after I had access to both sides of the vertical wall. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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