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Project Dark Z


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I have an intro thread, but I figured I'd start a build thread to be able to track the progress of this car over the next year or two. 

 

I bought my S30 (72 240z) from a good friend I went to college with. He tried to get me to buy the car when we first met, but I never really had the time or the energy to start a massive project. I've been busy with my first project (turbocharged 8thgen Honda Si), as well as a new home which has placed a large parasite on my bank account. 

 

Due to an insurance payout from my daily being totaled, I got into something a little more economical and finally told my friend I'd come by and pick up the Z. 

 

Here she is being picked up and brought home

 

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18157928_10207650248569273_6176189179195

 

And here she is parked in her current resting place next to my other project :D

 

18221875_10207665986882721_2754354204917

 

I just picked the car up as of 4/30/17, and I expect this build to take a few years - being that I plan on taking the car down to bare metal and then rebuilding it with as much modern technology as I can. So far, my build is expected to go as follows:

 

Suspension, braking, and Undercarriage:

  • Techno Toy Tuning Coilover system 
  • Techno Toy 5 lug (5x114.3) conversion
  • Techno Toy LCA, Tension, and lower cross-member upgrade
  • Techno Toy rear-end conversion (ditches stub shafts for 5 lug hubs) 
  • Wilwood BMC 
  • Brembo conversion of an unknown type (TBD)

 

Exterior

  • Front Valance (type TBD)
  • Fender flares (TBD)
  • Duckbill Rear Spoiler (TBD)
  • Custom retrofitted projector headlights (I can retro headlights, so it just depends what's available at the time) 

 

 

Interior

  • Modernized Gauge cluster, modernized HVAC controls with AC added (vintage air or similar) 
  • Upgraded head unit and speakers
  • Bride Racing seats, harness bar, 5 pt. racing harnesses 
  • Reupholstered carpet and headline

Engine/Transmission

I'm a little torn here, so I have two options:

 

Option 1:

  • RB26DET
  • 300zx Transmission
  • 300zx rear diff 

Option 2: 

  • LSX crate motor
  • T56 6-speed Transmission
  • SR230 Rear diff

 

A lot of this is up in the air and tentative depending on how the build progresses. I'm open to advice/input so feel free to drop a comment if you have experience! 

 

 

 

 

 

5/3/17 

Made my first major stride of progress today. Yanked the L24 motor and 4 speed out! 

 

18275118_10207668854834418_4057920646694

 

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I plan on having the interior fully stripped by the end of the week as well. My goal is to get it as bare-bones as possible and then determine where/when I can send it to get blasted and primpered

 

5/11/17 

 

As I was stripping the car, I found what I had hoped I wouldn't. Nice area of rotted metal on the driver side rocker. Luckily I bought the car under the condition that there was no rot, so the previous owner is currently making arrangements to come up and patch the metal for me. 

 

18425132_10207723014308371_6667191406683

 

But the good news is, the rest of the car is coming along. Most of the wiring harness is out, and the dash is almost ready to come out!

 

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6/6/17

 

Realized it's been a while since I updated. Still in tear-down phase. Found a few areas of rust/rot that concern me.. so my plan now is to get the entire car media blasted down to bare metal. From there, I'll have any fab/body work done that's needed, have a roll/harness bar put in, then get a coat of primer put on it so I can bring it back and take my time building it. 

 

Some updated pictures as the car is stripped down to a shell:

 

18882172_10207880823933513_8009104405681

 

18839143_10207880824293522_1848137330435

 

I also had the doors blasted by a local guy who wanted the chance to do the fab work on the car. Not only did he charge me WAY too much to get the doors blasted, he lost one of the lock mechanisms..so I'll get to sort that out eventually. Needless to say I've already found a new shop to do the rest of the blasitng on the car. Either way, some rot was found on the doors so they will also be going off to fabrication to get fixed up!

 

18881989_10207880824533528_3945079341641

Edited by Dark240Z
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  • 1 month later...

Realized it's been a while since I updated. Still in tear-down phase. Found a few areas of rust/rot that concern me.. so my plan now is to get the entire car media blasted down to bare metal. From there, I'll have any fab/body work done that's needed, have a roll/harness bar put in, then get a coat of primer put on it so I can bring it back and take my time building it. 

 

Some updated pictures as the car is stripped down to a shell:

 

18882172_10207880823933513_8009104405681

 

18839143_10207880824293522_1848137330435

 

I also had the doors blasted by a local guy who wanted the chance to do the fab work on the car. Not only did he charge me WAY too much to get the doors blasted, he lost one of the lock mechanisms..so I'll get to sort that out eventually. Needless to say, I've found a new shop to do the blasting on the rest of the car. Either way, some rot was found on the doors so they will also be going off to fabrication to get fixed up!

 

18881989_10207880824533528_3945079341641

 

18839150_10207880824693532_1392597432763

Edited by Dark240Z
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I'm not a pro. My last car was an 08 Honda Accord. Honda's are cool, and I dont know your exact experience. I'm 24 years of age and I've spent 30K on my build and it doesnt even close look like it. Anyways, if I could do it over, I would do this:

 

- Properly bag and tag every bolt, washer and nut. Ensure you have good labels on where they go.

- Get small plastic boxes from the local store, and label them "Under dash, under hood, hatch" ect. Place your bolts in their individual bags in these.

- Replace your hardware with the much cheaper steel that matches the old ones. Stainless not only costs a lot more, but also are much weaker (grade 2). Also they gall easy, and frack up your threads.

- Don't reuse any hardware you remove. Chances are its strength is compromised.

- Use anti-seize on all hardware.

- Dont use lockwashers. Just washers are fine.

 

Enough about hardware

 

- EZ wiring harnesses are super cheap and very very nice to use. You will need relays for higher current devices, and ground wires that I would purchase from wirebarn.com (14/16 gauge GXL grade wire)

- Stock wiring harnesses are the devil. Enough said. (Can you say fire hazard?)

 

-Buy a xenon air dam (urethane) on ebay. There is a seller selling them for only 140 bucks shipped to your door! Yes fitment is frustrating at first like the other ones, but no big deal for a file.

 

To me the biggest advice I would give myself is this:

 

- Don't worry about brakes or suspension. Keep it stock. WAIT until you drive the car. Worry about keeping it road worthy. (or as close to it at all times) as possible.

- Worry about the engine FIRST. NO COSMETICS (if you can help it!( No paint! No rust repair! No rechromed this or that.

- Careful with sandblasting. Things can warp and be eaten very easily!

 

Yes you can think long term projects are okay but it will get frustrating fast and you will rapidly lose motivation if you dive in too deep.

 

Get the car on the road.

 

My two or three cents.

Best of luck

 

Kyle

Edited by appleslicer
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To me the biggest advice I would give myself is this:

 

- Properly bag and tag every bolt, washer and nut. Ensure you have good labels on where they go.

- Replace your hardware with the much cheaper steel that matches the old ones. Stainless not only costs a lot more, but also are much weaker (grade 2). Also they gall easy, and frack up your threads.

- Don't reuse any hardware you remove. Chances are its strength is compromised.

 

- Worry about the engine FIRST. NO COSMETICS (if you can help it!( No paint! No rust repair! No rechromed this or that.

- Careful with sandblasting. Things can warp and be eaten very easily!

 

Yes you can think long term projects are okay but it will get frustrating fast and you will rapidly lose motivation if you dive in too deep.

I generally agree, having done that and regretted it, but I have a comments.

 

1) Yes, do this. I was 16 when I took my car apart, and my dad tried to warn me. I didn't listen. I said I'd remember. I did get a little plastic organizer, and separated the bolts, but didn't label. I have no idea what goes where, and it's going to be a disaster putting my car back together.

 

2) I'm glad you mentioned this. People think stainless is automatically better because it doesn't rust. Well, stainless does corrode under certain conditions, and for reasons you mentioned, it is not necessarily better than a steel bolt. If you need a replacement bolt, get a good quality steel bolt.

 

3) Why do you say that? Unless it is rusted, damaged, or was clearly overtorqued (When the bolt is visibly stretched to the naked eye, it's been overtorqued, haha. I replaced that one), I don't see why the bolt would be bad. I see people replacing bolts on restorations for no reason, and I don't get it. If the coating has worn off, they can be replated pretty easily. I could understand replacing suspension bolts for good measure, but otherwise I don't see the point. That said, it would be a good idea to chase all the threads on the captive nuts on the car.

 

4) In his case, it looks like he needs rockers. I would prioritize having those done since they're a major structural component.

 

5) Everyone says sandblasting, but what they usually mean is media blasting. Lots of different media choices, and you're right, it's important to choose the right one for the job, and to avoid warping the metal.

 

Having your car in a thousand pieces with a thousand things on the to do list before it's roadworthy is certainly discouraging, but since I'm already down that rabbit hole, I look at it as an opportunity to make it exactly what I want, and to fix everything and be done with it rather than constantly be chasing things down.

 

Also, a note to the OP, I would leave your first post alone and just post updates as separate (new) posts. No one's gonna be looking at your first post once they're past that point in the thread.

Edited by rturbo 930
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I'm not a pro. My last car was an 08 Honda Accord. Honda's are cool, and I dont know your exact experience. I'm 24 years of age and I've spent 30K on my build and it doesnt even close look like it. Anyways, if I could do it over, I would do this:

 

- Properly bag and tag every bolt, washer and nut. Ensure you have good labels on where they go.

- Get small plastic boxes from the local store, and label them "Under dash, under hood, hatch" ect. Place your bolts in their individual bags in these.

- Replace your hardware with the much cheaper steel that matches the old ones. Stainless not only costs a lot more, but also are much weaker (grade 2). Also they gall easy, and frack up your threads.

- Don't reuse any hardware you remove. Chances are its strength is compromised.

- Use anti-seize on all hardware.

- Dont use lockwashers. Just washers are fine.

 

Enough about hardware

 

- EZ wiring harnesses are super cheap and very very nice to use. You will need relays for higher current devices, and ground wires that I would purchase from wirebarn.com (14/16 gauge GXL grade wire)

- Stock wiring harnesses are the devil. Enough said. (Can you say fire hazard?)

 

-Buy a xenon air dam (urethane) on ebay. There is a seller selling them for only 140 bucks shipped to your door! Yes fitment is frustrating at first like the other ones, but no big deal for a file.

 

To me the biggest advice I would give myself is this:

 

- Don't worry about brakes or suspension. Keep it stock. WAIT until you drive the car. Worry about keeping it road worthy. (or as close to it at all times) as possible.

- Worry about the engine FIRST. NO COSMETICS (if you can help it!( No paint! No rust repair! No rechromed this or that.

- Careful with sandblasting. Things can warp and be eaten very easily!

 

Yes you can think long term projects are okay but it will get frustrating fast and you will rapidly lose motivation if you dive in too deep.

 

Get the car on the road.

 

My two or three cents.

Best of luck

 

Kyle

 

My Honda is a 2010, so this is my first dive into something as archaic as a '73. First impression - I prefer the 73 as it's such a simple car to work on and all the space is nice! My Honda is a huge pain because they design the car to use every inch of cabin/bay space and it's extremely difficult to work on in a general sense.

 

 I don't have any fabrication or welding experience, but I have the tools and the general mechanical knowledge (plus the internet) to get me by. The nice thing is - I'm building this car to be perfect the first time. I have no budget, so any snag I run into that I can't sort out myself will be solved by a shop that can get me past the issue professionally. 

 

1) I've already gone through two boxes of plastic sandwich bags, a roll of tape, and a sharpie labeling everything. I don't plan on reusing much of the hardware ( a lot of bolts are snapping despite using PB blaster and going slowly anyway) - but I'm keeping everything in order so I can get the correct size, thread pitch, etc for the new hardware when it's time to reassemble the car

 

2) I'm not sure if EZharness is the same company, but the guy I bought my Z from was building a CJ jeep from a bare frame. he bought a harness kit that makes it super easy to run your own wiring. I guess it gives you an engine/interior fuse block, and enough wiring to run through 2-3 cars. Every wire is labeled (turn signals, injectors, etc) and you can easily add in your own fuses/wires for other things that need power. So that's where I plan on going with the wiring. I may have the shop that will be building and tuning the motor do the engine harness since I'm OCD and like things neat - but the body/interior harness will likely be a DIY project. 

 

3) I get what you're saying about getting the car on the road. Truth is this car sat in a back yard for almost 20 years and didn't move. The motor was incomplete, and the gas tank is a mess. It would take a TON of money to get the car back on the road as is, so I made the executive decision to just strip it down and start a complete rebuild. It also smelled really bad  <_<  It's going to take a lot of time, and money, and patience - but I believe the end goal of having a completed restored (resto-mod) 240 Z will be well worth the next 3-4 years of projects!

 

 

I generally agree, having done that and regretted it, but I have a comments.

 

1) Yes, do this. I was 16 when I took my car apart, and my dad tried to warn me. I didn't listen. I said I'd remember. I did get a little plastic organizer, and separated the bolts, but didn't label. I have no idea what goes where, and it's going to be a disaster putting my car back together.

 

2) I'm glad you mentioned this. People think stainless is automatically better because it doesn't rust. Well, stainless does corrode under certain conditions, and for reasons you mentioned, it is not necessarily better than a steel bolt. If you need a replacement bolt, get a good quality steel bolt.

 

3) Why do you say that? Unless it is rusted, damaged, or was clearly overtorqued (When the bolt is visibly stretched to the naked eye, it's been overtorqued, haha. I replaced that one), I don't see why the bolt would be bad. I see people replacing bolts on restorations for no reason, and I don't get it. If the coating has worn off, they can be replated pretty easily. I could understand replacing suspension bolts for good measure, but otherwise I don't see the point. That said, it would be a good idea to chase all the threads on the captive nuts on the car.

 

4) In his case, it looks like he needs rockers. I would prioritize having those done since they're a major structural component.

 

5) Everyone says sandblasting, but what they usually mean is media blasting. Lots of different media choices, and you're right, it's important to choose the right one for the job, and to avoid warping the metal.

 

Having your car in a thousand pieces with a thousand things on the to do list before it's roadworthy is certainly discouraging, but since I'm already down that rabbit hole, I look at it as an opportunity to make it exactly what I want, and to fix everything and be done with it rather than constantly be chasing things down.

 

Also, a note to the OP, I would leave your first post alone and just post updates as separate (new) posts. No one's gonna be looking at your first post once they're past that point in the thread.

 

1) Already got it covered - I've cataloged everything I've taken off the car

 

3) A lot of the hardware I'm pulling off the car is rusted or corroded to an extent - or has already snapped off. The stuff that looks okay will be blasted by the shop that does the shell, anything missing I have kept the stock stuff so I know what to replace it with. 

 

4) The driver rocker will need to be replaced. Going to order the replacement stuff from Tabco before the shell goes to the fab shop. The passenger rocker is solid - just has a bit of surface rust. The inner rail still has a newer finish on it. We'll know for sure when the car is blasted - though. There are a few other places that bother me so it will be interesting to see how it looks with all the paint off!

 

5) The car will likely be bead blasted. The doors were apparently blasted with low pressure sand (why so much material was used and I was over-charged) .. but the shop I'm taking the rest of the car to is one of the best in the area so I trust they'll use the right medium. 

 

Thanks for the note. I've had build threads on other forums and everyone adds to the original post so everything is consolidated. I didn't think most people take the time to read through the entire thread but maybe I'm wrong  :P

 

 

Thanks for all the advice gentlemen! 

Edited by Dark240Z
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