Thomask

sorry, ive been enjoying the car so much that ive forgotten to respond. Sending me a private message is a lot easier. i have some more pics of the car for you viewing pleasure. if anyone has questions dont hesitate to message me.

the "finished product". i had my first track day yesterday with it and i have to say it handles really well with no real issues. some tweaking necessary, but for the most part the outcome is better than i hoped for.

thanks! the radiator actually works really well that way. the fan comes on being controlled by the factory relays. i think i used the low speed output from the IPDM to control the low speed on the fan. im going to see if i can get away with just that for now. I run running no thermostat as well because it heats up pretty quick anyway, within a few minutes. I was having issues with coolant not flowing, after multiple attempts to bleed the system it just never worked out so i pulled it. that steering wheel is an old Tomei wheel ive had laying around forever, i finally get to use it on something. note taken on exhaust, ive wanted to remake my center pipe for a while, but it will have to wait, i have a track day on the 6th of october, gotta hurry. here are some updated pics. Got the test fit CCW classic! these wheels are so awesome.

Thanks, your build was awesome and it really inspired me! i definitely want to revise the exhaust yet again, right now i have the borla xr1 and with my current U pipe, it sounds nice, but i will probably do a V shape pipe soon. i just failed several times over making the V pipe, i dont know what it was, lack of sleep, or the gears just were not turning that day, it just never worked out.

the stock shaft was right in the way of the mounts. i went with willward steering components because they made u joints that connect directly to the datsun rack! i did something similar to emrwhyrohen's setup.

i am going with the ATL "black box" surge tank with HP fuel pump. it has 3 trap doors to keep fuel at the pump pickup. im just dropping this at the bottom of my tank and securing it there. Then running (2) -6AN lines up to the engine and modifying the rail for a return and using an adjustable FPR. this part of the project is the largest left and i have a track day beginning of october so this car needs to be done by then, so no slacking for me. that setup should be pretty robust, its a little pricey, but i dont want starvation issues, especially when i want to boost it. from my 350z i looked at using the rad/fans but they are just too wide. i am hoping the stock Z radiator will work fine in that configuration and the ford fan should be sufficient. if this all fails ill have to get a custom radiator made and go that route, but since this option is free then im trying it first. Your idea to use the stock gauges will probably work out for you, especially if you remove them from the bezels because otherwise the stock cluster is going to be whining about all sorts of things that arent hooked up, so it will be lit up like a X-mas tree with warnings and errors. if you keep canbus/modules and all the end device sensors in place on the wheels, diff, etc it should all work. However i am minimalistic, i wanted this to be a simple build with limited items to fail on me, so i took the most simple solution to almost every issue i was faced with. I would have liked to give my harness to Zfever to delete NATS but it actually turned out good this way because it gave me a bunch of extra circuits and fuses i could add later and do it clean, along with the security of NATS. with all your trying to do electronics wise, i would definitely test in several stages...do you have the whole car at your disposal? that is the key if you want all this stuff to work. yea my dash is capped because it had a few cracks. There was no way i would cut up an uncracked dash for a race car! about how far are you on your build? what stage?

some updated pics. I had the smaller speedo left over from another build so i used it since i didnt want to buy another one. it turned out ok because i ended up putting the high beam indicator and turn indicator LEDs underneath it. It looks kind of silly being smaller, but meh its supposed to be a budget build using several recycled parts so im ok with it.

Pharaohabq, sorry i forgot to answer the question about the cooling. I have a 3 row 240z radiator that is almost new, i want to basically move the inlet/outlet to the opposite sides where they are now. i think the radiator will still flow that way. I bought a mid 90's ford taurus fan/shroud from the 3.8L. its a rather powerful 2 speed fan. I am going to wire the low speed output from the IPDM to the high speed input on the 2 speed fan/shroud. that is my next thing to tackle since i just installed my speedo and turn signal LEDs tonight.

thanks for the comments. The 350z i bought had a borla exhaust so i didnt want to cut it up for a Y-pipe. the U pipe will be ok i think. the locations where i mounted all the modules are ending up to be good locations and easily accessible. i wanted to mount them on the passenger side floor but eventually i will have 2 seats in the car and i didnt want the passenger hitting things or the modules hindering a seat install. i thought about the same thing regarding the front brake lines, but i clamped them down pretty good and they are about 2.5-3" from the crank pulley and i would hope to never really break a belt so ill just take my chances. i wanted the lines to be cooled by the wind across the Xmember. i really suggest using POR or Rustseal. The interior/engine bay is KBS RustSeal Gray. the undercoat was cleaned and sanded and coated with either POR or VHT black epoxy coating. If i was to do it again body wise i would get the whole car soda or sand blasted. Prepping everything by hand or wire drill, etc was an absolute nightmare and by far the hardest part of the whole restoration. The hardest part of the swap was pulling the harness out of the 350z and simplifying and sorting harnesses/gauges. I simplified the harness in stages while keeping the engine in the 350z until i got the harness down to what i wanted, made sure it still ran properly, then pulled it all out. I did the same to the body harness of the 240z. The key is to test in stages so you can troubleshoot small issues easily. wiring wise everything needed for NATS to function was kept (ignition/antenna, BCM, IPDM, status light, ecu). i wanted to keep it since it is one security measure against thiefs (along with my GPS tracking device). I didnt see the reason to keep the AC amp, i went with autometer guages because i had an extra set laying around from another build and they fit the stock holes ok. I really wanted Speedhut units but the budget wasnt there. I still have $4k to spend on ccw classics/tires. I would suggest using as many ecu controlled functions as possible, ie fan/fuel pump control. i think i have about 5 wires going between the 350z harness and the chassis, not too many. i had a bunch of extra 12v switched and constant power sources left which i used a few for my gauges, headlight upgrade harness, and parking light upgrade harness for the chassis, and i still have a few extra circuits for whatever i need in the future. your build is an HR right? im sure most of the basic theory is still there. i would have loved the HR but i couldnt pass on the wrecked one i picked up. I ended up getting all my swap parts for essentially free after selling off the rest of the car/parts. Sorry, no more 350z remains with me...

First i have to give credit where credit is due. Both Austin and Myrons 240z's gave me inspiration to build my own. Their build threads and websites gave me some great ideas and insight and i have to give many thanks to them publishing their builds. I took what i liked from both and spent the past year building my own. Ive been a member for a while, mostly just lurking around and reading information about the swap. After that, i was basically a hermit in my garage while doing the build. Now that it is almost done, i figure i share it with the community and offer any advice to anyone doing the swap. The body fabrication/coating/rust repair was by far the worst part, but swap wise, it is definitely the wiring. Getting the harness out and simplified from the 350z is painstaking. I basically ignored other aspects of life besides my 9-5 job and this project. Im sure i lost brownie points with the wife, pissed off the neighbors with my neglected yard, and family members thinking i went crazy, but it is all going to be worth it in the end. im about a month away from putting her back on track for the first time since the rebirth. my complete build blog is here: www.vq240z.weebly.com here are some pics so far and i will add them as i get completed with more items. Enjoy!

Hi, Ive got my 240z RHD conversion figured out and will need the following parts: 1) steering rack 2) pedal box 3) maybe the cowl/windshield wipers if available no need for dash or steering column and im going to make new brake lines anyway. if anyone has these parts please let me know. thomas.kaminski@williams.com thanks Tom

Any update on that rotisserie? Im trying to get this blasted within the next month or so.

ok cool, because i have a soda blasting company that can come to my house to blast this thing. i will have to have it on a rotisserie if i were to convince them to blast the underbody for a good price. Does it fold up at all? I have a ford explorer but could have access to a small trailer if need be.

oh cool thanks. There are a few places here in houston that do it also, but the cost to blast inside and out of the unibody, doors, hatch, hood, and fenders cost around $2000. Im looking to spend about $1200 max on blasting the whole car inside/out. thanks for the reference.

Do you have any pics of it? I would consider buying it, have no problem coming to garland. Just give me some more info about it, etc. I am also looking for a place that can media blast my whole unibody/body parts if you know people there. I am mostly needing the rotisserie for welding repairs, body work, etc. Let me know, i need one relatively fast. thanks.

Looking at making one or buying one, but i think this is the only car i am planning on restoring and cant justify the cost. Im in Houston, TX and if anyone has a body rotisserie i could borrow or rent that would be great. Im trying to strip down all the crap on the body. It is down to the bare unibody and its about that time to get under it and get this done. Thanks. Thomas.

yea, im just worried about what is under the paint on a lot of areas. There are a lot of areas that have rust "spots" and dont know how far i need to take down the paint. I guess ill just have to play it by ear what i need to take off and what i need to just sand down. I dont know a whole lot about body work. Ill also have to take off all the original undercoating and re-coat that as well. I guess i am at the stage where im here, i might as well do it kind of thing. And if i do it right the first time, i will enjoy it more in the end.

I found a place in Conroe that will do media blasting (soda and sand) for $85 per hour PLUS the media. Now i personally think its too high, but i guess its for the facility, etc. Since i am going to change the color of the car, the whole thing needs to be taken down, which is going to be a pain, time consuming, and expensive if i get someone else to do it. I almost just want to buy a soda blaster that can do soda and sand and go to town on the thing and just pay for media. however i will have to upgrade my compressor.

I almost have my unibody/other body panels ready for media blasting but dont really know of any place in or around Houston, TX that does it for a reasonable price. I would think they would either dip the whole body in something to clean it or manually media blast it. I was also thinking to buy the eastwood soda blaster and go to town, but this is a lot of metal to do, and it will cost a lot in media. Any thoughts? Thanks