mr_han_solo

I am in the process of adding a Radiator/Belly Pan to my 240z. I wanted to do this because my bumper is flexing at high speeds and its making the paint crack. I'm hoping this will stiffen it up. First off, I ran my wiring harness through the front tube. In the stock form the harness just rests on the tube. Just a hole-saw in each end and fishing the wires through. Simple as that. Here is some pictures of that part: You can see some inner fender rust in the above photo as well. I will be patching this up during the winter when I replace my struts/springs. Here is the finished look: I used the middle piece (the piece that extends out from the middle of the main tube) to hold up the front of my bumper. You will see in the next photo how my bumper has bent around that piece. Here is a rough mockup of the radiator pan itself: I plan on finishing up the fitment of the mockup and cutting out the sheet metal tomorrow. I suppose if I have a question it's for the others that have done this before (and for aerodynamics). Should I make the pan itself curve up on the sides and cover the holes on each side that lead to the wheel well or is what I am doing suffice in that respect? In the future I would like to get some abs plastic or something like that and actually make a full Belly pan that goes from the radiator to the transmission tunnel.

Thanks for the reply. As for my second question, any idea if I will still have to cut my strut tubes since I bought the correct gland nuts and have the tubing for my spacers? I went ahead and bought a tubing cutter just in case I do, but since the guide I'm using is several years old I'm hoping that its one thing that has changed.

I think these do have a bigger diameter rod. From the research I did, these are as good or better than the race Konis. This Thread is pretty extensive on comparing the different strut options and actually swayed my decision to choose the Bilsteins over the Konis or Illumias.

What did you do to fill the cracks in your dash? After they were filled did you just paint over them or recover the entire dash somehow?

Well I ordered the struts last week. Ajusa said it may take about two weeks for delivery, and that isn't that big of a deal to me since its going to be a winter project. I have two quick questions though about the installation. I am using the older guide (2008 I think) found on here. In it I have to cut and shorten the strut tubes. Is this something I will still have to do even if I get the correct spacers? If it is can someone tell me the size of the strut tubes so I can buy the correct tubing cutter? My second question is about the bump stops. The Bilsteins have an internal bump stop, correct? Does this mean that I can go ahead and sell the bump stops that came with the prothane kit? Thanks.

They are going in a 1973 240z. Any surprises I need to look out for due to this? I know you said just curious, but I suppose I'm just a worrier. Been holding off the purchase for the past week to make sure i'm as informed as possible. Just saw that they marked the struts down to $132. Gotta jump on that while I can though.

I can confirm that they do still make the nut. AJUSA gave me the quote of $24 each. Also, in the old deleted thread someone chimed in an named two spring brands and the spring sizes that would work with the cosmo coil-overs if I'm not happy with the rates. Hoping that they will post those brands here again. Thanks.

Hello, When I built my '73 240z into a track car, I opted to keep the heater and blower assembly, while gutting the air conditioning. I have fabbed a metal panel, (with switches to turn on the fuel pump, radiator fans, and heater fan )to go into place of the usual HVAC controls, etc. Unfortunately, I didn't take a picture of what control went where when I was doing the tear down and now I'm stuck without heat. I got the blower motor wired up, and I found the actuator that controls the air from defrost to the vents (I put it on defrost). Unfortunately I have been unable to figure out where the control for the heat door is at. Right now when the car is up to temp the fan still blows out air instead of heated air. I have tried searching Google for an image, but they haven't been much help either. I'm just hoping to open the heat door and leave it open so I can use my heater when it starts getting cold. Thanks, Han

Thank you all for the replies. I contacted shox.com about the gland nuts. I was originally given a quote on B30-629 A1 which was what I thought the correct 240z gland nut was they gave me the quote of $26.95ea. Since ajusa is cheaper I have now contacted them (with updated info from this thread about availability and price) on gland nut B4-B30-U232B1. I have not heard back from them yet. Now after the last few replies I'm left wondering which is the correct gland nut for a 240z? Is it the B30-629 A1 or the B4-B30-U232B1?

Hello, Reviving this thread since my leas thread was lost in the crash. I have pretty much settled on the Bilstein Sport Struts ( P30-0032 or 34-184530). The last poster mentioned that a 1-ton truck lug nut works great as a spacer. Does it matter what truck it comes off of? Also, after researching the prices of the Bilstein Struts I came across F4-P30-0137-H1 which is a Bilstein HD strut cartridge for the same model VW's. Has anyone tried these on a Z car and what is the difference between the Sport and HD models? Thanks, Han

Got the tcch adjusted correctly. However, when I turn the lights on, the tach drops a few hundred RPM and the reading is off. Here is a video: http://youtu.be/wjjTaC-UnVU Tach is a 280z unit with a summit racing coil and msd pro billet distributor. Wired everything per the JTR book. Hoping for some insight. Thanks, Han

Just noticed that the Velocity channel show "Garage Squad" will be airing a Datsun episode tomorrow night at 9 P.M. Eastern. Here is the synopsis: "Jason is a motorcycle mechanic with a big car problem. He owns a rare Datsun 240z, number 89 off the line with serious problems under the hood and in the interior. Can the Garage Squad team help this owner get his beloved Datsun back on the road?" Just thought I would post this to let everyone know so they can watch/DVR it. Edit: Just noticed that the title shows 9/14, this should be 8/15. Hopefully a mod can fix this.

I may be wrong but I think the early 260's were like a 240 and the late 260's were more akin to a 280. Like I said I could be wrong about that, but if i'm not it would explain why you have the 240z style connectors. It would still be worth getting ahold of a wiring diagram for your car and checking it out.

I did this to my 240z. Just made a cardboard template of the 260/280 lights with the mounting studs and cut/drilled out what had to be taken out. You do have to cut quite a bit around the bottom to make it flush and two small rectangled to accommodate the backup lights. All of the outer lip and anything that can be seen from outside of the car will match up perfectly. No cutting, welding, or bondo. Took a while to get it fitted. Pretty much just cut test, grind/cut some more until it fits. Do you have the 260 harness? I took a 280z wiring diagram and spliced my harness into a 280z harness to make it match up. I guess you could take the existing 240z harness and light bulbs and wiring and just use that in the 260z lenses without any issues. Unfortunately, I didn't have the 240z bulbs and wiring so I had to modify mine to a 280z. Honestly, it's pretty easy and shouldn't take that long. I think it looks better as well. Let me know if you have any more questions.

Well it's been a long time since my last update and I'm a little behind on things. The machine shop had the block for 5 weeks, and once I got it back to build it, I realized that I had bought a lot of the wrong parts. Fortunately a SBC is a common engine and with help from the David Vizard "How to rebuild your small block chevy" book, I was in business. Parts, A.K.A "Christmas in June" The block (.030 over) machined and painted. Bottom end assembled with an LT1 forged crank and main studs. Top side with head studs. You can see one of my mistakes here, I didn't thread the studs into the block all of the way. This caused clearance issues with the rocker arms later on. Fortunately, it wasn't that big of a deal. Good shot of the clearance problem. Also note the thread hold in the head above the intake. The heads are made for a vortec or traditional intake. Unfortunately, some of those bolt holes are opened into the lifter galley. Used hex head screws and sealer to plug them. Yet another mistake. I thought a quiet timing gear set would be better than a chain. Unfortunately, I couldn't get it to work right, spent 3 days before I decided to go with a chain. Got the rocker arms on and realized something didn't look right. Turns out I needed to get some pushrod guides. The next problem was with the starter. Since I'm using a T-5 I had to go with a 153 tooth flywheel. Turns out the 010 block only had staggered starter holes which only work with a 168 tooth flywheel. Had to flip the engine and hand drill the hole. A helicoil and new starter later everything worked fine. Time to put the motor in the car! Short water pump mount for the alternator wouldn't fit so I had to take the alternator off before the engine would go in the car. Also had to go out an buy a new water pump/alternator mount. Here is a shot of her in the car after I got the new alternator mount. The headers were a tight fit and I had to re-route the wires, should have listened to the manual! Also had to dent in the header a little to clear the steering shaft. Video of her running: http://youtu.be/lrVVQjbYPCI Here is the interior now! Fired the engine up and did the break in. Water/Oil gauge wasn't working correctly, but I have been able to keep track of both while I tune the car. I since replaced the valve cover bolts with T-handles, due to the fact that I have a solid lifter engine and I wanted something that would be easier to take on and off when I have to adjust my lash. The bad news is that when I installed the drivers side t-handles I was impatient and cross threaded all of them on the handle side of the studs. The drive-shaft came in this afternoon and I was planning to make sure the clutch is functioning correctly but as soon as I fired it up the drivers side valve cover had an oil leak due to the fact that they are cross threaded and I couldn't tighten them down all of the way. I had purchased a new set of t-handles in the meantime and decided to go ahead and put them on. I take out the top two t-handles and studs no problem. When I go to take off the bottom two they ended up snapping off so I'm going to have to hope I can drill and extract the broken studs without damaging the bolt holes. At that point I was so frustrated I just decided to push the car back in the garage and cal it a night. Here is the specs on my engine: Block: 010 4-Bolt main ARP main and head studs Crank: 1182 LT1 Forged Crank Rods: 90's LT-1 Powdered Metal Rods Pistons: Speed Pro Flat Top Hypers (.030) Cam: Comp Cams Magnum 12-224-4 Solid Lifter Cam 294 duration Heads: Aluminum (Cant remember brand) 64cc, 190cc runners. Angled Plugs. Rocker Arms: Comp Cams Energizer 1.6 Full Roller Aluminum Pushrods: Comp Cams One Piece Lifters: Comp Cams 986 Solid Lifters Headers: Stainless Steel off of eBay. Intake: Edelbrock Victor 4x4 (Smaller than Super Victor but bigger than Victor Jr.) Carb: Holley 750 double pumper

Got your pics, I was busy this weekend and didn't get a chance to respond. I have the water/oil gauge. I think I need to clarify on what I'm calling a door pull. I'm looking for the one that looks like this: If anyone has these pulls and the exterior door handle, let me know. I should have clarified to begin with.

Awesome! I bought universal flex hoses, but I will be sure to write down the hoses you used in case I ever have to replace them in the future. Hopefully this information will be helpful to someone else all well. Thank you very much.

Hello, I am needing a 240z-280z Temp/Oil Gauge that works. I have recently done a SBC 350 swap in my 240z and the Water Temp/Oil Pressure wasn't working correctly. I tried to adjust the back of the gauge but my adjustment screws were stuck and I ended up stripping them out. I am in bad need of a WORKING gauge. The other item is need is an outside door handle. The third item is a set of interior door pulls. Don't care what style, as long as I can mount them. Thanks.

Hello, I have a question for anyone who is running the stock or stock like aluminum 3 core radiators with their SBC's. What radiator hoses are you using? I bought two of the "universal" hoses from o'reilly's and my total was over $50. Just wondering if anyone could pull the numbers of their hose so I can see if I can find a cheaper option. I haven't put the engine in the car yet, so there is still time to return the hoses if other options are available. Thanks, Han

Finally got around to putting the New Tilton Clutch Master Cylinder in: I then Installed the Caprice/Monte Carlo Throttle cable: I couldn't really understand the JTR book when it came to installing this cable. I read some threads and got an idea of how to do it, but in the end I think I ended up doing it in a unique way. May have to end up changing it though. As you can see I ran it through the firewall and clamped it to the pedal itself. Hopefully this way will work. I also finished painting the interior: The engine and heads are still at the machinist and I am hoping to have them back Monday or Tuesday. Wired the engine bay per JTR book, but that doesn't make for any cool pictures. I guess the next thing is to remove the differential to have it welded. She is starting to come together, and I am running out of things to do on my "to do" list.

Well I had some old APC racing buckets laying around for my previous Camaro build. I had decided that the seat and harness look wasn't for a Camaro and this I put them into storage. First thing was to make a seat bracket for these seats. Thankfully, I had already had some pre-cut 1/4" steel adapters for the Camaro. Just had to mount these adapter plates to the seats, find the correct distance for the Datsun mounts/sliders and then bolt them into place. Everything worked great: The center 1/4" adapter running across the front will also make a great place to mount the "submarine" strap on my harness if the rules will allow. I may have to end up mounting it to the floor. After the seats were installed my next dilemma was mounting the harness. The two side holes worked great for the lap belts, but finding a mounting point for the shoulder straps was another story. The shock tower mount wasn't long enough, nor was the existing hole for the factory seat belts. As you can see the shoulder harness is way too high: After some searching I decided to fab a harness bar, using the existing holes in the body, just below the quarter windows. Apparently these were the mounting places for a factory roll bar back in the day. I started by making a trusty template and punching out the correct bolt holes: I then ordered the appropriate tubing, plates, mounting tabs, and bolts. After welding and installing I was left with this: After paint I installed the harness, and everything works great! I also had some excess tubing so I went ahead and fabricated/welded in a rear strut bar. Both seats installed:

It's really a tight fit, so I didn't plan on putting anything to hold it in. If it comes down to it, I will fashion a piece of metal with rubber on it to bolt to the box itself and hold the battery in place. After finishing the battery box, it was time to pull the engine and paint the engine bay. The first step was using the pressure washer, which actually worked quite well. I then pulled all of the old stuff that I wouldn't need out and started on modifying the harness. Ended up shooting it with some primer and painting. Think it turned out pretty nice: This is a really good shot of the hole where the battery acid/water rusted the metal through the years resulting in a hole: I'm really disappointed in my patch of the area. I really underestimated how hard it would be to bend the metal to the shape of the wheel well. I also cut myself short resulting in a need to add a second strip of sheet metal. Honestly, after all of the body work I did on the rest of the car I was getting pretty tired of the metal and bondo work. This impatience is what really led to the mess up here. It actually blends quite well if you could see it painted and cleared, but I don't have a picture of that yet. The wiring harness also hides some of my mistake here as well. Next time I move onto mounting the seats and fabbing a harness bar.

Block and heads are going to the machine shop Friday or next Monday. I plan to have the car ready to go by the first week in May. That said, I'm really wanting to get some time just driving and getting used to it as well as working out any kinks. I also want to get some experience with the Solo scene from the spectator standpoint to see how everything works. I'm too afraid of jumping right in and looking like an idiot. I'm shooting for my first solo run in July. That said with the news you just told me, I may have to rush things.

Next is relocating the battery to the rear compartment. I honestly thought this would be tougher than it was. First I cut the metal out of the current compartment. This was honestly the hardest part, and in the process I knicked my brake line. DOH! Then I measured and cut a cardboard template. I then made a sheet metal box with the same dimension of the cardboard box. Hit it with the welder and welded it in. I then filled the seams with caulk for good measure: Undercoating on the outside and john deere enamel primer and blitz black paint on the inside: Got 84" of battery cable from Oreilly's and ran it to the front of the car and connected it to the starter. Ran the ground (-) to the inside of the drivers side compartment and bolted it there. Dropped a battery in and everything worked! Works great, and makes the engine bay look a lot cleaner. Not bad for a days work either.

Hello, Just installed my bucket seats and now I'm looking for a way to mount my harnesses. I don't want to put a cage in it yet, as I will be street driving and auto-crossing to begin with. I am wondering if anyone makes, or has previously fabricated a crossbar that will mount in front of the shock towers in the four holes below the quarter window. See pictture: As you can see from this picture my harness is too short to mount to a shock tower brace. This picture is just showing you how short it is (55in), I would never mount it like this.: Thanks, Han