iBang

Thanks for the comments. I just wish I had more time and money to work on the 240 so that I could have updates a little more often. I'm trying to simplify my life a little these days and remove some of the clutter so I can concentrate on my Z and other important projects, so maybe more work will happen soon.

You're a lot better than the guy I had do my subaru WRX a couple of years ago. He did ok, but it wasn't nearly that nice.

Wow, I had seen pictures of that car before. I didn't know it was hiding under my nose. Spring is my old home grounds before I moved to Austin. What a beautiful car. I would have to agree with everyone else though, that tank needs to get stelthed somehow. It seems out of place with the way the rest of the body is done in a classic theme.

That's a beautiful repair on the dash if it holds. I have similar issues with my dash, maybe I'll give that a shot for repairing it.

Beautiful work. I like how you did that.

When did the smog manifold take effect? I have the manifold from a '71.

A LOT. I'm going to have to classify these: Automotive: houston240sx.com, driftdraganddrive.com, texasnissans.com, nicoclub.com, austintuners.com, fabricatedmotorsports.com, roadsterdrift.com, clubroadster.net RC aerobatics: theprofilebrotherhood.com, flyinggiants.com, rcgroups.com When I'm not working on cars I'm flying aerobatics with RC aircraft so I keep up to date on those forums.

Great info. Can't wait to see more pics of the S13 rear subframe.

I'm also curious if you did anything about how much wider the track will be in the back. The 240SX is 2" wider than the Z by my measurements. I'm putting an S12 subframe in the front of my Z and a S13 in the back and I'm wondering how I should deal with the different track widths. I'd be interested to hear your take on it.

We decided to brave the cold today and go do some work on the Z. Yeah, I know, most of you out there are dealing with a LOT colder temps than me down here in TX but for my thin blood, its COLD Today's project: Pull the L24 out of the engine bay. I had already taken care of most of the peripherals last week so this time I could get right on to pulling the engine. First though was putting the car in the air to get the driveshaft and exhaust off. This is actually the first time I've had the car on stands and it gave me a good chance to roll around under it on a crawler and really look at my frame rails and floor pans. I'm really pleased with what I'm seeing so far. VERY little rust under there which confirms my original inspection of the car. The only bit I've come across so far is the front right corner of the floor pan which I had seen from inside the car already. What I do have to deal with is a little bump up in the frame rails and floor pans. It looks like the car was high centered at some point which pushed on the frame rails which in turn pushed on the floor pans and while everything is solid and non-rusted, its kind of humped up in the middle. I don't know how I'm going to go about fixing that just yet... maybe a lot of stud welding and slide hammer work when I get the car on the rotisserie... The day's work actually went fairly smooth, especially for working on a 40 year old car that is all-original. Exhaust came off without much of a fight as did the driveshaft. The engine complained a little but that was largely because of old heater hosing which was about as flexible as wood and didn't want to come off. A set of hose cutter solved that issue and the whole thing came out of the car in one piece. Have I mentioned that I love that long datsun engine bay which you can drop engines in and out of with the tranny in place? Pictures: First off I'm going to back up a bit since I found some more pics of the RB coming out of the 240SX. The engine in its old home With the chains hooked up On its way out And... out Splitting the engine and tranny. Look at the pretty nismo coppermix Oooooh yeah And on to the Z. That's what a 40 year old un-cared-for engine bay looks like Me pulling the tranny crossmember On its way out Still hanging up on a few things Looks like a sinking ship Ash rides the Z to help the tranny out of the bay What a lovely engine bay ready for some brand new horsepower. I love this old engine ID plate. I may make a new one of these for the new specs That's a lot of engine for 2.4L and 150HP More tomorrow when I go in and swap oil pans and do some mockup fitting with the RB.

Progress again comes in the form of new parts. This time its a new engine... and here it is: Yes! It is another RB25, but this one is better! I have history with this engine. This is the one out of the RB25 240SX drift car built by my girlfriend and I. For starters I've run this engine so I trust it. In addition there's all the goodies that it comes with... Series 2 RB25 Cometic thick head gasket RB25 RWD transmission Nismo coppermix clutch Nismo lightweight flywheel Garret GT3076R externally gated Tial 38mm wastegate 6boost turbular top mount manifold Greddy intake manifold Tomei 740cc injectors Apexi power FC Purchasing this as a package probably saved me a minimum $3-6k over purchasing it piece by piece. It also gives me virtually everything I need so far as engine mods minus my cooling, intercooler, and exhaust system. From the same car I also picked up Ashley's old S13 rear subframe complete with a full set of SPL rear arms and links. That gets me everything I need to start mocking up the back end. I did actually get some real work done on the car but I don't have any pictures yet. I pulled the radiator, carbs, and a lot of engine bay crap to prep the Z for removing the L24. At this point all that's left before the engine comes out is the driveshaft and the mount bolts.

I've always jacked up from the differential on my cars including the Z. I know its common practice with 240SX's. That's how we quickly change tires when drifting.

Nice looking work. Who is this by the way? I know a few of you over there but I don't know everyone's screen names. I didn't know anyone posted on HZ anyway. I'll have to drop by some time and see this beast.

That's a beautiful piece of work but I don't have the contacts to get something that fancy made. I can get a sheet metal pan made and welded together but I don't have any casting contacts and even so I suspect that the initial development investment would be so substantial that it would offset anything I could ever make for just swapped cars.

There seems to be some interest so I'll at least look into what it would take to get pans made. If its worth doing I'll start a thread about it. I'll also still be doing the motor mounts since I need them so look for more on that here.

I've seen it three times so far, once in imax and twice in the biggest theater that cinemark had to offer locally and loved it every time. In my opinion its a beautiful piece of storytelling and a visual masterpiece. Sure, you can complain that the storyline is a bit re-used but let's be honest - are there really that many truly unique stories out there that aren't just really strange. This story may be re-hashed but it is powerful because of how real it is. If you are one of the people out there (and I've talked to them) that say "I'll see it at home, why bother with the theater", go see it now. This is one of those movies that is an experience and even the best home system isn't going to do it justice - though I WILL have a copy on blu-ray when it comes out.

Sounds like the pan is the really desirable item. How about I ask a different question then: If I were to design a sheet steel or aluminum rear sump RB pan, how much would you pay for one? I have the resources to get pans made, I just need to see if they will bring enough money in to make it worth my while to make them.

I just saw this thread. Among the other things I do I have my own vinyl company http://www.sidewaysvinyl.com If the owners of the hybrid z name would like someone to do official graphics for the form I'd be happy to work something out that would contribute a few bucks to the forum to help cover operating costs and still be a reasonable price for forum members. I've done things like that for several other forums and its always worked out very well. If there's anything I can do, even if its just one-off custom logos, let me know.

Before I discuss anything let me get a prototype built and installed, I just wanted to see if anyone else was interested.

I'm aware of the McKinney parts - I used their 240SX kit for the original home of my RB25. I was more interested to see if there would me a market for something significantly less expensive that the user would assemble. I know that is a limited market but there seems that most Z enthusiasts also do their own mig welding, at least most of the serious enthusiasts. I suppose I could design a rear sump RB25 pan - it wasn't on my list of things to do since I have the NLA pan already and this was more of a "if I'm already doing it, maybe it'll help someone else out" sort of thing, but I'll take a look at what it would take to do.

I'm finally moving ahead with my Z build. I have my RB on a stand and I'm starting to think more about the fab work I'm going to do to mount it into the engine bay. I've recently made a contact with a water-jetting shop who has done some work for one of my other hobbies. I started thinking about it and it wouldn't be too difficult for me to design all of the steel pieces that I would need to make a set of mounts out of ahead of time and have them all jetted out so that they are nice, pretty, and ready to weld together. Now since to do this I'm going to have to do all the cad work for it anyway it stands to reason that there's no reason to stop at just making one set of these. If I do make these mounts they will be kits consisting of the polyurethane pucks, hardware, directions and pieces of steel ready to weld together yourself. I trust my welding to hold my own stuff together but I don't want the liability of welding motor mounts for anyone else. While I am still in the thinking about it stage and have not yet done any cad work or had any quotes made on getting the pieces done, I hope to come in well under what any of the mainstream mount sets will cost. If I can get something like this made, will there be any interest in it?

Thanks for the info. At least I won't spend a lot of time searching out what it is if its custom Time to start designing and fabbing my own air dam then.

More pics of your S13 subframe mounting please! I have a complete S13 rear subframe waiting to go into my Z with all SPL links and arms. I'm NOT looking forward to fabbing it in though and I'd love to see more pics of how to did the adapting work. Now back to your regularly scheduled drift build. Interesting set up with dual real calipers. All the FD drivers from my area (Texas) are running their hydro e-brakes plumbed into the stock real calipers. Ought to at least make plumbing easier, even if it does require some more fab work.

Good to know. I may give him a shout and see what parts he used for his conversion. I like the lip he's using, don't think I've seen it anywhere else.

Roostmonkey, that is the picture I was looking for! That, in black, lower with more offset and slightly stretched tires. Perfect!