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HybridZ

My 1973 240z KA24de-t conversion


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I have had a love affair with the S30 chassis for a long time and found a decent chassis with minimal rust. I had been talking about buying one for so long that when the opportunity to purchase the car arose, my future wife didnt even give me **** for buying it. I knew from the beginning that I wanted it to be powered by a Ka24de with some boost, and I wanted to set it up for some track days. Enough about my love affair, here are some pics of my limited progress....

 

First thing first I wanted to make the engine run in the floor of my garage. I figured if I could wire it up to run in the floor, then I could definitely make it run in the new car. It was surprisingly easy to wire and make run.

 

This is the car before I started to take things out. The PO had taken out almost everything off this car, Everything....

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After a long day of cutting, tacking, cussing, and welding with my 8 dollars of scrap steel from clark iron and metal I got the engine about where I wanted. BIG THANKS TO MIKE AT TRACK ONE FOR THE HOOKUP ON THE KA FOR CHEAP!!!!!!!! (After I sold the automatic trans that came with the engine I have a whopping $50 in my driveline)

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I thought I had cleared the crossmember so my oil pan was not the lowest thing, but I then realized the corssmember was not fully bolted up......FAIL

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I gave up for the day and tried again the next weekend with better results

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Round 2....

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I am going to run Megan S13 coilovers on this car using some ingenuity and help from Xylmer. With his help we came up with a better design for the adapters that is about 1/3 of the weight of the zcc ones. I am by no means knocking his product just wanted to try my own thing. I got in a hurry and did not take photos of the install, but I will when I do the driver side.

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I went ahead and did the mod to delete power steering and run the water pump and alternator off one belt. This is achieved by using a single cam KA alternator brackets, and running a different size belt. You also have to run the single cam KA thermostat housing to clear the now moved alternator brackets. Hopefully Ill get some time this weekend to finish some wiring and finish the drivers side suspension. I cant wait until this thing will move under its own power. I already have antique tags for it lolz!

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Ok a little more progress today....

 

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First thing you do to put these coilovers on is sawzall straight through the lower strut.

 

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In this pic you can see the sleeve that was stuck (after it has been cleaned and loosened). The sleeves I am using in the front of the car are actually the megan ones that come with the 240sx coilover kit, but I cut all the brackets off because they are not needed.

 

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Here is me holding the sleeve ready to be beat on using a big hammer and a wood block (so I dont damage the threads on top). I went ahead and beveled the top of the cutoff strut and also beveled the bottom of the sleeve to help assist it to go on straight.

 

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This is the top of the strut tower where I cut the hole so my coilover will clear and be able to slide so I can adjust the camber. You can see where some of it is cut through and some of it was just scored. I found the best method to cut the rounded sections was to score it the best I could with the cutoff wheel, then use a body saw to finish it. This method actually worked very good.

 

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Here is the front after I got everything welded up.

 

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Now I just have to finish the rear.....

 

I also almost finished running the fuel supply line and am getting close on the wiring to at least hear it run. I just want to get all the work that I need a lift for done so I do not have to drive 20 minutes every time I want to work on it. To be honest I am a little overwhelmed at how much has to be done to this car to get it where I want it.... one day.

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^ So much hate! Can you pm me that info? Like where the kit is and how to section the tubes? I know s13 coils get low and are a similar set up to the z, compared to the civic coils which arent as similar. You z is still low one way or another lol.

 

Adam what is your power goals? Since its going on the track im assuming not 1000hp lol.

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You can slam on s13 shocks, you just have to section the tubes. It's simply easier with the kit available for the Megan coils. Unfortunately, the kit wasn't around when I did my coils.

 

I didnt use a kit. I had my rear sleeves machined through a machine shop and used the megan sleeves from the 240sx coilovers. My rear sleeves are lighter and are not stepped on the inside like the other peoples (I am by no means knocking he other brand Just stating why I did what I did). With the sleeves done this way you could probably slam the rear frame on the ground. But on the front with the megan sleeves I have it as low as I can go in my pictures. But on the other hand If you use emusa brand coilovers, the actual strut is shorter so a lower ride height can be achieved.

 

^ So much hate! Can you pm me that info? Like where the kit is and how to section the tubes? I know s13 coils get low and are a similar set up to the z, compared to the civic coils which arent as similar. You z is still low one way or another lol.

 

Adam what is your power goals? Since its going on the track im assuming not 1000hp lol.

 

I am looking to get around 400, but really anything over 300 and I am going to be happy with it.

 

I have been working on my car lately, got some more work done, still tons to go....

 

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Here is the rear lower control arm. I have obviously already cut and cleaned it up for welding.

 

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Here are the sleeves that I had made. These are better IMO because I can thread the coilover all the way down, where as the other ones you can buy are stepped in the inside to prevent it from threading all the way down.

 

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This is my sleeve pushed on waiting to be welded. I left about a 1/4 inch all the way around the bottom so I could weld the strut tube better.

 

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This is the sleeve welded up for good.

 

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I forgot to take a picture for the cutout for the camber plate on the top, so I snapped one from below. I didnt want to lower/raise the car again.... Sorry

 

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Here are the tops of the rear after I welded and faded the into the body. It came out looking pretty good If I may say so myself.

 

Thanks for looking!

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Just recently got this done on my car a last night, and it was quite some work. Its looking pretty good adam. Are you still able to turn the wheel without it running into the fender up front? Oh and nistune is still working great for me by the way, 4 years running!

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  • 1 month later...

Just recently got this done on my car a last night, and it was quite some work. Its looking pretty good adam. Are you still able to turn the wheel without it running into the fender up front? Oh and nistune is still working great for me by the way, 4 years running!

 

Yes I am able to turn the wheel with out rubbing, but I am running 15X9 -15 offset

 

I have been really bad about updating the build thread. But fortunately I have been pretty good about working on it when I have a free moment. New job + getting married + selling/purchasing a new home + working on z = no Hybrid Z updates. Sorry. I did finally get it to a point where I can drive it on Thursday and I was pretty excited because I wanted to take it to the ZATTACK show this weekend.

 

I had a good time at the meet. I saw a bunch of nice cars, got a ton of compliments from all different types of people, and got to meet several local z enthusiast that can help me source some of the hard to find parts I will need to complete my build.

 

Enough typing, here are a few pics Xylemer shot in his driveway. Dont be too critical of the pictures, he shot them in about 2 minutes while trying to diagnose an idling issue on my rusty junk. Enjoy!

 

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Here is the spook spoiler that I am thinking about trying to get from Xylemer. He put it on a timer so we could hold it in place to see what it looked like. I am too fat to be laying on the ground....

 

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Yes that is as low as i could go with the Megan coilovers while still keeping preload on the springs. If you went with the emusa coilovers you could go lower in theory because they have a shorter body.

 

With all that said, there is no way that i would go lower and still drive on the street. I have about 1.5 inches of clearence on my crossmember from the ground.

 

Thank you for the compliments on the car!

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Love it!! Looks flippen fantastic man, the wheels are the best of course. The stance is just spot on, I think a 16in wheel would fill it in perfectly or even spacers like 38mm in the rear and 25 in the front with the zg flares. Looks amazing right now though. Definitely will shape up to an amazing z (is if it wasnt already :3 ).

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Was wondering what happened to this build. Really like how its been coming along. Was really hoping for it to come along quicker, been woorking on a KA swap around the time of your 1st post... but now plans almost changing for a L28et; can't decide on modern vs the old clasic setup with carbs! Love the sound to much to switch over to anything but L series

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