78 RB26 260Z

[EF Ian]

I'm still planning on sticking an RB26 in this so thought a build thread would be a good idea. The first few posts are just copied:

 

 

 

 

 

Just bought my first Datsun and I'm really happy with it so thought I'd post some photos. I've still got loads to learn about these cars so I'm sure this forum will be a huge help.



1979 Datsun 260Z


Shes in great condition, only 28480 miles on her when I bought it although its not far of 29k now. She was built in 1978 but only first registered in 1979 and going by the chassis number she was one of the the last to be imported from Japan to the UK. Theres few photos with my Civic in them also, shes a 1991 Civic running a 243hp B20.


It drives beautifully, its had new bushes all round and with the low miles on the chassis it still feels really tight so its a joy to drive.







I have real big plans for her involving seam welding, cageing, hugely uprated suspension and brakes and an engine swap, I like the idea of a V10 because I love them but failing that I'd like an RB26DETT.

For now though the first mods will be:

Paint the brake calipers and drums
Polish up the lips on the wheels
Give the engine bay a good clean
Clean out the carbs
Do something with the rocker cover
Give her a full detail, I've already done the inside but the outside still needs done


After that lot I'll be fitting a bigger better airdam and a rear spoiler follwed by a good coilover setup with adjustable camber plates welded in as shes definitly too high at the moment. Then I'll have to fit the arch flares before I can fit my new wheels other wise they won't fit.





Photos

Sorry for the amount but I couldn't decide which to put up.

Edited September 7, 2014 by EF Ian

[EF Ian]

After a proper search for rust I did manage to find some unfortunatly. I found rust on the fuel tank, one of the chassis legs in the engine bay, both rear wheel arches and a little near the radiator. I took them all back to clean metal so hopefully thats an end to it.



Fuel Tank, noticed a few tiny spots of rust, but after removing the paint from those areas I found there were rust spots all over it and ended up stripping the whole thing, I managed to wire brush them all back to cleanish metal, then treated it with Bilt Hamber Deox Gel which did a good job before snading, cleaning and priming it prior to painting. It will do for now but I'll get a new tank at some point.








After:






Bay, got rid of all the rust, one advantage of a black bay is that its easy to match, what I've done will do for now, I'll be getting a full bare metal respray in the bay in the near future.










After:









I also sanded and painted the brake booster, unfortunatly it got some rain drops on it before it had fully dried and it ruined the finish a bit, but again it will do for now, thats not rust behind it btw, just grease.







Polished up the lips on the wheels a bit:







Got to work on the rear wheel arches, any rust I found was ground back to clean metal, sanded, cleaned, primed, painted and then undersealed:





P-side before:





P- side after:





Drivers side before:




During:




After, I also painted the brake drums.














While I will definitly be changing my brake setup for something much better I thought I might aswell smarten up the stock calipers for now, brakes aren't the first thing on my list so the stock ones will be staying for a while yet.

Wire brushed and cleaned my caliprs and deck bells ready for painting.
















Its pretty clean in the wheelarches and I didn't find any rust, however to make sure and also make the finish look a lot smarter I'll also strip it back to bare metal for a respray at the same time as I do the bay, I'll also be seam welding around that area anyway.




I polished and waxed the front end, I have since finished the car, but didn't get any chance to take photos.

















I drove 1000 miles in just less than 3 weeks and loved every mile of it, unfortunatly the car is now tucked safely away in an Air chamber and I went back to work today. I'll look forward to getting her out next and getting on with some modification.

[EF Ian]

I'm home for a week after finishing some more training so I got a chance to check out some of my new parts.

 

 

Airdam

 

 

Indicators for the Airdam

 

 

 

New PCV hose, bonnet adjusters and some new fittings for the inspection panels.

 

 

 

Carbon Fibre BRE style rear wing, very lightweight and rather nice looking:

 

 

 

Coilovers, should do a nice job, fully adjustable and the quality looks very good.

 

Cut off my stock shock and weld this part on

 

Camber plates to weld in, only fitting these to the front for now:

 

 

 

New fuel filter and thermostat, hood prop rod (will get this chromed) as mine is missing and second hand dome light as my switch is broken, will swap internals to my unit as its cleaner.

 

 

Relay to wire into headlights, should improve brightness and save my switch as at the moment power runs through the stalk switch to the headlights.

 

 

 

Red stiched gear gaiter, thought mine was a bit tatty:

 

 

Oil and Filter:

 

MM Billtet adaptors allow me to run a CV joint setup and get rid of the U-joints:

 

 

 

Z31T CV driveshafts

 

 

 

 

Billet alloy lock pulls:

 

 

 

 

Got more on the way although mostly now I just need parts for re doing the wiring, paints, ss bolts, etc. Looking to get a custom made alloy fuel tank as I haven't been able to find a decent decond hand tank, I'll get it built with a baffle setup and an in-tank Aeromotive 340lph pump.

[EF Ian]

Back on a 5 week Holiday so I've got this beast out again, been loving driving it the past few days. There are some big updates to come here in the next few days.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited January 12, 2014 by EF Ian

[ZT-R]

I have some parts if you need something ask. I may have it.

[tooquick260]

Awesome welcome to the 260z club. All your choices look great!! I vote for the RB26DET. Its your car make it yours!!

[EF Ian]

Big Update Time

 

 

So I arrived home to find a room full of parts awaiting me, it was like Christmas but better.    

 

 

Heres most of the parts ready to get sorted:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Got my parts back from getting chromed:

 

 

 

 

 

Stainless steel and chrome bolts/nuts/washer for the whole front end:

 

 

 

 

A selection of paints:

 

 

 

 

Solid front diff mount to replace the crappy strap, I can use the black bushing fitted as a snub so it only tocuhes when the diff moves up under power, if I find this not good enouth once I run more power I can fit the red bushing and have it solidly mounted.

 

 

 

 

Ok, so I blew way too mich money on my battery setup, but I just love it    Guess I must have a bit of carbon whore in me.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Battery through bulkhead fitting, as battery will be mounted behind the passenger seat:

 

 

 

 

Big electric fan to replace the viscous one, should make for quiter running, better cooling and better looks, electric thermostat and fitting kit also:

 

 

 

 

Most of the car is poly apart from the steering rack and arm bushes and the front anti roll bar mounts so as I'm going to be stripping the front end I'll finish it off, got some anti-roll bar mounts arrivng any day also:

 

 

 

 

Steering arm boots:

 

 

 

 

New CV boots for my driveshaft setup:

 

 

 

 

Custom made shorter and stonger shafts for the Z31T cv setup:

 

 

 

 

 

Billet stub axles with longer ARP stud bolts:

 

 

 

To go with the billet cv companion flange convertors:

 

 

 

4.11 Final drive for longnose R200:

 

 

 

 

 

No LSD yet but I will be getting an OS Giken 1.5 way CLSD:

 

 

 

 

New Wheel bearings:

 

 

 

 

New alternator with internal voltage regulator so I can get rid of the external one and tidy up the bay:

 

 

 

 

Some wiring covers and heatshrink:

 

 

 

 

Will make all my wiring look much neater (will use black heatshrink on the rest rather than red)

 

 

 

 

AZC Billet alloy shorter steering arms to quicken the steering with built in bumper steer spacers:

 

 

 

 

TTT Tension arms:

 

 

 

 

 

My gearshift boot was looking to tatty so I changed it to a much nicer one (from an ITR):

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

New Mats:

 

 

 

 

Fitted:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Brake Setup

 

Going to be running these bad boys on the front:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Painted the unswept area of the disk so it won't go rusty:

 

 

 

 

 

 

My Rear Setup, using this setup: http://forums.hybridz.org/topic/113199-yet-another-rear-drum-to-disk-conversion-option/ designed and supplied by Nigel White (Thanks Nigel) It will be getting installed shortly so my update will include what I think of the kit:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Painted up:

 

 

 

 

The pad will leave this with a nice clean edge:

 

 

 

 

Wilwood 1" Master Cylinder, reservoirs can be remote mounted but I won't be:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Brake Bias valve:

 

 

 

 

 

Good quality fluid:

 

 

 

 

 

And so they can fit under my wheels, some new wheels, will run these until I fit arch flares and then I'll move to wider Watanabes. They don't fit yet, but they SHOULD once I have my coilvers installed:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

My door pulls looked really bad, so I had to sort that:

 

 

 

 

Much better:

 

 

 

 

And finally a boring one, changed my thermostat yesterday:

 

 

 

Thats most of the parts that arrived, still a few more to come also, including my new custom built alloy fuel tank.

Edited January 12, 2014 by EF Ian

[EF Ian]

Changed my crappy old alternator for a more powerfull one with an internal voltage regulator, its a much better job, my interior and exterior lights now work better and brighter and I've got rid of the ugly external regulator:

 

Old One

 

 

 

 

New One:

 

 

 

 

Conversion Plug:

 

 

 

 

Gets rid of this thing:

 

 

 

Also changed my sump gasket, oil and filter:

 

 

 

And some more parts arrived with the sump gasket, bushes for the front anti-roll bar, new ball joints and a SS braided clutch line

 

[EF Ian]

Had a rather nice item turn up today.

 

 

 

[[/url]

 

 

 

 

My custom built Alloy Fuel Tank, built for me by Pro Alloy. Fits in the same as the original, I have it setup for use with carbs while I'm still running carbs but its also setup for a fuel injection setup and should be good to flow enouth for 600HP. Its got a proper intenal collector, baffles and is also filed with tank foam so I won't need to run an external surge tank. Its got a DeatschWerks DW300 fuel pump installed which can flow more fuel than I'll ever need.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Had to change my fuel sender type, this should be more accurate and takes up less room but also means my stock fuel guage won't work so I will use this:

 

Edited January 12, 2014 by EF Ian

[ZT-R]

Love the fuel tank, why is it limited to 600? only a 8an feed?

[EF Ian]

Love the fuel tank, why is it limited to 600? only a 8an feed?

Thanks. The tank itself is obviously good enouth for more than 600hp, but after 600hp I would likely need to add a second fuel pump.

 

 

Feeds are big enouth, did some checking up and even -6 should be enouth for more HP than I'll ever have, no point in going bigger as the outlet size from the pump is smaller so I didn't think there would be any point in going bigger than this.

[EF Ian]

My Nardi Steering Wheel turned up today    Along with a few fancy bolts:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This is actually nice to drive with, but it just hasn't got the looks of the Nardi:

 

 

 

 

 

Matches my red stiched gear gaiter perfectly

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Also since my new rubber arrived yesterday I went and got it fitted to a rim so I could test fit it on the car, using Toyo R1R's in 225/45/16. Test fitted it up and they fit the rear fine, doesn't fit the front yet but it will with the new coilovers so I've ordered another 3.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Quite a cool looking tyre:

 

 

 

 

Definitly looks better than the old rubber:

 

[EF Ian]

Been busy doing the wiring for my new fuel guage, takes a while to locate the correct wires and then do a neat job of running the wiring. One of the pistons on the drivers side caliper was sticking on, so I ordered up a new seal kit, took it out and gave it a good wire brushing, should do until I get my new setup on.

 

A few more parts have arrived:

 

 

New dust boots for my TRE's and new wheel nuts in 12x1.5 size to fit the new wheels and new wheel studs:

 

 

 

 

Switch for the fan, a few wiring connectors and crush washers and the fittings for my fuel tank. New clutch slave cylinder also as no sooner than I fixed my brakes than my clutch went, seemed it had been leaking for a while but only failed completly when I ran out of fluid, so got a new one ordered and fitted:

 

 

 

 

ARP Extended wheel studs for the front Hubs:

 

 

 

 

 

These fittings allow me to use 5/16 fuel line for the carb setup, once I start using the pump I will use braided SS AN type lines.

 

 

 

 

Installed and wired in switch for the Manual override for the electric fan:

 

 

 

 

Nothing too exciting there, but she is off to the bodyshop tomorrow, going to be a busy day and likely a busy two weeks, got lots to do.

Edited July 22, 2013 by EF Ian

[EF Ian]

I made some progress today:

 

 

 

Got the fuel Tank out, didn't get round to fiting the Pro-Alloy tank as I am going to get some stainless tank straps made up:

 

 

 

 

Got the engine out:

 

 

 

Front end is mostly stripped:

 

 

 

 

 

 

Won't be using most of this stuff again:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

How I left her at the end of today:

 

 

 

 

Still loads to do, but its a start. 

.

 

 

 

 

.

Edited July 22, 2013 by EF Ian

[EF Ian]

Bay is completly stripped and all unwanted brackets cut off;

 

 

 

 

Removed the battery tray as I have something much neater planned but also because its a well know place for rust, just as well I did as that was one of two places where I have a rust problem:

 

 

 

 

End of the day, on trailer ready to be taken for blasting tomorrow:

 

 

 

 

 

 

Engine is looking a bit cleaner also:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Managed to find time to polish an Evo X also, came out nice:

 

[EF Ian]

The car is away getting media blasted today, will either be back tomorrow or on monday.

 

 

 

I finished cleaning up the carbs, they are not great, but better than they were. Did a bit more work with the engine, the block seems to have changed color.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I took the steering arms, balljoints, brakes, discs and backing plates off the hubs ready to fit my coilovers, none of which will be going back onto them:

 

 

 

 

Got the new threaded tubes welded onto my hubs:

 

 

 

[skyline240z]

Do you need billet alum mounts for your rb engine.

[EF Ian]

Possibly, I was planning to go with the Mckinney mounts as from all the mounts I've looked at they seem to mount them engine the furthest back in the bay while still allowing the stock shifter position to be used and also come with a gearbox mount. If I could get alloy mounts that mount it in the same place then I'd probably go with them instead.

[ZT-R]

I have their 240 mounts, although the engine mounts are ok, the trans was a joke. I had to make a custom one to hold that kind of weight. Yes it fit but the weight at the given moment was just not a bolt on solution. The trans mounts on the 260 and 280 are different maybe they are better. Matter of fact i think i have a trans mount for one.

[EF Ian]

Which style of mount did you get with the Mckinney mounts? From what I see they do two, one looks a bit like the stock mount style and the other seems to bolt throguht the chassis and bends round under the transmission tunnel.