'71 240z freestyle build, an epic chronicle of failure and love

[ahbeyra]

First and foremost, I would like to apologize to everyone with those super sweet z cars that opted not to molest them.  This will make you cringe.  Some of you will probably love this build more than you should.  I have been a SUPER long time lurker here, as I have been tooling on this car for the better part of 7 years, 4-5 hours at a time, 3 months at a time.  One thing of note, is that I stayed on a very slim budget for the most part, cheap as possible, expensive as necessary.  I did have some non-negotiable goals, one of which was taking a lot of inspiration from the Shelby Daytona car... My true love in life.  

 

Now before more long story, some z pr0n.  These were the pictures I was provided with when responding to an ad for a super cheap 240z 6 hours from me.  I didn't afraid.

 

 

 

 

It was every bit as aweful as it looked in those pics.  When we went to load it on the car dolly, the rear end seized and we had to pull the drive shaft anyway so we just wheeled it around on the jack to get it to the dolly.  The fuse box also tried to catch fire, the car ran on even after ignition was off, it had a aquafina bottle as an "nhra legal" overflow lololol... the seller was kind, but man, he was really trying to sell this pile.  At this time it had a small block Chevy 305 and a th350 in it already with a custom driveshaft already made. So I was stoked that a lot of the work was done for me.  This was not a blessing, literally everything the previous carsmith had done was brutally wrong and was shady in one way or another and really just sucked and didnt work.  couldnt catch all gears, super drive line problems, suspension felt like it was going to fall off on decel(later found out that a tire on the front was literally full of water, only after installing all new poly bushings on the whole car), seats moved a lot but were power seats with no power, I mean, holes in every panel, completely destroyed wiring harness with countless shorts.  You know, a real mans tear provoking nightmare.  And I welcomed it.

 

Now, I started this pretty young, and have gone through many life stages while working on it, changing my outlook a little at  a time.  The first 2 years with the car, I was unmarried and renting a house with a tiny carport.  It was hard to do much, but since I purchased the car very cheap, I decided my next tax refund would go towards things like all new weather stripping(which ended up sitting in a box for 4 years) and a body kit to kind of modernize the look, but not be too ricy... failed that kinda.  I wanted the perfect blend of muscle and import.  I feel like it worked out well in the end, a lot of things would have been done differently if I started it again today, but fukkit.  A big part of this project was learning to fabricate and do body work and all that fun stuff.  What I realized was I hate body work and take my hat off to people who do it well.  I had a few things I did great, but I really did not have the patience for it after waiting to really drive the thing for 6 years.  I ended up just sealing the body with a nice epoxy primer so that I can further build and finish the body work some winter in the garage I now have.  I just shot it with a cheap rustoleum job and put the glass back in and drove the hell out of it for a day until I realized it wouldnt really shift anymore.

 

 

 

 

Then some where in between the putting the body kit on and actually painting it, I got married, bought a house, became a foster parent... lots going on, even less time and money for the car.  Progress was slow, but one spring I just sat down and steeled my will with the only option I had.  Sort out the impossible.  I had been stopped by the 5 speed swap failure of the previous spring.  But I decided to figure it out.  The drivetrain was a complete mashup, sbc v8 into the mythical jeep bell housing from the iron duke, into a ford pattern t5 out of a 96 v6 camaro 5 speed, into the original custom driveshaft into an r200 lsd out of the 280z.  All of the hydraulics were also from a jeep.  I had many problems getting this bell housing to actually work, despite seeing people all over the internet saying it was a sure thing, yet no one ever actually doing it themselves and having details, or the details that some could find referring to Napa part numbers that haven't existed for a decade.  Neat.  Well internet, despair no longer, for I have made it work!  Details will be in another post, because this is going to be a huge convoluted post even without that juju.  

 

Painted Pics!

 

 

As of a month or so ago, I have been tearing up the streets in this new ride, it still has tons and tons of work to be even close to finished, but it is SO fun to drive anyway.  No interior, jank gauge mount... lack of gauges... you know, the optional equipment  Between last year and this year, the brake system decided it was its final year of life as far as rubber goes, so I had to completely redo it, I took advantage of that to install a disc brake conversion on the rear(I know, its heavy but it was 120 bucks more than all of the parts i had to put into the factory old drums and it felt wrong), new soft lines, new hard lines, new calipers and pads up front, new booster, and a new master.  She stops real nice now.

 

Now, I would like to say, that I tried to take good pictures, but I failed, and I am going to show you guys anyway, because I have no shame.  I mean, I drove that thing around the way it looks and loved it.  It is for me to enjoy as a street legal go-kart and nothing more.  Just a toy to be abused.  

 

MOAR PICS!

 

 

I will try to be a active for a bit to answer questions people may have about putting parts that should never be together into one of these things, I have learned A LOT.  I mean, nothing on that is stock anymore but the gas tank, headlights, and the front calipers...  everything else came from some other donor... chevy, jeep, nissan, mazda, ebay, and other datsuns.  yay.

[ahbeyra]

I guess I could elaborate more on project specifics, like cost.. 

 

1. Super janky 240z with jank boat anchor motor - $1000

2. Weatherstripping kit and Body kit - $700

3. Poly bushing kit - $175

D. New rims - $440

5. set of super nice takeoff cobras - $189.99

6. Bunch of steel - $144

7. box of gauze and hydrogen peroxide - $6

8. tetanus shot booster - priceless

9. all of the things to follow the lunati 343 hp 305 sbc build(super lucked out on some parts used on CL) -  $400

10. new windshield, trim, and all kinds of bonus goodies off of CL - $100

11. new carb - $383

12. T5 trans out of pull a part - $86

13. jeep bell housing and hydraulic bits - $300

14. Selling parts i didnt need - +$650

15. complete brake overhaul - $750

16. rustoleum and acetone - $22

17. epoxy and high build primer - $260

18. estimated nickle and dime parts and junk - $400

 

TOTAL: 4,705.99 over 7 years

 

probably forgot something, but that seems pretty accurate.

[NewZed]

Reads a bit like Beat generation.

[ahbeyra]

I am not sure if that is a good thing or a bad thing, I am familiar with it, but as literature that is quite subjective.  It was pretty difficult to sum up 7 years of work into a somewhat legible post.  I will try to work out the kinks.  I am sorry if it does not conform to forum standards, if that is a problem I will rectify it as quickly as possible.

[NewZed]

Stream of consciousness writing,  Thoughts as they come to mind.  It is what it is.  No rules broken, no usable information given either.  Looks fun.  Interesting story.  Not sure what to do with it.  Some details are janky, like LSD from a 280Z.  Build on it and see where it goes.  Welcome.

[ahbeyra]

You do bring up a good point, there was not much in terms of usable information.  There is some usable information in a post in the tech board, about the transmission here.  As for the lsd from a 280z, literally the only detail I was told by the previous owner that I did not validate any further than laying two stripes on the ground.  Maybe someone can help me with where it came from in reality then.  These were the best pics of it I could get at the moment.

 

In one pic you can see an extra eye for a long bolt on the driver side of the nose, maybe that is a clue as to what it came out of.  

 

Are there any tidbits of information that you think would be particularly useful outside of the transmission adoption?  It seems like a pretty straightforward build compared to some of the other wild things the great people of this forum do.  Half-assed even, mostly never posted because I was a bit ashamed of the level of work compared to some of the talent here.

[BluDestiny]

All Diff casing will look the same, you'd need to pull the rear cover off to check. Unless you lucked out and he has an LSD installed before he left it to rot. 

[clocker]

Jeez, lighten up and take some credit- you brought a half dead project car back to life and drive it...that's no small feat.

 

There are infinite paths to take when building up a car and none are inherently superior. You set goals and then make whatever compromises necessary to get there. I promise that you could chose the most "perfect" Z you've ever seen and the owner could pick out flaws...there just is no such thing as "finished" when it comes to this level of involvement.

 

An avid junkyard denizen myself, I'm particularly appreciative of the variety of donor cars you employed. Before I stopped counting, I'd pulled from twenty different donors for our car and it almost became a point of pride that no original Datsun parts were used.

 

You could expound a little on the biggest, most obvious bodywork project- the rear end.

Not sure I'm a fan but it must have been a lot of work.