1971 N1-RB26-240z Project Hugo

[mull]

Hey there,

 

Welcome to my project, for whatever reason named "Hugo" (it sounds cute)

 

 

This story begins somewhere here and there. "There" being the first time I saw

Darius bad ass 240z tearing up the streets. Guess he's to blame anyway. A friend

in Sydney, Australia, is to blame as well. Got acquainted with his first 240z

when visiting aussie-land for a 4 month long vacation. That Z was pretty much

stock. Orange. Sweet enough! After me bumming around the country for a month

or two - George (that's the Z-holics name) - let me know that he'd sold the 240

and gotten... Another 240z. This one sporting custom wishbones, a V8, custom

fuel cell, etc etc. How could I not be hooked?

 

I just had to get one of my own!

 

This is where I ran into problem No.1 - There aren't any 240z's in Sweden.

Well, there are - but they're pretty rare and don't often come on sale, and if

they do, they're a bit pricy.

 

What to do? Import of course. Me and Ebay are friends, so that's where I headed.

Found me a black 1971 240z that I thought would be an ok object to start out with.

I bought it and had it shipped to Sweden. While in Gothenburg harbour, some smartass

ran a forklift into my Z - great.

 

This dented the hood, crippled the right front fender and light bucket - breaking

its cover. Yay! Or maybe not. Anyway. I got the car back to Stockholm, after

driving it there (about 350 miles) at 25 mph due to the transporter not performing

its very best...

 

Then came the tear-down. Lots of interesting materials were found. Not much of it

was metal. Tons of bondo, fiberglass, epoxy, etc. The floors had been patched up

with pieces of sheet metal - riveted and screwed (regular philips head screws) to

stay put. On top of this mess was fiberglass.

 

The car had lived its life in Missouri, and it was probably happy to see Chicago

and a way out - cause man, this Z turned out to be pretty rotten (which was funny

cause the ebay auction said "NO RUST").

 

I'm a bit tired, writing this, and I'm sure most of you will just skip straight

to the pictures and vids anyway - so I'll keep it pretty short from here on.

 

The body was stripped and sent to sand blasting. It came back from sand blasting.

It went south, to Swedish Composite Engineering (http://www.sce.se), where the likes of

Michael and Richard were to bring the Z back to life. You might think "What the

heck has 'composite engineering' to do with panel beating and rust repairs?".

 

The answer is that Richard also works as a sheet metal worker (mostly doing roof jobs -

church-roofs/details, etc) and therefore pretty handy with fabricating parts

and welding. Later on SCE will support the project with custom carbon fiber parts.

For instance, the dashboard has been restored by permanently glueing a dash cap

to the original (which looked like utter crap) and then sanding out the major

differences in height - after which fiberglass bondo was added, sanded down and

a little more bondo was added, and sanded down. And so on. It's now ready for

paint - in order to make a mold - to make a carbon dash. Yum.

 

More parts, like the rear hatch, hood, center console, etc - will hopfully also

see molds and carbon fiber copys made. Still a bit of time before the project

gets that far.

 

I'll keep the car looking pretty stock - keeping the side skirts, front air dam

and hatch wing that came with the car. Rear flares will most likely be added to

accomodate a wide set of 18" tall rims/wheels.

 

Not much else will be left stock. The plan is to switch all gauges from original

to Autometer Pro Comp Ultra Lite. Throw out the old engine/gearbox and replace

it with a RB26 with a RB25 gearbox. How original eh?

 

This is part of the recipe: Modified RB26 N1 block. ARP studs for head and bottom

end, modified cylinder head, Crower billet rods, wiseco pistons, Nismo bearings,

N1 oil pump, N1 water pump, HKS steel gaskets everywhere. That's the start of it

anyway. Responsible for putting the engine together is my sponsor, Performance

by Z - pretty appropriate name eh? More to come on the engine. Project is still on

rust repair... Speaking of which - special thanks to POR-15 Sweden for hooking me

up with paint! And speaking of rust - after sand blasting - there wasn't much of

a car left (as you'll see in the pictures).

 

Yeah, well... Bla bla bla. Check out the movies (they'll STREAM) and have a look

at the pictures to get an idea of where the project is at now.

 

 

Cheers

/Philip

 

——Pictures (some of 'em)——

 

1: Car arrives in Gothenburg

 

 

 

2: Teardown

 

 

 

3: Somewhat... Stripped

 

 

 

4: Sand blasting

 

 

 

5: Not much Z left

 

[mull]

6: Going to the metal "spa" at SCE (http://www.sce.se) in Norrköping

 

 

 

New floors on the way

 

 

 

The reinforcements, that along with a subframe, will be mounted underneath the floor pans

 

 

 

Who needs gas anyway? New cap and placement coming...

 

 

 

Metal termites?

 

 

 

Work in progress!

 

 

 

New high-tech wood/metal chair

 

 

 

More work in progress

 

 

 

Reinforcement plate...

 

 

 

...for the rear hatch plate

 

 

 

 

Woop woop

 

 

 

Richard is the **** - no doubt about it. Mr Metal

 

 

 

New battery tray coming along well - battery will be placed in the hatch though

 

 

——Video Updates [click to stream, or right click and save it——

• http://www.voodoo-people.com/~daz/mull/wmv/mull@hugo01.wmv

• http://www.voodoo-people.com/~daz/mull/wmv/mull@hugo02.wmv

• http://www.voodoo-people.com/~daz/mull/wmv/mull@hugo03.wmv

• http://www.voodoo-people.com/~daz/mull/wmv/mull@hugo04.wmv

• http://www.voodoo-people.com/~daz/mull/wmv/mull@hugo05.wmv

• http://www.voodoo-people.com/~daz/mull/wmv/mull@hugo06.wmv

• http://www.voodoo-people.com/~daz/mull/wmv/mull@hugo07.wmv

• http://www.voodoo-people.com/~daz/mull/wmv/mull@hugo08.wmv

• http://www.voodoo-people.com/~daz/mull/wmv/mull@hugo09.wmv

• http://www.voodoo-people.com/~daz/mull/wmv/mull@hugo10.wmv

• http://www.voodoo-people.com/~daz/mull/wmv/mull@hugo11.wmv

• http://www.voodoo-people.com/~daz/mull/wmv/mull@hugo12.wmv

• http://www.voodoo-people.com/~daz/mull/wmv/mull@hugo13.wmv

• http://www.voodoo-people.com/~daz/mull/wmv/mull@hugo14.wmv

• http://www.voodoo-people.com/~daz/mull/wmv/mull@hugo15.wmv

• http://www.voodoo-people.com/~daz/mull/wmv/mull@hugo16.wmv

• http://www.voodoo-people.com/~daz/mull/wmv/mull@hugo17.wmv

 

 

——Project forum [click "uppdateringar" and have a look around...]——

• http://forums.voodoo-people.com/mull

[mull]

Once again, thank you so much for all the kind/uplifting/cheerful comments!! :)

 

Here are some pics of the latest and greatest. Video is en route during the week hopefully

 

Last picture showing the original... Crap

 

...Chop chop...

 

...Buh'bye now

 

Mounts stripped from the original frame rails

 

Welded to the passenger side fire wall!

 

Inside/front (passenger side) - sweet stuff

 

Johan - guilty - welding deluxe He holds a license.

 

Sewing it together...

 

...Subframe's shaping up

 

...inside...

[mull]

...welding's done

 

Subframe coming along

 

Johan + Hugo = true? Either way, he loves his welds

 

Floor's been cut and adjusted for welding/grinding

 

Cover to keep stock look and to keep dirt out.

 

Moving along...

[mull]

WTF is Pimp My Ride?

 

POR-15 + dust = true. LOL

 

18"? Chrome? Bling? Is that something you eat?

 

Subframe connects to the rear

 

More rust fixed, yey!

 

Handsome!

 

Floor fixed

 

Closing time =)

 

Richard, welding!

 

So pretty

 

Charming

 

Hugo thought the plastic made him look younger.

[mull]

Dash being sprayed.

 

 

N1 Oil and N1 water pumps..

 

 

 

Some candy arrived at PBZ today! : )

 

 

Two mysterious boxes, I wonder what's inside?

 

I have NO clue as to what's in this one ; )

 

Whaddayaknow! Pistons! : )

 

Yep, I'll be damned - PISTONS!

 

Crower connecting rods...

 

...yum : )

[mull]

Update : )

 

Sandblasting No.2 is finished.

 

 

Here he is, the little bugger : )

 

Battery tray. Loving it! : )

 

Drivers side whatever-its-called-mount : D

 

Battery tray and firewall - add some compressed air and sand - ét voila!

 

The floors are longing for some epoxy primer : )

 

Before and after : )

 

 

 

 

 

I love Allblästring!

 

Tomorrow it's time for "Hugo" to say hello to some epoxy primer : )

[mull]

YAY! : )))

 

 

 

 

 

 

[mull]

more pics:

Yeah, I know it's not smooth as a babys bottom - it will be though =)

... And yes - the fender flares will be chopped off eventually and custom

made metal flares will be installed in their place. But for now it's heading

for bondo. FOR NOW. I promise : )

 

 

[mull]

Latest batch of pics

 

 

"Forgot" to remove the old "trolley" wheels before paint. No worries though.

More paint later on - once they're gone.

 

 

Sent off, back home. Currently installed in the rotissery - waiting for the

caulk/putty/yada-yada-stuff-to-keep-moisture-dirt-etc-out-of-the-welds-and-seams : )

[mull]

Pics of the day :

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Despite numerous passes inside the rocker panels using a vaccuum cleaner and compressed air: There's still stuff in there. Not anymore though =)

 

 

[mull]

Thanks for the positive feedback! Me love you long time! ; D

 

Today I picked up some stuff from sand blasting. Powder coating awaits.

 

 

 

And no - I won't be keeping the brakes. Thought I might sell them once they're restored though.

 

 

Apparently someone thought that the driver side door should open

a bit more - and used force to have it their way. Or maybe someone

forgot the door was open - while reversing. Who knows.

 

What I do know. is that this crap is gonna need some welding before it's

powdercoated. No sh*t sherlock? Ugh. To tired to write more (6 am) : D

 

Sealing is finished! Well, 98% at least. There's always some place overlooked.

Main object today was to seal up the small gap between the floor and rocker.

So I did, and every other tiny gap I could find - around the door openings, the

hatch, windshield, etc.

 

After that was done with, I felt like doing something ... Different. So I decided

my ugly R180 diff needed some cosmetic surgery á la Bling. I had some 800 and

1200-grit paper laying around. Plus I found some polish. Whatever... : )

 

I might finish it and put it on Ebay, lol

 

 

 

 

 

 

[mull]

More not-so-necessary blingin', just for fun : )

 

...added some filler to the firewall to smooth it out. Still waiting for the people

with welding skills to have some free time. *sigh*

 

 

 

 

[mull]

Seats.

 

 

I figured it would be nice to have some pedals. So here they are.

 

 

 

Many thanks to Mark for hooking me up : )

 

Here's where the engine build up is at ... Didn't get too great pics of this since

I was busy filming it. Hopefully #17 turns up online before or during the weekend!

 

Enjoy : )

 

 

 

[mull]

Flare suggestion from my metal handyman Viktor of http://www.darensteel.com

 

They're about 60 mm per side - about 2.5 inches. I'll test fit these and see

if I want to go wider or if it'll do. Switching to a Skyline or 240sx/200sx rear

end is going to add about 40-50 mm per side.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Here we go! New Chrome moly cage almost ready. There'll be no new video

dedicated to the process this time though. No re-runs here. Haha : )

 

Stay tuned to see the new panorama sunroof... ; )

[mull]

 

At first glance, the R32 GTS cradle/IRS seems alot wider than the 80 mm I've

read about (that is, 80 mm compared to the stock 240z). It's not exacly what

I'd like to call lightweight but hey, it was free ... And perspective

in the picture is a bit misguiding.

 

We'll see what happens.

 

Here's the wider version - approx. 100 mm. And the rear IRS has been

dragged in place to see if things even remotely line up : P

 

 

 

[mull]

This thread has been sleeping for way too long, if you ask me. That's what two mighty brave

souls thought too. This is why they've volunteered to get the project up and running once again. Meet Huddinge Kustoms.

 

Time to mount the rear suspension, seats, pedals, seatbelts and so on in its place.

 

It's been a long time coming - but here it is - part 18 : )

 

Enjoy!

 

 

PICS

 

Big whee... No weels keep on rollin'!

 

The Skyline suspension put in place. Kind of anyway. Andreas to the right.

 

Henrik drilling out some spot welds.

 

Very nice.

 

Rear suspension is gossiping with the spare wheel tub. It's for sale.

 

Rear rails gone. More chopping up to be done...

 

Aluminium bushings for the rear suspension.

 

Always good to have some mounts as well...

 

 

FILM

 

YouTube

 

640x360

MIrror 1: http://www.voodoo-people.com/~daz/mull/wmv/mull@hugo18.wmv

Mirror 2: http://rapidshare.com/files/68425592/mull_huddingekustoms_part1_360.wmv

 

1280x720:

Mirror 1: http://www.voodoo-people.com/~daz/mull/wmv/mull@huddingekustoms_part1_720p.wmv

Mirror 2: Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3

 

I'm pretty much overwhelmed right now. I used to apply a saying, by a wise swedish childrens comicbook

turtle - Skalman, to this build. The saying (roughly translated) is: Hurry slowly. When Huddinge Kustoms

took the reins, they kicked Skalmans saying right off the wagon and put rockets on it. So uh... How many

days did it take to construct, build and finish the R32 Skyline IRS-swap? Answer: 2 days. Sure sure, there

are some welds still to be done - but I'm *bleep* blown away by the progress made in the last few days.

 

In fact, my brain is starting to melt down - so here are some (23) pictures of todays progress!

 

Oh, one more thing: mull Huddinge Kustoms

 

 

Like I said, chopping up - not yet finished.

 

 

Mr Andreas - aka. chop-meister aka. Rear-IRS-master: D

 

 

See where the massage has been placed?

 

Some muscle-breakage occurred (not to much surprise) thus, Hugo needing some attention.

 

 

And grinding.

 

 

Sore muscles fixed up : )

 

 

Chop chop. Bloody rust! Death, rust and taxes, I tell you.

 

 

Some L-profiles welded in place to hold the measuring device.

 

 

This is what all tape measures dream of being reincarnated as : )

 

 

After measuring, Andreas started cutting up some square tubing.

 

 

...in order to have something to mount the front mounts to.

 

 

No holes = no mounting = break out the drill!

 

 

Chop chop!

 

 

Stepping it up a notch further. Tubing inside the square piping.

 

 

Weld.

 

 

Welding inside - who needs Intel? : )

 

 

And in a flash, all mounts were done!

 

 

No words needed. I'll do some cheering instead! WOop woop! : D

 

 

Pretty tight fit : )

 

 

Some flares might be needed - the tires are 185 wide : P

 

 

Andreas is pretty pleased with the progress as well : )

 

Like I said, very very pleased Andreas - My smile is twice as wide : )))

 

 

And this is what it looks like from the side. More to come...!

 

Even after this monster (spoiler) update, there's a new video coming

sometime in the near future. I just have to try to make room for the

video on my harddrive : )

 

Woop woop! : )

 

Pretty much everything is now in place. Have my sights on a pair of

300zx aluminium spindles, complete with brakes, rotors and 5-lug hubs.

 

Last pic is just testing what a 265 wide tire would look like.

 

Henrik och Andreas - aka Huddinge Kustoms : )

 

 

 

 

Negative camber for teh win. Shocks aren't in proper place, cut spring, no hicas. It's a mess : )

 

 

/me is very satisfied with the progress.

 

 

The shifter seems to have gone astray though : (

 

 

Back to the boring garage...

 

 

Hugo's trying on some new shoes.