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HybridZ

Luna: The cause of, and solution to, all of my problems


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16 hours ago, rossman said:

It's a great looking car.  Job well done! 

 

thanks!

 

 

15 hours ago, seattlejester said:

Nice plate, and congrats! Super happy for for you!

 

It's been a while coming. And teaching myself has presented a lot of learning curve...but I don't regret any second of it after driving the car. It's all worth it.

 

 

 

37 minutes ago, supernova_6969 said:

nice work indeed.   must be awesome after pretty much making her yourself.

 

tell me, with a t3, when does boost come on?  (rpm-wise)

 

seb

 

yeah, there is very little actual stock Datsun left on this car....I have either touched, redesigned, or upgraded virtually every major component in the car. The ONLY thing I didn't do myself was corner balancing, alignment, and fine tuning the idle on the dyno.

 

otherwise, it's all me.

 

It does feel amazing having done all of the work myself. The car is a constant reminder of how far I've come in all aspects of skill. From painting skill to welding to just general and theoretical automotive knowledge....I am shocked at how far I've come.....I knew very little about cars, aside from an addiction, when I started this project.

 

I also had NO idea this car would potentially gain magazine status.....that's fuckin' nuts.

 

 

On my current setup the car feels supercharged. Full boost (granted, only 5-6psi) hits at right over 2500 rpm, and will pull strong until about 5500 rpm, when the car starts to lose its juice. It wants more boost. But I am being VERY conservative, as this is now my primary daily driver, as I find a suitable replacement for my E30 which was totaled by a snowplow this winter.....RIP girl....I miss you. You deserved better.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

215 miles in. Still a car!  Woot!

 

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Edited by OldAndyAndTheSea
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Tonight, after work, I decided to putter on the 240.

not having door handles was getting tiresome, so I installed some Porsche RS style handle pulls. I opted for the red set to match the seatbelts, and also for some better visibility for "ohshit!" grabbing. haha

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I could have mounted them like this.....but that's too easy, and it looks like garbage...

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...so I took it one small step further..Choppity chop chop..

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I really really really like how they turned out. Exactly what I had hoped for. I will be replacing the temporary fasteners with something a bit more appropriate. These are just to see the proof of concept.

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simple. lightweight. clean.


I'm a fan.

 


...also got the rear tow hook bolted in place. The front will take a little finagling, but I'll knock that out in the near future.

 


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I can't get over the grip this thing has.....I still haven't broken traction. haha

 

 

I love it.

Edited by OldAndyAndTheSea
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Tonight was spent modifying my A pillar gauge pod, preparing it to be flocked.


The gauge pod was originally meant for a NA Mazda Miata, and was much too wide. You could see all my wires with the pod mocked in place.

so out came the heat gun....which worked surprisingly well.

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Slowly working my way up the lip, molding it to the weatherstrip, and then trimming off any new excess.

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Looking fairly haggard, but it conforms nicely.

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HOLY shit does my windshield need to be cleaned. Christ. Forgive that.

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Tomorrow it's gonna get flocked. Cool.

Edited by OldAndyAndTheSea
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Instead of flocking it today, I decided to do it late last night/early this morning, so it could be curing to the touch when I slept. It's got a couple more hours before I can carefully handle it and install it.

But here are a couple sneak peaks. I forgot how much flocking changes the appearance....all of a sudden this fifteen dollar piece of plastic looks expensive. haha.

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Yay! Now maybe I can have the car all back together then take it for a ride. The weather isn't terrible today, so I didn't want to waste the day waiting on cure.

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I was able to delicately mount it in the car today. Now it can hurry up and cure fully.

I get by with a little help....from my welting. I'm telling ya, this shit's gold!

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Good enough for the girls I go with....Honestly not bad for roughly 20 dollars total investment. Really happy with the result.

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And to confirm I put everything back together correctly I started it up and brought it out to the end of the driveway. On display, haha. Being in the sun will speed up the flocking.

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14 hours ago, rturbo 930 said:

Sooo.... wanna tell us about that red thing in your garage?

 

Haha! Caught me. That is a 1978 280z that I backdated with a bunch of 240z stuff, and painted for a Canadian gentleman. If you'd like I could copy and paste my thread from another site and upload that here. There was some pretty awesome rust repair that went into that one. He is hopefully coming to get his car, and a boat I fixed for him by the weekend, or early next week.

 

here's a link to that thread. It's got a shit ton of pictures.

 

http://forums.vwvortex.com/showthread.php?9043433-1978-Datsun-280z-quot-resto-mod-quot-Progress-Thread

 

 

 

Some teasers.

 

 

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I can make the same thread on Hybrid if people feel that may be cool. Then perhaps the owner could take control of the thread and keep it updated throughout the life of his car.

 

Twinning is winning.

 

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13 hours ago, seattlejester said:

^Or the green thing outside? 

Not sure if you mean the composter (the cubic looking thing next to the fence and driveway). Food scaps and other organic material are thrown in there, and over the course of a few months it is rotated to transform the contents into excellent soil, rich in nutrients, to supplement with yearly planting.

 

 

Edited by OldAndyAndTheSea
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Pretty good backdate, and nice save. I don't know if I've ever seen roof rust that bad - with the exception of a very early car that a guy in Australia had fixed. I have a series one car with rust in that area on both sides (and other areas). Wasn't really planning on fixing it, but who knows.

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3 hours ago, seattlejester said:

I gotta get my eyes checked, primer grey, but I suppose that thing turned into the red thing!

 

Not bad for a 2 month come up. It was nice getting some Z time in while my car was tucked away nice and warm in storage.

 

 

 

 

45 minutes ago, rturbo 930 said:

Pretty good backdate, and nice save. I don't know if I've ever seen roof rust that bad - with the exception of a very early car that a guy in Australia had fixed. I have a series one car with rust in that area on both sides (and other areas). Wasn't really planning on fixing it, but who knows.

 

Yeah, any Z guy will know immediately that it's not a 240z, but it'll fool most. The 77-78 body wasn't doing me any favors...especially with the bumpers..

 

 

That rust definitely originated from a hole, filled with bondo, that leaked. Definitely a-typical. I think the hole may have started at the lead roof seam...most of the rust on the car came from sloppy previous repairs...which I guess makes sense...these cars weren't worth the money, at the time, to invest in proper metal replacement....so it got bondo.....and then some more bondo....and some more on top of that....

 

 

It's gonna be a great driver. I am excited for the owner.

Edited by OldAndyAndTheSea
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  • 2 weeks later...

Couple random shots from driving it around. The car has developed a lean condition that I am currently investigating and diagnosing. Cruising and idle AFRs are good, it starts to lean out at partial throttle, and while under boost.....fuel pressure and the pump seem to check out. Clamping the return line pegs the pump at just under 90 psi, so I don't believe it to be a restriction issue.

 

While I do that I am finishing up little details here and there each night. It's pretty cathartic to be able to work on this thing each evening, as it idles away, and I test various systems. I did the first stage of paint correction. It finally feels smooth again. Time to take it down a bunch of dirt roads...haha.

 

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Tonight I added a v-band and a section of flex pipe to the downpipe, as to allow for some movement in the system and to take some stress off of the downpipe bolts...I'll probably safety wire those eventually, but this whole exhaust is very temporary until I source a new turbo...but for now, and for what I have into it, it'll suffice.

 

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Edited by OldAndyAndTheSea
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  • 2 weeks later...


So when the car first came home, it actually had two very small pin holes develop in the tank, which I neglected to mention....I patched them up, through the power of composites, and hoped that would be the end of it.

All the while....in the back of my head, experiencing these reoccurring lean conditions, I couldn't help but think the tank is probably my underlying problem.

So last night, on another routine check under the car I inspected the tank again....and by just wiping it down with a trashed microfiber it sprung yet another leak.....

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this cannot bode well for the inside condition of the tank.....it's gotta be the source of my leaning out. I imagine the pickup and screen, if still in tact, is probably full of debris...but still can pass enough fuel for idle, and light cruising. Again....logic would dictate that the fuel tank would be the obvious suspect. Here's hoping.


So I ended up contacting a gentleman in Florida, Doug at Fever Racing, who builds what I would argue the most robust and well designed aluminum fuel cell for these cars ever. Mine is going to essentially be a replica of the oem tank, however it will have an internal Walbro 255 mounted within the tank, eliminating my external filter and pump setup.

 

These things are works of art. It will be the final piece that really sets the rear/underside of the car off. My fuel tank was definitely the weak link both visibly and physically (apparently).

 

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He also wants some carbon door panels and a console, so we will work out a bit of a trade deal when the time comes, which is cool, as this is a $2,000 fuel cell and pump setup. But I want the car to be robust and future proof. This is the answer.

 

 

The lead time is claimed to be two weeks.....so until then it looks like the Z will most likely sit in the garage and I'll work out the last mechanical and electrical kinks in the meantime.

 


Like installing my new shift boot and parking brake boot. White stitching to match the rest of the interior. Very pleased with these pieces. Came from England.

 

 

Before

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I still haven't detailed the interior......gah I wanna do that so badly.


In due time, Andy....in due time.

Edited by OldAndyAndTheSea
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  • 7 months later...
  • 1 year later...

^+1

 

It will be interesting to see how long it actually takes to get your tank. It took 4 months to get my 2 week lead time tank. The good news is that I finally got it. The bad news was that the filler neck was fwd of the correct location by about 2.5 inches. I had to have it patched and rewelded in the correct location. Cost me an additional $100. Anyway, I hope you fare better than me.

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  • 4 months later...
  • 8 months later...

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