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Very nice! Very classic styling and a ton of mod potential. I don't know a ton about them, but I'm guessing they actually have decent aftermarket support due to a resurgence in interest in these cars.
Have to admit, I'm not up on vintage Zs. What year and model is that? It looks great to my untrained eye. Very clean lines.
1973 240Z. Basically it was 240Z from 1969-1973. 260Z in 1974, and from 75~78 it was 280Z. All cars have some difference from year to year but they are all built on slightly different versions of the S30 chassis code. Starting in 74 though the cars got a fair bit heavier in terms of chassis design and safety regulations that called for really large bumpers. Once you start modifying though really these cars are all similar. The 240Z's are still the lightest ones and probably the most fun to drive but if you push big power you are better off with a 280Z to start with. The engine bay is huge you can run virtually anything in it given people are willing to make it work. I have even seen a Viper V10 dropped in one.
My car is under 2300 pounds and I have caught a few people off guard, beat a BMW Z4M Coupe from a roll..pulled away from him until I hit like 190km/h which is basically my cars top speed due to gearing. This is part of the reason I want to get a VQ Swap done, an extra 80 horsepower, some weight lost and a higher top speed due to gearing would really make the car a force.
Thought I would give an update; I know some people here like the vintage metal. Did some major work over the winter in terms of organizing the engine bay and getting things cleaned up. Sorry for the poor pictures:
Car was missing a grille completely, found a factory 240Z grille from a 72 that fit with my carbon bumper. Got it powdercoated black as well as my window wiper arms which were super faded. New headlight covers put on as the old ones were yellowed and scratched really badly. Headgasket replaced engine torn apart, head was warped by about 1.5 mm so had that corrected, valve cover polished, wiring cleaned up massively, rear seal between engine and transmission replaced due to leak engine block repainted black, new fuel lines, aluminum radiator with electric fans, aluminum front hubs, new 6-1 ceramic coated header. A few small metal pieces were cleaned and polished in the engine bay as well as the interior. Even found an original radio that wasn't working to fill the gap in my dash. I gutted the radio to save 455 grams of weight (1 pound lol).
I also bought a VQ35HR that needs to be rebuilt; just a an oil leak from somewhere, likely was going to do a fairly extensive build even if I had a perfect motor anyway. So I also need a 6 Speed transmission and a stand alone ECU to run it. I will likely build it over the next couple years and decide whether that engine goes in this car or I get a second 240 as a project car. The VQ35 would remove about 100 pounds off the front end of the car and its half the length of the stock motor so I felt it was a good compromise for a motor swap if my L-Series dies. But for those that have ever heard an L-Series with triples and a big cam it does sound pretty amazing, lots of backfiring and burbling, very intoxicating so as much as I want to go faster I don't want to get rid of this engine unless I have to.
Sounds like an awesome project. I'd suggest making some homemade ITBs from motorcycle parts and pay someone who really knows their stuff to tune it well. What you lose in crazy carburetor noise, you'd gain in ITB noise, so it would be a good trade off, IMO. It sounds like it's shaping up to be a perfect car, in a lot of ways.
I think what I will do next year with this engine is go to a distributorless ignition, get a harmonic crank dampener with an ignition trigger then I can set a rev limit and get a little more torque in the higher rev range. I do have some really sexy billet aluminum airhorns to run on these carbs but running filters over them kills the power gains and unfortunately where I live there is just so much dust and dirt I don't want to run without filters
I think on the VQ build I have time to consider what I want to do, I would prefer running ITB's with some kind of foam filter but due to clearance issues I have to run a specific type of air horn from Jenvey, looking at some money to do it but to me throttle response and noise is ultimately more important than maximum power.
Figured instead of starting a new thread I would post these here. The last couple of years I have not driven the car as killed my 3.2 stroker at the track chasing down a 996. Look at those rods
These pics of the car nice and clean were from the last 2 months I spent driving the car with a donor cheap-o L28 put back in. The lack of power was killing me and after a couple months and going into winter hibernation I decided to start the process on something that would take a while to complete, and is still a work in progress. Some photos of the car body being chemically stripped to preserve the sheet metal as best as possible without warping. Many layers of paint, primer and body filler came off. We suspect we will save about 25-30 pounds of paint on the build by the time its done. Some photos of the car after wetblasting down to bare metal.
There was a lot of metal work to do on this build. I am only showing some of the highlights, the floors were one of the bigger jobs to be done. Old ones out and brand new ones in with much more robust frame rails, new seat brackets as well which are not shown here I think. Earlier in the build we test fit the new engine/transmission. VQ37HR and 6 speed manual. Headers are super tight on clearance.
Some more pictures from the earlier days of the build. This is being done mostly by a one man crew, I go out once every few weeks or sometimes months to go and help out. He does great work even though he hates doing metal work. The roof was probably the most challenging part of the build. The old one was chopped off and a donor roof was picked up so that the sunroof could be removed. Very thin steel was difficult to weld and work with but in the end will be worth it. Some fun photos of the car mostly together in bare metal. Highlights of the work done to remove badges and turn signals from the side and be solid metal.
Some side projects done while the build was underway. The engine was stripped down to put in some JWT C2 Cams, new road race springless clutch and light flywheel put in, Had the ugly metal cleaned up with dry ice and vapour honing to look squeaky clean. Also some teasers of my main gauges at night and daytime.
Rear bumper in its various stages of work, the doglegs needed a lot of work as well. Battery tray previously looked like a disaster, it had been previously 'repaired' screwed in place and fiberglass piece of shit it was. The engine bay after the holes are plugged that won't be used and a new tray but in for the battery. Simple roll bar put in for safety and some extra rigidity. As well as my 'spare tire'. The one picture shows how meticulous the body work is in terms of getting the lines just right. The body line that runs across the door and above the dog legs was cut/welded and hammered and dollied to get perfectly in line.
08-23-2015, 06:15 AM
