I'm a New Zealander that's been living in Melbourne, Australia for the last four years. I lived in Christchurch prior to moving and had a Datsun 1600 project (as pictured below). I always like to keep an eye on people's Datsun projects on this website - so I thought would add my current project.
The pictures reflect the state of the car when I left for Australia. I stored the car in my parent's garage with the intention of eventually completing it, but after a couple of years I decided to part with it. A guy from Hamilton purchased the car excluding the turbo and had planned on finishing it off and using it for some drag racing I believe.
After a year in Australia and having attended the Datsun Nationals, I wanted another Datsun project. I set my sights on finding a 240Z which I could modify to use for road and club/track events. After 18 months of searching I found a suitable candidate and bought a very original looking 1973 240Z which had been recently refreshed body wise. I was very tempted to complete the restoration to original, but I couldn't help but modify.
Here are some pictures of the car as I bought it:
My plans were centered on converting to a RB turbo engine to retain the 6 cyl heritage of the car. I thought the best option for me was a R33 S2 RB25DET so I found myself a halfcut from Japan via a importer on the Gold Coast.
The conversion began with getting the R33 engine and gearbox in the car. The actual engine conversion is not too difficult - change to a front pan sump and oil pickup to clear the crossmember (from an 200ZR) and new engine and gearbox mounts. There's no modifications required to the steering or tunnel, and amazingly the original shifter hole aligns perfectly for all movement.
Drivetrain: I use the R33 turbo gearbox, I have a custom driveshaft running to a R200 LSD from an R31 Turbo. The CV axles use the Z31 300ZX turbo CV's with a shortened centre shaft and billet adapter flanges.
Suspension: on the front there's sectioned struts converted to adjustable platform coilovers with Koni adj shocks. I use adj lower control arms and tension rods from Techno Toy in the US. I like these ones as they are adjustable on the car. On the rear are 260Z adj platform coilovers with adj Chromoly lower control arms. I still need to get front and rear sway bars.
Brakes:
15/16" 280Z master cylinder
Front - Porsche 4pot calipers with 330mm Brembo rotors. I managed to get them from another 240Z owner so they came with alloy adapters/hats to mount to 260Z hubs/struts.
Rear - Skyline R31 calipers and slotted rotors. This is common conversion as these brakes are pretty common over here in Australia.
Engine:
It's all stock at the moment apart from the front mount intercooler which can be hidden behind the front grille. They are a bit tougher on emissions over here in Australia, but I intend to put his car on a 'club' registration, and as it's also pre 1976 the emissions laws should not apply. I'm currently sourcing a front facing plenum to eliminate all the plumbing. Once the car is certified I'll fit the GT30 and external wastegate from my old 1600.
The wheels are 3 piece 17x8 Simmons FR.
Electrical/Interior:
Interior wise it's all original apart from the gauges which I've changed. I've rewired the whole car to a more modern electrical architecture. The next steps are to add a rear cage and race seat/harness (and a smaller steering wheel!).
There's still a bit of work to get it on the road, but it's very close to driving under its own power. Here's a link to a video of the engine running:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=INrys74Z190
Craig
