Just bought our first Z (240Z)

Woody928

Events Officer
Staff member
Club Member
Thanks chaps, I'm not sure why its not more popular other than the fact they charge a few quid for the privilege. I saw them on one of the Facebook groups and thought they looked fantastic so we had to get a set.

A few years back when we use to do the tv coverage for goodwood we could get interference off some of the more original cars and their ignition systems.

What are you going to do with the clips/brackets/holes on the valve cover?

What do you do for work out of curiosity, sounds like you into filming?

Nothing for now as that's not really been on the agenda albeit I acknowledge its not the most aesthetically pleasing. I suppose I'd have to pickup another valve cover. I've got more pressing jobs to do such as under sealing, brakes, suspension and transmission. Long term we're planning on dropping a modified L28 of some description in there so that will be the opportunity to tidy everything up as much as possible in the engine bay department. I've always been a function over form kinda guy in terms of my priorities.

Cheers for posting up the pic Paul that demonstrates it quite nicely, I can always grab some more photos when I get the car next week but its all neatly secured away from the fan so there's no worries there. If your not going for an all out OEM finish then it wins for me every day :D
 

johnymd

Club Member
I much prefer the ht leads being routed this way. I've taken mine around the front of the valve cover.
 

Woody928

Events Officer
Staff member
Club Member
Well as usual this is well over due and a lot has gone on in the last few months. The car made both the Donnington Historic and Leeds Castle. As always it was really good to finally put some names to faces.

As some of you will know during my trip to B.D. Engineering to have the car tuned after only the first run we discovered a head gasket leak so had to abort the session, leaving me with no choice but to drive in a particularly gentle manor to both shows until it could be sorted. Having thought over my options and spoken to several people the job was well beyond my mechanical knowledge so I decided to leave it to the Pro’s on this occasion. While figuring out where to take the car I remembered a contact that I’d met through Russ on here last year while attending a Pistonheads meet at Goodwood who’s recently setup his own workshop and helped Russ work on his car with great success.

A quick phone call later and the car was booked in to visit Iain who owns and runs ‘Passion Engineering’ based in West Sussex. Not quite knowing what to expect with a 47 year old car and engine of an unknown quality I explained the issue and left the car with Iain to do a complete check over and resolve the head gasket issue. To begin with Iain did a pressure test on the coolant system which revealed several leaks from various pipes across the engine which all had to be fixed before the pressure allowed the coolant to start dripping from the suspect area. Next job was to strip down the engine and find out what we were dealing with.

As with all of these jobs and with engines of this age various bits and pieces popped up, the head was warped and required re facing, for unknown reasons the valves on cylinder six had run hotter with one of the intake valves having recessed into the seat requiring replacement, all of the exhaust studs were pretty knackered. The list went on…. We had some delivery lead times which were longer than expected with parts arriving from the US however finally everything eventually turned up. A visit to the machine shop and everything back ready to reassembly, we took the opportunity to replace the stem oil seals, gaskets and re-lapped all valves. While looking at the fitment of the current exhaust manifold our heat issue was identified with the manifold only half covering the exhaust port on cylinder six strangling its airflow. Fortunately owing to Iain’s mechanical skills he’s completely sorted out the alignment of it and we’re back in business (hopefully a Z story replacement will make it on there one day). Following which several bodges were revealed from the cars past including the most bodged replacement bushing I’ve ever seen in the cylinder head for the exhaust cylinder 6 exhaust stud location. Fortunately Iain milled a replacement and welded it in to sort the issue (Pics below). With the engine fully rebuilt various tidy up jobs were done to clean up the engine bay making it safer including an oversight on my behalf. The battery was also further isolated to protect the car further along with some clean-up work as well.

Full Strip down
IMG_5803 by Mark Woodrow, on Flickr

IMG_5804 by Mark Woodrow, on Flickr

IMG_5805 by Mark Woodrow, on Flickr

IMG_5945 by Mark Woodrow, on Flickr

IMG_5944 by Mark Woodrow, on Flickr

Reassembly
IMG_6147 by Mark Woodrow, on Flickr

The aforementioned beautiful ex horror exhaust stud bush
IMG_2576 by Mark Woodrow, on Flickr

IMG_2575 by Mark Woodrow, on Flickr

Every item that was removed was stripped and examined before being reassembled and oiled or greased where appropriate, our throttle return issues was found to be the return springs holding insufficient tension owing to their age so have been replaced with some new Webber one which are performing fantastically now with no signs of a sticking throttle. We’re aware that the carbs are showing signs of age related wear however we’re leaving them as is for now with plans for triples and a new engine down the road. There’s even been some polishing work to give the bay some extra bling as well.

At this point it’s probably very fair to point out that as things developed and conspired against Iain (through no fault of his own I would add) we (my dad and I) had an upcoming deadline which was our planned trip to Le Mans for the 24 Hours which we had planned to attend in the Z. With the pressure on the car was finished the weekend before we left with Iain working around the clock (quite literally I would add) to make sure the car was finished to his standards in time for us to collect it and take it to France. To top matters off the car had even been fully detailed and waxed so it looked immaculate.

Fortunately for us at all stages Iain worked to our requirements and, as far as was possible, to our schedule, even agreeing to meet us outside of normal business hours to facilitate the collection. When we arrived to collect the car, we were talked though all of the work that had been undertaken, showing us the engine bay, explaining what work had been performed, showing us various worn out items that had been replaced, and explaining any fabrication work that had been undertaken. Following this we were also given a list of advisory items where Iain believed improvements could be made, or potential issues identified that we should be aware of going forward. Finally, knowing we were about to be embarking on a several hundred mile trip, Iain had gone to the effort to make up an emergency repair bag including all sorts of useful items that could potentially keep the car on the road in the event of an issue. I should add that throughout the process we were kept constantly updated with photos showing the current state of the work so that we had copies for our personal records :thumbs:

It’s fair to say that Iain went above and beyond our expectations in all regards and, when it came to the bill, was extremely reasonable considering the time he had invested. I wouldn’t hesitate to recommend him to anyone who needs any work done on their Z, his work was second to none and he’s a true enthusiast.

Nicely tidied up engine ready to rock
IMG_1951 by Mark Woodrow, on Flickr

IMG_1952 by Mark Woodrow, on Flickr
 

Woody928

Events Officer
Staff member
Club Member
With the car collected and having done about 100 miles including the drive home and several cruises around when it was back we we’re ready to go to Le Mans. Much to my amusement nothing has changed with the amount of heads the car turns, going down to my local to meet a friend the night before departing there were several people ogling over the car while enjoying a pint as I pulled up. Got into conversation with several people before I was allowed to the bar.

D-Day – we decided for better or worse that we didn’t want to purchase EU Breakdown cover given the cost for a five day period and arrogantly thought what could go wrong with a 47 year old Japanese classic sports car driving several hundred miles to France and back with a fresh top end engine rebuild! The usual gear, some spares, basic tools and a tow rope packed and off we went. We got the Ferry from Portsmouth on Wednesday morning going across to Caen in order that we could catch the last free practice and first quali session for the race. With the weather set for scorching heat the Z has no worries over seeing any water.

Deciding we had the time we drove some of my favourite roads down to Le Mans sticking clear of all payage using A and B roads even going through the Forest D’Ecouves Normandie which is always great fun. Having warmed her up the new engine was now pulling like a train leaving me grinning like an idiot as we raced down towards the circuit. Given the cars relative low capabilities/threshold in its very OEM guise its was hilarious fun rolling around going pedal to the metal so to speak. I’d forgotten how much fun it is to drive a slow car fast, albeit it has only served to increase my desire to perform several major upgrades.

Having made it down to the circuit we settled in at Auberge Des Hunaudieres restaurant to catch the end of the GT3 session before the final practice begun. With the car parked in sight from our table we giggled to each other as we saw the amount of passers by who stopped to have a good gawp and admire the car while we enjoyed our meal and the racing. All that done we did something different for the Thursday and left the comfort of the circuit to head South and check out Chateau de Breze which has the largest dry moat in Europe being 18 meters deep and an impressive cave system, enjoying some fantastic roads on the way down it was also easy to spot the Roman influence with dead straight roads for mile on mile (if that floats your boat). On route back we met up with our neighbour who was on his first trip out in his R35 GTR. Its fair to say together they made quite a sight and drew some looks albeit for road presence and performance despite my admirable efforts to drive in a spirited fashion would never come close to Godzilla’s potential.

For a change we also decided to attend the Classic British Welcome which we’d never done before, it’s been going for several years now and draws about 1000 cars of all varieties and ages to a small village local to Le Mans. There was a fantastic turnout with almost anything you could imagine in attendance with the theme this year being Marcos. Thanks to Sean I met up with a French 240Z owner who spoke fantastic English and had a good chat to him about his car and had a good poke around, it was in fantastic condition and right up my street being a practical road legal racecar :D

Everything was going well and I wish it stayed that way however his is the point where I say ‘but’. While getting back to the car and preparing to head to the circuit for the pit walk I was chatting to another passer-by who asked to have a look at the engine bay. In my typical fashion I went to oblige pulling the bonnet release however a second later I was pulling a very screwed up confused face as I was holding the handle in my hand with about 40cm of cable visible and the engine bay sealed shut. Having realised there was nothing I could do I instantly got several very helpful responses from the usual suspects on Facebook following my pleas for help including the offer of tools and help from a fellow member at a local campsite :thumbs: On reflection though we concluded that there was no real need to access the bay with everything running well that we’d just leave it well alone for the weekend and worry when we got home and had better access and a cold engine to faff with given we had no guaranteed way to fix it even if we opened it up

Several more days of racing went by with visits to other favourite locations such as Hotel de France in Chartre-sur-le-Loir where despite other tasty machinery being parked with the GTR and Z parked together drew a lot of looks and sparked more chats. The car continued to perform very nicely chewing through the miles well into Sunday afternoon as we were returning to Caen for our return crossing following the race. As we made swift progress through the French countryside it was apparent while slowing down to pass through towns that we were smelling a sulphur/bad eggs smell. Quite apparent it wasn’t going anywhere and some scanning over our notoriously ‘reliable’ gauges and it was clear that the Amp gauge was up at maximum +45. Some discussion later and we concluded the voltage regulator had decided it was the end of its days and to give up. Given we were still ticking over nicely and there was little we could do (assuming we were correct) we opted to continue making progress for Caen. The car kept eating up the miles all the way to our obligatory stop in the Wine cave before shooting the last few hundred meters into the Ferry terminal. Having pulled up in the usual queue we made for our usual beer to relax and ponder the machinery and kick tyres with all the other brits waiting alongside.

With the queue starting to move we had to stop chit chatting and jumped into go, a quick turn of the key and nothing….. stone dead nothing… No problem we thought a quick bump start and we’ll be away, no such chance with several of us pushing not even a hint in first or second gear. Pushed to the side several brits seeing our predicament kindly came over offering a battery charger and jump leads. Alas our trivial bonnet being locked was suddenly a big issue! A few discussions with the port authority and having been told we couldn’t be towed with cars having to make their own way to the boat and no tow hook fitted our options were looking thin on the ground….

Several conversations later and that annoying tow rope was suddenly looking very appealing. Having fitted it around the front subframe/cross member we had a big rig turn up with two kind French men from the port. A lot of stress and some giggling later and we had been towed to the back of the ferry, literally being the last car pushed down the ramp onto the boat before departure. Disaster averted the AA were on standby for our arrival back in the UK, the next day having watched every vehicle possible disembark little old us were left in the corner awaiting the ports recovery rig. Not so expected was the jobs worth who arrived refusing to tow us off of the boat on the basis we had no tow hook and he therefore he ‘couldn’t’ tow us. Much bullshit later the car got pushed off to await the AA. Immigration cleared with thanks to Portsmouth port authority we sat and awaited our man in yellow. Agreeing we were buggered we arranged for the car to get towed to Iain to get the car on a high lift to get some decent access.

All arranged we drove not so tastefully on the back of an AA van to West Sussex to be cracked open and analysed before heading back to work as originally planned. By the afternoon our broken bonnet release cable and knackered voltage regulator both confirmed we set about with repair options. Looking to bring the car slightly further into the 21st century we’ve opted to move onto an internally regulated 280zx alternator for hopefully some more reliability. New battery to be sourced and bonnet release cable on route repairs are well underway meaning she should be back on the road in no time.

All ranting aside one day soon I plan to be performing some work by choice which I would like to be do as an ‘improvement’ rather than our usual list of essential areas of attention. Suspension is well and truly on the cards with hopefully some T3 components in the pipeline while other items are sourced including the dreaded conversation of suspension struts. I’m watching a few threads with interest however having chatted with Franky Intrax sounds like a very nice option if I can stretch to the costs.

Other than the minor episode which I now look back and laugh at the car performed faultlessly on its first ever trip to the continent eating up the miles and is hopefully the first of many trips planned over there. I’ll never get bored of saying that I am still blown away by the help I’ve got through the community across our ownership of the car, I still giggle to myself when I see the attention the car gets and love sharing my experience with all of the people I’ve encountered since day one of owning the car. I’m not sure this one will ever get boring…..

I really have now said far too much so I’ll leave you with some pictures to look at from France in the meantime rather than listening to me drone on!

On our way South in France
DSC_0618 by Mark Woodrow, on Flickr

Beautiful war memorial
DSC_0628 by Mark Woodrow, on Flickr

Giving the lady a rest
DSC_0630 by Mark Woodrow, on Flickr

Home for the weekend
DSC_0646 by Mark Woodrow, on Flickr

A quick diversion to Breze for a change
DSC_0650 by Mark Woodrow, on Flickr

DSC_0653 by Mark Woodrow, on Flickr

DSC_0663 by Mark Woodrow, on Flickr

DSC_0668 by Mark Woodrow, on Flickr

The dream team (incase you've never seen the faces behind the project)
IMG_2045 by Mark Woodrow, on Flickr

Lovely French S30 racer
IMG_2090 by Mark Woodrow, on Flickr

IMG_2089 by Mark Woodrow, on Flickr

Evening visit to Hotel de France with our neighbour and Godzilla in tow
FullSizeRender-2 by Mark Woodrow, on Flickr

Our rescue steed in France, helping out a fellow Brit after us...
IMG_2392 by Mark Woodrow, on Flickr

and our trusty steed for the UK
IMG_2398 by Mark Woodrow, on Flickr
 

Jon_Flynn

Club Member
Great write up mate - love following your adventures in the Z. Makes me want to drive mine more :/

Really glad you got the bonnet release sorted, just typical that you had an issue whilst the cable was snapped. It has made me think about going and checking my bonnet release and handbrake cables though...


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 

SeanDezart

Well-Known Forum User
Lovely and thanks also for the engine write up - you've certainly 'done' the French experience ! Breze is fantastic, touring the kichens and wine press inside the caves - you missed out on the wine-tasting in the nearby Chinon and Samaur region - next time and with our club I hope.

Cheers.
 
Great story. Nice to see it being used so much.

Regarding the suspension, just do what you think's right for you. There's a cheaper option from intrax also. Suspension is the one thing you'll be able to feel at all times.

Ps - great looking car.
 

TimW

Club Member
Great read Woody. I'll be looking for someone to strip down the engine to check it over once the summer months are over, so of particular interest.

These trials are what makes the trips memorable, a sense of adventure.

Stunning photo there Woody. One for my downloads.. Really shows how lovely your car is, as you know I'm a huge fan of the colour from Donnington. Sometimes you see a car that in every detail just works, catches the eye and yours for me is one. I love the look without the spoiler, have been humming and hawing over mine for some time. Your wheels fill the arches perfectly, is it lowered?

DSC_0630 by Mark Woodrow, on Flickr
 

Rob Gaskin

Treasurer
Staff member
Site Administrator
Yes great adventure and write-up.

In the old days that would have been a good article for our magazine.
 

uk66fastback

Club Member
Great write up as usual Mark.

Rob, I produced the mag for the Mustang Owners Club for 10 years and in the end it died a death really (it still gets edited and printed but not by me) as people would put 100 words of typo-filled stuff in a post on the forum with and three pics and that was all they could be bothered to do.

if there was a Z Club mag, then Matt would be the best contributor I reckon!
 
Last edited by a moderator:

Woody928

Events Officer
Staff member
Club Member
Thank you all for the kind comments, good to see people are still reading the thread :) I'll try and keep things up to date, and know that my writing could certainly do with some polishing to improve however that should just teach me not to finish and post near midnight.

Great write up mate - love following your adventures in the Z. Makes me want to drive mine more :/

Really glad you got the bonnet release sorted, just typical that you had an issue whilst the cable was snapped. It has made me think about going and checking my bonnet release and handbrake cables though...

Thanks dude, just get out there and drive there's nothing better you can do with these cars. You really don't know what adventure is awaiting you around the next corner. Cheers, I had this disturbing feeling it would come back to bite us lol. At least if its caused you to check yours as well then thats no bad thing.

Lovely and thanks also for the engine write up - you've certainly 'done' the French experience ! Breze is fantastic, touring the kichens and wine press inside the caves - you missed out on the wine-tasting in the nearby Chinon and Samaur region - next time and with our club I hope.

Cheers.

Glad its of some use, however as I've hopefully conveyed I can't take the credit also apologies its missing a lot more technical detail but its beyond my knowledge. We thought we'd try and bolt on something different this year, Breze was stunning I've never been to a Chateau like it. I think what surprised me most was that the cave complex takes away from the chateau which while stunning didn't have too many rooms on show. Haha what a shame I'll have to return again then :D Sounds good to me, I'm already looking forward to the LMC next year.

Great story. Nice to see it being used so much.

Regarding the suspension, just do what you think's right for you. There's a cheaper option from intrax also. Suspension is the one thing you'll be able to feel at all times.

Ps - great looking car.

Thanks man, as you know I'm a non believer of this hide it in a garage nonsense. Stone chips and patina are acceptable when they're well earned.

Yeah thanks, its doing my head in somewhat! lol I think the issue is almost all setups will have a drawback of some kind, its just trying to choose the best option for us. Keep me posted on the brake kit though as after some thought I'm very interested.

Great read Woody. I'll be looking for someone to strip down the engine to check it over once the summer months are over, so of particular interest.

These trials are what makes the trips memorable, a sense of adventure.

Stunning photo there Woody. One for my downloads.. Really shows how lovely your car is, as you know I'm a huge fan of the colour from Donnington. Sometimes you see a car that in every detail just works, catches the eye and yours for me is one. I love the look without the spoiler, have been humming and hawing over mine for some time. Your wheels fill the arches perfectly, is it lowered?

Happy to pass his details on if your interested, I was really pleased with his work and will be going back (in fact the car is there now lol). Anything wrong? or are you just after peace of mind?

Couldn't agree more, of sorts I'm glad it happened as we'll never forget it and we're upgrading the car in the process for the future so its a win win as long as I don't look at my bank balance ;)

I'm flattered :eek: Thanks very much, I can send you the original raw file if you really want. It was the war memorial which caught my eye and caused me to stop to grab a pic however I couldn't resist one of the car on the way back as it looked so quaint and beautiful in the little French village.

Haha funnily enough I'm considering one long term if I go ahead with the racer look however thats a long way off and we've agreed that if we do we'll get a separate rear hatch to drill holes in a fit and keep the original one mint so we can swap back :) The wheels are great, as far as I know its completely stock setup by US standards however the 16's really fill the arches to help out. It still sits high at the front though, given the choice I'd lower it at the front to balance it out a bit more which is what's coming into my current suspension strut choice dilemma.

I'm biased but I do think its the best colour for a Z :thumbs:

Yes great adventure and write-up.

In the old days that would have been a good article for our magazine.

Thanks Rob, I'd imagine those days are long passed from what you've said before. Trying to get regular content would be difficult, I know it took me a few hours to write all of that as it was (the sad git that I am) and it could still do with a few tweaks having re reviewed it .


Cheers dude :D

Great write up as usual Matt.

Rob, I produced the mag for the Mustang Owners Club for 10 years and in the end it died a death really (it still gets edited and printed but not by me) as people would put 100 words of typo-filled stuff in a post on the forum with and three pics and that was all they could be bothered to do.

if there was a Z Club mag, then Matt would be the best contributor I reckon!

Close but no cigar, if your change the 'tt' with 'rk' we'll get there though ;) (Mark)

Thanks Mike, there always seems to be another bit of club history I learn every visit here. I'm sure if its a regular publication then it gets very hard to write content, as it sounds like was the case for you and Rb with the Mustang club. I certainly couldn't come up with write ups all the time, if nothing else its hugely time consuming and I've got a fair bit of room for improvement. Same with the pictures I try and do a bit here or there but I'm a very causal photographer, that being said they always bring project threads and articles to life imo.

I can see why journalists like old cars though, as when it goes wrong its much easier to write about :lol: I'm flattered that several people think so highly of some of my writing anyway :thumbs: Thanks again.
 

Woody928

Events Officer
Staff member
Club Member
Sorry Mark, I was emailing a guy (our ad guy at work) not 30sec before I posted - and his name is Matt!

No worries dude, it was only in jest :D

I'm sure it didn't help that Matt had commented above and also has an orange 240z.
 

Bobafett

Well-Known Forum User
Great right up Mark, and as a newbie to the world of Z I am learning something new all the time with such informative posts, and to be honest pretty much everything on here as a matter of fact :thumbs:

Interesting read on the head work, went to pick up mine for the first time yesterday and with a jolly good test drive, I have found my head gasket has given up the ghost. I'm hoping that I have no crack in the head but a lot of gasses is now getting in the water coolant, so the signs are not good.

Anyway, what I really wanting to say is that having driven the Z rather enthusiastically, albeit for a relatively short period of time, the handling is sublime with the front/rear uprated roll bar kit fitted. I have factory stock springs and shocks, and it rides quite firm which surprised me No evidence at all of any unwieldy body roll, and I was still able to get feedback from all corners. I purposely cornered hard over potholes (seem plentiful now!) and there was no skipping or jumping at back. Very composed. I might be lucky but my 73 already had rear brackets fitted to the body, so made the installation of the rear bar rather neat. Now I have NOT driven a Z without stiffer front and no rear roll bar as was standard issue in the US so can't give comparable feedback, but I am most impressed with the current setup and the feedback I am getting from the handling. I have no plans for track days, but for fast road use and enjoying the car across Europe I think it's a must!
 

Woody928

Events Officer
Staff member
Club Member
Great right up Mark, and as a newbie to the world of Z I am learning something new all the time with such informative posts, and to be honest pretty much everything on here as a matter of fact :thumbs:

Interesting read on the head work, went to pick up mine for the first time yesterday and with a jolly good test drive, I have found my head gasket has given up the ghost. I'm hoping that I have no crack in the head but a lot of gasses is now getting in the water coolant, so the signs are not good.

Anyway, what I really wanting to say is that having driven the Z rather enthusiastically, albeit for a relatively short period of time, the handling is sublime with the front/rear uprated roll bar kit fitted. I have factory stock springs and shocks, and it rides quite firm which surprised me No evidence at all of any unwieldy body roll, and I was still able to get feedback from all corners. I purposely cornered hard over potholes (seem plentiful now!) and there was no skipping or jumping at back. Very composed. I might be lucky but my 73 already had rear brackets fitted to the body, so made the installation of the rear bar rather neat. Now I have NOT driven a Z without stiffer front and no rear roll bar as was standard issue in the US so can't give comparable feedback, but I am most impressed with the current setup and the feedback I am getting from the handling. I have no plans for track days, but for fast road use and enjoying the car across Europe I think it's a must!

Thanks Tony glad to hear your enjoying it, couldn’t agree more I seem to learn something almost every time I go onto the forums.

Sorry to hear that sounds rather unfortunate to say the least, let’s keep fingers crossed it’s the just the head gasket rather than anything more sinister. It certainly makes me feel like I got away lightly and reinforces the suggestion that there’s been a few cars in the US that have been mechanically neglected….

Thank you for the feedback! This is exactly what I was hoping to hear, sounds very composed now as a result. I’ll need to get in contact with Mike shortly to get a set ordered as they seem the right balance for a road car. I’m surprised to hear the ride in yours is firm with standard struts and springs as we certainly waft around in comfort by comparison and with the US spec front arb certainly roll around corners as well. I doubt I’ll be so lucky with having any brackets fitted with mine being a 1970 car however I’ll wait and see what fitment adventures await me. No worries its always subjective when you get feedback on peoples setups and opinions, I’m sure it will be worthwhile.

With fast road and Europe in mind we’re now in full swing piecing everything together to completely bring our suspension setup into the 21st Century. Rather fortunately my parents have had a last minute trip out to California where they were they were quite literally passing Techno Toy Tunings front door. A very last minute phone call the day after (4th July public holiday) when they reopened first thing in the morning and by chance they had all the bits I was after in stock. Order completed and all parts collected just before closing my dad even got a quick tour of the workshop the lucky sod!

Some duffle bags packed later and we’ve certainly saved a few quid on shipping to say the least with some seriously robust quality parts turning up on Friday afternoon on their arrival home. Very handy being able to get some extra hold luggage space on the way back.

We’ve decided to pick up some T3 Adjustable Lower Control Arms, T3 GTX2 Adjustable Front Lower Control Arms, Inner/Outer Tie rods and prothane steering rack bushes. I’ve only been able to have a brief look before to check it was all there before returning it to bubble wrap however the quality looks superb. All the remains on the suspension list for now is a Poly steering coupler to try and remove some more steering play, Anti Roll bar kit (1inch front ¾ rear) and suspension struts of some description. I think I’ve concluded coilovers will be the answer and will therefore be looking to source some suspension strut assembly’s to be sectioned however I’ve still not made my mind up as to who and how much. I may try and blag some rides in other members cars beforehand if possible, however it looks like I’m going to leave the current bits for one big swap and then only require one four wheel alignment and setup. It’s nice to say we’re finally doing something on our wish list for a change

Here’s a few pics for now anyway.

FullSizeRender (8) by Mark Woodrow, on Flickr

FullSizeRender (9) by Mark Woodrow, on Flickr

T3 by Mark Woodrow, on Flickr

T3.1 by Mark Woodrow, on Flickr
 

Woody928

Events Officer
Staff member
Club Member
Well it's long overdue that I got around to writing on here again, it's fair to say that there's been a lot of Z related work and plans going on for the last few months. Those of you on follow me on social media will have already had a sneak peak. Winter has not stopped the car from being used with it having been to Bicester's Sunday Scramble, Pistonheads runs, weekends away and all sorts.

The cars suspension overhaul has now been done with the setup finally decided upon. After lots of research and after weighing up the options we decided that BC Coilovers would be most suitable to our needs, having considered the performance vs the cost it made the most sense with money unfortunately having to be consideration. We also went slightly softer than BC recommended at 4/4KG or 225/225lbs which seems more than appropriate for road use. I would have loved to have gone to Intrax for a custom setup however the cost just couldn't be justified with the extra money needing to be spent in plenty of other areas.

Thanks to moggy I picked up a spare set of donor struts that could be cutup for my BC's to be welded onto making a straight swap out possible, and retaining my stock struts that can be rebuilt should it ever be desired. Having dropped the BC's to a good friend in Bexhill he sectioned, welded and powder coated the BC's ready for me to bring the car down so that I could make use of his lift and help to fit all of the T3 components, BC's, rear wheel bearings and a few items of poly in the steering rack to reduce the play I headed down for the day.

Over the course of a Friday and Saturday morning we managed to get everything dropped out and fitted up before getting the ride height roughly set, the alignment was made as accurate as possible using a tape measure to get the car on the road and home. Having previously contemplated completing the job at home I was immensely grateful of the high lift and fully kitted out workshop, along with my friend Patrick's knowledge. Without which the job would have been a complete nightmare and impossible to complete, plenty of machines, power and air tools which made various jobs a breeze. Even being able to clean up, ultrasonic cleand and powder coat the brake shields before re-fitting. Amazingly and to our surprise both spindle pins came out really easily after hearing all of the horror stories. As expected with the alignment completely out the car was a royal pig driving home nearly 80 miles in the rain, via a few small scares it made it home in one piece.

Some pics from the job anyway:

IMG_5254 by Mark Woodrow, on Flickr

New vs Old
IMG_5248 by Mark Woodrow, on Flickr

IMG_5252 by Mark Woodrow, on Flickr

IMG_5259 by Mark Woodrow, on Flickr

IMG_5261 by Mark Woodrow, on Flickr

IMG_5271 by Mark Woodrow, on Flickr

IMG_5266 by Mark Woodrow, on Flickr

IMG_5274 by Mark Woodrow, on Flickr

IMG_5278 by Mark Woodrow, on Flickr

Poly UJ to get rid of the deteriorating rubber
IMG_5286 by Mark Woodrow, on Flickr

The spares heap for restoration another day
IMG_5291 by Mark Woodrow, on Flickr

Promptly booked into Wheels in Motion in Chesham having chatted to Tony who setup the company himself and trains people in alignment setups around the country I was confident I was in safe hands having had them setup my cars before. Having survived another 40 mile journey we chatted about the cars intended uses, and our goals before the guys got to work. As expected with everything being brand new it could be setup like a dream. The nice thing being that any desired alterations or characteristics I want changed can be made free of charge if I return again having become accustomed to the car. The guys were extremely complimentary of the T3 and BC setups and complimented that it was nice to see the job being done properly. Being a busy site, the car stopped various customers, a local classic car restorer and the workshop guys all of whom wanted to stop and chat and take photos of the car.

Having got it on the ramps and checked by the lazers the guys thought it was a miracle I even got to them bearing in mind how far out everything was, while there I also got all four wheels rebalanced having not had them checked since the car first arrived in to my ownership. Unsurprisingly they were all out so we started a fresh. Setup complete per the settings below the car was at least ready for a weekend at the Goodwood 76th Members Meeting.

IMG_5354 by Mark Woodrow, on Flickr

IMG_5491 by Mark Woodrow, on Flickr

IMG_5492 by Mark Woodrow, on Flickr
 

Woody928

Events Officer
Staff member
Club Member
Despite feeling somewhat rubbish having been getting over a virus we were accepted to take part in the members parade on Saturday morning, which while it was very much a parade was good fun. I got to at least open the car up along the pit straight out of the chicane and we heard our car being talked out over the radio so will be on the look out for the days coverage when it gets released by Goodwood. We also managed to blag circuit parking on the Sunday given how shocking the car park fields were there was no way we wanted to go anywhere near them so the car got some more expose and a fair bit of attention as well. With the weekends awful weather it was also the first snow the car has seen with us which made for some good pictures!

IMG_5355 by Mark Woodrow, on Flickr

IMG_5408 by Mark Woodrow, on Flickr

IMG_5410 by Mark Woodrow, on Flickr

IMG_5437 by Mark Woodrow, on Flickr


IMG_5422 by Mark Woodrow, on Flickr


IMG_5464 by Mark Woodrow, on Flickr

IMG_5465 by Mark Woodrow, on Flickr

All cleaned up briefly from the weekend before being put away

IMG_5468 by Mark Woodrow, on Flickr

Its fair to say the cars handling has transformed beyond belief and can now attack corners with far more speed and confidence, the BC's are set at very soft settings to keep things compliant so overall we're very happy with the results. Also having the adjustability that comes with the T3 control arms has meant the car is really sharp and responsive in a way that it never was. The only issues now to combat are the 1cm of play in the steering, which is linked to a worn lower UJ in the steering column. Some squeaky polybushes from the rear control arms are driving me made though! lol

With the weather being the way it has though we've still not had a proper opportunity to really take the car out and put it more through its paces to get dialed in and familiarise ourselves with the changes. We had hoped to add anti roll bars in at the same time however unfortunately couldn't tie them in with the planned works, given the delay I've been talked into now going with Suspension Techniques anti roll bar kit which mounts off of the rear diff. In hindsight this seemed more appropriate rather than drilling holes in the chassis with no rear mounts fitted being an earlier car. On that note a big shout out to Mike and Chris on here who are both helping me out big time with getting them across the atlantic without incurring the extortionate postage quote that I received! They'll get put on in the coming months with other planned work.

Any thoughts on the ride height? I'm thinking the rear could come still down a tad?
IMG_5294 by Mark Woodrow, on Flickr

As usual I've said enough so I'll stop here, I am already working on the next stage of the project so more details will follow shortly!
 
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