Just bought our first Z (240Z)

Woody928

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Only every year since '95 - I live 2hrs away, others on the doorstep and attend the Great British Welcome at St Saturnin every Friday before LM24hrs - next year the 13th June - lucky for some :): http://www.classicbw.org/?ln=UK

Sounds like we have a serial Le Mans veteran here :D Very convenient, I love the drive down there every year such a nice place to visit. May have to check that out, as always with these things its finding the time when your there to get around and see different things and there's never enough time....
 

Woody928

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Well another weekend has passed and another update to follow. We managed to add another 170 miles to the tally this weekend, with a visit to see a good friend in Croydon, some late night b-road blasting, and a trip down to the South coast and back. All of which has come with experiences of their own.

The friend is a big car guy but not really into his classics, he was suitably impressed with the car albeit we didn't get the chance to go for a brief spin. As usual the styling won hearts and minds as did the colour :-D

Having now been able to take the car and get a feel for its capabilities on some very familiar back roads as expected some serious flaws were shown up. The car can only be described as wafty when pushed along. There is lots of body roll present which I'm sure will be solved with the fitment of an uprated front ARB and addition of a rear ARB. The struts were unable to cope with the road surface on occasion bottoming out, leaving the car feeling unstable at various points. Certainly putting a suspension upgrade high up the list and debating the available options to find the most suitable solution. As mentioned elsewhere and to some of you, will be looking for a fast road setup with a bias towards comfort. I think I'm currently leaning towards eibachs and tockio illumias as it stands. The brakes were reasonable for the setup however I'm sure a change of brake pads would likely make a big difference, if not consideration to a mild setup later down the line.

With that done on the Saturday both myself and my dad road tripped in the car down to the South coast, with him driving down and myself taking to the wheel in the evening. On the way down we stopped for various photos (mainly to get our insurance valuation sorted) however I couldn't resist with a few locations and light on route. We also met a couple of bikers who were very enthusiastic about the car and had a good look around, they seemed very happy at the opportunity to jump in the car and have a look themselves. Had some interesting bikes with some nice mods to discuss as well :D

Once we got down to the coast I gave the car its first proper cleanse inside and out getting all of the carpets out to get all of the **** out. The air vents had obviously seen little use from the previous owner as crud kept flying out when they were first put into service by us covering the car in debris. Safe to say it cleans up really nicely, there's some stone chips here and there over the car as to be expected (not sure if it chips easily) however it cleans up really nicely. I even discovered the original luggage straps under the rear carpets which have now reappeared.

With sun set looming it seemed mad to to go and get some pics of the car near the sea front with some unobstructed sunlight. Safe to say the results were stunning, I need to do a full download however they will be going up on my instagram page for those that are familiar with it, so check them out! @ 'm_woodrow94' I'll be uploading some in the coming weeks.

Got a load of attention from several gents outside of the local sports bar by the curry house who were very complimentary and enthusiastic about seeing the car and its condition. One of them hadn't even seen one before, with all of them commenting what a rare sight they are these days. Both me and my dad grinning away proudly, talking merrily away about our new pride and joy :cool:

Nice bit of dinner followed by a 60 mile drive back home through Sussex B-roads past Goodwood with Minimal traffic to contend with or dispatch all the way home :driving: A quick refuel revealed a reasonable 21.6mpg, so we're sure these more to come on a more relaxed cruise. We have concluded the car feels as though it needs a 5 speed and leaves you looking for another gear considering it merrily plods along in 4th from 30mph upwards. A 5 speed, diff change and LSD will therefore be on the cards along with the suspension as my two priorities. I'm sure some extra performance and economy will be exploited by these mods as well.

I'm definitely feeling a lot more comfortable and at home with the car now, having originally being left feeling tired from my first major trip. I've not been at all bothered having done some decent miles in the car. Its different to drive to my other chariots, however its not taxing. I'm putting my original feeling of tiredness down to the amount of new factors I was having to concentrate on, and excitement/emotion of finally having acquired the car after so long waiting.

Unfortunately blowing out the cobwebs did not come without its share of casualties, strangely the tachometer broke at about 4k rpm in 1st breaking out onto the A3 :eek: Only to find that having left the car around overnight and messed with some other electrics that it came back to life.... Very baffled by this :confused:

The heater appears to be broken, so any tips with where to start looking would be much appreciated as with winter on the way it will become an essential piece for continued use for the front screen as well as comfort.

Getting a passenger mirror is also becoming quite essential for driving to make the drivers life considerably easier. As while manageable without the drivers life could be made considerably easier. Having failed to find bullet mirrors that will actually be functional as well as aesthetically pleasing I think we may have found some round chrome mirrors on stalks that will fit the bill enough that we bite the bullet with them :)

Finally the old man put his electrical skills to good use and after some messing around doing some investigation work we have the inspection light working again :D It turned out to be a blown bulb, and then and earthing issue was preventing the replacement from sparking into life, some soldering later and job done. We just need to find a 12v 8w bulb as we only had a 12v 6w available to get us going in the meantime. I'm sure we will be looking to upgrade the two interior lights to LED's to boost the interior lighting in due course. Some research needed on that front to brighten the place up.

Enough rambling for now a a quick teaser pic from the Saturday and our fixed inspection light. However a new adventure well and truly embarked on :thumbs:



 

Rob Gaskin

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Nice story about your weekend - glad you are getting out in it.

21.6 mpg is poor really for a standard car.

Tacho issue - that happens to me, I think it's a loose connection which I need to investigate. If I put my hand behind the tacho or bang the dash it works. :eek:
 

johnymd

Club Member
I would imagine fuel consumption is very dependent on how heavy your foot is so how can you say it's poor consumption without knowing exactly how the car was driven. I can manage 35 to the gallon on the trip to spa but only just in double figures during the track sessions.
 

Woody928

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Nice story about your weekend - glad you are getting out in it.

:cheers:

Interesting to have the input fuel economy wise. The car hasn't got a stock L24 though just for the record (hopefully this means a lot more to you than me). Engine as per below taken direct from the original sale advert, not that I think its had anything special done to it.

Engine
L24 replaced with L26 (P30 Block and E88 Head)
Ceramic header
Turbo exhaust tips
Cam upgrade to Schneider 17033 model
High flow carburetors
Crane Fireball XR700 ignition

I will be the first to admit the car hasn't been driven gently, there was some very 'spirited' driving done on that tank of fuel. Was certainly making use of the rev range in all gears :driving: This could well account for it, however the only benchmark we have is a 1960's 3.0 Healey so assumed this was about right.

That being said I'd be more than happy to be found wrong the less I have to fill up the better. Would this hint to the car needing a tune up?

I'd certainly like to get the car on a rolling road at some point to get a bench mark and find out where the power is being made or not. Should it be making power in all gears to redline for example?

Glad its not just me then Rob, literally managed to resolve itself overnight. When I tapped the gauges the needle slightly floated down but did nothing and then business as usual on the Sunday. Possibly a bad connection for me as well....
 

richiep

Club Member
Schneider 17033 is their Stage 2 cam profile (I think they actually have two specs at stage 2). It's relatively mild, an extended performance street grind. Ceramic header with "turbo" exhaust tip sounds like the MSA system. Performance isn't going to be significantly upgraded over standard so you should be able to get better mileage when "Driving Miss Daisy" so to speak!
 

Woody928

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Schneider 17033 is their Stage 2 cam profile (I think they actually have two specs at stage 2). It's relatively mild, an extended performance street grind. Ceramic header with "turbo" exhaust tip sounds like the MSA system. Performance isn't going to be significantly upgraded over standard so you should be able to get better mileage when "Driving Miss Daisy" so to speak!

Thanks for the info Richie, good to know a little more than i did before. For such a stock setup I'm impressed by the seat dyno results I've felt while driving for a car of its age. If I'm ever able to drive like Miss Daisy then I'll be sure to let you know what I can achieve.

Go on then - I'll have a wild guess at flywheel bhp : 162.

Haha If I got that I think I'd be very pleased! Wishful thinking though I think. I'll be sure to let you all know once I've had the opportunity to actually find out :)

Just for my reference whats the general consensus for extracting the power out of these engines? IS it all just low down torque and nothing to be gained at the top end? or is it worth revving it out?

Also meant to ask this ages ago however I take it there's no problem running on ordinary unleaded fuel without the need to add lead replacement or octane booster to the mix?
 

jonbills

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Stock engines power peak is a little under 6k I think, but with the right changes you can make power much higher too.
Earlier engines (pre 74/75?) came with bronze valve seats so need replacing to run unleaded safely.
 

SeanDezart

Well-Known Forum User
Just for my reference whats the general consensus for extracting the power out of these engines? IS it all just low down torque and nothing to be gained at the top end? or is it worth revving it out?

Also meant to ask this ages ago however I take it there's no problem running on ordinary unleaded fuel without the need to add lead replacement or octane booster to the mix?

Everything is to be gained at the top end with an L24 but what you gain up there, you lose down there - you need to look at when and where you're going to drive this, what you want from the car and my advice would be to stick to, standard for a while until the suspension and perhaps front braking is improved and see what % increase you really want (if anything) and why ?

For the likely mileage that you'll do, you shouldn't need any additive and bung in SP98.
 

Woody928

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Stock engines power peak is a little under 6k I think, but with the right changes you can make power much higher too.
Earlier engines (pre 74/75?) came with bronze valve seats so need replacing to run unleaded safely.

Brilliant, thanks for the info. I'm well aware you can go to silly levels of build, just wanted to know roughly where I stood while I wait to get the car booked in on a rolling road to find out the engines power curve :thumbs:

Everything is to be gained at the top end with an L24 but what you gain up there, you lose down there - you need to look at when and where you're going to drive this, what you want from the car and my advice would be to stick to, standard for a while until the suspension and perhaps front braking is improved and see what % increase you really want (if anything) and why ?

For the likely mileage that you'll do, you shouldn't need any additive and bung in SP98.

I'm not looking for any engine work at the moment just trying to get a better understanding of where I stand with the L26 in her at the moment. Couldn't agree more, I will be making sure the car has suitable suspension, brakes, wheels and tyres before I consider adding any more power. No point on having a car that has lots of power but tries to kill you as it hasn't been setup to handle it. Eventually planned as a fast road car that's more than capable of spirited driving with the potential to go to the track if it takes my fancy. 250bhp from a reasonably specced L28 is what I've got in mind however that's way off down the line... Just getting used to whats there and how it handles before making any rash decisions. Ultimately I'm after a fun car that can murder B-roads :D

Ok great, I'll start filling her up with higher octane fuel in that case :thumbs: Sheel certainly do well out of me with buying V-Power! lol
 

jonbills

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I'd agree suspension improvements are good irrespective of engine upgrades, but not the brakes: stock brakes in good condition are fine: they can lock all 4 wheels up with modern tyres repeately.
I'd like to see the science behind advising 98 super on an old l24 Sean if you have it.
At some point, you'll have the head off the engine and you'll be able to see if its got yellow bronze seats and if they're recessed. If they are (mine were), you'll need to replace them with steel seats. If they're not recessed then you'll probably be good for many light duty miles.
 
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Woody928

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I'd agree suspension improvements are good irrespective of engine upgrades, but not the brakes: stock brakes in good condition are fine: they can lock all 4 wheels up with modern tyres repeately.
I'd like to see the science behind advising 98 super on an old l24 Sean if you have it.
At some point, you'll have the head off the engine and you'll be able to see if its got yellow bronze seats and if they're recessed. If they are (mine were), you'll need to replace them with steel seats. If they're not recessed then you'll probably be good for many light duty miles.

Handling and stopping always gets sorted first on my cars, everything else comes later. I never said the stock setup wouldn't be suitable however I doubt it would go amiss changing the pads ad brake shoes to performance items, and checking the state of the brake lines fitted. I'll them make an assessment as to whether or not the setup is suitable or not after that.

Thanks for the added wisdom (remember its got an L26), If I'm honest long term I see a built L28 getting fitted so I'm not too worried as long as the current motor doesn't blow up in the meantime while I get everything else sorted :) Not sure about the light duty miles bit, I like to use these things to the full :devil:
 

jonbills

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Absolutely, decent pads and new fluid I think are important on the standard brake setup - I thought Sean was suggesting an upgrade to stock brakes was required.
I missed that it's an L26 - if it's a later one, it may well have steel seats.
My inlet valve seats recessed by maybe 3 or 4 mm over the course of a couple of years of spanking it around on unleaded, so you're probably fine. If it lets go, well, that's the opportunity to get that L28.
 

Woody928

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Absolutely, decent pads and new fluid I think are important on the standard brake setup - I thought Sean was suggesting an upgrade to stock brakes was required.
I missed that it's an L26 - if it's a later one, it may well have steel seats.
My inlet valve seats recessed by maybe 3 or 4 mm over the course of a couple of years of spanking it around on unleaded, so you're probably fine. If it lets go, well, that's the opportunity to get that L28.

Apologies for the belated response :eek:

He may well have been, however I was planning on refreshing the stock setup and seeing how I went from there tbh. Are there any highly recommended brake pads for fast road use with these cars? I must confess I know very little about drum brakes, this being a first for me.

Ok, thanks for the info. Haha sounds like a plan, albeit I hope its got quite a few more good years of use left in it yet! :) Lots to do in the meantime and all.
 

SeanDezart

Well-Known Forum User
He may well have been, however I was planning on refreshing the stock setup and seeing how I went from there tbh. Are there any highly recommended brake pads for fast road use with these cars? I must confess I know very little about drum brakes, this being a first for me.

I don't see the point in upgrading the std front solid disc-brake set-up but I'll agree to disagree.;)
 

Rob Gaskin

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I don't see the point in upgrading the std front solid disc-brake set-up but I'll agree to disagree.;)

Sean, this was one of my concerns with the MZR car hence my comment that it looked more sporty than it was.

'stainless braided hoses, upgraded front drilled / grooved solid disc and 4 piston calipers'
 

SeanDezart

Well-Known Forum User
Sean, this was one of my concerns with the MZR car hence my comment that it looked more sporty than it was.

Someone didn't share your concern then if it's sold.:)

However, by your implication, all stock 240Zs are sporting in pretension only ?:unsure::confused:
 
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