Garaculas
Club Member
Seeming as my little Z is going through some rather dramatic changes i thought it would be best to make a new project thread and start documenting what is going on (for reference the old thread can be found here). In summary she's a 1973 California import 240Z with an L28 and a 5 speed manual. The car hadn't been driven for almost 30 years and the interior/exterior were a bit rough but the car seemed to have no serious rust or botched half cuts so a good starting point for a project car. In my head the car had four stages of restoration:
1 - Return the car to a roadworthy condition
2 - Improve the car to be more reliable and usable in its current form
3 - Major mechanical overhaul with RHD conversion, engine swap and all supporting upgrades
4 - Repaint, new interior and make things a bit more "polished"
Here she was when i first got her home to begin the first stage.
Stage one took around six months as finances were tight and i stored the car at my friends house which was 40 miles away. The plan was to fix only what absolutely had to be done whilst my other half and I saved for our first home together. Here's a few highlight snaps of it at meets, out on drives and generally being enjoyed as much as possible despite it's roughness.
Fast forward to the present day and we've moved into our lovely home and the Z can finally get some attention. Now the main linchpin to these dramatic changes is the fact that i turn 30 in October and my Dad, rather unbelievably, said to me "I know you've put all of your savings into your house so your Mum and I want to get you some bits to make that car of yours a bit safer. Oh, and we want to get you that engine you've always wanted"... Uhh, what?! . Once i'd picked myself up off of the floor, and thanked both parents profusely, i began to seriously sit down and plan this out. If i'm seriously getting an RB26 then a whole host of other things need to be done to support this engine and make sure the car is safe, usable and enjoyable for many years to come!
So this is where this project thread begins! There are a few more updates to bring you right up to speed, which i'll post over the next couple of days, but the aim is to bring all of you along for the journey and hopefully someone can learn from my experiences
1 - Return the car to a roadworthy condition
2 - Improve the car to be more reliable and usable in its current form
3 - Major mechanical overhaul with RHD conversion, engine swap and all supporting upgrades
4 - Repaint, new interior and make things a bit more "polished"
Here she was when i first got her home to begin the first stage.
Stage one took around six months as finances were tight and i stored the car at my friends house which was 40 miles away. The plan was to fix only what absolutely had to be done whilst my other half and I saved for our first home together. Here's a few highlight snaps of it at meets, out on drives and generally being enjoyed as much as possible despite it's roughness.
Fast forward to the present day and we've moved into our lovely home and the Z can finally get some attention. Now the main linchpin to these dramatic changes is the fact that i turn 30 in October and my Dad, rather unbelievably, said to me "I know you've put all of your savings into your house so your Mum and I want to get you some bits to make that car of yours a bit safer. Oh, and we want to get you that engine you've always wanted"... Uhh, what?! . Once i'd picked myself up off of the floor, and thanked both parents profusely, i began to seriously sit down and plan this out. If i'm seriously getting an RB26 then a whole host of other things need to be done to support this engine and make sure the car is safe, usable and enjoyable for many years to come!
So this is where this project thread begins! There are a few more updates to bring you right up to speed, which i'll post over the next couple of days, but the aim is to bring all of you along for the journey and hopefully someone can learn from my experiences
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