Hey all and welcome to my Project build of my 240Z. I had posted collecting this thing back in March on the welcome pages. I’ve always wanted a 240z for a good while, and it seemed as if prices were making it unachievable, well certainly from what i’d be willing to pay with other things taking priority.
I’ve owned old VW’s, Audis, Mazda’s. Recently my car journey has been more track car focused, but deep down i’ve always wanted something to tinker with, and have to play with in the background. I do actually have an old Karman Ghia project hanging about, that I fell out of love with- (long story). But it will be moved on shortly if I can rustle up the energy to let it go.
A trip to Autosport international back 2019 and seeing a beautiful Datsun bronze 240z on a stand (insta - Oldzedcars) made me want to start searching for one, and in the years that past I kept my eye open for the correct project. I did almost pull the trigger on one around 2022, but I wasn’t convinced by it for the price I was paying.
This became a problem, I wasn’t prepared to pay lots of money for a car that I couldn’t tell what was what and have nasty surprises, even “good examples” were pricey and full of of surprises.I’d had that before with the Ghia I spoke about before.
So it turns out I didn’t want a completed project, I wanted to make my own mark on something, build something, I wanted to learn to build bits myself, weld where I needed and have some fun with it. Also i’m fortunate enough to have a workshop space with ramps, welders, sandblasting cabinet etc and it seemed a shame not to make the most of it. I’m also not in a major rush to get it done as I have other vehicles that I can use to fuel my petrolhead thirst when the urge calls.
Anyway, whilst looking out for them I came across the Joop Stolze website, its a place just north of Rotterdam, it had a pic of a paint brushed blue -(yes thats right) 240z on it, not much info. It wasn’t priced to ridiculously in fact it was probably the cheapest Z I'd seen. It meant I was able to make my mark on it. After a few email exchanges with the main man Joop himself, a few pics and lots of questions a deal was struck and I put a deposit down in December ’22
The only sticking issue was that it it had started previously but for some reason, they could not work out why it wouldn’t again. They said not to come and collect it until they were able to get it running, which was fine with me, but months past and I was getting itchy feet with it, so. I emailed again and was told that they couldn’t figure it out..so if I wanted my money back I could have it. But my heart was set on it (rightly or wrongly), so I said to him, I’d have it anyway as a non starter if we renegotiated the price-
So early one March morning, around 1:30am I creaked open the garage door with my great friend Matt and hooked up the trailer to set off to collect it from the Netherlands. With work commitments I couldn’t really be away longer than a day, so day trip it was- and what a journey.
It was bitterly cold in the UK, but what I hadn’t accounted for was that when we go to calais, it would be heavy snow. Which added to the drama. By the time we reached Stolze classical cars though it was sunny and clear.
If you know the place that I’m talking about then you know it’s not just a car lot, its a museum a cave of wonders, its has over 200 cars for sale/display, but not your average ford fiesta, you are talking classic Porsches, 240z’s, old Mercs, Maseratis, American muscle cars, bikes for days, memorabilia. It really is something to behold.
And there she was in all her (non) glory, ready to be pushed onto the trailer, having had a good look round, I knew I was in for a lot of work. The engine not starting was the least of my dramas.
All loaded up we headed back to the UK, back into the snow covered lands of France. And got back to the Garage around 1am, so thats 24hrs to collect the 240z.. was it worth it.. well thats hard to say! I love it, but it needs a lot of work.
If anyone is still bothering to read reading this, then here we are, the project build…
Two days after I got the car home I went through the engine and wiring.
The car has an L28 engine in it from the later Z, It also has had a turbo strapped to it and a Standalone ECU hacked into it. At lunch Matt and I were going through it all and found a few switches, we traced them around and it seems to be connected to an immobiliser, via the ECU and a manual fan switch, I flicked the toggle and turned the key- The dash lit up, which was a new thing.
Double checked the fluids and battery, turned the key and the car grumbled, again a first. A very very excited me, turned it again and the car fired into life… and it sounded bloomin amazing, it has a oversized exhaust on it and it sounded great if not a little too loud, but at this point I was too excited. Even though it was all to be pulled apart, it was nice to know the engine was functioning…
I am on Insta- J_chung81 if you wanna see updates/stories, offer advice, laugh or if you have parts... more updates here on this to follow too.
I’ve owned old VW’s, Audis, Mazda’s. Recently my car journey has been more track car focused, but deep down i’ve always wanted something to tinker with, and have to play with in the background. I do actually have an old Karman Ghia project hanging about, that I fell out of love with- (long story). But it will be moved on shortly if I can rustle up the energy to let it go.
A trip to Autosport international back 2019 and seeing a beautiful Datsun bronze 240z on a stand (insta - Oldzedcars) made me want to start searching for one, and in the years that past I kept my eye open for the correct project. I did almost pull the trigger on one around 2022, but I wasn’t convinced by it for the price I was paying.
This became a problem, I wasn’t prepared to pay lots of money for a car that I couldn’t tell what was what and have nasty surprises, even “good examples” were pricey and full of of surprises.I’d had that before with the Ghia I spoke about before.
So it turns out I didn’t want a completed project, I wanted to make my own mark on something, build something, I wanted to learn to build bits myself, weld where I needed and have some fun with it. Also i’m fortunate enough to have a workshop space with ramps, welders, sandblasting cabinet etc and it seemed a shame not to make the most of it. I’m also not in a major rush to get it done as I have other vehicles that I can use to fuel my petrolhead thirst when the urge calls.
Anyway, whilst looking out for them I came across the Joop Stolze website, its a place just north of Rotterdam, it had a pic of a paint brushed blue -(yes thats right) 240z on it, not much info. It wasn’t priced to ridiculously in fact it was probably the cheapest Z I'd seen. It meant I was able to make my mark on it. After a few email exchanges with the main man Joop himself, a few pics and lots of questions a deal was struck and I put a deposit down in December ’22
The only sticking issue was that it it had started previously but for some reason, they could not work out why it wouldn’t again. They said not to come and collect it until they were able to get it running, which was fine with me, but months past and I was getting itchy feet with it, so. I emailed again and was told that they couldn’t figure it out..so if I wanted my money back I could have it. But my heart was set on it (rightly or wrongly), so I said to him, I’d have it anyway as a non starter if we renegotiated the price-
So early one March morning, around 1:30am I creaked open the garage door with my great friend Matt and hooked up the trailer to set off to collect it from the Netherlands. With work commitments I couldn’t really be away longer than a day, so day trip it was- and what a journey.
It was bitterly cold in the UK, but what I hadn’t accounted for was that when we go to calais, it would be heavy snow. Which added to the drama. By the time we reached Stolze classical cars though it was sunny and clear.
If you know the place that I’m talking about then you know it’s not just a car lot, its a museum a cave of wonders, its has over 200 cars for sale/display, but not your average ford fiesta, you are talking classic Porsches, 240z’s, old Mercs, Maseratis, American muscle cars, bikes for days, memorabilia. It really is something to behold.
And there she was in all her (non) glory, ready to be pushed onto the trailer, having had a good look round, I knew I was in for a lot of work. The engine not starting was the least of my dramas.
All loaded up we headed back to the UK, back into the snow covered lands of France. And got back to the Garage around 1am, so thats 24hrs to collect the 240z.. was it worth it.. well thats hard to say! I love it, but it needs a lot of work.
If anyone is still bothering to read reading this, then here we are, the project build…
Two days after I got the car home I went through the engine and wiring.
The car has an L28 engine in it from the later Z, It also has had a turbo strapped to it and a Standalone ECU hacked into it. At lunch Matt and I were going through it all and found a few switches, we traced them around and it seems to be connected to an immobiliser, via the ECU and a manual fan switch, I flicked the toggle and turned the key- The dash lit up, which was a new thing.
Double checked the fluids and battery, turned the key and the car grumbled, again a first. A very very excited me, turned it again and the car fired into life… and it sounded bloomin amazing, it has a oversized exhaust on it and it sounded great if not a little too loud, but at this point I was too excited. Even though it was all to be pulled apart, it was nice to know the engine was functioning…
I am on Insta- J_chung81 if you wanna see updates/stories, offer advice, laugh or if you have parts... more updates here on this to follow too.
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Be interesting to watch your progress
