260Z Project - 260Z GT-R

Ian

Club Member
BTW did Paddy McGrath take those pics?
All the photos on the Speedhunters article were taken by Paddy.




Back at work again now but I had both my babies out for a while, really been loving the Datsun, always got a big grin on my face when driving it. 0-100 in under 8 seconds never gets boring.

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Engine lifting brackets, R200 diff gasket, some new bolts for the cam gear cover, new diff fill bolt and a replacement bush kit (or were meant to be, they are not though, no idea what they are) for my spare set of door hinges which are off getting refurbed to be fitted asap (current ones work fine but are rusty)




Red enamel for the red on the 260Z badges, 3M body tape for the headlight covers as all other tapes come loose after a while. The temp strips are going to be stuck to the oil sump and the diff case to see if they get too hot, they will let me know the max temps they reach.

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I wasn't happy with the engine plaque with the stamping so I had a fullly custom one laser etched:

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Looks much better:

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New mascot - Turbo Timmy:

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Got my plastic tail light chrome trim surrounds re-chromed, they aren't perfect but much better than what was there, I've got 2 spare sets now so I'll send the best away to a different company and hope I get a better job.

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I was hating my rusty rear bumper bolts, so I've changed them to titanium ones, 12g vs 32g, only saved 80 grams overall, but hey, I guess every little helps, if I changed every bolt on the car to titanium I'm sure it would save a couple of kg, but I'm not a millionaire so that won't be happening.

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At least they look much nicer:

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Changed my brake pads to Pagid RS29's, was hoping they make less dust than the Hawk HP+ did as they were destroying my wheels, they do appear to be less dusty but still work as good so pleased with the change so far.

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Diff kept spitting oil out the breather, so I removed the breather, tapped the hole and put a new fitting in so I could run a pipe to somewhere higher up the chassis, problem solved.




Tried my new external mic for my gopro, was too close to the exhaust in this video, need to try it further away and that should stop the distortion.

Just a low boost run, 1 bar vs 1.5 on high.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ghu1ruCzMr8



Found a nice model of an S30, even has an intercooler on the front:

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Tail light area was looking a bit rough, so time for a refresh:

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I'm lucky that I have some amazing driving roads around where I live so I took full advantage of them, some amazing views but I was enjoying driving too much to stop for photos.

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Took the Datsun down to Japfest and the IDC finals at Mondello, was a great weekend and the car got a lot of attention, was talking to Speedhunters Paddy McGrath who did a small spotlight on it: http://www.speedhunters.com/2015/10/worlds-apart-not-another-rb-swapped-z/

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Won car of the show at a recent car show:

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I had metal guards up behind the rear wheels, however with the amount of stones my sticky tyres throw up it just chips the paint and then it rusts. So I've replaced them with 4mm thick rubber used for rally car mudflaps.

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Won't get rust now and they look much nicer:

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New location for the plate:

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Plate looks too big, I'll try and get a slightly smaller one.




Went to the track one weekend, however I was having issues with oil surge during the corners and the second my ECU notices a drop in pressure it cuts the RPM's to 1500 so it wasn't that successful. It was good in one way though because now I know my sump isn't going to cut it on track and as a result I'm planning some more mods to it, got baffles with trap doors behind and in front of the pickup but none at the sides so I'll be adding another plate alongside it with rubber flaps instead of hinges. Also thinking about changing the hinges on the rear baffles for the rubber flaps as they hold the oil longer. The pickup will also be altered as at the moment the angle its sitting at in the sump is not optimal. After this work is completed I'll not be having any more oil control problems.


Already got some rubber flaps to upgrade the oil sump:

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The no bumper look, running with no bumpers at the moment as I took them off to be re-chromed, rear actually looks quite good with no bumper:

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Testing the LSD, don't normally beat on my cars but I build her to have fun in and its well looked after so its not really going to do her any harm.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=16ZWc7YkcVc




Both cars are now put safely to bed. Did over 1000 miles in less than 4 weeks with the Datsun and loved every one of them. The Datsun gets so much attention here its crazy, guess I'm lucky in that there are so few in Ireland that most people have never seen one.

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I'm currently looking to try and fit wider wheels, I think I can fit 8.5" wheels with 245 tyres to give me some more grip, if I moved up to 17" wheels I could run 9" rims with 255 tyres because I would have more clearance from the shock body, but I think 17's" would look too big. Planning on ordering some T3 rear arms so I can adjust my rear toe settings.

:driving:
 

Ian

Club Member
I got an Expansion tank made because up to this point I had been using a plastic bottle, Pro Alloy did a great job once again.

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Got a nice blueprint made up, it laser etched on alloy sheet:

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Got some new rubbers for the pedals, some new bolts for the cam gear cover, new rubber for the rear bumper (wrong part though) and new plugs and filter for a service.

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New track rod to replace the one damaged by the last person to set the toe.

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Can't use my toeing bracket as sits higher than the airdam so I'm thinking of putting a small hole in the airdam behind the number plate and welding the boss onto the tow eye plate so I have a removable toe hook should I need it.

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T3 Adjustable arms:

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Billet alloy hubs:

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Got myself a fun new toy to play with, a VBOX Performance Box, so now I can accurately measure 0-60, 0-100 (and everything in-between at 10mph intervals) 0-100-0 & braking. G force lateral, braking & accelerating, 1/4 mile and many others.

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Building a splitter to improve the front end aerodynamics:

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Drawing up plans for an alloy washer bottle to remove the big ugly plastic one:

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Cleaned my wheel wells, cleaned my coilovers, greased them and covered them, I even waxed the wells to make them easier to clean:

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Ian

Club Member
Not a good day today, tied to fit my new hubs, needed to take.3 of a mm off the disc mount, managed to get that machined only to discover that they leave the disc sitting about 8mm further out than the stock hubs so I could't even use them and I had to put it all back again. Not fun.

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racer

Club Member
Shame about those Hubs Ian. Techno Toys I guess?

I thought they were supposed to have the same offset, or were they designed for 240's only?

Loving the attention to detail on the car.
 

Ian

Club Member
Yes, Techno Toy hubs, they are meant to be the same offset apparently for 240/260 and 280Z so not sure what is going on. Waiting on a reply from them.

I'm wondering if I use their wilwood kit would that leave the caliper in the right place.


Cheers.
 

Ian

Club Member
Well not a good day today, right about the time I was die to be heading to the Ferry for England I was instead taking an angle grinder to my Datsun to get the bonnet open.

Woman pulled out in front of me on a 60mph road, no chance of stopping in time, locked up and slide against the curb a bit before going into the back of her.



I will repair and need the following parts, Airdam, bumper, bonnet, drivers wing, headlight, headlight bowl, headlight covers, indicator, and two wheels.

Any help in finding the bonet, wing and headlight parts is much welcomed.


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richiep

Club Member
This is the kind of thing that scares me the most - not what I'll do while driving the car, but what some other arsehole will do.

Could have been worse though - you are okay and the unibody didn't get whacked!
 

Rob Gaskin

Treasurer
Staff member
Site Administrator
Ian, my heart sank when I saw this.

Are you accepting responsibility for the accident? I'm trying to understand why you are getting an angle grinder to it and sourcing parts.
 

Ian

Club Member
No, not accepting blame, she pulled out in front of me so hoping they will take blame.

Needed the grinder because I wanted to check for damage. I assume I will have to source the parts but not pay for them. Not like you can just order them from Nissan anymore.
 

Ian

Club Member
Where does one get body parts for these, the classifieds on here don't work, I've never managed to find anything by posting a wanted add on here.

Carbon bonnet (painted though) is always an option as long as its going to be a good fit.
 

Joe NI

Club Member
Hi Ian, gutted for you after all that work. I have some wings and pods but they might need repaired first. Will have a look tomorrow.
 

uk66fastback

Club Member
What a nightmare. Horrible thing to have happen. Fantastic car though ... you'll have it fixed and back on the road before long.
 

samuri-240

Well-Known Forum User
What a shame but look on the bright side it could have been far worse.
I used to drive 100k + miles per year & my golden rule is watch & think what other road users may do 100 % of the time, approach a junction with caution & always be ready for evasive action.
It may be worth contacting William Galliers to see what he may have laying around or arriving.
I have a front airdam same as yours I got it through MJP he got it from MSA for me.
By the way is the scale model in the pics a 1:18 Ignition model.

Good luck with the rebuild Ian you should soon have it sorted.
 

Ian

Club Member
Hi Ian, gutted for you after all that work. I have some wings and pods but they might need repaired first. Will have a look tomorrow.
Just glad its not wrote off, I couldn't go through that amount of time and work again.

Let me know the condition of your parts, if they aren't too bad and wouldn't take much work to make right then they might be useable for me.




you should be able to get a new wing still.

Bonnet might be tricky.

Headlight pods easy, are yours metal or the plastic type?
I would try Mike but with him out of action I guess I can try going to Nissan.

My headlight pods are metal.




What a shame but look on the bright side it could have been far worse.
I used to drive 100k + miles per year & my golden rule is watch & think what other road users may do 100 % of the time, approach a junction with caution & always be ready for evasive action.
It may be worth contacting William Galliers to see what he may have laying around or arriving.
I have a front airdam same as yours I got it through MJP he got it from MSA for me.
By the way is the scale model in the pics a 1:18 Ignition model.

Good luck with the rebuild Ian you should soon have it sorted.
I am normally ready to brake encase someone does pull out, but on this occasion I was already so close I thought there was no way she was going to. When I saw the car approach the road I moved my foot over to the brake, but then she stopped for long enough I figured theres no way they will pull out now so continued as usual, but then she did when I was very close. I guess now I'll have to assume everyone is stupid and blind all the time to be safe.

Who is William Galliers?

Airdam isn't a problem, I got mine from MSA.


Yes, its a 1:18 igniton model.
 
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