260Z Project - 260Z GT-R

Ian

Club Member
Had a rather nice item turn up today.







My custom built Alloy Fuel Tank, built for me by Pro Alloy. Fits in the same as the original, I have it setup for use with carbs while I'm still running carbs but its also setup for a fuel injection setup and should be good to flow enouth for 600HP. Its got a proper intenal collector, baffles and is also filed with tank foam so I won't need to run an external surge tank. Its got a DeatschWerks DW300 fuel pump installed which can flow more fuel than I'll ever need.































Had to change my fuel sender type to a dip tube, this should be more accurate and takes up less room but also means my stock fuel guage won't work so I will use this:

 

Ian

Club Member
My Nardi Steering Wheel turned up today :D Along with a few fancy bolts:










This is actually nice to drive with, but it just hasn't got the looks of the Nardi:









Matches my red stiched gear gaiter perfectly


















Also since my new rubber arrived yesterday I went and got it fitted to a rim so I could

test fit it on the car, using Toyo R1R's in 225/45/16. Test fitted it up and they fit the rear fine, doesn't fit the front yet but it will with the new coilovers so I've ordered another 3.





















Quite a cool looking tyre:





Definitly looks better than the old rubber:

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racer

Club Member
That's a nice set of wheels and tyres! They will look superb once you've lowered the car.

I'm interested in why you picked the R1R's? They seem to be Toyo's version of the AD08 Yokis.
I know the Yokahamas are good but perhaps a bit soft in the sidewall compared with the 48 r's and 888 track tyres. I'd like to know what the R1R's feel like on the road. They should easily cope with the power from the L'series but, perhaps not when the RB26 comes along. :D
 

Ian

Club Member
Thanks, should look good hopefully,once that massive arch gap dissapears.


I picked the R1R's because they got lots of good reviews, they are sticky without taking too long to warm up, I was also thinking of AD08 but I got these at a good price so thought I'd give them a go.

The fronts will be fine but if the rears don't have enouth grip for the RB26 I'll switch to A048R's, I have always planned to move to 9.5" rear wheels with flares anyway once the engine is in and running, then I can run 245's or 255's on the rear and these will handle the power.


I'll see how the feel and grip once they are all on, hoping for good things.
 

Ian

Club Member
Been busy doing the wiring for my new fuel guage, takes a while to locate the correct wires and then do a neat job of running the wiring. One of the pistons on the drivers side caliper was sticking on, so I ordered up a new seal kit, took it out and gave it a good wire brushing, should do until I get my new setup on.


A few more parts have arrived:




New dust boots for my TRE's and new wheel nuts in 12x1.5 size to fit the new wheels and new wheel studs:

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Switch for the fan, a few wiring connectors and crush washers and the fittings for my fuel tank. New clutch slave cylinder also as no sooner than I fixed my brakes than my clutch went, seemed it had been leaking for a while but only failed completly when I ran out of fluid, so got a new one ordered and fitted (Thanks to Mike for getting one to me the next day)

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ARP Extended wheel studs for the front Hubs:

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These fittings allow me to use 5/16 fuel line for the carb setup, once I start using the pump I will use braided SS AN type lines and fittings:

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Installed and wired in switch for the Manual override for the electric fan:

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Nothing too exciting there, but she is off to the bodyshop tomorrow, going to be a busy day and likely a busy two weeks, got lots to do.
 
That's a nice set of wheels and tyres! They will look superb once you've lowered the car.

I'm interested in why you picked the R1R's? They seem to be Toyo's version of the AD08 Yokis.
I know the Yokahamas are good but perhaps a bit soft in the sidewall compared with the 48 r's and 888 track tyres. I'd like to know what the R1R's feel like on the road. They should easily cope with the power from the L'series but, perhaps not when the RB26 comes along. :D

They're the same compound as a r888 with a bit of extra silica and a pattern that's designed to work in the wet, Great tyres, I had them fitted to a car with a genuine 500bhp/tonne and had no traction issues.
 

Stockdale

Club Member
You are probably about to wipe thousands of pounds off the cars value. These cars are rare (yours is an import) and meddling with the mechanicals is not a good idea. That said, there are things you might do to improve performance. What about selling it and buying an Impretza?
 

Ian

Club Member
They're the same compound as a r888 with a bit of extra silica and a pattern that's designed to work in the wet, Great tyres, I had them fitted to a car with a genuine 500bhp/tonne and had no traction issues.
Sounds good to me, another postive reccommendation for the R1R's




You are probably about to wipe thousands of pounds off the cars value. These cars are rare (yours is an import) and meddling with the mechanicals is not a good idea. That said, there are things you might do to improve performance. What about selling it and buying an Impretza?
Thats a fair enouth opinion, these are classic car and therfore I understand that people will have this view. But for me I like the shape of the car and also the way it drives (this is not to say it cannot be improved) and also the fact that they are rare and a bit different, the fact that I am unlikely to ever pass another one on the road where I live is a good thing for me.

I do not intend to alter the way the car looks to much from what they would originally look and I intend to keep as much of the cars character as I can but with slightly more performance, for me the current driving experience is very good and the L26 is a nice engine but it definitly lacks a bit of power. It doesn't help that my daily has over 250hp per ton.(to put that in perspective a Jag XKR R only has 234hp per ton.


For a lot of people it always seems to come down to money, but I couldn't care less what the cars worth as I don't intend to sell it, for me whats important is that I have a car that I enjoy driving, delivers a great driving experience, looks cool and is rare enouth to be different. Sure I could buy an Impretza STI, its a pretty quick car even stock and sounds nice, but for me its too boring and too common and just can't match the look of the 260Z or the deliver the raw driving experience. Even if I go ahead with the RB, if I decide its not for me and would rather have a 3.1L series its not going to be too hard to swap back to the L.
 

Ian

Club Member
I made some progress today:




Got the fuel Tank out, didn't get round to fiting the Pro-Alloy tank as I am going to get some stainless tank straps made up:

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Got the engine out:

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Front end is mostly stripped:

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Won't be using most of this stuff again:

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How I left her at the end of today:

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Still loads to do, but its a start. :thumbs:
 

Ian

Club Member
Thanks Guys, while I enjoy working on it, I really can't wait to get it back together and be driving her again.

Wyn - L26 won't be used as an anchor just yet, she'll be going back in for a while.





Bay is completly stripped and all unwanted brackets cut off;

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Removed the battery tray as I have something much neater planned but also because its a well know place for rust, just as well I did as that was one of two places where I have a rust problem:

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End of the day, on trailer ready to be taken for blasting tomorrow:

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Engine is looking a bit cleaner also:

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Managed to find time to polish an Evo X also, came out nice:

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johnymd

Club Member
These cars were being modified the day they came out and I think that was one of the appeals of it. Very few were left standard and engine mods were common. You could probably count on one hand the amount of standard cars left in the country.

Enjoy the car how you want it.
 

Ian

Club Member
Enjoy the car how you want it.
Exactly,and thats what I intend to do.





The car is away getting media blasted today, will either be back tomorrow or on monday.



I finished cleaning up the carbs, they are not great, but better than they were. Did a bit more work with the engine, the block seems to have changed color.

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I took the steering arms, balljoints, brakes, discs and backing plates off the hubs ready to fit my coilovers, none of which will be going back onto them:

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Got the new threaded tubes welded onto my hubs:

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racer

Club Member
Looking good Ian.
I take it they are just blasting the engine bay for you for now? Are you painting that yourself?
Is your plan to do the brake and suspension upgrades first and then fit the Rb further down the line?
 

Ian

Club Member
Thanks

Yeah, the bay and wheelwells are being (or possibly have already been) blasted for me, once it comes back there will be some prep to do, some welding (I won't be doing this) and then the painting, I'll be letting the professionals do the painting to make sure its as good as possible.


Thats my plans exactly, get the chassis, suspension and brakes sorted now and then later on fit the RB.
 

Wyn

Club Member
Those hybrid shafts should do the trick Ian :thumbs:

Handy as I photo'd most of my bits as I went along .... just in case :D

Have just found a pic "before" I pulled the Z31T shafts apart

As you can see the inner part sits down recessed to the outer cage, unlike when they are spun
Don't forget the circlip under all that grease ;)
 

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Ian

Club Member
No photos because my camera was flat, car got back from the blasters on Monday, not much rust but it was worse than I was expecting, seems the repairs in the engine bay weren't done very well, badly welded in fresh metal, some pigeon **** welds which in places aren't even solid (as in theres some small holes where it been welded) and they weren't even ground back flat. Got some rust damage in the usual engine bay places - either corner at the back of the bay next to the bulkhead, glad I removed my battery tray. Thats all going to be reapaired properly.

Got lots of small parts primed and painted in black ready to go back on.





Glad to see your doing it in the correct order. Not like some others on here.
Learn't that from my previous project where I swapped the engine before upgrading the brakes, definitly the wrong way to do it.






Thanks for the photos Wyn, thats a good help.

If its recessed at that side, it must be level at the other side, which is what I was thinking was the correct way, good to confirm it.


I'll get them built tomorrow, along with putting new bearings in my front hubs and starting to rebuild my front hub, suspension and brake assembly.
 
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