GTR-240Z 2012 Refresh

GTR-240Z

Well-Known Forum User
After 3 months of parts collecting I thought it was time to start a thread on my updates for 2012 since I'm only 2 weeks away from starting to actually fit stuff and I thought it might be of interest to some of you.
To give you a background on the car I spent 5 years restoring and modifying the car starting way back in 2003 and there was always areas I felt uphappy with as I had to compromise due to time and money. I've been slowly making improvements to the car to address these areas and decided after a great 2011 going to shows, track days, and the drag challenge I thought it was time to address the remaining areas in one big hit.


So my upgrades for 2012 are:
  • Fit power steering, going to use the Subaru STI rack with a Citroen Saxo electrohydralic pump. Terry (Tel240z) will be doing this conversion for me as he has come up with a nice little package for me.
  • Redo brake lines so they run on inside of wing to give a cleaner engine bay, also going to fit a line lock (two can play at that one Tel :)). Also going to replace the dreadfull brake pads Arizonia Z Car supplied with my wilwoods as they create huge amounts of brake dust and squeal like a banshee.
  • Remake the gearbox mount as the current one is horrible and requires me to upbolt the mount from inside the car if dropping the box which really annoys me.
  • Replace worn Exedy single plate clutch which has terrible judder at slow speeds with a Nismo Super Coppermix twin plate clutch which is apparently a nice streetable clutch, doesn't have the usual twin plate jingle, and can handle 660bhp so more than enough for me. Also going to replace the clutch master and slave cylinder as I'm getting contamination of the fluid from one of the seals.
  • Fit 300ZX TT R230 LSD using the Modern Motorsports mounting brackets, Modern Motorsports custom 300ZX TT CV shafts, and Modern Motorsport billet 39 spline stub axles and matching companion flanges. Suppose to be used regularly on 10 seconds zeds so hopefully no more broken drive shafts also hoping the R230 is nice and smooth with none of the backlash I seem to suffer with the current R200.
  • Aluminium fuel tank to replace current one which will have some decent baffles and internal collector so it can run an internal fuel pump and do away with the surge tank setup. Hopefully with a simplier system I will have a more reliable and robust fuel system. Still need to decide on a fuel pump will run either twin walbro or Bosch 044, or prehaps a single Toyota Supra IV or Automotive Stealth 340 need to make my mind up soon before tank arrives.
  • Fit prop hoop for added safety
  • Rewire whole car, will just tidy rear harness as its actually in good condition just needs better ground wires, repair interior light wiring, the fuel pump wiring is already beefed up. Going to use a US front harness as my one is in poor condition but will replace headlight, and parking light wires, and will add fan, and power steering pump wires in will also strip out all the wiring for the ye olde coil, ballast resistor and all vintage engine stuff :p. Dash harness will be completly redone as its had 40 years of messing about done to it and I think it can be simplified and tidied up also going to fit a more modern fuse box.
  • Redo oil cooler pipework, replace worn tyres at rear, replace heater valve, replace leaking rear oil seal, get those damn heater controls to work, replace turbo elbows with correct R33 ones so I can re-enable my o2 sensors.
  • Reupholster transmission tunnel, sills, and behind seats I'm not a big fan of that diamond stitch vinyl and I hate the carpet replacement I current have. Will leave this as a surprise to the end.
  • Rewire engine harness, fit Injector Dynamics ID1000 injectors, replace air flow meters with RB25 ones which flow better, and a retune.
  • Fit slightly stiffer rear springs and some adjustable camber mounts to rear so I can run a little negative camber.
So not really much planned :rofl:. And for those of you that get all excited at car part pictures here is what I have cluttering up the house ready to be fitted soon.

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Modern Motorsport Custom 300ZX TT CV's

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Diff still a work in progress on kitchen floor. Pipes where for original oil cooler.

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Very shinny clutch shame they've gone to all that trouble making it look so nice as your never see it once fitted.

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Modern Motorsport 39 spline billet stub axle.

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Modern Motorsport mounting brackets

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Lots of various boxes in spare room like this, it's stuff like this that you fail to budget for and actually costs a small fortune. £140 for gearbox, diff, brake fluid, and somewhere power steering fluid!.

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Work in progress on front loom really early progress which I need to start working on again.

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Freshly painted crossmember in my kitchen. Hard to see Terry's modifications in this picture but the paint is still drying.The smell is drifting into the living room and making me light headed :unsure:.

Will keep you posted as I start fitting this stuff.
 

IbanezDan51

Well-Known Forum User
Should the R200 not have handled the power with a decent LSD fitted plus its lighter?

Interested in the power steering rack idea!
 

Mr.G

Club Member
Great stuff Darren, glad your posting this, it will make for a very good read.:thumbs:

With regards to the fuel tank, I like the idea of a custom made tank. There is another route you might have already looked at, that involves using your existing tank and fitting an ATL Black Box inside it. I've dove a bit of research on this and looks like the route I'll be going for. The black box has a self contained fuel pump within it and the box helps to reduce the fuel splashing around and letting in air from the pump inlet.
 

Rob Gaskin

Treasurer
Staff member
Site Administrator
Sounds like some really useful upgrades and practical solutions to existing issues eg gearbox mounting and wiring reliability/efficiency which is so important.


Rear camber comment is interesting. With my standard but lower set-up I have negative camber without trying.
 

GTR-240Z

Well-Known Forum User
R200 can handle the power and is lighter but I wanted the strongest driveshafts which using the MM kit also means replacing the diff. I actually think a little extra weight in the rear is not a bad thing should be interesting to see how that pans out.

George I have looked at the ATL black box and did consider it but my tank has been lined with the tank sealer stuff which apparently is impossible to remove once in the tank. I like the idea of an alloy tank so no more rusty tank to worry about in the future and I've ordered a custom tank with a nice big sumped area for the pumps to sit in and big baffles to keep fuel in that sumped area will post pictures once it arrives.

Rob I know everybody else that has a lowered zed seems to have a nice amount of negative camber on the rear but looking at my rear wheels they sit perfectly upright not sure why my setup is any different.
 

Wyn

Club Member
Nice collection of bitties you've acquired there :D
 
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Wyn

Club Member
btw, unless you already have you wanna check what wheel studs are fitted to those rear stub axles
Mine came with 12x1.5, so means I need to change the rear wheel nuts to fit, or change the studs back to 12x1.25 :unsure:
 

GTR-240Z

Well-Known Forum User
btw, unless you already have you wanna check what wheel studs are fitted to those rear stub axles
Mine came with 12x1.5, so means I need to change the rear wheel nuts to fit, or change the studs back to 12x1.25 :unsure:

Yeah I seem to recall his site says there 12x1.5 I was going to buy a new set of wheel nuts as I want to get his aluminium front hubs at some point which have the same ARP studs. Should order them now will probably take 3 months to get here :D
 

datsfun

Club Member
Darren I assume that you work for RBS and are now spending some of the Stephen Hester bonus that has been re-distributed to staff :D...

The planned upgrade ^^^ is simply awesome and trulytaking the whole build to the next level. Bet it aint cheap either;)

I need to visit the Northwood mansions soon...:thumbs:
 

Rob Gaskin

Treasurer
Staff member
Site Administrator
Yeah I seem to recall his site says there 12x1.5 I was going to buy a new set of wheel nuts as I want to get his aluminium front hubs at some point which have the same ARP studs. Should order them now will probably take 3 months to get here :D

You could try Rallynuts for some studs. I've used them twice, they get delivered in a couple of days. However you really need to push one out to see what spline dia they are.

Competition Wheel Studs | M12 x 1.25 Metric Fine | Hardened Steel Motorsport Studs | Rallynuts
 

GTR-240Z

Well-Known Forum User
Darren I assume that you work for RBS and are now spending some of the Stephen Hester bonus that has been re-distributed to staff :D...

The planned upgrade ^^^ is simply awesome and trulytaking the whole build to the next level. Bet it aint cheap either;)

I need to visit the Northwood mansions soon...:thumbs:

haha no RBS can't afford me. I like to think I'm doing my bit for the trickle down effect keeping all these car parts manufactuers in a profit during the recession.

I'm only renting in Northwood thanks to the crazy 25% deposit needed to get a mortgage these days, instead I have to pay my landlords mortgage:rolleyes:.
 

GTR-240Z

Well-Known Forum User

GTR-240Z

Well-Known Forum User
Started work today on the zed at Terry's workshop even had John there for company. We stripped the rear end down and changed the springs, top mounts, and stub axles. Ran into clearance issues with the diff which held us up but after checking on Hybridz it seems the norm to have to notch the rear of the chassis to allow the diff to sit high enough in the shell. Hopefully more progress tomorrow and some better pictures.

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DOH!

Looking forward to tomorrow roll on 8.30 if only my day job excited me this much!
 

GTR-240Z

Well-Known Forum User
Made some more progress with the car today

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Tel cut a section out of the chassis for the diff to sit high enough in the car.

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This gave us the clearance needed

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Welded an L shaped piece back in and then sprayed with underseal

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View from another angle

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Then reassembled the rear suspension and axle. Still needs finishing but coming together nicely now.

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Time to replace the clutch, and gearbox mount. Also discovered the oil leak I thought was the rear oil seal is actually from one of the semi circular seals in the rockers which was seeping down the back of the block so saved some time there.

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Fitted the Nismo Super Coppermix twin plate clutch

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Tel has started to make a new gearbox mount using the old ears and x-member. Will be welded in tomorrow.
 

Rob Gaskin

Treasurer
Staff member
Site Administrator
Looks like you are progressing well and improving lots of things. :thumbs:

Car lifts and space to work are so useful, plus a helping hand and encouragement from a friend/engineer.
 

GTR-240Z

Well-Known Forum User
Forgot my camera in the workshop yesterday so I didn't provide a quick update so for the last 2 days we have done the following.

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Fitted the prop made by JW Engineering in Barnehurst,Kent.

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Fitted to car with Tel trying to take a crafty pic.




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Built up a new set of control arms with new bushes, balljoints, and original steering knuckles to replace the short ones I was running.

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Tel finished the gearbox mount

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Subaru STI rack attached to modified x-member ready to be fitted

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New x-member and rack will be going to be replacing this tomorrow

Tel also made up a power steering pump bracket but no pictures till tomorrow of that.
 
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