Stanced Datsun 240z Project

[monsween]

I thought i'd post this up in here as well for helpful hints along the way. There is another fairly lengthy thread on this car in the classifieds so interested to hear opinions from the experts on here

The plans for this is to "stance" the car. A lot will not like the idea of this however it's not being done on the cheap.

Buying the car down in Guildford i trekked 600miles up to Aberdeenshire. Not particularly the best idea in a 44 year old car but never the less it got me home stinking of fuel with only a few roadside bodges

Day of Purchase

Rear Bumper Removed

Lovely Sunrise

First on the list was a detail!, the paintwork was terrible and i knew that going in so was always going to be a re-spray job but fortunately I have a detailing friend who wanted to try out wet sanding. The paint couldn't get much worse so was more than happy to let him test it on the Datsun. The results were astonishing to say the least so the respray is back to the bottom of the list of jobs to do

Post Detail

We have frequent car gatherings at my house with a small selection of cars that turned up that day

I then purchased a HEAP of carbon bits from the US to bolt onto the car, the day they turned up everything was fitted. Bar the carbon bolt on arches. Those will go on when the cars been sufficiently lowered
BRE Carbon Spoiler,
Carbon Rear Bumper
Carbon Front Bumper
Rubber Front Air Dam
Carbon Bolt On Arches

Carbon Bits

So that's where I'm at right now with future plans including:

Future Plans
Bride Fixed Bucket Seats
Takata Harnesses
MultiPoint Cage
Coilovers and Camber Plates
Carbon bolt on arches
New wheels (Undecided as of yet)

Longer Term Plans
LS1/2JZ/1JZ/1UZ Swap

I do have a few other projects / cars at the moment which means this takes a while to fix up.

97' Toyota Supra TT 6 Speed

05' Saab 9-3 Aero 2.8T 6 Speed

'97 BMW 318 5 Speed
'95 Volvo 940 2.4 4 Speed Auto

 

[monsween]

And struggling to figure out how to edit a post to fix the damn pictures!

 

[STEVE BURNS]

unfortunately you need to be a subscribed member to edit your posts
if you need help on how to post photos in a thread give me a ring on 0208 575 0582 as there is 2 ways of doing it either use the attachment where by you load the images from your pc or use the link in the image box at the top of the post box

 

[grahamjc]

Welcome Keiran.... saw this on the Supra forum

 

[moggy240]

Nice carbon !!!!

 

[madda]

Looking good, definite potential there!

Hope you're happy with it as your starting point, it doesn't look too rusty.

 

[monsween]

Well i'm a paid up member now so theres no stopping me! Cars been put off the road now and i've started fiddling with it.

Job number one is the fuel tank dropped to get away for repair then I can start with the rear subframe removal / rebuild.

I've been thinking about the techno toy tuning rear end builds and doing it once and going with the full rear end re-build rather than re-bushing everything. With future plans it seems sensible to perhaps bite the bullet and do the big rebuild. Has anyone on here done it?

 

[richiep]

When you say has anybody done it, do you mean dropped the rear end and rebuilt (answer will be lots of people) or specifically with all Techno Toy Tuning bits? In which case the answer is likely to be very few to no one.

TTT make nice stuff but there are a variety of other vendors out there with variations on all the parts they do. Also I suppose the question has to be what you hope to achieve by replacing everything in that way? You could retain a lot of the original suspension (blasted and refinished) and poly bushed, with adjustable coilovers (TTT, BC Racing, Arizona Z, Gaz) and camber adjustment to deliver you to slammed territory and it would I suspect cost a hell of a lot less than replacing the lot with all the shiny goodies from TTT. New doesn't necessarily mean better.

Maybe, as I approach 40, I'm starting to get set in my ways eek but the desire to replace absolutely everything on these cars with modern bits/materials is a tad bittersweet IMO. Updates and added functionality can be achieved while keeping the original character semi-intact. Something to consider anyway. Slightly more effort than the instant gratification of retail therapy with new stuff but feels more "right" to me. I dunno, maybe it's just late, I'm tired, and feeling nostalgically inclined (despite me most definitely not being a total purist). I've not been drinking so have no excuse unfortunately. Just ignore me if you want!

As some of the old heads have said before on this site too, get to know the car as it is first before tearing into it changing it's fundamentals. And also, something Rob Gaskin might agree with me on (as I'm sure I've seen him utter this before on various occasions!) - get the fundamentals right before engaging in an orgy of spending on bolt-ons, i.e. There is no such thing as a rust-free car (even from Cali) so put the effort into the body first.

Anyway, time to sleep, peace.

 

[atomman]

I'm with Richie on this one,

I know Nissan would have spent a lot of money on suspension development to get it right, a good media blast and get the old bushes out, usually involves a gas lamp, and replace with new urethane ones will give the car a whole new feel, add some adjustable coil overs, you can then play about with spring rates easy and also adjust the height, then if you want to have camber you can either cut out the top mount and weld in a plate, or do what i have done and use and adjustable mount that bolts into the OG holes or use the BC type, there is a thread on them on here,

If its not broke don't fix it, also ask yourself what you want to a have in the end ? full adjustable ever thing is good for a purpose but will you ever use it ?

I would have a good look over the body and invest your money in sorting that out first, I took mine off the road for a quick bit of welding and it ended up being a full 14 month resto, bolt ons can easily be added later,

 

[Albrecht]

Evidence of crash damage legacies visible in photos. Needs careful investigation in my opinion.

Rear disc brake conversion looks badly executed. Handbrake Bowden cables cross back over the driveshafts again (looks like they touch on compression?) in order to meet calipers, and probably not very effective I'm guessing?

Being an early car, it has tapered transverse link braces and a straight transverse link crossmember (all part of the 'forward' diff mounting position that was moved back on later cars). You might want to consider what your future plans involve regarding diffs (the car would have had a 3.3:1 ratio R180 when it left the factory) and driveshafts.

Wise decisions made now might save you time/money further down the line.

 

[zNathan]

Hi Monsween,

What kind of look are you going for? Got any example pics?

 

[johnymd]

When I rebuilt the suspension on mine I just replaced the lower arms (TTT) and struts (GAZ) along with top camber plates. This was all to allow me the adjustability I wanted. I didn't see any need to replace the other parts of the rear. Although mods to use the finned diff cover will be incorporated latter.

 

[Alphabettispaghetti]

So with the paint, your friend basically cut and polished it? Looks like it came out well. Worth getting those brown streaks sorted.

Instead of polybushing it, what about just fitting new bushings, then you'll have a bit of compliance if you really lower it etc?

 

[Ian]

You mention an engine swap later on, if you really plan on this and plan to run lot of power then the TTT rear end might be a good way to go, it will give you the option of being able to use a number of different differentials, driveshafts and brake setups, some of which will be able to handle over 600hp without problem. You can save a lot of money by doing something right the first time.

If you don't plan on running much power then I'd just strip, blast and re-bush the original stuff while adding the coilovers of your choosing.

 

[monsween]

Evidence of crash damage legacies visible in photos. Needs careful investigation in my opinion.

Rear disc brake conversion looks badly executed. Handbrake Bowden cables cross back over the driveshafts again (looks like they touch on compression?) in order to meet calipers, and probably not very effective I'm guessing?

Being an early car, it has tapered transverse link braces and a straight transverse link crossmember (all part of the 'forward' diff mounting position that was moved back on later cars). You might want to consider what your future plans involve regarding diffs (the car would have had a 3.3:1 ratio R180 when it left the factory) and driveshafts.

Wise decisions made now might save you time/money further down the line.

Interested to see where those are? I unfortunately cant see any.

 

[GBB]

Interesting to see the side strips on yours similar to the one I was going to view.

I've sent you a pm.

 

[s2k_adz]

Looking good mate! Cant want to see it progress!

If you ever want to sell your rear window grille, I'd be interested!

 

[monsween]

Looking good mate! Cant want to see it progress!

If you ever want to sell your rear window grille, I'd be interested!

That'll never be for sale!

 

[Pete]

Originally Posted by Albrecht View Post
Evidence of crash damage legacies visible in photos. Needs careful investigation in my opinion. Interested to see where those are? I unfortunately cant see any.

Neither can I. Long wait for a reply.

 

[Alphabettispaghetti]

Neither can I. Long wait for a reply.

It was well covered on the forum when the car was listed for sale first time.