SeanDezart
Well-Known Forum User
Bear with me and please read on :
It was Wednesday night at Le Mans after the evening practice had finished (circa 00:30) and I was enjoying a cool beer whilst looking at Cathys' 280ZX 2 seater. It looked great with the neon light flowing over it and made me remember the other one we have tucked away. I'm a sucker for under-estimated things and have always felt that the 280 has had a bad press and circumstances (in Europe) have led them to being the ugly (unwanted ?) sister. Over-valued over here, broken for parts in the UK and most of the lovely looking examples we see everywhere are in standard form.
Are we forgetting the VERY 'chequered flag' history of this car - it even ralleyed if one gets past the track sucesses !
And so a beery thought developed and became stronger as the weekend progressed : make a track-day 280ZX but registered as a road car, keeping it within VHC rules so as to allow it to race one day if desired - over here, VHC is divided into different classes - so what, they all are !
1965 - 1970 - here, an early Z could dominante....
1971 - 1981 - here, a fully homologated 280ZX 2 seater could dominate
In fact, the cars least likely to compete on equal terms with other cars are those that do so well in the UK - 240Zs !
So, I want to construct my 280ZX 2 seater, which has 240Z steering (not power-assisited), no electric windows and no electronic check-list in the dash and technically should be not much heavier than a standard 240Z; Mr F could confirm/deny this as his Ratz was based upon a similar car....?
The car would keep it's standard body look with merely the addition of plexiglass headlamp covers. I would aim to lighten the doors and tailgate and certainly add plexiglass in the tailgate.
I consider the brakes to be ok, the suspension will need upgrading and to initially keep the costs down, I'm not planning on boosting the engine too much - if I can get upwards of a reliable 200bhp out of her then I'd be happy - later, when she runs and if money allows, something more substantial will be considered !
The inside will be stripped out save for the two 'sports' look seats, the centre console and dashboard and if I consider that replacing the door trim won't save much, I'll keep them as well ( it will be a road car after all) !
The overall aim is to have the car at 1000kgs finished !
All that said, I'm going to need help and may be requesting some old ZX parts that you don't want any more - free would be great, but anything reasonable considered.
Advice too is going to be essential and very welcome together with any and all constructive criticism.
The car now has French papers (thanks Boomer), the body-work man chosen - all it requires is the will, Cathys' support and the money to do it. I think I can find all that !
But what colour (s) ? I have an idea but what do you think ? And what wheels ?
It was Wednesday night at Le Mans after the evening practice had finished (circa 00:30) and I was enjoying a cool beer whilst looking at Cathys' 280ZX 2 seater. It looked great with the neon light flowing over it and made me remember the other one we have tucked away. I'm a sucker for under-estimated things and have always felt that the 280 has had a bad press and circumstances (in Europe) have led them to being the ugly (unwanted ?) sister. Over-valued over here, broken for parts in the UK and most of the lovely looking examples we see everywhere are in standard form.
Are we forgetting the VERY 'chequered flag' history of this car - it even ralleyed if one gets past the track sucesses !
And so a beery thought developed and became stronger as the weekend progressed : make a track-day 280ZX but registered as a road car, keeping it within VHC rules so as to allow it to race one day if desired - over here, VHC is divided into different classes - so what, they all are !
1965 - 1970 - here, an early Z could dominante....
1971 - 1981 - here, a fully homologated 280ZX 2 seater could dominate
In fact, the cars least likely to compete on equal terms with other cars are those that do so well in the UK - 240Zs !
So, I want to construct my 280ZX 2 seater, which has 240Z steering (not power-assisited), no electric windows and no electronic check-list in the dash and technically should be not much heavier than a standard 240Z; Mr F could confirm/deny this as his Ratz was based upon a similar car....?
The car would keep it's standard body look with merely the addition of plexiglass headlamp covers. I would aim to lighten the doors and tailgate and certainly add plexiglass in the tailgate.
I consider the brakes to be ok, the suspension will need upgrading and to initially keep the costs down, I'm not planning on boosting the engine too much - if I can get upwards of a reliable 200bhp out of her then I'd be happy - later, when she runs and if money allows, something more substantial will be considered !
The inside will be stripped out save for the two 'sports' look seats, the centre console and dashboard and if I consider that replacing the door trim won't save much, I'll keep them as well ( it will be a road car after all) !
The overall aim is to have the car at 1000kgs finished !
All that said, I'm going to need help and may be requesting some old ZX parts that you don't want any more - free would be great, but anything reasonable considered.
Advice too is going to be essential and very welcome together with any and all constructive criticism.
The car now has French papers (thanks Boomer), the body-work man chosen - all it requires is the will, Cathys' support and the money to do it. I think I can find all that !
But what colour (s) ? I have an idea but what do you think ? And what wheels ?
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