73 240z RB25 Build

[CollinBoz]

Hey Guys, new to the forum but not to Z cars. I own a 96 Z32 and recently my dad and I picked up a73 240z with 130,xxx miles on it in fairly good condition. Some rust in the usual spots, but otherwise a solid car.

We picked up the car with the intent on "refreshing" it and making it a fun weekend driver. But as we got into it and started taking it apart we suddenly found ourselves with a bare car with nothing but the body (no interior AT ALL) and the engine block. So our refreshing project has now turned into a full restoration....Sorta.
So, now that the background info is out of the way, we are now thinking of going crazy and swapping the carbed L24 for maybe an RB25/6. I have been told that people like build threads and I would love some outside opinions. Once we get the engine pulled (when we can borrow a pull from a friend) we are going to start the fun.
Here are some picks of the car the day we responded to the craigslist ad. I will post some pictures of its current condition tomorrow when I can get some good daylight picks.


The interior was a good as the day it was bought off the showroom.


I believe these rims are from a 280zx, correct me if Im wrong.

]
Everything opened up, looking around.

Here's to a long and hopefully fun build. Will keep it posted as best I can, once summer starts both my posts and time to work on car will become more frequent. Any suggestions for a better swap all opinions are welcome!
-Collin

[CollinBoz]

Im not sure what I did wrong with the pictures. They didnt show up as I expected. Like I said, new to the forum. Any help?

[evildky]

I fixed the links for you, basically photobucket screwed up their own links so it's easier to just use the image url and add your own tags or use the tag button in the forum and add the direct url.

Looks good, Yes those are 280ZX wheels. S30 chassis make the best race cars or radical builds due to their simplicity. Unfortunately the value of a total stock car tends to be higher than modded cars these days and their values seem to be on the rise. But unless it's a real early chassis number or a stellar low miles survivor I wouldn't hesitate to make it my own.

[CollinBoz]

As you can tell from the pictures it was a totally stock 240z with pretty good interior and decent milage. But the paint is not as good as it appears in the pictures.
But we have no intention of selling it and want something that we can work on and enjoy. And whats more enjoyable than an RBZ? Im also bad with carbs! I also got the chance to ride in Gordon's car and I dont think there is any way that I can go away from an RB as his car is the coolest thing on the face of the earth. So we are referring to his build thread for advice on the way.
Also, what is it that you did to fix my pictures? I am working on car now and plan on uploading some pictures within the hour on its current progress. As a teen you would expect I be good at this sort of thing but I guess not.

Collin

[CollinBoz]

OK, now to update the build to where we are now. For the first few months that we had the car it actually ran, needed a new fuel pump once we bought it but no prob. We tuned the carbs, (badly I must admit, but it ran) and drove it around town some. Won Diamond In The Rough in the Triangle Z Club car show! But sadly it died on us one day while driving, luckily made it home. This is what made us decide to take it apart as we could not figure out why it had died. We later found out that the coil pack over heated along with the electronic ignition and the wiring was fried due to previous owners hack job. So we made up our mind to do a swap and make it completly ours inside and out.


We started with the back first. The pictures were taken today as I did not do good with recording the progress along the way. But Ill do better of that along the way. Also excuse the garage, we are having a yard sell either soon and are hoarding stuff in garage untill we sell it.


Next was interior. Btw we had no real rythm to our car destruction, just worked on what appealed to us at the time. Bought a muffler cutter and cut the TERRIBLE rust out of pass floor pan. When the new floor pans come in then we'll get to cutting the rest. Took the dash out and stripped the interior of all leather, plastics, wiring, and well everything. Just got to get the sound deadening on the tunnel.


Dash was in good condition minus a few cracks on top. Would you guys recomend a dash cap? Because a restoration is expensive!!!!!



Also came with original hubcaps. Btw these along with just about all powertrain parts (engine, accessories, transmission, etc...) and some interior parts such as the seats are for sale. The seats are in PERFECT condition, could rebolster them if wanted but leather is unstressed or cut of anything. Will send pics of anything, just pm me if interested.


Round top SU carbs, in pretty good condition. Also for sale to good home.


Btw we already have the color for the 240z picked out. Pearl White, just like my Z32 and the Nismo Z34.

I think thats it for now. I will do better on updating and taking pictures of any future work. These last few posts are just to update all who are interested in our progress! Cant wait to start putting things back together. Know of any reputable places to buy an RB25? Need to start looking! RawBrokerage?

Collin

[evildky]

Should have left the carbs on the manifold, less work for youo and less work for someone swapping them in.

[CollinBoz]

We had originally thought that the carbs were the cause of the engine not working. So we took them apart to see if they were the cause. They were fine but we just left them off.

[gmac708]

looking good Collin subscribed

Gord

[CollinBoz]

Hey guys, been a while since my last update. Just got out for summer break and have not had the time or the motivation to post anything as typing on computers is too much like school and I wanted to fully enjoy my first bit off. I will do a real update with pics and fun stuff tomorrow. But we have pulled the entire powertrain out of the car, so the car is NOTHING but a half green and white primered uni-body. Tired of the demolition, time to start adding fun stuff.....

Collin

[CollinBoz]

Alright, been a while since last update. Have done a lot since the last one but have had no time to take pictures or write anything. Any way the first thing that we did was to put the car on jacks and remove the suspension and brakes.


This was pretty easy as we had already done this recently to replace the shocks as the old ones did not work what so ever. Back when we werent thinking of something so radical but simply making it more reliable. and usable. Not any more!


As you can see this is new as we had to cut out the old one last time we took suspension out and take it to Public Works and have them push it out. (This is where the town works on and maintains public equipment. My dad is a Fire Chief and has access to these guys.) So when than had to buy a new one for some $30!!


We then had this view. With our makeshift brake fluid collector. Whatever works right? Guess what we took out next?


Thats right, the steering column. Like I had said earlier there was no real rythm to our destruction and since the wheels, brakes, and suspension is gone what do we need it for? This was a simple unbolt and pull out.


Old sway bars out, along with control arms and tie rods and other suspension components which can be seen laying around on the edge of the pic.




These bolts are located on the driveshaft on the side closest to the diff. We were hoping to disconnect these real quick but could not get any pneumatic tools or ratchets in there. Could only fit a simple box wrench and this was not budging at all. So this was what made us decide to give up for the day and figure it out later.


We later took out the old speakers in the back of the car. Not sure what the stock setup was or if this was te stock setup but the speakers were just mounted to a flimsy bracket with no surrounding box. So 3-4 screws and disconnect them and they were out. As you can see they are very cheap paper cone speakers.


I see no further use for them except maybe a magnet for tools or screws. I may take them apart and use my tiny creative side to make something cool or useful. Than realize what I made sucks and throw it away.


During all the excitement of demolishing the 240z I was more distracted with the arrival of my car back from the shop. I apparently broke my shift forks, clutch forks, syncros, and chipped my flywheel. How? Not sure but I just sent it off to get rebuilt cuz neither of us know much about transmissions. But its back so I must share that fact with everyone who will listen, although its so dirty.


And back to the 240z. We decided to remove the trans-axles from the differential. Very easy and didnt take long at all. They are much heavier than I would have expected!



With those off the mustache bar and the differential are easily accessable but we arnt going to take it out until we get the driveshaft out. As you can see the other transaxle is still on in the pic as I took the pic before moving to the other side.

[CollinBoz]

Took a bunch of pictures and still updating progress. So heres a continuation of progress.
We hadnt originally planned on doing this but we had found out that Harbor Freight was having a giant sale on most of their stock, which included engine hoists. So I quickly drove their and picked up a 1 ton hoist for around $100. Which is very cheap but it works great and the quality is not amazing but I would do it again in a heart beat. So we had already bought an engine stand from a guy in our Z club and had just bought an engine pull so why not? Ran to the store and bought some chain and ripped that sucker out.


Look how much room this thing has now. We decided to detach the transmission from the engine before pulling it. So the 7 bolts that held the two together were unscrewed and the hoist was attached.

Side view!


The engine was then put on the engine stand. Valve cover has been off for a while but I couldnt help but take it apart further!


We disconnected the heads from the block with the use of the engine hoist again. Pulled it straight off with out problem.


Took this pic with phone so bad quality, sorry. But the valves are absolutely filthy along with many other components of the engine which is expected. Since we are planning on selling the engine I decided that I wanted to take valves out and clean them along with other pieces up a bit.


since niether of us know much about this engine we made some very smart purchases which completely describe how to take apart the engine and car correctly as well as put it back together correctly. So I would recomend these to anybody who is thinking of doing the same thing. I believe we picked these up from the TheZstore.com.


Took the rocker arms and clips off and was given a neat way on how to organize them from the book.


Next the camshaft was carefully slipped out and placed alongside its gear and timing chain.
Thats as far as I got today as I need a valve spring compressor for the next step. I will buy/rent one soon so that I may continue.


Than, mostly out of curiosity, took off the oil pan. Before today the most I had done on an engine was replace the water pump on my Z32. Which is very extensive for all of you unfamiler with the VG30. Its nothing as simple and easy as the L24!


This is the clutch components alongside the mustache bar which holds the differential. Since we got the mustache bar out we easily got the differential out too.

Before taking the diff out completely we had to disconnect it from thhe driveshaft as we gave up on doing this earlier. Since the diff was on the ground though and not bolted to the car it allowed us to reposition the attached driveshaft to a position that allowed us to get better tools and more leverage.


This allowed us to finally get the driveshaft out. The only part of the powertrain left in the car is the transmission. I assume that most people would have taken it out by now but we do things out of order. So it is just sitting on the crossmember and some supportive jacks. That is our next project which we should be tackling in about 10 minutes. So soon I will be able to say that the car is nothing but a Unibody on jack stands.

Here are some pictures of where the rear powertrain used to sit and how empty it is, for your viewing pleasure.







Ohh forgot one more thing. Love when car goodies come in from UPS. (My pitbull on the other hand loves barking at the UPS man.)

Rear dog leg replacements from TheZstore to replace that nasty rust. This car doesnt have much rust, but where it does have rust it looks nasty.



Now to continue working, once the demolition is done Im not sure what else there will be to do until the new powertrain comes in. We want an RB26 but the RB25 makes more sense to get as its cheaper and can provide plenty of power for the Z. And we can actually acuire one without searching the whole internet. But that over the top intake plenum looks hideous. Well one day...

-Collin

[AZhitman]

Great thread, Collin!

That's actually my favorite OEM color on a Z.

Glad you had better luck with Tabco than I did. I waited FIVE MONTHS for a set of dogleg patch panels, and finally gave up on their excuses and built my own.

Needless to say, they had them on the market a month later. GRRR.

[CollinBoz]

Thanks a lot, been real busy for the last little while and have not been able to do anything while waiting for parts. But our floor pans and frame rails are in and we finally have a welder to put them in. Hoping to install these parts this week! I will post updated pics this week regardless of floor pan install. The car is no longer green but has been stripped and primed grey. Nothing professional for sure, but we are now decided on metallic silver so it gives us an idea of how it will look. Progress is slow but steady, will be finished eventually! But for now my Z32 will have to do!

Collin

[tervanun]

Great start! Good luck on the build

[Glenn Schoettlin]

My very first car was a Datsun 240Z. I bought it new and had to wait six months to get it after making a down payment and waiting. I had to take the car that they gave to me and could not pick out my cover. I either took what they had at the time or went to the back of the line and wait another six months. I took the first one available and it was Burnt Orange. Yuck!

But I had the car for ten years before it was run over by a big fire truck. And your pictures bring back a lot of good memories of my Z car.

One thing you may want to consider if putting a down spoiler on the front end. When you get that thing running you will find that the front end tens to lift off the ground when you get her up to above 95 mph. At around 100 to 110 she wants to take off. She will cruse at 90 mph all day long though.

The 240Z was a great car to take on trips. I dove mine down to Florida for a scuba diving trip right after I got it. I can remember running along side a cute girl who was also driving a 240Z along the highway though Alabama. We were both going 90 mph and having fun. But that was many years ago.

I still drive a Nissan today but it's a 720 Pick Up. The 240Z is only a two seater and anyone else is in for a rough ride in the back or a cramped ride if they sit on the lap of the passenger. It's a tight fit. It's very comfortable for two people though.

Have fun with that car when you get done rebuilding it. The car turns people's head. I was driving home from college back in 1972 when I saw my first 240Z and fell in love with the design immediately. I stopped for gas an there was a 240z at the same gas station filling up. I had never seen anything like it before. It sort of reminded me of a Ferrari.

[Boostin6rb]

Any updates ?

[CollinBoz]

Sorry, it's been awhile! Havnt had much time recently. My Z32s idle tensioner has gone bad, so the garage space/time has gone to that. Havnt had much time for the 240z.... Sorry to leave you guys hanging. Have the necessary parts to fix my car on the way, should be back to work on the 240z in a few days!

[AZhitman]

Can't wait - Glad to have you aboard!