1976 Datsun 260z 2+2 Australia

[hierojz]

Hi all, so now that my JZX110 is in limbo until parts turn up from overseas, and my Z is nearing completion of its first restoration stage! I figured I would post a bit of info of what is to come and what my plans are! This has been a long time coming! so I have been really impatient! D day is nearing!

I picked up a 260Z 2+2 1976 after getting sick of newer cars, (despite still owning two) The car was pretty good from around a metre away, however when up close it was definitely not in the best condition. From the worn down interior and the lack of carpet(these cars have zero sound deadening as it is) to the rust in certain common and uncommon areas.

The car looked like it was resprayed prior although it also seemed like it was sandblasted as well however potentially left outside in between the job, since the paint resembled powder coating without primer.

Motor is a L series 2.8L with 240z Carbs and a 5 speed rebuild manual transmission.
So after the owner got literally spammed with around 200 messages, I managed to snag the offer!

L28 power!

Interior had a previously restored dash, however unfortunately for the rest of it...other than the wheel there wasn't much! Missing carpet and gearboot etc.

Since the vehicle was a factory auto prior, it has been converted to manual with a 5 speed "??" gearbox.

Now since I had wanted one of these for so long and it was running and driving, I was torn as to what I wanted to do, should I refresh? Should I rotisserie? Should I do it on a budget? What is my budget? Should I stray away from the legendary L series? RB? JZ? yada..yada..yada.. endless!

I inspected a lot of the car to get an idea as to how bad the rust was and came to the conclusion that it was going to be a touch worse than when I originally inspected the vehicle.

 

[hierojz]

Venturing forth and finding more and more surprises and upon seeing this, the decision was made to get in contact with one of the local places I knew that works on everything, from old to new. Which had actually done a resto on one of these cars in the past few years.

Windscreen still original,and easy to remove.

Around 4 parts of the chassis rails have seen better days.

I started to pull apart the interior and remove everything and anything to strip the car.

Dry Ice wasn't really helping.. with the removal of the sound deadening.

It was time to pull the motor!

Rad support was fairly impacted in certain areas as well.

Motor was removed along with everything else, and some of the panels assembled for its relocation to the shop.

I had the question asked by my panel beater if I wanted to shave the bay in its entirety. To which my answer was to shave only brackets I won't use. I won't be bothering to delete the battery since I don't really want to put it inside interior of the car since I don't see any point.

Old bolts on old cars.. surprisingly not as bad as I thought it was going to be.

Rolled out of its spot for the first time in 2 months !

Towtruck time! note the plate on the truck!

Now in the shop and has been since July 2019!

Stay tuned

 

[hierojz]

Progress update!

Repairs galore.

 

[hierojz]

Primer time!

 

[hierojz]

Time for an update!

Finally visited the shop in months.

Was extremely happy with the colour.

Started the reassembly process to help tow it back home.

Had to improvise due to heavy rain and use a car cover, did a good job for the 1.5 hour journey home.

Started to assemble and test fit a few things.

Mirrors time.

I picked this style over the fender mirrors, since this is a 2+2.

Battery tray bolted back in, we opted to have a choice so that way if I do delete it I can remove it from the bay.

Check out the colour combo!

Lots of work ahead!

 

[hierojz]

So its been awhile... I don't think they're ready..!

So I tossed and turned on the decision of staying L series or doing something stupid...

So a friend of mine was selling a RB30 Block with a mated RB25DE Neo Head making some gnarly torque tuned on Nistune.

So we pulled the motor out of his R33.

Plans were to pull it all to bits and sort all the little things that have gone to crap over the year of him running this motor on the street. Along with redoing small things, that weren't done correctly the first time around.

Me and the wife began to sort the garage

So we rigged up the downstairs with everything we will need, still need a fridge though!

Stripped the motor down and examined.

Decided to keep true to the heritage in one way or another, by painting it in the original colours of the legendary Datsun L series! (The oil pan is going to be changing, I've got a custom one I am going to get made by Patrick Bowser, since it has to be rear hump)

One of the things I wanted to redo was the tensioner location, since with the RB30 Block being nearly 1 inch taller, the belt that is used is a 150 tooth belt if the tensioners are on the bottom. However this leaves so little room between both sides of the belt! that it was around 2mm and still very loose on the tension.

By relocating it to the upper area and using a 152 tooth belt, I will regain all the spacing between the two belts and also be able to tension the belt properly along with running a cover over the top.

8.5mm drill bit stepped, along with a - m10x1.5 tap

Ended up acquiring an RB26 Intake Manifold and a Raceworks fuel rail.

ITB's on the ready!

So this is a minor update till I get the next stage done.

Plans are to stay NA
- RB26 ITB's with Filters and Trumpets as an optional fit for weekend show offs.
- Fujitsubo stainless or / Custom Spaghetti Exhaust Manifold.
- Angry Idle tune or Angry Cams to retain VCT* depending on how the stock Neo DE cams go!
- Adjustable cam gear - Exhaust Side.
- Twin Plate Clutch!
- Enjoy!

 

[ianlea73]

Rb20/25 with rb26 throttle bodies?
Hard to tell what block it is.

 

[hierojz]

Rb20/25 with rb26 throttle bodies?
Hard to tell what block it is.

Sorry it took awhile to edit! It is an RB30 Block with a 25DE Neo Head

 

[ianlea73]

Sorry it took awhile to edit! It is an RB30 Block with a 25DE Neo Head

So are you using otaku garage adapter plates to run the itb's?
I have that set up for my neo.

 

[Dirk Jan]

mate

 

[hierojz]

So are you using otaku garage adapter plates to run the itb's?
I have that set up for my neo.
View attachment 311782

I am running the smaller ports since this is an N/A head. So I am having a shop fab up the lower factory runners to the ITB's instead of using an adaptor.

mate

 

[hierojz]

Slow and steady! Got all the welsh plugs in, left the rear one out of the top of the head for the oil drain. I've been looking into the options for them since there is around 3 types and one of which requires no drilling, however I was a bit paranoid that it could potentially leak.

Also acquired rb20det covers and revamped them, after which I will be installing some fittings as usual. I am going to be running the RB26 front cover to make my setup stand out and be unique. I will have to drill a hole for the drivers side VCT.

 

[hierojz]

Update time~!

Sorted some fittings for the rocker covers - Push in Aeroflow fittings in -10 AN

Attempted the removal of the stupid fitting that Nissan made, with what tools I had since my spanner for that size had gone missing.

Out with the old~!

New fittings~~!

New water neck in Billet from Aeroflow.

Rear fitting fitted

Front assembled.

OS Giken Cam gear arrived

Picked up my clutch kit from NPC Performance - Billet Flywheel 6.8kg vs stock 9kg! Should be peppy!

Picked up a R34 RB25DET Gearbox with around 100,000 ks on the clock.

Test fitted my gearknob ~ Lookin good!

My new sump is currently on its way from USA! Sucks that you can't reuse the factory one but it is what it is..

 

[hierojz]

Update time~!

So I purchased a full trigger kit and a Ross Balancer, through Prp - Golebys, big decision and was a difficult one at that since I don't particularly need it but I didn't want to half arse it either..

Inspected the crank snout for wear, and glad that I did, as the oil pump was the last thing I haven't done.

Crank didn't have much wear if any although the above photo makes it look worse.

The oil pump however has seen better days. It is a N1 oil pump from a rb25de neo as they came factory. Since I know who put the motor together I know that it was never attended to and was just a second hand one put on at the time of the rebuild.

I ended up cleaning up the snout.

Inspected the pump

Ordered a new pump and gasket. There are so many options online and a lot of people screaming saying don't buy N1 pumps but to be honest with the rpm limit I have in mind I won't be risking much with the stock N1 pump gears.
Will reinspect in a year for its annual check up and go from there.

You can see the wear on the gear as far as I understand it could very well be from the old motor that had some wear already.

New pump altered for the trigger crank kit

Fitted, ended up having to pull it off again because I needed to space the washers out further in the end.

Acquired an Rb26 timing cover backing plate.

Did a washer mod pressed in so I can tighten it. Had to oval out a hole as well

Redid the finish in Wrinkle black since I will be running a clear cover over the top.

Test fit

And a minor fit test so I can make sure everything will tie in well

 

[hierojz]

Well, its been nearly a year since I posted here, life got busy..


2020 was really....not so kind to us with major hail in our area writing one of our daily cars off, along with the other daily car having a major ecu failure requiring parts from Germany...(don't buy a mini even if its got 50,000kms)

So the zed came back from the paint shop, this time all the original mistakes were fixed that they missed the first time around. (The car has been off the road since April 2019..)

Air dam is painted the same colour.

Raptor liner was finally put to use in the interior.

Sound deadening was next on the cards. (this is a street car, so I want it to not feel like a tin can)

Even the wife decided to help....errrr sort of, but at least she tried.. haha

I finished up the quarter windows, and mounted everything in place with fresh hardware.

 

[hierojz]

So now its time for the juicy stuff!
I finally received an update from my fabricator, for the intake manifold.

I am sure many are going to guess the answer straight away, but you already know where this is headed..

The original RB25DE Neo intake manifold was cut off and plates were made to mate with the rb26dett manifold, and the runners were formed to be smoothed out for flow.

Test assembly was done, however the filters in this case were a little long, so another set will be adapted.

It was time to drop the engine in!

Auto spigot be gone~!

Flywheel all fitted and torqued.

Looks right at home! I was instantly worried a little about clearance, since the 3 litre block is a huge step up height wise by nearly 40mm compared to a standard 25.

Rear head drain kit from PRP was also fitted prior to dropping the engine in, as I wanted to cross off every single thing I can bolt on wise, to make sure I can maximise life expectancy and minimise problems.

So it was time for wheels, I jokingly test fitted some for my other project, and didn't mind them but I think something a little bit more period correct was on the cards with a little twist.

Set of 15x8 -0 superlites.

So I had them sand blasted, and painted in a special colour.

Wrapped in Nankang AR1 in 205-50-15's.

Colour combo on point!

We picked up a project for the wife, which was another zed but a little newer our beloved z32!
So we had to do some maintenance,

Its just a fun weekend car for her so she wants to do a set of wheels, upgrade a few bits and pieces, but not go too crazy!

*drum roll please!*
Test fit time!

Pulled it all apart and cleaned it after the machine shop finished up, so all the hardware is now good to go back together for its final assembly with gaskets.

 

[hierojz]

So that's it for now!

Stay tuned, for the upcoming update Its a big one!

 

[hierojz]

Update time, ooh baby ~!

And to finish it off my favourite! <3

432R style muffler!

 

[Russ_T]

This is the most fantastic thing I've seen, what's the latest? I've been toying with doing something similar in my 240z. Are there any more build pics elsewhere?

Cheers