mikey

Yeah, its pretty hard to beat the sound of a straight six i reckon. Although, you could be considered a little bias DJZ. They got back to me about shipping. Itll be $750 USD, so in total itll be $4731 NZD. Quite a lot of coin. Im still thinking ill go ahead with it in about a week; ill mull it over for a few days. Tell me if im being batty.

Did you weld 'em yourself? Cletus always seemed more by-the-book than the guy I used too.

Was gold seeing this at the track the other day. Shit this car is rad. Was bumhole about the fuel issues.

No, but as soon as I win Big Wednesday I guess it's on the cards. However, I'd still rather go ITB's over turbo(s!). It's just not the direction I wanna go. For example It'd be so stupidly quick I'd probably need modern-looking 18" wheels so I could fit bigger brakes which'd mean I'd have to lose my Watanabes you like so much. And alsorts of other crap which'd ruin the car in my mind. Besides it'll be waay more car than I can handle at 300hp let alone with turbos. I was gonna keep the L24 'cos it's matching and shit. But yeah, nah, I'll never use it again. You have dibs.

Some stuff has happened but nothing exciting. I fixed some rust in the floors, stitch welded a little bit, seam sealed and sounddeadened a little bit. I also got a Honda wiper motor and linkage and cut it to pieces and put it back together. I now have wipers that don't suck bawls and even park correctly! I made some rampy things to stop me scraping getting in and out of the garage. I promise upcoming posts will be more exciting.

That would be awesome: Long term I'd freakin' love to do that.

You caught me, yeah I probably have made up my mind. Was just checking my sanity by asking you guys. I'll will make sure I let the car do the talking and not fapp on about it in the forums without actually doing anything.

Roger that. BTW I was surprised with some of the stuff your cert man came up with, nothing major, but surprising nonetheless. What letter did you need for the mounts? I didn't think they were too fussy about welding on engine mounts? Yeah I heard some of the early ones had issues. This one apparently has under 50k on it but I'm not sure of the year. I'll double check.

Yeah, but if I spent the same money on modding the VQ which starts at 300HP then I'm still ahead right? And it's lighter etc. And getting the RB26 to work means custom sump and different gearbox of course. But if I go the VQ route then I'd be getting 300HP stock, which is how I plan to do it at first. Then look at mods further down the line if I think I need them.

Apparently the mount points are different and the 350z version is a little more powerful. So not really very different at all, but will it be easier starting with an engine designed to be RWD? Also, I'd want the 6 speed box with it and figure it's easier to get the engine with the box. As a side note, I heard the auto transmission computer is built into the ECU so swapping a manual box on to an auto could be tricky. Not to mention getting fly wheel, clutch etc. ^^^ This is totally an option, I was thinking RB26 with ITB's for a while, but it's still heavier by far (iron block), a long engine, and less power. But it'd sound boss for sure. And be the same format as the L24 although the VQ is still from the Z lineage at least (bit of a stretch that one).

Yeah the intake looks pants. Would be so much better if the intake was at the front. The VQ37HR at least has dual side inputs, but it's even uglier. And way harder to find/afford. edit: DJZ you bet me to it!

The store ships here so it's just a matter of paying up. I'm getting a proper quote from them now. Good idea, no I haven't, I've just done ebay.

Righto, I've been weighing up engine conversions for the 240z and shit's getting serious. I want to start the swap in April. I think I've settled on a VQ35DE with 6 speed transmission from a 350z if I can afford one. Dodsons said they _never_ come across them and have to import them at around $9k. Nisbits say they could import them at around $5k but I don't think they're boverd. With the US peso being what it is. There's one I can get shipped over with everything I need for a little over $4k. Other options were RB26DETT and SR20DET. So far VQ wins cos it's lighter than my current set up, NA, 300HP, will fit behind my strut towers, I don't have to piss about with intercooler shizz and comes with a 2wd 6 speed. Bad points are that it's harder to get more than 300HP out of it than the others, and harder to find. Please tell me if I'm doing it wrong. This is the one I'm looking at This is what it'll look like but red-er

My tires are out of spec according to this document but my certifier didn't care and I've never been to a WOF place where they'd ever have a clue what the rules were so I personally wouldn't worry too much about all this chart nonsense.

Man I love this wag, it just keeps getting better and better. I hope the 260 is still getting some love!

^^^^ Dee-Oh-Pee-Eee

Great to see moar Datsun. It's a sweet looker, and mint too. Damn I jealous of your roady; they're awesome roads down there. Good pics, any more?

Pic dump of bonnet painting. I did it with color matched laquer in those "Colorpak" cans. The match was pretty much right on. The whole bonnet had quite a lot of bog in it, it's got a lot less now. Went through 4 cans of primer and 3 cans of color. I'm happy as with how it came out. The close up shot looks pretty orangepeely but that's the worst of it and I've not cut and polished yet. It'll do until I get it painted properly, and it's a lot better than the huge crack. No bumper: Replacing a uni tonight and going to track day on Friday at Hampton.

Ha! Yeah I do, always cracks me up. There's a few sweet dattos around Ak. Probably because they are the best cars in the world. Fuck I'd love a 510.

So rust converter is different from Naval Jelly? Sounds like Naval Jelly is just phosphoric acid. I kinda figured most rust converters had some sort of acid in them but I'm going to Bunnings today so will check it out and make sure they do.

This is a good fred. Esp liked reading about the fab work on the retrorides site. I've just been stripping paint off my bonnet, there was some real light rust underneath which I've wirewheeled, I'm going to pa10, but should I use rust converter first?

Yeah, it's had this big crack in the paint that seems to grow bigger by the minute. I lose sleep wondering what lurks underneath it so figured it's time to have a poke around. There was a light skim of bog which was coming away from the metal but luckily it wasn't too rusty under there. So i've got some Colorpak cans matched to my paint and will respray with that and see how good I can get it. It's not gonna be perfect, but at least it wont be rotting away any more.

I came off at turn 3 at Hampton Downs a while ago. It was damp and I couldn't really tell when I was sliding and when I wasn't. Twas pretty scary sliding sideways off the track so fast.

Righto, it's been a while since my last update and nothing that exciting has happened but I'm bored so; I got some new steering crap and some other pointless crap while I was at it. I got legal. Farking stoked the day this happened. Not so stoked the day this happened. Then I picked the scab that was my bonnet, nek minnit. Eeeeeeek Not to worry, I have a plan... a plan on a budget, but a plan nonetheless.

This pulled up behind me at the lights on Sunday and looked fucken rad. The lines on these are solid. And had pretty good stance too.