Goat's Datsun 240z.

[Goat]

So as some of you may already know, i have somehow managed to pry this fine piece out of Seedy's hands and into my inept grasp.
Took me a good couple of years to convince him to sell it to me. But persistence is king.
 
After Seedy umming ad arring he finally said yes and settled on a price, i included the caveat that if it was way more haggard than i remembered i could back out.
Went up to Napier a couple of months ago on a lovely rainy day (Even in napier! WAT) to have a look. And i liked what i saw!
Mind you, any Z would look mint compared to my s30 fairlady. Haha
 
This is how i saw it:



 
A couple of weeks later it was on a trailer and heading back to wellingtone:

[Goat]

It had a few rust issues that i set about fixing.
The worst of which was in the bottom of the passenger side pillar.
 
A decent patch was required.

 
Old metal out:


New metal in:

[Goat]

It also had some rot in the corner of the boot. This involved a rather elaborate patch to be made up.

I tried to do it properly. Unstiching the spot welds etc.

 

Made up patch including all factory suage lines etc:

Welded in, groud welds and applied seam sealer:

I nice glistening coat of matty B:

Kapow - No more rust holes.... or so i thought

[Goat]

So i took it for a WOF.
 
And it failed:


The rust the found was not the repairs i had done. It has had new floors at some stage and they had been put in pretty rough.
There was also rust in the side of the chassis rail up the front aswell as under the battery tray.
I took it to local Masterton Panel beater to get him to fix the rust as i was completly over rust repairs at this stage.


The more they repaired the more they found. There was rust in the bottom of the tool compartments, the hangers for the diff assembly were almost rusted through. The panel beaters were choice, they let me come in and take the diff out to save me some coin etc. Top notch guy, top notch service. They gave me a call whenever they found more rust to ask me if i wanted to continue etc. The fixed a massive bend in the drivers side chassis rail that had dented the floor up (a good 60mm). I cant reccoment them enough. Masterton Auto Body Repairs. If any of you welly guys need rust don. Hit them up! They are way cheaper than wellington rates!

Diff going back in:



All of that ordeal for this:



Also, while all this was happening, some goodies turned up from the states.
Koni Race shocks
Ground Control coil over kit
Same deal as Mikeys Zed. Gonna do the good old strut section and get this beast draggin' chassis rails


I also have a set of them Rota Shakotan 15x9 +0et wheels and some 205/50s to go with the lowering.
This is an interum soloution until i can get my hands on some 15x9 SSR MkIIIs. Though this may be a way off. Prioritys are to get it low and legal.

Lurking, waiting, it goes for wof on Tuesday.



Exciting times.
Wof then Coilovers then Cert then Dorts

[Goat]

Failed warrant.

 

• Different rust needs signoff. (Funny how this was safe 1 month ago but not now. Not that i have any issues with this though. Happy to get this rust free)
• Exhaust leak in another location. Which wasn't leaking before. Must have been a very taxing 7km its traveled in last month. New exhaust time i think.
• Need cert for seat mounts (cos they are not factory). The problem is, that they are the factory mounts and rails. Grrrr

 

Rage!

[Goat]

As of now

• Seat Rails - Signed off by cert guy as being factory and not needing cert. Yay
• Exhaust Leak
• Rust on top of A pillar - Booked in to have this patched and signed off on thursday.

 

Just have fix exhaust leak when i get it back from panel shop and then its off for recheck.

 

Going for this rideheight/fitment once wof is aquired:

 

Stay tuned

[Goat]

Too legit to quit.





Car is now on axel stands with suspension out ready to get the chassis rails grinding pavement.

[Goat]

As it currently stands.

Pulled these goodies off.

Old shocks in orange. New in yellow. Yum Yum.

 

However, whorey brake conversion as left front struts unusable. If you look closely at front struts you can see some drilled and tapped holes in hub. And the old caliper mounting lugs have been cut off. Grrr. They will not pass cert with the way its been done. As there is only 5mm meat around one of the holes. Not really enough for 4pots. Hmm.

Trying to locate some early 240z struts at the moment.

Worst case scenario i will have to get a sleeve kit for the later 260z style front struts (which i have a pair of). As these are slightly bigger diameter and my current kit will not fit on these . Just a P.I.T.A.

Ah well, story of my life. Whenever i touch or do anything to do with cars, nothing ever goes to plan/right. Except the triumph. Thats always been good to me. Hah

[Goat]

Sectioning starts here:

Cut off dem spring perches...

 

 

 

[Goat]

Cleaned the factory weld off. Though as it turns out. I took the section out of this part of the strut anyway. So for the next 3 i didn't need to clean it up. Live and learn....

 

Cut that shit. First Cut.

 

Perfect Fit:

 

Test fitting shock. Brand new, though all the trial and error has made it looks 20 years old. Hah

 

Bling:

 

[Goat]

Same for the back. Although, as i am running the same size shocks all round, and from factory, the rear struts have longer shocks, i will be running spacers to keep the shock captive.

 

 

 

 

[Goat]

All done, ready for welding:

l

[Goat]

Here was the old front setup. The cause of all the drama. They have some really choice, really light 4pots on the front. But they have been drilled so rough. I don't think it will get cert at all. Hence the need to find some replacement struts. Grr:

I had to pinch the top part of one of these struts, as one of the struts i just bought (and payed through the fucking nose for!) Was crushed. So the threaded top for the gland nut t screw into was unusable. He had failed to tell me this. I was expecting two good condition struts. Especially for the price i paid. He should have mentioned the damage. Fortunately i could pinch this of my old strut. But what if i didn't have them... Not cool.

 

Here is the damage to the strut i bought. I was not told of this. Made me rage! I tried to fix it, but it is too thick walled. Couldnt bend it back with a massive wooden stick pressing on it. If i had used steel, it would probably munt the threads....

 

You can see here that the newly tapped caliper mounting bolts are quite a bit smaller than the factory ones... Why?

 

Here you can see how close to the edge it is. Crap. Bit dodgy, specially for brakes. Didnt want to make struts then find they couldnt be certed because of this...

 

ANd just to add insult to injury, the factory caliper mounts have been cut to clear the calipers. So no chance to roll back to factory.

 

[Goat]

Scored a set of toyota hilux 4pots. A bolt on conversion. Unsure what the discs are off, but will probably try and use the ones i already have, the discs need spacers to fit the surf calipers. These came with the calipers. Win!

 

Heavy mothers:

 

Sitting legless. But this shit is gon' be worth it.

 

Big thanks to kicker/Jeremy for letting me use his bench, vice, angle grinder and files. Dope.

 

 

Exciting times.


 

[Goat]

Huge massive thanks to Manu (Steelies) for his shit hot tig welding of my struts. Such a sweet job and done so quickly. Thanks Man!!

 

Unfortunately, i was fizzing too much to take pictures of strut assembly. But anyway, long story short, put struts in car. Tyres on wheels. Car on ground. Grin on face.

 

 

 

Still gotta fine tune that ride height this week. Its all pretty much max low without becoming uncaptive. I do have a couple of tricks up my sleve though. So may be able to gain another 30mm.

Can just run keeper springs anyway to get chassis on floor spec low. This will be after hawkes boes as a new exhaust will be required to get any serious low.

 

The hilux brakes i had bought were propper rooted. They need to be rebuilt this week. Will get new pads too. Appart from that hickup, it has gone ok (for me anyway).

In the words of local wellington GC Roger (All Torque) "Hawkes boes or bust". I am applying this mentality this week. GOTTA GET IT DONE! No matter what!

 

Again, thanks to Goobie (Kicker) for use of vices/hammers/brake bleeds and general yarns. Shit hot.
 

[Goat]

Got this together for hawkes boes. Didnt miss a beat!

 

 

Next up is:

• More low
• Exhaust
• Cert
• Engine bay cleanup
• Carb tune
• More driving!

[Goat]

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