[ECUAdam]

No uber rare JDM parts will be in this thread, that was just a plot to get hipsters to make my view count come up. I am too cheap and broke to buy overpriced parts to impress someone on the internet that I probably wouldn't like anyways.

I have had a love affair with the S30 chassis for a long time and found a decent chassis with minimal rust. I had been talking about buying one for so long that when the opportunity to purchase the car arose, my future wife didnt even give me shit for buying it. I knew from the beginning that I wanted it to be powered by a Ka24de with some boost, and I wanted to set it up for some track days. Enough about my love affair, here as some pics of my limited progress....

First thing first I wanted to make the engine run in the floor of my garage. I figured if I could wire it up to run in the floor, then I could definitely make it run in the new car. It was surprisingly easy to wire and make run.

This is the car before I started to take things out

After a long day of cutting, tacking, cussing, and welding with my 8 dollars of scrap steel from clark I got the engine about where I wanted. BIG THANKS TO MIKE AT TRACK ONE FOR THE HOOKUP ON THE KA FOR CHEAP!!!!!!!!

I thought I had cleared the crossmember so my oil pan was not the lowest thing, but I then realized the corssmember was not fully bolted up......FAIL

I gave up for the day and tried again the next weekend with better results

Round 2....

I am going to run Megan S13 coilovers on this car using some ingenuity and help from Xylmer AKA Andy. Some people buy these conversion kits from a place called ZCCJDM.com but Andy and I thought that the design was not ideal and that we could do better. To adapt these coilovers to the 240z you cut off the stock strut leaving a little under 2" of post sticking up. Then weld these adapters to the LCA, that way you can thread the megan coilover onto the car. To adapt the top of the coilover you must cut out the strut tower and weld in camber plates. I got in a hurry and did not take photos of the install, but I will when I do the driver side.

I went ahead and did the mod to delete power steering and run the water pump and alternator off one belt. This is achieved by using a single cam KA alternator brackets, and running a different size belt. You also have to run the single cam KA thermostat housing to clear the now moved alternator brackets. Hopefully Ill get some time this weekend to finish some wiring and finish the drivers side suspension. I cant wait until this thing will move under its own power. I already have antique tags for it lolz!

 

[memphisman]

Very nice! I also have a love affair with s30's. Have to give you props for using the ka instead of a sr or rb.

 

[Milon]

Nice!!! Do it big Adam!

p.s. I saw my old slicks the other day over at Chris' house... It made me miss the days of going to the track LOL...

 

[85rx-7gsl-se]

Sweet garage.

 

[boostiswhatsfordinnerNWH]

Nice. I've had two, a 74 260, and a 73 240. I miss them and had no money ortime for them. My 74 had 19k original miles. =\

This build looks promising. Andy is a good dude, and very smart.

If you need some help, I'd love to come check it out.

 

[supergoob]

Awesome looking stuff here!! Subscribed.

 

[cnpayne]

Wow nice work! I have always loved these cars but all I find are rust buckets.

Sent from my ADR6400L using Tapatalk

 

[ECUAdam]

Sweet garage.

I can not take credit for this, The shop is Marty's Automotive in Rockvale Tn. If you ever need a general mechanic that does good honest work without breaking the bank give him a ring. I have helped him on race cars for several years and not charged him for anything so that is why he lets me take up rack space on the weekends

Very nice! I also have a love affair with s30's. Have to give you props for using the ka instead of a sr or rb.

Thanks, I went to the dyno with Andy when I first started using Nistune on his Turbo KA. After we made 420HP on a stock KA with the only mod being forged pistons I knew that this was the power plant for me.

Nice!!! Do it big Adam!

p.s. I saw my old slicks the other day over at Chris' house... It made me miss the days of going to the track LOL...

I wont do it too big, at least not like you. I just want something that burns oil and blows off...

Nice. I've had two, a 74 260, and a 73 240. I miss them and had no money ortime for them. My 74 had 19k original miles. =\

This build looks promising. Andy is a good dude, and very smart.

If you need some help, I'd love to come check it out.

Andy is a very smart dude. I have had the pleasure of calling him my friend for about a decade and it is always good to have someone like him to bounce ideas off of. I swear he and I talked on the phone about 20 times before I had the machinist make my adapters. I do believe they are a much better option that the other company and are almost 1/3 of the weight. As far as coming out and working on the car, misery loves company, I should be out there tomorrow welding away on my coilover adapters. PM if you really want to come check it out.

Wow nice work! I have always loved these cars but all I find are rust buckets.

Sent from my ADR6400L using Tapatalk

I do not think that there is an original z that does not at least have some rust. These things are made out of the worst steel ever manufactured. Even though there is not a ton of rust, I still have my work cut out for me.

Thanks for all the kind words!

 

[rollagtsracer]

Andy is a very smart dude. I have had the pleasure of calling him my friend for about a decade and it is always good to have someone like him to bounce ideas off of. I swear he and I talked on the phone about 20 times before I had the machinist make my adapters. I do believe they are a much better option that the other company and are almost 1/3 of the weight. As far as coming out and working on the car, misery loves company, I should be out there tomorrow welding away on my coilover adapters. PM if you really want to come check it out.

does the machinist happen to be named larry?

 

[skfury]

Ive got an s14 ka24de block bored 20 over you can have if your willing to come to knoxville lol

 

[ECUAdam]

does the machinist happen to be named larry?

To be honest I dont know the guys name. He lives in Canada so i doubt he is the fellow you are referring to. I tried several shops in town to get these things made and they all wanted too much, especially since I had done all the figuring, material, and drew them up....

 

[Noize]

Real awesome project! Please keep updating.

 

[ECUAdam]

Real awesome project! Please keep updating.

I will, I would have updates from yesterday finishing my front suspension but I could not get the stock 240sx bracket that came on the megan coilover off. I spent 6 hours using, aerokroil, torches, grinders, clamps, a strap wrench, and ultrasonic cleaner, and lots and lots of disappointment. I finally got it off, from the looks of it it got something (salt is my guess) got in between the sleeve and coilover and corroded the threads. I used a thread file and cleaned all the threads and dug out the threads on the sleeve so all is well now.

Moral of the story is use anti-seize on your coilovers when you put them on your car.

Ive got an s14 ka24de block bored 20 over you can have if your willing to come to knoxville lol

I am always over that way to whitewater kayak. I will pm you next time I am in the area if you haven't already given it away. Thanks

 

[aznb_boy89]

Nice build man, i've always wanted to build one replicating the Devil Z lol. But if this is Adam Hopkins, im Tony Vongkhamchanh if you remember me? I went to school with Trent and drove the silver 240 with an sr and gold nismo lmgt2's back in the day. it's been a while so you might not remember me lol

 

[skfury]

Im not actively selling or giving it away. It can set til you want it for all i care lol. The cylinders are covered up to prevent rust. I also have a crank and some other stuff ill give you

 

[waldo36]

as soon as this build is complete, I call shotgun for first ride! I have a passion for the Z's, especially the 240s-280s.

 

[ECUAdam]

Ok a little more progress today....

First thing you do to put these coilovers on is sawzall straight through the lower strut.

In this pic you can see the sleeve that was stuck (after it has been cleaned and loosened). The sleeves I am using in the front of the car are actually the megan ones that come with the 240sx coilover kit, but I cut all the brackets off because they are not needed.

Here is me holding the sleeve ready to be beat on using a big hammer and a wood block (so I dont damage the threads on top). I went ahead and beveled the top of the cutoff strut and also beveled the bottom of the sleeve to help assist it to go on straight.

This is the top of the strut tower where I cut the hole so my coilover will clear and be able to slide so I can adjust the camber. You can see where some of it is cut through and some of it was just scored. I found the best method to cut the rounded sections was to score it the best I could with the cutoff wheel, then use a body saw to finish it. This method actually worked very good.

Here is the front after I got everything welded up.

Now I just have to finish the rear.....

I also almost finished running the fuel supply line and am getting close on the wiring to at least hear it run. I just want to get all the work that I need a lift for done so I do not have to drive 20 minutes every time I want to work on it. To be honest I am a little overwhelmed at how much has to be done to this car to get it where I want it.... one day.

 

[waldo36]

I looked up NisTune since I had never heard of that. If you have a lot of experience with them, you need to tell them to do a board for the Z33. they everything for just about every Nissan engine except for the VQ....wtf?! But my question is after you added the NisTune, could you have another piggy-back system on top of that like Osiris (for the Z's)? just reading through, it just seems like an ECU reflash without really tuning, is this correct?

 

[skfury]

Nice man shes looking really good

 

[rollagtsracer]

the KA seems tiny in comparison to the z