Hi everyone, I realise many of you have been visiting this site and probably looking for more information. The site hasn’t been updated in a while. I have currently placed my Datsun 240z project on hold while I travel Europe and work in Ireland. I am still very active on the Datsun 240z and 260z Club of Australia site I also plan to write some buyers guides and advice for anyone wishing to buy an early Zcar.

You can also find some articles and feature cars on Auszcar.com to keep you inspired with your own projects. You can also join our forums for free and upload images to our gallery. Be sure to check it out!

Oh and don’t worry my Zcar is safe and sound in lock up garage back at home!

Well I finally decided I should replace the passenger side door handle. That’s the LH side for the US readers. The handle had snapped on one side from fatigue and probably weathering. This had caused it to abnormally come out when someone went to open the door. It would still open ok but it looked silly and it threw every passenger when they went to open the door. Read the rest of this entry »

When trying to save money for an overseas holiday, should you A.) Save money, B.) Save Money or C.) Spend Money on Ebay!!!. Not sure? Well I decided I needed someting, it’s called inspiration and it comes in the scale 1/24. If you have no idea what I’m on about i’m referring to a model car. Not just any model car though a nice looking 240z.

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A Zcar friend of mine has been rebuilding a few gearbox’s lately. So he said to me if you would like to rebuild your box now would be the perfect time. Not one for missing opportunities I decided it would be a great way to learn more about gearbox’s, something I’d never really taken the time to study.

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It has been a while since I posted here, and I figured it was time to give an update. I haven’t done a whole lot of work on the car recently other than general maintenance. I managed to get some parts back that were at a mechanics workshop for some time. They had my LD28 crankshaft, couple of engine blocks, electronic distributor and other bits and pieces.

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Well I finally got 4 more L14 conrods to help with the build of my L31. Mike a member of ours (aka NZeder) came over from New Zealand with them after changing his engine build plans. They still have the original Nissan performance pistons installed with valve reliefs in the top of them. They will need to be removed to make way for the lighter shorter unknown pistons I’ll be using.

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Recently I’ve been stumped as to what I can do to refresh my 240z. The most obvious choice is to buy everything from NOS (New Old Stock) or OEM (Original Equipment Manufacturer). However there’s only one problem with that, it’s so damn expensive especially if you are trying to buy alot of these parts through a nissan dealer or from the states. Now obviously some items will need to be bought new no doubt about it. However I am hoping the How to restore your Zcar book will provide some insights into refreshing and refurbishing original items.

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I decided that it would be appropriate to write a post regarding S30 Zcar chassis prefix’s and what they mean. There seems to be much confusion regarding what means what and the information I have seen seems to be deep and buried in discussion boards and not readily available online.

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I figured this was a topic worth covering from my own experiences point of view. When it comes to suspension options for your 240z or 260z several factory may dictate your choice of insert. If you are considering upgrading there are several items you should seriously consider.

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Ever since I got my 240z I knew the interior needed work. It wasn’t really too bad but if your anything like I am then well you kinda want it perfect . I guess it’s all the little things that bother me, but all the little bits and pieces add up.

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Well when it comes to the induction system on the early 240z and 260z zcar you have a few choices to improve the performance of your engine. Some of these choices include factory parts such as the 280z and 280zx fuel injection systems.

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Friday night my L14 rods finally arrived in the post. I’ve only managed to get 4 so far, obviously I’ll need 6 so I’m still looking for at least 2 more. If I find another set then I’ll grab them and have 2 spare (since they are so rare) it always helps to have spares .

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If you have read my previous posts concerning the L14 rods I obtained, you may have been curious where I got them? Well I was lucky enough to be contact by a fellow called David Brown from Auto Parts PartsWorld in New Zealand. He responded to a wanted I placed on ozdat in the classifieds section.

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Datsun built many variations of the L-series engine. As a result there are many combinations that can be used when building up any L-series to suit a range of purposes and to fit in with many racing rules.

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After several months of searching I finally came across a set of 4 (only) L14 rods. Alot of people are unfamiliar with these rods, mainly because they were only available in selected markets around the world. Some of these markets are the UK (United Kingdom), South Africa and New Zealand.

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One of my pet hates on the early 240z and 260z’s is the universal joints. Don’t get me wrong though I don’t really hate them but I’ve always wanted to upgrade to CV (Constant Velocity) joints. Thankfully several people have done this modification. Often used for high HP applications due to being more robust and of better design CV joints can also improve ride quality making an early 240z or 260z a nicer place to be.

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For the longest time I’ve always admired a mirror like shine that comes from a valve cover. I have seen many on ebay and every so often one will pop-up. The only problem is that it is quite a large item to ship from overseas and I often hear that people needs to spend time maintaining the shine.

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Well thanks to one of the Viczcar members Lurch. I now have an N42 engine head. The N42 is found on the L28 engine commonly found in the 280zx in Australia. I believe it can also be found on other cars such as the 280C. They are quite common compared with other heads like the P90 which is only found in some later 1980 patrols.

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Hello everyone and welcome to my Datsun 240z Project Blog. This blog has been set up to provide useful information on upgrades and modifications aswell as reconditioning and refreshing parts. I hope to provide how-to’s and tutorials on work I do, to help others who are looking to make similar modifications and upgrades.

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Welcome to Gavin’s Datsun 240z project blog. Here you will find information about modifications and the restoration progress of my Datsun 240z. Feel free to make comments or leave feedback about my Zcar but try to be nice of course!