hey all , figured i would say hi and show you my 1971 240z. the car started life as a west coast car so it enjoyed the life of no salt or snow, when i bought it it had been on the east coast for a very short time so it was still 100% rust free. the old inline 6 had also been long gone and it was a v8 car for a few years before i got it, the interior was still bone stock with redone oem seats and oem carpet. the first combo i ran in the car was a stock 98 ls1 and a d&d built t56. the ls1 used a single turbo set up using a 72 mm turbo. the rear end was converted to a r200 and zxt cv shafts and modern motor sports billet stubs and cv adapters. the car ran great on the street but at the track the sticky slicks always seemed to find something to break in the rear end set up, i spent gobs of cash trying to make the independent set up work but every time i upgraded something the next weakest link would break, after having a small fortune invested in the rear end and many hours in custom fabrication i finally thought i had it solved and then i started breaking the r200s them selves this happened around the 510 whp and 545 tq mark, so i sold everything from the rear end and started the hectic process of converting to a solid axle, i wanted the conversion to be clean and un noticeable to all but the most z car educated. i also never was into the fender flare thing so i took this opportunity to set the rear inner fenders up to hold a wider tire. the rear end i chose was a ford 8.8, we shortened the tubes and welded on ford 9 inch end plates, this allowed me to run 9 inch brakes and axles which do not require c clips. i used richmond gears, moser 31 spline axles and a detroit tru tral differential. while the car was apart i also spent some time upgrading the interior with all new carpet and 2004 acura integra gsr leather seats, along with a nice stereo system and satellite radio built into the old ash tray opening, you can still slide the chrome cover shut to hide the receiver. going solid axle meant that i also had to put a frame under the car for the 4 link suspension to tie into and i also took the time to put a roll bar in the car so the techs at the drag strip would be happy. i also sold the ROH reflex rims that had been on the car for many years and put on some weld drag lites, 6 inch in the front and 10 inch in the rear. the car was much better after all of this, nothing broke any more and all was good. i had plans to convert the car to a automatic using a art carr built 2004r over this winter in a effort to drop the car even lower in the 1/4 mile et however fate would not allow that when the old tired ls1 decided to loose oil pressure. rather then fix the ls1 i sold it and bought a new ls6 crate motor, the ls6 is the 405 hp version used in the c5 zo6 and the 04-05 caddy cts-v. it is a direct replacement for the ls1 so no more fab work was needed to put it in. this brings us up to current and how it sits now, its stored in the back of the garage for the winter waiting for spring so i can install the methanol injection kit and get it retuned on the dyno, my goals are 600 whp on pump gas with the meth and some where around 9.80s in the 1/4 in street trim, the ls1 ran pretty consistent 10.2s at 135-136 with only 510 whp so an additional 90-100 whp should drop it close to 9.80s and in the 140 mph range. i will post up some random pics but feel free to ask any questions or to see any pics.

this is how she looks now. except it has a spoiler on the back now.

and here are some random pictures of some of the work done to it.

Edited February 1, 201114 yr by TurboLS1

here are some shots of the interior.

here is the last pass i made this season with the old ls1, there was a 20 mph head wind as you can hear thats why the trap speed was down a little.

http://vimeo.com/16073595

here was a shake down pass of the new set up, went a 10.3 lifting on the top a little, the car felt a little floaty at 135 mph so i since have added a spoiler and its stable and smooth now.

and here is the new ls6 being fired up for the first time

any way feel free to comment or ask questions.

Edited February 1, 201114 yr by TurboLS1

I love the pro-street look of your Z! I put a LT-1/T-56 in a '73, still a work in progress, though!

I thought a simple restoration was a LOT OF WORK! Whew I'm tired just from looking at the pictures. Very nice rig. Congratulations and I admire your fabrication and engineering expertise.