Off to ontario!

[northernz]

Hey all, I am starting a thread to document the restoration of my blue on blue '71. I have driven the car for 4 years now, and have finally accepted that I lack the time and heated space and, let's face it, the skill and determination to do the work myself! I have always admired the work done by the members on this site in preserving and modifying these great cars. I feel slightly ashamed that I am not in this category!

Here are some pictures of the car being loaded in Beaumont AB in -25 C! Thanks to advice from members here I hired Mackie Moving Services to provide covered door to door transport. The car should arrive at Whitehead Performance Monday. Mike Hansen, the manager, has promised pictures every week as the work progresses, which I will share with you all. Work should be complete by April or May at which point the best part will be the drive back to Alberta!:D

Hope you enjoy the ride as much as I will!

Mark

[fuzze]

Morning from minus 10 , lower mainland BC . what all are your expectations for a restore . Will it be a rotisserie body job , a full performance drivetrain , suspension mods or all of the above . from the pics you look like you have a wicked driver already . What are the plans ? will you keep the louvers on the hatch or is it time to nix them . The blue is one of my favs on these cars . it serves the body style perfect .When it is all done send me a PM if you at all drive it to Vancouver . As the z community here in the lml is very welcoming to out of town guests . There is a good cruise to Whistler in the late spring and , unlike the roads in Alberta , we have lots of twistys to challenge your skills .

Got to go for now , look forward to following your thread .

Zya all ltr

Chris

[northernz]

Hey Chris, the car looks good in pics, and it is a good low rust Cali car, but it is showing it's age! The car will have a bare metal repaint and new dog legs welded in. The car was repainted once, badly, in Mercedes blue. I am going back to the 903 factory blue. No body mods, not even a spook. The louvers are kinda cool, and protect the hatch area from sun damage, but the lock on one side is buggered so I can't open it to clean the window, they will probably go as will the side moulding. The engine bay will be stripped and painted as well while the engine is out.

The engine will be bored and stroked to 2.7 litres with new valve seats and a mild cam. More HP while keeping it numbers matching!

Eibach springs and a mix of Poly and OEM bushings will be done, suspension parts will be powder coated, and sway bars added.

The interior will be refreshed and all new rubber done, hopefully solving the fumes in the cockpit problem! Might not make it back to AB otherwise!

I would love to make that run to Whistler in this car! My first car was a 72 240 which I refurbished and ran in the 1980 Knox Mountain Hillclimb. Finished second in class! Next year I rolled it!(the sway bar ripped out of the front mount mid corner due to rust!) This was the start of a few forgettable years of racing Formula Ford, but I did have a few highlights, winning a race in Portland, racing against Greg Moore in Calgary, and attending the Winfield Racing School in Magny-Cours, France.(same school Alain Prost, Jacques Laffite and Francois Cevert attended) During this time I had another 240 and a sweet 69 510 with an 1800cc engine with SSS head! Wish I still had that one!

Anyway, suffice it to say I have an emotional attachment to these cars(don't we all?) and that is why I am doing this work now. I will pass this car on to one of my sons, and in the meantime I'll get back into some Autocross and track days here at Castrol Raceway!

I'll see if I can transfer some old pics to the computer for those that might be interested.

Anyway, got to go take the dog for a walk, it's only -30 or so!

[fuzze]

Hey , your plans sound awesome . 903 is beautiful , the sunshine brings it alive . Beating Greg Moore is a amazing task , he is one of our home town hero's . My 72 z had louvers as well . loved the look , had the same widow cleaning issue as you ! Will you think about install adjustable TC rods , I run the techno tuning tc's , the helped greatly with fine tuning the front end . Look forward to see some old school pics , I have some as well that I can scan .

Maybe Whistler trip could be in the works for you , It is only a 15 hour drive !

Have a great weekend , and as a side note , ru working in the patch , the money is excellent and that is what you will need to do all the work as described above .

Zya

Chris

[northernz]

Hey Chris, you'll note I never said I beat Greg Moore! I did finish ahead of him but only because he tangled with a back marker before catching up to me! He had a brand new Ray FF that weekend and was still sorting it so he missed qualifying and started last. He was a true talent, one of the best Canada has ever produced and a true Canadian, polite and mild mannered out of the car, absolutely comitted and ferocious in it. I am a B.C. boy temporarily in Alberta, if you can call 17 yrs temporary! I don't work in the patch, I am an Air traffic Controller. Started in Castlegar Tower, then YVR centre now Edmonton centre. Hope to move back to the interior when I retire.

Haven't thought about adjustable TC rods, I'll take it up with Mike as the project advances. The Whistler run would be a lot of fun, I could just keep going through Pemberton, I think, and on home!

Later

Mark

[grannyknot]

Well I'm a B.C. boy myself Mark, Vancouver born and bred. I have also flown in and out of Castlegar dozens of times.

You are going to love your Whitehead engine! I have an L28 by them and it rocks. Are you using the original E31 head

with larger valves? Your final bill for everything is going to make you wince but it will all be done very well, turn key .

Motorsport! Tension Rod T/C Kit, 70-78 240Z-260Z-280Z - The Z Store! Nissan-Datsun 240Z-260Z-280Z-280ZX-300ZX(Z31/Z32)-350Z-370Z Parts this kit with a stock rubber backing bushing is a great way to go for the T/C rod, good road feel without too much harshness. Any pics you post will be very much appreciated.

Chris ,another chris

Edited December 7, 2013 by grannyknot

[northernz]

Hi Chris2(Chris also?) Castlegar was a wild place to work, we used to say 3/4 of the control zone was granite! I was there only nine months, they closed the tower and I moved on to YVR centre. I would gladly have spent my career in Castlegar if they'd let me, the lower mainland was not my cup of tea however, hence the move to Edmonton.

I am really looking forward to the completed car, everything I've heard about Whitehead is positive. The engine will retain the original head. Mike has been absolutley fantastic about breaking down the costs for me so I don't expect any surprises,

other than the HST which I only thought about yesterday! The car was becoming unusable so it was either sell it or bite the bullet.I'll have about twice what it's worth into it, but in 20 years I'll hopefully maintain or improve that ratio, better than most cars.

I'll post pics as soon as I get them, in the meantime I'll dig out some old racing photos. Don't have too many of them, didn't seem important at the time!

I sent a complete urethane bushing set to Mike with the car, an impulse buy right after I got the car before realizing that the roads here made that choice unwise. Mike has recommended a mix of OEM rubber and I think it was NVH bushings for the control arms as a good compromise. I think it was NVH, I am at work so can't check his e-mail.

Later

Mark

[northernz]

Okay, As promised while I await pics from White Head Performance, here are some old Pics circa 1979! I only have 2 before pics of the car. I think it was a 1972. Here is one! The re-paint is already under way! Tremclad Yellow! Blue hood because I bought all the Yellow in the store!The second pic is on the start line of the 1980 Knox Mountain Hillclimb, Canada's longest running Motorsport Event!

The second two pics are of my 1968 or 69 510 wagon which I used for ice racing!

In the background is my 69 two door 510. Enjoy!

[northernz]

Here are some more pics, before

Lookin good at the hill.

First Hairpin

Second Hairpin, I know, my line is terrible!

My buddies m510 with a 2.4 out of a zed in it!

Hope you like the pics!

[northernz]

Progress!Here are some pictures of the engine out and disassembled.Intake seats were pounded and chambers were full of carbon.

Car is on rusty suspension to roll around the shop. Should be in the body shop now. Will post more pics when they come.

[grannyknot]

Hey Mark, as it happens I'm going to be down at Whiteheads tomorrow morning picking up some parts, I'll take a few more pics for you.

Chris

[Hank240]

Mark - I was at Whiteheads today checking out the progress on my 240Z and had a look at your baby. She's a nice clean car - you'll no doubt be very pleased with the end result.

Hank