1970 240Z my personal dream car – project TOSBO

[nomuken]

A dream came true, again. I acquired a second Datsun 240Z. At the end I couldn’t resist any longer and had to buy this yellow beauty from my best mate!
So back in December 2019 my mate Yves decided to sell his series 1, what a bad decision. I hesitated to long, and it was pretty much sold. But as there was a mishap with the buyer, I’ve been given a second chance and now it’s mine. Couldn’t be any happier.

So here it is how I bought it:

 

Cool story, back in 2004 (or was it 2005) this particular car was my first real encounter with a 240Z. I knew since my first 350Z ownership in 2003 that I would love to own a 240Z, but as they aren't really common here in Europe this yellow and a purple one which was parked just next to it where the first S30 I really laid my eyes on. Even took 3 picture of it back then, so here is one of them.
And yes it's 100% the same car my best buddy bought about 13-14 years later.

1970 series 1 240Z, 4-speed, originally in universal blue, but refinished 30+ years ago in yellow. Still has its original engine. Was mounted with triple Webers when I bought it. Original owner’s manual, 30 years of history documents,… Missing just a few series 1 details like the fan, radiator,…

As for the owner history of this car I did a bit of research:

2020-infinity: Mine
2017-2020: Yves M. (Luxembourg-Europe)
1999-2017 : Gilles K. (Luxembourg-Europe)
1989-1999 : Hans-Juergen Boeling (Hamburg/Germany-Europe)
this P.O. imported the car from the USA. He did a resto and decided on the colour. It’s
RAL1028 Melon Yellow. Succesfully contacted, nice old guy, creator of his own sports car brand: Interclassic Cinco Z

1970-????: Original owner. Mr Theodore/Ted G Alexander from Phoenix AZ (would love to have his contact details to complete the cars history)

 

But why a second S30? Why not ? I always wanted to build my personal dream car from the ground up. So this will be a nut&bolt resto, I can/will do everything myself exept for the bodywork. It will get a serie 1 color. Not 100% decided yet, but most probably 907 racing green, if not it will be safari yellow. It won’t be a purist or concours car, I love driving these cars to much. So just as my blue one it will have some upgrades like seats, suspension, swaybars, drivetrain, wheel&tires. Nothing crazy! And while this project is happening I will still be able to enjoy 240Z driving in my blue 73.

From our annual trip through the alps. Been 3 times, it's always a 4-5 days roadtrip with friends. Approx 1600miles an +20 alp passes per trip

More to follow soon.

 

 

[dutchzcarguy]

Which of the 2 blue car pic's is the resent one? the above? It has no longer the side lighting and flasher on the side? 

Also like your yellow one more without the scaffolding on the rear bumper! ?

[nomuken]

10 minutes ago, dutchzcarguy said:

Which of the 2 blue car pic's is the resent one? the above? It has no longer the side lighting and flasher on the side? 

Also like your yellow one more without the scaffolding on the rear bumper! ?

That's just a photoshop I made on the blue one. Because IMHO they look better without the side repeaters. I made it to print a poster for my office ?
Here is a recent one with the new wheels:

The yellow one had scaffolding front and rear and has the dreadful side ding protector strip. Removed the scaffolding and the bumperettes

The side trim, and side repeaters will be deleted once the car is in the body shop

 

[dutchzcarguy]

13 minutes ago, nomuken said:

The yellow one had scaffolding front and rear and has the dreadful side ding protector strip. Removed the scaffolding and the bumperettes

Applause applause!  Much cleaner look, the one i also prefer!

You do know that the rear side light was original not orange but red? it was a side light not a flasher..  You can delete that one,  (I know i did.) .

[heyitsrama]

Both cars are very clean, what front spoilers are they running? They look to be the same?

those wheels really fill in the gap, how much sidewall on those? 60mm? 

[siteunseen]

Scaffolding is spoilers? This wasn't covered in Rosetta Stone.

Thanks

[Mark Maras]

 I believe the scaffolding is another name for the towel racks which is another name for the over-riders on the bumper.

[rturbo 930]

Hey, those cars look familiar! I follow you on IG. Good to see you here. The yellow car looks like it's really clean, so should be a fairly easy restoration. What's the build date/VIN on it?

[nomuken]

 

14 hours ago, heyitsrama said:

Both cars are very clean, what front spoilers are they running? They look to be the same?

those wheels really fill in the gap, how much sidewall on those? 60mm? 

Tires are 195/65R14 on the darker wheels and 195/60R15 on the gold work equips. I prefer the more meaty look with higher sidewalls. 

13 hours ago, siteunseen said:

Scaffolding is spoilers? This wasn't covered in Rosetta Stone.

Thanks

Scaffolding are the bumper overrider guards, the bars that mount over the bumpers, the towel bars

5 hours ago, rturbo 930 said:

Hey, those cars look familiar! I follow you on IG. Good to see you here. The yellow car looks like it's really clean, so should be a fairly easy restoration. What's the build date/VIN on it?

the yellow one is 11533

[nomuken]

Before tearing the car completely apart sometime next year, I’m trying to repair, retrofit, modify, optimize a few things.
As the car wasn’t that nice to drive, first thing was to remove the cut springs and replace them by some new ones of the same brand. Of course it now looks a bit high, imho, but it drives way better. Cut springs had no preload at all, dampers had only about 3/4 inch of travel and the slightest compression would let it sit on it’s bumpstops. For comparision:

As it sits with the new springs, the rear is OK, the front would aesthetically benefit of a slight drop.

I also removed the worn aftermarket steering wheel and fitted my Nardi ‘deep’ which I had laying around. Unfortunately I did not have a matching horn button. I’m not sure what steering wheel I’ll mount after the resto, I'm tending towards a Datsun Compe wheel or a Nardi black and wood.

I sourced a non series 1 driveshaft, moustache bar and rear transverse link. This is all thats needed to change the rear drivetrain to the later geometry. While at it I also changed the diff support for a hangingt RT diffmount. No more diff straps or rubber bumpers for Tosbo.

In my quest to optimize the driving sensation a bit more, the car needed a rear swaybar. As it hadn’t any at all. I ordered a complete ST suspensions swaybar set from the US.

And the biggie, something most will probably not understand. I got rid of the Webers. I love simple things, things that can be mended during a road trip, things that are set and forget and most of all, things that are driveable under pretty much every condition. So I removed my 40DCOEs and got myself a set of nicely refurbed Hitachi 4screws with an early airbox.

And yes, the car drives a lot smoother with minimal load (under 2500rpm) and around town with the stock SU. As I had 1 240Z with SU and this one with Webers, it was easy to compare. And I just prefered driving the SU. Above 5000rpm the Webers are way better though.

As for the issue with the uneven front/rear drop: The easiest way to gain a bit more low at the front an be able to dial in a bit of camber are some camber plates from SilverMine, which are in fact just Mookeh camber plates with studs mounted in the right pattern which lower the car approx 3/4 of an inch without sacrificing preload or shock travel. Mounted everything up and dialed it in at -1.6° camber and some mild toe-in.
Car drives so much better with the new setup (Vogtland, ST swaybars, camber tops, excentric inner LCA bushes.  

Next thing needing attention: I have a slight slack and clonk when accelerating/decelerating somewhere in my drivetrain. U-joints are all good, diffmount has bees swapped to RT, engine mounts have been renewed. Hopefully I'll find the culpript. Let's cross fingers it's not the gearbox. 

Edited July 27, 2020 by nomuken

[heyitsrama]

what a fresh air cleaner.

[zKars]

Check the tightness of the nuts on the diff studs through the mustache bar as a possible source of drive clunk.