aRCH-Z

aaw... poor Z..

i gotta say i LOVE my fighter /w the wood option.. awesome steering wheel!! you wont be dissapointed by it!

16" Team Dynamics.. apparently of some enkei (sp) origins... 6" wide at front and 7" wide at back i love em!

meh.. 'internet tough guys' must make him feel reaaal strong insulting people on the net! Yeah, contact the admin, let them sort it out.. and dont stop searching for that Z! And yeah, I too have found the Z community to be very very friendly on the net, lots of great people and such an immense wealth of technical knowledge and an eagerness to share it.. mmm.. its great!

Cheers yeah, she fit up pretty easy! only weird thing was lining up the kit with the body and drilling the holes through the kit for mounting.. everythings very straight forwards though, not tricky at all.. bit of time involved to do it right.. but compared to a majority of kits its very easy. I'll msg the details to you when I access my home computer where I've got them (im at work atm.. cant you tell? hehe)

Hopefully that might help somewhat? My gearstick used to sit a fair bit too far forwards (would bang against the console in 1st, 3rd & 5th) .. but after some small modifications to my gearstick that's no longer a problem.. the engine sits fairly close to the firewall and there is plenty of room out front for a thermal fan, much bigger rad, etc.. *sigh* i should really take a new pic of my engine bay.. its much cleaner now :-D

I've upgraded to 280zx rear calipers on z31 discs and there is quite a noticable difference in stopping power (the fronts are the same) on my '75 260z however I've seen quite a few other conversions.. My dads '74 260z has R31 Skyline brakes on the back.. and his car pulls up insanely quick (the large 4 pot volvo calipers and vented merc rotors up the front may have something to do with that as well)

Normally I'd say 'modify modify modify!!' but since its such an early Z.. it'd be best to leave it stock i'd say.. Or if you do decide to give it that personal touch.. don't do anything that couldn't be returned to stock at a later date if you wanted to sell the car as a 'stock original '69 240z' as like people above have said.. it will sell for quite a bit more the closer it looks to stock inside and out.. modifications are so fun though :-D

Hey man, Here's my new front Kit on my '75 260z.. Had it made by a connection here in Melb, so if you like it i can pass on the details to you! cost me about $160 for the kit, it's fibreglass.. was pretty good quality and was fairly easy to put on (i didnt need any instructions to figure out what went where..) and most importantly.. it looks like a part of the car.. not something bolted on! Mostly because you remove the whole front valance to put the dang thing on! hehe pic..

I agree with Mr Camouflage, why bother? It's damn nice and a very neat job no doubt.. but couldn't quite a substantial bit more power be made from bolting on one of the numerous twin turbo kits to the vq35de?? was only a matter of time before someone did this though ;-)

Correct me if I'm wrong.. but isn't the Z family the highest sellings sports car of all time? I think this may be the same program you're all talking about that was on The History Channel here in Australia a fair while back.. I've got it on video.. was great, not as good as I expected (had high expectations i think!) but was still great to see.. Lots of it was the history of Datsun and about Mr Katayama.. which was great to see too! But my friends that i forced to watch this show didn't find the first half so interesting definitely worth hunting down if you're a Zed head tho

never had a 240z.. but i had a 1974 260z coupe anda 1975 260z coupe for awhile.. kept the 1975 (its my project/daily driver car) and sold the 1974 to my dad.. who went absolutely mental modifying/restoring it and moved to perth!

You guys are forgetting one of the coolest TV Zs of all time!!! PROWL the transformer!! he rocked hard! was a 280zx! rock on prowl! there's also the old TV series wangan midnight.. i've seen some short clips and its awesome.. and features a Z there is a modern day manga based on wangan midnight as well.. pity i cant read japanese and also a PS2 game based on wangan midnight.. i highly suggesting watching the trailer to it! (i think you can get it on gamespot) as its DAMN AWESOME! oh and im pretty sure there's a Z in Junior (with arnie in it) its parked outside the hospital or lab or something.. cant remember.. but yeah.. there's one in there! hehe

sorry to diverge from the topic so much! but is that yours in the pic? very nice! reminds me of my old girl *sob* there's bound to be some Z heads out in syd, there are quite a few more Z workshops there then here in melb

the dash has had a recap, but I can only speculate on the others as that is the condition i bought them in.. having owned a 100% original Z before though i think the struts may have been redone but the doors are original. The pics do them better justice then they deserve! hehe.. but yeah, they're pretty nice! im in melb btw! i've still got some bits to go on the interior.. so it isnt anywhere near finished.. i've ordered autometer pro comp oil pres/water temp gauges to finish the three main gauges, and a small sports comp fuel gauge to go on my steering column next to my HKS TT1 then i've got to get a boot made up for the gearstick out of tan vinyl or leather.. and to finish up i want to modify the center console where there headunit is and just below.. as when i bought mine it had a ton of buttons there that didnt do anything.. looks really messy.. want to clean it all up and make a small panel with labelled buttons across it, and then have a lid that folds down over it so it looks just flush and black and you cant see the buttons.. not sure if that made sense.. need waaay more sleep but if anybody is in the melb area i'd love to catch up, i've got a couple friends with zeds who love to cruise and we're always looking to expand on our little group! and if you want a nice interior i've got a full one for sale for a 240z! mint dash with original gauges, fusebox, heater controls, everything.. leather seats based on the stock items, door trims, floor carpet, door plastic and more! sorry.. bit of an ad there! hehehe

haha cheers I absolutely love this car, it's my second Z and it's shaping up to be everything I want it to be! Still a long way to go though! got plenty of photos in my gallery.. most of them are from awhile ago though, need to update with some more recent ones! there's a nicer pic of my interior in there as well.. showing my spiffy new steering wheel - hehehe

awesome! another hybrid the most i've heard an rb20det make on stock internals is 199rwkw now.. thats the only one i KNOW of.. like in person.. i'm sure people out there have made more.. and he hasn't even upgraded the factory ECU! just a turbo, exhaust and cooler.. all big and custom.. but thats still quite a feat.. and the engine is still absolutely bulletproof in this state.. quite happy to run hard all day long! brilliant lil engine.. i love mine! hehe there are two different turbos that come on the rb20det.. there is the early model ECCS rb20det (dont bother with any of the NICS rb20dets).. you can tell its the early model as it has a red rocker cover.. it has a t25 ceramic turbo.. spools very fast but runs out of puff high in the rev range.. not the best in the world.. this is what i have on my car.. the late model (silver rocker cover) rb20det has a t28.. good lil turbo, will do the trick great! its the r33 skyline (rb25det) which has a t03.. which is a great upgrade for the rb20det.. dont bother with anything bigger unless you're just looking for peak power as you'll loose driveability.. the engine just doesn't have enough power off boost.. i run 10 psi on my t25.. goes great.. 130rwkw.. nice access to power.. bit of a lag feeling but hey.. makes it all the more fun once that lil hairdryer kicks in mileage is great as the Z is so light.. i commute from the 'burbs to the city every day and only fill up once or twice a week (unless of course i take it out in to the hills.. then my fuel gauge goes down quite quickly ) now the sr20det.. yep, i'm pretty sure you're all right about the materials used.. the sr20det weighs sweet all! an sr20det powered Z would be awesome.. and i'd imagine in america the parts would be easier to come by as well! mount it close up against the firewall, and damn.. weight distrobution will be awesome.. and if you get a later model of the sr20det (like out of the s14 or s15) it'll be a bit faster then the rb20det (in stock form) however.. with the sr20det you'll need to upgrade injectors, computer, etc a lot earlier in the modification process! bah.. so much to say! if you got any more questions feel free i could literally ramble on for pages as i've looked at tons of engine and modification options over the years!

a good generic resource site that i use is www.skylinesdownunder.com .. obviously australian based, but it has a decent resource base and a good forum! check out their links, as there will be plenty of good ones in there.. but thats as good a place as any to start your searching! and dont let me discourage you by saying they're hard to come by in America, there are quite a few RB powered Zs lurking across the USA! these power/torque figures are what they make in their original engine.. i'll use the latest model of each.. and yeah.. its in kw not hp.. RB20det - 160kw @ 6400rpm & 263nm @ 3200rpm RB25det - 187kw @ 6400rpm & 295 @ 4800rpm RB26dett - 206kw @ 6800rpm & 368nm @ 4400rpm these specs may be a bit off.. but thats what i've got! all of these engines are very hardy, and the rb20det can be pushed to 200rwkw without touching the factory ecu or internals

i'll try to shed a bit of light on the topic! the most common rbs are the rb20det, rb25det, rb30et & the rb26dett they come from the skyline r32, r33, VL commodore and the skyline GTR (they all have the same engine) respectively. But are also found in quite a number of other cars. they're an extremely well built engine, lots will argue they're one of the best in the world to come out of japan. All easily taken to very high power figures on stock internals. They are all an inline six, dual overhead cam turbo engine. the rb26 being a twin turbo. There are also a couple different versions of most of these engines. The different engine variants are usually marked out by a different colored rocker cover, especially with the early rb20det. Differences between them are mainly to do with the intake, computer and turbo. at any rate the engines love to be modified and fit under the bonnet of a zed quite nicely. And as they're all of nissan manufacture more purist zed fans dont mind the conversion. If u want some power figures, etc I can hunt up a site I know of if you want? and sadly, getting these engines in America might be a bit tricky as I'm not sure how they go for smog regulations and the skylines were never sold at dealers over there. Hope that helps!

dreamz, awesome story! got quite a gal there! hehe anyways, my names Will, I'm living down in Melbourne Australia I've had two zeds so far, a absolutely mint and original 74 260z Coupe and now a highly modified 75 260z Coupe! they've both been awesome cars and I just love the feel of driving them! sadly my old one no longer exists in original form.. my dad bought it off me when i bought my new zed and went absolutely nuts modifying it! hehe.. it currently lives in Perth!

the rb26dett is no doubt a far superior engine over the rb20det.. and for the price you've quoted it at there should be no doubt in your mind! that is an AWESOME price for an rb26dett! 200rwkw can be made out of an rb20det with only an exhaust, turbo & intercooler.. (about 268hp) thats stock computer, stock internals, etc.. also as a daily driver engine in a 280zx (which isn't too much a light weight) the rb20det wont be quite as smooth to drive as they are fairly underpowered off boost.. the rb26dett however has a more linear power curve and will make for a much better driving experience! but dont get me wrong, the rb20det is a great engine, and i should know! i've got one in my car!