Woody928

This build is just nuts, there's some seriously high end items being used here! What's the end goal for it? It should drive amazingly with everything that you've done to date.... Very jelaous of the brake upgrade, it is beyond my means.

So I had the car out at the weekend, went to Brooklands on Saturday with my mate in his C7 and then on to brands hatch on Sunday for the Historic racing having been out for a spirited drive in the morning. I’m pleased to report that the car was leaving a 240bhp mx5 turbo and the Corvette behind through the corners, as you’d expect though they both reeled me in as soon as the roads straightened up however it was surprising most people for a middle aged lady and well and truly holding its own down B roads. Another exciting discovery was that the exhaust is shooting flames on overrun and on some up and downshifts particularly with rev matching. People were enjoying the sound of the exhaust from several back in the convoy as well. Rather scarily, we’ve covered 1300 miles since it was serviced only a few weeks ago and need to up the insurance mileage to see us through the year…. Finally after being driven mad by wind and cabin noise all the way to Spa and back I invested in some draft excluded which has been installed onto the door frames to create a positive seal all the way around the door frame and eliminate all wind noise! I’m sure the purists will be up in arms however I took inspiration from the 280Z door seal and its works so a £4 fix from eBay. I’m now moving onto stopping more car rattles and shakes and soundproofing to add some more comfort for longer journeys where possible…. Rubbish photos but before and after: IMG-0513 by Mark Woodrow, on Flickr IMG-0516 by Mark Woodrow, on Flickr Quick stop at Brooklands: DSC-1620 by Mark Woodrow, on Flickr

Just looked and its not on eBay right now, however this is the guy. Happy to put you in touch through Facebook if you'd like: https://www.ebay.co.uk/usr/garymann69?_trksid=p2047675.l2559

So I'm still running the drums at the rear and the stock proportioning valve, so far it seems to be working very well. I can tell the drums are still kicking in as after some spirited driving through Belgium there was a good amount of brake dust built up on the rears as well as the fronts.... Huge amount more power there, I just need to get the bigger MC installed! They really are a fabulous pad, heard lots of goof things before but its the first time I've actually used them. Thanks ? Funnily enough I said the same before I did it, carbs need cold air whether they're SU's or Triples afterall.... Cheers dude, well he's started selling the disks and brackets on UK eBay for potential buyers. If anyones interested then I can put them in touch.... Hard one, I've thought about it both ways. If I cover them then I can trap moisture and grime in them, if I leave them open then they could get covered in road dirt... Not sure I can win either way really, I just cover them in ACF50 every once in a while to try and protect them! Honestly couldn't recommend them highly enough, I wouldn't use anything else now ?

Well here we go again, lots more to report and I really need to control myself with spending on this car! The car was selected and displayed with Petrolicious for their first ever UK meet at Bicester Heritage, it certainly kept in very good company within the main site. I’ll also admit that I was very excited by this as their channel is the reason why I ended up buying my 240Z so it was a big deal for me. I’ve seen some photos of the car from the day but I’m sure there’s more to be found. Great to catch up with several club members and we had awesome weather for it. Finally our new brake package has come together and now been fitted up, I need to start with a huge shout out to Iamatomman (Gary) for sorting me out in this regard. I’ve been searching for a long time to get the right solution to this element of the build, I’ve not been a fan of the shouty willwood solutions and equally not convinced that the Hilux setup was up to the task with its more limited ‘performance pad’ options for a 4x4 and weight. Bring in the perfect solution in my eyes, R32 GTR Sumitomo Brake Calipers with 296mm vented disks. Gary’s made custom titanium brackets and re-drilled the standard GTR disks so that these bolt straight up to stock 240Z hubs. As you’d expect with a GTR, the brake pad choice is phenomenal so we’ve put on some Porterfield R4S pads designed for fast road and track use. These so far seem to be superb with great bite from cold and just get better the more heat you put into them, the only downside as you’d expect with any performance pad is a little more dust with enthusiastic use. With the car only weighing in at 1000KG this setup is hugely over spec’d and gives massive amounts of confidence, particularly with modern traffic. Having got the kit from Gary, sourced a set of callipers off of ebay and refurbished then with thanks to Big Red, picked up the pads from Porterfield and refurbished the brake fitting kit I got with the brakes to save a bit of money, we were good to go. Doing my usual with any European trip looming I decided to fit these last Monday evening after work on the driveway with our scheduled departure of Thursday morning. What could possibly go wrong! As expected a few headaches, 6 hours, a packet of crisps, numerous cups of tea later everything was fitted up with the assistance of LED floodlights at midnight. Test drive was revealing a very spongey pedal however that was a problem for a new day. Certainly had some fun removing the original brake dust shields (now too small for our big disks anyway), removing the old disks and hubs and wrestling everything into place. At the same time with rain scheduled for Spa and knowing how lethal our tyres are in the wet (even if very fun and childish in the dry) I decided it was time to bite the bullet and replace these with something deserving of the rest of the car. Finally we had a set of Yokohama AD08R tyres on their way to be fitted before the trip, in a last minute dash I managed to get the brakes re-bled and working, tyres fitted, filled with nitrogen, booked a trip to Edinburgh and flew out all on Tuesday leaving last minute packing and preparation for 9.30pm on Wednesday night before we left. I’m very relieved that I decided to leave the stock MC installed for now with the time I had available, while the car needs it and the pedal has a little too much travel, this remains a headache for another day as I still have no idea as to how to properly adjust the rod to it. We had an amazing time out in Spa, with the car covering just over 1000 miles in less than a week. Great company and tour guide from Tony, being shown some nice backroads closer to Spa which could be enjoyed away from the Motorway (even drove the old track). What a circuit Spa is, the elevation changes were fairly breath taking. I can see why it’s a bit of a Mecha for motorsport fans and definitely the most exciting circuit I’ve visited and driven to date. As hoped and with the car running so well we got a track session for Saturday evening however much to our disappointment it was plagued by safety cars while a wall was being rebuilt. Unfinished business and a return visit one day I’m sure… The car felt really keen and we’re super impressed with the new tyres, for a road tyre they really hang on through the corners and still slide nicely at the limits of traction. Less childish behaviour can be had with the trade-off of superb grip on the road. We could really push people through corners and drive around them however in a straight line we were still left lacking and wanting more with almost everyone pulling away. Certainly some drag racing going on against Peugeot 205’s. Thoughts are turning to building an engine with approx. 200 bhp flywheel that revs happily to 7000prm without spending the earth…. The trip didn’t leave the car unscathed though and we picked up a big stone chip on day one of the trip which we watched expand all trip until we got home. I’m relieved to say that despite it having spidered outwards, Kenneth from Autoglass has saved the windscreen with a resin filler yesterday. Quite scary seeing how big it had really got when he applied some pressure to it. I’ve also got rubber trims turning up to try and reduce some wind noise and make the car a little more comfortable for longer journeys. These cars are never really finished but I feel as though the whole package has really moved on, particularly when I compare it to the sloppy driving experience the car started with… IMG_0135 by Mark Woodrow, on Flickr 6D62364D-FE32-4CE8-8041-18E19804611E by Mark Woodrow, on Flickr IMG_0123 by Mark Woodrow, on Flickr IMG_0127 by Mark Woodrow, on Flickr IMG_0141 by Mark Woodrow, on Flickr IMG_0163 by Mark Woodrow, on Flickr IMG_0144 by Mark Woodrow, on Flickr IMG_0167 by Mark Woodrow, on Flickr New tread pattern looking alot meaner: IMG_0186 by Mark Woodrow, on Flickr IMG_0191 by Mark Woodrow, on Flickr IMG_0303 by Mark Woodrow, on Flickr Getting a little dusty IMG_0285 by Mark Woodrow, on Flickr Think we'll need to take a trip to the French Riviera next Version 2 by Mark Woodrow, on Flickr

Well there's more news, again... The car ran beautifully over the bank holiday weekend up to Donington and Silverstone, very pleased with how it's been behaving of late. It was nice to finally show you what we've been up to in the flesh. In the name of progress today I finally managed to service the car with new oil and plugs in preparation for a trip over to BD Engineering in Kent for some Rolling Road tuning to dial the car in properly, see where we've got to and understand how best to drive the car. The car has also just ticked over 84,000 miles albeit I doubt that number really has any meaning these days, triggers broom and all! The nice surprise what that Andy still had a record of my last run back in April 2017 when the Head Gasket pissed coolant all over his floor and we had to abort his run so I actually have a bench mark of the last setup which I thought was lost. At the time of the last visit, the car was running original carbs, old exhaust setup, K&N filters and obviously a leaking head gasket. The scary thing is that it's taken me two years to get back however so much has changed, even Andy noting the gearing and road speed change due to the 5 speed box and 3.9 Diff. We've dropped 20mph at the same rpm from the last visit for starters! So interestingly having dialled it all in the first run actually provided the same peak power and a bit more torque but no major differences in terms of power, the midrange had however vastly improved. Having left Andy to work his magic he identified that one of the carbs was sticking slightly behind the other, the needles were set too low, two spark plugs were incorrect and advanced the timing slightly. With all of this done the final run gave us 149bhp and 162 ft lbs peak power at just over 5100 rpm with some nice smooth curves to match. You can certainly see where the cam and exhaust kick in at 4k rpm and hear it. Short of engine work or a triple setup we've maximised what we've got and its really lively to drive, I was hoping for around 150bhp so quite happy and now know to drive it to around 5k rpm for best performance albeit it will happily go up to 5500 rpm. Certainly a few hours and £165 well spent in my eyes. Even with the drive over, the RR time and a little hooning around at home for testing purposes of course the car still produced a healthy 26.4 mpg, so very happy just ahead of our trip to Spa. For those that don't know the current spec is currently a Stock L26, Schneider Stage 2 Cam, Ztherpay Carbs, Zstory Raceport Exhaust, Custom Airbox, OS Giken 4.7KG Flywheel and upgraded Mishimoto cooling system with Spa Fans. Dyno Graphs and Video of the final as follows: 0A5FA893-54FE-4343-AD19-E15234B149F5 by Mark Woodrow, on Flickr Comparison, run from 2017 with old setup, first run tonight and then final run after setup IMG_0043 by Mark Woodrow, on Flickr Final Curve IMG_0047 by Mark Woodrow, on Flickr Numbers Breakdown IMG_0044 by Mark Woodrow, on Flickr Power at the Wheels, Peak 118.2bhp IMG_0046 by Mark Woodrow, on Flickr Video of my final power run In other news my newly refurbished brake callipers should be arriving tomorrow so all being well I just need to find time to fit it all now, this car really is all coming together finally! Fingers crossed this can be done before Spa, I just may chicken out of swapping the Master Cylinder out until our return in the event that something goes sideways!

I had the car out on Wednesday night for a few more tweaks before the weekend. The induction pipework was a bit too blingy for my liking and didn't match the stainless bend, so I removed it and gave it a matt brushed finish to tone it down a bit. I'm sure this will be a bit marmite.... I've also repositioned all of the jubilee clips to hide the tensioners etc to tidy up the bay. Overall I'm very pleased with the results, looks more of a finished product in my eyes now. After recently finding another dodgy wheel nut I got fed up of all of the issues I've had with several of them and have now replaced the entire set with new steel wheel nuts for peace of mind. More boring little bits but I removed the choke baseplate to clean it up and fit some rubber feet to remove a vibration/rattle which had been driving me mad while driving and did the tyre pressures thinking of the weekend. Car should be all good for Saturday and now has rolling road time booked for next Wednesday evening to check where we're at, I'm hoping to give the car a quick service with oil and plugs beforehand as well just to make sure we're in good order. In the meantime though, bring on the weekend! IMG_9949 by Mark Woodrow, on Flickr IMG_9952 by Mark Woodrow, on Flickr

Well we're back again, its been another busy but productive weekend. I'm pleasesd to say that the car now has a fully functioning forced cold air intake fitted! I just wanted to start by giving a shout out to Richie, I completely hijacked this setup from his recent work and used his suggestions and parts list to make this possible. It goes without saying that this setup is entirely custom, with all of the parts having been sourced from ebay with the exception of the airbox from MJP (this effectively comes in flatpack form though). This setup previously seems to have only been used on tripples rather than SU's from what I've seen to date though... First up was to protect the airbox itself, arriving in naked firbreglass it looked a bit dull and looked like it would benefit from some protection. Also the lip of it was white in places from the raw finish and gave it a rugged look, having gone round with a black shapie everything was blacked up to match in. Following a quick degrease and a few coats of laquer using a rattle can in the garden the results the next day were much better and give it a more premium finish. Saturday afternoon started by getting the carbs back to basics to allow me to get in with some masking tape to make a transfer outline of the bolt holes and carb intakes before transfering this across to a cardboard template of the airbox. Having carefully cut this up I could test fit the cardboard for fitment until I was satisfied, with that done I transfered the outlay onto the airbox backing plate marking it up with a Chrome Pen. So as to not rip the fibreglass up, a dremel was used to drill around the areas before opening up the gaps annd sanding them back to get the desired fitment. This was a bit of a sod and took some patience as you only get one shot to get it right. With that done the rubber sealing trim was installed and the clips/brackets that secure the airbox offered up for positioning and drilling, being patient with the dremel and drill got all of the holes in place. These has now been locked down using M4 Bolts and Nylocks on the inside to give a flush fitment and cause the least disturbance while remaining removable. Long term if there's no issues, I'm still tempted to move to rivets however we will see. Come Sunday, next up was taking the CRX induction pipe to mark up and chop up using an angle grinder. With my small one out of action the hacksaw came into play as the 9inch grinder I had turned out to be too man for a precision job. This was a case of more patience and conservative cuts to get the desired length (I still think the pipe may be a tad too long with the airbox being very snug pushed up against it). In order to hold it in place a silicone joiner hose was inserted through the bulkhead, this was an absolute just fit and had to be heated in hot water to be made pliable enough to slot in place and is now going no where. With alot of squeezing the ali pipe was dropped in place with some pushing, pulling, cursing and swearing before being tightened up using jubilee clips. With all of that done, all that was left to do was cut the 90 degree bend pipe out of the front to fit up a suitable cone air filter, the pipe was a bit too heavy duty so took some time with the grinder but seems to have done the job. This slotted in place with jubilee clips and has had a generic ebay red 3 inch cone filter added onto the end. Having covered it in K&N filter oil it looks to be more than up to the job of keeping out all necessary debris and flies etc. Only time will tell how durable it will be! Overall it seems to be gone very well, its snug but has good clearance in all of the right places. I may cut down the pipe from the airbox to the bulkhead to allow for easier fitment and removal going forward however its ready for the shows this weekend. Having taken it around the block it seems to be running smoothly however the extended roadtest of a couple of hundred miles should reveal all. Fingers crossed I can get it to a Dyno soon to have a proper tune up and see what all of our hard work has gained us, the performance certainly seems stronger. In other news we're getting close to our big brake upgrade on the front, pads have arrived, fitting kit cleaned up, disks and brackets on their way. I'm just waiting for the brake calipers to be done by BiggRed and then we'll be looking to get them fitted up. More than likely a job for next week to take the pressure off assuming the clipers arrive before then... Fortunately the car is all fueled up, polished and stowed away in the garage for the weekend waiting to go this year, no more water pump fixes at 11pm the day before please! A little detail I've been meaning to do something about for a while now! IMG-9845 by Mark Woodrow, on Flickr IMG-9875 by Mark Woodrow, on Flickr One Template IMG-9818 by Mark Woodrow, on Flickr Test Fit IMG-9820 by Mark Woodrow, on Flickr Transfer Across IMG-9823 by Mark Woodrow, on Flickr Cutting IMG-9825 by Mark Woodrow, on Flickr IMG-9830 by Mark Woodrow, on Flickr IMG-9847 by Mark Woodrow, on Flickr IMG-9848 by Mark Woodrow, on Flickr IMG-9834 by Mark Woodrow, on Flickr The business end! IMG-9858 by Mark Woodrow, on Flickr IMG-9864 by Mark Woodrow, on Flickr IMG-9884 by Mark Woodrow, on Flickr IMG-9891 by Mark Woodrow, on Flickr IMG-9901 by Mark Woodrow, on Flickr IMG-9920 by Mark Woodrow, on Flickr

Well another update, they're coming thick and fast now with show season about to hit and several small jobs still there to be done. The car has been with some friends at a local resotration company to replace our handbrake cable as I was fed up of crawling around on the ground with rubbish access. I am now however pleased to confirm that the car has now had a new handbrake cable fitted from Thailand. Strangely having only ordered one, another one came in the post the day after as well however its always good to have a spare even if it needed to be modified to fit as with most things on these cars. Thankfull it was just a snapped cable and not the mechanism! Next challenge will be piecing together the airbox setup which I have shamelessly taken inspiration from Richie, so here's to hoping that will be done before Donington. The airbox should be arriving this week to complete the parts collection. As if that wasn't enough we've come to the realisation that our front brake setup is actually worse than I realised and therefore needs to be ripped out sooner rather than later. We have been running Hilux S12+8 calipers and solid disks without actually realising but it now explains the slightly spongey pedal feel with a stock MC fitted. That 15/16 master cylinder sitting in my bedroom was more needed than realised! While we could just overhaul what's there this has been an area that I've wanted to address properly and future proof so that the car is well over speced for our needs. In the name of performance and safety we're therefore going to be fitting R32 GTR Aluminium brake calipers with custom brackets, disks and braided hoses thanks to Iamatomman (Gary). Not cheap however this setup will be alot lighter than the more conventional options and thankfully brake pad compund choice is very good. More news on this o follow shortly I'm sure.... In other news, I enjoyed the car over the bank holiday with my dad, it was the first time he's been out and driven the car since the full exhaust system was fitted. Safe to say we were both grinning like children with all the silly new noises it makes and also showing him what its capable of, I even dialled the coilovers up a bit as I think they've been a bit soft on reflection (more tweaking to be done there). I got chased down by a Focus RS in Sussex who was having a lot of fun, after a while we ended up stopping to chat and turns out he had a Laurel, Supra and Scooby and to top it off was a massive Jap car fan. He was super excited to see a Z on the road being properly used and driven given how few there are about in the UK. I also meet another 240z owner in traffic who's currently restoring his car and was admiring the Z and its burble, inadvertently it also drew lots of positive attention from a passing biker who loved the noise of the car when I was providing some aural pleasure to the crowd Finally I even took the time to give the car a deep clean and renovated and polished the paintwork in preparation for the upcoming shows, safe to say it was gleaming and now is already dirty again from being used and enjoyed. We're getting very close to a happy point with the car where fingers crossed I can back off with the progress and just really enjoy it rather than constantly tinkering and upgrading. All that said, until next time here's a little teaser of her sitting pretty from Friday.... 60EDEF27-039F-4278-B766-FF9EC6C1ADE9 by Mark Woodrow, on Flickr

Thanks for the link, they're gaining quite the reputation in the UK and across the globe now it seems! The quality of work is undoubtably superb, however certain changes are definately taste driven. I love restomod type cars however I really dont like some bits they've done on these, otherwise some great ideas. They do actually present superb value for money (GBP £ 100k) when you look at the man hours invested in them compared to alot of other compaines doing the same thing to other types of car. Just way out of my budget, I'm building my own dream version anyway it seems....

? That's amazing! What a small world... I live in the estate the next to the train station in Eastmont Road. I love how we've connected on a US Z forum all all places... Would love to know the numbers, there's certainly more cars coming into the UK every year. Not many actually on the road though unfortunately...

Shame, sounds like it would have been a damn good read! Wiring is the one thing that still scares me, I must get past that some day... All sounds really sensible, I can confirm that a new UJ in the steering column makes a world of difference! No way, do you also have a rally S30 out in South Africa? (If so we've spoken before through the Zclub's calendar applications as a I manage them, or if not then there's another S30 owner in Epsom as well!). Such a small world as I'm by Esher and used to play rugby against Epsom College... You really don't see many about ever short of the big organised events, not many people like to actually use their cars sadly! I'm not sure how effective they really are, I suppose with the stock manifold they must have been fairly functional otherwise Nissan wouldn't have bothered. One of the big reasons I've kept mine in the setup is because they are the perfect place to have your carb throttle return springs mounted as Nissan intended assuming you're still running factory carbs and not tripples or efi. With regards to the rad, my mishimoto aluminium rad has made an amazing difference! dropped the temps massively and stays really cool on the move... Also with the electric spal fans with the manual override I'm quite happy in traffic if I want to override the thermostat.... Hope that helps ?

Thank you very much, its been my pride and joy these last few years! ? What a small world indeed, awesome to know theres another Z fan just down the road, there's a few lurking and hiding in the area I know, even if I don't see them... Sounds like a great project that you're making good progress with, do you have a project thread that can be followed anywhere?

Cheers dude ? With the Ztherapy carbs and OS Giken lightweight flywheel it really is pukka now! Just need the cold feed airbox next to finish it off... I really enjoyed my drive out in it this morning....

This says it all I guess....

Thanks for the suggestion but really didn't want to risk it... This is the stuff, basically double layer aluminium heat shielding. Very affordable and basic but provides a big barrier to the headers to shield the bulk of the heat from the carbs, I'm sure there's nicer looking solutions however its very functional! https://www.nimbusmotorsport.com/products/view-product/nimbus-gii-heat-shield/ Thanks for the kind words and suggestions guys! Well what a day it has been! It's taken me 12 hours however I can say that the car is now sorted and moving under its own steam again Having spent the morning toying with he running issues at hand and bouncing ideas off a few people (Mainly Ali who has been my Yoda for the last two days and listening to all of my wims and questions, even taking time out of his working day to call me to talk things over), it was eventually concluded that it must be an exhaust leak that was causing all of the issues... The exhaust colour in particular supported this! All of the ingredients were otherwise there... (Thank you to those who suggested this). Fuel, air and ignition were't issues so it meant I needed a new exhaust gasket at 10.30am with nothing off the shelf in the UK in lots of cases.... Call in Mike from MJP (Hero of the Day) who had stock, realising my need and that my second day off was wasting away, a three hour round trip to Essex with the Dartford crossing done twice and I was back home with a new exhaust manifold gasket. Thank you Mike, really appreciated the assistance! (Perhaps on reflection should have tried the nearer venue in Fourways!) Much to my joy I stripped everything back down again (much faster this time having done it before). Other than getting a ratchet spanner stuck on the header for a time this actually went quite smoothly. Got the old gasket off and cleaned all of the surfaces again thoroughly before dropping the new gasket in place. Not taking any chances I also smeared the back of the intake manifold ports with Loctite high temp gasket to make sure it really sealed. Back to putting everything back into place again and tightening up so that we were all good, I made sure to replace some of the copper exhaust manifold nuts with spreader plates and smaller nuts to really make sure everything was secured this time as well. Key in the ignition and moment of truth time, full choke and she fired right up, shooting to high rpm.... Choke backed off and she was idling like a dream, queue me running around my driveway with my arms in the air like a footballer celebrating... Carbs balanced and running well, so all fears confirmed and resolved. Heat shield reinstalled and ITB socks installed to get the car running on the road again. Next up was the dreaded steering coupler, taking no chances I called in the big guns and got some 300mm pliers from B&Q which gave me exactly the leverage I needed to squeeze the poly and pop the bolt back in like a dream, steering is only every so slightly off but very much reconnected. Some stainless steel cable ties to help with my exhaust hang while I sort out a more permanent central bracket and it was time for a test drive.... All I can say is wow, I let the car get up to temperate first but could tell that the car felt keen from the get go. It has a great burble at low rpm without being too intrusive. Once up to temp and with the loud pedal pushed and it just goes.... Pulls strongly to around 5k rpm however the magic really starts at 4k rpm where it just sounds asbo loud and bonkers and starts screaming! and then when you lift off it just pops and crackles and farts like a symphony orchestra. Amazingly at motorway speeds though its very refined (unlike the ind noise and rattles) Safe to say I spent 30 minutes grinning like an idiot blasting around the local roads, most definitely holding onto gears longer than Miss Daisy would have approved of just to keep ringing it out. Really quite impressed with the difference its made, certainly no restrictions in the exhaust now. At this point I really do need to give a shout out to everyone who has had input, there's been some superb advice and encouragement from the community. This is certainly the most challenging job I've completed on the car however it wouldn't have been possible without all of the help of lots of people, so thank you! I owe several people beers now... The car is out tomorrow to be dropped off to friends at a local restoration company, the handbrake cable needs changing and I've had enough of crawling around on the ground even if I could sort it. Their high lift will make short work with the great access... Ordered one replacement from Thailand for a great price and to my surprise had two turn up on different days so that was a bonus to now have a spare... Lots still to do, I'm hoping to get an airbox setup sorted out soon enough all being well, strut braces need to make their way back from San Fransisco and I'm getting desperate to upgrade the front brakes in some way however I've rambled on too long as it is already, here's some pictures from my very long day which for the second time in a row ended up finishing in the dark! So here was out big give-away as to where the problems were, no real heat going through the left bank.... IMG_9393 by Mark Woodrow, on Flickr Messy.... IMG_9403 by Mark Woodrow, on Flickr Clean IMG_9419 by Mark Woodrow, on Flickr Fresh! IMG_9420 by Mark Woodrow, on Flickr Reassembly IMG_9424 by Mark Woodrow, on Flickr Not taking any chances... Hard to clean a load off as I realised I'd gone a bit mad and didn't want nay finding its way into the intake! IMG_9429 by Mark Woodrow, on Flickr All good to go IMG_9434 by Mark Woodrow, on Flickr Nice run underneath IMG_9387 by Mark Woodrow, on Flickr The steering coupler fixer! DA1D76DE-046A-4EAB-A14E-2B7EA6A0CF0C by Mark Woodrow, on Flickr The finished product! (more to come in daylight rather than floodlight) IMG_9439 by Mark Woodrow, on Flickr

Well lots of progress made today, its been a damn long and wet day at that however the old exhaust system is now off and the new one fitted up in place.... I'm back on it tomorrow however I've got some more immediate issues to sort, to fit the Racesport manifold into the engine bay I had to remove the steering column to get enough space to squeeze it in, that in itself was fine however I now cannot reconnect it at the top because the poly coupler has expanded pushing the bolts out at an angle so I can't relocate them back into the top of the column. Anyone know how I can compress the coupler or work something out to get this connected and the steering back? The last thing I did tonight was to start the car for the first time, good news was that it fired straight up with some choke, bad news is that its running like an asthmatic dog... I'm guessing it's a combo of full new exhaust, no more K&N's but open trumpets, and that the carbs been removed, thrown around and are out of whack. I'm planning on watching the Ztherapy DVD for guidance but any hints or tips to get it running ok would be much appreciated! I did pick up a carb syncrometer last week at least... Last one is I need to work out where to connect the central exhaust hangar, currently it doesn't seen to meet up with anything obvious In the meantime my temporary fitting assistant the cable tie is helping out... I feel knackered having been scrambling around on the ground all day, and certainly have massive high lift envy of people right now however it proves its still possible. Given that I'm a complete DIY, home taught mechanic when it comes to things like this I'm quite happy with the results so far. Certainly a case of giving things a go and having lots of spare nuts and bolts around and plus gas to cover everything. Short of the suspension its the biggest job on the car that I've tackled yet! IMG_9321 by Mark Woodrow, on Flickr Definitely got a larger diameter pipe going all the way back now! IMG_9319 by Mark Woodrow, on Flickr Out with the old and in with the new... IMG_9347 by Mark Woodrow, on Flickr IMG_9354 by Mark Woodrow, on Flickr IMG_9360 by Mark Woodrow, on Flickr Already hidden away, seems almost criminal... IMG_9373 by Mark Woodrow, on Flickr

I really hope you are right, I'm looking forward to testing it all out in anger.... Certainly reassuring ?

So after some very helpful advice on here I've been starting to crack on with the latest element of the project with our full new exhaust system now here courtesy of Zstory. I still need to have a proper look at it when I get a chance however time hasn't allowed me. On first glance it looks superb though, we've gone all out with the racesport to future proof against my aspirations to build an engine eventually... 2D5651DC-55A7-42E8-8D71-C2A88F4BAF6E by Mark Woodrow, on Flickr E96B71D7-E33F-45F5-AAB9-40D727F14AD2 by Mark Woodrow, on Flickr I started to get a bit ahead of myself this evening now that there's some extra daylight available, belated Crimbo present in the form of an ali low lift motorsport spec trolley jack to help matters along and the car is up in the air to crack on with the project. Whilst its not the high lift that I aspire to own it seems to do the job... All seems to be going pretty well so far having covered all of the bolts in Plus Gas, via a small senior moment I got the carbs off tonight and most of the exhaust unbolted, fingers crossed that progress continues and the weather improves! I should get to it in anger from Thursday onwards.... IMG_9277 by Mark Woodrow, on Flickr 68FAAC5B-80DA-48F6-9DAD-291928760406 by Mark Woodrow, on Flickr IMG_9290 by Mark Woodrow, on Flickr

Interesting, I'll be curious to hear more as to what's changed. The one I linked is awesome on a playful fast road car but not traffic or city friendly. Zgarage seem to come up with some great gear for our cars!

Looks like you're making awesome progress! Assuming we're talking one of the same then I run this OS Giken Super Single clutch/flywheel combo and while its awesome and will take loads of abuse, I'm not sure I'd call it streetable.... https://www.rhdjapan.com/os-giken-super-single-clutch-kit-aluminum-cover-gc10-hr30-c110-c210-s30-s130.html

Time for a mini update albeit not too much to report, we managed to keep using the car well into winter before we had to bow out to the salt and grit which was appearing on the roads. Good news is that the car has a new gear knob fitted, its very boring and orginal in style as well as looking far too new for my taste (needs some patina). All that said it has made the gearbox a pleasure to use and shifts much more precise, thanks to Mr Dezart's help we even sourced one with M10 fitment from the states to screw straight onto the quickshifter. Goodbye to my homemade block of oak! The car hasnt turned a wheel in a few weeks but the handbrake needs to be sorted before show season, after a quick investigation on ramps it appears to be the mechanism rather than the cable however I have my concerns over access with the solid diff mount and diff blocking most access. I also had a small mishap while protecting the suspension with ACF 50 when driving onto inspection ramps to raise the car, only one ramp gripped and I managed to drive over one and damage the bottom of the passenger wing which I was fuming about. It now needs some straightening, welding and repainting at some point, I've pulled it back out and touched up with paint but $^!# happens somtimes I guess. Fingers crossed that the handbrake and exhaust will be sorted before show season. Lots of weekends being booked in already. IMG-8696 by Mark Woodrow, on Flickr Simple but effective, all stickered up IMG-8729 by Mark Woodrow, on Flickr Sitting pretty over winter, the last time I got her out before the weather turned.... IMG-8722 by Mark Woodrow, on Flickr

You're slowly convincing me that OEM fender mirrors are actually very functional and a great idea.... I mean I already know that they look great! Do they have any downfalls?

Well time for another update, nothing too dramatic but there’s always something to do with a 48 year old car! In an effort to reduce some of the chassis flex and now being aware that the car is as much of a show car as a fast road toy, I caved into TTT’s black Friday sale and have purchased Tri strut braces for the front and rear of the car and also grabbed a cpillar bar between the seatbelt mounting points in an effort to help matters as well as look pretty. Soon to be sitting in San Francisco I’m still trying to work out how best to recover them. Over the weekend disaster struck twice for my dad with the car, many of you will be disappointed to hear that the Bosozoku gear knob shattered and fell off! It must have cracked and fatigued, having salvaged the thread I’ve taken temporary measurers and gone homemade having inserted the thread and shaped a block of Oak. It seems to have kept the car on the road and useable while I source a suitable replacement anyway. Works much better than expected and keeps the car usable for now ? He also had the misfortune of applying the handbrake yesterday on a hill only to have the car role backwards, having pulled on the handbrake some more I’m told there was an almighty bang before the handle flew up. Safe to say I’m convinced he’s snapped the handbrake cable so I need to source a new one (hopefully not from the US) and work out how easy or not (I’m sure not) it will be to fit and whether it’s doable on the driveway…. In amongst the drama I’ve finally done some minor jobs and fixed the ashtray handle having tidied up the area from the previous shoddy job from a previous custodian, had some Dremel action and glued it back together. It now looks the business again and I’ve also like several others been suckered in with purchasing a Chrome pen and now detailed several items of lettering and trim. It even seems to have hidden the blue plastic trim appearing on the door cards! IMG-8405 by Mark Woodrow, on Flickr IMG-8434 by Mark Woodrow, on Flickr IMG-8430 by Mark Woodrow, on Flickr IMG-8431 by Mark Woodrow, on Flickr IMG-8412 by Mark Woodrow, on Flickr IMG-8413 by Mark Woodrow, on Flickr IMG-8417 by Mark Woodrow, on Flickr IMG-8419 by Mark Woodrow, on Flickr

You have made me super envious with the type of cars you have been able to interact with. Thank you for sharing all of the information about your cars. Its been really interesting to see how functional the fender mirrors actually are, they appear much more functional than I ever expected.... I'll have to have a longer through this thread later. Amazing seeing another Toyota 2000GT, very much an ultimate dream car for me and by chance spoke to the lady who owns the only one in the UK earlier this week. Makes me want to get out to Japan even more to see the treasurers out there, I just wouldn't know where to start! Ps I love the fact that you just drive a 432 to the airport and leave it in the parking lot ?