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1973 Rebuild


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Nothing to report other that I finished pulling the rivets out of the floor and the floors are in pretty much the same condition on both sides.

I was thinking about where I want to go with the car and have figured out what my baseline goal is to try to beat the specs on a factory 1973 Porsche 911RS.

A stock 1973 240Z supposedly makes 171 hp and its curb weight is 2301.6 lbs. A 1973 Porsche 911 RS weighs 2150 and makes 210 hp from a 2687 cc engine.

So I need to find 150 lbs to lose and 39 HP to gain. And I need to think about torque and gear ratios.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Edited by Matthew
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Well, I weigh 172 pounds and started hitting the gym pretty hard recently.

Also, the car can lose more than 30 lbs just by switching to a lithium battery, plus I'll get whatever the difference between a stock radiator and an aluminum one saves me. The one I have is leaking so I'm going high performance on that front.

However, I'm sure the sound deadener I intend to instal will suck up some of that.

Any other quick and easy weight savers out there? CF hood? Plastic gas tank? Nitrogen in the tires? ;)

As far as power is concerned, I saw somewhere on this forum that triple Mikunis supposedly bring an L24 up to 190HP and an L28 up to 200HP. it looked like manufacturer's documentation, so who knows how realistic that is, but if a carb change can do that, then I'm sure the other plans I have can get me over 200 without trouble.

But the above target is a P:W of ~10:1; better than a Porsche 993 or a BMW E45 M3, not that this ratio is everything, but it's fun to think about.

Edited by Matthew
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  • 1 month later...

Okay, I'm back. Sorry for the silence. I got laid off in the middle of August and the car had to go on the back burner for a minute while I figured out a plan for that little issue.

I've done a small amount of work on it since my last post; mostly taking a wire wheel to the floor to see what the story is there, but also pulling the dash.

The dash project was a piece of cake except for one thing. I got a little over zealous with the ratchet and smacked it with the handle while I was pulling the bolts under the windshield. Of course I put two little dents in the dash that are big enough to be a problem but small enough for me to not know what to do about it. I'll see what it looks like after I clean it up, but I have a feeling it's going to need repairing. Major bummer because it was perfect before that.

e91db613638a5a56eab8369c5ced4e7c.jpg2dee26927f1c6d521a03eb6dc478fb3d.jpg

Here's the damage:

1ca8a979e0aef6a80f2bb660d3f92824.jpg

Edited by Matthew
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About an hour. Here are the instructions: http://www.classiczcars.com/topic/5934-removing-dash-and-interior-for-paint/

The only hard part was finding where the heater controls connected on the right side near the firewall and getting a screwdriver in there.

Just be careful with the dash. I didn't realize they are that fragile. :/

/M

Edited by Matthew
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About an hour. Here are the instructions: http://www.classiczcars.com/topic/5934-removing-dash-and-interior-for-paint/

The only hard part was finding where the heater controls connected on the right side near the firewall and getting a screwdriver in there.

Just be careful with the dash. I didn't realize they are that fragile. :/

/M

Thanks, I read throught those and they sound pretty complete.  I really thought it would take more than an hour!

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Me too. Most of of the delay for me was going back and rereading the instructions to make sure I wasn't skipping a step.

FYI, you'll need some long socket extensions for the heater and some very short or 90 degree screw drivers to get the heater control wires separated to get the center plastic piece out.

The hardest part is separating the damned plugs on the wiring harnesses.

/M

Edited by Matthew
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  • 2 weeks later...

Not much to report as I've been spending the week trying to lock down a new job. Here's where I am as of tonight:

6874d9dd82e3e198a372d8b0fe492434.jpg

Took the remaining dash components out, along with the heater and paper trim pieces. I think all that's left is the steering column, paper firewall insulation, pedals, and wiring. That stuff needs to stay in until I pull the suspension and engine, so I'm moving to the back half of the interior after I box all of these parts up.

Also, what's this called? :

e1c6bfdaf506fdc7c476ca973e9f2868.jpg

...

In other news, I'm starting to talk to places about the welding and paint. I have a guy coming in two weeks who is in Boonton, NJ and will give me a quote on fixing the wholes, stripping, epoxy coating, and painting everything. That will dictate a lot of how I move forward (what I do myself and what I farm out).

By the way, he told me definitely not to media blast the car and use aircraft stripper instead. Anyone have experience with this?

/M

Edited by Matthew
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