I am nearing the end of a car restoration project, in my case a Citroen C3 Pluriel. Just curious to see who else might be trying to resurrect, rebuild, etc an old Car?
Sort of a couple in my place. I am in perpetual tweak and fix on a race car (Which has not seen the track in years, THIS is the year!) and I just picked up an old Nissan EXA turbo to tidy up (not really restore) and take on weekend club drive days with my son.
If he ever works up to it we have a friends Charger (VK I think) in my shed (A spot is has occupied for around 20 years) awaiting a full resto job. He is in his 50s and has had it since he was 18.
You asked, here they are. Sorry the quality is so bad, blame it on downsizing to be able to post here.
Hugh amount of work over the past six months: new front struts and mounts, new sway bar links, new rear discs and pads, alloy wheels refurbished, four new tyres, Timing belt, water pump and auxiliary belt replaced, new throttle body, coolant flush, transmission fluid changed, old broken soft top removed (new hardtop being built now), and headlight restoration.
The attraction of this little car for me is its versatility, it can be configured in a number of ways: retacting soft top, fold down open top, spider config with roof and rear window stored under the floor, and mini ute, as it has a drop down tailgate. My version is now primarily a full time open spider, ute, but the roof arches can be reinstalled with the hard top (takes about 10 minutes). And being French it is a most comfortable little car to drive, with a sequential gearbox (with Auto option) and with paddle shifters on the steering wheel. Only a 1.6L 16v four cylinder (TU5JP4 engine) but in such a light car it really moves.
I have been rushing to complete it, as at my age I don't have time to waste. It certainly gets lots of looks around the Lake area here, they are pretty rare in Australia.
Glen - that's a very handy car. What's it like to drive with the sequential gear box? (I have a motorcycle, so know all about being stuck in the wrong gear and frantically shifting up or down through all the intervening ratios...)
Glen - that's a very handy car. What's it like to drive with the sequential gear box? (I have a motorcycle, so know all about being stuck in the wrong gear and frantically shifting up or down through all the intervening ratios...)
Steve i used to ride a bike as well, so I know your issue. This sequential gear box is an automatic as well, there is a button to select automatic or manual operation. The gear box has its own ECU to manage the shifting, so if you leave it alone it will do up and down shifting as per a normal automatic but if you intervene on the paddles or the floor shifter, it will obey your over ride. I have yet to be caught out by it. On start it will default to auto mode
I did get started on a 1975 mini clubman after being a Datsun guy my whole life. But then I was offered a nice, restored about 15years ago, 260z which I got for a song of my uncle.
It’s my fourth 260z, the 2seater model, and by far the nicest I’ve had.
I plan to repaint it and maaaaybe put the original motor back in but with a turbocharger.
[QUOTE=Pepper;1584437]I did get started on a 1975 mini clubman after being a Datsun guy my whole life. But then I was offered a nice, restored about 15years ago, 260z which I got for a song of my uncle.
It’s my fourth 260z, the 2seater model, and by far the nicest I’ve had.
I plan to repaint it and maaaaybe put the original motor back in but with a turbocharger.[/QUOTE
Very nice 260Z. It looks very complete.
Personally, I think there is a good argument for leaving the 260z stock (no turbo). As an investment, a stock motor matching number car will always be worth much more than one that is modded. And I would not repaint it, just do a paint restoration. Just my 2 cents.
If I could wrangle my way back in to an S30 Z car (Unlikely when a good one costs as much as a couple of year old 370Z) I would build one like the last one my father and I had, which had an L28 with a ludicrous compression ratio, but now I would fit triple DCOE style throttle bodies and a modern ECU with knock control and flex fuel so it could run safely on 98RON unleaded but really work right on E85 when you can get it. Our old one ran best on Avgas when you could still lay your hands on that for road cars and just barely OK on 98 RON when that first became available.
I had multi throttle bodies and a much earlier EFI system on one of mine and the sound it made was just amazing.
The pics are of my old one being used in anger while I had it, and another from a couple of years ago when the current owner (Who I sold it to) had his brother pull it out of storage after 20+ years, get it sorted and drive it over to where he lives now. IMO Z cars look soooo much nicer with the rear bumper removed and sheet metal smoothed out, if I had another one even now I would be very tempted to do that again, but I would probably look for a way to run ECU wiring without making any new holes.
The yellow one is my "Permanently under works" race car.
Hi Glen.
The value of having it stock does not matter to me, I won’t be selling this car.
I have the original L26, which I will fit the L28 fuel injected head and factory turbo gear. I need it go be at least as powerful as the 4.4L v8 that is in it now.
With the Z car these days , of course a stack car will be worth a lot, but even modified examples will still fetch Skyline GTR money these days.
Paul, sounds like a sweet car hour old man had. But I’m biased. The Zed car is THE most beautiful car ever built.
Now I'm having the (insane) idea of fitting a sequential shifter into my car.
EDIT: Wow. I can change the gearbox in my Lancer from a standard manual to a sequential shift gearbox (with 7 gears!). I just need to upgrade my car to a Lancer EVO first. Rats.
Quote:
Originally Posted by glend
Steve i used to ride a bike as well, so I know your issue. This sequential gear box is an automatic as well, there is a button to select automatic or manual operation. The gear box has its own ECU to manage the shifting, so if you leave it alone it will do up and down shifting as per a normal automatic but if you intervene on the paddles or the floor shifter, it will obey your over ride. I have yet to be caught out by it. On start it will default to auto mode
Last edited by AstroViking; 09-03-2023 at 10:02 PM.
Iam working on a project myself although the car is not a oldie it needed work 2006 KJ 65th Anniversary Jeep Cherokee i have done heaps of work on the 4wd running gear and about to replace the complete suspension on it.My purpose was to do some traveling, but things have slowed a bit at the moment.
Iam working on a project myself although the car is not a oldie it needed work 2006 KJ 65th Anniversary Jeep Cherokee i have done heaps of work on the 4wd running gear and about to replace the complete suspension on it.My purpose was to do some traveling, but things have slowed a bit at the moment.
Haha, I owned a 2007 KJ CRD from 2007 until 2020, I know those Jeeps inside out. Check the PM I have sent you Alan.
One more pic, this was my dads one (One of several he had over the years, including my red one)
Of the lot, I wish I still had this one. I am not quite sure I would ay the S30 was THE most beautiful car ever built, but they have to be pretty close. What saddens me is that since I sold mine in 97, I have not yet found a car with a driving position as good as these things came out of the box with in 1969, almost no adjustability but they were just right. Nothing else I have owned or drive has matched it for such a natural and comfortable set of controls to sit behind. Admittedly with a seat upgrade, I used to drive mine between Melbourne and Sydney and get out feeling good, in my work car (Holden Trailblazer, IMO an awful car) I can barely sit in it for an hour without aches when I get out.
Nice. And you’re right about the driving position. The only adjustability is the seat but they are really nice to sit behind the wheel.
I’ve just bought an injection manifold to start building my l26et.
I always wanted an XB Falcon Coupe to restore up, and always baulked at the times I could have snapped them up.
Last one I passed on was a 1975 (76?) XC Coupe with the round headlights. It had a factory 460ci motor in it, and was terrifying on the road. The guy wanted 9k for it, in stock condition (in 1993). Probably worth 10x that now...
EDIT: I feel like I have done my time under the bonnet. When the Pajero goes, it will be for a Model S. Time for some luxury.
