One week after ignition

So it’s been over a week now since I drove the 240Z for the first time. What have I gotten done in that timeframe? Not much!

I basically didn’t touch the car until Thursday, and all I did then was take a few minutes to inaccurately measure the requirements for the flange on the downpipe. Friday I picked up a header collector flange from my buddy Russ’ place. Sunday morning I went to work on that flange, it needed some help to make it fit.

Sunday afternoon I spent some time in the sauna, I mean garage. I managed to get the coil pack and EDIS module mounted to the fender. I then started trying to clean up some of the wiring in the engine bay. I got some plastic loom a while back so I started running that to cover up the mess of wiring in the engine bay. I also ran the loom in the passenger compartment around some of the wiring in there. It’s not finished, but it’s definitely starting to look better.

Dad helped me to put a switch inline for the main relay. Luckily with the car not idling yet I haven’t had problems turning the car off, but with the way things were wired if the car was idling properly you’d have to pull a fuse or disconnect the battery to shut off the car. Now that I have a switch it’s easy to do!

After that Dad and I put the hood and hinges on the car, the first time since I’ve owned the 240 that it has had a hood attached! From there we loaded the car up onto the trailer later in the evening.

This morning I got up early (a rarity for me) and took the car/trailer over to the Carx on St. Charles Rock Road in Bridgeton. Rick was extremely helpful over there and by 12pm today I was back up there loading the car up on the trailer with Eric’s help. Carx put a 3” pipe from the downpipe back to the rear axle, with a turndown on the end.

It’s still quite loud, but if I do say so myself, it sounds pretty damn sweet! Eric and I brought the car home, and before trying to push it off the trailer I finally got it started. I’m having starter issues and will probably try to replace the starter Thursday or Friday of this week.

I drove the car off the trailer and into the garage, it’s a beautiful sound!

I’m still aiming to compete drive the car at the Autocross on Sunday. Before I can do that I have quite a bit left to do.

  1. Fix the idle (longer idle screw)
  2. See if there’s any fluid in the transmission (can’t get the fill plug out so I’ve not pulled the drain plug yet)
  3. Build a bulkhead/firewall for the fuel cell
  4. Finish up wiring for the O2 sensor
  5. Get a harness squared away
  6. More stuff I’m sure I’ve forgotten!

About the Author:

Chris Hammond
Chris Hammond has autocrossed for 24 years, racing in a variety of vehicles from a 1994 VW Golf to a 1999 Z-28, a 2003 350z, a 2004 ZO6 and a 2016 FRS. He is the founder of AutocrossBlog.com and created the ultimate autocross forum, SOLO2.ORG, years ago . Read more at ChrisHammond.com

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