Time to start another project..

[SilentNIght1647]

I bought a '72 240z earlier this year and I love the car to death as a matter of fact it helped me get through Navy baisc training back in August, as some of you may remember the car isnt in the greatest shape, mechanically it is good but asthetically it leaves much to be desired. So I decided a complete rebuild is in order for my beloved Z, I plan on getting the body work done while I'm away and replacing the 2.4 with a 355 at my earliest conveineince. I bought the JTR book a while back and it helped out immensely, I don't think that aspect will give me any trouble, but the things that go along with a V8 are. I want to replace the R180 with a Grand National style Floater 9" but can't figure out how wide the stock rear end is backing plate to backing plate in any of manuals and since the car is Nebraska right now and I am in Virginia Beach I cant really bust out a tape measure on it at the moment. Does any happen to have the measurement right off hand? Also I plan on running an 8" wide wheel on all four corners will this clear stock suspension? I am going to swap the stock stuff for coilovers as soon as I get the solid axle in place but if they clear stock suspension it shouldn't be a big deal. Are their any good and relatively inexpensive front brake kits available for my Z the rear brakes are going to be plenty fine seeing as how the rear end comes with brand new brakes but I am concerned about the fronts ability to stop me with the old solid rotors. I also plan on putting a 10pt. cage in the car and found that Jeg's makes a kit for the Z has anyone ever used this kit, I know their is alot of trimming involved with a prebent cage but it is cheap and I've got a chop saw. I saw a set of ZG flares somewhere on the internet does anyone know where to get a set of them? My quarters are ugly as it is I don't have any qualms about cutting them up for a little better clearance for my meat. I think my goal for this project is a sleeper street car with limited track use, I think I can retain most of the factory body in my rebuild and if not I can replace them with stock appearing FG parts. The hood will probably need a scoop of some kind seeing as how a Predator is a bit taller than a Holley, but the rest of the car should remain somewhat stock appearing, I dig the sleeper look. Or I may go with an MSA type 3 kit which I also like either way I'm miles away from that decision so I won't worry about it. Maybe I'm crazy trying to recover a rusty old Z I bought for $700 in Iowa but I love the car too much to let it sit and I need a good project to keep me occupied when I'm back home. So I'd be grateful if anyone could provide me with and hints or tidbits about restoring a Z car or any specific information relating to my case.

[Broke_as_****]

You'll probably want to try zcar.com or any of the other Z forums out there, this board is mainly comprised of 300ZX owners of various years.