My two swiss S30Z Fairlady Restoration build thread

[Namerow]

On 2016-02-18 at 1:49 PM, JDMjunkies.ch said:

The 240Z Project has been really cooking on a low flame last year. I was too busy with my Job and travelling. Luckily this year started out smoother and i'm really working to get back on the Z-Project. I Ordered one expensive part which will show up in a few months but so far i started reading a lot about the Z, because i forgot most of the things i knew maybe two years ago since i never used them However im starting to make plans for the next small projects of the Project and i'm super excited about it. However before i started to work on car bits, i had to get rid of the mess in my home-workshop (aside from my garage i have a little hobby-room for small work and parts-storage at home). So i bought some new shelves, moved everything and this is how it ended up. I'm super happy with it

I can finally work without searching for the right parts and tools for half of the time

Then it was time to complete a simple but not-so-simple job i've started a while ago. Before i had the Door locks replated a while ago i removed the old damper rubbers and after i never figured out how to get them back in, i never did it.

Today i decided it was time to complete the job So took an old toothbrush and scalpel to remove old glue from the rubber. then washed it in the sink with some warm water and dishwashing soap. worked fine Then took me quite a while to figure out how to get the Rubber back in without damaging it, but finally got it after 30mins of fiddling around. Added some of the Super glue like it was from factory, but the rubber sits so tight, i doubt the glue is really needed. Just a small job, but one more box ticked on the 2-do list

I've asked this question before and never got what I thought was a satisfactory explanation.  Maybe you know:

Why are the rubber dampers mounted on a spring-loaded pivot?  If they're designed to pivot, why does the spring loading act in what seems to be the wrong direction (i.e. the spring loads the damper against the striker plate, while the metal tang on the damper's metal carrier stamping prevents the rubber damper from pivoting out from the striker plate)?  It just seems wrong.

[JDMjunkies.ch]

6 hours ago, Namerow said:

I've asked this question before and never got what I thought was a satisfactory explanation.  Maybe you know:

Why are the rubber dampers mounted on a spring-loaded pivot?  If they're designed to pivot, why does the spring loading act in what seems to be the wrong direction (i.e. the spring loads the damper against the striker plate, while the metal tang on the damper's metal carrier stamping prevents the rubber damper from pivoting out from the striker plate)?  It just seems wrong.

To be honest i never thought about it, i just put it back together as it came from the car. However based on my bad knowledge in car design i guess the rubber is for noise damping. Springs tend to Squeek and squeel after a while and i know from my Job (Machine manufacturing) that our hardware-designers like to put some kind of rubber on these kind of springs to reduce noise coming from the springs after a while. However i have no idea if the reason is the same here and i also wondered myself about how it works and didn't get it. But as i said i didn't spend too much time thinking about it.

[JDMjunkies.ch]

Today i spent a wile rebuilding / refurbishing the headlight switches. The problem with the Original wiring design is that the full headlight current runs through the steering wheel multifunctional switches. This causes contacts tu burn, specially when upgraded to H4 headlights. I decided to refurbish them before putting it back on the steering column.
In future i will run a relay, because the original design is not very long-lasting, nor is it very safe to have 20 amps in your hands when switching on the lights
Started with choosing the best of all four switches i had (one beeing a later model or something different):

Disassembled everything following This great manual:
http://www.doyouevenhoon.com/datsun-240z-gtr/how-to-rebuild-datsun-240z-headlight-switch.html and ended up like this:

Removed the old contacts and as you can see they're pretty urnt and carbonized:

Used some "relay contacts cleaner" Fluid and after a bit of rubbing looked like this. Also but the switches back in reverse orders to make sure the "weak" part will be on the opposite side and last longer

Will continue with the rest of the switch next week. need to buy smaller pliers first In the meanwhile i got an update from the bodyshop. Before:

after:

Now work on the passenger side floorpan and rear quarter as well as the small storage compartment started. More rust than expected. but yeah. t hat's how life is

 

Also ordered ordered the rear lower valance and rear corner valance so basically i will have an almost new chassis at the end *lol*. more updates soon i hope

Edited February 27, 2016 by JDMjunkies.ch

[JDMjunkies.ch]

Made some progress again First i cleaned all the switches and buttons by hand so the white texture finally came back to life and is visibla again. worked surprisingly good with an old tooth brush and some dishwashing water

Well and then assembled everything back together. not factory fresh but as nice as an 44 year old switch can get

Then started with the turn signal switch on the other side. seems a bit more tricky...

The contacts had massive burn marks

So this is after cleaning

Who needs puzzles when you have cars? I never realized how complicated these switches are until i took it apart

Then got some updates from the bodyshop. Rear lower side cowls (before):

And after:

And that "triangle piece" inside the rear fender well...

Tomorrow i will visit a shop to repair my wing and on friday i'll drop by the bodyshop again. hoping for some updates again

[Captain Obvious]

Looks great. I did the same thing with my headlight switch and the lettering came up much nicer than it was when I started. It was hard to believe how white they got after all these years. What I thought was faded yellow paint was, in fact, murky brown muck covering bright white paint.

In fact, no competition intended, but I think mine came out better than yours did. Mine may have been in better shape to start with? I know I used an old toothbrush just like you did, but I don't remember what I used as a fluid. It may have just been water, or it may have been the lightly ammoniated window cleaner, or it may have been armor-all. I'll snap a pic when I get a chance, and I believe I've got another spare stalk still dirty in a box somewhere. I'll try to recreate my success and if I can, I'll let you know what worked for me.

 

[JDMjunkies.ch]

15 hours ago, Captain Obvious said:

Looks great. I did the same thing with my headlight switch and the lettering came up much nicer than it was when I started. It was hard to believe how white they got after all these years. What I thought was faded yellow paint was, in fact, murky brown muck covering bright white paint.

In fact, no competition intended, but I think mine came out better than yours did. Mine may have been in better shape to start with? I know I used an old toothbrush just like you did, but I don't remember what I used as a fluid. It may have just been water, or it may have been the lightly ammoniated window cleaner, or it may have been armor-all. I'll snap a pic when I get a chance, and I believe I've got another spare stalk still dirty in a box somewhere. I'll try to recreate my success and if I can, I'll let you know what worked for me.

 

haha yeah i guess the white-balance in the picture is a bit shitty, in real life they're pretty white and i feel they look like new.  used normal soap water and a toothbrush and worked very well

[Captain Obvious]

Good point. Discussing shades of colors is always a tricky thing. Could simply be the camera. I didn't get any photos of what I have yet, but I will when I get a chance.

Another question. The switch with the burned contacts... That's for the passing light actuator on the end of the turn signal stalk, right? I don't have one of those.

[JDMjunkies.ch]

On 4.3.2016 at 2:49 AM, Captain Obvious said:

Good point. Discussing shades of colors is always a tricky thing. Could simply be the camera. I didn't get any photos of what I have yet, but I will when I get a chance.

Another question. The switch with the burned contacts... That's for the passing light actuator on the end of the turn signal stalk, right? I don't have one of those.

You mean the second switch i restored? that's just the turn signal switch one contact is for winking left, one for winking right

[JDMjunkies.ch]

One popular upgrade for the 240Z seems to be swapping out the lame Original Heater blower motor to the one coming from some 80ies or 90ies Honda. Unfortunately all the manuals i found for this swap mentioned a different Honda model as source for the Blower motor so i was confused. They all looked the same in the pictures and some guys on Ebay even sell the Blower swap for around 90$ + shipping. I thought that's too expensive and did some research and figured out the one blower everyone is using is the TYC Genera Model 700077 which is an aftermarket replacement for the aforementioned old honda motors. Funnly this blower is sold for only 23 Bucks so i went the direct route and ordered it This is the old Nihon Radiator / Hitachi Blower:

 

And here we have the new one. Brand new and factory fresh

 

As you can see the shape is slightly different (left new, right old), but it wil fit perfectly.

 

I compared with the drawing on the TYC website and many people in the internet told this is a 1:1 swap except for the rubber gromments which need to be changed due to different mounting hole diameters (other people probably will enlarge the holes). Also i recommand to paint the now Silver motor cover black as this is installed right in the foot compartment of the passenger and will stick to the passengers eye

 

According to the poeple in various forums the advantage of the new Blower is: Much more powerful, much more silent, lighter (Due to the plastic squirre-cage compared to the metal one in the old design) and draws less current. Overall it's much more effective. can't wait to install it. Of course i will write about it once i get to that point

[Captain Obvious]

Oh, OK. Didn't recognize it as the turn signal because mine is very different inside. Not surprised it changed over the years. Here's what mine (from my 77) looked like inside:

A blower motor change is on my list of things to do to. My current one still works fine though, so it's lower priority.

[S30Driver]

The box indicates the blower assembly is actually for Honda's 90 to 93 Acura Integra.

It is also available from Amazon for $43

[JDMjunkies.ch]

20 hours ago, Captain Obvious said:

Oh, OK. Didn't recognize it as the turn signal because mine is very different inside. Not surprised it changed over the years. Here's what mine (from my 77) looked like inside:

A blower motor change is on my list of things to do to. My current one still works fine though, so it's lower priority.

Have seen this on the Manuals in the Internet before as well but mine looks different, as you said. i've got two 1972 Cars so i guess they changed the design later

 

20 hours ago, S30Driver said:

The box indicates the blower assembly is actually for Honda's 90 to 93 Acura Integra.

It is also available from Amazon for $43

Ah yeah you're right. Haven't read the box yet, hahaha Anyhow Some mention the use Civic blowers, some use prelude blowers but after some hours of research i ended up with this one and i'm pretty sure it's the right one.