My two swiss S30Z Fairlady Restoration build thread

[JDMjunkies.ch]

15 hours ago, Namerow said:

Where did you find those ?

 

Found them on Ebay of all Things
 

15 hours ago, Namerow said:

And exactly what have you learned, please?

I Initially bought it to remove paint from bolts and stuff. That didn't work out well. Paint seems to hard to remove and needs blasting or paint-stripper.
Then switched to the Delfir-chips which worked really well to remove dust, grease and rust from small parts.
Also had to figure out that a 4:1 mix of Chips to water  (with a few drops of dishwashing-soap) doesn't create too much of a foam or mess, but works well enough to remove the grease and so on.
and last but not least i figured out that you need approx 12hours for all parts until they're mostly clean.
If you prepare the very rusty parts with a wire-wheel brush the results get even better.

[Namerow]

7 hours ago, JDMjunkies.ch said:

Then switched to the Delfir-chips

What Is a Delfir-chip?

[JDMjunkies.ch]

5 hours ago, Namerow said:

What Is a Delfir-chip?

Those green ceramic pyramids (the abrasives) as seen in the Picture below.
These Shakers / tumblers are basically meant to polish small and nice Stones, but if you change the abrasives you can also clean metalparts with them:
I think i made a post about how it works in this threads a few years ago when i bought the machine and made some tests.
I used said delfir Chips and worked out nice. Just be aware that these Chips won't be able to clean inside the bolts threads or inside small Corners or so.
But In my case that's ok.

[Namerow]

OK, thanks.  I have a similar tumbler that I bought from a USA-based online supplier, Eastwood.  They offer a few different types of media, including the green pyramids.  I'd just never heard them referred to as a Delfir-chip, and a google search on that phrase came up empty, too.  I've had 'ok' results with mine.  It doesn't perform miracles, but it's a lot better than a wire wheel (ouch!) for nuts and bolts.  The green pyramid media doesn't last forever.  They're made from plastic, of course, and the sharp edges wear off over time, diminishing their effectiveness.  They do seem to have a remarkable facility for getting (firmly) lodged inside the threads of certain sizes of nuts!

I've often wondered whether a real tumbler (i.e. rotating 'can') would do a better job than these vibratory machines.  I haven't seen one being offered for sale from any of the suppliers that I deal with, but I think they're available from .

[JDMjunkies.ch]

6 minutes ago, Namerow said:

OK, thanks.  I have a similar tumbler that I bought from a USA-based online supplier, Eastwood.  They offer a few different types of media, including the green pyramids.  I'd just never heard them referred to as a Delfir-chip, and a google search on that phrase came up empty, too.  I've had 'ok' results with mine.  It doesn't perform miracles, but it's a lot better than a wire wheel (ouch!) for nuts and bolts.  The green pyramid media doesn't last forever.  They're made from plastic, of course, and the sharp edges wear off over time, diminishing their effectiveness.  They do seem to have a remarkable facility for getting (firmly) lodged inside the threads of certain sizes of nuts!

I've often wondered whether a real tumbler (i.e. rotating 'can') would do a better job than these vibratory machines.  I haven't seen one being offered for sale from any of the suppliers that I deal with, but I think they're available from .

My delfir Chips are made from ceramic and not plastic and so far they've lasted quite good. had the machine rattling for more than a week non-stop now!
I guess "Delfir" is a brand Name by the swiss manufacturer, see here: http://www.polyservice.ch/Keramik_Deutsch_02.09.pdf they also sell small Batches, thats why i Chose These..

[JDMjunkies.ch]

This week has been the most busy one car-wise in a while Well. I guess that's good?!
Thist itme i've cleaned the ignition switches again thoroughly and assembled them back. Tried to keep the original patina but clean it. And made sure all the contacts are fine.


Then installed one of them directly to the previously finnished steering column:


Really fun to start putting completed parts together to even bigger completed parts
Had the covering ring cleaned, since the old paint wasn't nice anymore:


Resprayed it with some rattle-can car-paint in flat black and had it drying under the lamp for a day: 


And then put it back to the switch:


And then got a package from Poland. Have to Thank Jakub Nurzaj a lot for his support and digging in some old stock to find me this US-Spec Corner valance with the factory cutout for the american turn signals. Cheers mate for the great service!


Also thanks for the free datsun europe stickers!


So now i have another shipment ready to get rust and paint removed at the alcohol dipping company. Body-parts are now officially complete. Hope i can push my bodyshop to hurry up a bit with the chassis... Progress is awfully slow at the moment...

[JDMjunkies.ch]

Since i have all of my body panels together, i wanted to have a look at the last possible "unknown" area.
The front grille. I never had a close look at it and wanted to make sure it's OK. Well it's not (of course :D).
Started like this. It seems like there are various versions of the grille around, but it apepars that this is a fulyl original one. the middle finis shorter, which also seems to be original.



Everything is just plugged together and then secured with four long and thin bolts on the back of the horizontal fins:


Onfortunately it's all just made out of cheap and thin sheet metal, so quite prone to bending:


Luckily the most delicate parts (the fins) are ok, and the rest is quite easy to fix or make on my own (i guess). the rest of the parts are just riveted together, so i probably give it a try and make my own grill.
Need to think about it and see if i'm able to find the horizontal U-shaped fins in the correct size.. guess i will send the available parts for rust and paint-stripping and then see what i can do seems to be a fun DIY project

[JDMjunkies.ch]

So yesterday i got the box with parts back from the plating company. Everything got cleaned, zinc plated and yellow passivated. The colour is slightly different then last time (more redish). Probably due to the changed regulations for the mix of chemicals used for this procedure.


Still quite happy with the result. Took me a while to sort through all the parts, but mostly figoured it out by now


Started with the re-assembly of some parts. From this...


To this (Hose brackets)


From this...


To this (hood closing mechanism..)


This (the other part of the hood closing mechanism... (x2)


And then finally got all the parts ready to re-assemble the shifter with the new bushings and some bushing grease. Before...


After.


And because fun, i decided to test-fit the Kameari Z-Shift knob as well. Thiss will be a perfect match once it's in the car


Still have some parts to sort through and a lot to assemble. but need some pre-work on some parts first...

[JDMjunkies.ch]

I've been super busy with dozens of small 240Z projects, but unfortunately it's two steps forward and one back at the moment so i haven't really completed anything noteworthy to post here.  Nevertheless i left some parts at the paint-stripping company today and should be able to pick them up early next year. And then suddenly i got a picture from my Panelbeater with a small update: The outer radius on the Tabco rear quarter panel has been corrected to give it the factory-like sharp edges (the tabco is a bit too soft) and the welds have been cleaned. Hope to have more updates soon. really working on a few ends at the moment

[JDMjunkies.ch]

Today i was finally able to complete a little project on which i've been working over the past few weeks. I completely reworked the Inspection Lamp.
Remember a few weeks ago when i posted this pic? This is how it all started. Rusty, Painted over a few times, and in bad shape. didn't even work:


Of course started to disassembly everything first


Then had the housing tubmlered to remove old paint, dirt and rust (picture has other parts included as well, which don't belong to the inspection lamp):


And got it zinc-replated and yellow passivated to get back the origina look. Then started to source the missing parts.

Even if i'm in the business i failed to find an original green twin-wire with the original thickness. but since the original wire was still in good shape i decided to just clean and keep it.

The bulb was a bit of a headscratcher too. but after i figured out the Keyword was "BA9s" (9mm bajonett-socket with single base connector) it was easy to find a fitting bulb, 12V, 8W as the manual states. Nowadays you even could replace it with a lot of less-power consuming LED bulbs, but i decided to keep it oldschool in this case

The switch was the most tricky part. the original was toasted (see left). It could be saved and restored but then you still have a completely brittly 40 year old piece of plastic in an outdated electronic design, so i decided to replace it with a newer style switch. The first generation of inspection lamps had a metal switch too, so it's not a completey wrong look.


The switch needs a 12mm thread, but must be small enough to fit inside the housing (most 12mm threaded switches are too big) and it should have the little notch in the thread to secure it properly in correct position. After trying various options i figoured out this one would fit perfectly (Available at farnell)
http://www.atakel.com/urun/apem-5000-series-miniature-toggle-switches/EN/

 

While the original one is an ON-OFF switch, this one is an ON-ON switch, but if you remove one of the outer pins you have an ON-OFF function again:


First the little nipple has to minimized by 0.5mm or so to fit the slightly smaller notch in the new switch:


Then prepared all the cables. Cleaned them first with a rough side of a dish cleaning sponge, cut off the ends, removed insulation ca 1mm at each end with a special tool and then pre-soldered the ends to make it easier to solder it later.


It probably helps if you have a full high-end soldering workstation like i have at my office and 20+ years of daily soldering routine skills


All parts ready? Here we go. The fun part begins - assembly (got a new replica lens and rubber insulator from ebay, plus additionally a piece of black heat-shrinking tube and some red electronic wrapping tape).


First i installed a new rubber insulator grommet on the bottom of the back housing. the original one was falling apart by just looking at it. New ones can be found easy in any electronis speciality shop.


The removed the old wire-end from the connecting plate and cleaned it.


resoldered the new wire-end to it and cleaned it with flux remover (removes flux from the soldering, which may decrease the electric connectivity! see bottle in the back)


Soldered the other wire back to the hook and attached some black heat-shrinking tube like it was in the factory setup:


Next was soldering the wires to the switch and protect the solderings with some black  heat-shrinking tube:


Also added the red electrical tape as it was in my factory setup (it goes inside where the clamp is to protect wires):


Soldered the wire back to the little Clamp


And installed the clamp back to the bottom and secured the cables inside with it. Done


Apply 12V DC to it (ground to the housing, plus to the red wire, switch on - YAY!


assembled it to gether and still everything works as it should:


So here's the result. Quite the difference when compared to the first pictures, which was the same item!


Spent quite a few hours sourcing parts and getting everything cleaned and so on, but honestly it was totally worth the work

[Namerow]

Nice work.  Of all the parts that I tried to re-plate using my D-I-Y plating set-up, this one was the most problematic (many heavily 'shaded' areas, along with a difficult-to-plate interior surface.  Your results illustrate one the important superiorities of commercial plating.

 

[JDMjunkies.ch]

18 hours ago, Namerow said:

Nice work.  Of all the parts that I tried to re-plate using my D-I-Y plating set-up, this one was the most problematic (many heavily 'shaded' areas, along with a difficult-to-plate interior surface.  Your results illustrate one the important superiorities of commercial plating.

 

Thanks mate. It ended up quite good at the plating company. however it has a few mostly optical flaws. lucky it's invisible once assembled