My two swiss S30Z Fairlady Restoration build thread

[JDMjunkies.ch]

Christmas comes one day early this year After a four-week long wait, a little Box from Japan finally arrived here with some Parts for my MK63 brakes:
1) Project u MK63 Solid disk type NS street brake pads:


2) NOS Nissan Sumitomo MK63 Brake pistons


I think i have everything ready now for assembling the Brakes over the holidays

[Patcon]

@JLPurcell

[JDMjunkies.ch]

Last post of the year. Nothing huge, but wanted to share the progress.
This week i visited the bodyshop to pick up some unused parts and had a look at t he latest work: The rear quarter panel is in, as is the inner arch. The outer arch has ben reshaped to fit the original bodylines. The repair panels have a different "softer" shape, compared to the original lines. but only visible if you know the details.



Currently he's reworking the think soft "edge" (where the black line is). Most of owners probably haven't even noticed there's an edge. but my bodyshop guy is a perfectionist. that's why it takes  a lot of time. anyhow. The body is getting a concours level restauration Also the tank filler  "pocket" has been removed to get a little rust treatment, and to have better access to the inside of the rear quarters.

 

And at home i've been puzzling together various parts laying around. Like this Differential strap mounts: 


Now freshly assembled with fresh zinc plated bolts and tubes and powdercoated base mounts. Perfect.

[JDMjunkies.ch]

Woohow! Another one of these little long-term projects finally completed.
I failed several attempts to paint the ignition-switch surrounding ring and the Turn signal switch stalk by myself. The paint would be so easy to scratch off (with fingernails) afterwards that it would immetiately look terrible once you touch it with anything hard.


So after i realized i suck at painting, i decided to hand it over to René, the paint wizard at Autolackprofis which i know from the Honda-scene back in the days and is one of the most recognized paintshops in (and outside) switzerland. He's also in charge of painting the car once it's ready (if he isn't retired by then :P) The result is stunning. We decided to go for an industrial grade paint which is stronger and more scratch resistant compared to normal car paint. Perfect


So first in installed the painted ignition switch surrounding ring back to the switch:


Then started to re-assemble the turn signal switch (See previous steps here)
First installed the wire back completely with the switch contacts and the plastic spacer:


Added dielectric grease to all the contacts to make sure they will operate smoothly and contact well for a long time:


At the bottom end in added the little contact back to the spring and added dielectric grease as well.


Added the switch plastic housing and the inside mechanism back to the stalk and measured. Unpressed: Infinite Ohms (no connection)


Switch pressed: Zero Ohms (Short). That's what the switch does. if you press it it will short the 12V applied to it to the chassis-ground. So it works perfectly (Always check before doing next steps, you will hate yourself for not doing so if you figure out once it's installed)


Install the stalk back to the switch assembly. Since i wasn't able to find a similar bolt used in the the original assembly, i just took a zinc plated nail in the same dimensions, cut it off and made it fit


After that it's time to get the wires back together. Don't forget to add the heat shrinking tube before you solder...


Soldered wires back together and heat shrinking tube is shrunk to the original shape:

And secured using the small little clamp:

Think it ended up really well. checked all the functions and everything works, feels solid and looks great...

and definitely much cleaner compared to the original dusty switch, which was completely covered in old dirty grease.  I'm super happy to have completed another little project that took my quite some time

[JDMjunkies.ch]

Nothing big today, just picked up a bunch of parts at the paint stripping company. The green colour is wash-primer to protect it from rust.
The grille parts. have to straighten a few things, waiting for two small vertical parts to be fabricated and then it will be ready to get assembled back together:

And a set of front lower valances, the gas door and two front tow hooks:

[JDMjunkies.ch]

I'll write a huge Post about the MK63 brakes soon (just waiting for some details), but one thing i can tell already is that they're usually installed without the backing plate.  The brakes fit perfectly with the OEM Brakes (see below):

But don't fit with the bigger MK63 brakes anymore, due to their bigger size. (see below)

Also one of my backing plate was a bit denty....

So i decided to bring 'em to the bodyshop and have them modified to fit and straightened:

Also made sure he puts back the "lip" that was there originally. He told me the lip is there in case of someone gets into the disk so it's a bit of a protection and safety thing...

This is the result. Honestly i was hoping for a bit tighter fitment, but since you won't see it once the disk is installed it doesn't matter anyway. just my OCD calling here
Next i will have it sandblasted and powdercoated.
  

[HS30-H]

16 hours ago, JDMjunkies.ch said:

I'll write a huge Post about the MK63 brakes soon (just waiting for some details), but one thing i can tell already is that they're usually installed without the backing plate.   

Only by lazy or oblivious owners.

The factory documentation for the MK63-20S advises on how to trim and re-shape the backing plates to suit.

[JDMjunkies.ch]

One common rusty area of most S30 Z's are the floors. The only supplier of floor pans i know is from zeddfindings  (http://www.datsunzparts.com/ ). The Problem is. they look good at first sight, but upon closer inspection they don't fit really well.
The main Problem beeing the longitudial Bump in the the middle which should be above the frame-rail isn't aligned proper. So basicall you have to cut it up and re-do most of the work. That's what the bodyshop told me when i brought them my floorpans for repair. And 240Z restorers told me the same. so it wasn't just my part which was bad.

So a while ago i looked for another solution and came a cross datsun Club Hungary. They restore a few cars a year and make their own floorpans. while not officially for sale in a shop or so, they offered me one set when i asked them. Not cheap, but worth the Money. and they appear to be mostly hand-made too. The reason i trusted them to make good Quality stuff is mainly because they make their floorpans for their own concours-Level restaurations useage and not just for selling them to People with no clue...

Here's a Little comparison. First difference you will immediately note is the size difference. with the Hungarian floorpans there is some spare metal to Play with.

Another big difference is the "dent" on the Driver side seatrail which is there originally in early z-cars, but non-existant in the american floorpans from Zeddfindings.

last but most important: The longitudial "dent" is perfectly aligned with the Frame rail and no additional cutting-up and welding needed aside from the usual fitment work...
I really hope with the increasing Prices of the Z that manufacturers start to build Quality sheet metal stuff. the parts available currently are sadly of terrible fitment and Quality...

[wheee!]

Same with the 280Z floors...

 

[Patcon]

I agree, many of these panels from these vendors could be better! On the other hand I am glad they exist at all! They were developed for a niche market when these cars were still relatively cheap. There was not a lot of money to be made and many of these panels were developed because an individual saw a need and filled it for himself then offered it to the Z community. I imagine a great many cars have been saved from the crusher because these parts exist, even if they need some massaging to fit well. I would say that's a good thing overall.

[wheee!]

I agree, the panels are better than not having any at all and I was able to make them work regardless. Very grateful for people like Charlie Osbourne and Zeddfindings. The floor pans helped build my confidence in fabbing some of my own patch panels later on.

[JDMjunkies.ch]

4 hours ago, Patcon said:

I agree, many of these panels from these vendors could be better! On the other hand I am glad they exist at all! They were developed for a niche market when these cars were still relatively cheap. There was not a lot of money to be made and many of these panels were developed because an individual saw a need and filled it for himself then offered it to the Z community. I imagine a great many cars have been saved from the crusher because these parts exist, even if they need some massaging to fit well. I would say that's a good thing overall.

 

1 hour ago, wheee! said:

I agree, the panels are better than not having any at all and I was able to make them work regardless. Very grateful for people like Charlie Osbourne and Zeddfindings. The floor pans helped build my confidence in fabbing some of my own patch panels later on.

Absolutely. Same with tabco. Don't want to offend anybody and i'm happy These parts exist too. The other parts helped me a lot with the build, even if they needed to be modified a bit it still better than making them from scratch if you cannot do it by yourself.