My two swiss S30Z Fairlady Restoration build thread

[Patcon]

5 hours ago, RIP260Z said:

The texture is what's left after the serious corrosion on the trumpets was removed, not from my work. I could have changed the trumpets out, but the other carb has a cut-away on the trumpet particular to a car model, so not something I wanted to try to replicate, therfore let someone else change.

Sorry, I wasn't referring to the texture on the carbs you restored. I figured that was previous corrosion. I thought your carbs looked great. I was referring to Nils comment on texture after blasting. Vapor honing or wet blasting with glass beads should help provide a nice finish to his carbs

[SpeedRoo]

If you have access to an ice blaster, that's where I start with a rare set of carburettors. Very gentle on the original castings and doesn't remove any metal in the process.

For less valuable carbs using the ultrasonic cleaner is the easiest way to go. The trick is the right combination of chemicals to gently remove dirt/oil/corrosion. For the metal parts I strip them with EvapoRust before plating.

Here's some 50 year old Dellortos I did for my 240Z restomod. I did a special set of factory development Weber 50IDF carbs for one of my V8 Vantages 20 years ago using ice blasting. They still look pretty good.

 

[JDMjunkies.ch]

Thank you all for your comments regarding the suspension and the carb restoration. I have some good ideas now how to proceed. Vapor or dry-ice blasting seems to be a good solution. For the moment, they will remain in the box until i completed some other projects.

So a few days ago, I got this delivery of a Nissan Factory adjustable Competition / Sports option / NISMO suspension set, and I finally found the time to do the research.

First some Details, I got the two sets (front and rear) from two different sellers in JP, and it's a lucky coincidence that they actually fit / belong together.
The Part numbers are:
Front: 54303-E4622 & 54302-E4622 (Atsugi)
Rear: 55303-E4622 & 55302-E4622 (AMPCO)
On all four strut housings, each of the two platforms / adjustment rings are adjustable in height, and none is fixed, like they are on some other kits.
I assume that those sets were made by both Atsugi and AMPCO, that's why they have two different brands stamped on them, as most factory suspension for the Z was available from both suppliers at the same time.

The suspension set is listed in the January 1978 US sports option catalogue as "Gas variable type" and you can also see the Spring length of 171,5mm (front) and 205.5mm (rear).

The same set is also listed in both Marc and September 1978 Japanese sports option catalogues. It is also mentioned that those parts are approved for Group 3 / closed circuit racing and are harder than the factory suspension setup and allows you to lower the car.

The older race and rally preparation manual still lists the predecessor with the end numbers -E4621. Please note that the springs remained the same -E4621, even with the new -E4622 suspension.
As the older -E4621 is also listed in the March 1976 Competition parts catalogue, my guess is that this kit was introduced around in 1976 or 1977.

According to Alan Thomas, the term "gas filled" refers to a system where the "open design" dampers are oil-filled but gas-charged to help stop the oil from foaming during heavy race use.
Unfortunately, the previous owner opened the rear suspension and now that gas is gone.
See here for more details on the open / cartridge strut inserts comparison:  https://www.jdmjunkies.ch/wordpress/2017-01-19/240z-the-ultimate-guide-to-factory-suspension-and-options/.

According to Alan, there are companies that add a threaded hole to the upper strut section with a valve, so you can add gas again later. But he also mentioned, that the Gas is only really required for heavy race use and it will work without it. 

Alan was also kind enough to share this photo of the factory gas filling setup / tool. To be honest, i don't really know how it works but it looks nice 🙂

You may have noticed that the front struts came with these additional aluminum spacer disks.

According to the above competition manuals (Part no 12), those were used on two-seaters built after 1974 and all four-seater cars, but they were meant to be used on the Rear suspension of the car. It appears that people used them also in the front to gain additional ride height.

The competition manual mentions that they are made from aluminum (which mine are) and are 20mm thick. I quickly measured the thickness, and it appears I was lucky to get a free set of probably rare Nissan competition spacers included with my suspension.

 

Remember that mystery adjustable suspension I bought a while ago? I never figured out which car it belongs to. It seems it's not listed in any of the competition / NISMO / Sports option catalogues i found.
But now, i finally got to compare them, and it appears that it's definitely not for the 240Z / Fairlady Z. (Left = Mystery, right = 240Z)


The length of the strut housing, the length of the thread, the strange upper mounts, and most obviously the brake caliper / brake dust protection shield mounts are completely different. Also, the mystery set got an integrated switch to adjust some settings.
Lower = mystery, Upper = 240Z:


Since the mystery set is quite incomplete (it only came with one spring, some of the adjustment rings seem not to be original, etc). I think the best I can make out of it is to keep the original adjustment rings from the mystery set as spares for my original set. The smaller, lower adjustment rings have a strange size of 101mm. That shiny one, which seemed to be an aftermarket / homemade item, had a diameter of 100mm, while all original Nissan ones had 101mm.

So I'm very happy now to have a complete set, even though from two different manufacturers, but that doesn't really matter, as it's only a small stamp on the strut housing which is different. I will yet have to figure out how I can restore them back to factory, especially the strut inserts might be tricky to find a good solution, but it's definitely doable and definitely worth to bring back this set to former glory. A big hat-tip goes out to Alan for all the Inputs and the nice photos. Your knowledge is of huge value to me, a and I owe you at least a gin-tonic next time we sit at a bar again!

[JDMjunkies.ch]

Quick update on my previous suspension post:
The catalogue says the free length of the rear springs is originally 205,5mm. To figure out if they're originals, I measured the length of both rear springs (the fronts are still installed on the struts). Surprisingly, they have different lengths.
One is around the original 205 millimeters.
The other one however is more like 109 millimeters.
I'm now wondering if this is due to mechanical wear? Or if those probably aren't originals? I know for e.g. on my Honda adjustable suspension that it dropped by 1-2cm's in the first years after installation, even without heavy race use.  My guess is that you won't feel any huge difference once those springs are installed and compressed, unless an experienced racer uses it on track, so I'm not sure if I should give it a shot as it is, or if they need replacement? Luckily, I still have plenty of time to figure that one out.

[Patcon]

I was thinking original 240z springs were marked for front and back locations and I was thinking that they were also marked for the Left and Right side of the car too. If so it would make sense that they wouldn't match for different load conditions depending on which side of the car they're on

[JDMjunkies.ch]

1 hour ago, Patcon said:

I was thinking original 240z springs were marked for front and back locations and I was thinking that they were also marked for the Left and Right side of the car too. If so it would make sense that they wouldn't match for different load conditions depending on which side of the car they're on

I'm not sure if those special springs had any markings on it. Either way, the spring part number for Left and Right is the same (see catalogue pages above) and the fronts are much shorter (171,5mm), so it's in my opinion definitive a rear spring, which is shorter than factory specs, for whatever reason.
My guess is that they had set the adjustable suspension for a strong compression (low car position) for a long time, for whatever reason, which caused one to become more compressed. I checked the winding-counts and they're the same.
I don't know how these springs have been stored over the last years, but either that, or have race use caused that. But I might be wrong.

[JDMjunkies.ch]

In the recent days, I picked up various items again, which I bought recently for my project:

The elephant in the room is obviously the all original KM1520-ZC AM / FM Radio.

It's a bit rough around the edges. Just perfect for a restoration. In case you don't know. Restoring old audio systems, including Car HIFI, from that era was my profession for many years, so this one will be fun for me to get nostalgic. It's said to be in working condition and complete. Let's see.

Then i also got an original June 1972 Datsun Switzerland dealer price list. I had it scanned, and you can download it HERE among many other price-lists from that era.

One delivery also included an original NOS 240Z rear drum brake cylinder. I had several from the other side, but this side was somehow always missing. Now I have a complete pair:

I also aqcuired a bunch of Japanese "Car graphic" Magazines from the early 70ies, when the Z was new, and those issues include a few nice details of the Fairlady Z and Z432 development. On the right side, you also see a Nismo accessory catalogue and sticker from the 10th anniversary, which I will put next to my 10th anniversary steering wheel and shift knob:

And then i got something cool, which is a bunch of photos and two CD's full of Photos from a nice bloke. Some photos will be very cool, and I'll post the story about a certain barn full of S30's from Switzerland in the coming weeks on this blog.

If you read the story about Aerotechnik. A Swiss Datsun parts dealer that quickly became one of the countries biggest wholeseller for wheels and exhausts, you might remember this photo. Now i even haven an original of that Schaffhausen-plated (SH) red 300ZX.
Read more about that story here

I have some more cool deliveries pending, so stay tuned for some nice stories and parts here. and oh, i also had some progress on the Car itself, which i'm going to show you soon!

Today I was finally able to close another big gap in my documentation archive. The Nissan L-Drive and R-Drive Parts catalogues:

There are various versions of the Parts catalogues, the L-Drive (Publication No. C-0010L) is for the Left-Hand-drive cars and the R-Drive (Publication No. C-0010R) is for RHD cars.
Totally, I have no three versions. From what I understand, the dealerships once got the original Binder in the early years and then constantly got updated sheets to add or replace.
That's why you can see varying years and models on the back of the binder.
The Left one and center one are new, the R-Drive on the right is one I bought from the UK a while ago. I have seen other versions, which are probably even rarer, but for me, this will do.

So what is it exactly? Well, it's basically the early print versions of the parts catalogue, which were later also available as Microfiches, in smaller book form, or as digital version on Nissan FAST / E-FAST disks, etc. Today these are all available online. But in my opinion this is still the best readable version due to its size and quality of print, and the most detailed version of them all.

The cool thing is that I now have one of the versions with the original seat leather samples on it, which only was in specific versions of the manual, and is something quite cool, if you ask me.

So, again another year-long search for something very specific comes to an end, and I'm happy to close that task too. These books will again help me to clarify some details and to do my research on the various topics. Also, the pages are easier to scan to show on different topics here on the website, since the pages can be removed individually from the binder. So sooner or later, all you readers will benefit from this, too :-). Now on to search the even rarer stuff...

[JDMjunkies.ch]

I did not only buy plenty of stuff for the project recently, but also spent some time tinkering around on the actual project itself.
The first task was to install the S30.World fuel tank together with the recently acquired S30.world fuel tank installation kit. To prevent the shiny tank from scratches, I wrapped everything in plastic.

And after finding the right technique to hold up the tank while installing the mounting straps, i finally had it installed. Fitment is just like the original one, and it looks great together with the NISMO / Competition electric fuel pump and bracket:

Next on the list was to install the fuel filler neck protection plate in the RH rear fender arch. The fitment of this reproduction item was somehow not right, so I had to bend it a bit, first. 

After a bit of trial and error and drilling some holes, I'm quite happy with the results (As usual, the used bolts are temporary for mock-up only!):


Another test fitment was required for the front under panel / splash guard thing:


I have to admit it fits really well. The only problem i discovered is that on the replacement NOS frame rails on the RH side, the threads / holes to install the under panels are missing. Most probably because they came from a later 260Z or something.

Overall, I'm happy with the progress and my to-do list gets smaller with every day. Unfortunately, with every bit of work I carry out, I find one or two small problems that need to be corrected. So while my list gets smaller, the body shop list gets bigger. Nothing that can't be fixed, and I think I have a good plan for the next project.

Recently, i also bought a collection of original (mostly european) Datsun / Nissan Colour and fabric sample charts.
I scanned them all in High-resolution and you can download them all for free, here.
they include all random type of Datsun / Nissan cars from the 70ies and 80ies, but also the Z's and ZX's.