Deja Vu: 1971 Restoration

[240Ziggy]

[quote post
Things like this are always interesting to me.  A little more Z CSI.  The single panhead phillips screw (wrong type) and the two hex phillips screws(correct type) to support the windshield wiper pivot.  Makes me wonder why the wiper system was removed at some point.


I also have exact same as yours, mine was built 12/71. I cleaned the cowl and noticed the mismatched screws only on the driver side. I'm positive the wipers has never been removed since new.


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[motorman7]

 

 

1 hour ago, 240Ziggy said:

I also have exact same as yours, mine was built 12/71. I cleaned the cowl and noticed the mismatched screws only on the driver side. I'm positive the wipers has never been removed since new.
 

Wow, that is interesting as this was the drivers side also.  Maybe that is the correct screw configuration then.  I honestly don't know.  It just seems odd to me from a manufacturing stand point.

[grannyknot]

4 minutes ago, motorman7 said:

 

 

Wow, that is interesting as this was the drivers side also.  Maybe that is the correct screw configuration then.  I honestly don't know.  It just seems odd to me from a manufacturing stand point.

I have dismantled 3 early Z's now and each one had the same configuration of screws, one round head Philips and two hex head Philips holding the wiper arms. It's a thing, factory for sure. It has been mentioned a few times but I don't know if anyone has come up with a reason for it, yup CSI

[Patcon]

Maybe it's a clearance issue for the cowl? The screw being a lower profile than the bolt...

[motorman7]

On 2/13/2017 at 4:15 PM, Patcon said:

Maybe it's a clearance issue for the cowl? The screw being a lower profile than the bolt...

Yes, that is probably the reason.  Very interesting stuff.

Continued with the body work.  Finished out the lower front passenger fender (before and after shown).  Started the whole overall sand of the car starting with the rear passenger side quarter panel.  Also cleaning up small dings and paint chips along the way.  

I took a pick of the rear passenger side window area with window removed.  You can see the color difference of the original paint and the second paint.   I am wondering if the second coat darkened over time or if it was different from the start.  Hard to say.

It was a little dirty under the fender.  I will clean that off and coat with POR-15. 

[Carl Beck]

Great Progress... looking good! That Z is so clean compared to 90% of them...
Carl B.

[motorman7]

Thanks Carl, I am really enjoying the work and everything is progressing very well.

        I cleaned up the inside passenger fender area  and sprayed with rust preventative since it was off.  Also installed new foam seal
and cleaned up the fender rubber gasket. That entire area is in very nice condition.  I also sprayed the inside of the fender to inhibit rust, and then reinstalled.

     I am continuing on the overall body sand and cleaning up the small chips and dings.  That is actually going kind of slow as the second paint job has a fairly thick clear coat. I would like to sand most of that off, and at least get down to the orange base coat. Not very exciting stuff, but necessary.  Here are a few pics of the area under the fender.

 

[motorman7]

Worked on the drivers side fender this weekend.   Removed fender and cleaned up the inside.  Wire wheeled and sanded rust areas near bottom of fender and upper attach points.  Cleaned up the upper air box area and then sprayed the area along with the fender.  Also installed new foam seals and then re-installed the fender.  The whole area came out very nice.  

      Spent some more time detail sanding the engine bay in the nooks and crannies.  I think I am finished with the sanding on the passenger side.  I also sanded the roof and part of the rear hatch.  I still have some more engine bay sanding to do and then the drivers side along with the hood, cowl and headlight buckets.  So, I am pretty far along here.   I am hoping to have this ready for the paint shop in two to three weeks.  

Also found another yellow car part, the drivers side turn signal valence. 

Here are some pics of the progress

[motorman7]

         Still working on the body.  I cleaned up the lower driver side fender (looks like I still need to smooth that forward edge a bit).  I also finished the sanding on the passenger fender outside area.  While sanding the underside of the front valence area, I ran across that one broken bolt that I almost forgot about, so now was a good time to fix that.  So I drilled and re-tapped the hole.  I tried using an easy out after drilling the hole, but the stud would not budge.  When I used the correct drill size for the tap, the stud was pretty close to coming out so I was able to pry out sections of the stud that had come loose.  I then just ran the tap through and everything cleaned up pretty well.

         I put the hood back on the car to do the sanding on that part.  The top was pretty straight forward with just a minor ding in the front corner, but the underside was a bit messy.  Will finish the rest of that next weekend.   Also, as mentioned earlier, I got the front valence sanded along with the radiator frame area and the passenger side valence.  Also started sanding the upper side of the driver side door and rear quarter panel.

         I will have the car painted by the shop that does all of the painting for Les Canaday at Classic Datsun Motorsports.  They really do excellent work and know the Z's real well.  Should have this ready to deliver to the paint shop before the end of the month.  

 

 

[Carl Beck]

Great Progress - great work on an amazing 240Z..

Carl B.

[motorman7]

Found a nice little surprise in one of the two rear tool boxes.  Those look like brand new shoulder harnesses.  Very nice and in perfect condition.   I am looking forward to installing them when the time comes.

I removed the front windshield and rear hatch glass.  The front windshield rubber was a challenge.  It had some weird black sealant on it that did not dry but remained wet.  It was like some gummy tar like substance that would not dissolve with lacquer thinner (my 'go to' solvent).  Fortunately the 'Ultra Clean' surface cleaner that I use before painting was able to dissolve it, finally.  I think I went through twenty pieces of paper towel trying to clean it off the paint, my hands, tools, etc before I got the correct solvent.  

I also took the seats, firewall insulation and center console out and will just leave the vinyl in.  I will make sure to have the vinyl covered during the painting process as it is in great condition. 

I removed the rear hatch in order to access the upper hatch area where the weather stripping goes.   I had to clean off all of the old weather stripping glue.   The best way to clean that off is with the wire wheel on the end of my drill.  After that I sanded the area to remove the wire wheel scratches.  

I pretty much have all of the dings and dents fixed on the body and will do just a bit more detail sanding in the engine area.  Also a few loose items to sand (Head light buckets, windshield wiper cowl, fuel door and access covers) and then I will be ready to send the car to the paint shop.   Very exciting as we are getting close to being ready to deliver this to the paint shop.

[Carl Beck]

Looking GREAT - that Z deserves a very high end Paint Job.. Can't wait to see it..

Carl B.