Restoration of BringaTrailer 240z - HLS30-35883

[inline6]

Got some tires mounted on the new wheels today!  YAY!  I have had such a hard time finding a place that can mount and balance wheels without f*$@&^$ing up the wheels!  I did not want to take a chance on the brand new Panasports.  

This place (in Marietta, GA) has the right equipment: https://www.weaverbrakeandtire.com/  

The technician who did the work, Shawn, was nice and very careful.  I forgot that the wheels came with stems, and went with one they offered.  Even after mounting one tire, (when I found the stems taped to the bottom of the box in which two wheels were packed), he broke the bead and replaced that stem with the Panasport supplied one.  

The tires I went with are CONTI-PROCONTACT - SIZE: P195/55R16 (rim width range 5.5-7").  I chose this size as it is the closest to stock diameter as I could possibly get with a 16" diameter wheel.  Additionally, it was of critical importance to me not to modify the stock sheet metal in any way.  I have read various posts from others about tire sizes.  Sometimes people would say that the tires would rub on the stock lips and sometimes not.  I decided to go as conservatively as possible on tire width because of those posts.  The tire here is maxed out on a 7" width rim, and I am ok with the final look.  The tread width is approximately 6.5" wide.  It is what it is.  I wanted to err on the side of not rubbing, as the car will utilize ST (Suspension Techniques) springs which will lower it a tad.  

A few pics from different angles which show the profile:

  

  

 

I didn't quite get as much video as I wanted here, but it was hilarious to watch Shawn mount the tires.  He had to use a special "tool" to get the bead to seat:

 

 

The tool is a "Bead Bazooka".  It's use was necessary to get my P195/55R16 (rim width range 5.5-7 inches) to inflate properly on the 7 inch wide rims.  This tool shoots a quick blast of air at the tire/bead area which assists with pressurizing the tire enough to get it to seat fully on the rim.

I'm a long way from mounting the tires on the finished car to check the final look.  I am curious how much clearance I will have between the outside face of the tire and the lip around the circumference of the rear wheel well.  

My suspension plans include Koni inserts inside unmodified struts with Suspension Techniques (ST) springs and ST front and rear anti-roll bars (a set up recommended by the late John Coffey).   Everything will be reversible.  That is, if I, or someone after me wants to return this car to pristine stock condition, it is something that will be possible with 1 afternoon of work.  😎

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited December 17, 2020 by inline6

[inline6]

I am getting closer to sending all of my hardware to be re-plated.  I am going to try to do it all in one shipment, so I needed to disassemble some parts which up to this point, have not been.  The rear struts and arms were the focus today.  The pictures I took reveal some interesting details.  For example, the condition of this rubber washer suggests that the spindle pins have not been out since assembly at the factory.  

 

Yet the pins actually look good enough to make me think they were replaced:

 

The rear brake shoes look like replacements.  I believe they were installed by the prior owner of the car as part of the work he did to "restore" the car.  I note the word "MINTEX" printed on the edge of the brake material.  I think these are aftermarket, but will do some searching on the internet to try to determine.  Also of interest is the pink (I think) paint mark on the factory rear springs.  As a relatively rust free car, it is reasonable to assume these are original factory markings.

  

 

Additionally, the right strut shows evidence of a rectangular label that was adhered to the outside surface of the tube.  This could be an indication that the black paint visible is actually the factory applied black enamel.

  

 

Rear brake cylinders are Tokico units and appear to have been new replacements installed by a prior owner.  The previous owner acquired the car in February of 1989 according the Bring a Trailer listing.  However, the stamp on the shoes (June of 1982) seems to indicate the brake work was done prior to his ownership.

  

 

Black overspray on the cylinder and the handbrake lever indicate an attempt to respray some black on the right rear strut backing plate.

 

However, the bolts that secure the plate to the strut do not have black on them.  This seems to suggest the black paint on the backing plated is at least in part, original.  Removing the axles, it was plain to see that the rear bearings were original.

  

  

 

The brake hoses also have the appearance of being replaced at the time the cylinders were installed as evidenced by the part number (46202-H7025) - the correct replacement part number for the prior part number (46202-N4500).

  

 

New replacement KYB strut inserts had also been inserted by a previous owner.  Also, the black paint on the upper spring perch was protected by the upper strut mount.  Interesting to see the lack of gloss here.  I will clean the parts and examine them more closely.

  

 

Also, the axle flanges have very little wear where the seal rides.  Interesting for a car that had ~ 130k miles - 5 times the distance around the world.  Also, it is interesting to notes remnants of original black paint on these:

  

 

Anyway, though interesting, I now have more of the hardware in hand to send to be re-plated.

Edited December 30, 2020 by inline6

[inline6]

I am still working to round up the fasteners and send them off to be plated.  I find myself bead blasting some of them like these.  I wish I knew if it was necessary... From a comment by @motorman7 in "the Orange" rebuild thread, I think the plater he uses (and I plan to use) might prep the fasteners, and so my bead blasting may not be necessary.  I just don't want to take the chance that they aren't prepped properly?

Another nice thing about working with a car that spent its entire life in the southwest/in storage, the fasteners, even ones is "wet" locations like the front valence, are nearly corrosion free:

 

After bead blasting, they look really nice:

Clips:

 

After bead blasting:

 

Here is a little tip to pass along:  I have found that it is possible to "fix" phillips head fasteners that have had slight displacement of the metal by the screwdriver.  Oftentimes the fasteners are slightly rusted and hard to break loose.  And the screwdriver slips causing miner cosmetic damage, like on this one:

 

 

I have found that placing the screw on solid metal surface (like a vice) and tapping on the phillips area with a hammer an restore or nearly restore the factor fresh appearance.  It only takes a couple of seconds and will make the re-plated part look a lot nicer.

 

 

This bolt came from the front anti-roll bar brackets to the frame of the car.  Note that the yellow paint used by assembly like workers on this car was a gloss yellow.

 

I think I'd like to replicate the yellow on the fasteners underneath the car during final assembly.  We'll see.

[Zup]

Your pre-plating prep will be rewarded handsomely irregardless of what the plater might do. Your prep work is outstanding.

Nice tip on the screw heads.

Did you ever find another one of the early style clamp you were looking for?? (LMK)

I want to express a word of caution about your choice of a plater. I used Sav-On Plating and overall I was not very happy with the results.Your mileage may vary, --- just saying---no slam on Rich or his beautiful results on Bob Russell's blue 73 that he did before the Orange.

Your restoration is way beyond nice. Not a time for "screw-ups" and disappointment now. I would look for a plater closer to home so that I could oversee the results more easily and communicate my expectations directly. Shipping and "batch" minimum charges get to be expensive when done "cross country".  I know now.

I have thought of contacting Jeff Palya at http://paltech1.com/  and inquiring if he would agree to having his plater do future work for me. I've had him do flat top and round top carbs for me in the past and the plate-work was awesome. Might be a path for you to explore.

 

[inline6]

On 12/31/2020 at 11:16 AM, Zup said:

Did you ever find another one of the early style clamp you were looking for?? (LMK)

 

I found another, yes.  I have about 20 lbs of Datsun hardware leftover mainly from 510's I went through years ago.  I found the correct hose clamp amongst that hardware.  

Heard on plating.  I guess it is worth spending my time on prep work.  I think I will try utilizing my parts vibratory tumbler on some of the parts that I have already blasted with glass beads.  The beads I am using are not very aggressive, but get to areas of the fastener that wire brushes have difficulty reaching.  I am hoping that the type of media (or mixture) in the tumbler can be "adjusted" to give a "shiny" finish to the fasteners.  Then the prep work should mostly be done, and hopefully, I can get great results.  

I loved the plating done by Jeff Palya at Paltech.  When I had my carbs done by him, he agreed to let me send a few parts just for plating by his plater.  I'd like to find a plater to work with directly that I know is good.  I did try looking online for platers near by to me, but all I have to go by as to whether they are good or not is online reviews.  

I posted these pics once before, but these were the extra parts I had plated by Jeff:

  

Edited January 1, 2021 by inline6

[inline6]

Further disassembly of the suspension components was undertaken yesterday.  With the front crossmember bare, I turned by attention to addressing the dents in the bottom that had occurred over the cars time on the road.  A few pics after grinding surface gunk off:

    

Where possible, I use different sizes of sturdy C clamps and some 1/4" thick steel plate pieces to straighten dents such as these.  Putting the plates (small rectangular ones) on the inside and outside of the metal to be straightened and then clamping very tightly with the clamps pulls the metal back where it was originally.  I also used the stud welder and puller tool on a few small spots.  Finished with a light sanding by the DA sander and 80 grit.  

    

 

    

 

The scratches and slight imperfections/low spots are easily resolved with just a touch of body filler.  Straightening was only about and our and a half of work.  The final result after sand blasting priming and painting should be really nice.

 

Edited January 1, 2021 by inline6

[inline6]

I am still rounding up hardware to prep and have re-plated.  That quest led me to the starter.  I forgot to take pictures of the state it was in, but basically, the plating on the starter and solenoid looked like it was mostly gone, surface rust, light corrosion, etc.  It was functional, as it started the car before I removed it.  

I can find remanufactured starters for around $50 delivered.  However, it is a bit of a guessing game as to whether the starter will come with the same parts plated as the factory did.  And remanufactured starters are not all remanufactured the same way - some are lower quality, some are higher.

After doing some searching, I determined that bushings are available for the front and rear of the commutator.  I took some measurements of my starter components and compared them with the factory specs in the workshop manual.  Still trying to determine which way to go (rebuild mine, or go with a remanufactured unit), my decision came down to the fact that I could not figure out how to get the solenoid case off (to re-
plate it).  I was about to go with remanufactured when I dimly recalled having purchased an OEM solenoid many years before (like more than 30) for my 510 that I never used.  

So, after finding this in one of my 510 parts boxes:

    

I decided to rebuild my starter. Pics of tear down:

    

  

After tear down, I put most of the parts in an ultrasonic cleaner:

 

 

The brush holder came out nice:

    

 

I glass bead blasted some of the parts (front cover, hardware, rear aluminum housing, steel housing)

      

Some slight corrosion on the steel casing where the rubber grommet goes.  Front cover before glass bead blasting:

      

 

Starter drive (gear and clutch) looks pretty good overall and functions properly.  Armature seems ok (measures within spec and shaft ends are within spec)

    

Further glass beading of the front cover gave a more uniform finish.  In the last picture, in addition to the glass beading, I took a piece of very fine steel wool to put a bit more shine on the surface.

    

 

Next, I will have to order the bushings, and do the work to replace the old ones and size them to fit properly.

 

Edited January 9, 2021 by inline6

[inline6]

Today, I experimented with my vibrating tumbler.  I chose from parts I had already bead blasted and grabbed one of a few parts.  I ran them in the tumbler for about two hours.  I will post a few pics of my set up and media later.  I did some searching on Youtube before deciding how to proceed.  Following are some pics.  I am not going to resize them like a typically do so the difference is easier to see. 

Glass bead blasted part is on the right (glass bead blasted and tumbled on the left):

Glass bead blasted part is on the right (glass bead blasted and tumbled on the left):

Glass bead blasted part is on the bottom (glass bead blasted and tumbled on the top):

Glass bead blasted part is on the bottom (glass bead blasted and tumbled on the top):

Glass bead blasted part which has been tumbled is on the right in each pair:

For the large bolts in bottom of pic, blasted and tumbled one the top one.

[inline6]

On 12/31/2020 at 11:16 AM, Zup said:

Your pre-plating prep will be rewarded handsomely irregardless of what the plater might do. Your prep work is outstanding.

---

I want to express a word of caution about your choice of a plater. I used Sav-On Plating and overall I was not very happy with the results.Your mileage may vary, --- just saying---no slam on Rich or his beautiful results on Bob Russell's blue 73 that he did before the Orange.

...

I have thought of contacting Jeff Palya at http://paltech1.com/  and inquiring if he would agree to having his plater do future work for me. I've had him do flat top and round top carbs for me in the past and the plate-work was awesome. Might be a path for you to explore.

 

As I get further along in the process of prepping parts for plating, I feel my anxiety level rising with regard to getting the results that I hope for.  At the moment, I don't know what level of shine needs to be on the parts to get the results I am looking for.  I am having a hard time finding relevant videos on Youtube that provide guidance in that regard.  Surface finish has an effect for sure.  But, what surface finish should I be shooting for?  I don't know.  Also, I had some level of comfort relying on knowing a plater that returned good results .vs using a plater for which I have not seen pictures of their results.  Granted, I understand now that my level of comfort may be misplaced given your experience.

I think the parts, as they come from the vibrating tumbler after 2 hours in stainless steel media, are not shiny enough.  For some parts, like hard brake line brackets, for example, I have experimented with polishing them by hand briefly with super fine steel wool.  Also, some parts will not fit in the tumbler.  For those, I have bead blasted and used the same super fine steel wool (aggressively).  But that is a lot of work.  Also, I have purchased some corn cobb media and plan to experiment with that, instead of the stainless media, plus some amount of "Semi-Chrome" metal polish added to see what that does as another treatment.  I will post some pics a bit later.  

[jfa.series1]

1 hour ago, inline6 said:

As I get further along in the process of prepping parts for plating, I feel my anxiety level rising with regard to getting the results that I hope for.  At the moment, I don't know what level of shine needs to be on the parts to get the results I am looking for.  I am having a hard time finding relevant videos on Youtube that provide guidance in that regard.  Surface finish has an effect for sure.  But, what surface finish should I be shooting for?  I don't know.  Also, I had some level of comfort relying on knowing a plater that returned good results .vs using a plater for which I have not seen pictures of their results.  Granted, I understand now that my level of comfort may be misplaced given your experience.

I think the parts, as they come from the vibrating tumbler after 2 hours in stainless steel media, are not shiny enough.  For some parts, like hard brake line brackets, for example, I have experimented with polishing them by hand briefly with super fine steel wool.  Also, some parts will not fit in the tumbler.  For those, I have bead blasted and used the same super fine steel wool (aggressively).  But that is a lot of work.  Also, I have purchased some corn cobb media and plan to experiment with that, instead of the stainless media, plus some amount of "Semi-Chrome" metal polish added to see what that does as another treatment.  I will post some pics a bit later.  

I've done a certain amount of parts refurb over the years, both on my ride as well as the parts I handle for my hobby business and I have yet to find a shortcut to good prep. Ultimately it comes down to the wire wheel on the bench grinder or on the high speed drill motor or a small wheel on a Dremel. For parts I really want to "pop", a bit of wet sanding after the wire wheel works out very well. Its critical to get all of the old plating, rust, oxidation scale, paint, ...etc. off the part before any new plating is laid down. If this is not done, the new plating will quickly drop off. This prep work also applies to all of your fasteners - bolts, nuts, washers, screws.

[grannyknot]

6 hours ago, inline6 said:

But, what surface finish should I be shooting for?

 What @jfa.series1, says,

 

5 hours ago, jfa.series1 said:

Ultimately it comes down to the wire wheel on the bench grinder or on the high speed drill motor or a small wheel on a Dremel.

I use a coarse wire wheel to remove everything down to clean metal, by that time the piece looks pretty good and for bolts that's as far as I go.  For showy pieces after the coarse wheel I switch to a fine wire wheel and everything comes up gleaming.  It all comes back looking like treasure.

 

 

[inline6]

On 2/7/2021 at 12:47 PM, jfa.series1 said:

I've done a certain amount of parts refurb over the years, both on my ride as well as the parts I handle for my hobby business and I have yet to find a shortcut to good prep. Ultimately it comes down to the wire wheel on the bench grinder or on the high speed drill motor or a small wheel on a Dremel. For parts I really want to "pop", a bit of wet sanding after the wire wheel works out very well. Its critical to get all of the old plating, rust, oxidation scale, paint, ...etc. off the part before any new plating is laid down. If this is not done, the new plating will quickly drop off. This prep work also applies to all of your fasteners - bolts, nuts, washers, screws.

Oh, interesting.  I didn't realize all the old plating has to come off.  Good to know.  I have a few new parts that have clear zinc on them which I will be sending off to be get plated again and finished with yellow chromate.

On 2/7/2021 at 6:29 PM, grannyknot said:

 What @jfa.series1, says,

I use a coarse wire wheel to remove everything down to clean metal, by that time the piece looks pretty good and for bolts that's as far as I go.  For showy pieces after the coarse wheel I switch to a fine wire wheel and everything comes up gleaming.  It all comes back looking like treasure.

I see.

Well, I have a couple of questions then.  How do these look?  

 

Additionally, when using the dremel with stainless wire brush I am getting some of this (uneven polishing):

  

I assume that is not desirable?

These horns - they need more work?

 

With regard to this relay cover, it had some imperfections (dents) which I straightened.  I ended up hitting it with 1000 grit sand paper (wet) for a bit to try to help it.  It is notably more shiny than other pieces in this cardboard box which I have hand finished.  Should I be shooting for that level of shine for the larger pieces if my desire is to come close to replicating the factory finish? 

 

 

 

Edited February 9, 2021 by inline6