Restoration of BringaTrailer 240z - HLS30-35883

[CanTechZ]

Very good work, I will be using this as a reference when I get there on my resto. You're lucky that the clips were in good shape, most of mine are not salvageable. Hopefully I can find some.

Here is my before, hopefully my after will look at least half as good as yours.

Edited May 9, 2022 by CanTechZ

[inline6]

2 hours ago, CanTechZ said:

Very good work, I will be using this as a reference when I get there on my resto. You're lucky that the clips were in good shape, most of mine are not salvageable. Hopefully I can find some.

Here is my before, hopefully my after will look at least half as good as yours.

Yes, it is some of the benefit from my car being from AZ originally and kept in a garage in CO for 28 years after that which allowed my clips to survive.   Some clips are available in the aftermarket - just fyi as options:

Ebay auction 6 for $32.95 and free shipping
Vintage Rubber $35 for 12 of them if the page will load for you (it was not fully for me)
Datsun Garage (or sub-vendor) $6 something each

[CanTechZ]

40 minutes ago, inline6 said:

Yes, it is some of the benefit from my car being from AZ originally and kept in a garage in CO for 28 years after that which allowed my clips to survive.   Some clips are available in the aftermarket - just fyi as options:

Ebay auction 6 for $32.95 and free shipping
Vintage Rubber $35 for 12 of them if the page will load for you (it was not fully for me)
Datsun Garage (or sub-vendor) $6 something each

Thanks, I've been planning to place an order with vintage rubber but I didn't notice they offered those clips. 

[inline6]

Bodywork is once again under way.  In this video, I am checking for unwanted undulations in the surface of the outer panel of the door. With a large panel like this, it can be difficult to get it perfectly flat.  I am finding that a suitably coarse grit of sandpaper has to be used (I am using 240 grit) and movement of the sanding block as the area is sanded must cross over from high point to high point "bridging" them.  Sanding high points down, and filling low points (with more primer in my case) is how I will resolve the undesired distortion that can be seen in the lower half of this door panel.

 

[inline6]

And now the hood, which is very close to being done.
 

 

 

 

[inline6]

I sanded for about 8 hours today.  Most of the left side of the car is straight.  The right side is not quite to the same quality just yet.  I hope that 3 more coats of high build primer in the low spots will be enough to bring the surface up to where it needs to be.  I feel like I am closing in on finishing the bodywork - which means I might only have another 50 hours to go! 🤣  
 

 

[inline6]

The rest of my parts have been plated - yay!

    

    

    

    

 

The parts which are yellow are likely to be much more shiny than the finish from the factory. I think they came out quite nice though. 

Not sure why, but a couple of the hard lines got bent pretty significantly.  I think I'll be able to straighten them out, but will likely have to wait until they are ready to go back on the car so I can see how they need to be bent to fix them.

 

[inline6]

I talked with a painter about a week ago.  His shop is only a few minutes drive from me, surprisingly.  Went by the body shop he owns, and I talked with him for about 10 min.  I told him that I was doing a "rotisserie restoration" and I had stripped the car to bare metal and was getting close to completing the bodywork.  Before I could get another word out, he mentioned bare metal body restorations start at $48k.   I said, right, but I will have done all the body work and I am just looking for someone to spray it.  I mentioned I was using Glasurit products and that I wanted the paint and clear to be Glasurit also.  He said I was looking at $4-6k if I provided the paint/materials.  Well, I said I had budget $3-4k, but that I honestly thought that with me providing materials, that was too high.  Then we talked a bit about "my bodywork".  I let him know that I get it... someone comes in and claims they have done the body work and just want him to spray it - that person may not be capable in the slightest of doing bodywork.  It could be all wrong.  Wrong in hundreds of ways.  And these could show up after it is painted.  And then he is worried that I will blame him.  I mentioned that I have experience with bodywork, but understood the position I was putting him in.  After the 10 minutes, I mentioned I wanted to be respectful of his time.  He offered me his cell phone number and said he would need to see the car.  So, that was a positive outcome, if we had a shaky start.   

We arranged a time a couple of days later.  He showed up on time and I took him to my shop at the back of my property.  While looking the car over, he provided a few comments.  He pointed out a couple of areas where the body line down the side of the car was not as sharp as in other places.  He said that I had done a really good job, and saw the Glasurit containers and mentioned his approval.

I figured now that he had seen the car... oh, and I further explained to him that the only part that was to be sprayed separate from the car was the hatch panel - fenders weren't to come off, doors weren't to come off, etc.  And, no color sanding... and no buffing... just spray it with base coat, spray it with clear coat, and I can take it from there... I figured, surely, the price would come down?  Eh - no.  It seems that $4-6k was the minimum.  But... he did say he knew someone that he could refer me to who would be cheaper.  So there is that.  

In the end, I may be able to get that referral and I may not, but I appreciated his time - thanked him many times for stopping by and having a look.

So, I continue to work on a few panels to flatten them out to perfection.  I've lost count of the number of primer coats I have applied.  It seems I still have a lot to learn about sanding a panel.  I think (no really this time) I am close to finishing up the bodywork - a couple of months of weekends more is my guess.  And as that milestone approaches, I find myself thinking of a few other areas of the car that need attention, like chrome parts.

I took a look at my nos rear bumper pieces today.  It is a real bummer to see very slight signs of corrosion on them.  Looking at the stickers on the boxes, it appears at least one of these pieces dates back to 07.

    

Note the white spots which I think are tiny holes in the chrome leading to the base metal:

    

Also, the bumpers have imperfections like these two high "waves" in the white part of the light shining in the reflection (first pic); center pic shows similar corrosion on the center bar; new bumper bar vs. old bumper bar (third pic):

    

 

The original bumper was damaged in a light rear end collision.  I have straightened it a bit, but I think it needs a bit more work.  At this point, given the corrosion showing up on the new one, I think it best to send all the parts of both rear bumpers to be re-plated (along with the front bumper).  I think I will have them address minor issues with the new old stock one as well as work on further salvage efforts for the original one.

Edited July 9, 2022 by inline6

[inline6]

In addition to working on the doors and front fenders, making progress towards addressing the minor imperfections again today, I had some downtime waiting for 3M platinum finishing glaze (fine filler) to dry.  So, I decided to pull the cover off of the engine - Ah ha!  That (center pic, first row of pics, holding the manifold to the engine) is where my two intake bolts that were missing went!  Unfortunately, they didn't make the trip to the plater.  I am thinking there will have to be one more shipment to them for a few parts that I accidently left out.

Assembly of the intake manifold.  For those that do not know, studs can be installed using two nuts on the end of the stud tightened up against each other.  Locked together, they won't spin and the outer one can be acted on with a wrench to wind the stud into position:

    

 

Four studs in each intake manifold, gaskets and the heat insulator blocks installed.  I rarely see people remove the coolant tube from the manifolds during restorations.  It was a pain.  I destroyed the old tube, and mangled the original fittings.  But, the tube is basic, and a replacement is easily sourced.  The outer diameter is 10 mm.  The fittings at each end are very odd.  I remember spending a lot of time searching the internet, trying to get info on them.  Eventually, I figured it out. They are "Male Inverted Flair - Tube Nut - M16 Threads x 10mm Tube"  The factory ones have a 19 mm size on the hex, but I couldn't find ones like that.  The replacements are 16 mm hex.  Additionally, what makes a water tight seal at each end of the pipe is an o-ring.  Originals were hard as rocks, and crumbled.  I was able to source some Viton O-rings that I am confident will work (see third pic in the row of pics below). 

    

There is an angled (chamfered) shelf that the o-ring seats against.  The nut compresses against the o-ring.  The chamfer forces the o-ring to push against the outer diameter of the shaft to create the water tight seal.  First pic is 5.9X magnification of the o-ring in place.  Second and third pics show the intake assembly.  Unfortunately, the rubber fuel tubes got kinked a bit during storage.  Will have to see if that resolves itself now that they are installed.

    

 

I sanded the 3M glaze and applied 3 more coats of high build primer which I will sand tomorrow.  Fingers crossed that I can finish the doors and fenders tomorrow.

Edited July 10, 2022 by inline6

[inline6]

A bunch of pics today.  As always, click for a larger version if you like.  

I like the original style intake/exhaust manifold gaskets like this one.  Notice that I have alignment dowels for the intake manifolds.  These positively locate its position relative to the ports and facilitate installation.  I believe I mentioned before that mild porting would be done to work with the mild cam (not stock, but stock duration).  Studs for manifolds shown: there are 7 of one type, 3 of another, and one odd one.  

    

 

I believe they go in locations as follows:  3 for the three holes closest to the 3 and 4 exhaust ports - these secure only the exhaust manifold; 6 (of the 7) for the studs that will hold the thick washers which bridge front intake to exhaust manifold; and then I put the 7th one on the back most hold which is where the rear engine hook (for hoist) goes, and the odd one, I put in the very front where the exhaust manifold secures under the thermostat housing.  

    

 

Instead of the stock exhaust manifold, I am using a Zstory stainless steel header:

    

 

    

 

Bolting new and reconditioned parts on is ridiculously easy compared to bodywork.  It is going to be very satisfying work putting this car together after I get the body back from painting.

[inline6]

Before I put the front cover on the engine, wondering if I can get confirmation that this chain guide and tensioner alignment is good.  What do you think?

    

 

More pics:

    

    

    

    

    

    

    

 

Oil pressure senders aren't available new from Nissan anymore, however, this "Sankei" from Beck Arnley looks like it could be an original one?

More progress on both door panels and fenders this weekend as well.  Getting panels flat is hard!

 

Edited July 18, 2022 by inline6

[inline6]

So, my latest learning from doing the bodywork on this car... This is a pretty important lesson to learn with regard to filler work.  Here is how my passenger door looked in bare metal:

 

The door wasn't sand blasted.  Don't do that, by the way, of course.  The paint was stripped off with a 36 grit disc on an air sander.  Followed by 80 grit on a DA. Next pic shows body filler which was applied on top of epoxy primer.  An obvious issue is that I have over sanded the filler and broken through the epoxy primer to bare metal.  The instant you break through to bare metal, unless it is a high spot which will be pretty obvious, stop sanding.  But, what I really want to point out is with a large panel, such as this passenger door, you can't assume it is flat enough to just skim coat with filler, sand, and spray a couple of high build primer coats on it and call it done.  Note the bottom half of the door and that oval spot of body filler:

 

After more filler applied and more sanding... note the oval spot is still there:

 

In this pic, I have applied high build primer filler... and note the oval spot on the lower half of the door... this time with white body filler added.  Are you starting to get a sense of the repetition here?

right

Almost a year ago, the bodywork on this door still wasn't right.  

 

So, here is what I have learned.  Don't over sand.  Other than possibly being a good workout, it wastes time and materials.  Critically, for large panels, use a straight edge, or look at the reflection with a coat of wax and silicone remover on the panel, and check for any concaveness across the span of the door.  It is exceedingly difficult to address the panel being ever so slightly concave after you have sprayed primer filler.  You need to check it while it is bare metal, and again while it is in body filler stage.  Get the panel flat while in the body filler stage.  Do not move on to primer filler until the panel is flat.  Use guide coat, and wax and silicone remover and check progress.  Primer filler is not going to fill a concave panel.  That is another thing I was doing that was wrong.  A picture from today - note the white filler in the same location as the oval low spot in the pics above, and which can be seen in the video above also:

 

I have learned a lot, but have done it the hard way.  And it has cost hundreds of hours and hundreds of dollars in materials.  The reflection looked really good prior to application of primer filler today, so I think this door is super close to done, at long last.

While waiting for filler to dry, I also assembled my brake calipers today.  The original hardware was re-plated, insides of pistons sand blasted zinc primed and painted, caliper halves sand blasted, zinc primed and painted with Eastwood cast iron look paint: