Restoration of BringaTrailer 240z - HLS30-35883

[SteveJ]

9 minutes ago, Patcon said:

All of the reproduction bumpers are stainless steel I believe. Group Harrington(?) from the UK might be the exception to that. I have a set of repop stainless bumpers. They're ok but seem to be soft and scratch easily. Hard chrome is much more scratch resistant. On a car built to this level, I would want chrome.

Unless they changed things, Group Harrington bumpers are stainless.

[inline6]

22 hours ago, emccallum said:

Tri city plating did mine. It was expensive and took a long time, but they did a good job. 

I will contact them.  When did you have yours done and about how much was it?

[emccallum]

1,800 and 6 months. 

 

[inline6]

Thanks for the info!  I called them today.  They said turn around time is about 6 weeks, which I am thrilled with compared to 6-7 months from Ogden.  Tri-City is only 4.5 hours from me, so shipping will be less as well.  They quoted $2100 for a complete set of bumpers - front and rear including all the bumper guards.  My NOS rear bumper will be a good reference for them as they finish straightening the original rear bumper.  I will have them re-chrome both rears, along with the original front bumper, and the front one from my track car as well. 

Or, maybe I will skip sending the track car bumpers... and buy these instead:

https://zcardepot.com/products/front-metal-chrome-bumper-240z-70-72?variant=39614505648241&currency=USD
https://zcardepot.com/products/rear-metal-stainless-steel-chrome-bumper-240z?_pos=15&_sid=adfb2aae4&_ss=r

[siteunseen]

If zcardepot doesn't have stock check futofab.com. that's where mine came from. From what I've read they're from the same supplier?

Mine had VIETNAM on the boxes. Very happy with them too, OE bumpers are in storage for the next babysitter.

[inline6]

It's been a while since I posted an update.  I went on vacation for a bit.  However, I made some progress this weekend and a bit last as well.  

I put the heater box back together.  Some of these pics are old, as I sand blasted and painted the heater box early on in the restoration.  

    

    

    

    

    

    

    

    

 

And, I worked on getting everything back in the dashboard.  For the side vents, I purchased NOS chrome ones, and managed to track down vent housings that have the vertical "rib" that keep the chrome vents from rotating all the way sideways.  Both vent directors fit nice and tight.  I also installed an aftermarket glove box.  Some are better than others, and this one is a nice.  The original had an R on it, written with what looks to me like a white grease pencil:

  

 

Putting the steering column in was a pain!  For a while, I felt like I had been beat up, as all the hard and sharp edges of the seat brackets and weld flange on the top of the rocker panel were digging to me.  Next time I have to spend time upside down on the floor I am adding some temporary padding!

 

 

[Patcon]

SteveJ has a tutorial somewhere on a bench he built for just this type or under dash work

[emccallum]

As soon as you lay under the dash, you realize you forgot the first tool you need, or its under your back and you cant reach it. Great work!

[SteveJ]

1 hour ago, Patcon said:

SteveJ has a tutorial somewhere on a bench he built for just this type or under dash work

 

[siteunseen]

I've found putting mine on ramps to raise the front and a pillow or two on the door sill is really helpful. After watching the video I think I'll use two milk crates to lay on from now on. Thanks for sharing that @SteveJ

[inline6]

Here is an example of why you don't throw anything away, at least until you have a working replacement part installed - number 25 - assembly door switch (which I bought quite a while ago:

 

The original part number (25360-89901) is the only one out of the thee listed for that part that is not discontinued.  It supersedes to  25360-N4400:

 

That new one is in the top of this pic - old, original left door switch is the lower one in this pic:

 

They are... different.  

I haven't looked to refresh my memory, but I believe one of the wires is for the dome light circuit and one is for the door open "buzzer".  The new switch has one wire that is soldered to the switch case - that is going to be a permanent ground.  That wire is not going to work with either the dome light circuit or the buzzer.  the plastic pin of the old switch is longer than the pin in the new one.  So, it looks to me like I will need to either move the old pin and wires to the new switch (to make both circuits function as they should.  Or, hook up only the one wire that is not soldered to the new switch case to the dome light circuit and leave the buzzer circuit unconnected.

Right side switches are discontinued.  I was able to find some similar "Niles" switches (pack of two) on eBay:

 

In this case, the wire was shorter than the original:

 

So, I cleaned up the old one with a wire brush on a dremel and swapped it to the new switch:

  

 

I also unpacked the new battery and tray and the new, related reproduction parts I got from Steve at 240Zrubberparts.com:

    

 

I had to remove the handle from the battery.  And for the battery frame to fit, I used a hack saw to cut part of the plastic (that the handle clips into) off of the sides of the battery.  This third pic shows the correct orientation in the car (terminals at the front and secure to firewall in the back), correct?

    

 

 

 

 

 

 

[zed2]

Consider a Black Acid Neutralizing Mat (Link) to save potential future corrosion damage.

Keith