Problems with 240z doors from Resurrected Classics.

[Derek]

Story time:) And it’s a long one.

I’m painting my 73 240 to address some rust issues especially in the doors. While searching for door skins I stumbled across the door assemblies from Resurrected Classics. For the price point and my available time window it seemed like the best way to move forward. I ordered the doors and received them promptly. They were. well packaged and looked really good. I figured I’d do a quick test fit by hanging them on the car. I used a single bolt top and bottom initially. The drivers door looked great with a slight problem where the door bottom meets the fender. Nothing a little filler wouldn’t fix. I then proceeded to fit the passengers door and was greeted with this:

I literally could fit a finger in the gap. I pulled the new door and reinstalled the old one to tell me what I already knew and this is how it fit:

 

I called Max at Resurrected to make sure I wasn’t the first person to receive the doors and he assured me he had sold multiple sets with no complaints. With this in mind I decided to make up some hinge to cowl shims to see if by some miracle it was simply a matter of adjustment. I figured I’d go ahead and mount the door properly with all of the bolts in the hinges and was greeted with this:

The hole is off by literally .100”.  This was troublesome firstly in the fact I couldn’t bolt it on and secondly apparently there isn’t a welding fixture to locate the nuts properly. It also showed there was little to no QC on critical mounting points. As a manufacturer as soon as I saw this my first thought was “what else is wrong with these doors”. But as a dreamer and optimist I decided to continue moving forward. I contacted Max and luckily he had someone driving south near me and he brought a new door and we swapped. I actually hung it quickly and although the fit wasn’t great it was still less work than fixing my old doors so I decided to keep moving forward.

Here is the new door:

So I went ahead and started the body filler work. Keep in mind this is a driver and I never would have accepted this if it wasn’t. Here is a shot after building up the area with Duraglass and then filler. It’s still rough because I finished it off the car but it will give you an idea as to how much work I had to do to fix that gap.

Here is an edge shot of just how bad it was:

I sent Max the pictures for his records and told him:

“Not pretty and if it was a restoration it wouldn’t fly but for my daily driver that takes a beating it’s fine. The door I took off had no filler in that area and the fender has no filler in that area. The only conclusion I can come up with is there are variances in the assembly of your doors since the original one you sent me  fit even worse in that area.”

Fast forward a week or so and I have the passengers door assembled and mounted on the car. I have the sash sitting properly in the door frame so that when it’s closed there is no light. I’m using new weatherstrips from Max and the door closes great. The window cranks up and down with ease. Yippie now on to the drivers door. I start the assembly process and immediately  run into this:

 

The door latch screws don’t line up. Now let me tell you just how bad this is. Because the latch uses countersunk screws there is no “slotting it” to make it work. Also you have to ask yourself is it only the top screw or all the screws. I hung the door with just the 2 bottoms in and there wasn’t enough adjustment in the striker to get it to work. This is now an extremely difficult repair since you now have to relocate 3 screws with no adjustment. After a day of fiddling around I ended up using flat washers and silicone bronze tig rod and came up with a repair that I’m not at all proud of but worked amazingly well:

Look at how far off the bottom holes were.

The door opened and closed perfectly. I pulled the door and finished assembling it. I had a harder time than usual getting the door glass in and anyone who has done it knows it is super sketchy the whole time. I had to actually wedge the opening to get a gap large enough to get the glass rail through which I have never had to do before. I finish assembling the door. One of the door frame screw holes needs slotting but no biggie. I mount the door and I can see the light at the end of the tunnel. I grab the drivers door panel to install it and it flat out won’t sit over the door ledge. like no way. Time to get out the caliper. I measure the stock door and then in the same area measure the new door. It’s 1.5mm wider. I measure the passengers door and it’s pretty much right on the money. So the drivers door and the passengers doors are diffrent. More QC problems.  I figure I’d better test the passengers door panel. I got it to pop  over the ledge but it was tough. As I rolled the glass up I noticed it was putting way more pressure on it than it should. and when it got about a third of the way up it was leading well outside of the frame. I pulled the door panel to get a better look at what was happening and I noticed that one of the screws on the glass frame and part of the bracket was jammed into the crash bar when the window was all the way down.

That was the point where I had enough. I’ll remind you what I said earlier: “what else is wrong with these doors”

I have no idea how to solve the problem on the passengers door that doesn’t involve hours or days and I have no idea on how to get the drivers door panel to fit that doesn’t involve hours or days. It’s obvious by the pictures I posted that there is little or no quality control going on. If there was then both of the passengers doors would have fit exactly the same way.  I emailed Max explaining the new issues with documentation and asked him to take the doors back and refund my money. I think this is a valid request at this point considering just how many problems I have had to overcome. Let me repeat. I can’t get the drivers door panel over the door ledge because it’s 1.5MM too wide. There is no adjusting that.

Max doesn’t see it that way but he did offer me a discount on any future purchases:) Isn’t that special.

I’m not telling anyone to not buy the doors but if you do I strongly recommend you assemble the doors all the way including the door panels as soon as you get them. And if you purchased a set and they are sitting in a box you my just be in for a surprise when you go to assemble. I don’t doubt there are working doors out there but I think I have more than proven that there are problems with the doors. The pictures don’t lie.

I’m pretty sure I’m going to cut my losses and reskin my old doors and scrap the junk ones from Max. I hate to take a $1400.00 loss but at this point I don’t think they are salvageable without extensive unknown reworking. Nissan designed the window mechanism to rely on a proper door shell stamping to work. I’m not sure these are proper door shell  stampings.

Sucks but I'll get over it.

Thanks for listening it helps,

Derek

[Patcon]

I agree, he should take them back.

They're not close to being salvageable..

Too bad

[Zed Head]

Their web page describes a thorough process.  Hard to see where they would have screwed up.  Maybe it's just words and they actually get the parts from overseas.  Looks like they're based in Georgia.

Any chance that a 1973 door skin is different from a 1971 door skin?  Maybe they just started with the wrong part.  Carpartsmanual says that they changed at 09/71.  Maybe you got a 71 part.

https://www.carpartsmanual.com/datsun/Z-1969-1978/body-240z/door-panel-glass-hinge

https://resurrectedclassics.com/pages/manufacturing

Manufacturing

Our manufacturing process begins with selecting the best samples of the pieces we want to produce. Usually this is a NOS panel, meaning "New Old Stock" that is an original piece produced by Datsun/Nissan. This panel is then scanned and turned into a three-dimensional model where it is used to make a die. The die is then used in conjunction with a machine to press into sheet metal to make the desired panel. After this is complete a prototype is made, we test each prototype against the original Nissan part and check for any inconsistencies and make notes. Lastly, if there were any issues with the prototype panel a second panel is made and checked again against the original Nissan part. The last step of this process after the prototype panel is confirmed is mass production. As you can imagine this is not an easy process, finding panels suitable to be used for reproduction is difficult and time consuming but we believe the end result is worth it. By using the best available panels as templates and our lengthy testing process, we are able to bring the most accurate panels produced to Datsun enthusiasts. We are continually adding new parts to our inventory every day with more parts lined up afterwards and still more being sourced.

[Derek]

4 minutes ago, Zed Head said:

Any chance that a 1973 door skin is different from a 1971 door skin

Honestly I'm not complaining about the exterior fit. It's the fact that there are so many inaccuracies in the critical mounting points. Like how can the hole for the hinge be off that far from one door to the next unless they are hand drilling them and then welding the nuts on based on the hole position. That means there is no fixturing at all.  Really the breaking point for me was when it was clear to me there was no way the drivers door panel was going on without totally disassembling the door and sawing the top ledge down to get rid of the extra 1.5MM of material. I'm really not too picky but I want door panels on the car 🙂 

[Zed Head]

There's only one door skin style shown in their catalog.  In left and right, but no pre- and post- 09/71.  Maybe they assumed all 240Z's are the same.

https://resurrectedclassics.com/pages/catalog

[Zed Head]

2 minutes ago, Derek said:

I'm really not too picky but I want door panels on the car 🙂 

I'm just trying to help Resurrected solve their problem.  If they want to.  They could be just another fly-by-night parts vendor.

It's just very odd that they would create those very expensive stamping dies and use them to create crap parts.  Makes no sense at all, unless it's all a scam.

[Derek]

When the first door didn't look correct I told Max that previously I had done a lot of bodywork to the car but didn't think that was the issue. Here is a snip from his last email to me:

Quote

We have tried to be very accommodating and have exchanged products upon your request that you said you were content with.  It is important to note that your car has had a lot of repairs done to it, that changes the parameters of the install away from factory. If there are other smaller parts you need I could send them to you at no cost, but at this point we cannot authorize a return on these, I’m sorry. 

How is that applicable to any of the problems with the holes being in the wrong place or the fact that the door panel won't go on. I'll let you draw your own conclusions as to the type of vendor they are. Also they exchanged one door not multiple "products".  I said I was content with the body filler situation. I never said I was content with the new problems. 

[Zed Head]

It would be interesting if you sent the doors to someone else with an original no-bodywork 73 to see what they find.  Unless you're going to deconstruct them and start over.

Also, if anyone out there has seen both 71 and 73 doors, do they swap easily?  I don't know much about the 240Z body differences.  Only what the parts catalog shows.

[Zed Head]

I do like to help solve a problem if I can.   @Resurrected Classics should have a chance to respond.  They joined the site March 2023.  They got some positive comments.  Let's see what happens.  Derek is not your run-of-the-mill car guy, he probably knows what he's talking about and went way above and beyond what most would.  No offense intended to the run-of-the-mill guys and gals.

Who knows, maybe people should just avoid buying door skins from RC.

https://www.classiczcars.com/profile/45015-resurrected-classics/

 

[Yarb]

My experience has been really good with Max @ressurected-classics. I purchased a set of  fenders and a few other Items. It’s only fair to give him a chance to respond.

[Derek]

7 minutes ago, Yarb said:

My experience has been really good with Max @ressurected-classics. I purchased a set of  fenders and a few other Items. It’s only fair to give him a chance to respond.

I totally agree. Although in my mind it's pretty hard to defend refusing a refund based on the pictures I have posted. Let's be clear I was fine with all of the defects up until I couldn't get the drivers door panel on. I have his door weatherstrips and they fit great.  

Edit: all of the pictures I posted are from the email chain we have exchanged since the beginning. Also I'm posting this as a cautionary tale as opposed to shaming him into giving me a refund. I believe that ship has sailed.

Edited Wednesday at 10:11 PM by Derek

[Resurrected Classics]

Hello, I would like to begin by saying that I truly regret that it has come to this as I genuinely care about our products and I spend a lot of time on each part, the doors themselves took 3 years from concept to production and all of our products are tested on our own cars on site. We have a complete display car with all of our parts installed, it was at ZCON this year.

Firstly, the gap near the fender, when installing any body panel, the connected panels may need to be adjusted as well. The parts work in unison and you cannot just change one and not adjust the other one. I would also like to point out that from this picture, it looks like a fair amount of body filler was used on the fender, this would definitely effect the gap because the fender would be thicker. 

From the pictures that were given, the hinge did not look like it would line up correctly, I took responsibility for this and delivered a new unit that you were able to test and confirm. I do not think it is fair to say that there was no QC on the doors or make comments on the manufacturing from a sample size of 1 unit. We have sold 33 pairs of doors to date, with zero returned. We have also had these doors installed and finished on cars that have won best in show at ZCON. For full transparency, we have had only 1 other customer issue a complaint about the doors that was later resolved, and not to the severity as is described here.  

In our dialog I did ask if the factory rubber roller clip was installed, as this piece is crucial in positioning the glass, and I did not receive a response. I also explained that the regulator arm tracks have slotted holes for mounting, so there is adjustment for the glass as well. At no point did I stop communication or give up on trying to solve the issues you were describing, I just explained that a return would not be an option.  The statement here "Max doesn’t see it that way but he did offer me a discount on any future purchases:) Isn’t that special." Is entirely incorrect, my actual statement was that I would give you a smaller part of your choosing at no cost to you, not a future discount. 

I do hope that there is some middle ground we can come to as we would like to be a part of your restoration and earn your business for the future.