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Pulled out this car after a long slumber. I purchased over 20 years ago in Orlando area from original purchaser family. Windshield shows last inspection in April 1981… Original windshield, 4 side windows dated 12/69. Hatch glass 3/70. Interior all there. Hoping to do a light refresh/clean of interior,drop the suspension, clean and paint. Engine needs to be rebuilt….”matching numbers”. Dog legs being replaced small rust area under drivers seat between alignment “flap” from rear body and floor 2”x2”. Green Tan…. My favorite combo… Wet blasting hood revealed surprisingly…. A virtually perfect hood..!!!!

5 weeks since surgery and it's still pretty sore. Really depends on what I do. Therapy one day, rest the next and then back for more. I'm doing a lot at home with a recumbent bike and weight bench with a leg lift I bought years ago to hang clothes on. Now they're my nemeses just like the upstairs garage apartment I've loved for so many years. The doctors say I'm halfway, 12 weeks is their recommendation for release but say it could take up to a year to feel like it never happened. Haven't taken a pain pill in 2 weeks, not saying I wouldn't take one the size of a Frisbee right this minute but the OTC Aleve plus herb(s) are working great. Happy New Year Mark and Kathy!

I am very tired and sore. What I thought was going to be a three day job ended up being two weeks… because I am a perfectionist. 😕 The installation of the left door window was no big deal, but I wanted the glass to be as clear as I could get it, so I spent six (!) days working the scratches out of what was a B+ window when I pulled it out of a wrecked car a year ago. I used a combination of diamond polishing pads and cerium oxide, which works well, but there is a learning curve. The right side should only take a day now that I know what I’m doing. It’s now a solid A grade, but I came a little too close to the Nissan etching, so that’s less crisp than it should be. All told there are two 1/4” scratches and some light swirls that I couldn’t get out without risking distorting the glass. Not bad. Acceptable I guess. Installation was not hard, although I should have brought a second set of hands. I have some alignment issues with the rear corner sticking out and not sliding back enough without help from outside, but I don’t feel like dealing with that right now. New seals, new hardware, and tons of grease.

The "grocery getter today": Walking towards the car with my grocery haul, I laughed out loud as I gazed at the car. Though not quite as small as a Miata, the size of these things is quite laughable. Pictures of it by itself (purposely parked far away from others) don't reveal its compact size. But, put it next to nearly any modern vehicle and the small size becomes very apparent. My tire diameter is a little smaller than stock. So, even though I have a "red gear" speedometer drive to match the 4.11 rear end ratio, the speedometer appears to be off on the high side. I will check it vs. actual speed with my phone/GPS soon. For now, I am just trying to keep from being freaked out while I drive it around. For the first 15 or so miles, I have been pretty anxious, thinking of all the things that could go wrong. On the way back from the grocery store, I started to feel "at home again". The exhaust note is quite aggressive, and loud... and that is a good thing. 🙂 It has been 9 years since I have driven a 240Z, albeit the last one was my more "track focused" 240Z, which is an entirely different beast. I still have many things to finish up, some of which include: figuring out what to do about putting a speaker in the stock (rear, left) location. This is holding up putting the left side interior trim panels in place. decide whether to put the factory radio in the dash, or install a blue tooth compatible "Retrosound" unit. troubleshoot why interior fan is not functional install glove box door spray paint and install tail light finisher panels and rear license plate light spray paint and install front grill install steering wheel horn hub/garnish install luggage straps cut jute for the front floors install front right kick panel (I am still evaluating right door fit/alignment) Install storage compartment liners - glue to body Place jack and tire stops in storage compartment

I have installed the windshield - this time with the stainless trim! It's not fully in place as it should be - it sits about an 1/8 of an inch more toward the passenger side. However, that will auto correct when it sits in the hot sun for a bit. This third windshield seal was very flexible which made a big difference when installing the stainless trim pieces. And so far, this second windshield has not delaminated in the corners like the first one did. The other part I was waiting for was a replacement brake booster push rod. With its arrival last week, I was able to complete the rebuild of the brake booster and to get that installed in the car. Using a vacuum tool like this one - I was able to build vacuum to 500 mm Hg by connecting it to the hose from the booster and waiting the 15 seconds specified in the factory workshop manual to confirm it was within specification (did not lose 25 mm Hg or more in 15 seconds). With these two things completed (brake booster installed and windshield installed), I was ready to take the car for a brief test drive. The car now has 15 miles on it 😉 During that brief drive, I noted that the brakes are not 100% yet, and the exhaust was vibrating against the rear apron at idle. When I got back, I put the car back on the lift. I found a bit of brake fluid on the front right caliper, so I quickly cleaned that off and went around to all of the brake line fittings and ensured they were all tight. I will need to bleed the brakes again to ensure all air is out of the system. For the exhaust, I simply loosened the band clamp that holds the muffler to the tail pipe and moved the muffler forward 3/4". One of the things I was worried about was the differential. After all the trial and error with shimming and the custom work to rebuild it, I was worried I still didn't have the gears meshed properly and it would make a lot of noise. I am happy to report that I don't hear any noise coming from it. It is super quiet even. I am glad to have these two things that were holding me up out of the way!

Haha!! So we're gonna be rebuilding your engine in the parking lot at zcon!! I call dibs on working on the timing chain and stuff!

We bought an uncoated header for the 510 from Troy Ermish a while back. We added two O2 bungs so we can check the carbs separately and added a Vband fitting at the exhaust end. I sent it off to JetHot over Christmas and got it back this last week. It looks nice!

37 Zs! Now I can tell my wife I don't really have that many!! 🤣 I bought my first car, a black 240z in 1986 at 17 y.o. too!

I’ve piddled around with SCCA in the ITS class since 2001… with a 240z Still competitive on most tight tracks. Converting to EP class as a 260. The other stuff is just a collection of this and that….had 37zs in my backyard at one time….. parsed down to a dozen or so now. A Z was my first car I purchased at 17 in 1982, Diseazd with them every since!!

Thanks Steve! I wondered why it wasn't in the factory workshop manual! Turns out, I hadn't hooked up the ground for the fan. Today, I drove the car around some more to "shake it down". The pads are bedding in, and I have good brakes now. It was nice to have a working fan and heat! Here is a fresh walk around video:

I'm getting ready to install a new radiator in my 260Z. I went with a Mishimoto radiator. For prep work, I installed rivnuts on the radiator to make it easier to bolt in. They feel very secure on the mounting tabs, and it beats trying to thread a nut onto a bolt run through the radiator support. I think my supervisor approved of my work, too.

Took Summit quite a while to get them in, but they appeared at my doorstep in time for Christmas. I have to say, they look FANTASTIC. Yes they have the curve already in. I have not tried to actually fit them. Will report back when I do.

Some early “beauty” shots…. Taking shape, It’s looking more like a classy lady everyday. Thanks to Earl and Kim for their efforts!!

I took the forum's advice and tied a gym sock around the end of the master cylinder otherwise I would probably have a new implant!

Thanks!!! I love seeing other Zs and what has been done in the past, for inspiration of sorts to keep effort at high level…… Bumping into a fellow car/zguy from Greenville, sc “Clay Beacham” has triggered interest on my part to finally work on on few zs I’ve drug home over the last 35 years. I will post some pictures of progress on this car as well as the other 4 I’ll be working on. Your welcome to drop by anytime shops a mess. My oldest son claims I’m a prime candidate for adderall, but it’s awful late in livfe to try a different personality!! David

I worked on the car for a lot of hours today. I adjusted the brake pedal the proper way: I ran the bump stop all the way in, and threaded the rod into the clevis until I had the right measurement from the firewall/floor to the top surface of the pedal pad. That was 206 mm. Then I threaded the bump stop out until it moved the pedal down 3 mm. Net was 203 mm. Then I adjusted the clutch pedal the same way, setting it even with the brake pedal. I took the car for a short drive. The brakes and clutch work very nicely. When I got back, I put the car on the lift and check all around for leaks. The temperature sender nut needed to be tightened. I was getting some weeping there. The differential fill plug needed to be tightened - there was a drip there as well. The valve cover bolts also needed to be tightened. Some oil was making its way down the right side of the engine at the back corner. I also had a slight exhaust leak at one of the joints, so I tightened all the exhaust clamps. I had not tightened a couple of the clamp sufficiently. Lastly, I painted the tail light finishing panels and installed them. I used the BFM0360 Ford Dark Shadow grey (and matte clear). Comparing it to my NOS license light, the Dupli-color paint looks a bit lighter than the original color, but it is reasonably close.

So, Over the last few days i got a few nice parts again. First a set of Nissan 50th anniversary badges in black: I always had a red and blue one but the black one was missing. now my set is complete and i got a few black ones for spare too 🙂 Then i got some Parts from S30.world. The first item is the Handbrake cable including all installation hadware. Just look at all the details. it's as close as it can get to the OEM part. including all the little hardware details! The Second set was the fuel tank installation hardware straps including the rubber insulation pieces. the rubber blocks for the fuel tank and the installation hardware. Again excellent quality parts down to the smallest detail. This should allow me to install the S30.world reproduction fuel tank on my test-assembly soon. Thanks again Chris for those awesome parts. Make sure to check out their ever-growing lineup of parts on the S30.world shop:

This is great!

Yes, that is a Nissan Vintage Z - HLS30 32089. A 1971 Datsun 240Z https://zhome.com/IZCC/ZRegisters/VintageZ.htm

Scored a little sump’n sump’n from Japan. Not an original, but not one of the ubiquitous vinyl replicas, either. New Old Stock (with a small mark on the back), leather, and less $ than the JDM wheel in rough condition I was considering. I had just received an email that RS Watanabe Falcon steering wheels are shipping again, but that would have cost me twice as much. For those who weren’t aware, you can see how much flatter these are that the USDM wheels. These have the same hub and spoke dimensions, depth, and outer diameter as the JDM wheels, just padded leather instead of the thin resin-impregnated wood with finger grooves. There were two more at the time this auction closed: one NOS in a different box, and one used; both more than this one. There’s also a NOS JDM 70-71 wheel without the horn icon for an insane amount. 💸💸💸

Good question Namerow. I had two sources, the first an online hot-rodding site, the name of which I have forgotten. Being an on-line source, where everyone is an expert, I also went to a neighbour who is the owner of three autobody shops and has a personal collection of 14 (his wife thinks it's more) hot rods, antiques, customs, you name it. His explanation to me was that the two-part epoxy would adhere better to a scratched surface, and that the scratches would not show once primered and painted. The on-line source said use 60 grit while neighbour Dave suggested 80. As an aside I will also mention that Dave decorates three or four of his cars with Xmas lights every year and parks them in the front yard. Photos attached. Some evenings traffic gets pretty busy on our street.

I sorted the parts that need to be re-plated by color, yellow zinc or clear zinc. I did a quick clean to knock off excess dirt and wire wheeled the areas where there was paint overspray from the previous paint job. I put some shrink sleeve over the plastic portion of the carb linkage to protect them during the cleaning process. I also plugged the holes of the carb and smog accessories to prevent the fluids from entering inside. I then put the small parts in gallon zip lock bags. I had one box of the clear/silver zinc parts, and 3 boxes of the yellow/gold zinc parts. I used three boxes for the yellow zinc because of the excess weight (USPS flat rate shipping box). Each box weighed approximately 20 pounds For the plating process, the 3 yellow/gold zinc parts will be thrown into a single barrel, so the charge will be for just one yellow zinc barrel plate. The plating company does a good job of cleaning the smaller parts in their prep process. I am guessing it is either a vibe or tumble process along with a chemical clean that they use to clean the parts to remove dirt and rust. I spent a bit more time cleaning the long tubes and larger parts as they will be rack plated and I do not think they get cleaned as well. On the long tubes I put in a large diameter bend in order get the parts to fit in my 4 foot shipping box. They said they can accomodate parts up to 6 feet in length. All plating is done by Sav-On plating in Phoenix, AZ. They have done a great job with my parts on previous restorations. Pics Below

Recently i acquired two pieces of Nissan sports option aka Datsun Competition aka the Triple Mikuni carb heat shields from Japan. One was in a good, used condition. the other one seemed to be restored on the first sight. But after i received it and inspected it closer, i quickly realized that they just sprayed it with some silver paint that came off upon touching it. After looking at it again, i also saw that it was not straight and had a few cheap weld repairs. Here is the "good" side, which only needed a bit of flattening with the hammer (probably from wiggling it off the previous installation): And here is the bad side from the inside You can see the corners and the holes have some weld leftovers and do not look nice: And this is the outside (after i already started to work on it). You can see some rough remaints of the welds: And this is how it all looked after an hour of filing and straightening everything with my recently bought bodyshop hammer and file set: Now it's Much better than before. Everything is straight and the surface even, and the curvatures / holes are round again. After i took the picture i sprayed it with some rust primer, but i will have to have the whole thing resprayed once it's going to be installed. I also finally managed to get the car back on the lift again and hope i find some time during the christmas holidays to get some stuff from my to-do list checked off!

WOW! That restore is unbelievable, have you seen (also) how clean his workbench is when he's doing al the work? Mine is always a (UN)organised MESS!! Give me 😁 a "AGREE" when yours is also always a mess!!!

Recently, I was lucky enough to win the auction for these battery covers parts:

So in 0.2 degrees of rotational change, you're seeing about .001 in longitudinal change. I'm with you in that's nearly zero play. But... That is unloaded, right? nothing to compress the spring(s) in the tie rod ends? Nothing to smoosh the grease out of the rack and pinion gears? I don't think you'll see much, but you might see a little more than that if you would lock the rotation and push/pull the the rack back and forth with the rotation lever frozen. Just thinking out loud for theory's sake.

Did ya find it next door!!😂😂

Heyo! Who ordered deez spaghetts? All of the dash components are wired up except for reinstalling the old rheostat (more on that later). After I do that, the next step is to put the dash into the car and terminate the wires you see hanging out on the ends. Those go to the fuse box, AC, multi switches, relays, and other harnesses. I decided to pull the home-made PWM setup I had and reinstall the OEM rheostat, because I found a nice little PWM unit meant for a Porsche 928 called an AILD-1 that’s controlled by an old-school rheostat instead of using a pot installed directly on the circuit board. I haven’t figured out where it’s going to mount yet, so I’ll make a harness that inserts the AILD-1 between the rheostat and the dash harness but keeps the original terminals. That way if for some reason I decide to go back to incandescent bulbs I can just pull the PWM and connect everything as stock.

Like this...threaded hole on lower part of wheel well.

Today my daughter helped me in the shop. We made some good progress. I got the driveshaft in and mated up to the R200 with the Zcardepot flange Brake booster lines and check valve installed Water necks and thermostat housing installed Heater hoses hooked up I replaced the red plug wires with a set of factory wires. They are absolutely beautiful!! Also got Sean's exhaust hung under the car. It needs a few details to finish I assume this ground is supposed to attach to the frame rail here?? Not too far from being ready for some coolant, fuel and a start up

Looks like the answer is yes. I found this online: Georgia Code Section 40-2-41.1(b): So requirements are: You register like normal. $20/year. You get the current Georgia license plate. You keep the current Georgia license plate in the vehicle but need not display it from the rear. The historical license plate must be within 4 years of the model year, so if it's a 1985, then you can run a plate from 1981-1989.

My body and paint guy (Chuck’s Frame Shop) has been in the frame and paint biz for 50 years. He is a perfectionist with all of the right gadgets. I don’t know what that particular frame alignment device is, but he had a blueprint of the 240Z specs taped to the door when installing the new clip. He said the finished product was perfect to spec…..probably better than original.

"Luggage Belts". You'll have a matching set of threaded holes on the floor just below the rear interior cover trim.

First drive of '25. Happy New Year, all.

Trickle charging batteries for New Years Day driving. Need to burn 2024 fuel. It's going to be a lot of driving close to home.

I just bought one from Jenny. Thanks!

I see that I haven't posted any updates in quite a while here. I have been waiting for a couple of items to arrive which held me up a bit. One of those was another windshield weather strip (the third). The second one, which I had on hand for many years, tore at one of the joints when I tried to install it on the new windshield (second one). I bought the third weather strip in an auction in Japan. It is a genuine Nissan one. It had a date on the part number sticker of December 11th, 2023 - (order is year, month, day): To install the windshield with less difficulty, I removed the dash from the car. I disliked having to do this, but I justified the action also because the factory clock was not working, and the cable operating the flap door which allows air to come from the cowl area into the passenger compartment was far too difficult to operate. Removing the dash assists with fixing these things. Regarding the clock, when powered, I saw some movement, but it seemed jammed. So, I took the clock apart. It was quite tricky to get it reassembled. I applied very light oil to all pins and hinges. I tested the motor, which functioned, but seemed to not operate smoothly - it had a resonance/vibration, and ultimately, I think the motor being worn out is the problem. In the spare parts I received with the car, there was another clock. I confirmed that it operates by hooking it up to a spare battery I have. So, I swapped front lenses (to use the one I had restored) and installed that clock in the dash. Some disassembly pics: One of the other jobs I crossed off my list in the last few weeks was making an exhaust hanger to complete the exhaust system installation. To make it look similar to the original, I referenced pictures I found online. For the metal, I used .120" thick (or so) sheet. I made a cardboard template. I bent the sheet in a 6" vise. I had to buy a pack of four of the rubber mounts. If you would like one, let me know. I cut a bolt and welded it to the bracket on the one side, and used a bolt and washers on the other side. Yesterday, I put the new windshield gasket on the windshield. While I bought brand new stainless windshield trim from Japan, I found that the curve on the left lower piece was not correct. Rather than modifying it, I used the original two lower pieces, which I thought I had lost. I sanded them with various grits of sandpaper for a few hours until they were polished. I could not find the top piece, however. So, I used the new one. Interestingly, the new pieces are a bit longer than the originals. I had to trim about 1/2" off of the top piece to make it fit. Right side and left side (before trimming): The weather strip corners need to be pulled upwards just a bit. Before I install the windshield, I will stretch the w/s more from the bottom and upwards on the sides, to raise these corners a bit, so everything fits properly.

Aha!! Many hours later... Once properly shaped, the piece is perfect! But as-delivered the shape was quite a bit off. Perhaps it warped in the Colombian sun before shipment! "Patience, grasshopper"

Thanks Richard. Just to clarify, the hubcaps in my pictures are are OE and unrestored. I just used them for comparison of color and finish with the tail light surrounds, that I did paint. I only wish I could restore hubcaps to that level.

CanTechZ, 2016 - Guess I'm a bit behind, but many thanks for the paint description. Love the job you did on your hubcaps - hope mine come out as pretty. Happy New Year!

Yup, definitely a '71 for the reasons you state and a couple of others: bumpers in nice and tight against the body, fuel door has a lock, straight gear shift rod to match the early console. At least he has good intentions with the article.

I am starting to clean up parts now, so figured I would start with the differential. A lot of the undercarriage parts have a healthy coating of dirt on them as you can see in the picture of the differential below. I think the combination of dirt and oil on the parts created a nice protective coating as there does not appear to be much rust....just a lot of oily dirt. Typically I would leave the aluminum bare on the differential as I think that looks very cool, however, we are planning on making this as close to the original as possible so the entire diff, except for the stud threads, are painted black. Pics below.

I had to clearance the holes on the radiator support bracket from 10mm to 13mm, but the radiator is in.

Looking nice! I cant recall if there were one or two washers on mine, I think just one. Pretty certain nothing goes on the outside.

Got the driveshaft reassembled I painted it all black I bought a piece of tubing out of china. Cut it down and replated it last weekend. I used a nitrile o ring on the end. I would rather have a small square hydraulic ring instead. We'll see if it leaks The intakes need to be reassembled on the car to hold the orientation and the spacing I made a center line mark to help get the pipe centered between the manifolds. I also had to drill out the manifolds to get the corrosion out so the tube would go in. I also started working on the washer tubes I have to figure out how to straighten out the tubes

A new video is available to watch. Making a new ball for the front ball joint - wow!

Pure luck