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What you have done with and for this car is simply amaZing! And... it certainly doesn't hurt that you chose my favorite color for the project. Congrats on truly awesome work.

This is the gap. It is even on all sides which would make sense. I'd imagine it would be difficult to get it that far onto the seating surface if it was ****-eyed. I'm thinking the distance piece at this point was too long and binding the balls against the outer races. I pulled the bearing off last night and everything seemed ok. Nothing there that it should have bound on. I'm just glad I got to drive it some after it's been sitting on blocks for nearly a month. The only "exciting" part of the story was coming back through Morgantown WV on I68 in the pouring rain and having the clutch slip going up the mountain passes. It got a little nerve wracking but I knew I was almost home and could easily get a tow at that point. I've still got some work to do to her but the suspension and brakes are basically done now. I still need to powdercoat the mustache bar but the big oven at my local makerspace isn't quite ready yet.

I don't think the Z seats ever got the credit they really deserved for their styling. Maybe not so excellent from a functional or comfort perspective, but really great to look at and perfectly in tune with the exterior styling.

Ignore the trashed interior plz, ill clean it I promise.

George: No matter how long it took - it looks like a really great result. Certainly worth the effort, with something less than 3% of Datsun 240Z's being RHD and now in their 50th Year.. That is a rare and very desirable example. Finish it up and enjoy it, get it out for everyone to see. Today there are a couple of generations of people that have never seen one on the road.

Some interesting ones below thanks to data and images from @kats @HS30-H @Mike B @Carl Beck & @26th-Z and anyone I missed (BIG THANKS!) May 1969 - total 2 cars - one domestic, one export: 1 = S30-00001 (Factory prototype 1) 2 = HLS30-00001 (Factory prototype 2) June 1969 - total 1 car - domestic: 3 = PS30-00001 (Factory prototype 3) July 1969 - total 4 cars - two domestic, two export: 4 = HLS30-00002 (Primary Production prototype 1) 5 = S30-00002 (Primary Production prototype 2) 6 = PS30-00002 (Primary Production prototype 3) 7 = HS30-00001 (Primary Production prototype 4) August 1969 - total 7 cars: 8 = S30-00003 (Primary Production prototype 5) 9 = S30-00004 (Primary Production prototype 6) 10 = S30-00005 (Primary Production prototype 7) 11 = PS30-00003 (Primary Production prototype ? 12 = HLS30-00003 (Primary Production prototype 9) 13 = S30-00006 (Primary Production prototype 10) 14 = PS30-00004 (Primary Production prototype 11) October 10 Two 240z test cars and parts arrive in North America in crates - HLS30-00004 (Silver Manual Mfg:09-69) Seisan Shisaku: #14 - HLS30-00005 (Silver Automatic Mfg:09-69) Seisan Shisaku: #15 < October 22 Three 240z demo/photo/show cars arrive in North America - HLS30-00006 (Green) - HLS30-00007 (Silver) - HLS30-00008 (Red) Oct 17 Press Presentation Ginza HQ, Tokyo Oct 20 First Ad in Japanese Paper (432) Oct 22 NYC International Preview Pierre Hotel (and press kit release HLS30-00006 Green) Oct 24 16th Tokyo Motor Show Oct 24 Wilshire Motor Show Preview LA Oct 27 Calif Competition Press and Autoweek Article on the new 240z with photo of Test car Oct 30 Boston Motor Show Oct ?? HLS30-00013 & HS30-00003 produced Nov ?? 432 Race Track Testing Suzuka Circuit Nov 25 Japan Test Drive for Journalists near Mt. Fuji Nov 25 ARRC Daytona Speedway 240z (red HLS30-00007) Dec 20 Refined Z's Shipped by plane to North America (following Seisan Shisaku road testing feedback and export production slow down to resolve) Early Z Production car Early Z Photos Early Z Advertising and Promotion Early Z Brochure Press Show in Japan Tokyo Motor Show Boston Car Show ARRC with Early Promo Z in Public Press Test Drive in Japan Early Z Coverage in Magazines Manufacturing Testing in North America

73, looks pretty rusty Runs on Tues the 7th Someone buy it and remove my temptation! https://www.copart.com/lot/30460779

Hey, just joined. Bought this 71 #33909 off BaT a few days ago form an owner of 30 years. The car is straight, all original sheet metal and rust free so I have a nice base. The car is now with Robert at the 240Z Guild down in Madill, OK for an evaluation and some refreshing. Have had lots and lots of cars but my first Z so this will be a learning experience. Also, I'm decent at the conceptual stuff but an unskilled fairly miserable wrencher so I got that going for me ?

Yep it's always done that. Forgot to mention that I have headers too (they may be the same ones haha). Glad to know its nothing to worry about. Why do these cars do it but modern cars don't?

Well, its back together. Just waiting on oil and filter.

Sorry you missed it but probably for the best. This same car was posted on the various S30 Facebook pages so I am sure someone saw it there and scooped it up. Keep hunting, the right one will come along.

Thank you for the welcomes! I have been poking around here - the knowledge base is impressive and seems like a great group of enthusiasts ?

This will do the trick,

Or straight mineral oil just like the old time baseball hitters used on there bats, lets you still feel the wood.

I think you are on to something! I plan to bring it back for evaluation. Hope to find an answer

Osgiken clutch is in. Big thanks to Zgarage for the kit. Install was a breeze.

i went up there today, to where my friend told me he saw it. it was gone. It's been the busiest 2 weeks in about a year for me, and missed on 2 cheap S30's. I'll have to sacrifice something to the car gods.

Well we put the new axle and bearing into the hub and everything is great! It was likely a bearing issue at this point, but I haven't had a chance to rule out the stub. There is a tiny gap that you can see light through on the bad stub between the collar of the bearing and the seating surface. I can barely get my thinnest feeler gauge through it which is 0.0016. I think it just never got fully seated. It doesn't explain why it was binding in the same spot when rotated though. I'm gonna pull the bearing off for the 5th time now and really inspect that surface to see if I can figure it out.At least I have an extra set of hubs and bearings just in case now ? Thanks again for all the help and advice!

Well shimming the r-180, backlash, pre load and wipe pattern took most of a couple days after work and most of a Saturday morning. I think I took it apart 20+ times. Finally happy with the wipe pattern. Luckily I didn’t have to change the pinion shim. Edit: I think in a perfect world I would have had a special tool to set the pinion nut at the factory 125-150ftlb. Then used different shims to get the bearing pre load perfect. But I had no way, so a couple of hits with the impact is what I used to set pre load, I found that info on here and a few youtube videos. It's not precise at all, just hopeful the factory had it correct enough. A bunch of site posts and a few guru told me to just reuse the pinion shim and move on. Everyone basically told me backlash is the most important. Ended up with 5 thousandths for backlash give or take and then ring side backlash shim if .05 and other side of .07. Total inch pounds is around 8-10 on the pinion. No carrier I had around 3 inch pounds for the pinion. This is worth paying someone to do. Just FYI. I had fun. But super frustrating.

Looking at the "before" pictures again, this project epitomizes the phrase "The Greater the Struggle, The Sweeter the Victory" So glad to see it reach this point! Keep up the great work.

Thanks Chris , I like it too . Here is a quiz , Who said “ let’s shave the meat here “ of the early seat back ? #1 Mr . K #2 Interior designers #3 Kaku - U member (test crew of 240Z in US and Canada in late 1969 ) Mr . Sudo always says “ the seat which I make is not original, but I try to make it look original. Also I add pads and change tension of springs etc etc , these work will definitely give more comfortabl hold for a driver / a passenger. I think the modification of a later slim type to transform to an early fat type was a challenging task , this had never done before for Mr . Sudo . Pleas see attached pictures, the shape is different, and now I feel very natural that my 03/70 240Z has a pair of an early type seats . I have bought a beige rubber band for the seat bottom, but this time I didn’t intend to supply it because Mr. Sudo ‘s band is very attractive for me . I will not take my blue 240Z for The judged car show anymore , and I think I can make it original look using the rubber band anytime . Kats

Gav, Both had been neglected for some years and both required a 'nuts and bolt' restoration which I believe they are receiving now. Well, I know one of them is being looked after. They were undoubtedly in better shape than what I ended up with and had more savable parts as well. At the time I wasn't willing to do a full restoration and wanted something ready (or near enough) to drive. They also wanted way more than what I thought they were worth but in retrospect they were priced reasonably. By the time 19 came up I had been in the market for some months and saw the values escalate rapidly. I also came around to the long term view with this purchase, something which has always eluded me. Must be getting old...