bpilati

WTF

I'm going to need a Certificate of Authenticity. 😆

How come your score is bigger than mine? I'm suffering from score envy. 😅

So if you do quality work on the restored portions (assuming the rest of your paint, and rubber components are very good), you can detail and buff the rest. A good painter can try to match color. All this and you might get by with it.

A "quick" paint will diminish the value of your car. Don't be a cheapskate. BTW 240Zs didn't have clear coat. They were painted with single stage paint.

Same as the rest of the car, there's no undercarriage color.

What clips? If you're talking about the gutter trim, I think you just press it on.

Have the painter sand the area. If it's just filler, drilling is unnecessary.

So they were welded closed?

Very difficult to tell from here. Light conditions can easy change the look. Nevertheless it seems off. Did he use a paint matching camera?

I didn't study the old dash really hard when it was out of the car, but I found the quality and fit of Hung Vu's reproduction extremely good. They're not perfect, but they're biggest advantage is that they are new, and not 50 years old. Even an unused Nissan dash in the box, is still 50 years old, and will cost you your retirement. I guess I should have taken lots of photos. I had the job done, and it was part of a much bigger project.

Yes!

HCP?

Y'all should post photos of the mirrors on your Zs.

I think in most cars the area under the cowl is the same as the rest of the car.

There are multiple pieces that cover all that.

Yeah it's damn tight. I remember it being really hard to get the screws in. Careful you don't cross thread them. Keep trying. Get a helper.

Stop worrying so much, those are not areas famous for rusting out.

I don't remember us having specs. Carl Beck sent the company a set of the Euro Spec II springs to test, as I remember. I believe they're about 15% stiffer than stock US springs. I have a set of those on my car now. They tend to make the car sit higher than it should, due to the the effect of modern gas pressurized strut inserts that didn't exist in the original 240Z.

I used Rust-oleum Metallic Flat Soft Iron, and been very satisfied. I think it's very close to original. Sent from my SM-G973U1 using Tapatalk

Like Iacoca saving Chrysler maybe. At some point you have to accept that fact that higher up tend to get credit for things their underlings or lower ranks actually physically did or thought up. That's how the world has worked for thousands of years. I get what you're saying, but it's not reality. Did he pick the gear ratios? C'mon! Do we really know if the Z would have happened anyway, or in the fashion it ended up in? Different countries have different constraints, you know this. Did he suggest a MSRP, probably. That was his bailiwick. Did Matsuo work within those constraints and many others to meet a cost point. Probably. Did Matsuo design every door knob himself. Of course not. Other engineers and designers were involved of course. Who gets the eventual name recognition? Higher ups. Now could we please end the debate, I think it's run its course?

Kats, I don't see it. Could you please point out the difference in features and shape of pre-72 seats?

I don't know anyone who said or felt that Mr K was an engineer, or designed anything. I see him as a marketing guy, who's support moved the project forward among a hesitant management adverse to risk. He was a risk taker, and saw a car that needed a executive level supporter. Clearly he saw something in the car, and probably had a hand in helping Japan understand the American market and what kind of car would interest Americans. I never heard he had anything to do with the design except from the point of capturing the likes and dislikes of American drivers. Apparently he complained for years about the lack of power. Americans were building stylish muscle cars while Japan was sending over anemic tin boxes. Now if that's not the story, then maybe Mr K wasted his time coming over here in the first place, wasted his time coming to Z conventions, and made galactic fools out of all of us.