Travel'n Man

Just an update for those of you that are keeping up with my project (almost 2 years now). With all the body panels cut-welded-massaged and fixed by the body shop and the nice paint job they did, and a complete new interior(excluding dash), I just could not let the old wheels stay on the '72. I also had a backspace and offset problem with my large tires on the rear. The Ansen Sprints fixed it and now no rubbing issues. I thought the old school look was a must for keeping the car in the '70's era. I hope all of you give me a thumbs up - I added the stripe as well. Now if we can just get some of this salt off the roads.

I got a 1930 I'll swap for the Nissan GT-R.

I would have to agree with Zak as well. Get yourself one of the catalogs, Black Dragon or MSA and generate a "wish list". Add up all the things you want to do by section. If you have a friend or a buddy that can help thats great. If you don't you need to go and get some estimates for engine removal and body work or learn as you go (that is what a lot of us have done with the help from this community. You can focus on the underbody and engine first or focus on the body and then the engine. It's your car so take the projects you want to first. Nobody says you have to bite the entire project at once. From first hand experience you can work your way up the $20K mark in a hurry. Figure out a time line and a budget and work it from there. My project took 2 years and I've still go more to do. The old saying "plan your work and work your plan" is the way to do it. Best of luck and share some pictures with all of us. My first Z was a '73 back in '78 (white with red interior). What a great memory!!

I could not find a picture of a silver car but I did find one with an orange Z.

My '72 is back in the body shop getting some final touches. A few paint issues, compound/buff, badges and a black 240Z stripe. I'll post pictures. It should be out by this Friday.

Unlike Arne, I am located on the east coast. Lucky enough when I was at my glass installer with my '72 the PPG rep was at the location selling them glass. He called his office and they did not have any totally clear glass for me at that given time. The glass I recieved looks great and there is a slight band of tint only at the top. Good luck with your search. My bill was 313.00 for install and glass. I furnished the weatherstrip. I also had them re-install my original rear glass (I supplied the weatherstrip) and that was $50.00 to install. Hope that gives you a recent pricing guide. Best of luck, just make sure you shop is insured incase of brakage. Better them than you!

Great looking Z!

I just had my front windshield replaced last month. I had my window center complete the job and not my restoration shop. The first window (PPG) went in broke, they filed their claim under thier insurance and the second window (PPG) went in like a charm. I tried to get a non-tinted windshield but the glass company could not allocate one for my window repair center. The window looks great and does not leak. No wind noise either. Best of luck!

Mike, Words of advise................If you think (and you are being advised that they will rub) don't buy them. Step down one size in width and height, unless your checkbook can fix the future problem. Nice phat tires are cool but a wasted $500 and a continual rub would be embarrasing:stupid:(not to mention potential damage to your fender wells............it's just not worth it IMO). The PO of my car had 15X7 with not enough backspace for either size tires (yes, two different sizes on front 195-60-15 and back 225-60-15). I am purchasing a new set of wheels trying to fix that problem and hoping it will correct the tire clearence on the fender wells (if not I will have to purchase new tires as well). If I do have to purchase tires I will promise you I will not "push the clearence" issue. Rubbing tires everytime you go around a curve or hit a dip is not cool. If I have to purchase new tires after I get the wheels installed they will all four be the same size so I can rotate properly and maximize the life of the tire, but it will be a nice soft compound that sticks......you gotta love those curves.....just so your not fender rubbing!!

Mike, You may want to get a tire calculator and see the different tire sizes and the actual widths in inches. I just got finished doing that and it is a lot easier to understand with width and height in inches instead of tire sizes...........good luck, those wheels look great and are priced right also. You may want to try Summit Racing, they have free shipping. I just purchased a set of A/R Ansen Sprints ...........be sure to check your backspace depth.

How new is the door weather seal? I believe the dovetails act as a guide. If your weather seal is new then it will take a while (and the sun heat) to help soften them up for the door to close a little easier. IMO

Looks great, 905 is my second favorite color.........nothing better than a freshly painted Z car!

Rob, I would have to agree with Carl. These are great automobiles and bring a great joy to anybody that has ever owned or driven one - everybody has a story about a Datsun Z car. But in the real world they are expensive to restore and once it's completed the market really doesn't support the cost to restore (kinda crazy isn't it?). I would have to guess that anybody on the forum that has recently done an on or off frame restoration has a minimum of $20,000 invested. Carl is right, if you save you money you can buy a good Z car in good shape for $10,000 or less. Restoration is kinda like an addiction, "once you get a good taste you just keep coming back for more". I wish you luck if you decide to continue (of couse none of us know your finiancial condition) and I can totally understand you wanting to restore your grandfathers car.......I hope my future grandson one day will want to refresh mine. I would start with a body shop coming over to inspect the car and give you an estimate to bring it back to life, and I would do the same with a family mechanic. Get some solid estimates. Then order a Black Dragon catalog and a MSA parts cd and do your restoration on paper. Then you can make an educated choice on fixing up the car. Be sure to be honest with yourself.....and your budget. One more thing, since your grandfather gave you the car (as long as promise not to sell it) and if you have a space to store it the one item that will bring the car to it's knees is rust. That would be my first consern to fix. After that is corrected get the car out of the weather, in the dry, and store it until your life allows you to take the next step. Keep us posted on your choices to follow.

Welcome to the site Johnny Rock. Be sure to give us lots of pictures of your progress. There is a ton of knowledge on this site. Welcome.

The MSA replacement skin kits do have the stainess steel breather holes.

OBX, I just got mine out of the body shop (it was in for 400 days). I purchased two cans of rear tail light finisher from Les at Classic Datsun. I took one to my paint tech that painted the car and he mixed the color based on the PPG computer. The final was a very nice color and I though the match was extremly close, if not on the money. Let me know if you are interested and I can get the PPG paint code and share it. Les charges 27.00 per spray can + shipping. I'm sure the PPG paint will last longer and handle the UV rays better than a rattle can. If you need a spray can I can sell you the one I have (unused) for less than the cost of a new one. Good luck on your project. Keep us posted with pictures.

Randy, I am finishing up from a restoration as well. Keep us tuned in with pictures. I'm just a few hours away from you. The company I work for just built a new distribution facility in Knoxville this year. We'll employee about 500 people with about 500,000 sq ft of warehouse. There is a good Z Car source for parts in the Knoxville area with tons of parts for sale - Z Barn. Just be sure to double check all your parts. I purchased a front overrider and took it to Elizabethton - TriCounty Plating. They did a great job on the chrome work but once I got it back home (6 weeks later) I found out it did not fit my front bumper.......so always double check. I guess I will ebay it out. Good luck with your project.

A question to the group. Which is the best of the two products for the underpadding of the transmission tunnel, jute or closed cell foam. Let me know your success story and where you found the product you used. I am finishing up with installation of Extreme Dynamat and need to put a underpadding on my tunnel over the upcoming weekend. I've already reviewed the search engine on jute and underpadding but have not found the ultimate responce. Oh yea, by the way, the glass company broke my first windshield yesterday, re-ordered and installed this morning with success. Thank goodness for warrenty and having the glass shop do the install. 323.00 for the install including the glass and labor, and $75.00 to install the rear (I supplied the gaskets and reused the old glass). Any assist would be greatly appreciated!:classic:

E, Thanks for the heads up. I called the AAA last night and told them my car had no windshield and they said no problem. I still have 7 tows left for this calendar year because I have only used one.

Zak, Thanks. Once I get the interior in and the car buffed and finalized I post the before and after. They are calling for snow and in my area they use salt on the roads. I've been thinking since I'm a AAA member and get free tows, I might as well us them to get it to the window shop and the muffler shop and back home. At this point, anything is better than salt. I've got the interior staged in my billards room so that is my project for the next several days and evenings. Thanks for the kind words.

John, The color is 110 Red PPG two stage. At first I thought it was 918 orange and the body shop mixed 1 gallon and it was the wrong color (I'm glad they didn't charge me for that - paint is expensive). The color was a great match to the inside of the spare tire well. Good luck on your choice. The 110 seems to change from a reddish to orange based on the light in the room. It is mixed with 90% orange so it's not pumpkin orange like the 918 but does have a reddish / or darker tint. This car was completely disassembled, all panels worked on and brought back to original condition. Some metal had to be replaced, then individually painted, and then reassembled. All of the weather striping was replaced and all the gommetts will be replaced over this week. It has been a long drawn out process due to most body shops are production shops and do not do restorations. Some body shops will take a winter project to keep them busy between insurance jobs. I tried to post some more before and after pictures but they will not finalize. I'll try later this morning.

Believe it or not, after 400 days of torture........my '72 Z car is finished, or at least 99.9% and ready for me to pick up from my body shop tomorrow before the snow starts flying in the afternoon. Wouldn't you know it as soon as it gets out of the body shop it's parking in the garage for hibernation for the winter. Once salt hits our roads tomorrow night thats it for the Z car until spring. The quality of the workmanship is excellent. I did elect not to have the car buffed yet due to putting in the interior. The next stop is the front and rear windsheild and the correct muffler (but that may wait until spring). The interior should be fun and a lttle challanging. If any of you have any tips for the interior panels let me know (I do need the sequencing of the panels if anybody has done that recently). I did hire my tech to work with me for the past few nights putting in the headliner and the area around the headliner (I figured my wife might shoot me if I had her involved in that part - what a difference Duramat Ultimate makes - tremendous). The rest is sound deadener, dash cap, console, carpet, radio, speakers and so forth. Just in case you are wondering.......... I did purchase the car from a deadbeat liar on e-Bay from California that totally misrepresented the car but I only had one option after I had it shipped from California to North Carolina............ Have a great weekend............I'll be in the garage!!

Zak, Thanks for the vote of confidence. I failed to order new roof rails and pillars and they just got delivered yesterday from MSA. This project is much more expensive than I originally budgeted. All of us need to keep the value and prices up on these cars so our investment will increase. It kills me to see a fairly nice restored Z car go on ebay for a song and a dance when you know the owner is loosing money. :stupid:

My paint was finalized yesterday. The techs are going to have to go back a catch a couple to three issue but overall everything is painted and waiting for re-assembly (they are going to undercoat as they put it back together to make sure all panels and underneth are covered. I live in a snow belt in the mountains of NC near the ski lodges but do not plan on driving on the NC roads due to salt and brine. I had purcased a can of spray paint from Les (the one that is made for the coloring of the rear panels and the front grille). My paint tech put it on the PPG color gizmo and got an exact match for the rear panels. I'm sure the PPG paint will out live Les's with UV and heat. I will try to get the color code and post so everybody can have it for future reference. Hopefully I can get the car back by this coming Friday and begin working on the interior.

Call David at Courtsey Nissan. I am going to be installing mine hopefully Tuesday or Wednesday of this week. Let me get mine in and I'll let you know the piece count per item number that you will need. David had to special order a couple of different item numbers for me but they were all accessable.