motorman7

Cleaned then painted the inside of the fenders with POR-15, then a light undercoat. Installed and aligned fenders and side marker lights along with a few engine items. Here is a quick phone pic of the car along with my embarrassing garage stuff in the background. We're getting closer. I really need a larger place. Will pick up the hood and remaining body parts next week.

Here is another source. A bit pricey but very reliable. https://jdm-car-parts.com/products/master-vacuum-decal-for-datsun-240z-260z-280z

The four screws secure an air dam that is above the radiator. It has the hood profile on top. I am guessing it reduces airflow into the engine bay to improve cooling. I think it is unique to the '73 and '74 model years. I am unfamiliar with it and can't find it in the manuals. @Carl Beck is more familiar with this. I need to find out if I need to attach a weather strip to the top of it. I would think the weather strip would be similar to the cowl weather strip.

Installed the plated parts. Started the install of the plumbing for the flat tops. Boy, lots of tubes here. Here are the latest pics. Also installed the fuel door and hinges.

Awesome! Got my BSME over 35 years ago. In all that time, I think I have only been out of work for two weeks, so it's been a great degree to have. Now I am trying to get unemployed. ?

Picked up the fenders, fuel door and hinges yesterday from paint shop. Fenders are just resting in place. Will probably wait till engine is done before I do actual install. Also got the last of my plated items. Will get most of the plated items on the engine tomorrow.

The rubber piece for the '73 bumperette's is impossible to find. So, I figured I would order the earlier (70-72) bumperette rubber and see how that fit. Actually, it fit pretty well. The length of the rubber strip is exactly the same and the two end studs are also in the correct location for attachment. However, there are two center studs on early rubber and just one on the '73, and the locations are different. To make the early rubber work on the '73, I cut off one of the studs (The one that sits on top of the metal stud that attaches part to bumper) and drilled a hole in the bumperette where the other center stud would land. This worked very well and am pretty happy with the results. I put in the last of the vinyl and panels (just a few final fasteners and rivets to install). I ended up going to the local auto upholstery shop to have them hem up the wheel well cover portion that had the missing hem. It took them just 10 mins and was cheap, $10. The vinyl was fairly easy to put in, the panels were again a challenge. The holes do not line up well. I will probably send a note of to the manufacturer, letting them know about this issue. The new chrome vents came in.....thanks @Zup I will pick up the last up my plating items today along with the fenders.

Got the steering wheel finished up.

Fortunately, the steering wheel was not in too bad a shape prior to the start as it had a steering wheel cover over it for a portion of its' life. @jayhawk could add a little more detail to that. The steering wheel is pretty much a 'minimalist' restoration. It was fairly dark at the start, which I think is mostly from a lot of crud (accumulated dead skin, oils, candy bar coatings, etc). All I did was wipe down the wheel with paint thinner to remove the dark gummy material that accumulates. Then, I lightly sanded with 220 grit sandpaper till the brown dust started to appear. At that point I stopped and move to the next section. I sanded mostly in a circular direction on the drivers side of the wheel. I sanded, perpendicular to that on the finger or bumpy side, so that the high parts of the bumps were not worn off. If you sand circular on that side the valleys will be dark and the bumps light. The area with the smallest diameter on the wheel was a bit darker than the rest for some reason. I wasn't exactly sure if this was still 'gummy material' of just darker wood, so I sanded this area a bit more, till it was similar in color to the majority of the wheel color. After that, I just sprayed with two coats of gloss clear. I have used some red oak stain in the past, but the color seemed to be just about right, so I left it as is (I sprayed a light gloss clear coat over a portion to verify the color) . I was aiming to get it just a little darker than the stick shift knob shown in the picture. If the wheel would have been too light, I would have sanded off the small gloss section and used the stain. I will spray the center spokes satin black in the next day or two. Need to get new dash vents....

Hi Carl, Yes, the vinyl as received is what I would call 'two-ply'. It seems as though it is heat-staked or glue to a vinyl of the same thickness which makes it a bit puffy. It is very nice material, but is definitely thicker than the stock material which I believe is single ply. The two ply makes it a bit harder to work with. The folds, from when the manufacturer packed everything are a bit difficult to undo. I have had to lay the pieces out in the sun in order to help flatten everything and reduce the creases. Hopefully those flatten out over time. It is beautiful material and high quality, but not exactly like the thinner stuff on the original cars. The panels were really a challenge and all required trimming. Again, they are thick and of very nice quality, however, their are issues with them. The holes for the rivets on the bottom of the panels aligned fairly well, for the most part. The upper part was a big problem. There is a lip on the panel that does not allow you to move the panel hole to where the hole in the body is. The hole was off by about 3/8". I attached a quick CAD pic to show the problem. Not sure how clear that is. In order to install the panels, I had to trim off the lip to install the rivets. Fortunately, the weatherstripping rubber covers over the edge, so it is not an issue. Although, trimming the panel was fairly difficult because the panels are about double the thickness of the originals. The seats, vinyl and panels are all made by Distinctive Industries. This is the same manufacturer that made the seat covers for the Franklin Mint car. You can tell by the deep texture in main part of the seat.

Put in the rear panels, light and turn signal assemblies, and started steering wheel clean up. Will update more later.

Wow! That picture of all those Z's is incredible. Amazing...I am in awe. Wow. PS: yes, had good conversation with @Zup. Makes me think I will not put on insulation till after ZCON. Its safer I think

ZCCA judging question: I noticed in the judging manual that the stock Z car must be in the "exactly as shipped from the factory" condition. For the 1973 Z cars, there was a service bulletin that later installed items such as the insulation that cover the fuel lines among other things. Based on the manual verbage, my understanding is that the insulation should not be on the car for the official judging. Does this sound correct?

Technically, this is just one of a number of 'Blips' in the Z car world. While this is double what might be considered by Hagerty a 'Concours' level car, it's rarity is what makes it valuable. This pretty much goes with anything in a free market economy. Other Z car 'Blips' in the $100K range would be any of the gold medallion cars, the VZ cars, Very low S/N cars and low mileage original unrestored cars. These cars are going off in the $100K range RIGHT NOW, they are just not as publicized as this one. Yes, this is a minority of the Z car population, but it is reality. Yes, the average price of a very nice condition restored Z is going to be in the $30-60K range, but the cream of the crop are commanding top dollar and truly worth what the market will pay. Unfortunately, most of us are not in that market.

Replaced the old Pioneer speakers with new Pioneer speakers. I installed the new speakers on each side, however, there is no wiring going to the passenger side speaker. I guess that can be hooked up in the future if needed. Cleaned up the antenna and did a little straightening so that it operated smoothly. Got the antenna installed along with a bit of sound deadening material. The rear end of the car is mostly complete at this point. My panel rivets should arrive tomorrow, so I will start with the panel install

Just had to share this....the Petersen Museum did a nice photoshoot of my roadster when it was there. Here is a link to the photos. Looks pretty cool with the white background, white on white. https://ted7.smugmug.com/Cars/Professional-Party-Photoshooti/Petersen-Museum/n-VpDPSh/JDM-Exhibit/Datsun-1600/

Very cool and thanks for sharing a little bit of history. Looking forward to watching the restoration. ?

Wow, love the powdercoating. I may have to learn how to do that.

That switch is looking pretty corroded. A new one would be nice. The only item that I can answer above is that you do not need to remove the dash as the connections are close to the bottom of the dash. You will have to remove the kick panels. Those are definitely easier.

Got the evap tank in Along with the fuel tank items and rear fuel lines. Since this is not very visible, I did on spend much time cleaning things up. Also, you can see the missing hem on the vinyl here. Good thing the wife can sew. She has made stick shift boots and hand brake covers in the paste. Nice!

Test Picture

The interior really looks great and even better in person of course. For what it's worth, this interior kit is made by the same company that made the interior for the Franklin mint car, currently on BaT. The quality is excellent....except for that missing hem. Will try and show pics of that tonight.

More upholstery pics. Got the seats complete and mostly installed. That white sure is bright .....I end up washing my hands every five minutes to make everything stays nice and clean. I really love the colors and think this area will look pretty nice once I refinish the steering wheel. Need to check with @jayhawk about the seat risers. With the new seat foam, you sit pretty high. I sat in the passenger seat that still had the black plastic risers installed and my head touched the headliner. For the drivers side, I took the risers off of the rear attach point of the seat since @jayhawk is fairly tall. I think his wife is a bit shorter and she may want the risers. Anyway, once we get that figured out, I will secure the seats in. (I had the drivers seat stacked on top of the passenger seat for several weeks and it made a depression in the middle of the passenger seat foam. I am guessing that will fill back out over time or after someone starts sitting in it). Got the vinyl installed on the rear shock tower areas also. That is the difficult section to install. I wanted to finish out the wheel well vinyl, but the factory missed putting in the hems on the ovelapping edge. Wife says she can sew that up for me. It's surprising, as I recently installed a blue vinyl kit from the same manufacturer and the hem was done correctly. This one was overlooked. Got the parts that were sent earlier this week wire wheeled and off to the Plating shop. Also started the evap tank hose install. Will hopefully finish that out tomorrow and post pics.

And here are two quick upholstery pics from the camera phone. Should have more to show this weekend.

There are a few, but also a few items in which I am thinking that my stuff isn't correct and this one is. It's kind of like a 'Where is Waldo' game to me, where you try and find the items that are not correct. The one item that has me intrigued is the antenna stack. There is a missing black collar that would be in the middle of the antenna stack and it does not seem to affect the assembly. It intrigues me because I have good top and bottom pieces for the '73 antenna, but all my middle sections are severely oxidized. Maybe I don't need it.