motorman7

Nice looking car, but the dash is a bit odd. Would be nice to have a little history on that.

Made some more progress this week. Got the soundproofing in on the doors, firewall and the front floors. I used the Noico mat because I like the weight and flex of the material. It makes a huge difference in the interior sound level when the car is running. I also like the feel and sound of the doors when they close with the Noico mat. Without the mat, the doors have that tinny 'tink' sound when you open and close them (drives me up the wall). With the Noico mat installed, the sound is like a modern car. You get the solid, deep 'thunk' when you close the door. On my yellow Z, I have the mat in the drivers door and nothing in the passenger door just for demo purposes. People are pretty amazed at the the difference in sound. Started the heater and fan install, got the shifter installed along with a new rubber boot. Also got the handbrake installed. Cleaned and installed the speedo cable and then disassembled the seats. That was a task. The lower bolts were rusted in pretty good and I had to drill the head off of three of them. After that, used the vise grips to thread the 'headless' flat head' screw out the far side of the fitting. The rear frame of the seat was pretty corroded, so I will drop that off at the powder coater tomorrow along with the stock rims that I picked up last week. I removed the old interior vinyl around the door pillars and roof headliner. All the new vinyl is in along with the seat foam and vinyl. I was tempted to install the headliner today, but will wait till I am a little bit farther along. The snow white interior will probably pick up marks pretty easy so I will definitely be careful with it. Here are a few pics..

Thanks Guy! The profits are used to support my Z habit......I probably need to go to rehab.

Got the rear quarter windows cleaned up and installed. Also have the rear panel finisher temporarily installed with some small screws (Yes, I think that is my finger). Waiting for my small rivets to come in. Started work on the front firewall as well. It's starting to look like a car. Will probably get going on the doors next.

It's not. Pretty sure they use the same mirror as the Z cars. Glad you have that home and best of luck with the restoration. Those are such great looking cars.

Got a few more items in. Got the rear tail lights in along with the side markers.

Got the motor in yesterday. Was great to have @jayhawkstop by and lend a hand.

Got a few more bits and pieces done, prepping for the engine install on Saturday. Got the transmission cover cleaned and painted. Also got the Flywheel surfaced. I finished polishing the two rear mags and got the Bridgestones mounted. Installed those on the rear. Cleaned up the clutch master cylinder and cleaned up the Brake booster. Really looking forward to getting the motor in. @jayhawk is going to drop by and help out with that. Motor should look pretty nice once in the engine bay

Two reasons really: One, I have always done it this way. I actually find it pretty easy to do it this way and can usually do the whole process by myself. The only tricky part is the final mate in getting the trans shaft splines to line up with the clutch plate splines. Usually just a little rocking of the motor does the trick. Also, I am not lifting as much weight. Second, my garage ceiling is a bit low and not really sure if I can get the height I need when the two are mated. I can touch my garage ceiling when standing on my toes, so maybe its 8.5 feet high. I haven't tried it, so I can't say for sure, but I am thinking it would be an issue. My driveway is sloped, so that wouldn't work as an alternate location. Would have to move to the street to get flat surface and not really sure that I want to do that, cause then I have to push it up hill into the garage.

I actually tried this (may have read it on one of your posts on a different thread) but I experienced mixed success. The RTV stayed put on some items and not on others. Not sure why that was. Your 'in house' tumbling is probably a big help since you can see if the RTV held or not. Got the transmission and drive shaft cleaned up and installed. Also picked up an Exedy Clutch kit from Rockauto. Installed the throwout bearing on the sleeve and installed on the transmission along with the fork. I will drop the motor in next weekend. Had to throw in an engine bay before pic just for reference.

Glad you have the car stored. Some of those roadster parts are getting crazy expensive....more expensive than Z parts. The stainless trim on the sides looks nice. Other than the bumpers and the hood dent, not bad.

Yes, boots are banded and painted black. Sprayed with Dupli-color 'Dark Shadow Gray' then clear coat 'matte clear'. Yes, I will use this for the rear finisher panel. Car will retain the original dealer supplied mags, but I do also use this for hub caps. Les Cannady at Classic Datsun Motorsports used to sell this custom made, but he says it is no longer available due to California paint standards. The Dark Shadow Gray and matte clear is now what he currently uses. It is pretty close to the original.

Made some nice progress this weekend. Got the front grill and bumper brackets installed. Got the differential restraining strap, differential and half shafts installed. The differential went in pretty easy with my new Costco jack. Just set the diff on the large rubber pad and lifted it into place. Also, @jayhawk stopped by to look the car over. Glad he was able to see the car in person, instead of just the pics.

@Captain Obvious Cost is $140 per batch. A batch is probably about 2/3 of a 5 gallon bucket. Parts that are fairly large, longer than 12", will be done separately at an added charge. As @Zup mentioned, be careful with parts that have internal cavities, diaphragms,etc. They will retain liquid and then bleed on your parts during shipping, discoloring the plating. I put parts in zip lock bags just as Zup mentioned. First time I sent parts USPS shipper, it weighed 33 pounds. I felt bad for the postal guy. Next time I broke it up into two USPS boxes, approx 20 pounds each. I do minimal prep. Paint needs to be removed from parts, other than that grease and rust seems to be acceptable. I usually do a quick wire wheel on parts that have a lot of rust or gunk on them. The color or the parts is about perfect. Let me know if you need any more info.

@Captain Obvious I like the looks of that Hyundai filter. If Nissan was making the filters today, it would probably look more like those.

@Zup Wow, that kit is impressive to see. Those filters are probably worth their weight in gold or more. @jayhawk will bring these filters by on Saturday and we will check them out. The collar is a bit long and it is not 'crushable' but we will check the fit.

Put the rear suspension in this evening. Borrowed a couple tires for the rear. Two more Bridgestones will be here on Saturday, so this is temporary. Lighting is funny as always. The undercoat looks gray. It is actually flat black.

Your right, I should have kept it and left it on the car. Unfortunately, I sold the car late last year and now the beautiful NOS knob is gone. ☹️

I agree with you on the shift map. Bought one and was disappointed, so I ended up re-selling it for a bit of a loss. I ended up buying an NOS one for almost 3 times the price, which looked absolutely gorgeous. But then, the problem I had is that it looked so nice that I didn't want to touch it and cause any wear. Had to shift by just using the stick. ? Oh well

I am running an electrical and a Nikki mechanical fuel pump on my Yellow 1971 Z. I have the electrical on a switch and typically just use it for when I start the car, otherwise I run it on just the mechanical. I use the electrical because I park my Z on a hill and don't drive it very often. Takes forever for the mechanical to get the gas into the carbs when the car sits for so long. With the electrical, I flip the switch, wait a couple seconds, then start the car. Works like a charm.

I'm looking forward to following your progress on this. Will help out with info when I can...Enjoy!!

I used this stuff one the engine bay plate. I like this stuff a lot and use it on the rain gutter trim and similar items.

Sorry, just one more post. Here are my roadster before and after pics.

Actually it was the 2000 that had the timing chain problem. The 1600 motor is overhead valve and if I am not mistaken, the crank is geared to the cam 2:1. 5 speeds came on the 1967.5 and on 2000, never with the 1600. Also the 1967.5 2000 roadster is the Holy Grail of roadsters, very pricey.

Congrats! That is totally awesome. I have to be honest here, I actually like driving my 1600 Roadster more than any of my Z's. I think mostly because it is a convertible. The roadster are also pretty peppy and quite nimble, great cars. And, the women love them! Whenever I bring my roadster to a car show, the ladies are always checking out the roadster. Who cares about that original low serial number Z when that cute little roadster is right there. Oh, and that original gas cap is pretty pricey....keep and eye on that thing.