Z Kid

I cant claim that webpage, its all Alan's doing, but he seems to have some amazing trick bits kicking around the garage. The baffling seems to be depending on wether or not its an early or a late car, maybe something to do with airconditioning etc, you can also see the undertray on the "fake" does not extend as far back. Cheers Chris

26-thZ the lower belly pan of the nose and the bumper seems to be the best way to tell. Below is a picture of a real lower pan (courtesy of Alan's gallery) its amazing the amount of detail that goes into keeping the car cool, and fresh air where needed. http://alansphotos.fotopic.net/p969893.html Whilst the knock off's/replicas seem to be lacking most of that as seen by my attached image. I've only had one mocked up on my car, but apart from working out the bonnet tension rods, its all just bolt on and play from what I can gather.

The clock is Jeco I think, well it is in the 240 and its KS in the 260Z (Kanta Seiki?) Cheers

If its going to be the rally car, is clear the best of ideas? Its a lot easier to patch up acrylic paint and blend in well, than it is to patch up acrylic paint with clear on the top. Also if you really want the deep shine you do your base coats, then a 50/50 clear base coats, then 60/40 etc and a few coats of pure clear but thats near impossible to match for the average backyarder should, heaven forbid you get showered with rocks as you overtake a fellow gravel track driver. Either way I am sure it will look great. Cheers Chris

The rope through the hood catch was to hold up the front part of the transmission, so you could just push straight forward once all your heights were right. I had it all lined up, then just shoved forwards and put in one top bolt to hold it all in place. It worked ok, but it meant the job took far longer than it should have. Also had a few false starts as on the forward shove, my rope would slide downt he bellhousing and mean the tranny was at an odd angle. Normally for a slab of beer, a few mates can be persuaded to help, and you can make a night out of it. Good Luck Chris

A piece of rope and a big bar, or better yet some old seatbelts, one bit goes around the guts if the tranny and through the gearstick slot to hold it there and the other around the bellhousing and onto the bonnet catch. through the catch part. It worked alright for me, a bit of fiddling to get it right though. Good luck, you really need a second person, even if they are just there to wiggle bits and pieces and slip the first couple of bolts in.

I maintain that those figures are sketchy to say the least, I researced 240Z no 131 (or was it 134) when it was tentatively for sale here a while back, according to its original owner that was the first officially imported Z into SA, and one of Alans friends has a firwall number in the teens from a wrecks Australian Z I think from memory? So when in 1969 they say 0, they cant really mean that can they, if these were official nissan imports bought from a dealer? Given the varied specs of Aus 240's especially I think we were as was mentioned before just a dumping ground for all sorts of RHD models, and it would be impossible to establish the exact number imported? IE I have seen 73Z's with the side repeaters in teh guards, without them, with the UK style indicators on the bumper and with nothing at all and no holes in the bumper. It may give a rough guide, but I'd say very rough at best. Cheers Chris

I was in the local paint shop buying some nice 2 pac black undercoat for the panels I am stripping, and two pac or acrylic topcoat can be applied directly over 2pac undercoat. The logic in his mind for applying other primers over the top was etch primer tends to be a thin layer which is gone after you do anything more than a fine wetrub, meaning you are back to the start and doesnt fill surface imperfections as well as other undercoats do. So if its not going to be rubbed back to nothing, it should be fine. Just out of interest are you going 2pac or acrylic? Cheers Chris

It really depends a lot on the brand, when I got the stuff to spray the landrover (protec I think?) I was told by a friend (not the paint seller) that for best results I had to etch prime, then normal prime before topcoating it, that was with single pac of course, ask the place that sold it to you, they should know. Cheers Chris

I wouldnt recommend using 40 grit on any body panels, let alone the thin steel of a Z, those seemingly fine scratches it leaves will involve heaps of hi build primer and fine rubbing back to remove from the top coat. I'd hesitate to use 80 grit on a random orbital sander, let alone an angle grinder. Maybe try using a chemical stripping agent and a flat scraper with the corners ground off?

If its taped onto the car, get a piece of strong fishing line (nylon stuff) tie each end of a bit about 30cms long to a lump of dowel and just work it back, cutting through the tape, then use a goo remover to remove the rest.

Here we have Bug Off, stuff you put in your washer bottle that removes even the most stubborn bugs and goo, especially those sticky locusts. It is interesting what you say about car accessories though, we dont have those bug deflectors, we dont use sand ladders on 4x4's (which is stupid considernign the conditions) we just done seem to catch on to anything. Cheers Chris

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=6783&item=2469891671 This one looks like a much earlier car.

I just remember seeing a blurb about it in the back of a classic cars magazing, and thinking that for what was on paper, it had a huge amount of claimed horsepower. Oh well, sooner or later I am sure it will pop up on someone elses website.

Look on the bright side Alan, at least they are not trying to sell your car . Things could be a whole lot worse, however it is fairly cheeky to knock off random internet pictures without giving credit where credit is due. I dont suppose you have any pictures of the white and blue (I think) G-nosed Z in your archives do you, I seem to recall seeing it for sale a while back? Cheers Chris

Sounds to me like the problem encountered is the earth has become muddled somewhere along the way, so when the brake only is applied, both filaments will light up very dimly and ineffectively instead of a single fillament lighting up brightly, surely its worth a check?

What are you talking about alan, they are almost identical, I mean they are both 240Z's what more could your general public want. "I am impressed by the research, the detail, and the depth of Vintage Racecar. " Sir Stirling Moss Hmm someone cheapened their name for a free subscription maybe.

I reckon datniss is still around, somewhere down south in SA, they have been doing datsun and nissan stuff forever, and I think they have a good reputation, mind you the guy there is affectionately known as "goldfinger", every Z part he touches turns to gold and is priced accordingly.

SBlake, the offer was for 200B parts, let me know what you're after

There is a local guy here who I know has a couple of coupes and a fair few bits, let us know what parts and I shall ask round the car club and see what pops up. Cheers Chris

You'd be surprised, basically all parts are available for them here in Australia if you are willing to pay, but pay you do, and they are repros, there is a resto shop here and his rule is if he can sell 20 units, he will make them, but boy does he charge, a tad over 50k is the going rate for him to restore your GTB, he has three in the workshop as I type. Cheers Chris