Namerow

And, as I noted in 2023, that NAPA kit seems to be NLA. But do your own checks. You might just get lucky and find one sitting on some NAPA shop's shelves. I just re-checked my old files. The NAPA kit (PN 6601000) was described as a 'RANCO HTR-100' rebuild kit. It was evidently applicable to the heaters used in the Studebaker Avanti, so it's conceivable that it was used across the entire Studebaker line (Lark, Hawk, etc). A little snooping around a Studebaker owners club website might turn up a lead. RANCO appears to have been swallowed up by Robertshaw. Most of the focus for the RANCO product line these days appears to be in electronic temperature controllers used for commercial/industrial heating systems. I suspect that the 'RANCO' of 2025 may be nothing more than a brand name (i.e. it's unlikely you'll find a RANCO factory with a parts desk). Just one thing, though: I see that NAPA Canada lists something called a 'URO Parts Heater Valve Repair Kit'. A little checking indicates that URO Parts is a brand marketed by A.P.A. Industries (Simi Valley, CA). A.P.A. provides aftermarket parts (incl. cooling system parts) for a variety of European, Asian and North American cars and trucks. In their website, they say: "A.P.A. specializes in accurate reproduction parts for classic vehicles, including a wide variety of items that are no longer available from the dealer". Maybe there might be some leads there. The heater control valve design used in the 510 and Z probably wasn't unique to Nissan. In fact, the Nissan heater design bears certain resemblances to the British 'Smiths' unit that was used in so many UK cars back in the 1950's and 60's. A little investigation along these lines might turn up a British shop that specializes in heater restorations and has a back room filled with obscure parts like a little rubber washer that will fit your 510's control valve. Try this link for a starting point... The MG Experience - Smith's Heater Restoration

Thanks for this latest photo essay. Lots of good insights here into how multiple panels come together in this complicated and structurally-important section of the car. You did some very nice work in forming the two big replacement sections for the upper frame rail. Can you talk a bit about how this was done? Also: What was the gauge of the sheet metal you used? In the 4th photo, there's what appears to be a right-angle drive power tool, with a 3" sanding disk mounted in the chuck. Is this your go-to tool for grinding welds? Who makes it?

Seat cover fit might suffer. In essence, you'll be increasing the height of the side bolsters by 1 inch. The centre panel of the seat cover would end hanging in space above the carved-out foam. Occupant weight will force the cover down onto the foam, but the look (baggy) when the seat is unoccupied might make you wish you'd never tried it. I suggest that you run the idea by an experienced auto upholstery pro before you break out the carving knife

Post some pictures of the rebuilt damper after you get it back.

Fifty-year-old rubber exposed to heat, cold, vibration and air pollution. Aftermarket replacements are available. Your chances of finding a NOS unit are low. Your chances of finding a good-condition used unit are better, but will require you to rely on the quality of the seller's photos. There are a couple of businesses (Damper Doctor, Winslow Mfg) that will re-core your old unit.

You might also consider using vinyl paint. I used it to re-colour my Z's interior (from black to butterscotch). Pix below should give you an idea of the flexibility and adhesion characteristics (I've seen zero evidence of paint lifting over the ten years since I originally did the application). It sprays on easily using an HVLP gun and doesn't require much in the way of surface prep. It took me three coats to achieve full coverage over the black soft and hard trim pieces. We had a supplier in the Toronto area (Parasol) who would custom mix colors from a customer-supplied paint chip (my results we spot-on, based on a small piece that I snipped from the hem of my new butterscotch seat covers). I expect you'll be able to find a comparable supplier somewhere in the U.S. south-east.

$840 (plus shipping) at Motorsport Auto.

I've seen good results achieved by hammering the metal over the long edge of a length of 6" structural I-beam. Use Vise-Grips to clamp the metal to the I-beam. Then hammer from one end to the other, making 3 to 4 passes to get from flat to fully bent.

So, exactly how did you get her up on the cubes? Car looks great, BTW. That's a nice shade of yellow. Will you eventually paint the front spoiler to match?

That rubber glue may be the least of your problems! I've done a Z dash pad restoration, starting with something that had only 25% of the deterioration that yours has. Even at that, it was a time-consuming job. Not only does the pad surface need to be levelled (not easy to get right, given the multiple contours), it's also necessary to 'V' and then feather-edge all of the cracks so that the filler won't crack along the seams. I'll bet it would take you 20 man-hours of effort (or more) to level, edge-treat, fill, sand, and paint a dash pad like yours to a decent level of final finish. But before you even get started down that road, you'll need to convince yourself that what's left of your original pad has enough structural integrity to prevent the pieces from moving around independently when the cabin temperature goes up or down. With its many full-depth cracks, I don't think I would trust your badly broken-up dash pad to meet that requirement. As a litmus test, it would be interesting to know whether a professional dash restorer like Just Dashes would accept your dash for restoration. Maybe you should send a picture and ask them. IMO, your best path forward will be to either: 1) buy a used dash that offers a better starting point for a DIY restoration (as Siteunseen suggests), or; 2) buy one of the replacement dash pads that have recently become available. In the latter case, you unbolt the old pad from the underlying steel structure (known as the 'armature') and then bolt on the replacement pad. There are a couple of threads on this site that discuss these replacement pads. As a third, lowest-cost/effort alternative, you could just replace your old plastic dash cap with a new one.

If, by 'damage', you're referring to the discoloration on the bumper face, it's caused by the fumes from the exhaust.

'Make damn sure your sparks are right before you start messing around with the fuel'. Butch Bohunk, Master Mechanic, Finzio's Sincair Service

For your possible reference, 1970 FSM Figure BF-3 ('Standard body dimensions') gives these as 331mm and 320mm.

Did you clean the bonding surface of the weatherstrip samples with alcohol (or similar) before applying the adhesive?

It would be fascinating to know the how Skinner-Union (way back in the middle of the last century) came up with the bendable-tang-with-a-curved-ramp solution for closing the float chamber outlet valve. Maybe they adopted it from the shut-off scheme used in somebody's toilet tank? 😄 It would all be so much easier if there was an adjustment screw. An external screw would be nice, but even an internal screw would be an improvement. I've often wished that someone would do a plot of the geometric relationship of gas level vs needle valve displacement, so that the effects of bending the tang at its fulcrum could be properly understood. One might also take a look at the effects of changing the tang's radius of curvature. Any volunteers?

Sorry, but... a new set of exterior panels does not solve your 'slightly rusty' Z problem.

I can attest to the fact that the Kia Sportage weatherstrip requires no adhesive (even at the top rear corner of the window) to conform to the shape of the window opening. That's because it uses a more modern design, wherein integrated metal Z-coils replace the need for adhesive or a separate gripper strip. The Kia design also uses a 'lipped bellows' design that provides a more effective seal than the Z's old-fashioned (sorry) cantilevered-lip design. The recent arrival of Z Store's retro-design weatherstripping (i.e. cantilevered-lip design) presents a bit of a dilemma to restorers, because they (apparently?) don't also offer a repro of the gripper strip. If I've got this right, it means that you have to use an adhesive to make the weatherstrip not only conform to the window shape, but also stay that way for some reasonable period of time. If your definition of 'reasonable period of time' is 20+ years, then use just use epoxy and be done with it. Otherwise, I think that 3M's 'old-fashioned' weatherstrip adhesive will do just fine (provided that you read and follow the instructions). It will also offer some forgiveness if you happen to; a) screw up during the installation, or; b) decide, a few years later on, to try something 'more better'.

IIRC, there may be something funky about the the cabin light's wiring and switching logic (even one of the terminals is 'different') that requires a special testing procedure. I'm thinking about how the lamp is controlled not just by its integral switch, but also by the door P/B's (wherein toggling the integral switch can override Door Open/Closed). Bottom line: You may not have a problem at all (emphasis, however, on the word, 'may') Perhaps we should ask CZCC's designated electrical expert (Steve ____? ) for some guidance before you add yet another cabin light to your collection.

I also think it's for the AC (compressor motor switch). Nissan supplied a similar, blue-colored wire (with a bullet-style connector) for that purpose as part of the Z's mini-harness (Item #13 in the diagram above).

I think that adhesive is the only way forward. However, you could always try it first without glue and see whether it can adopt to all of the door contours and then stay in position... especially in the areas of tightest bends. I'm pretty sure that it won't.

My all-time favourite Bondo Queen was a Ferrari 275 GTB that appeared on the FerrariChat website several years ago. It looked so-o-o-o pretty (and cost the new owner about $1.5 Million at the time to make the pivot from 'just shopping' to 'proud new owner'). Nevertheless, he decided to commission a shop to make it 'even better' (including new paint, of course). Unfortunately, when the shop started to prep the body panels for said new paint job, they discovered evidence of filler in places where it shouldn't have been. Digging deeper (literally), they found that the entire nose was nothing more than Bondo. Up to 1" deep in many places. More exploration (excavation?) found deep pockets of damage that made one think that the car had fallen off the top level of an auto hauler and landed on its roof. The shop was stunned by quality of the bondo slinger's work, calling him an artist. When we made the transition from horses to autos a century or so ago, the method of transportation may have changed but the same shysters stayed loyal to the cause and moved from 'horse traders' to car retailers without losing a step.

Interested -- if the price is manageable.

Refer to the figure below (taken from the FSM), which shows how the inner and outer rockers and the floor pan come together. The arrow on the outboard flange of the floor pan shows how the flange aligns with the inner rocker. Note the horizontal rib (with the 'hockey stick' shape at the forward end) that's pressed into Inner Rocker ('Inner Sill). The top of the Floor Pan's outboard flange (designated in the figure by the small black circle) should align with the lower edge of the rib. The line of spot welds that joins floor pan to inner rocker sits about halfway up the floor pan's outboard flange (see photo).

Also: Please discuss your technique(s) for separating spot welds.

How did you close that .25" gap?