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After the successful restauration of the dome light, i thought i need another project. I opened a random storage bn and the first thing that fell into my hands was the Airbox. I'm not even sure if i'm going to use the OEM airbox on the finished car. but i thought it's going to be a fun project anyway. This is how it started: Afte disassembling it, i quickly went through my various parts collection boxes and found a NOS filter (still in box) and a NOS rubber seal for the airbox. The original SU / Hitachi Carb insulators were quite brittly and disappeared once you touched them: At first glance i thought it was just dirty, so i gave it a quick wash. Then i quickly realized that there are many black dots on the "snorkel" that are baked in. Not sure if this is tar from the road, oil stains or some attemt of a "on-the-car" spray paint job. I also ralized that there are some corroded areas, but nothing that can't be fixed. While it was drying, i went through my collection of re-plated fasteners and found some of the fasteners in a nicer, shinier version. It's damn handy to have boxes full of Z-bolts which have been replated. Aside from the corrosion, there was a damage to the snorkel. Not sure when or how that happened. but aside from looking ugly, it also didn't allow the flap to close completely or evenly. So i used my very limited metal hammering skills to get it straight again. Not this is a mid-process photo, that dent on the bottom right side got corrected later too. Now the flaps closes nicely again (tent still not fixed). After realizing that the rubbers are all toast, and the housing needs a repaint / powdercoat anyway, i decided to remove everything and then get some replacement. This is it for part one. More updates will follow. meanwhile i wait for the delivery of some parts Since i need to take it to the paintshop, i will probably postpone the rest of the project a bit until it fits the timeline with other parts that need to be painted.

No, the contact cleaner spray was only used for the switch and not on the wire connecting contacts. To clean the wire connector contacts, i used 1. A brass wire brush to get rid of the worst surface rust and corrosion, 2. Then used the "Metarex" Metal clean and polish wool to get rid of the remaining dirt (this stuff is incredible!). 3. Towel to clean of the dirt and dust from 1. and 2. 4: Contact cleaning strips to get rid of the remaining fluids and stuff from 1-3 and give it a protecive layer with low electric contact resistance.

Regular readers may have noticed that i haven't actually restored anything from my 240Z in a while. Well the reasons were various, but it's time to change that again. I thought i start with a simple part which i had prepared to get done since a while. The interieur dome light: From the outside it was mainly dirty and scratched, and on the backside you could see the contacts and the bulb metal parts were corroded: So first i took it apart The bulb fell apart immdiately without even touching it: First i gave everything a gentle clean in warm soap-water and tried to avoud water coming close to the switch: Next it was time to pull out me secret weapons. I've got an electronics repair background and over the years i've gained a lot of experience which tools and fluids work the best. Here are a selection of my all-time favourites. Which i all used for this project: - Kontakt 60: Contact cleaning solvent (I used it a bit on the switch) - Metarex. Some kind of wool fabric soaked in a metal polish fluid. You rip off a piece and clean your metal surfaces without scratches. - Contact cleaning strips: Perfect to clean corroded electronic contacts (after corrosion is removed with a brush) - Novus plastic cleaning and polish kit. Removes larger and smaller scratches from plastic surfaces and lets you get it back nice and glossy again. After i cleaned and polished everything and had removed the corrosion with a wire brush, i checked the switch, just to ensure it works fine. Which it luckily did. Probably i should test it BEFORE i do all the work, next time. And then assembled it all back together. IKI Japan Dome light switch from the 240Z in all it's glory. Btw. Also found a production date stamp (i guess?) of 3 / 71 on the lamp housing. So it was produced almost a year befor the car got registered in switzerland. While most of the other parts in the car have a production date from end of 1971. It seems like those dome lights were produced in larger batches and then stored before being used. And here the backside with the fresh cleaned contacts. Now i only need to get myself a new bulb. which shouldn't be a big problem. Now i need to find my next project. I missed actually "finishing" something 🙂

Hmm You're right, of course. I don't know why i had the L20 on my mind all the time. The model guide clearly shows L24 and the mentioned model:

It's done! After a few weeks of tinkering around i had it finished. Well, actually, quite a while ago. But it's finally time to show you some details. The kit took me approx 2 weeks of work every evening 1-2 hours. it's not too much of work, and pretty straightforward. the Manual is idiot-proof despite being in Japanese it's easy to make. The difficulty level is so-so. It will be tricky if you never used a screwdriver before. But for me, who didn't really have any experience with such kits it was doable. In my case the previous owner messed up a few things which i had to fix. The kit is intended to be only installed with screws (no glue!) but in some cases, it was nessecary to add some glue to make it more fixed. Some of the parts require quite some force to be installed, while being fragile at the same time. I broke 2 small things, but nothing a bit of superglue could'nt fix. At the end it's a super detailed model car of a Japanese Fairlady Z (with L20 engine). There is light, door light switches, brake pedal switches, many controls are movable (heater control knobs!), and it's pretty much close to the original car, from the chassis frames to all the engine bay and interieur details, it's absolutely incredible. It's a super fun project and well worth the hours spent: Here arew a few details. Frame rails and front axle with steering rack installed: All the lovely details of the L20 engine (yeah, you have to install every ignition wire manually!) Rolling chassis with transmission Propshaft and engine installed: Time for the interieur: Here's an example of all the details. the battery alone is for e.g. 17 Parts: And completed: Or look at the hood hinge: Incredibly close to the original design 12 screws for one hinge alone!! Some parts, like the door lock is as tiny as this: The window have an actual working crank mechanism: Body completed: Time to put it all together: This part was a bit tricky: Batteries for the interieur, headlights, brake lights, etc: And done, including the nice display stand: The interieur is really lovely: And all the details in the engine bay: The tools and towel that came with the kit (original tool pouch got lost by the previous owner): The spare screws, which are leftover at the end (each screw comes with at least one spare): It's not going to be my hobby and i had to swear more than once, but at the end it was a super fun project with a really nice result. And the magazines, dvd's and the car itself are well worth it.

I got myself the encyclopedia of japanese cars the "a quet greatness" books: They cover all the bigger and smaller brands and are written by some well known japense car collectors Brinker and vernis As an S30 owner I'm espeically happy to see many rare and nice photos and a big chunk of one book dedicated to the Fairlady Z and 240Z: And the PS-30 get's it's fare share too, Since one of the authors owns a real Z432: It's limited to 1000 pieces, and not exactly cheap, but definitely worth for the real enthusiast and collector of japanese cars. thousands of beautiful photos, quite well researched and covering anything from the Autozam AZ-1 to the Zagato Autech Stelvio 🙂

Haha yes ST 174-20.001 Kent Moore Timing chain wedge, wood 🙂 Last week i got offered another bunch of parts from a seller which i've bought parts from before. His packages usually contain a lot of mystery parts from other generation Z's, some random Z memorabilia and then some really nice and rare bits for my project in a package deal. This time was no different and the parts arrived today. The lot incldued two very nice hubcaps and two pretty worn ones: A bunch of NOS parts and refurbished ones. I was told the switch with cable on the top center is a "Joker" switch for those blind spots in the center console. I have to figure that out and confirm it first. One of the most important parts for me definitly is the Handbrake divider thing, which was still mising in my parts so far and that "Datsun" horn button on the top left (no brand, but i guess it's aftermarket) which might be nice to fit to one of my aftermarket steering wheels. A set of random new and re-plated fasteners. Some which i can immediately identify as S30, some remain a mystery. Also not all of them are in very good condition despite being replated and beyond usage. But that's no problem, i have most of those parts either new or in refurbished good condition and will just keep them as "spares" in my nuts and bolts box 🙂 The set also included a newer "Option" Magazine about the fairlady Z, which included a starroad tuned S30 and a Car with the Datsunworks Crossflow head. And then this metal model of an 1932 Datsun. The box looks old but i wasn't able to see a manufacturer at my quick first look and i've seen a few of those for sale over the year. anyway. Nice to have in my diecast-corner. And then some other bits and pieces which might or might not be useful at some point of the restauration. that 260Z (i think) center cap is absolutely mint, so i will probably put it up for sale and that bob sharp keychain is definitely nice, at the end it might look like a useless lot of random parts, but from my experience you can never have a good enough diversity of all those small bits and pieces, because i assure you that definitely one of these small little bastards will miss during your assembly and that 50cent item is blocking your assembly for weeks. I have a few nice documents coming in soon, plan to visit another seller soon and also hope to have a visit to the bodyshop again soon. Stay tuned

A while ago i finally saw something for sale which i've been searching for years. And even in Photo form i have only ever seen two of those. The only problem - it is a 6 hour drive away. Well today i spent more or less the whole day driving to middle of germany and back to pick this up: The thing i bought was the Datsun workshop tools from the mid 70ties. It's quite an interesting setup. It's basically a printed foil by a company called "Genku" on a Perforated sheet metal plate. It seems that you could probably buy the foil with the tools as a kit, but you had to put it somewhere yourself, because the foil and the sheet metal don't align 100%. The tools are diveded in 4 sections (from left to right): Motor, Front axle, Rear Axle and Drivetrain. Anyway it was mostly complete with a few bits missing. and then plenty of nice extra tools (Valve spring tool?!) which i didn't have yet and will come in handy. The tools are not all exclusively for the Z but some are. It came from this little former 70ies Datsun Workshop, but the other (the dad of the seller) decided to switch to motorcycle and bicycle repairs in the early 80ies, because he couldn't fulfil the showroom demands from the car companies. Since then the tool wall hung mostly untouched on the same wall. The tools however are labelled with "Kent-Moore" but have the original Datsun part numbers on it. Every tool also has such a kind of sticker on it from the original purchase (Similar to datsun / Nissan spare parts back then): Funny enough i got a "Kent-moore" Datgsun special service tools book / Catalogue a while ago, and i also own the original Datsun / Nissan tool catalogue. so i will definitly do a bit of page-flipping to find out exactly which cars and work each tool is intended for. To my surpries the seller also found a pair of very cool, (child sized) datsun workshop jackets in an old workshop locker, which he gifted to me. These are so rare and almost unused condition, of course i gave him some extra money for those. My guess is That the Owner got those for his kids to "help" him in the workshop. That used to be a pretty common practice, before parents got overprotective and started to keep kids away from all the fun (and danger) of a workshop. At the end he also pulled out a box of random Castrol 70ies / 80ies PR-stuff like stickers and oil-change tags. so if course i grabbed a few. The seller was a bit sad to see his childhood and his dads (who passed a way a while ago) life being sold, but i promised to give it a good home, take care nicely and send him some updates when it's all at it's new place in my garage. That seemed to make him happy and me too. I will definitely try to find the perfect spot for it in my garage or workshop in the coming weeks. I love to meet these kind of people, the stories behind the stuff they have and why they sell it. it makes a 6 hour car drive to pick up some tools worth it even more. Stay tuned. I have plans to pick up another bunch of parts tomorrow after work 🙂

When i recently talked to Florian at Datsun-autowerk.com/. he reminded me of his stock of nice parts, and we made an exchange deal of some things. So i got this nice delivery of NOS (New-old-Stock) parts today, and some extra: It includes a set of inner and outer door handles: Various Door stoppers, hatch stoppers, door lock mounts, etc.: A heater valve and a clutch Cylinder piston: Inner door steps, Door seals, some rubber stoppers and seals: And it also included a nice Japanese Real-X 1/72 300ZX Z31 Model car (thanks for the freebie, mate!) And also a set of nice Japense market Fairlady Z brochures, which were still missing in my collection! Thanks as usual for the excellent service, mate! And stay tuned. another nice Parts delivery is on the way, i bought some more Documents from Datsun Switzerland, and on sunday i will pick up something Cool for the Datsun fans, which i've been searching for for quite some years. And i guess i should visit the bodyshop again soon to check out the progress there.

Went to unload loads of parts to the bodyshop which he needs to continue. I was expecting some progress, but they had plenty of other cars to work on, so mine got pushed back a bit again. Nothing to worry about. They still managed to fine-tune a lot of details since my last visit: They finished the floorpan work and had to hammer it a bit so the original seat rail mounts would fit perfectly again: They also closed the hole that the previous bodyshop left in the tool-tray area behind the passenger seat, but it still needs some work. At least there's no gaping hole anymore. On the other side, th e adjusted the side sill so the door would fit flush again and finetuned some things here and there. On the outside they also opened some areas which will be replaced to see how it is underneath. you can clearly see some previous repair attemts (from before i owned it). you still can see the welding lead poking out there... Luckily the whole rear quarter and inner wheel well will be replaced. so happy that all this rust will be gone. Otherwise not much progress. at least i couldn't see a lot, because the car was surrounded by stuff, so i couldn't really get close. But no problem. I'll visit them again soon to see more progress. Oh and while unloading the parts into their storage area, i could catch a quick look at some of their other work in progress projects. This is only a fraction of the cool stuff you find there. Nice.

Thank you, it was indeed a bit of a hunt 🙂 I already started the assembly and it's so satisfying and fun. A few days ago i got a call from my Panelbeater that they finally got the chassis out of storage again and re-started work on it. This time with two people. Nice! Today i went over to have a look and discuss some next steps and details. Well the progress was much better than expected. First i was greeted by a more or less complete upper front end body. Here you see the two masters in charge of my project. They also proudly showed me their spot-welding machine when i asked how they weld some of the parts. I'm unfamiliar with spot welds but it is quite the machine 🙂 So what happened since my last visit? The right-hand floor pan and inner door sill has been completely replaced and the original seat rail mounts are in the proces of being reinstalled. The bodyshop claimed that some of the welds from the previous bodyshop were not so good so he ended up ripping out everything in order to get it done professionally and replace the self-made panels with the spare KFV Panels i had given them for "just-in-case" requirements like this. While it is extra work and cost, i absolutely approve what they do and i'm more than happy i switched to these guys. True masters of their craft. So the floor / Firewall / Front end section is more or less complete. except maybe for the RH outer side sill which is still under debate: On the LH the KVF lower outer side sill has been modified to fit (still needs some adjustments). What is left missing is the line in the door, which some of the previous owners thought was cool to "shave", so they have to hammer it back in. The roof skin (which was full of small hammer-dents due to a previous damage / repair) is meanwhile also repaired (i wasn't able to see it today, as it was in storage), so after they adjust and finalize all the small details, there are mainly three big tasks: - Fit the rollbar - Replace the LH Rear quarter (and inner wheel well) - Replace the roof skin. Of course there is also hours of detailed adjustments and a chassis-alignment scheduled, and primering of all uncoated surfaces to prevent rust. I have to bring them some parts in two weeks to proceed, until then i'm on a business trip and i really hope they keep up the pace until my return. There is also a new timeline due to various delays and another big (bentley) project, so the body should be ready in Q2 next year. Fingers crossed... Oh, and a bit off topic, but i also managed to find a NOS 240K-GT (Aka GC110 Kenmary skyline) Radiator and Hose at a very old radiator shop in switzerland, which will now be used in my mate Stefan's Datsun 240K-GT Restauration.

@Namerow I saw your requested and just wanted to post the exactly same picture. so there you go. However looking at my pictures, it seems that my car came without a rear wing, overfenders and with the factory Steel-wheels with hubcaps. I have to see, maybe there are some option parts in there, going step by step. Today i got another thing i've been looking for for quite a while. Factory Nissan "Race and Rallye Preparation Manuals". The one on the right side is the "early" version which i had and wrote about already before, but the slighty thicker later version (on the left side), has always been missing in my collection. Luckily i stumbled upon a set of both recently, so i had to get it. The book describes how to prepare your S30 Fairlady Z, 240Z or Z432(-R), with some generic modifications and settings, but also using all kind of "Sports option" or Nissan "Competition" parts. The difference between the early and the later version is, the later versions has a few additional information about standard car parts and competition parts which were introduced after the first version got released, otherwise they're more or less the same. Before you ask. the double "early version" book is not for sale, it's already promised to someone. The third book i got is the "Private Club" LL型 (L-Gata / L-Series) Tuning book. Funnily "Carboy" later released a very similar book with almost the same photo. Not really sure if and how the two brands are related. It's all japanese with many photos and basically describing how to tune and modify your L-series engine for performance and reliability: It's split into different chapters such as block, head, carbs / intake, exhaust, etc.. Tomorrow i'm going to visit my bodyshop to check out the car. There are some rumors they started working on the car again... An'd im going to pick up something very cool and rare for my Friends C110 Kenmary Project which i found close to where i work. So expect some updates soon.

Today i got a package from japan with something i've been searching for for quite a while: A complete Eaglemoss airlady 1/8 Scale magazine Model car kit: It is a set that was issued around 2014. It consisted of a weekly subscription magazine wich came with a box including some parts, so each week you would build your part of the Fairlady until you had a complete, huge 1:8 scale model: It is incredbly detailed too, with lots of electronics, mechanically working details And lots of small bits and pieces to assemble: Most parts are bolted and not glued, but of course there's also glue involved: The body parts and chassis are made of metal and the kit is quite heavy: Each magazine includes a lot of history about the Z-series cars and Japanese Car culture of the time in general, Assembly instructions, interviews with involved people and much, much more. This is the first complete kit i've seen for a reasonable price. The reason might be that some parts (very few) have already been assembled, and probably 2/3 of the boxes have already been opened. but since i plan to assemble it anyway and i was also quite interested in the magazines, i don't care. The set also comes with a display stand: And three folders, where you can store all the magazines. It also included a tool-set in a (sadly missing) nice pouch, a little cleaning towl, a Z hood ornament key chain and a CD with some nice movies of the real S30 fairlady development and testing and additional background information. I guess i know what to do in those winter days 🙂

Recently i went shopping a bit in japan again and the first delivery arrived today: It consists of two pieces: the first one is a NISMO generic purpose electric fuel pump: I'm not sure if this will end up in the Z, but since i stumbled over it while shopping i thought i better secure one of those, as long as they're still available: Here are some specs from the NISMO racing parts catalogue: The second interesting thing i found was a Japanese "change of service provedure" manual. In my opinion it's basically the japanese version of the "technical bulletins" that were vailable in all kind of variants both as single sheets or the better known "Service Shuho" books. I have never seen something similar before, and the price was low, so i just secured them for my collection: This one was particulary interesting because it had the wiring diagrams for the S30 and GS30 inside: But also some changes in the clutch procedure: Ans some other stuff, which i still have to translate:

Haha, Fahren is german for "driving". fährt = "drives". So it means "Jeff Turner drives Nissan". But as a funny coincidence "einen fahren lassen" = let one rip 😂

A while ago i got in contact with an super friendly elderly lady who used to own a Body- and Paint shop on the Premises of Datsun (Suisse) SA in Urdorf. The company was not related to DSSA, but they worked closely together. She handled warranty repairs for DSSA and worked on special cases for them. For example did she install the first 240Z spoilers and mirror after the cars arrived from Japan. She also got invited to some of their company events and therefore has loads of stories and memorabilia. We talk every now and then, and out of the blue i got a box in my mail yesterday. With this cool stuff: She had shown me photos of these items before, but i never thought she would give them to me for free.. what a nice gesture! The large "Brighten up" Poster was new to me, allthough i've seen the two comic faces before: But on stickers with different slogans: I really like the poster and will frame it and hang it in the garage. The rest of the parts? Well here is where things get funny: Jeff turner, an Australian-Swiss country singer, who worked with the likes of Johny Cash, etc was sponsored by Datsun (later Nissan) Switzerland and they had him on many occasions like company festivities and so on. She was a big fan and gave me her whole collection of his stuff including a nicely signed poster, some tour books: You can clearly see he was sponsored by Nissan and he got free Nissan Patrols painted in his colours, w hich was quite famous in the 80ies: They also used him for many promo gigs and presentation of new cars: And even organized a "nissan Festival of Country music": The set also included a sticker with his Patrol and a Pin: And a "Jeff Turner" Bolo Tie: Fun side story: At a Nissan event, they raffled out a Nissan Micra, and the winner wanted it to be signed by Jeff turner, so the Lady prepared the hood for his signature, and clear coated it after he signed it. Here are some photos from her workshop during the ceremony: Myrtha, if you read this i want to thank you from the bottom of my Heart for sharing the stories and your nice collection of Datsun / Nissan Switzerland History with me.

Beautiful rollbar you found there. It's not often they pop up for sale these days. Yes the two detachable plates are included. see grey plate in the picture below from my Mizukami replica:

After closer inspection i think the first figure of the second part of the number is not an "1" (one), but an "I" (large "i") I tweaked the following photo a bit for better visibility: The top mount is also quite strange and doesn't look like something i've seen on a Z. it's basically a big flat dish with some holes. The diameter is much larger then for e.g. the rubber stoppers on the 240Z factory struts. The spring diameter seems similar to the ones from the Z (haven't compared in detail yet), but might look smaller, because of the large disk on top. Unfortunately i'm a bit busy in the next few days and won't find the time to work it out, but i hope next week i'll be able to go through some old compe catalgoues etc. And i'm happy to get any input from you if you have an idiea what car the "I" refers to. 🙂 I Always appreciate your inputs and thoughts 🙂 That might also be a great idea to ask them if we can't figure it out by the swarm-knowledge in this great Forum 🙂

I thought the same. However i remember seeing similar struts with that adjustment knobs being advertized as S30 struts, but that doesn't mean anything. They put the S30 or Z432 label on anything in japan on some websites recently, just to make it look rare and expensive. The original japanese sales ad mentioned they were from a Z432 but as with such purchases from abroad you cannot verify the background story. Since they were so dirt-cheap i thought i get them anyway. The other set i bought is without the adjustment-knobs. so we'll see. i'm trying to figure out more. Strangely it seems to fit physically or visually quite well, most dimensions fit with my factory struts when putting them next to each other... Nevertheless, it was worth the buy and i will try to figure out more. Also curious to compare it to the second set when it arrives here.

Today i got a long-awaited delivery from Japan. it constisted of three parts: 1) An OEM Adjustable factory competition suspension by KYB. I still need to investigate a bit. I'm not even 100% sure if this was intended for this specific version of car, and i know there were many different versions of adjustable suspension around. Especially this part (I assume it's to adjust the push / pull pressure rate?), ius not seen on all of these adjustable suspensions. As you can see it's not in the best, but restorable condition and one spring is missing, so i got it quite cheap. that's the reason i bought it. Mainly to investigate further and figure out the details. Here a quick reference (top: Adjustable / bottom factory Euro spec 240Z): Meanwhile i was even able to buy a second (complete and better condition) set, which is still in japan and will take another few months to arrive here. but yeah, it will definitely give me further insights. I will definitely need to find some time to find out more and will share the details with you. Here is a reference picture from the Competition / Sports option catalogue: 2) The second item i got is an OEM Sports Option / Competition rollbar replica by Mizukami Auto (JP). According to mizukami it is an 1:1 Copy of an OEM rollbar they have in their shop, but with some improvements to simplify installation and fitment. I think the main difference are the mounting plates on the wheel arches. . Which seem somehow pre-assembled (welded) vs the single screwed-together puzzle-pieces you get from an OEM bar, but otherwise seems to be a quite similar design. What is not visible in my photo is a separate lower plate on the wheel-arch mounts, since they are screwed to the mount sin the picture. but they are detachable, just like the original ones. Since an OEM bar is almost impossible (and expensive) to find these days, i thought this would be the next-best option. I have to say the quality is really high and it looks pretty good and the single pieces are quite complex, which justifies the not-so-cheap pricing. Unfortunately i don't have a chassis in-house at the moment to test fit it. So the next best thing was this cheap mock-up. and i probably even did it the wrong way around without the car as a reference... Nevertheless, it looks good. Here's a reference from the JP Competition / Sports option catalogue (see single plates at the bottom left and right). And here's an installation guide from the Race and rallye preparation manual. From what i understand, every OEM Z should have the installation points prepared in the chassis to install this, but again i was not able to verify this without the car on site at the moment. 3) OK and last but not least i also got this drian plug from Mizukami auto. I mean it would be a shame to not add some small gimmicks when placing a big order, right? Despite a few questionsmarks i think the suspension is quite rare and cool and useful and the rollcage definitely better then the Saito full rollcage i had originally purchased many years ago. Also in terms of registration as a historic car and the general MOT in switzerland. More updates on the suspension topic will definitely come soon and i will also try to test-fit the rollbar as soon as possible.

Recently, at the bodyshop i got asked what piece of metal this is between the original floorpan and the repair patch they put over it. I had to admit that i don't know if it was original or not, but the welds definitely looked like OEM Spotwelds. After asking on the Classic Z Forums, i got the information that this was a factory reinforcement plate for the floorpans. Unfortunately it was not listed in any of my parts books, so i guess, it was either added to the cars during the assembly process withohut proper documentation, or it was part of the original floor pan part and never sold separately. A friend of mine has his car over at Romas from DCW Classic at the moment for some bodywork and told me, they currently have such plates removed from the car and he could give me the exact measures so i can replicate them: See following photos for your own reference: So i thought it's easy for my bodyshop to replicate them with all the photos and measures. Now while searching the interwebs for something else today, i accidentally stumbled on those ready-made replacement panels from ZCardepot for 19$ per side: https://zcardepot.com/products/floor-pan-reinforcement-sheet-metal-240z The only thing that makes me a bit unsecure, is the fact that they're stainless steel. I have no clue how good it is to weld stainless steel to regular steel. I know you need a bit of a special welding technique or electrode, which any bodyshop should be able to handle. But my main concern is corrosion, as i know metals tend to have so called "contact corrosion" aka "galvanic corrosion" when two different metals are put together? Not sure in this case however. the pieces should be easy to replicate from scratch, but hey, you need to have something to think about, right? 🙂

The two-way shipping (from switzerland-to-USA-and-back) was exactly my reason for going with this option. it would have probably cost me alone 500 to ship it to the US these days. Also i have seen many repaired dashes that shortly thereafter cracked in a different location so i thought the most sustainable solution would be a completely new dash.

I have two dashboards hanging on my wall, both with the hand marked Japanese Su-i-su katakana characters (ス イ ス), for destination switzerland. We all know that those dashboards all crack sooner or later crack on the top and mine are no exception. So far there were these options: - Repair it yourself with some backyard-engineering. It will most probably crack at a different location soon, or look terrible - Have them repaired in the USA by Justdashes. Seems like a nice option but two-way shipping costs would be overboarding. - Find a NOS Nissan dashboard. I got offered some, but as expected the price is exorbitant, and who knows how long those last before cracking. - Buy a replica Dashboard from Vintagedashes. I heard mostly good (aside from some small fitting issues) about them, but i had some "unprofessional" experience with the owner of the shop. Generally the website got updated meanwhile but back then it didn't have a lot photos with details and lacking information so i never got conviced to buy one. Luckily just recently a new option popped up: JDM-Car-Parts. Well known for their usually highest-quality available parts from Japan, they this time teamed up with an american producer to have them made: In the same way as the original and vintagedashes ones are made, it's some kind of a rubber foam mold covered in a vinyl wrap. A little rework is required here and there (cutting away excess material, etc). and you need the backframe from an original dashboard to install it here. They also recommend a repaint of the dashboard (no matter if your old glove box cover is still fresh or faded) to match the colour with the interieur, but i think it's pretty close to what i have. Here you can see the JDM-Car-Parts dash compared to my original (quickly washed, but also colour-faded) glovebox cover. In reality, the difference is even smaller... and i think the colour didn't even match 100% in the original setup as the glovebox lid is hard plastic and the other is a vinyl wrap. The difference i did spot though is that the original glovebox and dashboard vinyl had a more "dotty" pattern (See photo below), while the one from JDM-Car-Parts has more of a "grainy lines" type of pattern (See photo above). Looking at the vintagedashes website, it seems they use the same material or at least pattern als JDM-Car-Parts. However i don't think anybody will ever notice that small difference. And it might also be possible that there were slight difference in the factory parts as well. In my case the original glovebox and original dashboard pattern mach nicely, however. I got the 1972 dashboard with the hazard switch indent and JDM-car-Parts also supplies the (Separately sold) Sticker for it: And i thought let's throw in a set of chrome vents into the basket. They might come in handy when rebuilding the new dash: Also got a pair of replica "Datsun" doorsteps. My bodyshop needs those to get the position of the fastener holes right when installing the new side steps: And while ordering anyway, i thought i could add a set of heater control wires: Also ordered a full set of door clips, because my old ones are either crispy and dry or missing or bent, or rusty. Oh and today i also got this datsun enamel badge, which i recently found on a swiss auction website. I've seen plenty of similar ones, but this one seemed authentic and old with the paint chips and some rust on the backside. Most other i see these days seem to be some kind of replica stuff. It was cheap so i had to get it and will look for a nice place in the garage. That's it. I have a pallete with some cool stuff from japan, which should arrive here anyday. And the bodyshop guy should return from vacation soon, so i hope there are some updates again soon.

So i got a few cool British Datsun price lists from my Friend Daniel. It was nothing i was really looking for, but always nice to have some stuff like this in the collection. From left to right: October 1971, July 1976 and August 1978 Price lists by Datsun UK Ltd. I think the design was somehow foldable, why you will find half of the prints on one side upside-down.

It seems there were quite a few who made this kit.. i also found a canadian maker of those. all look the same, except the plastic part which seems to be different material every time. and most probably also the weakest part of the design. Nevertheless, not sure if i'm going to use it, but i thought it was nice to get one of those kits as long as they're still available anyways...