JDMjunkies.ch

Yeah i forgot to mention it, the pictures came from the Datsun 1200 website, so the arrangement of parts is most probably for non-Z cars. http://datsun1200.com/modules/mediawiki/index.php?title=Tension_Rod

Haha i know this kind of guys exactly 🙂 Let me know if you need any measurements or photos of the original ones. Thanks for your useful inputs. I Appreciate your thoughts. might think about widening the hole a bit on the aluminum base thingy.

Nice. you don't happen to have a spare set of HDPE for sale? Or manage to do another set? I'll happily pay for it and shipping of course.

Hmm, i was wondering how strong it is and how long it lasts. Let's see i might give it a try anyway. Were the ones from MSA from the same manufacturer? (Kontrolle Automotive in Fremont, CA)? thanks mate for your support! I have a forwarding address in the US, but it just wasn't worth the effort in this case. but will happily come back to you if i ever need this in future. Thank you!

In a recent discussion about safety measures, a friend pointed out that the Tension rods on the Z tend to snap, espepcially on lowered cars with hard bushings, as the tension gets too high. You can either switch to an adjustable tension rod kit, or as an alternative, use an Oldschool Bearing kit, which allows the T/C (Tension Compression Rod) to have a slight movement and therefore reduced tension. Today i got one of those kits. This kit is an vintage NOS item which was made by Kontrolle Automotive products in the USA. But i think they were made by different manufacturers and MSA still has them on sale new. Allthough they currently don't ship to switzerland: https://www.thezstore.com/product/6551/tension-rod-tc-kit-70-887-zzx At one point even Nissan USA sold them under the Part number 99996-TKIT as shown below in the 1998 Nissan USA Motorosports catalogue: The part number indicates that it was not a product from the Nissan HQ, but a local market item by Nussan USA only. and i guess it was sourced from one of those suppliers like Kontrolle. Here is the full installation manual: And here an' illustration of the assembly that goes over the TC-rod instead of one of the bushings:

That's really cool. It's maybe a bit off-topc. but i got a few original Datsun UK Colour sample booklets, from various years, and the colour combinations (interieur / exterieur) that were sold in the UK. If you're interested, you can find them all here (for later cars i even have interieur fabric samples) as photos, but also high-resolution Pdf scans. https://www.jdmjunkies.ch/wordpress/2023-01-11/240z-various-datsun-z-zx-color-charts-brochures/ And some different versions (including 240Z) can be found here: https://www.jdmjunkies.ch/wordpress/2021-05-30/240z-datsun-colour-code-brochure/

Thanks a lot for sharing this information again. 1) I'm currently working on a bigger story about the development of the "Final Euro Spec" cars where Mr. Miyazaki was involved. but it's hard to find a lot of information about it, especially from serious sources. 2) It would be lovely to find the exact records of ones car's production. Like how did the specify the trim / marked specific details for the production workers, etc. and especialyl which day (and even what time of the day!) the car was completed in each production step. It's a bit sad that Nissan doesn't share a lot of records with the public in the matters of old cars. When you think about Porsche, Mercedes, etc. they all have specialized "classic cars" departments, that help the vintage cars customers to find all this data and details about your car. I even think about it as a paid service. Want to get some details about your car? You spend for the time they research, but then get officially approved information from the factory. I'm not sure but i don't think such a service exists, and i have tried to reach out to nissan via various channels to get data about my cars confirmed. but didn't even get an answer.

Well it's holiday season. First i was away for two weeks enjoying the sea, now my bodyshop us running on low flame, so the recent progress is a bit slow. Also because they have to finish another nice project for another customer first. Here's what happened in the last few weeks. The inner wheel tub has been repaired on the inside and outside visible part, as well as LH inside trunk area which my previos bodyshop messed up a bit. The rusty swiss-cheese bit which you still see is the part from the rear quarter, which will be replaceed completely with the NOS piece in my posession soon. The main task is to rework the KFV side sills before putting them into the car. Generally their part is as close to OEM specs as it gets and fit really excellent, but these are somehow quite off in all directions. We made several templates to compare them to the OEM ones and nothing fits. so my bodyshop has to rework them. I'm a bit surprized as their stuff usually is really ace, but these not, on both sides. I tried to reach out to them with many pictures and measurements but haven't got any feedback, sadly. So the only thing we can do is rework them. Any bodyshop will anyway tell you that usually not a single replacement panel is a straight-on swap, so it's not a big deal, but some extra hours. And he had to go to a different shop which has a longer metal-scissor long enough to gut this pieces: On the already finished part, their in-house paintshop had the finished area sanded down and primered so it doesn't start to rust in the summer heat. That's it for now. I expect a pallette of goodies from Japan here mid-august and i have put an eye on a nice collection of parts, but negotiation will surely take a bit of time. wish me luck. And i hop in the coming weeks the bodyshop speeds up things a bit, when the yellow VW Bus in the background is completed (only small damage repair).

It has been a while since i got something new to read, related to the Z(X) topic. but a few days ago i found not-so-well advertized 280ZX Book for sale. The pictures didn't give a lot of information about the book, but one photograph showed a Rallye 240Z and it was super cheap. That was enough to start my interested and buy it. And this is what i got today: It's an english book about the 280ZX from 1978. A mix of brochure, Catalogue and information about the 280ZX. It shows how it was developed: But also how it is being built, tested and so on: It also doesn't forget about the ancestors of the S130 and shows the S30 in various specification interestingly also covers an Austrailian and european Spec car: It also shows the Z's rallye heritage and success: But only at the end i realized this is a fanbook. but not by 3rd party company, but by Nissan itself. I'm not sure at what occasion it came out, but being the same age as the 280ZX itself, i guess it was some kind of advertizing / marketing material for guys that bought a 280ZX, or guys that were thinking of buying one. Very nice nontheless and a great add on to my collection 🙂

Soo. time for another update from the bodyshop. After the floor pans got prepared and made sure that everything fits: They got welded in and attached to the frame rails: Next then was the inner rocker panel: Along with the rear rocker extension the seatbelt mount and seat rails: And the rear section of the floor pansl. Looks really need. and completely differnt to the RH side, where we used the older type of floor pans and lots of homemade panels. What is missing now is the little factory reinforcement piece (see previous post from the bodyshop). and the outer rocker panel. there we currently have a little fitment problem and need to find out if it's the replacement panel or something else is misaligned, Overall i'm again very happy with the work and attention to detail. I always expect more progress when i go there and then i'm disapointed when i see it looks more or less the same than 1,5 weeks ago, but then i start to look and realize all the small details they had to fix, paint, adjust, test, modify, etc. And then i think about the time it took the previous bodyshop to do the same (in a less good result) on the other side and then i'm super happy again. Overall i'd say that already more than 1/4 of the work is done, and that in only roughly 5 weeks. so if the continue like this, it wil be definitely ready in fall. Nice

@SteveE. Sorry, i guess i put an internal link there. you can find him here: https://www.facebook.com/el.bichelino

A few days ago i got this lovely package just in time for my birthday. Since long i had the idea that it would be nice to hang my collection of various Z-steering wheels on the wall, as they make a nice decoration. But i wasn't able to find any useful solution to hang them nicely with the pins. So i aske din the Datsun Europe FB group if anybody had a solution. Nobody had, but Robert, One nice guy from Austria offered me to design them and print a prototype, as he would also use a set for himself. We (he) played around with different designs and mounting types. But we (he) ended up with this solution. It's simple, comes including installaiton hardware, fits the original two pins and three screws on the backside and can easy be removed once hung on the wall. It's also extra slim, so it can be shipped in a padded envelope and not as a package. So today i finally hung my wheels on the wall (note, top right wheel requires a different mount, which i found on etsy) Fitmend, design and everything is excellent. at the end, he even printed them himself 🙂 And made some nice product photos 🙂 If you're interested. contact robert via this facebook link: https://www.facebook.com/el.bichelino Oh and robert also sent me this Sticker from a central-swiss Datsun Z club from the old days, which was in his car when he bought it 🙂 Thanks again for the excellent work and happy the wheels finally found a nice place.

Aha. it seems so. thanks for the input. does it expand underneth the floorpan or is it "just" at the rear? Do you have it on both sides of the car?

So, i thought i'd pay the bodyshop another visit. i was a bit suprized to see the car looked tmore or less the same than last time on the first glance. But upon closer inspection i realized they have worked on a lot of details. They finished the welding of the front area. added some threads where they were missing on this version of the parts i had (some have minor differences to my original ones, since they might come from a different year version, despite being factory parts). Also the firewall area behind the bedals was completed. The floor pan and seat mounts were removed and the inner side was replaced with the KFV part. Including the additional einforcement plate: Luckily i brought my USB-stick this time so i could get the pictures which the panelbeater made while in progress. he also repaired the lower section of the inner-inner rear wheel arch As well as the tool storage area behind the driver seat: You can also see the lower "Dogleg" area behind the driver, which got replaced. Some small items had to be made by hand, like this rear inner wheel arch lower corner (behind the strut area). Meanwhile the whole section is closed again. On both sides the Mud / Dirt panels got test fitted to see if all bolt holes and stuff lines up. I agreed for a next visit in 1,5 weeks, and i'm hoping for the floor panel area to be done and maybe the outer side skirt (incl seat belt mounting reinforcement, etc..). So far i'm really satisfied with the work they do and also their attention to details which matter at the end. Oh and i need your input. Behind / Outside the LH floorpan, we found some kind of reinforcment plate, which extends to the seat mounts. It looks Very much like factory spot welds from the inside, but i couldn't find anything about this piece in my parts manuals, nor does it make any sense to mee. the area was heavily "repaired" in the past. but this particular piece looks to good to be a repair. No we wonder if we should fabricate something like that and weld it in on the replacement floorpans, or just leave the floor pan as it is? I have a shipment with very rare and cool parts ready to be s hipped out in japan, but since seafreight is quite expensive atm. I guess i'll wait a bit and collect additional stuff before i send it out.

Yeah he doesn't have them listed on the website. I found the oil pump gear on ebay from him directly and the chrome trim stuff he just recently announced via email. best to give him a mail or DM via Facebook to get a quote

Sooo, i'm thrilled to bring you finally a *drumroll* update from the Bodyshop! After 1,5 weeks i thought it's about time to give them a visit and see if they made any progress. I didn't get a lot of updates so i was a bit worried if anything had been done. But turns out they rather focus on working than sending me messages. When i arrived the guys were working in full swing: After thinking about only replacing the rotten parts, they quickly realized it makes more sense to replace the whole panels, since i had those completely NOS items on hand. Like the air channel Or the frame rails: They also discovered this nasty bend, which i never realized. It must have got a hard hit at one point, which made the whole area move a bit. They also started to replace the firewall lower are with the KFV Panels and so far the feedback was that those panely fit like the OEM ones! They forgot to send me the pictures, but they made some and had them on the computer to show me. This is how the car looks with the complete front inner fender and the upper air channels removed: And including the frame-rail also gone: New frame rail in and primered: Inner fender in, primered, and the welding area sanded down again (they use a special welding primer there): They also removed the replacement roof skin from the frame. It was in very good condition when i bought it. Unfortunately i gave it to a guy who wanted to use it as a template to make a carbon roof. While removing the mold from the roof, he applied pressurized air and then the roof bent inwards completely. He brought it to a panelbeater to have it fixed, but he left a lot of dents on the roof. The new guys will fix it, but it's again a lot of additional and unplanned work... After all i'm quite happy. One corner was done quickly. I also brought them many panels from the right side, so they will be able to rework what the previous bodyshop did. It's a bit of a bummer and i'm not happy with it, but now is the time to get it done right, so yeah. Also yesterday i got this Exedy / Daikin OE replacement clutch kit, which i ordered a few days ago: You may ask why, when i have most of the original clutch Parts in NOS condition in stock? First of all they seem lighter (i still have to compare them), secondly they come with all the installtion tools required (centering tool, bearing, grease, etc) and last, i just thought the materials used might be a tad more modern and advanced, and maybe less harmfull then the ones used in the original 70ies production clutch. Since you won't notice anything from the outside, i thougth this is a good upgrade and easy to revert to original setup if required at a later point. That's it for today. I hope for more updates from the bodyshop soon 🙂

Interesting. thanks for your Info. 🤗

So it seems almost that this was an aftermarket solution, but fairly common in some areas, if ii recon right?

Hmm. interesting... That's a goiid point. But i'm not sure though if you can't reach it from the space between the grille / bumper and the front lower valances? It seems however a bit unsafe, if word goes around that every 240Z had a free key in the front ready for take-away, i'm not sure how not every Z would have been stolen in the US over the years 😅

Recently i stumblet upon this blog Post from my mate @florian at Datsun-Autowerk, where he claims that some Z's had a secret spare key box in the front radiator frame crossmember thing. After asking a bit more, he said that he had seen it on two cars so far. I had a closer look at my currently sandblasted frame, but no indications that it ever had it nor that it was modified at some point.. So we checked our R-drive manuals. it seems there were three types of front crossmembers, but none of them ever had a box, according to the drawings: Same with the L-Drive: We couldn't find anything in the "keys" section of the Parts manual either, and the key-box is not listed anywere at all. I can think this is something that was installed in specific markets only due to some safety legal requirements or whatnot, but at the end it seems a bit of a mystery. It looks too professional and "factory" to be an aftermarket installation, on the other hand, no information is available in the official documentation. Now the question is: Does anybody know more? Have you seen this on other cars as well? do you probably even have such a feature. Maybe never checked it out? Whatever you know, we're happy to hear about it 🙂

Recently i stumblet upon this blog Post from my mate @florian at Datsun-Autowerk, where he claims that some Z's had a secret spare key box in the front radiator frame crossmember thing. After asking a bit more, he said that he had seen it on two cars so far. I had a closer look at my currently sandblasted frame, but no indications that it ever had it nor that it was modified at some point.. So we checked our R-drive manuals. it seems there were three types of front crossmembers, but none of them ever had a box, according to the drawings: Same with the L-Drive: We couldn't find anything in the "keys" section of the Parts manual either, and the key-box is not listed anywere at all. I can think this is something that was installed in specific markets only due to some safety legal requirements or whatnot, but at the end it seems a bit of a mystery. It looks too professional and "factory" to be an aftermarket installation, on the other hand, no information is available in the official documentation. Now the question is: Does anybody know more? Have you seen this on other cars as well? do you probably even have such a feature. Maybe never checked it out? Whatever you know, we're happy to hear about it 🙂

So today another bunch of parts arrived: First a bunch of goodies from Sean over at datsun-zstory.com in France. A Bronze upgrade worm gear for the oil pump: Something similar has been on sale by Nissan (in this catalogue they state it's brass, but in some others, they mention it's bronze too). And a set of replica stainless steel window corner trim pieces, which he just recently released. It's also planned to release the longer parts soon too. so maybe i'll get a set of those too. from my first glance they look excellent! And then another bunch of panels from KFVintageJDM parts in Bogota. After we decided to redo the work on the right side, that my previous panel beater did so-so. I thought let's just buy whatever is available so i have it on hand if needed. i can easy sell thos items anytime if i don't need them and i didn't want to make any more unplanned orders. so basically i have almost every part of the usual problematic areas in stock and ready to be replaced. It's easy for a skilled panelbeater to make such panels by hand, but if you look at all these die-stampted details from the KFVintage parts, made as close as possible to the original panels, i have to say it will become hard to get all the details right. so here we are. I Will visit the bodyshop next week to have a look at the progress, So far i haven't got any feedback, which worries me a bit, but is nice if they prefer to work on the car instead of texting and sending photos. I'll see..

Thanks for the input. i think it's easy to find out, but for now i'm just collecting all that stuff that doesn't look familiar. One rainy day i will go through all the part numbers and put them up for sale if it doesn't fit my project.

A few weeks ago i saw a set of 240Z factory seats for sale locally. I put a bid on them because i thought they're in better condition then the ones i had, or i could use them as parts donors or sell them again if not needed. I didn't expect to win the auction but well i did.. so today i went to pick them up from a nice bloke: The seats are used, but generally in nice condition. Perfect for a refurbish: I asked the seller if he maybe had some more parts, and he said he sold his Z approx 20 years ago and is cleaning out his garage. He modified his blue 240Z back then with some recaro seats, that's why the seats where for sale, but he also put a whale-tail spoiler and other fancy stuff of the time on the car. So he also had an original trunk spoiler for sale. This comes in handy, as most of them have their bolts rusted off. this one is still quite good, so i might even use this one instead the one i once repaired for myself: Aside from the Dashboard metal cowl / trim piece thing (see first photo), he also had these units: A set of NOS door chrome mouldings. Complete with the factory "Hashimoto Forming Kogyo Co. Ltd" protectve sticker on it, etc. Definitely something you come across every day, so overall i'm happy with my purchase. I have a good set of spare seats, a nice spoiler, NOS window mouldings and a dashboard trim piece.

This comes in handy. great! Thanks a lot