JDMjunkies.ch

When i prepared the doors for the Bodyshop, i realized that some of the hinges were worn out pretty much. So i decided to give my spare set an overhaul. it took me a while to figure out how to get the old pins out. but now i got a solution and also finally a use for my new press 🙂 The pin got a bit bent during the process, but shouldn't be a problem: Here's a comparison of the old vs new pin you can clearly see some heavy wear on t he old pin: The sleeve things were pretty worn out too and basicalyl fell apart once i touched it: The inside was easy to get out with the right tools and a hammer: Here we go, everything out and new ones ready to go in: During the process i also wanted to snadblast the old hinges, but realized my compressor is way to small. Luckily my father-in-law offered me to swap mine with his bigger one: Still could be bigger, but it works ok for small parts: Here's one of the door hinge parts freshly blasted: Next? i still need to find out how i can remove the springs on the upper hinge to get the same job done there. and if i should paint the hinges first before assembly, or do it the opposite way? no hurry 🙂 And i got an update from the bodyshop too, they got the fender and door installed for alignment. and realized that one of the previous owners had the brilliant idea of smoothing (cleaning) out the body lines in the front fender, as you can see: Sommething i didn't notice so far... damnit another thing to rectify again. well 🙂 at lest there is already a first progress.. Hope for some news again soon.

Only one picture today, but an important milestone in the project: The bodywork starts again! A few hours ago, i was at the new bodyshop to discuss the first steps and bring them some parts. The car is in good company and the workshop is huge. This is just one little messy corner where it is temporary stored until work begins next week (fingers crossed). The rest of the shop is clean and busy with many people at work. I met the panel beater the first time and he seems to be a really nice dude. They promised me to send pictures every now and then, and since they're basically just a little detour on my way from work back home, i guess i will have regular visits to them too 🙂 So let's hope for some updates soon...

Just a very small update. While preparing the passenger side fender for the bodyshop, i realized i dont have any nice fender emblems anymore, so i immediately ordered a set, since i saw they were still available new from Nissan: Nothing crazy, but another little piece of the Puzzle is ready to be installed, once the shell and body panels are painted...

Finally - the day has come, where the car left the home for the second time for a visit at a bodyshop. This time a different one... The agreed timeline is to complete the body until the end of the year (roughly). I said quality comes before a tough timeline, but also they agreed on not letting the car sit in a corner for 5 years like the previous panelbeater did... The plan is to straighten the chassis, which needs a bit alignment, replace all rusty panels and then add the bodypanels and align all gaps, before having everything dismantled again and ready for the paintshop.... And until then i'll plan my next steps. They already took some panels with them too, but i'll visit them soon, bring the passenger side door and seat rail for test fit and have a look around their shop. I'm as motivated as i haven't been in a long while to push this project as far as possible again...

Yes! On monday the shell is going back to the bodyshop. I chose a new panelbeater with a bit more professional background. The other one was OK, but this time it goes to a specialist which is usually handling cars in a more exclusive price-range. Also he's not alone but has a hand full of people on hand and compared to my previous guy - has all the tools required in-house. Also he just seems a bit more of a "do-er" and less of a "talker" - my kind of guy. And he promised me to complete the body until the end of the year for a fair price. So let's have the fingers corssed that the project is back to 100 again now... This means i had to prepare a few things for the bodyshop. Aside from a few drawings with measures and dimensions and other details, he asked me to prepare the passenger side. the first thing he's going to attack is fix and finalize the work of the previous guy. on the first look he told me the work was pretty good, but there are a few small details to rectify especially the rocker panel that doesn't align with the door. something the previous guy wanted to fix himself before i took the car back... So first: there is still a lot of media from the sand blasting falling whenever you move the car... So i took out the vacuum cleaner and tried to suck out all remaining sand wherever possible (2nd attemt, and for sure not the last one...) The previous owner t hought it was coo to have the car "clean" and closed all the holes for the fender and hood emblems. Luckily i have a good fender with the original holes in stock. so i took measures there ...and transferred them to the other fender, to drill the holes. I'm quite satisfied with the result (only temporary mockup, emblem is not fully pushed in) Ignore the black marks. they were wrong, but after drilling, i decided to give the holes a bit of rust protection by spraing it with some primer. i probably went a bit over board with the sprayed area 🙂 Time to put it on the car: The panelbeater also asked me to install the doors and locks so he can align everything neatly and make sure the panel gaps are nice everywhere. And the doors side. Feels good to "assemble" something, even though it is only a temporary mockup with some "scrap" parts. Will be nice to install the other set which is freshly zinc plated or rechromed... While working on the doors i also realized there is some rust on the welds inside the door skin. The welds came from the previous panel-beater, who made sure the bodylines are there again. it seems the previous owner also "cleaned" those. i cleaned the welding spots with a brush and added some rust conversion primer there (no photo of that): While sorting through the doors parts i thought it was about time to give my "new" sandblaster a try: Worked pretty well, except i realized my compressor is too small. Luckily i already have a deal with my father-in-law to exchange ours (he needs a smaller one, i can have his more powerful one): If everything goes well you'll see some picturs of this car being loaded onto a trailer on monday, along with a load of parts. So happy to see the project taking up speed again...

KFVintageJDM has been pushing out new panels almost weekly. i saw they now even released a whole damn reproduction rear quarter panel! Something many people have been looking for for a long time! One of the lately released parts are the inner rocker seatbelt mount's. I'm not even sure if i need those, but since they were available, i added them to the package. I got myself a partial firewall. I only need the lower section, which is quite messed up in my car, but thought it might be easier to have something to work with than make it from scratch: As you can see on the left the part that is inside the fender is pretty messed up with various welds, rust, bondo and whatnot, so it's definitely good to have a replacement. More news tomorrow and next week again...

I originally posted on my build thread about the different NOS Frame rails i have here: @Patcon & @CanTechZ requested that i make a special thread for it, so you can discuss. so here is the same information again: @Namerow: Since you cought my interest on this, i decided to have a deeper look into this. I have two different sets of NOS frame rails, one is grey and the other one black. one set is already sold, one grey item has already been cut up by my previous bodyshop to fix my chassis: Here you can see the two sets with the partnumbers labelled on it. The main differences are the mounting brackets (see red circles), some "wings" which were added on the grey version (see blue marks), and the extended length of the tension rod mounting "buckets" (sees green circles) Otherwise the two are pretty much the same, aside from some small clamps and brackets which have been added: -E4150 is used up to June 1972 according the european microfiches. and it also seems to match with my late 1971 production chassis i have. -N4150 is not clear. i didn't find it in any of my parts list, it seems weither to be from the 2+2 nor any other model, but because of the part numbering system, i just think it's an July 1972+ item. I didn't measure every single part, but wherever i checked on approx. 5 random spots, it was always 1,5mm thickness of sheet metal: here are some additional photos, see additional cable clamp in the black version, Additional "Wing" is well visible here: extende shape of the inside reinforcment: slightly different shape of the inside mounting bracket / reinforcement (left edge): Here you can see the end "wings" on the grey one, but it seems like the "leftower" piece on t he black ones have just been bent up in the grey version. Small additional bracket on t he grey version (center) Here you can nicely see the different style of mounting brakets: (the center one of the grey one is bent, i t would look similar as the other ones on the grey one. the additional "holes" on the left side are because the bracket on t he inside has been drilled out by the bodyshop, these wouldn't usually be there: Here's a closeup: Here the overall sisize difference of the tension rod mounting bucket is well visible: From what i can see and what i've experienced so far, the KFvintagejdm parts (no advertizing here) come pretty close to the black ones from the picture. The only part missing here is the "bucket" for the tension rod: they currently sell them only in two pieces, but if you look at the photos and drawings in the parts manual exploded view, you can see even the original ones where produced like this and then welded together. so in my opinion this is the best you can get if you can't find OEM ones. It's not well visible in my photos above, but even the "teeth" visible on this one seem to be as on the original ones (the part where the upper and the lower part join). Look closely in the last photo which i posted above, then you can see the "teeth" on the original grey one from a side view):

They're Part No. 56105-N3785 from the 260Z 2+2, so they're not the correct ones for the 240Z, allthough they would most probably fit. i just got them as part of the package deal and use them as a reference for my Suspension post You can find the correct part no for the 240Z in the parts manual or here: in the said suspension post

@Namerow: Since you cought my interest on this, i decided to have a deeper look into this. I have two different sets of NOS frame rails, one is grey and the other one black. one set is already sold, one grey item has already been cut up by my previous bodyshop to fix my chassis: Here you can see the two sets with the partnumbers labelled on it. The main differences are the mounting brackets (see red circles), some "wings" which were added on the grey version (see blue marks), and the extended length of the tension rod mounting "buckets" (sees green circles) Otherwise the two are pretty much the same, aside from some small clamps and brackets which have been added: -E4150 is used up to June 1972 according the european microfiches. and it also seems to match with my late 1971 production chassis i have. -N4150 is not clear. i didn't find it in any of my parts list, it seems weither to be from the 2+2 nor any other model, but because of the part numbering system, i just think it's an July 1972+ item. I didn't measure every single part, but wherever i checked on approx. 5 random spots, it was always 1,5mm thickness of sheet metal: here are some additional photos, see additional cable clamp in the black version, Additional "Wing" is well visible here: extende shape of the inside reinforcment: slightly different shape of the inside mounting bracket / reinforcement (left edge): Here you can see the end "wings" on the grey one, but it seems like the "leftower" piece on t he black ones have just been bent up in the grey version. Small additional bracket on t he grey version (center) Here you can nicely see the different style of mounting brakets: (the center one of the grey one is bent, i t would look similar as the other ones on the grey one. the additional "holes" on the left side are because the bracket on t he inside has been drilled out by the bodyshop, these wouldn't usually be there: Here's a closeup: Here the overall sisize difference of the tension rod mounting bucket is well visible: From what i can see and what i've experienced so far, the KFvintagejdm parts (no advertizing here) come pretty close to the black ones from the picture. The only part missing here is the "bucket" for the tension rod: they currently sell them only in two pieces, but if you look at the photos and drawings in the parts manual exploded view, you can see even the original ones where produced like this and then welded together. so in my opinion this is the best you can get if you can't find OEM ones. It's not well visible in my photos above, but even the "teeth" visible on this one seem to be as on the original ones (the part where the upper and the lower part join). Look closely in the last photo which i posted above, then you can see the "teeth" on the original grey one from a side view):

Here is another picture from the backside: https://www.jdmjunkies.ch/wordpress/2013-01-11/240z-new-frame-rails/ i think there more pictures on my website, but need some time to find them. I haven't checked in detail, but usually the KFvintageJDM parts are pretty close to OEM when it comes to such details. Here is where i found them in 2012: https://www.jdmjunkies.ch/wordpress/2012-09-28/240z-datsun-parts-heaven/ Here is where i found most of the pother parts last year (also includes a set of frame rails, but all these parts have ben sold already): https://www.jdmjunkies.ch/wordpress/2021-02-23/240z-the-big-barn-find-parts-lot/

Good news. The Z project is back! Well it was never gone and i've been continuously working on it, but due to an management education i had on the weekend for the past two years, a big step forward in my job and many other things in life, the project was progressing much slower than i wished. But i'm a guy to make long-term plans and i've always had the plan to get things done when life allows me to. So here we are. My school is completed. Well i still have my exams in mid april so i'm working hard on that, but until then that and my job will still occupy most of my free time. The advantage of my new job position is that i earn some more money and in the meantime i've saved some especially to complete this project. I've also really longing to get back into the garge and get my hands greasy. Over the past weeks i've been looking for a bodyshop to complete the work. The old one was OK, but there was a bit of a difficulty when it came to communication and it was always a side-project for the bodyshop, which was earning money with small repairs, insurrance cases and fixer-upper projects of US-cars. He had a strong history in japanese cars, but i had the feeling he lost a bit of interest in my project. The other thing is - he was a talented panel-beater, but didn't have the tools himself, so whenever he had to bend some sheetmetal, he had to go to his friends shop. this was time consuming and i had the feeling i paid for much of it. So i decided instead to go to a more upperclass Oldtimer specialist, which usually deals with cars in a different price range. I was asking around and got some good tips. Finally i have a nice bloke coming over to check out the car and details in the coming days. we'll see how that turns out. so far i have a very good feeling. But i also started to collect all the panels required to complete the project Yes, puzzle time 🙂 Only the box section on the LH side is missing, but i hope the panelbuilder can make this himself. Labor is expensive in switzerland, so i decided to get these ready-made patch panels from the US, to delete the US-spec turn signal holes on the US spec rear quarter panel, which i got. Why pay a dude an hour of work to measre and create such a panel, i can buy a ptch piece for 20 bucks? Additionally a collected a few NOS items from some nice guys.- like an original hood hinge: And a complete choke cable assembly (ok, this one isused, but in almost mint condition!): and some more parts. Engine gasket kit, Starter solenoid, Rectifier diode, SU carb gasket kit and a wheel bearing: I also (again) bought a nice set of vintage swiss Datsun stickers. You may have seen them before, but the special one in this set is the white one: Its from the early 70ies and the slogan "Datsun bringt neue Werte" (Datsun brings new values) was used on many of the original Swiss Datsun (240Z) Documentation: Here is an 1971 advertizing where you could order above stickers for free (see center) I also found this nice swiss Datsun keychain from the early eighties. it was cheap, so i had to have it 🙂 From the same era is this 1984 Datsun / Nissan brochure, which i will use for my Datsun switzerland chronicles story which i'm working on. The swiss Prince / PMC Mikado pricelist from 1966 has already been added to the "Prince" part of the story For the coming "commercial vehicle" chapter, i obtained a few nice and rarer brochures of commercial vehicles, like this datsun Homer, King-cab, Urvan, and Vanette brochures: That's it for today. I have some more documents for the story on the way currently, and also a nice JDM-only piece for the Z is on the way from Japan. so stay tuned for more news soon...

When i got my "west germany" Spec turn signals last week, i went through my own parts to compare them, and realized i have everything ready to assemble a nice pair of restored ones. A perfect task for a saturday morning. so i got everything ready and started the project: From the three complete sets i have, i realize only one of the amber lenses was still without cracks: What a difference a little cleanup in warm soap water makes: Then i cleaned the rubberpieces and chrome trim with a bit of warm water too and had the rubber seals greased up with a bit of petroleum grease (Vaseline) and the chrome trim cleaned and polished with my secret weapon called "Metarex" And here we go, everything cleaned uo and assembled. looks like almost new. I will probably take one of the lenses from the "west germany" spec signals, as they're exactly the same. but until then, i just keep them as they are. Oh andi need new bulbs, the old ones are both quite corroded and i want some nice ones 🙂

Theoretically yes, but overall only a handfull of 240Z were sold in germany at all (they were one of the latest to join the party) so it means in general everything that is specific for the german market 240Z is a bit rare. "East german" specific parts are not mentioned in the BOM, so i guess they either didn't get the car at all, or it was just the same as the standard European specification.

Today i got an odd little NOS piece set in my mailbox. I found these turn signals a while ago in Germany. When i checked the part numbers, i realized the European Microfiches say it's a "West germany" Spec part. 1x Left side 26165-N3600 and 1x right side 26160-N3600. This made me even more curious, so i got them. I'm not sure why they're different. Must probably have been some local law or regulation (Similar to the french taillights), which required different blinkers. Here is a comparison of three different types. Left: West germany". It has a tilted rubber piece, for a more angled turn signal, and a long tail connecting cable. Center: Original ones that came on my 1972 swiss (european spec) cars, with straight rubber. Unfortunately the cable was cut, so i have no reference here. Right: Some asian Turn signal reproductions with a short tail cable and different connector and "straight" rubber. I wish i could find out the reason behind this. An odd and probably rare piece. Nice to have in my collection.

Today i had my Datsun-Mate Dan over for a visit and as usual we exchanged a few documents and things that we've collected for each other over the last few months. today i got some nice things from him: First of all a few early swiss Datsun pricelists, including the ones which were missing in my collection. Like one of the very first ones from 1968! Now i'm finally ble to put the complete series of pricelists from 1968 to 1979 online! Then i've got a bit of a curiosity: a Datsun branded Padlock. I first thought it was a random engraved lock like you can buy it at many places, but Dan said he had a second set which looks exactly the same, and what is also interesting is that the "Datsun" name is not only engraved in the Lock itself (easy to make), but also cast into the keys, which makes it more likely something either officially sold by Nissan / Datsun or something from a local marketing campaingn or at least something from a big 3rd party supplier. Nice to have anyway 🙂 Last but not least he once ordered a set of Air intake box repro-stickers and was kind enough to order a set for me too. The biggest sticker doesn't belong to our european 240Z's, so i'll only need the other ones. still good to have, as my original ones are looking bad.

Recently i ran into a NOS lot for sale again. Turns out a still active Nissan dealership in germany is cleaning out his parts warehouse and wanted to get rid of all the old parts without any stock movement. Well, i signed up for the whole package and got the deal. It were not exactly many parts, but some really nice scores and some parts are not very common to find NOS. I checked the partnumbers beforehand and all of them are definitely S30 parts. but not all might be correct for my 240Z. Nevertheless, i got a good package deal, so i took all of them. The first one is an exchaust front pipe. It has a few scratches from storage, bot otherwise completely NOS with the factory sticker still there: Then an original L-series Oil pan. in excellent shape (Except it needs a bit of dedusting) Front lower control arm. I think the Partno. was listed for the 260Z, but i couldn't see any difference on the first glimpse. i'll have to re-check: These are pretty cool: NOS rear bumper mounting brackets: A set of genuine Akebono rear drum brake shoes: And a set of genuine rear strut inserts (replacement units):

I just double checked on my car. They're definitely held in place with something on the inside. So you can definitely remove all three bolts without the threaded plate on the backside getting lost on the inside of the quarter. But the threaded plate on the inside is somehow movable. I guess to adjust the position of the locking mechanism to align the door straight. So yeah, i can remove those bolts then 🙂

these are the original mounting bolts for the door locking mechanism. I left them in place because there's a plate on the inside of the rear quarter area and if you remove all three bults, it will fall down on the inside. at least that's how i understand. so i just removed them one-by-one and put them back immediately to secure the plate on the inside.

The big Sea-freight shipment from Japan, which arrived last week and constisted mainly Honda Parts, also included something nice for the Datsun Project. A set of Seats: Seats? Why more seats? Longtime readers might know i spent quite some time and money on finding "vintage" japanese seats - and i ended up buying Bride histrix seats. I really like them, but they never really looked that oldschool. They're new seats with a vintage touch. So when i found a set of genuine japanese Autolook type A Seats for sale recently i had to get them. And personally i think they fit the car perfect, At least for my "Japanese street tuner" Style setup. Here shown withot seat rails, so final position will be slightly higher. Luckily i still fit into them, allthough i shouldn't gain a lot of weight 🙂 Here's a comparison between the bride and the Autolook. I think the bride's look way to modern with the glossy Carbon fiber bucket shell on the back. Also it won't be suitable for racing harnesses and has no headrests, so not exactly safe. And the shoulder "wings" also make the fitment in the Z a bit tight, even tho they DO fit. Personally i just think the Autolook is more authentic and the shape just fits better in my opinion. Now for a little history: In the early 80ies a Japanese Company named Autolok started to build these seats, called type A. It was one of the first Japan made racing seats. Here's an advertizment in the 1983 carboy magazine: And here another one from the same area: The Autolook brand is now owned by the japanese company Latirips, which still makes racing gloves etc under that name. Amon Classic cars used to make the Autolook type A Replica seats (with black instead of yellow buckets) under licence of Latirips, but while still shown on their website, they're sold out since many years. But since i got the originals one i don't want the replicas anyway. As you've seen they're a bit worn, to say the least, so they'll also need a bit of reupholstry. but in my opinion these seats are just the perfect ones for my build. And don't worry i still have my original Z-seats if i ever want to switch back to original.

Yeah i know. that's why i plan to build two engines. You might know i have quite some experience with homologating cars (from my Honda project, where i did a complete homolocation of a car, which was 7 years of work spent...). Yes, but only the insulators itself were still available from nissan, from where i got those for the U20. The L6 insulators also have those insulators on both sides of the gaskets. as seen in the options catalogue, etc. The ones i've got for the L6 have gaskets on both sides, but in the photo only shown on one side, because i was too lazy to remove all the nuts on the other side of the insulators, just to get those gaskets off for the photo. 😉 See here the race and rallye preparation manual for the 240Z: (#3 are the gaskets, #2 is the insulator) Hmm good input. Honestly i never really thought about that detail. I just got what was available and thought it is close to the originals. I've sadly never seen an original set in real, so i don't have anything to compare or even start with. I'm not sure how much of an impact that detail has. I think my setup is quite "experimental" anyway (at least to me). So i'm curious to find it all out by trial and error. Currently i just collect random parts and then try to puzzle it all together later into something nice. Luckily there weill be a second (more or less stock) engine to put into the car, so the parts shown here are for a little "fun engine" side project. 🙂

I recently collected a few different Carb insulator setups. mainly just because i first got the wrong ones, and then some more 🙂 Left to right. Original Datsun PHH44, but for the U-series (Fairlady) Engine, PHH44 L-series replica, PHH40 (L-series) Replica: The main difference between the U and L-shaped items are a slight offset in the stud position (see left) What also came in one of those deliveries was a set of NOS rocker arms. Not sure if i will need them, but as you know i can't resist whenever NOS parts get offered: So my "fun" Motor intake side setup is nearing completion. I meanwhile have enough parts to build one standard and one "sport" motor. Also just got a call today that a pallette of parts on the way from japan will arrive next week in the Port of Rotterdam, before being delivered to switzerland (Just as the Datsun parts and cars, back in the days)... So i'm quite excited 🙂

I've been crazy busy at work and education, and i'm also working a bit on the big garage / Workshop update and a little refreshing work for the Honda. But more on that soon on this site. I still managed to get some small things done for the Datsun here and there. Like (finally) ordering those Datsun Mikuni / PHH44 Carb insulators, which showed up a few days ago: They came from Nissan USA, with a little help from a local chap. Thanks again! They were once offered under a different partnumber in the option catalogue and i'm not entirely shure they're exactly the same, but they fit perfectly and are OEM nissan items, so i'm perfectly fine with those.

Thanks. i recently found a load of pictures and ads of ones i haven't seen before. i plan to update my Intake manifold and surge tank post (see link in previous post) with all the new ones, once i scanned them. Probabyl in the next 1-2 weeks. Need to go through all the carboy magazines first 🙂

Some weeks ago i got in contact again with Kris, the guy who bought a few parts from me, including my first, white S30 Chassis. He's currently building a crazy Blow-through turbo S30 (more on that when it gets closer to completion) with all tricks and gimmics and a lot of custom fabrication, which includes a custom cast Turbo surge tank. For that reason he once bought some surge tanks from Japan to use as inspiration for his own design. Luckily he doesn't need them anymore, so they were up for sale. And even though i don't need them at all, who am i to turn down an offer on such cool and rare vintage tuning parts? So i went to their garage yesterday and picked up all of this. What a score: The lot includes a set of 80'ies blow-through surge tanks: The first one is more commonly know. the SK compe turbo aka Sanyo-kiki Turbo surge tank: This surge-tank acts as an intake manifold champer to the careburretors with an turbo attached to it. Yes, these where the very first and early turbo kit designs: Ther second one, which i've never seen before is from the same era, but it's a JKC - Japan King charger surge tank, which was used together with a supercharger. The design is very similar to other brands like HKS, but has those unique fins on it. The basic working principle is slighty different to. the one above uses a kind of "baffle plate" inside, while this one has a cast chamber inside. Oh and he also had a huge bunch of Carboy and other vintage tuning magazines on hand, which he lend to me. There is a lot of advertizing and information on these turbo and supercharger kits in there. So i will try to complete my post about the different intake manifolds and turbo / supercharger surge tanks for the L6 engine with the latest informatino i got now. Thanks Kris for the Hospitality, and see you soon!

Keen readers might remember i was collecting parts to puzzle together an original, complete tool kit. With my first orders i got some wrong parts and some were still missing. Thanks to a tip from my Datsun-Mate Dan. i recently found this kit with the exact missing parts for sale in UK. Naturally i had to get it. So this is what arrived today: An original Nissan branded pliers, along with a double-headed screwdriver And s et of wrenches. This time metric ones and not inch-based sizes. I still have to check all the details. But i guess with my previous purchases the kit is complete now. More parts are somewhere on a container outside japan now. so expect more updates soon (might still take a few weeks until they're here)