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Lately i got really interested in the Datsun Switzerland history and i've started to collect a few documents. Luckily it seems that thanks to Covid some people find time to dig through old piles of documents and put them for sale. Thats how i got t his Datsun (Suisse) Information brochure, very similar to this one. It seems to be a bit older since the Z is not listed inside, but it has figure from november 1969, so i think it must be from very late 1969 or very early 1970. It seems to be higher quality than the other one, but the content is very similar. Mainly advertising the Datsun Brand and Nissan Mothercompany, the Datsun Switzerland headquarter under construction and of course the cars. Including some insights into the racing programme of Nissan: The second item from the same seller was a little fold-out flyer advertising the various Cars: Again by Datsun switzerland, both in German and french: On the backside you find the specsheets and the dealer list including the 12 Months / 20'000 km Warranty claim. I thought it's such a nice and authentic piece, i had to put it in a frame and will find a nice place to hang it on the workshop wall. I got more parts today and expect more documents soon, so stay tuned 🙂

thanks a lot for the detailed picture this hels a lot again. I can see now that the inner side not has a completely circular shape. perfect 🙂

to be honest i think just hand-making something is probably the easiest way - it's not a really complicated part. if you have a workshop hydraulic press it's even easier i think. I meen even the original item in Alan's picture look really "handmade"

Shout out to my man Stefan who gave me the Tip on this NOS Front Fender for sale. Actually it said NOS but, i'm not 100% sure. it has a weird Handpainted primer-layer on the outside, but other than that looks prety NOS. it's in perfect shape (aside from a few small storage dents and scratches), has absolutely no rust (Some very small surface rust spots) and looks straight After all that's exactly what i needed, so i don't really care if it was NOS or not and i just believe in it *lol* Had to test fit it of course but nothing seems wrong with it. Looks nice in my growing collection of Fenders. Why another one you might ask? The black set is quite rusty at the bottom and with the "golden" set i realized at some point that some of the previous owner thought it's super-nice to remove the original Line that is in the fenders to make a "smooth" look. And also they deleted the Holes for the 240Z emblem This is the new fender with the original line nicely visible and all factory holes are still there. So finally, one piece more in the puzzle 🙂

Alan, thanks for the detail-photo. I thought it was more of a "Positionining ring" rather than actually beeing a real reinforcement of the floorpans. But with the picture now it looks different. Now i have to rethink the whole plan. My initial idea was to just use big washers as "reinforcement" to spread the force of the bolt over a bigger area. On one hand the later cars didn't have these "doublers" from factory, so i guess the idea was to have the footrests installed without those in cars built after 1971 or cars where the footrest was bought later as an option... On the other hand i can see how this would improve the stability of the floorpans in a nice and factory-looking way.

Today i installed my footrest. It took me a while to figure out the position of the footrest and holes. It seems the holes measured by @HS30-H above are for the footrests version with two inward facing L-shaped "Feet" of the footrest. I have the two leftward facing Feet, which i think was introduced a bit later, for whatever reason. My idea is that because of the missing reinforcement of the floorpans in later versions, they decided to have the holes more towards the transmission tunnel where it would be a bit more stable and less "rattly" compared to two attachment points in the middle of the floorpan without any adaditional reinforcement. But that's just pure guessing. At the end, i think i figoured out the position with the Drawings and pictures and measurements and the insulation mat drawings done previously by others (See above). So thanks all for your input: Please ignore the uncleaned welds, i will complete that task soon. here you see the holes from the underside... I first thought one of my "feet" was bent by accident or so. But after talking to @RIP260Z, who told me that he had see those bent ones before, and after realizing that the material is way too thick to just bend it in a such nice way by accident (without cracking the paint in the bending area), i started to mock it all up and then realized that the shape must be like this from factory to follow the shape of the floor pan in the transmission tunnel area. I'm not sure if this is specially for LHD cars or if it also would fit the same on the other side in RHD cars (where the bent area would face towards the door and should follow the shape of the floorpans towards the inner rocker panel). Again, please ignore the welds that need to be cleaned... and note that i left some mm space where the insulation mats and floormats will go later... At the end i had it all installed and with a nice fit, if you ask me, and it looks and feels just right to me. It looks very "unaligned" in this picture, but first the footrest has a bit of a weird shape from factory, and second it's because of the camera angle...

Over the next week i've planned to bring the Chassis to a Blasting company (more on that in a separate post). But before that i had to remove the installed bodypanels. So the passenger door and fenders came off and we have the naked chassis back. Then i decided it would make sense to drill holes before the blasting and before a primer would be applied, so i decided to prepare the holes for the optional passenger footrest. It took me a while to figure out the "original" position. It appears that the Drain holes and everything are not simply mirrored on LHD and RHD Cars and floorpans. So i had to do a mix of guessing and measuring to figure out the position. But at the end i think i nailed it. And now even the bends on the L-shaped foots make sense. I thought those were bent by accident, until i heard from several people that they've seen those feet with bends before. (ignore the uncleaned welds, those will be cleaned of course). If you get the location right, the perfectly fit with the shape of the transmission tunnel / Floor pans. Also note that measures for the position i had first where made for the two inwards-facing "feet" but my one has two Left-facing feet, so of course the position of the holes are different... At the end i had it all installed and with a nice fit, if you ask me..

sorry, double post

I work with CAD Drawings and renderings daily in my work life and always wanted to learn how to draw them. When i realized i need those 240Z Tank rubber pieces redone and probably should make a nice drawing, that seemed like the perfect occasion to download FreeCAD and spend an hour on youtube watching beginners guide to CAD Drwaing. I'm used to electronis CAD programs so it's not completely new, allthough i've never designed something 3D. Until today. I got the hang for simple basics pretty fast and here i have my first design for the rubber piece: Of course this is something stupidly simle. but just perfect for a total newbie like me. And it will give my rubber-shop a better idea of what they have to make for me 🙂 So after all i'm pretty proud and i hope i can improve my skills in other occasions soon. at least i've got the idea about what the CAD Designers in my company do all day now 🙂

i was a bit worried too, but to be honest it looks and feels like new. Very soft and flexible rubber. I have the feeling it's coated in a thin layer of petroleum grease or so, but might be wrong. It Came (via ebay) from a big japanese parts dealer inside a closed Nissan Bag with all the original Nissan labels, but the labels don't seem to be of a very old type. I guess the company bought some of the last units, compared to others who probably have really old stock parts which where manufactured decades ago.

More parts arrived. this time a NOS fuel filler neck, straight from Japan: This fits my restored Fuel filler cap and mount perfectly 🙂

Since i got a new fuel tank a few days ago, i decided to get all the parts that belong to it. The first parts came today. The Fuel tank sending unit: Including the Seal O-Ring And while ordering parts, i decided to get some random parts that were available too. Like the Battery tray: And the choke lever Handle: More parts are on the way 🙂

So, a few days ago, i had a phone call with Chris from S30.world. We agreed on a deal (soon more) and he offered me one of his new Reproduction fuel tanks in return. Since my fuel tanks both are very worn, who am i to turn such an offer down? This is how the original ones look. They don't seem too bad. But while one of them could surely be rescued with a certain amount of money and time, the other one is beyond reasonable repair, especially if you look inside.... Today the New Tank arrived here, straight from the netherlands. I have to admit it looks fantanstic. The only small downside is that the black coating is slightly too flat and is more glossy on the original product. According to Chris it was due to the production process or something. Nothing that a little respray can't solve. Otherwise it's perfect, down to every last detail. Check out his Homepage where you can see the different versions of the tank and how they are made (inside pictures too). Also he now started offering the mounting hardware for it. He now plans to offer a variaty of as-close-as-possible-to-the-original Reproduction parts in near future. Some very interesting stuff, which he told me, and which is definitely very sought after in the market. Especially with this high quality and so close to the original parts. Thanks again for such a nice piece! Now Since the original rubber-damper / Spacer pieces on the tank are missing, i immediately started to remove the ones from the old tank: A bit of heat from the heat gun and a spatula and they came off very easy: When i started to clean them, i realized that one of them has started to become a bit brittly. So i will definitely have my local rubber shop make for new pieces for me soon. I have ordered all the missing parts for the tank including fuel tank sender, all the hoses and fuel filler neck, etc. If you remember, i already got the protecing plate not too long ago 🙂 Thanks again chris and see you soon!

Today i got a package from Prague. Jirka who also made these beautiful Sticker replicas here: https://www.jdmjunkies.ch/wordpress/2019-05-06/240z-various-oem-reproduction-stickers/ Posted on Social media about a few sets of Kick panels which he made and were for sale. They're very close to the original, made out of (laser cut) Masonite, with very similar pattern on the back and painted in satin black I wasn't really able to confirm the fitment, but from this first view the look like OEM Fitment and knowing jirka, he does work very accurate. According to his social media post these kick panels are available in the versions, depending on the year of the Car. Thanks for another great product. Nice to see all those high-quality replica parts popping up lately, especially from the not-so-known sources.

Now this is accurate, it would be really helpful. now i only need to find someone with a big cutting-plotter to cut me a paper template like the ones in your pictures 🙂 I think with alle the information i have now i should be able to get it right now. Thanks all for your contributions. Awesome!

Thanks again. i've seen this picture a few posts earlier before. I went through the pictures i took during disassembly of both my chassis to see if they had these gaps. Just to see / remember again that chassis nr 1 had some kind of redneck engineering floorpans and chassis nr 2 had such rotten floorpans that the complete insulating stuff was totally chipped away due to the rust underneath 😆 But these reference pictures will definitely help to figure it out! Thanks again.

Sure, in understoud that. I will have a look the next days if the rubber plug holes are in the same position on LHD and RHD Cars and if your measures make any sense on an LHD car, but my guess is yes 🙂 As far as i can't find an official drawing or installation manual or an LHD Car with a factory installed Footrest (which i haven't seen yet) this is the next best thing. Thanks a lot again!

Alan, you're the man! this really helps me a lot to get the perfect location. Thank you so much for this, i really appreciate

Just for completeness sake: Nuts and washers that hold down the footrest are still available at nissan (Just got mine today): And while trying to find a drawing or any information in the manuals how and especially where to exactly install it (where to drill the holes), all i could find was this information in the Japanese "introduction of the S30" Service bulletin just explaining the function of the footrest and which japanese models it was installed and which ones had it as an option: I'm not sure if such a document exists, and there are plenty of pictures and factory equipped cars to get the measures from, But if anybody has an official installation manual or official drwaing with (or without) measures, that would be great. Just to get it perfect.

OK you might remember i got hands on a "rare" Passenger footrest the other day and then somebody made a reproduction rubber piece for it? Now i'm slowly starting to rework it. But first. I've ordered all the available parts from my local nissan dealer. Mainly the bolts and shims to mount it to the floor: So, aside from the two black bolts that hold it down to the floor (which can easily be bought at any hardware store, i guess) i have now everything i need to complete another part of the puzzle: And also had the old rubber piece removed: And hammered out said bolts (which are sold as one piece installed on the footrest) as i plan to replace them: Then tried to figure out the exact location of the footrest, to drill the holes into the floorpans. but i'm not sure yet... So i tried to figure out something in the manuals. but all i found was a picture mentioning that the footrest exists, in the Japanese Service bullentin book "introduction of the S30" But no drawing or any other information how to exactly install it. All i have to rely on are pictures, like this one below from the Motorfan January 1970 Issue (Z432 Test), or the ones posted by Kats and Alan here. So if anybody has some information on where to exactly install the footrest, please let me know :)

I have seen that dent on many cars. I suspect it is a factory mod to make the fender fit Now tha't interesting. I'd really like to know more about that. Me also thought it was some sort of strange accident that happened here... But nothing really made sense when i thought about it. Does anybody know more?

The best source for (mostly) Accurate Information, still are the original Service manuals. At least if you don't have access to the factory documentation. So i got a bunch of documents lately from various sources: 1) The heater manual. Actually it's a free download from the classiczcars.com website, which i just printed for easier access in the workshop. This one covers especially the S30 series Heater system: 2) The Japanese Steering Manual. It covers an array of Nissan Steering racks up to 1978, including the S30 of course, and i've never seen this one before, so i had to get it before it starts to hit prices like the other early Z-related original documentation. It's in near-mint shape too! 3) From Belgium i got a set of 260Z Manuals including the S30 Body and chassis Supplement 1. Which is more or less an add-on to the earlier version and includes the latest updates. I bought them mainly because they were cheap and to have some details on the later S30 Chassis versions. 4) Also from belgium i got this german Datsun Electronic fault-finding manual which is a bit funky and clearly different from the other manuals. It's a bit later too, so it includes the S130 and not the S30, but has a lot of general information, wiring diagram fold-outs and is just a cool little add-on to the collection. I still have a few manuals missing in my collection, and the picture below does not show all the Z-related factory documentation i have. But here's just a little glimpse at some documents in the shelve. What is really missing for me is some sort of factory / supplier made Sumitomo MK63 brakes documentation, which i haven't seen yet. And then the Printed L-drive Parts manual which i have in digital version and as Microfiches, but not as the most detailed printed version. I still have to read through the new manuals when i find a few quiet minutes.

While the Z is at my place, my Bodyshop gave me some homework: To completely strip the chassis from all the seam sealer, undercoating, bondo and paint so that it's easier for him to remove old welds and weld new stuff... started by removing the biggest chunks in the front inner fender area with a spatula. but after an hour i realized i need a faster solution. After a bit of research, i found this tihng called Turbo-Igel (Turbo Hedgehog). The name comes from the "hook" style spikes that remind of a hedgehog This thing works absolutely brilliantly and isnt really agressive to the metal due to it's unique shape. The problem is, after 10 minutes the effect really starts to weaken since the hooks get dull. but you still can u se it totally for about 30minutes at a maximum speed of 3500 rpm. then all the hooks are gone 🙂 With two disks i managed to get this much done in approx. 2 hours of work: Well and while the car got cleaner, i got dirtier 🙂 And i removed approx 3-4 kgs of Bondo / Paint, underbody coating, seam sealer etc.. Still a lot to do. for me and the bodyshop. can you see all those terribly cheap repair attempts from previus owner? And rusty spots? And dents where there shouldn't be? Well... i've come too far to stop now, i guess 🙂

I'm still looking for two (prefereable NOS) panels to complete the 240Z Chassis. IF you have those parts and are willing to sell, or if you know somebody, please contact me by any possible way!! thanks in Advance. 1) The Front air Channel LH. Nissan Part No: 64151-E4100 superseded by 64151-N4501 2) The rear inner fender LH: 76713-E4150 Superseded by 76713-N3450

As usual, progress is slow but steady. So this week something arrived which i've ordered over two months ago, but was delayed due to COVID-19. I mainly bought it because it had a slight water-damage and was almost for free. and it's still nice enough to work with in the workshop. Just another piece of documentation ready. Looking forward to get back into the project soon.