ollie

I used the vintage rubber kit and it works ok however the seals need time to soften, mostly in the hatch area. High quality but make sure they have the seals in stock and it would have been nice if the seals were labeled.. I'm using all original bushings except for the transmission crossmember. These were fun to track down but I wanted oe.

Thanks! Had I taken the time to actually go and look at the effort i put forth when I pulled the tank, I would have found that I carefully preserved 3 out of 4 of the pads from the top of the tank, not sure what happened to the 4th so I will use come closed cell foam for the last one. This weekend is the big push, hard lines, full braking system, fuel system and rear suspension are ready to be installed. Unfortunately I won't have my motor back until next week as the shop wants to dyno run it and we're msising the cam tower shims so I hope to have the car road ready by the end of July. I'm picking up my bumpers tomorrow from the plating shop as well, plating up here is like a black art and they charge accordingly....cheers, and I hope youre build is going well!

Hey Rainman, did you use closed cell foam for the top of the gas tank to protect against the body? Thanks!

The '73 has been up there for a while now, and no takers. I think at $30K it would go in an instant but you open up a lot of options as you eclipse the $40K mark. Having said that, I know for certain that the restoration of that car, all in, would run north of $60K in my local market for that level of effort.

I just finished writing a series (a long series) of cheques for an extensive vacation on a rotisserie and mine started out very clean. It is amazing where the rust can pop on these cars and it spreads like wild fire once it breaches the unibody. The dog leg rust on mine came from the front of the rocker and so forth. So is it worth it to restore? That is a question only you can answer.. I'm glad I did mine but it has cost at least 3x what I figured. Good luck!

FYI: http://v70r.com/forums/topic/9796-loss-of-brake-assist/ This was exactly, to a T, what was happening with mine...Volvo is aware of it and what will happen is the brake pedal will go rock hard, then will be responsive again once the pedal is released. Edit; to keep the thread on track, I'm off to pick my Z up this afternoon from the body restoration shop...460 hours on the rotissorie and she's heading back home:

Great pics as always. Btw I had a hell of a time with an 06 v70r. Be very aware of the vacuum system for the brake booster. Mine had less than 15,000 mikes and caused intermittent and brief total brake failure. Volvo finally fixed it, or they felt they had, with a new brake booster, master cylinder and check valve but I was done and I dealt it for a 335i. The awd system will die too but that's not a safety issue. Great car on paper, mine was a stick too. 335i hasn't been exactly problem free either but all seems good now.

This probably belongs in the "before" and "after" thread but here it is: Before: After: It has been a slower process than expected, but my motor is almost done and the shell will be ready to be picked up after 450+ hours of restoration in about a week. I'm ready to start assembly thereafter and should have it on the road around mid summer...which in reality will mean when the snow starts to fly, .

I used a very fine grit wet sanding block to smooth the trim out then conditioned it with 303 protectant.

Is he claiming it is all the original paint? For some reason it looks like the muffler has overspray on it...looks like a decent strating point for a restoration though.

No way the only rust is on the firewall....get it up in the air and start investigating. One popular spot to look is the front of the rocker panel below the cowl drain. Rust starts there and then spreads to down the inside of the rocker. Also a popular spot is in the reinforcement panel on the front inner...

The exhaust I'm building for my restoration is a Stahl header with a 2.5" collector, a 2.5" 304 Stainless builder's kit from MBS, a Vibrant Performance Ultra Quiet 2.5" resinator out into an Ansa "twinstack". It was very costly but will give me a full custom exaust I'm confident will work well. The header was built from a template of my exact E31 head.

I have a VR kit going into my '73 total restoration in the next week or so...hope it goes well, the seals look to be of a very high quality. In fact, some look like Datsun NOS or Nissan original...

That car will absolutely have rust into the rocker if it has perforated the front fender. Pass or be prepared to invest big dollars on rust repair. The legacy of the cowl drain lives again.

MSA fail...4 month backorder for their heater core...back to the drawing board.

yeah the car parts on is the same I've been using: http://www.carpartsmanual.com/datsuns30/DatsunZIndex/tabid/1543/Default.aspx Been very helpful.

Put it to you this way...it is a hell of a lot easier to deal with now that the entire interior is out than after I put it all back in then Murphy knocks on the door and the old core starts leaking...one step further, this new one had better not leak, . Anyway I put the order in yesterday but they haven't responded or processed it yet, my guess is they don't have one in stock...regardless when the heater core arrives I'm happy to post a pic.

Norm @ zsaver can hook you up for sure.

So I've ordered a heater core from MSA, we'll see how it compares to my 39 year old OE one...I just have a hard time justifying using the old core and then having it split. The dash removal is what concerns me most, mine is still mint and uncracked. Anyway I decided that the "weld" lines the rad shop left behind when mine was boiled and repaired don't look at that bad even under the new paint (not sure why these weren't ground smooth)...plus mine has the original small fan shroud so it will be good enough.

Subscribed. I too am after an OE quality rad for my restoration. Mine was boiled and then painted but it isn't at the factory level of quality. The msa rad seems to be a good option, any other suggestions are welcome. Many thanks.

Awesome car, good luck with the sale.

That Z is the one which was owned by Mike the Datsun Roadster guy owned. It has been for sale again for at least the past year. Nice car and I think they wanted $27,500 for it.

2 boys in 15 months changes the game, I thought I would keep my M Coupe for a while as well. I received the second one delivered in Vancouver back in 2006, Interlagos blue on black and really loved the car, it reminded me of my first car, a 72 240Z. Sweet ride.

huh, I traded my Z4 M Coupe for my 335i xdrive sedan. It is a great sedan, 6 speed M sport that has been lowered and has the grossly over priced BMW power kit. We also have a V8 4runner Limited. Hoping to have the Z back on the road for May.

Someone might see this car as worth $25k, another $45k....at the end of the day it is worth what the market will bear. I would guess that small amount of rust would translate into a $20k vacation on the rotisserie. Ask me how I know.