26th-Z

Great! Just the sort of stuff I wanted to hear. The roll-around cart idea is superb! Good suggestion on the PVC / shop vac fitting. Dust is a problem inside the shop. Thanks

Here. This is too funny http://msn.foxsports.com/motor/story/3701634

Tell me about your experiences with your blast cabinet. It is on my list and several friends have been asking about one. I did a BUNCH of research some time ago and concluded that I couldn't determine value. The expensive cabinets seem to offer features I think I need, but the cheap cabinets might do for a couple of cars and then just throw it out. In either case, I concluded that the compressor needs to have more uumph than what I have now. I want to be able to clean suspension parts and smaller. No wheels or big things like that, but it would be nice to be able to do the A arms and springs.

The stock North American export steering wheel is compressed wood fiber in a resin base. The correct answer is "both".

Hey Z Kid ! Good write-up. I might add that when doing both floors, it is a good idea to bolt in the transmission mount to the tunnel to keep it in location and shape. I know you kept the seat brackets in, and that does pretty much the same thing, but without them, the tunnel can get a little flimsey and the transmission mount will help.

Try not to have TOO much fun! I'm jealous. Talk about rain! Is it a judged show?

Patrick, There is a major seam right there. The quarter panel meets the rail for the deck lid and the rear body (that has the tail light cutouts) all meet at that corner. It is a major source of rust issues all along the rear sill for the hatch. To add insult to injury, the decorative tail light valance rivets over the area entrapping even more water. The seam is supposed to be filled and painted over, but it looks like you could have a pinhole developing. I would clean that all out with a toothbrush and seal it back up with some body seam sealer and touch-up paint over the area. Then keep it really waxed.

Yet another serious thanks for the heads-up and the link. That makes 17 of the cars I have documented with VIN and photographs. First blue one. I'll have to study some of my other pictures and see if I can't date this baby with some of the "mystery" photos I have of Vintage Zs. This collection of photos includes a nice example of the lettering style used to stamp the reproduction paint code sticker. To the best of my knowledge (at least this is what I claim) the word "factory" was first published in Road & Track, June 1998, in an article; "Factory Resurrected" by Douglas Kott. By reading the one-page article, I can certainly understand how someone would get the impression that the Nissan "factory" restored these cars. Of course, we know that this is not the case.

Clean your battery cable connections / battery terminals. That's the only thing I can think of other than what has been said. So I don't mean to sound condescending, but you just bought a 32 year old car and you are car clueless? What was on your mind when you bought the car?

Part number 98100-E8276 is a three piece FRP spoiler and appears first in my 1973 sports option catalog. With some recognition of conjecture, I suspect that this spoiler was part of the racing homoligation equipment. That means, in my mind, that a three piece spoiler would be most correctest for a ZG nose application with a racing styling bias including the 62605-N3020 front spook. Short of all that, I think that if you go with Ben's suggestion, you'll be fine.

You are very welcome, SuperDave. You inspired me to get a plastic 50gal. drum and start doing this myself with my rusty parts. So, another fellow Zfreak was asking me about paint, primer, and sealer products. I really haven't made any selections yet. I'm leaning towards PPG DELTRON paint but I am listening to my painter guru "beautiful body Rick". I was surprised with how good he thought my plastic wand spray idea was. It turns out that a truck restoration place up in Bradenton (Mother Truckers) is doing the same thing. I met those guys in Wauchula at the dippers. They have the same issues with truck bodies. I will use the best seam sealer I can find. And I'll post more as I go along.

Tip of the hat to Arlo. I AM putting a lot of effort into it. Still shooting for a convention release. Its a great story. Nissan USA mounted a huge advertising campaign aimed at corporate image and brand identity. It started with the Dream Garage / Enjoy the Ride advertising and grew into the Z-Store concept. The activities of the Z car community had a lot to do with it. The Vintage Zs are the result. About a quarter of them have been collected outside the country. They dipped in price initially, but seem to have come back in value to a little over the sales price. I think they are going up in value and are being snatched up by collectors and squirreled away. There was a converstaion some time ago about whether VZs are worth more or less than an original or stock restoration. I may venture into that debate, but most agree that the VZs are in a unique category - and indeed they are! I think when you realize what Nissan was trying to do, you begin to understand and appreciate the unique qualities. They typically have the same service problems regular Z cars have. The Vintage Z program did not resolve the rust issues, for instance. Most of the complaints I hear have to do with paint and bodywork issues. I have pictures of about 30 of them and documented serial numbers of about half. Thanks go out to you, Mike, and a bunch of others who have sent information to me. Joseph, Alan, Hans, Carl, Vicky, Jim to name a few. I have literature from England to Japan and a couple of Z-Store merchandise items from eBay. Our gallery here has photos from the introduction event. The program was a big splash.

What are you doing up at this hour?

I bought a car sight-unseen and look what I got! That isn't rust. It's a brown metal-flake "finish"! You mentioned that the car doesn't run. That is going to be your big problem. I got quotes as low as $800 from Delaware to Florida in an open trailer, but most of the quotes were over a grand because the car was dead. I hope you really want this car. It is going to cost you as much to ship it as you probably paid for it. Springle Transport Services, Inc. stscars.com TugRacing at aol dot com Tell Billy I said hello. Best of luck

Suffering from the same agony Zman seems to be having, a dear friend loaned me his metal working videos from Eastwood. Great inspiration and I learned a lot about repairing car bodies. I highly recommend them. They don't teach you how to weld but show you what procedure to use and where it is appropriate to use what technique. There is one on making metal shapes and one on repairing sheet metal. I think they are Covel videos. Look them up.

Skip, I probably deserved that. Owe you a beer. OK, PENETRATING OIL FREAKS ! ! ! DIRECT RECOMMENDATION FROM AIRCRAFT MECHANICS http://www.mousemilk.com/

Skip, Learn something. WD-40 is NOT a penetrating oil. I doesn't do basically the same thing at all. What's the difference? Viscosity, surface tension, chemical composition...stuff like that.

Yes, they all have that plate. The "Z" logo is special also.

The sway bar mount area of the frame gets a lot of water and the sway bar bolt threads above the captive nut welded inside the frame get rusty. You were trying to unscrew a badly rusted bolt. Shame on you! And shame on whomever suggested WD-40. WRONG stuff for this application. Use pentrating oil like PB Blaster or Kroil. So if you go the EZ-out route, you are still trying to unscrew a seriously rusted bolt. DON'T DO IT, MAN !! Drill out the bolt and re-tap the threads to remove the rest of the bolt. Spray a bunch of oil up inside your frame. You have a rust issue.

Hi guys! I didn't want to seem like I was hijacking this thread. The electrolysis rust removal process SuperDave is talking about is exactly what I am doing to 26th and what 27th faces. Those shots were "just out of the tank" and the babe was still wet and full of bits of crap. Her Majesty sat in the tank for about three days however they pulled the car out and rotated it every day. Yes, all the rust in the hollow spaces and layers of metal is gone. These pictures just don't do this process justice. Its just amazing. Rusty areas are eroded like an achne on the metal. Holes are jagged with thin edges. Seams that had rust inside look like an explosion went off and even some holes look exploded like a bullet hole. Then, there are some really interesting things to see in the factory metal. What I have decided to do is leave the car with welder Dale in Wauchula. He gave me a very optimistic estimate for the metal work and I think this is going to save me a bunch of time and effort as well as provide better results. Actually, I was shocked when he told me he didn't think it was going to take him more than a week. The car will be dipped again after the welding to get rid of the surface rust that is going to happen between now and the end of July. Then with a clean shell again, there is about ten days time before surface rust. The car gets hauled back to Sarasota, two hours away, and we set the car up on stands to prime it right away. I have these long plastic wands to spray primer up inside the metal sections so that the end result is coverage better than what the factory did 36 years ago. Then, all the seams get sealed again with new sealer. Then the floor tar insulation goes down (I bought factory tar material from Chloe years ago). Then the car gets painted. Sounds like a lot of work by August, doesn't it? Well...I can dream. Here are a couple of shots I have been sharing around. Factory stitch welding over the front and rear of the tunnel. This demonstrates the hand fabrication techniques of the time and shows how sub-assemblies were connected. The last shot of the front radiator gusset plate shows a welding rivet peculiar to the early body shells. Later shells have nice spot welds.

28527th is an estate sale car and was on eBay last March. I don't recall that it sold at that time. I'll have to look it up. It is a nice one - #918 New Sight Orange. Evidently, it was driven occasionally when it was purchased instead of garage collected. The story about the son buying the car for his retired father is true. I talked to the son last March. At the time, I think we were picking at it because the lighter was missing from the console. I wouldn't be surprised if this car has a couple of maintanence issues. Look, you guys. Vintage Zs have all sorts of oddball parts and features. Take my word for the moment. A cassette deck is quite possible. An incorrect dash would be common. A real leather interior is unlikely. I think the only people who know that the interior isn't leather are us. I'm still working on the biggest, longest explanation of Vintage Zs you can ever imagine. Including; "Pictures with circles and arrows and a paragraph on the back explaining each one"! I think the Vintage Z story is fascinating and unique. If I were to buy a collector / investment grade Z, I would consider one of these. Great car to show and dabble with. Thanks for the heads-up, Patrick. So, its out of the bag, Vicky? On its way? When does it arrive? Did you buy that brochure? Was that your car?

This is Her Majesty the 26th, bare naked metal and 100% rust free. She also has some holes where rust used to be. Poor thing. She is just out of the tank and has not been wiped down yet. These pictures are from this morning. She sat in the electrolysis tank for three days after all the paint and junk was stripped off. The plastic covering on the wire harness metal tabs has not been harmed nor has any of the lead filler. She is 100% rust free inside and out. Cool, huh?