zspert

Here we go again! Someone who should know better claims that the Z Store program car currently offered for sale on BAT was undercoated from the factory, it WASN"T!! How do I know this? I PERSONALLY, not from an article I read in a car mag, not from something a collector with 50 Z cars in her collection wrote somewhere, not from what a general manager @ a contemporary Nissan dealer told someone, undercoated lots and lots of 240Zs, 510s, 1200s and trucks while working as a Datsun mechanic in the 70s. We were paid 3/10ths of an hour labor for each car we undercoated. NONE of the models indicated had factory undercoating. Now, we occasionally see the rare Z offered for sale that were not dealer , or otherwise, undercoated. The factory paint applied to the bottom was often uneven, but not always , thin, thick, or just plain sloppy. Therefore, some internet experts will claim that it was a Datsun factory type of unique undercoating. OK, while you're certainly entitled to your opinion that doesn't make you correct. Here's one that, I'm confident, will shake the bushes. None of the Datsun models mentioned above came with grease fittings from the factory. That's right, NO GREASE FITTINGS. During the Per Delivery Inspection, PDI, or @ the 1K service we installed them, or were paid another 3/10ths to do so. Unfortunately in many, many, cases this meant that the tie rod ends and ball joints were grossly over greased . I don't know why but I saved a handful of the removed blind plugs and installed them on the 240s that Banzai Motorworks sent along to Gold Medallion awards in the stock 240 class. Did the judges notice? Don't know, probably didn't, but I knew that I'd done the right thing. (No charge) I hope everyone had a safe and fun 4th holiday. Cheers

SpeedRoo - If you're interested in more on this subject, like the 3 iterations, I'll be glad to talk on the phone or through email however this crowd clearly is fixated on that distant shiny object as opposed to facts on this greasy, dirty planet. I'll leave it at that. For those 2 chaps that responded to my question about the application of the replated parts. They will be going on what is probably my last restoration - 1972 Datsun 510 Wagon.

SpeedRoo - This is a mystery that I too don't understand. I understand the attraction to a special "Program" car but one built to a high standard. Would another manufacturer put out such a product? Now, the 3rd iteration cars were much nicer - to a point - but all of the 3 batches were indeed built to a price, a low price. While I'd be glad to go into more detail most of the occupants of this forum have little or no interest. Might A Fool and His Money Are Soon Parted apply?

Mr. Beck, You're correct in stating that Nissan didn't use any 1973 model year cars in the Z Store program. One can only imagine the confusion and delay that would have caused! However they did use - how many I have no way of knowing, more on this subject later - 1972 model year cars that required what I call "late 72" door jamb ID plates. Nissan sent me one of each of the plates they wanted me to reproduce. These were not new unstamped plates but used plates which were in good enough condition to serve as models for reproduction. I assume(ed) that they had come off of the cars they, Nissan, had purchased for the program. After a 1 year apprenticeship followed by 10 years as a Datsun dealer mechanic - no, not a "tech" - I opened Banzai Motorworks in the summer of 1980. From that time until I closed my shop on 12/1/23 I retained copies of ALL of the repair orders I wrote. If stacked up they would have been 2+ feet tall. They all had production dates and VINs. From time to time I referred to those ROs whenever an anomaly got in my shop - saw a few of those - or a parts customer had a question or concern about where his/her car fit in the pantheon. A handful of those cars had 4 or 5 of 72 production dates and "late" 72 door jamb ID plates. Ran into this with a recent ID plate order. As I remember his is 5/72. There is a lot of info/static about how many cars Nissan bought for the Z Store program, how many they planned to restore or how many were restored. However, I can state as FACT that they, Nissan, ordered 50 of everything I reproduced for them. That fact, and the first, second and third paragraphs of this rant, I'm comfortable standing behind. Why because, unlike the originators of so much of the disinformation surrounding the program, I was there as a direct participant. Cheers

PATCON, Please don't misunderstand me - of course what one does with his/her car is his/her business. Hell, I've done a handful of what I call easily reversible personalizations to my 280. However, my point is that every Z that gets irreversibly modified means one less of a finite number. Cheers

Sorry, partially incorrect PATCON - don't know what the hell that is but I'm pretty confident it shouldn't be called a Z!

Mr. Beck you're incorrect.

Also, This car has a factory radio delete plate. I have several in stock.

Early 72 on left and late 72 on right. These are examples of the ID plates Nissan commissioned me to reproduce for the program. Begs the question - when did "late" 72 begin? About 4 or 5/72, no one @ Nissan were willing to stick their necks out more than that. However, my experience backs that up.

Almost forgot, it was officially the Z Store program.

This Z was in the first of 3 batches. As the program went on more reproduction parts needed for the program became available. In the meantime there was a lot of recycling.

And BAT doesn't seem to mind the jail time issue!!

Yes, 240 with add-on air has a 3 groove pulley. Can't speak for Spirit, well yes I can but won't, but if such a car were in my now closed shop the A/C pulley would be removed.

A sloppy resto-mod (how I hate that expression)

And the lack of clamps on ANY of the adjacent hoses.

Sorry, not a 260

No, not a ZX I knew someone would ID those socks!! For what it's worth, I got a solid, much needed, grin from that one! Final clue

If one is doing a restoration - a paint job, seat covers, new wheels and tires are NOT a restoration - every part of that car will pass through your hands, every part. The same amount of effort and expense will be required so why not do it correctly ? Not sure about something? Do some research, ask around, read some service manuals and pay attention to the pictures. I've been saying this for YEARS to mostly closed ears. Well, I'm not going to put my Z is a show is the most common excuse. But again, that hood latch is going to be replated along with the fasteners - plate them the correct color for goodness sakes!! I recently attended a large annual imported car show and a 240 was displayed in a special area reserved for what are supposed to be exceptional cars. The subject car had a nicely finished body and interior but under the hood were too many mistakes to list here. This is exactly what I'm talking about. Those parts passed through the hands of someone who had the golden opportunity I stated in the first paragraph. OK, this car - 26th-Z is of course correct about his observations, thank you. Short list - why remove the air injection manifold and not the rest of the related parts? Why use the cheapest imaginable block off plugs on the exhaust manifold? Is the Nihon decal - probably one of mine -faced in the correct direction? Why have you reused that ancient washer bottle when I've offered an excellent reproduction, with the correct motor for YEARS! Yes, I'm confident that this example will fetch a good price and it will indeed serve as a good barometer. The new owner should drop me a line if he's interested in taking it up to Gold Medallion level. I got a kick, perhaps perverse, when Garage 44 mentioned that he had fitted reproduction rear bumper overider rubbers. Those were one of the first parts Nissan had me reproduce for the Z Store program. Let the abuse begin!! PS A free 240 anti freeze decal to the first person who can identify the make and model that these parts are from.

A handful of mistakes/omissions but not bad

Stop should be clear while lock nut yellow

No

No

It's a pencil tray

Guess I'll put it here as this is, at least to this old buzzard, the path of least resistance After almost 190,000 miles and a bit of bearing noise I decided to give the 5 speed in my 78 280 the business and @ the same time address all of the related issues. At the risk of glazing the eyes of my audience I promise to be brief. I had the rear engine plate powder coated - yes, I know it was clear zinc plated from the factory but I wanted to see what my very excellent powder coater could do and the results are very satisfactory - removed 4 pounds from the stock 24 pound flywheel, had the now lightened flywheel balanced along with a new pressure plate, replaced the rear engine seal, clutch assy - used the Exedy set for probably the 100th + time in my career - flywheel and pressure plate fasteners, ALL of the trans bearings, 2nd and 3rd gear syncros, seals and gasket and had all of the related fasteners, etc. zinc replated. This past Sat I drove the 350 mile round trip to Import Carlisle - touched 100 MPH for a couple of seconds - without a hint of concern. I got those trans parts I could from Nissan - yes, I know there are some cheaper alternatives but I like the guys at my fav dealer. Those bearings that are NLA from Nissan I got from a company in Japan, Amayma. They, Amayma, provide excellent service and excellent prices for parts in the original Nissan packaging. Way back in 1971 the dealer I was working for sent me to Datsun trans school. The school held @ Datsun eastern headquarters in Secaucus, NJ. The dealer provided me with a NEW, just off the boat, 510 2 door for transportation. Yes, a new 510 2 door was capable of an indicated 100+. We were provided lunch at what was, I'm confident, a mob owned restaurant. Our instructor told us we could order ANYTHING on the menu but if we wanted lobster we had to give one day notice. Those were the days.

Early starter fuse link on left and early alt fuse link on right. I'll put it on my site when I have some spare time - retirement is SO BUSY!! Story about recent 5 speed rebuild and my time @ Datsun trans school so very long ago to be posted momentarily