Dat240ZG

#248 had all solid emblems, incuding a couple NOS solid emblems that came with the car. I'll try to get some pics of the emblems. Bryan

Thanks guys. Is this a Pep Boys/NAPA type of part, or is there a better place to purchase it?

Alright, I recognize that I may be a doofus for asking this question, but I'd rather look a little silly than do the wrong thing and have to take everything apart and clean it all over again. I am reassembling the door hardware and window hardware and would like to lube the window assemblies. What kind of grease have you guys used in the past? I'm hoping that there is some kind that doesn't have the stench of wheel bearing grease. Anyone help me?

Thanks very much guys. Arne, I decided tonight after I posted the pics that I'll not kill myself to get it done. I was under the car hanging the tank and wiring the fuel pump and such and realized, Man! Working on the Z is fun! I haven't had it to a stage where I could actually do something in a long time and I think that I'm just going to take my time and enjoy the reassembly stage. Thanks for the kind words. Bryan

Evening Ladies and Gents! Just thought I'd share a few of the pics from when we got it out of the paint shop. A year ago May: Several Weeks ago: Wheels Back On and Getting Ready to Return: The car is back at the garage and we're slowly reassembling it now. The wiring is being redone with a painless harness and weatherpack connectors, the quarter windows were torn down, the parts cleaned up and reassmbled with new seals, etc. Slowly but surely she's coming together! Trying to get it finished in time for the Tulsa/Route 66 car show towards the end of November. Somehow I don't quite think that I'm going to make it... Have a great evening! Bryan Dat240zg

Well....I'll try to add something beneficial to this thread. One of the people who has a beautiful "original" Scarab is David Sommers. If you are interested in contacting him, his userid is dsommer (over on hybridz.org). David's Scarab has won several awards and he is a great source of info on Scarabs. As far as all of the soapbox talk about originality, I say there will always be people who want originality and there will always be people who are drawn to modify their Z. I'm kind of in a weird position (I guess) because I can appreciate both. To the guys with the perfect 100 point Z's, beautiful! I love seeing the Z like it was fresh off of the lot. To those guys that have modded their Z's into what they wanted - I can appreciate (most of) the effort that they put in to it. With my rodstoration of #248 I've taken heat from people on both sides of the argument. When I picked it up, #248 was a stripped hulk with a bunch of parts - lots of potential but missing a majority of the parts needed to restore it to stock (namely the running gear and interior). Restoring it to as stock as could be wasn't worth it - considering that it would never be a numbers matching car. As a result, I decided to do a ground up bare metal restoration and "tastefully" update the car. As a result, the running gear has been modernized (LT1/t56, coilovers etc.) but the body is primarily stock. Where I could use NOS Nissan parts, I did. When I couldn't, I went with the best aftermarket parts that I could get. I say if someone wants to get a Scarab and finish out the project - go for it! Better than letting it eventually get trashed or scrapped. Just my opinion. Let the flames begin. Bryan Dat240zg

They are notorious for being really slow. I hope that you paid by paypal. If so, I'd go ahead and get in touch with them and have them put pressure on fatmat to get the order to you. It took me almost 2 months to get my order from them and it was really a negative experience. The product is fine (just finished installing it on my Z tonight) - but the company sucks. Bryan

Man, the FOS is the premier event period! I've been to a few different ones, and I've never gotten to get up close to those cars like I did at Goodwood. My highlight was getting to spend about 5 minutes just talking with John Surtees. He was truly a nice guy, willing to just chat even though the course marshalls were trying to move him along. Goodwood was def one of the highlights of my adult life! Bryan

I'll try to get pics of the parts that came with the car. The stock motor wasn't with the car, but it did come with a fairly rare bow tie block (based on the casting numbers) which I traded for parts, a brand new Banks twin turbo kit, which I sold on ebay (and Banks bought for thier museum) and all of the Scarab parts. That was probably my once in a lifetime.

Not just a story for the kids....this is their dang inheritance!!! Doesn't seem to matter how much parts collecting that I did in advance, or how set I thought I was ($), this is a budget breaker. I read in a thread somewhere that it's getting more along the lines of $35K to a concours resto and I'd have to say that it's probably higher than that, based on what it's costing me. Bottom line was though, that my wife and I were going to have to get another car, and when faced with a $30K car that will be worthless in 5 years or a really nice Z resto that will gain in value, it was an easy choice. Z for me! Bryan

Guys: I've posted a few times regarding #248 and the restoration process, but thought I'd put it all together in one big post. Last summer, I was looking for parts for my ongoing rebuild of #1793. I happened on a post advertising an "early Z with parts" for sale in the DFW area - price was $1500. I called them up and this is what I was told: car was #248, was stripped for a rebuild and here was the parts list: brand new banks twin turbo V8 kit, brand new Scarab complete setup, brand new detail parts (emblems, interior parts, brand new Scarab suspension setup, and the list went on and on....) Here's where it got a little weird. All of the parts were purchased in 1980 and never even unpacked/unwrapped. The restoration stopped at that point and the car had been steadily becoming one with Texas since that time. I told the little old lady that I'd take it and that my wife and I would be there in the morning. Hopped in the Titan, rented a trailer and took off on a road trip! Got down there and couldn't believe what I saw. The entire front porch of this Texas ranch home was filled with Z parts. I quick gave them the money before they could change their minds and started loading all of the parts up. As we were loading all of the parts (my wife and me - she's a trooper!) we realized that although there was a ton of new parts, they weren't the parts that would have been needed to restore to stock. No motor or tranny, much of the interior missing, no stock wheels and such. From that point on, here's the progress on the "rodstoration". Cleaning it out! Off to the media blaster Stripped and ready for body work Early progress The car is coming along and it's getting exciting as they make progress on the body work. According to the shop, they should be laying down color to the jambs, interior and engine bay in the next week or so... I'll post more details later! Bryan Dat240zg

I ended up purchasing a passenger side fender for the #248 rebuild from Victoria British (can't bring myself to call them Blackdragon). It was significantly less expensive than the price I was given on an OEM fender, actually close to the cost of what ZBarn was telling me. It arrived nicely packaged and looked to be nice. It wasn't until we got it on the car that we found that it required a little "massaging" to fit the door/body lines nicely. Still, not a bad choice. FWIW, Bryan Dat240zg

Alright...all pm's responded to. Thanks again for the interest. Bryan

Guys: For those of you who PM'd me, I've put your names by the parts in the order that I received the messages. I'll shoot you pics and we can talk price this afternoon when I get back from work. Thanks again. Bryan

Mike: I just checked and didn't have any new pm's. Try shooting me another. Bryan

Here's the link to see photos: http://thehackshack.net/240z.htm Gary has done a really nice job on the body. Car was picked up down in Texas with a lot of parts, but not many that would actually go towards restoring the car to original shape. At the time, the shell looked nice, but as we dug in to it, it got worse and worse. As you can see in the pics, there was about a half an inch of bondo on the passenger quarter and the car had been hit in the front on the drivers side. The impact tweaked the frame rail and radiator support. I ended up having to sacrifice my other Z for #248. Gary and crew welded in a new to the Z front corner and did a really nice job of it as well. Due to the number of original parts missing from the car when I bought it, it's being "upgraded" in a number of areas. Details to follow! I've been working on #248 for around a year now and should have it back from the body shop in a couple of weeks. The pics on the website are several weeks old - but progress is happening! Let me know what parts you're interested in. Thanks. Bryan

Hey Ladies and Gents.... I'm finishing up the restoration of #248 and have parts left over that I'm putting up for sale to try to offset the red in my bank account... The list is really long and is posted in the classifieds area. If you have any questions about the parts or would like pics, please let me know. Bryan Dat240zg

Should have clarified about the hood. I'm going with a vented hood - I recognize that it won't be correct, but honestly, just like the look. As far as being available from Nissan, I guess I'll go back and check with them again - Courtesy made it sound like they were NLA. Thanks. Bryan

Ladies and Gents: I know that I sound like a broken record, but each time I visit the body shop, a different part is needing to be replaced. As it stands now, I'm in need of a passenger side fender and vented hood. If anyone has a line on Grade A used or new parts, please let me know. #248 is stripped to bare metal and the body replacement process is starting. After being stripped, we found rust on the bottom of the frame rail (?) as opposed to the side like usual. Also, the fender supports in front of the radiator supports have been poorly repaired. I'm currently having to consider doing a cut from in front of the strut towers on my other Z to replace the damage on #248. Aside from these problems (and quarter panel rust on the passenger side) the body is very good and straight for a car that was sitting outside torn apart for the past 25 years. Does anyone have an opinion on the fitment of aftermarket panels from VB/Black Dragon? I've tried Courtesy and it seems like they can't help. Anywho....sorry for rambling. If anyone is able to help me, I'd really appreciate it. Thanks. Bryan Dat240zg

Just saw this post. Ross is a great guy to do business with. There are quite a few parts that he's manufactured that are under my other Z. Always great quality, and pretty good communication as well. The one thing is that Modern Motorsports Ltd. is his business on the side and as such, contact is via email. I've never had any problem at all, in fact, just the opposite. I had a lot of dumb questions when I was first planning out my suspension mods and he was patient with all of them. Great guy to do business with. BTW, I'm not on his payroll Bryan Dat240zg

Dave: Thanks a million. I went ahead and ordered one. How did you find these guys? I checked the part number at Courtesy and they say NLA. Hopefully this will work out! Thanks again. Bryan Dat240zg

Jerry: Any chance that you may be willing to part with it? If so, would you happen to have any pics and an idea of what you're looking to get for it? Thanks again. Bryan

Guys: #248 is in the shop right now finishing up being stripped. I'm trying to pull together all of the parts to finish off the restoration. One of the parts that was missing on the car was the heater control panel. I recognize that I could drop $200 on a brand new NOS piece, but was hoping that someone might have an extra that is in nice shape that they would be willing to sell to me. Anyone? Thanks for your time and help. Bryan Dat240zg

Not to jack a thread or anything, but seeing those pics reminds me of when I lived in Charlotte and Hurricane Hugo came through. I had just finished restoring my first Z (within a month or so) and instead of leaving it outside during the hurricane, we put it back in a large horse barn that my folks had. My dad also pulled his Kitfox (airplane) in the stall next to the Z. Long story short, we lost a lot of trees, but none where the Z had been parked. Instead, the hurricane blew the sides off of the barn and turned the Kitfox over on top of the Z ! Talk about banging my head against a wall! And it was uninsurred, hadn't even finished reassembling it! Felt your pain. Bryan Dat240zg

Branson? Man, it'd be nice to be done by then. Dsommer has been on me for a few years now about getting my projects finished. This would be a good year. Bryan