Perfect240z

Nice!! I don't trust myself lol, I feel I would leave gaps. Can I have you do mine? lol

And thats what I was planning on doing. I know a few people to ask, I want to rebuild it to learn more and more. My rebuild kit came in the mail yesterday from the z store. I need to find some gaskets for the oiler bar and I should be good on gaskets. I may paint the block this weekend if I can find the time...it is pretty rainy right now, so I may get a day to sit in and just work

I've gone through most of that on the car, If you read back, I got my early Z for free from a client of mine. It does have rust as most Z's do, but the fact that when my client got the car from ebay wasn't the best idea since I found all the rust, and the fact it was covered in bondo... I haven't done any engine builds before, but being that this site, and classic Z, and atlantic Z car have so much info, plus I have the factory manuals, the Z motor rebuild+performance book(not needed yet) and i know some guys who have rebuilt Z motors. Im not too worried since I would take the time and my du diligence to not mess up I saw the Datsun spirit site, they have some awesome builds. If I go for a shop, I would go Rebello Racing since the shop is only maybe 45min to an hour away max. I will be having an L28 built professionally after my Z is back on the road.

Im trying! lol tomorrow might be a good night to get some work done. Friday is pay day so I might be ordering my engine rebuild gasket kit. Have to pay some bills first, then we'll see what we have left to play with lol. BTW removing the fuel and brake lines with the diff in...yea thats going to have to come out before I can drive the car. Now I wonder if I should just replace all suspension and put a different diff in since I have to remove everything anyways? Thoughts anyone?

My first Saturday off in awhile, thanks to my new schedule I was able to work on the Z for about 6 hours today, alot of work done. Even though you won't be able to tell from photos I haven't heard back from any of the paint shops I contacted, wonder why they don't want to take my money lol. Next pay day 'll be ordering my engine rebuild kit with all the gaskets and a timing kit. I have to make sure to switch up what im doing every so often so I don't get burned out just doing the same part of the project as im sure we all experience. Hood has been sitting for so long i had to start removing a little surface rust before sending it with the rest of the car to paint...once the shops reply to me with quotes and I pick one.

Well it's the beginning of the new year and I have already done more work then last year. I've removed the hatch, removed the glass without breaking it, and removed all the paint from the hatch itself. Pics will come tomorrow hopefully. I've been meaning to remove all the fuel and brake lines to finish up the paint removal from the engine bay, and today was the day, I started at 4pm and worked till 10pm. I did take a dinner and tv break ofcourse lol, but I must say, removing the lines while having the suspension and diff etc in...sucks big A hole...Screws rusted, brake lines rusted in the rear and had to be cut(I wanted to save those and have new lines made custom) on top of that even with the car on rollers there's not that much room under there to work. In any case, Im about 99% done with the removal, I just have to unhook the springs that are holding the lines up and then I'll be done. We just did our taxes and were getting a nice refund, after we get our PMI removed off the house and get some new flooring for the kitchen, i'll be looking for a place to the get this SOB painted! It's about time I can say this, I'll be trying to get the welding of the body panels done in the garage with a friend, but if not I may ask to see what the extra charge is for the welding to be done at the shop...I'd like to save money though, so hopefully I don't have to if my friend comes through for me. The E31 head is all back together, I just need to order my gasket kit, and a timing chain kit+new rockers and I can put the motor back together. It sounds like im close to more then 50% done...But I don't think so ha! It's nice to really get my hands dirty again, maybe I can really pull this off (fingers crossed) and drive the car in 2014(we all say this is the year). This is the year!!

I have been really bad at updating, Im now a supervisor at PD in the animal services bureau, I always have to stay late and finish up work...BOOO! My co supervisor will be heading out on maternity leave in Feb, but our boss wants to get me out on a short vacation before we're short handed. So in Jan I will have 5 days off of nothing but working on the car, Im really excited!! Ive been planning on renting this Soda blaster for the engine bay for a year now...and that day will arrive the second week of January I think. I'll def be taking photos and a video to update my blog. Not much else has happened, half of the hatch is to bare metal still, but its been so cold here lately...(23 degress, not cold to some but in Cali thats deathly cold lol) that I don't want to go to the garage.

Once I saw them, not on yahoo japan auctions I knew I had to order it.

Yea...i'll have to cut carefully. It was a pain in the ass to get the windshield out, I'll just pay a car window place to put them back in lol.

I should...I haven't found any rust at all on the hatch, so we'll see...the right way would be to remove it. But I also need to see if I can't get all of the paint off from around the rubber gasket around the glass...if I cant, then its a time to remove the window....

I got some work done on the Z in the last week and a half. Im trying to get as much of this paint off as I possibly can...without removing the glass from the hatch itself. I don't know what anyone thinks of that idea, but Im seeing what can be done with saving a little bit of time in each part of the project to get this car back on the road. I also finished putting the cylinder head back together, the head is clean, the valves, springs, shims and keepers I cleaned in my garage with carb cleaner, rags and a bit to get some carbon deposits off, it's not perfect but it will do to get that motor put back together and driving, I would;nt call it a rebuild, but a refreshening An actual rebuild will come once I have driven the car for a little while In the last few weeks I have picked up some goodies...for myself and the car. I needed some motivation so I got myself a dicast model of a 240z from JADA toys, supposed to be rare, but I liked it so I putting together a little shadow box and something to make the car stand out for the background photo. I also picked up what I have really wanted from the start of seeing one of these from Spitz17 Fairlady, a Datsun Competition steering wheel. I definitely can't afford to purchase an authentic version for over 1k in price, but I did manage to scrounge up some cash to purchase the new remake. It does come with a new horn pad, but I will be swapping the horn pad for my original datsun horn pad or source a NOS one online. I think this complements the car so well and it feels nice in your hand, I never liked the newer steering wheels that I have been seeing, but a retro race look is spectacular and I couldn't resist buying it once I saw it back on the market. Last note is I have been driving my new Focus ST for almost 6 months now, and the car is a blast to drive. With 252 hp turbo 2.0L 4 banger, its giving my smiles to work and back, and for a little beach trip up to Sonoma. I even landed in the middle of LSx driving group and stayed with them till they got a bit to crazy with those turns by a cliff, since the wife was with me I pulled off to the side to let them pass after a little fun, But I must say I couldn't be happier with a quick car that is comfortable, roomy, and you have to love a hatch back with all that space available getting the sand out of your shoes Until I write again...which hopefully is soon!

Nice! I bought a welder from Home Depot since I have some welding to do, I have taken a class or learned really yet, but I'll be hopefully doing some welding soon! Nice work!

What do you guys think of these rims? They look like Watas/rotas/konig rewinds. I think the brand is either Pisang or Atara? I got a quote and it was 650-850 for 15" 9jj offset -13 pcd 114.3x4 10.5 10.5jj offset -32 pcd 114.3x4 holes

So thats all custom Leon or did you just piece together everything?

Well I got word from my wife that this tax season, depending on how much there is I might be able to do my paint job finally this upcoming spring. Im really excited!

Ok, thats what I was leaning toward, but I just I'd get some feed back. My wife did point out that my car would be back on the road sooner, but I wanted the engine bay to match. So my thoughts are right then.

I was unsure of how messed up the engine bay would get when putting the motor back in and if any brae fluid spilled and such, ruining what was just painted. Eventually I'll be building a L28 for some added power, but im more worried about the motor possible scratching up the paint. Just me being a little nervous for the future. Since If it came to a point if I had to sell the car I can always switch the motor back to stock/original.

Question is pretty self explanatory, should I paint my engine bay the color of the car when I get it painted, or Should I paint it black/with some liner since its under the hood? Im asking since Im planning out when im getting the car painted and putting the motor back in. My wife says to paint it black if that will get the car on the road sooner, or for me since its a series one I should get it painted the same as the outside of the car. Im not planning on selling my car, but you never know what the future will bring...

Well tonight I started actually working on the car again. I decided to tackle the rear hatch since it's sitting there with paint on it and panel, should be easy right...? Took me at least 20 min to get the panel off. Some smart P/O decided to use silicon(possibly?) on this panel with screws so I did get some cracks in the plastic This must be a new kind of aftermarket part. I didn't know putting carboard in a hatch could make the car go so fast... think they meant to stuff garbage in the hatch? Look at all this paint start to get eaten off. Well thats it for tonight, I got a little work done and I have work in the morning. Until next time. Same Z time...! Same Z channel..!

2 car...only reserved for one lol.

Thanks. She found it somewhere while shopping, her husband was the one who gave me the Z

Well this year has been the worst year of my life. With loss of my daughter back in feb, I haven't been much of do'er in almost anything. Work doesn't make it any easier since I work at an animal shelter and occasionally have to euthanize animals. I was recently diagnosed with hypothyroid(the fat tired one). I am on meds now, and it is making a world of difference, basically like night and day. I have been coming home from work and actually getting house stuff done(cleaning and such). I had the urge to start cleaning the garage and getting back to work on the car, I took some pics of what the garage looked like before and after. Hopefully I can get this car going again soon. I bought a new fire from home depot from the clearance section. This took more then a day btw... My work/restaurant wasn't even usable. Now I can actually use the table upgraded doors haven't gone in the house yet. Had so much donations piling up too All gone, now I don't have to walk around stuff. Even had time to put up all my cool hotwheels I've been collecting, and a little piece of art a really good friend got me. I should start a garage cleaning business lol

You and I are in the same boat with not working for a better part of a year, great start to some work!

Yup, thats where a lot of my damage is for my 240z, I also used air craft stripper and sanding for my whole car. BTW Takashi, before you primed the hood, did you put any filler on the hood to fill in any gaps or gouges in the metal?

The Car looks so good Leon! Hows she running?