A to Z

Hard to believe it is done. If any of you have any questions, feel free to ask.~Joe

Not really Datsun related, but for those who have watched my Z car build, the one car garage I used was never REALLY cleaned up. Today was the day I fixed that. I almost have room all the way around the car!

Walk around vid to go with pics above. As stated she is all done. Garage cleaned up and move forward with life now. click below for video: V1.MOV

Completion pictures taken for insurance. Posting on here as a record. Pic heavy. V2.MOV

END OF THREAD. Z CAR COMPLETED. ANOTHER ONE SAVED AND ON THE ROAD.

Today was completion day! 3 years and 27 days of "restoration". It AGED me. I worked through the winters with little to no heat, bundled up choking on body filler dust, changing out the roof skin to eliminate the sunroof, to replacing interior, to complete custom big bore stroker engine building, swap from auto to manual trans, 4:11 K case rear end, you name it. Wouldn't do it again.....plowed through just so I could have an OLD one, a '72 240Z instead of a 280Z. Whew. this is a walk around in the one car garage I built it in, with one 120V electrical socket. It proves you CAN do it if you just jump in and go! Enjoy! click below to watch video: V1.MOV

07-13-2024 UPDATE PROJECT COMPLETE 16 June 2021 to 13 July 2024, that is 3 years and 27 days. Today was wash and cleanup day. I finished all that was on the punch list. With the flares being FRP (fiberglass reinforced plastic) I tried, and found out that caranauba wax works even better than Armor All on the flares. Nice and shiny. The big one was the door jambs. As the pics show, it's now good to go. I can't believe she is really done. Took a few pics of the day, but this is it as far as the build. She's done.

07-06-2024 UPDATE. More flare fitting. I ended up having to trim the front lower valence on the ends.....taking them in 3/8 to 1/2 inches, and then cleanup to make them look nice. I also had one rear tire that was dragging really good on it's flare that I had to work on. Success is finishing it, with no rubbing going on, and everything looking good. I also interior painted a spot that was in need of it. The list of to do's is getting very short now. PICS.

06-29-2024 UPDATE: Today I finished getting the wheels on, with the center caps installed.....I had to drill a small hole in the front wheels , tap the holes, and use 8/32 screws to ensure the covers don't come off of the front wheels. Then I armor alled and dressed them up and went for a drive, and heard a lot of grinding, so there will be further adjustments made on the flares. Becasue my driver's side door stop on the hinge broke, I added door stops. These are leather ones with chrome brackets I found online which are made for a 1936 chevy pickup! see attached pics, they work well! This post is pic heavy. But, pics are attached.

6-23-2024 UPDATE. Wheels are still in the process of final fitment and center caps aren't on, but wanted to take a few pics of the wheels.

06-22-2024 UPDATE. Long and Busy day! This morning I took my wheels down to Big O Tires, on Austin Bluffs here in colorado springs, and got the tires mounted and balanced, I then got them home and the very long and tedious process of getting the wheels swapped out, to include ride height adjustments and some flare modifications so that the car doesn't look like it is sitting on top of the wheels, but that the wheels are tucked in looking proper. I managed to get all the wheels on, however, there will be a tad bit of work on the front flares in a spot where the tire wants to rub on turning, but otherwise it is complete! The center caps had no way of sticking to hte centers, So I used good 3M VHB tape and got them installed. I noticed that upon closer inspection the center cap paltess are held on by an actual BBS device! In the pictures you can see the roughly 2 inch higher profile the new 17" wheels have, so yep....every side had to be raised and then adjusted backand forth to get it right. Along with flare modifications to let the car sit down on the wheels. TIRED! See attachment pics!

Well, my 17" wheels arrived today. (2) 17X8.5, (2) 17x9; -36 offset. Tires are Riken 225/245 45ZR17. Center caps are about 1/8" thick, like a poker chip with the "Z" etched in and painted. As I have mentioned before, I bought these from a company in China, had them custom made....these are Forged. Can't beat the price, quality is VERY good.

06-14-2024 UPDATE: Hood pins are done. I wet sanded the touch up areas with 2000 grit sandpaper and got them to where they are smooth and decent, then polished it by hand with Meguires 205 and then a coat of Mcguires Gold paste wax (pure caranauba wax) I took several pictuers to show that the hood pins are not obtrusive at all and blend in nicely with the whole thing. See attached pics. Cheers!

06-08-2024 UPDATE: Well, i finished up my hood pins. The reason I did this, was becasue the Tri-Bar setup from Techno Toy Tuning was making it impossible for the hood to latch, every option possible to loosen things up to get it to latch, then tighten, etc. wasn't working.....then the thing I never wanted to happen occurred, the hood release cable broke. I was able to get the hood open, and it was then that I decided to remove that horror from ever happening again, so here we are. I bought the kit on Amazon for under 10 bucks, but instead of using the large diameter scuff paltes, I used Stainless Steel Washers. I then bonded them on to the hood, and then after painting underneath, used some silicone adhesive and smoothed it out with my finger, and once dry looks great! So anyway, after finishing that, there are a lot of chips in my paint....My el-cheapo paint job seems to be very susceptible to chips. So I had to go over and over each chip several times to fill the chips in and then get it higher than the surface.....once dry and hard, I can wet sand with 1500 grit wet sandpaper smooth and then hand buff out and they will be all gone. I then pulled the Z out and cleaned and re-organized the mess formerly known as the single car garage...being a rental, no money is spent on the garage, save a few bucks today to have a spot to plug in my Mom's old stereo and I then also moved everything over to that wall and did a bit of cleanup of the area. Then took a few pics of the Z in it's cleaned up abode. Took it for a ride, about 20 or so miles, everything is still getting better and better as everything continues to seat in together. Pics attached. Cheers!

05-25-2024 UPDATE: I went ahead and prepped and installed some fuel hose breathers. When I open the gaarage I can smell fuel, so it obviously is coming from the vents. I was able to get both off to Amazon. My door sill plates from Skillard came in, and I put them on, and I managed to notice 2 little dimples I have on my hood h Techno Toy Tuning strut bar and tri bar setup. I guess it clearanced itself! Not supposed to do that, but it's already done. I tried the push button hood pins, over and over again and I just couldn't get it right, so I am going to switch and go to the old school pin and clip type. Oh! I polished the aluminum block off plates for the hood and old hood latch areas and installed. Then I started her up, she started right up and purred like a kitten. Good day! See the pics!