Swiss two-become-one 240Z Ground up restauration / JDM mods

[jdmjunkies.ch]

Yes! On monday the shell is going back to the bodyshop. I chose a new panelbeater with a bit more professional background. The other one was OK, but this time it goes to a specialist which is usually handling cars in a more exclusive price-range. Also he's not alone but has a hand full of people on hand and compared to my previous guy - has all the tools required in-house. Also he just seems a bit more of a "do-er" and less of a "talker" - my kind of guy. And he promised me to complete the body until the end of the year for a fair price. So let's have the fingers corssed that the project is back to 100 again now...
This means i had to prepare a few things for the bodyshop. Aside from a few drawings with measures and dimensions and other details, he asked me to prepare the passenger side. the first thing he's going to attack is fix and finalize the work of the previous guy. on the first look he told me the work was pretty good, but there are a few small details to rectify especially the rocker panel that doesn't align with the door. something the previous guy wanted to fix himself before i took the car back...
So first: there is still a lot of media from the sand blasting falling whenever you move the car...


So i took out the vacuum cleaner and tried to suck out all remaining sand wherever possible (2nd attemt, and for sure not the last one...)

The previous owner t hought it was coo to have the car "clean" and closed all the holes for the fender and hood emblems. Luckily i have a good fender with the original holes in stock. so i took measures there

...and transferred them to the other fender, to drill the holes. I'm quite satisfied with the result (only temporary mockup, emblem is not fully pushed in)

Ignore the black marks. they were wrong, but after drilling, i decided to give the holes a bit of rust protection by spraing it with some primer. i probably went a bit over board with the sprayed area

Time to put it on the car:

The panelbeater also asked me to install the doors and locks so he can align everything neatly and make sure the panel gaps are nice everywhere.

And the doors side. Feels good to "assemble" something, even though it is only a temporary mockup with some "scrap" parts. Will be nice to install the other set which is freshly zinc plated or rechromed...

While working on the doors i also realized there is some rust on the welds inside the door skin. The welds came from the previous panel-beater, who made sure the bodylines are there again. it seems the previous owner also "cleaned" those.
i cleaned the welding spots with a brush and added some rust conversion primer there (no photo of that):

While sorting through the doors parts i thought it was about time to give my "new" sandblaster a try:

Worked pretty well, except i realized my compressor is too small. Luckily i already have a deal with my father-in-law to exchange ours (he needs a smaller one, i can have his more powerful one):

If everything goes well you'll see some picturs of this car being loaded onto a trailer on monday, along with a load of parts. So happy to see the project taking up speed again...

[jdmjunkies.ch]

Finally - the day has come, where the car left the home for the second time for a visit at a bodyshop. This time a different one...


The agreed timeline is to complete the body until the end of the year (roughly). I said quality comes before a tough timeline, but also they agreed on not letting the car sit in a corner for 5 years like the previous panelbeater did...
The plan is to straighten the chassis, which needs a bit alignment, replace all rusty panels and then add the bodypanels and align all gaps, before having everything dismantled again and ready for the paintshop....

And until then i'll plan my next steps. They already took some panels with them too, but i'll visit them soon, bring the passenger side door and seat rail for test fit and have a look around their shop.
I'm as motivated as i haven't been in a long while to push this project as far as possible again...

[jdmjunkies.ch]

Just a very small update. While preparing the passenger side fender for the bodyshop, i realized i dont have any nice fender emblems anymore, so i immediately ordered a set, since i saw they were still available new from Nissan:

Nothing crazy, but another little piece of the Puzzle is ready to be installed, once the shell and body panels are painted...

[jdmjunkies.ch]

Only one picture today, but an important milestone in the project: The bodywork starts again! A few hours ago, i was at the new bodyshop to discuss the first steps and bring them some parts. The car is in good company and the workshop is huge. This is just one little messy corner where it is temporary stored until work begins next week (fingers crossed). The rest of the shop is clean and busy with many people at work. I met the panel beater the first time and he seems to be a really nice dude. They promised me to send pictures every now and then, and since they're basically just a little detour on my way from work back home, i guess i will have regular visits to them too So let's hope for some updates soon...

[jdmjunkies.ch]

When i prepared the doors for the Bodyshop, i realized that some of the hinges were worn out pretty much. So i decided to give my spare set an overhaul. it took me a while to figure out how to get the old pins out. but now i got a solution and also finally a use for my new press

The pin got a bit bent during the process, but shouldn't be a problem:

Here's a comparison of the old vs new pin you can clearly see some heavy wear on t he old pin:

The sleeve things were pretty worn out too and basicalyl fell apart once i touched it:

The inside was easy to get out with the right tools and a hammer:

Here we go, everything out and new ones ready to go in:

During the process i also wanted to snadblast the old hinges, but realized my compressor is way to small. Luckily my father-in-law offered me to swap mine with his bigger one:

Still could be bigger, but it works ok for small parts:

Here's one of the door hinge parts freshly blasted:

Next? i still need to find out how i can remove the springs on the upper hinge to get the same job done there. and if i should paint the hinges first before assembly, or do it the opposite way? no hurry

And i got an update from the bodyshop too, they got the fender and door installed for alignment. and realized that one of the previous owners had the brilliant idea of smoothing (cleaning) out the body lines in the front fender, as you can see: Sommething i didn't notice so far... damnit another thing to rectify again. well at lest there is already a first progress.. Hope for some news again soon.

[jdmjunkies.ch]

Despite work beeing a bit crazy and me don't finding a lot of time to work on the cars, i at least managed to get some parts for the next steps.
First of all a set of weld-in cable clamps for the bodyshop so they can replace the old ones which became quite brittly from the many years and have been painted over several times. Some go into the engine bay and hold the original wire harness, while some go besides the seat, to hold the internal wire harness...

Then i got a window roller repair kit all the way from australia. i was not sure what to expect when i bought it on ebay, but i have to admit it seems pretty solid:

the kit comes with replacement rollers which are not 3d-printed or something but seem to be nicely cast items.

they replace the original rollers. Now i just have to find out how to peen those new pins in nicely. As you can see i defintely need new ones...

[Max_S]

Hello from your northern neighbor 

 

Stumbled over your thread after coming back here, being slightly disappointed by the online-community on this side of the pond 😐

Haven't read all of it yet, just the last ~5 pages, but really liking what I'm seeing (and some respectful envy^^).
I guess once my project finally gets underway I'll have to make the 1000km ("around the corner" in miles) trip down and see if I can spot your Z in the alps

Definitely going to keep an eye on this, already bookmarked some stuff for info.

 

Max

Edited July 20, 2022 by Max_S

[jdmjunkies.ch]

I rally hope the Project gains some Momentum again soon. things are still according to plan, just a bit slow. Meanwhile at least i managed to collect a few nice NOS items:
1) a set of NOS lugnuts for the Steel wheelsin exchange for some parts to get a certain Yonmery Skyline (240K-GT) back on the street. Thanks to Stefan for the Deal

2) I found this NOS vintage Memorial Badge of the 4 Safari Rallies. Not something i would usually spend a lot of money on, but when this one popped up for sale for 10 bucks in the original box, i just had to get it for my collection.

It has never been installed, all the Hardware was included and looks absolutely mint. I think somewhere i have the stickers that came with the same "Quadruple crown" celebration too.

That's it. I still owe you a story about our road trip in Norway, which i'm working on, and i really hope to give you some updates on the EK9 and 240Z again soon. I have many things planned, just need to prioritize them.

[jdmjunkies.ch]

  

The previous owner of my Z thought it was a brilliant idea to "clean" all the emblems, holes and other stuff from the body. so this is what my hood looked like:

For reference, this is what it should look like, with the two holes to install the Datsun Hood ornament (my spare hood shown):

So i got to work and marked and drilled back the holes in the original location:

The result turned out perfect (ornement not pushed completely in in th ephoto, so i could remove it again, but the the holes fit perfectly)

I also gave it a layer of primer, to protect the holes from rust, until it gets a proper paintjob. Ok i know the area was a bit of an overkill 🙂

[jdmjunkies.ch]

Soo, the Z project is slowly picking up speed again. I was able to purchase a bunch of NOS parts from a nice elderly guy lately and they arrived today:

So what is inside those boxes? First of all a set of NOS Akebono rear drum brake pads. I think i have now three sets of NOS pads, and one Project Mu

A set of original headlight rubber gaskets in excellent condition. I think i bought a good aftermarket set once, but these are of course the real deal.

An original battery tray mount metal frame. I think i have the rubber / Plastik kit for it, so now the set should be complete.

This one is probably not really rare but something i haven't seen for sale a lot. The "Flange" is used to connect the steering column to the coupler if i'm right.

A shiney Mitsubishi voltage regulator with absolutely no corrosion or signs of age:

Some for t hose plastik side marker lenses:

Also a chrome bumper corner: needs a bit of cleaning bit of buffing but otherwise excellent:

A NOS Hood locking mechanism:

Rear drum brake cylinder, early version if i'm correct:

And now to the cool stuff: A complete set of NOS JDM Fairlady fender mirrors in original packing and with all hardware. Something prices have skyrocketed for. so i'm  happy i got them for realistic price:

And an OEM NOS Honda radio deleter storage compartment thingy (Nissan part name: "Mask"):

This was an option part to install instead of the original radio, which i think is cool. I have something similar in my EK9 too. In such cars i prefer to have the sound of the car, rather than the sound of an old defunct radio.
Also it allows me to skip the search for an expensive and quite rare Euro-band spec original radio in reasonable condition.

Then i also got this nice swiss 280ZX brochure and color sample chart (including interieur fabric samples). Not directly related to my car, but i thought i's nice to have for my collection:

 

Regarding the Bodyshop. I wanted to call him this week to ask about updates. When i brought him the car a few months ago, the plan was to finish it by end of 2022. Well So far not much has happened. But then out of nowhere he called me to excuse for all the delays. It seems he had some bad luck with health and was not able to work for a few weeks and this threw his whole plannig over board. They now have fixed my car into the schedule for march 2023 where 3 people are fully booked to work on my car. So hopefully next spring the shell will be ready. Fingers crossed.

Oh and you might remember a while ago i got gifted a bunch of old Nissan dealer stickers and i thought one would make a good look on one of my tool drawers:

Perfect. Stay tuned for more updates soon...

[jdmjunkies.ch]

I managed to get another load of rare old, but new (NOS = New-Old-Stock) parts for the 240Z. Most of the parts are something i wouldn't have bought new since they're just small bits and pieces, but when i got the chance to obtain the whole lot, i couldn't refuse. This is what i got delivered today:

First of all: A clutch disk:

Then a set of complete headlight bucket assemblies.

You might remember i got the rubber seals for these included in last weeks delivery, and today also the chrome trim rings arrived:

Some more rare body panels: The two reinforcment corners that start at the firewall and extend under the hood on each side to the fenders.
I don't think i'll need those, but it's good to have them in case the bodyshop needs those:

There were also a set of gaskets. The one on the left is for the big original air filter. the red one for the fuel pump. the two black ones are for the water pump and the other one obviously for the exhaust downpipe.

Last week i got some of the side marker parts, and this weeks i got the chrome trims and rubber seals for them (two top items). Additionally i also got the rare
bumper mounted turn signals for the Eurpean spec 240Z including the rubber seals (bottom two items):

A set of filters came with the delivery too: Oil filter, and fuel filters:

And an original water pump:

Something rare is this fusebox. and a fuse remover tool. I don't know i think this is not the correct one for the 240Z as it has too many fuses. so i will probably sell it.

A set of chrome bumper trims or whatever they're called. I think they're US-Spec but have to double check in my manuals. Will also go up for sale if i don't need them.

They also came along with a set of original rubber covers for them.

I also got a set of strut inserts for the 240Z. Strangely the included papers mentions a PL510 and other cars, but the box says GS30 and S30 "Hard" so i have to double check ne numbers too.

And then i got a load of small fastners, mounts, shims, bits and pieces. Those are always good to have. some of them are really rare and useful, others seem a bit strange and unfamiliar.

Overall it's a great lot, even though it wasn't cheap. I still have to double check all the part numbers and see if they're right for my car. I have my doubts in some cases. But that's not an issue, i just put them up for sale
At the end, i'm sure this will save my ass once or twice when i put together the car and realize a certain small piece is missing and worth replacing, only to find it in this lot

Another friend gifted me this Coin with a Japanese lettering and a 240Z on it. It's a bit strange because it seems to show a "regular" S30 chassis (see the grille?) but the text says "Fairlady" (top) and 240 Z-G (bottom).

The backside says "Award". I don't know where this comes from. but i found a few googlin japanese "240Z fairlady coin" etc. One sales ad had the following text included:
It's a coin you get when you collect dozens of old arcade coins. This coin is over 30 years old. Owners and fans of Z30 and 240G, what do you think?

If somebody knows more i'd love to learn what this is about..

What's next? I have a week off the coming days and i plan to get my EK9 read for next season, so i can put it in hibernation during the winter and focus on the Z again.

[jdmjunkies.ch]

When i started my project, i never thought about putting things like Hubcaps on the car. I wanted it to be cool with aftermarket wheels and all. Today i'm a bit unsure which direction to go, but i have grown up and learned that the value of a car is only there when it comes with all original parts, documents, history, etc. so whenever i see original parts pop up for sale for a reasonable price. i buy them. just because of collecting reasons, or to have the car complete with all the parts, even though it's modified.

A while ago i got a set of original Datsun hubcaps but t hey're in terrible shape (see left) and in my opinion beyond reasonable repair. they're dented, paint is gone, chrome is peeling off, etc.

This is the old set:

So when recently a set of correct build-date popped op for sale in good shape, i had to get it. today i was finally able to get them. Even if i'm not sure if they ever will end up on the car, it's good to know t hat the care is one piece more to complete, as it originally left the factory. Or 4 pieces, if you will. Ant this time they only need a bit of cleaning to be back in good shape. nice.

[jdmjunkies.ch]

So yesterday i was able to pick up another lot of small NOS bits and pieces for the 240Z project from a nice german bloke, who offered them them to me.

Let's start with the obvious elephant in the room: A used original Datsun / Nissan Competition steering wheel in quite good shape (needs a little touch up, though).
Since the original Japanese "Z" logo horn button was a bit worn out, he additionally included a reproduction item:

You might remember i once had the opportunity to buy a complete reproduction steering wheel, which i still have, but the real deal is of course always better. See this link for a comparison to the original steering wheel and a bit of background information on the Compe steering wheel. The one i got now looked a bit dried out, so i thought i give it a bit of "cockpit lotion" treatment to preserve it before i put it in storage. As you can see on the towel it was quite dirty, only from rubbing a bit: Now it feels much smoother and additionally smells nice *lol*

The rest of the parts mainly consist of NOS (New-old-stock) random small bits and pieces, which are always good to have on hand when restoring a car.
I got various gaskets transmission-to-driveshaft seals and an alternator bracket in the original nice blue colour (this will come handy as a colour reference when painting the motor!)...


Also included were a Relay (or fuse?) cover, a Battery tie-down-hook, a set of drum-brake rubber seals, a clutch cylinder / piston and a set of new interieur door-handle plastic shells:

Then a few new heater control knobs, those small plastik things just below the windscreen, a few engine-bay / firewall rubber gaskets and the clutch cable rubber gasket, as well as a new nissan radiator coolant hose:

Since the seller didn't have some of the originally listed parts anymore, he offered me a free new Japanese "Fairlady Z" Book instead. It is a kind of a mix between a high-end hardcover sales brochure and photobook:

It consists of mainly beautiful photos of the new Fairlady Z (sadly no pictures together with the older generation Z's)

And some information about the different options, colours etc. Nice to have and put it in my lecture collection

Once again many small pieces of the puzzle collected to put the car back together.

[jdmjunkies.ch]

  

correction: As a reader pointed out, there IS actually a page with the S30 gen Fairlady Z in the book. I just completely missed it when flipping through the book initially 🙂
Here you you see the new Z together with what appears to be a Z432 and a regular JDM Spec Fairlady Z

[jdmjunkies.ch]

Today i finally got the Japanese Neko publishing "Fairlady Volume I" & "Fairlady Volume II" Books. Two super nice hardcover books that come in an additional nice cardboard box each.

I've seen those books many times but somehow forgot about them until a friend reminded me about them (Shoutout to Florian!), So i had to get them, of course.
I have only flipped through them quickly so far, so have to dive deeper into them. It appears that vol 1 has a lot of background information about the development. like below shown the different prototype / development versions:


They also feature nice pictures of all variants like the HS30-H G-nose version or the PS30 (Z432), etc, where you can see all the details:

Vol. II has a lot of motorsports photos


And also shows one of the famous Z432 Highway patrol cars:


As i said, i still have to go through them in detail in the coming days, but so far, they look good in my (partial) collection of Japanese Z-related books:

[jdmjunkies.ch]

Today i managed to find something nice and rare. Something i have been looking for for a while and recently one popped up for sale:
An original Nissan "two-button" Rallye clock including oscillator box in excellent shape:

It consists of a the clock itself including the wires

And the oscillator box:

A while ago i got this aftermarket oscillator box From japan, which i don't need anymore, but since someone might be curious, here's a little comparison:

For those who don't know the Rallye clock was Standard in some japanese cars, and also available as a dealer option over there. In other countries (USA for e.g.) the rallye clock was sold in the "competition" catalogues as an option as well:

[calZ]

Almost a year on now. Any more updates?