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My Z History

Just wanted to share some photos of my Z over the years... This photo is just after I bought and rebuilt the engine.  I drove it around through college.  At the time, I purchased the car from a family friend who was storing the car in his garage.  Purchased for $500 with a frozen engine block, bad head gasket, and seized brakes. After a few years, and the first split with my ex, I decided to 'man-up' and start taking the car apart.  I spent the next several years sand blasting, wi
  • Mike

Entry 4 Interior Removal

Back at it this past weekend after some much needed vacation!  I removed the rear bumper, fuel expansion tank, and the interior.  I had some help from my better half.  We spent about 4 hours Saturday and 5 hours on Sunday.  I started with the rear bumper.  The original bumper has hole in the middle of the top, from what I presume was a hitch. The back side of the bumper has a good bit of rust.  These two issues probably add up to a new bumper. Ouch! Next was removal of the fuel expansion ta

Entry 3 Begin Exterior Teardown

This weekend I worked on starting the exterior teardown.  I started with the rear finisher around the tail lights.  This revealed more rust damage than what I expected.  I knew the hatch sill would need to be replaced but now it seams like there is deeper damage. I will be able to determine the extent only after the sill is removed.  I was also able to remove the hood cowl, wiper assembly and the front fenders.  The first fender took a lot longer than anticipated.  This was because the guide I'm

Entry 2 Engine Bay and Fuel Tank

I continued removing hoses and the wiring harness from the engine bay. I labeled all the wires with duct tape and a sharpie. Also removed the gas tank. Other than 44 years of dirt and a small dent, it is in really good shape.  I spent a total of about 4 hours working on it this weekend. No money spent this week, but I have started looking at the complete stainless steel  hardware replacement kits.  Looks like they run about $300, and for that price, well worth the convenience and quality upgrade

Entry 1 Engine accessory removal

I will be restoring my 72z back to "near original" condition. I will utilize all original equipment that can be reused and replace what can't with new. I am not overly concerned with originality, especially if it is expensive.  I have set a budget of $7,700, and must include some tools, but I will document that as I go.   I will be utilizing two primary resources as guides for the process; How to Restore Your Datsun Z-Car by Wick Humble and of course, the Haynes manual. I began last we

Beats To The Rhyme

Well hello and welcome back. As foretold in the previous updates I plan on starting up the second year of the Datsun rebuild. Looking at where I left off I’m starting to think I bit off more than I can chew with the build expecting to take three years with just the winters being the active time on the project. I know I said I would poke here and there on the Datsun in the summer, fortunately and unfortunately I did not do anything with the Z except for take parts from on location and place

Datsun Scarab Info

Hi All! this is my first post on classiczcars.com and i'm super excited to let you all know that 3 days ago i found and rescued original Scarab #157! I put a link below to a short youtube video of the car when we got it back to the shop. If the the link does not work just do a youtube search of scarab #157 and it should pop right up.Within the next 24 hours I'm going to post a ton of pics of the car and lots and lots of documentation. This is a 2 owner car from California that was moved to the M

Stripped radio fascia captive nut- make your own replacement

This is the original fascia nut and odd looking squarish washer that came out with it: One of the captive nuts on the fascia on my car was stripped out so to fix that I made my own captive nut by cutting a rectangle shape out of a repair metal from Thrifty hardware and drilling and tapping it for the 4MM original machine screw. I used a bench grinder to make the new nut have the same size as the original and to have the beveled edges the original has. The existing machine screw size is

Welcome to Zcar Blogs

Greetings and welcome to the Classic Zcar Club BLOG area. We have set aside this area for members who wish to host their own private Z-blog. The idea is this area will be to write articles, show build-updates, and other items related to your own projects. Think of a blog as a "journal" of your adventure. While the blog can be used to create discussions, we encourage everyone to post 2-way conversations in our Forums. Enjoy your own personal blog and please feel free to jump up onto your own
  • Mike

Rear frame rail interiors anti rust spray

Hi all, I sprayed all interior channels of the rear frame rails and interior of wheel wells of a 240Z with two cans of Transtar amber anti corrosion material using existing holes where possible. The front frame rails are more likely to rust but I had already sprayed the interior of the front rails on my car. A thread describing how I did the front frame rails is here: http://www.classiczcars.com/forums/body-paint-s30/40048-two-frame-rails-tc-rod-there-floor-between-them.html The Transtar

Glove box liner- make your own

This describes how I made a two part glove box liner for a 240Z using 3/16" thick foam board. The two parts make it easy to install: Replacement glove box liners are available from classiczcars.com vendors however I like making things so I thought I would fabricate a new liner. I considered making this out of metal but my metal working skills are not that good so I thought I would use an easier to work with cardboard like material. After I made the liner I cut it in half 3 1/2" from

Turn switch relay mod

Hi all, I added relays to the turn switch to take the current load off the switch by copying the idea on the website below. The mod is reversible and by doing so will leave only hidden soldered wires inside the clamshell as the only evidence it was done unless holes were drilled to mount the relays. With this setup the heavy current still flows through the fusebox but only a small current flows through the turn switch itself. I followed this website posting but I used a different brand of

Heater blower motor squeal stop

It is possible to lubricate both blower motor bearings without taking the motor out of the car to stop squeals or other noises related to motor bearings. I realized this after I had taken the motor out to lubricate the bearings. Many have opted to replace the existing blower motor and fan with a Honda civic heater fan. I like to fix things so I oiled the old motor because it was turning slowly and was squealing. Oiling both bearings with the fan in place in the car can be done by taki

Firewall insulation pattern for 1/1972 240Z

Here are pictures of the firewall insulation of a 1/1972 240Z on a "fabric board" with lines 1 inch apart going both ways to allow duplication if for some reason someone wanted to. Note that the top edge of all three pieces of the insulation are lined up with a blue line on the fabric board. Pictures were taken in full sun and have shadows. To clarify where the black insulation poster board ends and the shadow begins white dashed lines have been drawn. This could be printed out and the blue

Throttle jerk fix

Hi all, This mod eliminates MOST of the throttle jerk but not ALL of it. I owned the car for 4 years before I noticed it still has a small amount of throttle jerk. The previous owner of my 240Z reduced throttle jerk from idle to take off by bending the upper arm of the "turnstyle" as seen in the attached pictures to a stair step shape effectively shortening it. This mod is no cost, possibly reversible and requires no welding, drilling or adding parts. The connecting rod with a nylon bal

Cowl leaf screen

This mod is reversible leaving no trace. Using silicone rubber sealant I glued a piece of aluminum window screen I spray painted black onto the bottom of the cowl where the holes are to keep leaves and other debris out. The screen helps prevent corrosion from debris trapping moisture in the area where the windshield wiper motor is. Mike Looking at bottom of cowl, screen being glued on:

Working on suspension

I want to coilover my car, but scare to chop off original struts. So, I've looking for spare parts. Luckily, local Pick N' Pull has new inventory of same year of my Z. Before pick them up, I study how easy to remove suspension struts from the car. I learned removing spindle pins from strut is one of the hardest job... Friend suggest to get yellow tank of propane to heat up and hammering one the spindle to move back and force to loosen up before using spindle removable tool. My spind
  • tamo3

Making an inspection light lens

The inspection light is is NLA or very hard to find at the least, so I decided to try and make the lens. I had a light in good condition, but the lens was brittle and badly faded. Since I had all the equipment for making a set of tail light lenses for my 280Z it was not too much work to try make the inspection light lens. The Equipment I used: 1. Vacuum chamber and vacuum pump. This is needed to remove air from the silicone resin used for the mould and the clear resin used to make the lens. You

Hood emergency release (plus handle mount stripped threads fix)

Hi all, This has been done before by others, the following is my experience. I added a second hood release cable so now I have two of them in case the original cable breaks. Getting the hood open after the cable breaks is not particularly easy in my view of how others have done this. The easiest way to do this IMO is to do what someone else did, loop a steel wire through where the original hood release cable attaches to the latch under the hood, run it through the firewall grommet for the

Removing heavy bumper

Wanted to get reproduction Japanese Fairlady Z Gille Mesh, I remove front bumper to see the capability. Also plan to mount 240z bumper. After removing bumper, the front height is raised a lot. It's more complicated to remove valence compare with 240z. 280z got extra metal plate for bumper mounting position that prevent direct mount for 240z bumper. I thought Datsun Spirits blog used to have photo of the metal plate removal, but he deleted blog post. So don't know how much metal I should r
  • tamo3

What do you do after 10 years hybernation?

After 10 years hibernation, I started basic staff. My goal is to run engine at first. Engine oil & filter change (5 qt for $15.99) Antifreeze coolant change (10 qt for $14) I bought cheapest oil since this is just testing purpose. I learned that Pepboy mobile coupon is really handy and beat the price from any other auto parts shop. off course, gasoline change. Drain 10 years old gas... It looks like... pee After replace fluid, start working on electric items. Change Battery ($100
  • tamo3
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