My floors and support rails came in from Charlie Osborne at Zedd Findings. Bruce the body wizzard calls them patch panels, and not replacement panels. He's got them in, but they didn't cover enough of the drivers side floor, in front. He wishes they would cover more area, but comments that they are good heavy steel, and are a correct match if you want the factory look. He just fabbed up some more metal for the areas they didn't cover. Go Bruce. Luckily the passenger side barely needed any metal, only a 1x1ft patch.

He also put in the rear quarter patch panels from Tabco, which makes the ones sold by Black Dragon and MSA. I bought mine directly from Tabco. Good service and shipping. Bruce wished they matched better, though. He couldn't use the part that wraps around the door opening, or the part under the bumper, as they weren't correct. Bruce seems to want the entire car to look like it came from the factory, and he didn't like these panels. Luckily all I needed were a bit of dog legs on both sides, and the right side rear wheel arch.

I've been collecting material and information for my do it yourself interior refresh. When I get the car back, I'm going to have a lot of work to do. Les at Classic Datsun has been a big help on the phone, although I've yet to actually receive any items from him. I've ordered all the interior vinyl, and some real leather seat upholstery. He told me the leather is on its way, and I'm anxious to get it. I need to match the color of it to the rear plastic panels, which I'm going to redye, and I want to be doing it now. The original off-white is now yellowed by the sun. I ordered all my leather and vinyl from Les to ensure that it'll match, so hopefully I can dye the door panels and plastic panels to match. Since I'm doing the interior myself, I really want it to be close to perfect. I'd love to be able to do the body work and paint, but I can't. Even before the refresh, people would ask me if I did my car myself, as it looked great, although there was hidden cancer eating away. I at least want to lay claim to the interior and most of the mechanical work when they ask again. There's something about being able to say "I did it myself".

Every body shop in the area tells me that there are no local chrome shops worth a darn, so I've shipped my bumpers off to Les on a wing and a prayer. He's got a neighborhood chrome shop that he uses. If it's good enough for a professional resto guy, its good enough for me. I decided to have all the holes welded up and not replace the rubber stripps, overriders, etc. I like that look. It'll probably be a toss up as to the cost. There's some savings in not buying new rubber, but the welding can't be cheap. I still don't have a price estimate. These bumpers are the one part of my refresh where I've taken a big chance on cost and quality, so I'm very nervous. There's so many stories of poor chrome work, and I live literally on the ocean down here. The salt eats everything, so the chrome has to be good, as does the paint and body work.

Some of my friends want me to leave off the back bumper. The car really looks neat without it. I've decided that if I ever have to repair or replace the back bumper again, I'll just leave it off.

Speaking of paint, Bruce says it'll go into the paint booth next week. He's two weeks behind, but then my bumpers won't be back until who knows when, so I keep telling him to do it right, not quickly, reminding him that I never want it to rust again. He gets a funny smile when I say that. My job involves supervising the upkeep of lots of high dollar, critical outdoor equipment that seems to rust no matter what you do, so I know why he smiles. Even before I get it back, I'm resigning myself to another rust removal refreshment in 10 years, maybe less. If you've ever lived on the ocean, you'd know. I probably should have bought a Corvette, but the Z got me.