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Welcome! Here, have a photo of Pierre as a tip of the hat. You spoke well of him, as have many others:

Nonsense! When people talk about 'Cad plating' on Z cars they did not form that habit through experience based on 1964 Nissan Cedric sedans. It's simply a habit they picked up from a vernacular formed in the American car scene. Show me ONE, just ONE period official document from Nissan Japan that proves Cadmium electroplating was used on the S30-series Z. Pretty please. Pretty please with bells and bows on. I'm all eyes and ears. No AI-generated garbage, just primary source, simple proof. Preferably in the manufacturer's native language. I'll buy you an AI-generated virtual double whisky to drink while you watch me eat my hat. At some point I'm hopeful that the penny will actually drop and you'll understand that we are discussing TWO different scenarios here. Yes, the title of the thread is the VZ Restoration Program cars and the digression onto 'Cad' plating came about because 'Cad' plating was mentioned on the work lists - and in press reports - of the VZ Program cars, despite - I contend - not being used on the cars when they were originally built in the 1969 thru 1973 period. Some insist 'Cad' was used originally, I say not. Nissan Japan says not too. That's it. Original manufacturing vs VZ Program re-manufacturing. I'm not disputing what was actually used on the VZ cars because I understand that they were a different situation altogether to their original manufacture. See? Which particular "possible reality" of yours is it this time? I had beef as the main dish in my evening meal earlier. I guess I ought to face up to the "possible reality" that it might in fact have been cardboard, cleverly disguised as beef. If so, whoever responsible did a pretty good job I can tell you. The labelling was very convincing too. Every time you repeat your "piece of paper" dissing of official, period, Nissan Japan-sourced data sheets - published for many models and variants over the period discussed (I've quoted no less than 14 different models covering 1966 thru 1972, but could easily quote more) - you lose more credibility. If anyone actually agrees with your outright dismissal of the Nissan Engineering Standard system and Nissan's own publications then I invite them to show their hands here. YES! Have you just noticed...!? It's what really happened in the early Seventies - not the mid Nineties - that is the bone of contention. NO! (Argh!). I have no idea what the VZ Program professionals knew or understood about the plating on the cars.

Welcome @HLS30-365101 great to have someone that worked on the program with Pierre here, I'm sure we will have lots of questions for you. Building 240Z by night and planes by day, sounds like a great way to spend your day! What bits did you do on the Restoration program for Pierre?

Ah yes Jim, that one is a bit more tricky. One of the short wire switches I have is already broken.

Hello, I'm a new member here as of today. I've been driving and enjoying the ride for some 40+ yrs I worked (more like moonlighted) on the Restoration Program for Pierre in 1997 at Pierre Z Service Center in LA. I worked on the Rick Cole 240Z Car, that was auctioned in Pebble Beach which at the time was the first Japanese sports car to ever roll across the auction block. We used the best pieces and parts from approximately 15-20 Z's in the build cycle to recreate one Z car. That was the time of my life, building 240Z's by day and DC-9's by night working 16-18 hrs a day. Pierre, for those that don't know was co-driver to Paul Newman at BSR back in the day. One Saturday, the Shop went up to Willow Springs to test and to let off some steam. I was shown the racing line around the Streets of Willow by Pierre in my then stock 77 Coupe and how to actually drive a Z on a road course at speed. I will be forever thankful to Pierre and Daniel for the opportunity of a lifetime. Cheers,

Took the Z to a show at a local Chevy dealer. When I pulled in the dealership owner said "We never see these cars, I want you parked at the entrance".

A very early AI movie (and there's a trilogy of 3 books) is "Colossus: The Forbin Project" released in 1970. And yes, we lose control of it.

I never lock my 12/70 240Z. It's garaged almost 100% of the time. When out it's for a show or cruise night or visiting friends. There's nothing in the car that really worries me and I'd rather have it just stolen than having someone break a window to get what they're after!

You care to open it up to suggestions? I thought not but... 1st is t/c rod bushings, snug and some rubber in there? Can you lock/unlock the car with the keys you have? I have to climb through the rear hatch on the '77 but can't even lock up the '72.

I'm sorry Zed Head I can't allow you to disparage me. You're FIRED! 🤯

This thought has crossed my mind. It's already known that "conversations" with AI personas do that after many repetitions. The key to best use of AI is to read the references. The source material. The talk of cadmium on Z's is based on the history of cadmium on other Nissan cars. Pretty clear, you showed it yourself. Denial does not make that untrue. Are you saying that the people using the Checklist used zinc-plated parts even though the Checklist says Cad? What do you mean? That the Restoration program cars don't have cadmium-plated parts, or they do because the Restore shops followed the literal instructions and used cadmium? You're focused on a document again, and avoiding the possible reality. The main point of this discussion is "what really happened?". Are you saying that in 1996 the professionals restoring the 240Z's knew that "Cad" meant zinc? Add some clarity. I've been surprised that none of the experts, like @zspert have commented. Did you guys use zinc-plated parts or cadmium-plated parts? Don't worry about offending me, I'm just here to learn. If the Checklist said "Cad" and you took that as zinc, so be it. Or did you just send them to a plating shop and let them do whatever. That would settle one part of the Restoration cars question. Don't any of the Restore Shop pros have old documentation? The internet was supposed to save all information in electronic form. What is Grok learning from if all of this old truth is gone.

Kids raised on AI is a scary thought. Here's a glimpse of the future.

Time for another update: I spent the last couple of days in the Workshop and installed all the hood alignment parts, so the body shop can properly align the hood. I also put back all bolts to the body panels, since they were missing after I had to remove a lot of things for alignment and rework. Not much to see, but all panels are now secured for transport. Slowly, but steady, t starts to look like a complete car again. Well - there is still a lot of work. Next, i decided to test fit the side markers, just to be sure the holes are still correct. I assembled to mock-ups from various used and NOS parts which I had. And installed: (Note plastic wrap on the NOS lens, to protect it) Now the big project. The rear spoiler. As you can see, the inner bolts are missing (compare holes with the missing bolt, left): I thought it had probably rotted away in the past, so they just removed it. That made me want to drill back a hole to install a new one, but it seems the previous owner just cut off the previous bolts and the metal part was still inside the spoiler mounting position. Luckily, I was able to drill out the remains of the old studs by starting with a very thin drill and then working the size up until the original 4mm: I made myself some new bolts from some M4 screws: While sanding off the area to glue back in the new bolts, I found a crack underneath the various layers of bondo, primer and paint, which the spoiler has collected over the years: Now also that glue-remains on the inside made sense:, which chipped off like nothing, once hammered: I was able to clean the whole area And then glue both the crack and the bolts back in with some two-component epoxy glue: The result is not bad, if you ask me. It appears to be quite strong, too: Next, I wanted to get back the holes for the original emblems. After sanding the areas, I finally found some black dots, which is probably black filler, which they used to fill the original holes: While trying to tap-mark the holes for drilling, the black filler bits just popped out. So I only used the drill to clean the holes to correct size. Lucky me :-) And the Emblems can go back again, as intended from the factory: Last but not least, I spent quite some hours today to sand off those dozens (!!) of layers of filler, primer and paint from all the years. You might wonder why? Because in some areas the paint and filler is so thick, that the spoiler almost has a different shape. I'm almost done, but still need to spend a few hours. But it appears I was able to save another Original part for the car, and I hope I can install it back soon...

Wow! That's cool how you can do that. I need to do one on how to lower my blood pressure.😁 Ai is going like wildfire presently. I sure hope it ends up being positive to our lives but I'm a skeptical.

Over the last few weeks, various envelopes with small stuff arrived from all over the World. Time for a little update: First i got this cool Nissan "Automatic transmission" flyer, which explains the new NissanMatic transmission for different cars, including the S30. Then i got a nice Z-3 Service bulletin, which was missing so far. My man Jerome sent me a few documents. Which included a Swiss market 240Z brochure. But also a "Nissan Autographic" magazine (I believe this was either a customer, or internal Employee / dealership magazine) with News about the company from around the world. And then this useless but interesting sheet from "Asbest Technik", the then Swiss importer for Akebono brake parts. Which lists the official spare parts for various Datsun Models, including the 240Z: As shown in the previous post, my man Florian sent me some nice goodies. One is a spare (NOS?) rear number plate piece A broken (but still good for trial-fitting) upper number plate light, And some cool die casts of a sunny Pickup and new CTR. And today a small delivery from Japan. Aside from some number-plate bolts for my EK9, It also included this Rally collector's set of ChoroQ cars. I'm not really a collector, but these went for a superb price and I liked them so much, I had to get them. I also got a Japanese Nissan Shizuoka dealership price list from 1975, which includes the S30. Not really useful, but good to put them next to my JDM Fairlady Z brochures. And last but not least, another Service bulletin book. The Z-6. I soon have the full set, I think. Only a few issues are missing. That's it for now. I hope later today and tomorrow i get some work done on the car again...

Artificial Intelligence (AI) has made it easy to find answers to just about any question about the cars we drive and maintain. It's also useful in creating "eye candy" pictures of Datsuns and people in scenic locations as Cliff @siteunseen has noted. A new wrinkle in Google's Gemini AI enables children's stories to be created from a simple prompt so we can get our kids and grandkids interested in the cars we drive. Here's an example: https://g.co/gemini/share/3b1d07d81d94 Just click on the book pages to turn them.

This is in regards to a hazard switch body, not a relay.

Thanks for information!

Countdown!!

So with the help of some kind generous people from here on the forum, the front struts are back in the car! Here's a recap... I "welded" a couple dots down inside what was left of that "D" shaped hole. Isn't pretty, but doesn't have to be. All it has to do is keep the strut insert shaft from spinning while you tighten the nut. Hard to weld down inside that pocket, but here's what I did: Then I filed the hole back into a "D" shape and ground off a little bit of excess proud of the surface, and in the end, I have this: When you get the contrast right with backlight, you can get a decent look at the "D". Remember, all it has to do is keep the shaft from spinning: So with that crisis averted, put the struts back together. Put 'em on the car, reassemble and bleed the brakes, and I'm back to where I was two weeks ago*. Hahaha!! * But now I have struts that work.

Mine came apart easily enough.

Bring a Trailer1972 Datsun 240ZBid for the chance to own a 1972 Datsun 240Z at auction with Bring a Trailer, the home of the best vintage and classic cars online. Lot #208,164.

Looks like the mice get to keep their home. No bids.

@zspert can't you do one of your award winning restorations on your self and keep going for another 50 years! Don't forget the yellow paint marks on all your tightened joints and use NOS parts, I'd avoid the cad plating though! Roo

I'd like to comment about Mr. Ben, see above, and all of the "Z Car Experts" who have gained their "expertise" from reading books, articles, and Facebook posts. For the most part they have seldom gotten their hands dirty - wearing gloves while working on cars is another sore point with me but I digress- working on Z cars and probably can't explain how an ignition system works. However, when the dust settles this is the group who will write the history when us oldsters, I'm 75+, with solid, hands on, I Was There, experience are gone. History has taught me that this is so often the fate of orphan marques.