Too bad the checklist notes weren't delivered with the cars. That would be cool to have today.

I assume that people like zspert and Pierre are the Shop Reps? Who kept the Checklist documents? 1997 was well in to the copier and computer age. Any chance they're out there in copies or image form?

I'm way over on the engine rebuilding end of the interest spectrum. It still seems unclear who managed the rebuilding of them. Did the Shop Reps just handle the shipping and receiving of engines to AER? Did they come back fully assembled, at least with heads, timing cover, fuel pump, etc., installed and torqued? Or did they come back in pieces and were reassembled at the Shop?

Best to collect this information now, especailly in the States. Attempts are being made to create a new history, erasing the old. Somebody will realize what the Wayback Machine holds. It might not last.

6 hours ago, SpeedRoo said:

If Nissan says it's Cad plated then I believe them. Put on your reading glasses RAE and check what they wrote in an official document. All detailed in the Nissan Motor Corporation U.S.A. 240Z Restoration Program Quality Control Checklist. Now I know RAE will come back and say Nissan never used Cad but Gold Zinced the parts on the 240Z, but that may have been the case in Japan. This was a USA program and they sourced services locally in California. Cad plating was not banned from automobiles and parts in California until 2003.

About 35 years ago, I was in the process of restoring a 240Z, as well as parting out another for spares. I took an assorted group of 10 or 15 nuts, bolts, washers and couple small parts off the Z's to our Materials Lab. "Our" being Honeywell Space and Strategic Systems Lab. A Materials Lab with men and equipment that supported putting men on the moon and probes on other planets. 

I ask the guys to tell me what was used for plating and corrosion protection, as I intended to have them re-plated.

After testing them, they told me they were Cad. plated and given a yellow chromate conversion bath- and to be sure to wear a mask if I used a wire wheel ((bench grinder)  to clean them up. Cadmium is very toxic and you don't want to breath any in.

Given that the OEM fasteners on a now 50+ year old 240Z, treated with a little penetrating oil will break free and unscrew, without twisting off, is witness to me of Cadmiums use.  That doesn’t happen with zinc plated fasteners in automotive use. In addition to Cad. plating having three to four times the durability of Zinc, Cadmium offers increased lubricity, so threaded fasteners release and unscrew. 

If you are not absolutely certain - best advice is to treat them as having Cadmium Platting..and be careful how you handle and clean them up. 

In Japan the use of Cadmium electroplating in auto manufacturing was officially banned in 1969. Before that it wasn't widely used on higher-tensile fasteners due to the phenomenon of Hydrogen embrittlement.

Nissan (Japan's) own documentation for the S30-series Z's componentry - according to and conforming with N.E.S. (Nissan Engineering Standard) - states that most of the non-Chrome electroplated parts were Zinc ( 亜鉛 ) 'Aen' galvanized, with various passivated finishes.

Here's just one example page of the quoted N.E.S. finishes for fasteners from the C-236 Nissan parts catalogue for the S30, HS30 and PS30 models:

Heading translates as:

'Indication of washer-assembled hex bolts, washer-mounted machine screws and their surface treatments.
The part numbers of hexagon bolts and machine screws are followed by a ' - ' and the characteristic in the table below.
Washer-assembled hex bolts, small screws and their surface treatments'.

I have roughly outlined the relevant example surface treatments in red. They read, from the top:

NO SURFACE TREATMENT
GALVANIZED
BLACK GALVANIZED
CHROME PLATED

...and this pattern is repeated for each sub-classification of fastener down the page.

The Japanese for 'Zinc plated'/'Galvanized' is 亜鉛メッキ ('Aen Mekki').

1 hour ago, Carl Beck said:

"Our" being Honeywell Space and Strategic Systems Lab. A Materials Lab with men and equipment that supported putting men on the moon and probes on other planets. 

You mean...rocket science?

On 8/14/2025 at 8:17 AM, HS30-H said:

The Japanese caption specifically says powder coat, but that could easily have been a miscommunication (or, heaven help us, an assumption...) between reporter and the people at Pierres. I would think it much more likely that they were in fact painted, as per the original factory finish.

@Patcon Having said that, I just looked through the excellently-researched 'Vintage Z Restoration Program Historical Compendium' put together by Chris Wenzel @26th-Z and he too specifically quotes powder coating as having been used.

From the Compendium: "Nissan literature talks briefly about updating some aspects of the 240Z. A 3-row radiator was used and the tire specification was updated. In an effort to provide more durability to suspension components they were powder coated "to factory colors" so as to "ensure that you will enjoy your 240Z's performance for years to come"."

Obviously it's a quote from NMC USA's VZ Program sales literature, so I don't know if that was the reality or not, but the fact that the independent Japanese journalist who visited Pierre'Z in person reported the same thing might suggest something. Of course he could simply have been quoting the literature, I don't know.

I've always found powder coating to be much too thick on such parts, and there's always an issue where the powder coating transitions to a wear/bearing/mounting surface. I've seen it peel away in those places, so I much prefer paint (as per original manufacturing). Inspection of a few VZ Program cars would probably settle the question as to what was actually applied on them.