1 hour ago, HLS30-365101 said:

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.

Welcome!

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

26 minutes ago, HS30-H said:

At some point I'm hopeful that the penny will actually drop and you'll understand that we are discussing TWO different scenarios here.

I've already expressed that in posts above.

On 8/26/2025 at 6:22 PM, Zed Head said:

More interesting at this point might be what whoever wrote the Nissan Restoration Checklist meant by "cad".

On 8/19/2025 at 9:29 AM, Zed Head said:

So far it appears that cadmium was NOT banned in Japan in 1970. Therefore it is possible that cadmium plated hardware was available in the automotive industry in 1970 and early 1971.

Greetings and welcome to the group, HLS30-365101.

Some pages ago, we were discussing the quality control checklist. At the urging of SpeedRoo, I dug through my files to find my copy of the "240Z Restoration Program Quality Control Checklist".

The checklist I have is some 40 pages with an introduction overview page and 20 or so pages of procedure descriptions organized by component with columns for notes, sign-off and date. For instance; under the brake / clutch / hydraulic component, one of the procedures is "All rubber brake hoses: replace" and in the notes column it says; "Use DOT 3 brake fluid". During the restoration program there were two final inspections and four inspection sign-off points during various stages of the restoration process.

Of note to our Plating conversation; checklist item "All steel brake lines: check for kinks, condition of flared ends", notes "Cad plate all brake lines possible. Replace any corroded lines." Attachment D of the checklist is a two page copy of Wick Humble's book; "How to Restore your Datsun Z-Car" discussing fasteners, everything about fasteners from engineering standards to thread pitch and sizes. From Attachment D; "How about the fastener's finish? The manufacturer plated every metal fastener...on the Z car, it is predominantly what platers call yellow zinc, that multi-tinted golden finish used on most bolts and nuts exposed to the elements. Plain natural-colored zinc is also used on some parts."

On 8/17/2025 at 12:13 PM, 26th-Z said:

A little late jumping into this conversation. I have been "out of contact" on holiday which I do every so often going internet dark for a few days in my effort to get away from it all. Often, I travel to Europe but I just returned from several days in coastal Maine and that northern wilderness. We were hiking and boating. Reading up on this discussion, I thought I would chime in on some of the issues mentioned.

Nissan contracted with four private restoration shops during the Vintage Z program. Pierre Z in Hawthorn, California completed by far the most restorations, however Classic Datsun Motorsports of Vista, California, Datsun Ally of Signal Hill, and Old Car Service of Huntington Beach were also involved. Datsun Ally and Classic Datsun Motorsports prepared two cars each. I don't know how many Old Car Service prepared.

Engines were rebuilt and provided by AER Manufacturing in Arington, Texas as transmissions came from Williams Technology of Summerville, South Carolina. Pierre Z rebuilt the units for the first restoration only as Nissan contracted thereon. They were assembled units, crate shipped, including everything except carburetors, generators, cooling fan and hoses, and exhaust manifold to the best of my knowledge. Part management was coordinated through Pete Evanow of Nissan N.A. and there were documents related to car assessment, part orders, and quality control however these were internal project documents related to the management of the project cars and not released with any of the cars. I actually have part order documents for cars that were never restored.

Concerning CAD plating: The yellow / gold coloring that we associate with "CAD" is a chromate conversion coating applied over the plated metal, yielding the familiar gold color. A similar appearance can be achieved with a similar chromate conversion over silver zinc which is far less toxic and not easily discernible from a cadmium base electroplate. Cadmium electroplating on its own is not yellow. I believe that what we see on cars today is yellow chromate zinc. True cadmium electroplating is not easily found or inexpensive. We all seem to call it "CAD" but that's probably a term we use for the color and not AS 9100 certified or ASTM A165, SAE AMS 2400 specification.

Finally, Nissan N.A. didn't just decide to restore a bunch of 240Zs; they schemed up an ad campaign to keep the Z legend in North America alive while Nissan discontinued their current model Z with only the promise to deliver a new design some time in the future. The goal was not to create 'restorations' but deliver complete, running examples of the original car with 12,000 mile warranties. They had to rely on private repair businesses to accomplish their goal with a parts inventory that could not sustain the project. But they pulled it off! Cudos to the businesses and people who contributed to the effort. The cars are quite valuable now, and it is always exciting to see one because the story behind it is one of the best automotive sales campaign stories. Especially after the blunder of dropping the Datsun brand, I opine.

So, I did the research project / compendium in 2005. I have a huge digital file of stuff as well as a fairly good library of literature. I have a vhs video that Pierre gave me in 200? that has Mr. K's visit during the restoration program. I don't have any printed , bound copies at the moment. I hear some interest for copies of stuff I have. I'm going to get some copies of the compendium made. Stay tuned.

Would happily pay some money to help the copy and digitization of the compendium along!

Interested -- if the price is manageable.