My two swiss S30Z Fairlady Restoration build thread

[JDMjunkies.ch]

Picked up the three missing parts from the rust-and paint stripping company today and put the parts together on the car just to remember how the car looks when it's completed and give me a bit of motivation


Of course nothing is aligned or bolted on at the moment, i just hung the parts on the car for fun






Here you clearle can see previous damage, rust, welds and old Bondo on the front lower valance. i think this is the only part worth replacing. just too much damage

[JDMjunkies.ch]

To make a long story short, it seems like the horrible stressful summer is over for me and i finally have some time to think about private stuff like my cars. And i've really been waiting to come back to the garage... So that's exactly what i did this week. I spent several evenings over there. Unfortunately not directly ON the car but more some preparation work. Because a fellow local Datsun Z Enthusiast asked me if he could buy my sparechassis and some parts. so i had to prepare it. Here's what the rear axle looked in the beginning:


and a few days later this was leftover and ready for sale along with some small other bits.


then i had to prepare the chassis, mainly just cleaning it a bit, because it already was a bare shell with no single bolt left on it. (the fenders are just hung there for easy storage).


Yesterday Krisztian came and picked up the shell. I'm happy for more than one reason.
First and mainly i know it's in good hands and that every  usable parts (and there are not many on this shell!) will be reaused and transplanted into it's new owner. So none of the usable parts will be scrapped.


Second i don't have to deal with the old chassis anymore and have a lot of storage space back in the garage now


And last but not least i got some money for it which will be used to bring the second chassis, which is currently at the bodyshop back to life.
This is how the garage looks now. Plenty of space to clean and sort all my spareparts which currently are a bit in a messy order


So plans for the next weeks are cleaning the garage and going through all my parts stored in there and get them organized better.
Second i have some news regarding the mirrors which i sent for repair a while ago (will make a separate post on that topic soon)
and Then i bought some parts in Japan again which should arrive here soon. So stay tuned

Edited September 27, 2015 by JDMjunkies.ch

[JDMjunkies.ch]

After i've done the Kakimoto valve cover a while a go and started several things i'm happy to announce i finally completed another (well at least a small) part of the car. The JDM 240Z fender mirrors. This was quite a story. Because it's quite difficult to find the obsolete long-base mirrors, while the short base Datsun 510 mirrors still are available in new condition. Well i wanted to have it authentic so i went the extra mile for a detail most people probably even wouldn't notice
Started with a set of crappy long base mirrors i found on ebay a while ago. But sadly a lot of parts where missing and the mounts in the bottom where all rusted away...


So i bought a set of new 510 short base mirrors for spareparts.


then stripped the paint of the old long-bases


Disassembled and Test-fitted everything and had it painted at the paintshop in the original charcoal black.




Special thanks goes out to my Fellow datsun enthusiast Stefan who once again showed incredible support with his magic metal skills and was able to move the base mounts from the new 510 mirrors to the old long base version. Perfect work once again.


So finally i was able to assemble the mirrors back to what is now a completed genuine set of long-base JDM Fairlady 240Z Mirrors.








Couldn't be happier. One less point on the 2do-list to care about More soon...

[JDMjunkies.ch]

Long-time readers might remember i already sanded down a 240Z Rear wing in the past, but after i bought my second car i figured out the wing which came with that chassis is in much better overall condition. So i sold the first wing and decided to prepare th e second one as well. And thats what i did yesterday. Started like this:

 

The wing had terrible multiple paintjobs from the past

 

Started with a drill-mounetd CSD-Disk and after a while the wing looked like this. You can see the first layer was a gray primer, then golden paint. then another layer of red primer and on top the horrible black paintjob. Sanded it down as much as possible. but as soon as the disk hit the plastik i figured out the plastik is too weak for the disk. 

 

Ath this point i continued with 400grit Sandpaper and manual sanding. Wing looked like this before i ran out of sand-paper.

 

And i looked like this will continue next week until the surface is smooth and all old primer and paint is completely gone

Edited October 4, 2015 by JDMjunkies.ch

[240260280z]

[siteunseen]

[JDMjunkies.ch]

Nothing big, just spent another two hours at the garage compling the sanding down of the wing. Before:

and done

there are a few damages in the FRP surface like it's normal for a 40 year old FRP-item, but no problem. i know a good FRP-specialist and will bring it to him for repair.

Also needs new studs in the bottom end as well as a new foam-sealing

[JDMjunkies.ch]

While i'm waiting for some parts from japan and for some answers from USA i realized i never showed you some pictures i made a few months ago (Only a teaser shot for my FB-followers was published). I made a mock-up of the  Front axle and steering setup to see how everything fits together and get the idea. So first i adjusted the steering rack according to the manual:

And then mounted it the the front subframe:

Next was the stabilizer bar, steering knuckles, tierod endlinks and new bushings allround

And then while at it i decided to add the Doglegs. Seems like everything fits as it should. perfect
What you see here is:
- Nagisa NAMS adjustable tierod endlinks
- Kameari engine mounts
- Rocky auto adjustable doglegs
- 555 Ball Joints
- Autorefine ARC stabilizer bar
- Datsun competition short steering knuckles
- Rebuilt steering rack
- All new energy PU bushings
- All other parts have been sandblasted and powdercoated
- All new OEM Nissan Screws, bolts and nuts used whenever available, otherwise replated original bolts!

 

oh, and then this:

[Captain Obvious]

Wow. Those are some nice looking front end parts! I got two other comments:

 

First, there have been reports of snapping T/C rods when using poly bushings on both sides. Now I don't know if your aftermarket rods are stronger than the stock rods (probably are), but you might want to look into that before using poly on both sides.

 

Second, You used a force gauge to check the preload on the steering rack? Seriously? 

[bartsscooterservice]

Wow. Those are some nice looking front end parts! I got two other comments:

 

First, there have been reports of snapping T/C rods when using poly bushings on both sides. Now I don't know if your aftermarket rods are stronger than the stock rods (probably are), but you might want to look into that before using poly on both sides.

 

Second, You used a force gauge to check the preload on the steering rack? Seriously? 

 

Hey..this is Europe

[JDMjunkies.ch]

A while ago i wrote about different intake Manifolds and that i probably want to go for a FET (Better known as "Far East Trading" Japan) Manifold. But as i have other priorities at the moment i wasn't really looking for one. Well untill my Friend Stefan remembered my Post when he scanned the Internet for some Kenmeri parts and stumblet upon one. He immediately sent me the  link and because it was a Steal of a deal i had to get it. Today i had something in the mail

Thanks to the finned or striped design i think it perfectly fits the Kakimoto intake once it's painted in the same wrinkle-paint colour. And yeah i know the balancer tube might make everything a bit mor difficult to adjust, but i'm sure there's a way to work around it (like plugging the holes going to the tube or so...)

And because it's too expensive to only send one single part from Japan to here i ordered my self a set of Projectu Drumbrake shoes which will go nicely together with the hayashi racing drums The other set is for stefan's Kenmeri Project. Thanks again, mate!

[JDMjunkies.ch]

Wow. Those are some nice looking front end parts! I got two other comments:

 

First, there have been reports of snapping T/C rods when using poly bushings on both sides. Now I don't know if your aftermarket rods are stronger than the stock rods (probably are), but you might want to look into that before using poly on both sides.

 

Second, You used a force gauge to check the preload on the steering rack? Seriously? 

thanks for the input, i'll check that

Yeah why not? i'm just working according to the manual, i don't want to redo anything at the end