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My two swiss S30Z Fairlady Restoration build thread


JDMjunkies.ch

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Impressive level of detail.  I originally intended to ask whether you have any pictures of what this kit looks like once fully assembled, but then I found this video on Youtube...

I'm really impressed.  These kits can be disappointing if the proportions are off.  This one looks perfect.  Except for the wheels...

Edited by Namerow
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@Namerow I saw your requested and just wanted to post the exactly same picture. so there you go. However looking at my pictures, it seems that my car came without a rear wing, overfenders and with the factory Steel-wheels with hubcaps. I have to see, maybe there are some option parts in there, going step by step.

Today i got another thing i've been looking for for quite a while. Factory Nissan "Race and Rallye Preparation Manuals".20231004_155251-Kopie.jpg

The one on the right side is the "early" version which i had and wrote about already before, but the slighty thicker later version (on the left side), has always been missing in my collection. Luckily i stumbled  upon a set of both recently, so i had to get it. 20231004_155259-Kopie.jpg

The book describes how to prepare your S30 Fairlady Z, 240Z or Z432(-R), with some generic modifications and settings, but also using all kind of  "Sports option" or  Nissan "Competition" parts.
20231004_155348-Kopie.jpg

The difference between the early and the later version is, the later versions has a few additional information about standard car parts and competition parts which were introduced after the first version got released, otherwise they're more or less the same. Before you ask. the double "early version" book is not for sale, it's already promised to someone.
20231004_155534-Kopie.jpg

The third book i got is the "Private Club" LL型 (L-Gata / L-Series) Tuning book. Funnily "Carboy" later released a very similar book with almost the same photo. Not really sure if and how the two brands are related.
20231004_155557-Kopie.jpg

It's all japanese with many photos and basically describing how to tune and modify your L-series engine for performance and reliability: 20231004_155611-Kopie.jpg

It's split into different chapters such as block, head, carbs / intake, exhaust, etc..
20231004_155643-Kopie.jpg

Tomorrow i'm going to visit my bodyshop to check out the car. There are some rumors they started working on the car again... An'd im going to pick up something very cool and rare for my Friends C110 Kenmary Project which i found close to where i work. So expect some updates soon.

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On 10/3/2023 at 11:54 PM, JDMjunkies.ch said:

Today i got a package from japan with something i've been searching for for quite a while:
A complete Eaglemoss airlady 1/8 Scale magazine Model car kit:
20231003_152216-Kopie.jpg

It is a set that was issued around 2014. It consisted of a weekly subscription magazine wich came with a box including some parts, so each week you would build your part of the Fairlady until you had a complete, huge 1:8 scale model: 20231003_153718-Kopie.jpg

It is incredbly detailed too, with lots of electronics, mechanically working details
20231003_153738-Kopie.jpg

And lots of small bits and pieces to assemble:
20231003_153746-Kopie.jpg

Most parts are bolted and not glued, but of course there's also glue involved:
20231003_153748-Kopie.jpg

The body parts and chassis are made of metal and the kit is quite heavy:
20231003_153754-Kopie.jpg

Each magazine includes a lot of history about the Z-series cars and Japanese Car culture of the time in general, Assembly instructions, interviews with involved people and much, much more.
This is the first complete kit i've seen for a reasonable price. The reason might be that some parts (very few) have already been assembled, and probably 2/3 of the boxes have already been opened. but since i plan to assemble it anyway and i was also quite interested in the magazines, i don't care.
20231003_153804-Kopie.jpg

The set also comes with a display stand:
20231003_153808-Kopie-rotated.jpg

And three folders, where you can store all the magazines.20231003_153812-Kopie-rotated.jpg

It also included a tool-set in a (sadly missing) nice pouch, a little cleaning towl, a Z hood ornament key chain and a CD with some nice movies of the real S30 fairlady development and testing and additional background information.
20231004_165702-Kopie.jpg

I guess i know what to do in those winter days 🙂

Congratulations on your hunt! Me too bought the complete set. I wanted to have the series of magazines and the DVD, they are so interesting and rewarding, highly recommended. I am not interested in the model car so I still let all the pieces un opened, properly never will be assembled. Because I have 1/1 cars to play.

Kats

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  • 2 weeks later...

Went to unload loads of parts to the bodyshop which he needs to continue. I was expecting some progress, but they had plenty of other cars to work on, so mine got pushed back a bit again. Nothing to worry about. They still managed to fine-tune a lot of details since my last visit: They finished the floorpan work and had to hammer it a bit so the original seat rail mounts would fit perfectly again:20231019_143111-Kopie.jpg

They also closed the hole that the previous bodyshop left in the tool-tray area behind the passenger seat, but it still needs some work. At least there's no gaping hole anymore.
20231019_143117-Kopie.jpg

On the other side, th e adjusted the side sill so the door would fit flush again and finetuned some things here and there.
20231019_143432-Kopie.jpg

On the outside they also opened some areas which will be replaced to see how it is underneath. you can clearly see some previous repair attemts (from before i owned it). you still can see the welding lead poking out there...
Luckily the whole rear quarter and inner wheel well will be replaced. so happy that all this rust will be gone.
20231019_143535-Kopie.jpg

Otherwise not much progress. at least i couldn't see a lot, because the car was surrounded by stuff, so i couldn't really get close. But no problem. I'll visit them again soon to see more progress.
Oh and while unloading the parts into their storage area, i could catch a quick look at some of their other work in progress projects. This is only a fraction of the cool stuff you find there. Nice.
20231019_142752-Kopie.jpg

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  • 1 month later...

When i recently talked to Florian at Datsun-autowerk.com/. he reminded me of his stock of nice parts, and we made an exchange deal of some things. So i got this nice delivery of NOS (New-old-Stock) parts today, and some extra:20231123_180301-Kopie.jpg

It includes a set of inner and outer door handles:
20231123_180323-Kopie.jpg

Various Door stoppers, hatch stoppers, door lock mounts, etc.:
20231123_180425-Kopie.jpg

A heater valve and a clutch Cylinder piston:
20231123_180610-Kopie.jpg

Inner door steps, Door seals, some rubber stoppers and seals:
20231123_181012-Kopie.jpg

And it also included a nice Japanese Real-X 1/72 300ZX Z31 Model car (thanks for the freebie, mate!)
20231123_181149-Kopie.jpg

And also a set of nice Japense market Fairlady Z brochures, which were still missing in my collection!
20231123_181229-Kopie.jpg

Thanks as usual for the excellent service, mate!
And stay tuned. another nice Parts delivery is on the way, i bought some more Documents from Datsun Switzerland, and on sunday i will pick up something Cool for the Datsun fans, which i've been searching for for quite some years. And i guess i should visit the bodyshop again soon to check out the progress there.

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20 hours ago, grannyknot said:

Amazing find, is that timing chain wedge made out of wood?

Haha yes ST 174-20.001 Kent Moore Timing chain wedge, wood 🙂
20231127_182220-Kopie.jpg

Last week i got offered another bunch of parts from a seller which i've bought parts from before. His packages usually contain a lot of mystery parts from other generation Z's, some random Z memorabilia and then some really nice and rare bits for my project in a package deal.
20231127_155619-Kopie.jpg

This time was no different and the parts arrived today. The lot incldued two very nice hubcaps and two pretty worn ones:
20231127_155630-Kopie.jpg

A bunch of NOS parts and refurbished ones. I was told the switch with cable on the top center is a "Joker" switch for those blind spots in the center console. I have to figure that out and confirm it first. One of the most important parts for me definitly is the Handbrake divider thing, which was still mising in my parts so far and that "Datsun" horn button on the top left (no brand, but i guess it's aftermarket) which might be nice to fit to one of my aftermarket steering wheels.
20231127_155636-Kopie.jpg

A set of random new and re-plated fasteners. Some which i can immediately identify as S30, some remain a mystery. Also not all of them are in very good condition despite being replated and beyond usage.  But that's no problem, i have most of those parts either new or in refurbished good condition and will just keep them as "spares" in my nuts and bolts box 🙂
20231127_155642-Kopie.jpg

The set also included a newer "Option" Magazine about the fairlady Z, which included a starroad tuned S30 and a Car with the  Datsunworks Crossflow head. And then this metal model of an 1932 Datsun. The box looks old but i wasn't able to see a manufacturer at my quick first look and i've seen a few of those for sale over the year. anyway. Nice to have in my diecast-corner.
20231127_155647-Kopie.jpg

And then some other bits and pieces which might or might not be useful at some point of the restauration. that 260Z (i think) center cap is absolutely mint, so i will probably put it up for sale and that bob sharp keychain is definitely nice, at the end it might look like a useless lot of random parts, but from my experience you can never have a good enough diversity of all those small bits and pieces, because i assure you that definitely one of these small little bastards will miss during your assembly and that 50cent item is blocking your assembly for weeks.
20231127_155655-Kopie.jpg

I have a few nice documents coming in soon, plan to visit another seller soon and also hope to have a visit to the bodyshop again soon. Stay tuned

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  • 3 weeks later...

I got myself the encyclopedia of japanese cars the "a quet greatness" books:
20231213_164039-Kopie.jpg

They cover all the bigger and smaller brands and are written by some well known japense car collectors Brinker and vernis
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As an S30 owner I'm espeically happy to see many rare and nice photos and a big chunk of one book dedicated to the Fairlady Z and 240Z:
20231213_164247-Kopie.jpg

And the PS-30 get's it's fare share too, Since one of the authors owns a real Z432:
20231213_164309-Kopie.jpg

It's limited to 1000 pieces, and not exactly cheap, but definitely worth for the real enthusiast and collector of japanese cars. thousands of beautiful photos, quite well researched and covering anything from the Autozam AZ-1 to the Zagato Autech Stelvio 🙂

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  • 3 weeks later...

It's done! After a few weeks of tinkering around i had it finished. Well, actually, quite a while ago. But it's finally time to show you some details.
The kit took me approx 2 weeks of work every evening 1-2 hours. it's not too much of work, and pretty straightforward. the Manual is idiot-proof despite being in Japanese it's easy to make. The difficulty level is so-so. It will be tricky if you never used a screwdriver before. But for me, who didn't really have any experience with such kits it was doable. In my case the previous owner messed up a few things which i had to fix. The kit is intended to be only installed with screws (no glue!) but in some cases, it was nessecary to add some glue to make it more fixed. Some of the parts require quite some force to be installed, while being fragile at the same time. I broke 2 small things, but nothing a bit of superglue could'nt fix. At the end it's a super detailed model car of a Japanese Fairlady Z (with L20 engine). There is light, door light switches, brake pedal switches, many controls are movable (heater control knobs!), and it's pretty much close to the original car, from the chassis frames to all the engine bay and interieur details, it's absolutely incredible. It's a super fun project and well worth the hours spent:

Here arew a few details. Frame rails and front axle with steering rack installed:
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All the lovely details of the L20 engine (yeah, you have to install every ignition wire manually!)
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Rolling chassis with transmission Propshaft and engine installed:
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Time for the interieur:
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Here's an example of all the details. the battery alone is for e.g. 17 Parts:
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And completed:
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Or look at the hood hinge: Incredibly close to the original design 12 screws for one hinge alone!!
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Some parts, like the door lock is as tiny as this:
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The window have an actual working crank mechanism:
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Body completed:
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Time to put it all together:
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This part was a bit tricky:
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Batteries for the interieur, headlights, brake lights, etc:
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And done, including the nice display stand:
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The interieur is really lovely:
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And all the details in the engine bay:
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The tools and towel that came with the kit (original tool pouch got lost by the previous owner):
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The spare screws, which are leftover at the end (each screw comes with at least one spare):
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It's not going to be my hobby and i had to swear more than once, but at the end it was a super fun project with a really nice result. And the magazines, dvd's and the car itself are well worth it.
20240102_091711-Kopie.jpg

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