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This is properly over the top. I like it, Please keep posting!

Many of you that have 240Z’s know the chrome tail light bars are one of the first parts to go, due to exhaust gases, weather and time. I’ve owned over ten 240’s through the years and every one of them had rough looking taillight bars, with many even starting to disintegrate. A couple years ago I contracted to have a quantity of them re-produced and have since been offering them for sale. I posted here a year or more ago, but thought I’d provide an update with current pricing and a few pictures. There’s only one other vendor re-producing this part. Their price is higher and the accuracy is inferior to the parts I’ve produced from a perfect pair of OEM originals. Additionally, each pair of my taillight bars comes with instructions and all the necessary fasteners. I have many customers on this site and hope they’ll chime in and vouch for the quality and service received. If you’re interested, the price for club members, including shipping, is $129.95. E-mail me and I‘ll invoice you via PayPal, and get a set in the mail to you today. Satisfaction guaranteed! Randy

I respectfully disagree, but to each his own.

Haha... over the top?! nahhhhhh. I think leaving the tumbler to do the dirty work while I go meet with acid stripping or powder coating facilities is much better than sitting here with the E-Fast software trying to make a list of 10000000 fasteners that need to be ordered from Datsun... of which 90% are probably not available or do not have the original look to them. It really hurt my eyes to see the old bolts being painted silver or just being tossed in a box and replaced with home depot metric stuff. It's just not right. The tumbler will change anyone's mind on the subject once you see how valuable it is! there's plenty more to come! I can't wait for the stuff to come back from the acid stripper that I dropped off today, and the vapor blaster as well for the aluminum engine parts. The conversation with the Acid Stripping rep went something like this today: Me: "I thought you said you didn't strip bolts" (as I was looking at a basket full of thousands) Him: "I don't want your bolts" Me: "Why not? What's wrong with my bolts?" Him: "Do YOU want your bolts?" Me: "Well yeah, but I prefer them cleaned" Him: "Well if you give me your bolts, you probably won't get them all back" So the tumbler was a good choice! Thanks Chris. I didn't really know what that was either, but I took whatever I could fit into the tumbler to test it out, and that was the first thing. haha. I had thought it was bright zinc because it was so grey from oxidizing over the years... but I moved one of the wires over a bit and exposed some shiny yellow plating- so that's what it will be plated as. If only I could fit the jack in there :-P Sadly, I don't think it can be taken apart very easily- as it's got mixed plated parts on it. The media I used came with the eastwood tumbler. It is Green Pyramid (Medium Cut) media- which is measured as 1/4" media. There is a rough cut brown pyramid media, but I read that it's not as nice to use on fine pitch threaded items. This green stuff will work just as well, and is a lot more gentle- it just takes a bit more time and experimenting with solutions. Then there is the corn-cob media for a higher polish/bright shine, but that is unnecessary, and it actually looks weird for factory bolts. This green stuff is pretty much "pre-plate" finish. Think of it as a "dull polish". It's got a slightly brighter/deeper luster than media blasting, and is just as smooth as polishing- but not nearly as shiny. Looks just about perfect! Only the plating will tell! The tumbler comes with 7lbs, but plan on buying another 20 lbs if you do this many items. I had to find local media because Eastwood is not anywhere near bulk pricing. They want something like 30 bucks for 2lbs + shipping and duty fees.. that's almost 50 bucks for 2lbs of the media. I found a local abrasive place that sells 50lb bags of similar media for close to 8 dollars a lb, but minimum order is 50lbs. So I bought the bag and have experimented with different solutions from car polish to dish detergeant, to the eastwood speed clean. The media is 8mm triangles or wedges. There are plenty of different types of media shapes to buy. But as far as finishes, this green stuff is pretty good for me. It also took 2 layers of paint off the smog pump pulley. It had Ford Blue, and the original Datsun Blue underneath it. It was fun to see the progress of it peeling away the old paint. When there are tiny little casting lines or something or other that the media cannot etch into, I sprayed it with Easy-Off Oven Cleaner (great paint remover), and let it sit for a couple of minutes, then scrubbed the area and washed it before putting it back into the tumbler. It really only takes an extra 2 or 3 minutes and I think I only did it to maybe 3 or 4 parts. You can also media blast any items to get the paint off, and then toss it in the tumbler and forget about it for a couple of hours and it will look great as well. Running the tumbler dry is OK, but not great. running it with even just water has a bunch of advantages. - it runs WAY quieter. If it's wet, I can't hear it with the garage door closed. if it's dry, i can hear it through the garage door, all the way up to the sidewalk, which is about 20 feet from the garage door... and I have the tumbler at the back of the garage. - it cuts and cleans 50% faster (or more) - it prevents the media from polishing itself, reducing its effectiveness. I found that after all your speed clean is consumed (2 bottles is not enough for all these fasteners if it's your first time experimenting), dish detergent is the "cleanest" and best working replacement solution. Car polish gets too thick and leaves a thick residue. Simple green works ok as well. I want to experiment with other medias in the future to get into even finer threaded items. perhaps I will take some of the media I kept aside after I ran it dry (once it's wet, it will never be completely dry again) and see if I can find a way to crush it down to the size of the corn cob media. I wonder if running the tumbler with apple cider vinegar will make it twice as effective as a light acid remover for hard to reach rust, and then a quick tumble in another bowl with baking soda and water as an additive to neutralize the acid... That's what I'll try next! 26th-Z sent me some empirical evidence of the 2-wire clamps being bright silver zinc on an early 70's car, with low mileage at least in the engine bay. the 71 parts car I snagged the fuel vapor tank from had yellow cad clamps holding the hoses on the vapor tank, but I can't recall what the color of the engine bay ones were. I think I remember seeing some yellow cad on there.

Drove 980km to pick up an FS5W71B from an '80 ZX today. Hope to have it driving tomorrow.

BMW has the mesh pocket attached to the transmission tunnel. Not a bad option, but I'd only run the mounts through the carpet/vinyl and not through the sheet metal.

So I finished tweeking the carbs with the Oreck and quick put it back in the closet before she got ideas! I would suggest a fresh bag in the cleaner before attempting this. I noticed that some of my readings were fluxuating as if the suction was varying. I pulled the bag to see it was very, very full. So I got a new bag and proceeded. I did find one carb that seem to have a tweeked throttle shaft. A few yanks on the opposite throttle plate nuts and she dialed in. I moved on to slimming down my vacuum log. ive been trying to come up with a way to eliminate the hoses running over my carbs. I think this set-up will work and look much better.

Replying to this old thread because after a search it seemed like the most appropriate place to share this find from today when I was cleaning out some old parts I've accumulated. I can't believe I almost turfed these. I took them off and replaced them about 8 years ago because I had no idea how old they were, not because they were shot. Turns out they are the original Yazaki leads my car came with, dated coded 1970. As others have said here before, "Don't throw anything away".

Some engine bay pics

Took her out for a spin today and got a few pics.

Thought this was a little unexpected….. http://www.itsallviral.com/nissan-350z-races-porsche-911

My local blaster does everything from cars to blasting paint off old buildings. I think he charged me $950 for a 240Z. He has a tow behind rig with a diesel compressor. He used sand on my car and it came out fine. You will not have good luck doing this at home. It takes ALOT of air like over a 100 CFM to do a good job. The way it was explained to me, it is about air volume not pressure. He keeps his pressure pretty low like 70 psi and lots of volume and media. This keeps the metal cool and prevents "work hardening". He also never blast straight at panels always at an angle. I have a fairly large home air compressor 60 CFM or so and a 90# pressure pot. I use it for little stuff, but Site is correct it makes a huge mess and is a pain. Normally if I can't fit it in the blasting cabinet I think about farming it out. Charlie Osborne's floor boards work pretty good but I reworked them a little to make them fit more like OEM. Cheaper to sub it out than buy the equipment and do it yourself. Don't get the idea you can do it with a cheap 100 Amp welder; it will just frustrate you.

Can't beat a set of 16 inch Panasports.....IMO