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Epilogue: So, this is actually my first ‘contracted’ 240Z restoration (Yes, we had a signed contract). Overall, I would say that it went surprisingly well. The restoration was done within the contract estimated cost of $40K and time frame of one year (almost). The breakdown on the costs for the customer are as follows: Paint: $12,000 Parts and Material: $14,885.28 Labor: $12,476.25 For a grand total restoration cost of: $39,361.53 Payments for the paint were made by the customer directly to the paint shop Payments for parts and labor costs were made by the customer through Paypal. Payments were all made in advance in $1500 increments. When the $1500 was spent, I would send an invoice and then the next payment was sent. This process worked very well and the customer was very prompt with payments and very supportive. The customer was able to monitor the progress through the blog and was very communicative and supportive during the restoration. This was done by e-mail and not through the blog. It was actually a very nice way to do things. For the most part, the restoration went as planned. Below are some of the items that were lessons learned or different than originally planned or expected. 1. Initially, the plan was to restore the car to what Hagerty’s would consider a Condition #2 car, similar to my orange Z, which I consider a condition #2. However, after the paint job, the project was kicked up a level to where the car would be in the Condition #1 category. As I mentioned earlier, paint and body work quality is a huge factor in a restoration. https://www.hagerty.com/apps/valuationtools/1972-Datsun-240Z 2. Quality paint and body work is expensive. I was hoping to get the paint done for $5-10K. This is what I discussed with the customer. I got a number of quotes and even considered Maaco (they did a nice job on my yellow Z, not on my silver Z). However, I had seen Miguel’s work and really wanted a great paint job so I went in that direction. The total cost of the paint job was $14,000. The customer paid $12K of this and I paid out of my labor cost $2K. The reason I covered $2K of the paint job was that I had told the customer $5-10K for paint, and obviously we blew way past that. The other reason is that I charged labor for my early prep and body work, all of which was removed by Miguel. So, no fair to charge the customer twice, so the right thing to do was to pick up some of the cost. On the next car I do, after I remove all the parts, car will go straight to Miguel for paint. No need for me to do any body work, although stripping most of the paint would not be bad. 3. One more item on paint: I would consider my Orange Z a condition #2 car, primarily because of the paint. This orange Z that I just finished is about 90% in the Condition #1 state. As you can see from the valuation tools page, the price difference between the 2 conditions is more than the total cost of the paint. Aside from the paint, I would say the cars are almost exactly the same. If I had to do it over, I would have taken my orange car to Miguel. I think the ROI is worth it for the paint. 4. Scope creep: Every engineer has experienced this. There were a couple of things that we added that were not part of my initial restoration plan. Originally the car had the slotted mags. The customer and I discussed the pros and cons of putting on the steelies and hubcaps and eventually we went in that direction. That was a bit of a cost hit over the original estimate. Polishing the mags would be about $300. Getting a set of nice steelies and hubcaps was over $1K when all said and done. Also, we ended up going with a nice reproduction of the original OEM exhaust instead of just replacing it with an off the shelf system. The OEM reproduction came out great and looks and sounds super.. Nice choice on both items. I will do this same system on my white one as well. (Special thanks to Carl Beck for bringing this to our attention). 5. Organizing everything in large storage boxes by section works out great. I had an engine box, an interior box, and an undercarriage box. This makes finding parts much easier. 6. I do a lot of my own zinc plating, but when doing large projects, taking stuff to the plating shop is the way to go. There were several times I brought a lot of parts to the plating shop and just paid the minimum $75 lot charge. This is a nice way to go as it is quick and they do a nice job. Powder coating is also relatively cheap. 7. Time wise, paint took a lot longer than I was expecting. I was thinking 1-2 months. I think it took 5 months. Fortunately I was able to do the engine and some undercarriage items during this period. 8. Parts are starting to get hard to find. It has been very helpful to have the support of the classiczcars.com site in hunting some of these things down. Thanks everyone! 9. Not sure if I could do another one in a one year time frame. Need to take into account, Vacations, Birthdays, weddings, car shows, home maintenance etc. These are some of the items that stand out the most on the restoration. I will add more as things come to mind if they are significant.

Haha!! "Lookit here son, I say son, did ya see that hawk after those hens? He scared 'em! That Rhode Island Red turned white. Then blue. Rhode Island. Red, white, and blue. That's a joke, son. A flag waver. You're built too low. The fast ones go over your head. Ya got a hole in your glove. I keep pitchin' 'em and you keep missin' 'em. Ya gotta keep your eye on the ball. Eye. Ball. I almost had a gag, son. Joke, that is." — Author Unknown

Rich, Emotion---not logic. Love---not money. You've set a new standard, beyond the honorable Mr.Wick Humble. Your documentation of this restoration is Z reference material for all time. Do the book. We will buy it.

Hi Jim, Paint was paid for in the same manner that I was. Payment was in advance through Paypal. Again,the customer was great with all this. Miguel would let me know when payment was needed and I would let the customer know. I will double check, but pretty sure the paint was all PPG brand. 10. Just for clarification on the paint and body work: The thing that really shows the quality is the work that was done on the panel alignment and the creases and lines along the body and hood. Too often the lines that form the hood bump and the side line (not sure the correct name for those) are smoothed over, rounded or uneven. They typically lose their sharpness when taken to the average body shop. Miguel was very careful with the lines which is what makes the panels look great. They are sharp, even and straight, very nice!

Hi everyone. Here is a link to the FAQ on the head. http://www.datsunworks.com/Blog/faq-for-twin-cam-cylinder-head/ The blog has most of the posts from Hybrid Z without all the discussion in between. I'm in production as we speak on 4 non-VTC heads and one VCT prototype head that is for me. The head is based on the Honda K20 and uses all K20 valve train for the exception of the cams and the timing chain. The S7 tool steel cam cores are produced by me and then after heat treating are sent to Schneider Cams for semi finishing. They can also grind the lobe profile as well or you can send it off to another grinder. Semi finishing is basically grinding all of the bearing surfaces to spec. The pricing being thrown around are based on what I think it's going to eventually take to produce the heads. Keep in mind there is no "economy of scale" on these. It is and will always be a very small market. The price will never go down. I'm happy to answer any questions but the FAQ has most of the pertinent info. Thanks Derek

The cop showed up but didn't give her a ticket, said he couldn't tell who was at fault since he didn't see it, and we'd already moved the cars. Which is correct. Wish I'd taken a photo before we moved the cars. I did get some photos though. When she said she didn't do the damage I hit the video button, haven't looked at it yet, don't know if I got all that. Got a picture of her front license plate in the road, maybe that's enough evidence. Anyway I'm using my own insurance. It's way faster if I let AAA take care of it. Learned my lesson last time, waited about two months before I got the check. Opened a claim today. Thanks Mark, I'm definitely going to need a driver side door, probably a left rear fender. Front fender probably just needs some high-build primer and paint. I think the window is OK but can only see the top 3 inches of it. Might be able to get the door locally, there's a shop in Gardena that hooked me up with new / used body parts when I got rear-ended a few years back, so I'll check with them first.

You want info? Here's your man: @Derek

I can't wait! Too bad I didn't get more seat time as while it was stock. I think I put all of about 12 miles on it before it was torn down Ordered the Nitto stroker 2.8L crank, H beam rods and upgraded rod bolts. Also ordered a stainless RB26 exhaust manifold flange since my headers are from the RB25 which oddly enough, has a slightly different bolt pattern. Now I can drop the block and crank off with the machinist and get in line so that by the time he is ready to start that, the custom piston specs will be ready. He can also port match the header flange while doing all the headwork. The throttle bodies are done. Enlarged to 49mm, new butterflies, seals, bearings and re-plating of all the hardware. They are assembling the linkage and shipping back from Australia next week.

Decided to clean it up a little while I await the parts. Starting to look better. I can actually see my oil pump now.

Just wanted to let everyone know the final set of clips sold earlier today. I would like to thank everyone who purchased a set and all of those who contributed to help make this happen. Seeing that a few vendors purchased sets it is possible they may become available again from other sources. This last run was my final run of them and will not be having anymore made. I wish everyone the best with their projects!

Probably because words fail me. Either that or because I'm on a weather-related go slow after a couple of days of 'Beast From The East' blizzard conditions here in Ye Olde Englande. From the sales blurb: "This evocative 240Z is a super replication of the Nissan works car that was driven by Rauno Altonen and navigated by Jean Todt in the 1972 Monte Carlo rally finishing in a very creditable third place." "Super replication"? It's actually nothing like it. Nothing. Not unless you count red and black paint, a kids art project idea of a carnet number plate and some '5' stickers as 'close enough'... They credited Goertz in the blurb too. That's a top-scoring double fail in Z History Bingo. House! Cars like this are built to purpose, and that purpose is modern historic 'regularity' type events rather than stage rallies. Compliance with modern safety regulations and a bias to practicality is enough to make such cars stray a long way from true period Works specifications. I'm sure it's a good car, but claiming "super replication" of a real period Works car is well wide of the mark.

Thanks for the cover. You're the best!!

I've got bigger problems now. Somebody smashed into my car. I was driving in the right turn lane. Traffic in the left and middle lanes was stopped. She was coming down the other side of the street and made a left turn between the stopped cars. Smashed into my driver side door. She started lying immediately, saying she was stopped and I hit her. She looked at my smashed in door and said she didn't see any damage. Then she said she didn't do that, "it was like that". I called the cops because I thought she was going to take off. Can't open the door or close the window. Have to get in the passenger side. Damn, damn, damn. Before the drive I dialed down the idle a couple hundred rpm. It seemed better, or maybe I'm getting used to shifting into neutral at a stop. Not running-on anymore. Was enjoying the drive until the wreck. Love the low-end torque. Not broke-in enough to try upper mid-range. Third bozo that that hit my Datsun. First one that lied.