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Well after forty years of ownership I'm finally starting a second go around at restoring my 1970 240Z. I purchased the car well used in 1978 with 90,000 plus miles from the local Datsun Dealership in Chilliwack, BC Canada. Here is a picture from July '78: Here is what it looks like today. Looks reasonable but the paint is showing its age and there are some other issues lurking that need to be fixed properly. Full disclosure will come later. Restoration number one was done in 1982 and I only did what I could afford at the time. I actually think this first attempt of was really "Canadian maintenance", my poor Zed was at a do or die point. Here are a few pics from 1982: I went to the parts department at my local Datsun dealership and made, what I learned later was, the largest order of body parts that anyone had ever placed with them to that point. By the time my body man and painter were finished and with the cost of the car, I could have bought a brand new 1978 280Z instead, but hey I was 18 at the time and I have never regretted doing it. In future installments I will list my restoration goals add a time line of my 40 years of ownership, after I sort and scan more of my old pictures. Anyway I plan to document my adventure with my re-restoration here, and I'm sure I will be looking for advice, also comments and tips will be very welcomed. Cheers, Mike

I am not here to hijack this thread...just do an update on my dash. I was asked recently to share how my dashed has held up using the Six10 marine epoxy ( The Six10 Marine Epoxy Link: Six10 Introduction ) as surface repair and feathering material when I repaired my dash while still in the car back in 2013. Now that it is August 2018 ... 5-1/2 years later the dash looks super. Here are recent pics after I installed a Refurbished Stock Working clock in the dash. Note: My car is in North Carolina and stored in a garage without climate control. Temps reach 100+ in the summer and as low as 0F in the winter... and no cracks have been observed. How to use Six-10 Epoxy: Reference this old post from 2013:

I see it , and I did not realized it , the real over fenders are the same appearance, chopped strand FRP finish . But for the front extended panel and the head light case , must be gel coat , I will see my ZG which is still all original , never been hit ( the car has minor injury on left door and fender ! ) . I see the car has no drain plugs on both sides of the floor, replaced at some point past and deleted passenger foot rest . I gathered information, this car could be September or October 1972 car , in that case , carbs and air cleaner etc are correct for the year I think . This car is the eleventh from the cut off date of a new big master vac , new pedal bracket, automatic adjustable clutch operating cylinder , FS5C71B went to sleeve type (Z432 remained flange though) etc .That was made in September 1972 , HS30- 100001. Kats

One thing about an automatic transmission, after September 1972 ( after HS30-100001) the lower nose began to have air guides for an automatic transmission ZG . This made me think the Bonhams ZG would be an automatic transmission car , but the story would be different, the lower nose which has air guides would be a later replacement. Many of my ZG friends said when you buying the lower nose from Nissan back in 90s , it always came with a air guides . Note the car in a show room is an early example, with an automatic transmission badge on the left corner of the tail gate . Kats

A Don Potter grind cam from Steve Bonk. 535 lift.

I think the weight of evidence - suspected replacement of radiator core support panel, non-factory finish on undersides of bonnet extension and headlamp cowls, bad fit of headlamp cowls, rippled fenders/wing tops etc - points towards a front-ender at some point in the past. Not surprising in the grand scheme of things, and - of course - rectifiable. The new owner will hopefully put some effort into that. I don't want us to break a butterfly on a wheel here, as the car has a new owner and hopefully it will see some sympathetic rectification. What disappoints is the sales hype and presentation of the car by Bonhams, and some sections of the press, as an excellent example of type. I'm disappointed at the previous owners too. They could have done better by this car.

Alan , I too think that horizontal ribs are must be prototype, very unique. Other things which should be treated with caution are , they are I have been telling too , the difference in light cover trim ring . The one in the picture has trimmed bottom of the ring to be flattened for the bumper . And the screw positioning is different from the ordinary production cars . Kats

This should generate some lively discussion... Most of us have tried a variety of rust-prevention products. If you're like me, you've found that some don't quite live up to expectations. Many swear by a particular product, but I often wonder if their allegiance is tied to subconsciously defending the choice they made. There are lot of manufacturer's claims published and a lot of one-use testimonials, but not much in the way solid comparative date to back them up. Back in 2011, 'Classics Monthly' -- one of England's leading auto restoration publications -- began a test of a group of the leading, over-the-counter rust prevention products. The test lasted for three years. The products were split into two categories: 1) those for pre-paint treatment of exterior surfaces, and; 2) those for treatment of concealed internal surfaces (door cavities, frame rails, rocker sills, etc). The results were quite interesting... https://www.auson.se/sites/default/files/rusttest_noxudol_700_classic_monthly_uk_0.pdf

Inside.

Finished putting Eibach and Tokicos in the white 70 car. Looks like it lowered it more than usual when installing Eibachs. Tokicos are getting hard to find.....had to pay up from Whitehead Performance for these.

My goal for this restoration is to keep the car as original as possible and bring the condition up to a number two level. When complete I will continue to use the car as I always have, weekend drives, going on club events and the occasional show. I don't want it to be a trailer queen. I get plenty of pleasure from ownership but these cars are meant to be driven. My plan is for the whole process to take about two years. The main focus will be on body and paint, neither of which I will do myself. I am currently looking for a restoration shop to work with. I will not be doing a 100% complete disassembly to the last nut and bolt but rather disassemble into sub-assemblies that can be refinished and if issues are found deal them on a case by case basis. I am also looking for companies to do re-chroming and plating. At a minimum I plan to do the following to accomplish this: - Remove interior and dash and glass. - Remove engine and driveline. - Remove front and rear axles, suspension and steering etc. - Disassemble body as required. Step one will be removing most of the interior so that I can show the complete car to a few restoration shops before the major disassembly is started. The shops I have been talking with so far have a waiting list of about six months so I will have all winter to do the disassembly. Right now I am working on removing most of the interior, so that the resto shops I am talking to can fully access the car to give me reasonable estimates before I get into the major disassembly.

Thanks Kats!

Some times you just have to punt. I think I can make this one work if I elongate the holes some in the hood. This is an aftermarket hood I bought 25 years ago after I t-boned a post. It's close to working now. I will probably tinker with it some today

That is right Alan , yes I must clarify those pictures are my automatic car , not Bonhams ZG . I put them just for the reference. Thanks ! Kats

Kats, you might want to clarify that the above photos are not the Bonhams ZG, but are examples of an Automatic Transmission-equipped car for detail reference?

Kats, First time I've seen some of those photos. Thank you. What do you think about the finish of the reverse sides of the headlamp cowls/cases? The lower nose assembly looks authentic to me, but Ben already mentioned the chopped strand FRP finish he noticed on the underside of the bonnet extension panel and it seems to me that the reverse sides of the headlamp cases have the same (I think incorrect) finish. Possibly evidence of replacement/repair?

After looking at the car , it seems to me the car is a manual transmission car. General condition of the car is tellimg me if someone who has done the car like this would remain many evidence of "automatic transmission" in it. I do not see the radiator has two oil cooler aduptor , nor see brackets for the cooler piping on both sides of the engine block, nor a temp sensor for the dual point distributor . Kats

I just want to show these pictures, the car could be an automatic car then converted to a stic shift , I am curious about the rear diff replaced to correct gearing for FS5C71B and , it must added a metal stopper (with a rectunguler rubber ) for the clutch pedal. Can someone tell what the code on the rear diff is telling , 4.1 ? 3.9 or 3.5 ? I see 73, that means 1973 . Or like Alan said, different carbs/air cleaner and intake set up, the car just had installed an automatic balance tube. I need to see a lot more carefully. If the car was an automatic, the specific code for genuine Fairlady 240ZG equipped with an automatic is 02662-0100 . Nice optional rear stabilizer bar .You may find other interestings. Kats

Makes perfect sense. Maybe the place that rebuilds it will sleeve it for me. Thanks for the info Charles.

The stopping is better in my limited testing so far but not night and day. Did some hard stops at 40. Normally the back would lock and get a little sideways. Now almost no lockup and quicker deceleration. I stayed with the stock prop.? valve. Kept the little insert in the MC for the back drums, cleaned drums, looked like they still had plenty of wall left. The new front pads are ceramic and the back shoes and MSA multi compound. Think back were about $79. Petal travel feels about the same. Sent from my iPhone using Classic Zcar Club mobile

Looks like a great find! The older Bronco's are slick!

Sweet! My first car was a beat up Falcon with a 170 and 3 on the tree. Unsynchronized first gear. I learned a lot about transmissions with that car. A whole lot...

Over the past 2 month. Pulled the engine and trans, had the head rebuilt, rebuilt the motor, cleaned and repainted engine bay: rebuilt the front end and replaced all the rubber, new struts. Removed front fenders, resprayed undercoating and or paint where appropriate. Still need to finish engine bay details, rework stock valve cover and then we can drop motor and trans back in. INterior was completely striped and seats have been rebuilt. New wheels, tires exhaust etc etc etc......

Quite apart from all the other issues with the car, that front license plate makes me very nervous. Hopefully it was put on to create some 'atmosphere', but it's all wrong for the car. The taxation class is wrong for a genuine ZG (it's for a car with capacity under 2000cc) and any car hailing from Sapporo needs extra scrutiny of its structural condition because more than half the year it is snowy and icy up there. There's one old car dealer in Sapporo who has a particularly bad reputation for make-do-and-mend type repairs that are covering up all sorts of nasty stuff.

I would think the screaming engine and tire noise when you drop the clutch would hide those noises! Hahahaha

I had similar numbers when I got mine. There were a couple easily identified and fixed problems, but ultimately it was the throttle valve switch that was responsible in my case (https://www.classiczcars.com/forums/topic/51531-sanity-check-on-280z-fi-tests/). I didn't find it until I ran through the tests in the EFI bible, which is where I should've started in the first place. Only takes a few minutes to go through them all. Do that.