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Bumper test fit and I am surprised. It is almost perfect! Even after two previous quarter panel replacements. Same gap sizes all the way around. Thanks [mention=25317]EuroDat[/mention] for the bumper bracket kit!! And thanks [mention=11371]zKars[/mention] for the bumpers...!

The military gives us a large block of time off at Christmas which is really helpful. My wife has to work right up till Christmas Day so I am left to my own devices in the shop all day for a few weeks each December.

I too was concerned about that amount of cut, but it will be hard to adjust my welded cutter head. That is partly why I chose the index bit style cutter. It cuts aluminum like proverbial butter. I’ll cut very slowly. Thinking back to Philip's early idea of a dual concentric hole cutter, the inner one guiding the outer cutter by riding in the existing hole, I’m now thinking about making my own cutter head with a 22mm dowel on the bottom that mounts the stock ‘B’ 56mm bearing. Let the bearing ride in the existing hole to guide the cutter set out at 62mm. Maybe I’m getting carried away. Yeah, that’s new...

And some good news tonight about the issue that started this thread, the trans that wouldn’t shift into 5th. It was in fact the ‘wrong’ shifter. What worked was a shifter from a zx, the one that has the spring loaded center and flat face bushings. The one on the left. What is interesting, is the wrong shifter has a slightly longer hole to bushing tip length than the zx one that works. well a day to learn something new is a good day.

I replaced my old, original Nikki pump a few years ago when I got my 240Z out of storage. I replaced it with a GMB. It worked fine initially, but after a few months (probably no more than 50 miles of driving), it stopped working. I got another GMB, and it too worked for a few days and then quit. I used a vacuum pump to determine that the problem was the "one way valves" that allow fuel to enter the pump, and exit the pump, were failing to keep a good seal. The rubber diaphram (driven by the lobe on the cam) that is used to "pull fuel in" and "push fuel out" was just fine. I took the good GMB bottom (with rubber diaphram) and used my old, original Nikki top (with the original two valves) and mated them together to create one good pump. It's been working for over a year, granted I don't drive the car much, but that is longer than either of the GMB pumps. Needless to say, I am not a fan of the GMB pumps.

Just another update from my Metal-wizard. The driver side lower frame has been cutout A new piece has been fabricated And now it's back in. I guess the next big part will be the LH rear quarter and inner wheel well.. I'll go to have a closeup look soon ?

EBC Yellowstuff are copper-free linings. There is a reason that every good brake pad uses copper and it's because it is better. The reason for copper-free is because the great state of California, as always, is pushing to ban copper in brake linings. They claim that it is harming some sort of creature as they always do. Guess what, famers all over California and every other state spray copper on their fields and will continue to do so. I would ditch the yellowstuff pads and either go with Redstuff, Orangestuff, Bluestuff or RP-1 if you want to stick with EBC, or go with a one of the other pads I recommended. Go with either Motul 600, SRF, or Ate brake fluid. They are all good track fluids. Ate is the least expensive and has worked well for me. As for tires, I run 225/50R16" tires on my street Z and there are several things I dislike about them. They are the same diameter as stock, but because of the width and stock diameter, they rub front and rear. I had to do a lot of work to make them fit. I can also feel the rotating mass compared to smaller and lighter wheels/tires. The smaller tires accelerate better, stop better, fit better, and have shorter sidewalls for better handling on the track. They are too small for street use, but work great on track. There are tons of tires in that size as most BMW's and Miatas are on the same track tires.

Bring a Trailer has been a real meat grinder when it come to snarky comments from the 240Z peanut gallery there. Best have a thick skin and and a Nomex fire suit if it gets posted on that venue. IMHO....sit on the car until the weather warms up, Christmas credit card bills have been paid and tax refunds are in a prospective buyer's pocket.

Those are the best days, you get to use the loud tools and toxic chemicals, the car is looking great Mark, you're in the home stretch.

Like this one. http://www.kangamotorsports.com/blog/2016/11/datsun-cylinder-head-disassembly

Digressive valving is not exactly "new thing" for companies who have been making performance dampers for a long time (KONI has been doing it for at least 50-60+ years) but it might be newer to companies whose products were more replacement grade and not really within the performance realm. It could be that their piston and valving component design might not have allowed the ability to really contour the damping curves very much but have moved in that direction. Many shock companies may not have been around that long or possibly just their marketing companies have simply latched onto "digressive" as a buzzword that they are using heavily now. Some consumer marketing messages may make a big deal about mono-tube or twin-tube design suggesting that one is always better than the other but it is simply not true. There are good and bad examples of both and different cars can have very different needs so it is more important that the damper function is tailored to the vehicle and it usage. Digressive and linear are general terms used to describe shapes of plotted dyno curves (however shocks on cars on roads never operate like dyno graphs look) but there are so many variables in car and damper design that you really can't just hang onto or use it as a "this is good" or "this is not good" gateway. Don't make your purchase on the use or lack of the word "digressive". You did not mention any specific shock brands but it is probably better that way anyway. As to your coil-over questions, it really depends on your usage and expectations of the car. To be a coil-over, it really only means that the spring is mounted on the strut of shock and all 3 of the early Z-cars do that already. Modern usage suggests that you are also wanting to make the lower spring perch height adjustable so you can customize your ride heights, corner weight the car if you want to, and have the flexibility to interchange spring rates is pretty easily. Beyond that, it is pretty wide open as to what your desired outcome will be and thus the path you should follow. With a coil-over, you can select a relatively soft spring rate for a compliant suspension and smooth ride, bump them up quite a bit for firmer ride and sporty control or run really big spring rates for a handling performance only/ don't care about ride quality set-up for mostly track use. It really boils down to what your uses and expectations for the car are. I would let that be the deciding point of whether you choose these Z-car specific Sport dampers or the much more aggressive RACE dampers that are clearly intended for Racing performance track duty with no comfort, no warranty, etc. in mind. Before these new Sports were introduced, there were few options for the car but now they offer more opportunities. Having looked at the damping specs of them all, the RACE units are much, much more aggressive on rebound and compression damping and not specifically fitted as a drop-in for the Z-car strut housings so some level of machining and fabrication may be needed depending upon your intended outcome. The Sport units are made to be a nice performance upgrade for the Z-car but still have a quite reasonable ride quality (so long as you don't overspring the car which will make it harsh), a standard lifetime KONI warranty against defects, be a drop-in solution to fit your housings, etc.. It all depends upon what you want, e.g. "Whats for dinner?" What do you want? Home cooked or eat out? Steak or chicken, Mexican or Italian, etc. Pick what you want to satisfy your interests as there is no specific one right answer for everyone.

The 'Datsun Compe' steering wheel was not unique to the Z. It was a generic Sports Option part listed for other Nissan models too. Izumi was the OEM manufacturer of the stock wood-composite S30-series Z steering wheels and the 'Datsun Compe' steering wheels. You are thinking of the 'Mach' Nissan sports/race option steering wheel, like this: