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Still needs a tune and bumpers and a myriad of other things, but I started it for the first time in 6.5 years (and since the body was restored) yesterday: Before the restoration, way back in 2011: Totally rusted out pass. floor pan and rockers, mismatched tires, faded non-original color paint, etc etc. I've done everything except the actual body restoration (welding, paint, etc). All the disassembly, reconditioning of parts, reassembly, etc. It's been a LOT of work, and it's not over yet, but... I just wanted to take a short victory lap. Thanks for all the support and great advice.

I own a few (OK more than a few) older muscle cars but always loved the Z - so I just bought a 1971 Z sight unseen and had it delivered this morning. Ya, not a good idea to buy a car without looking at it, especially an early Datsun but I took a chance. Other than leaking gas from the gas line it ran not bad - oh and the turn signal is totally pooched (already ordered a new one, as he told me about it). The one issue it does have is some minor perforations in one - possibly both rear frame rails of the car. Have most people just replaced the whole rail or can you pretty easily cut out the small section and replace the metal? Seems to be isolated in one area right towards the rear portion of the rail and the rest of the rail is totally solid. The car was from Arizona and other than one other small patch in the floorboards in front of the wheel well on passenger side the car is crazy clean of rust. The wheel wells - both outer and inner, rockers, rear valance and floor all completely original metal with no repairs or rust. Car was parked since 1987. Pictures below. Paint is worse than it looks. lots of patina and orange peel - plan to leave it as is cause I love the originality of it. Anybody have a general idea of rough values on series 2 driver condition Z's? The prices are all over the map...had a hard time assessing what they are worth in driver condition - a few on BAT looked really nice and sold for low 20's. My dash is cracked - like most, as it was from Arizona. Lastly, me head hits the damn roof...I am 6 2. Leg room good. Roof room sucks!

After recently removing my exhaust header I was able read the casting number on my E31 block, The casting number is located low on the left side, just back from center and in raised characters reads "0630I". Using the decoding method suggested by @katsthat would make it 50 years old today. Here is the old topic from back in 2004, where this was discussed:

Here's a few more photo updates. Assembly is moving right along. Sent gas tank and radiator out last week for sealing and re-core. Ordered braided hoses and exhaust parts from Jay. The long poles are the headliner and vintage dash. Hopefully will have this running is a couple weeks.

I just saw a link to this on Facebook: http://www.vintageconnections.com/Products/Detail/180?fbclid=IwAR0HVhjrJgKGzxMYHPycwJpWO9Ap0gIyhjS4IIK0YQlwjk7P7wnjk2GxvN0 It could be helpful to someone who needs to repair electrical connections in his/her Z.

I discovered that the fuel level sensor was leaking on the live terminal where there is insulating plastic, remember this photo? To confirm it, I hung the thing from the float over night, with the “bowl” bit filled with self penetrating oil. The next day there was ample oil on the other side to prove it’s no longer air tight. I could have repaired it with fuel resistant mastics but I started to look at the cost of a new one. Utterly HORRENDOUS prices. Over £300 for the right shaped one. Then one appeared on eBay advertised for a Datsun 510 with very similar kinks etc so I took a punt at £40! Today, this little package arrived ... Now you can see the differences below: The resistances however are virtually identical +/- 1/2 an ohm. 10.8 ohms full, 88.5 ohms empty. I was tempted to move the rod and float from one to the other but decided that as it involved cutting the squashed end and re-calibrating, I was going to have a go at bending the new one first. I straightened up the first kink on the new one, measured the length of the same king on the old one and bent it in the same place as the 260z sensor. The end result? Ignoring the parallax of the iPhone lens, it turned out utterly perfect. It even sorted out the difference in length - they are now identical in length also. I gave it a test run in the fuel tank and fortuitously, there is plenty of room in the tank for the float to sit the opposite way round to the original. The bottom of the tank is actually deeper at that point and thanks to the PO has a raised bit where the POR treatment wasn’t fully flushed out. That will give me “reserve” when the gauge is on empty. A total win!! Next up, a test on the car electrics to see it “turn up to 11” on the gauge ;).

Been working hard to improve my photography skills so I shot my dad's orange Z this morning. These are my favorites. Shot with a Canon 6D.

Over-tired was the look in the 70's and still looks nicer to my eye than huge wheels with rubber bands on them.

http://www.alfaparts.net/dat280.html His Datsun panel selection is still small but he plans on offering more. Not great photos on his site but the detail looks crisper than Tabco products.

With the price of Z's skyrocketing, I think we will see more and more of this. I guess there is one benefit to stupid Z values.

Pull the sending unit and assess the amount of crust on it that may be preventing movement. Don't try to move it if it's stuck. Check it for electrical continuity with an ohm meter. If the circuit is good, soak the unit in CLR for a day or two until it comes out clean.

Wow that's a real win! Way cheaper! So (other than to different arm shapes) does everything else look the same? Same mounting bases and everything else? Can't wait to see how it works on the gauge.

The more I look at Chapter 7 - titled "The Car Hobby Culture" (???) - the more bizarre it gets. There's a section headed 'The Limited-Run Silvia And Its Z Connection'. It's about the CSP311 Nissan Silvia of 1964, and Mr Evanow credits it to Albrecht Goertz. In fact it was styled in-house at Nissan by Kazuo Kimura before Goertz got anywhere near it. Kimura doesn't get a name check. Poor research there, but it gets worse: Page 121: "...a two-door hardtop said to be based off the Fairlady convertible..." "Said to be"? The clue is in the chassis code. CSP311. It was built around the chassis and running gear of the SP311 Fairlady. There's no "said to be" about it. Page 121: "Because of its uniqueness in the marketplace, the Silvia carried the Nissan name rather than Datsun." What does this actually mean? It doesn't make any sense. Page 121: "...the two-door, short-wheelbase coupe could very well have been the starting point for the Z". No. But it gets worse: Page 121: "There are plenty of doubters, but why would NMC-USA go to so much effort to essentially hand-build approximately 550 units, only to test the market for such a hardtop?" What?! Is this a typo or something? What on earth did NMC-USA have to do with the CSP311? The author is making it sound like the CSP311 could not have existed without being some kind of 'test' for a USA-targeted product. No apparent regard for what such a prestige, coachbuilt item might mean to Nissan and - by extension - the Japanese people themselves. It was a statement, a demonstration. Japanese styling on contemporary mechanicals, craftsman-built by the artisans at Tonouchi and arguably a match for anything else from the rest of the world in 1964. Why is a production run of 500+ being framed as some kind of 'failure'? Auto manufacturers have been doing this kind of thing since the beginning. There is absolutely NO reason to view it solely through the lens of the United States, or as anything other than what it was. The CSP311 was a success in its own right, an elegant and refined product with some exquisite attention to detail and a match for anything being turned out by the big Italian styling houses of the time. Recommendation: If anyone is interested in the deeper story of the CSP311 and its genesis, please take a look at Ian Patmore's excellently researched website csp311.net https://csp311.net/csp311-development-history/

Over the weekend I successfully removed the instrument panel. To make it easier I first removed the steering wheel and column, gear shifter and e-brake. The dash is now safely mounted on the storage rack I previously built. Even with the great resources from this site, my FSM and Wick Humble's book, I still managed to miss disconnecting the flasher unit and a warning buzzer, both mounted at the top of the pedal box. Luckily my son has helping me to do the removal and stabilized the dash while I made those final disconnections, and a potential disaster was averted.

I've often wondered whether the problem with aftermarket polyurethane bushings not the fact that they're made from polyurethane, but that they're made from the wrong polyurethane. The traditional suppliers of these PU bushes have always skewed their products toward the performance buyer. The result is a vehicle that's hard to live with on real-world pavement. I'm sure there are lower-durometer synthetic materials -- PU or otherwise -- that could be cast from the same molds. Unfortunately, supporting a second product line called 'street' would cost a lot of money. The 'performance' segment of the market is, arguably, a lot bigger and certainly more lucrative.

I have used 2 part polysulfide rubber on teak boat decks and understand it's also used to glue up lap joints on the exterior skins of commercial jet fuselages because of its strength and flexibility. Probably too soft for this application?

We are talking about replacing the original bushing with something that has similar characteristics. We know the PU aftermarket bushings transfer a lot of diff noise to the body so making any bush out of PU doesn't seem to has any advantage. I have made PU insulators for the fuel lines and other stuff for my own 280Z, but getting it to hold to the metal components enough to take the stress would be hard to achieve. It would need to be a part from another car with a similar purpose. For example the original positon for the bolt was in the vertical position, otherwise it would probably fail quickly due to stress it was not designed for.

I can't remember who it is (anybody?) that is reproducing the small rubber parts but he would probably have the experience to make an attempt at it. Here's another good link. Understanding how to create a good mold, following instructions, and knowing what can screw things up (moisture, contaminants, etc.) are the key. https://www.fibreglast.com/product/introduction-to-urethane-casting-resins/Learning_Center

Thanks Brandon! The Datsun 240Z is an incredibly beautiful automobile design and you have certainly brought that out in your pictures. The best shots of the 311 pictures you took.....nice work!!!!