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Hi Guys, First of all, I'd like to wish everyone a Happy New Year and the very best health ! I am new here but can already appreciate the overall dynamic and supportive mindset of the neighborhood ! End of May 2020, insomnia hitting, I somehow ended up on BaT at 2am and got my hands on a beautiful 280 Z from April 1976 with its original matching number engine + 1981 280zx 5-speed gearbox (the original 4-speed also came in a box). The car is originally from Nebraska I believe, but transferred to Ohio in 2016. Obviously with COVID-19 and loads of excuses from the transporter (CFR Rinkens - DO NOT recommend), the car reached Dubai (UAE) mid September 2020. From the previous owner in Ohio: To Dubai, fresh out of the container, 4 months later. The plan from the beginning was very simple, as the car had already been through some body work and was repainted at least once in 1998 from its original Pacific blue (DAT 307), I wanted to give it backs it's factory glory and color, but with a personal restomod touch under the name Zinta Heritage (Zinta meaning: From early in life, you have asserted your individuality, learning through your own experiences, relying upon your ingenuity and practical creativity to accomplish your objectives with independence and determination). I decided to have it fully dismantled and sandblasted (we can see the dated Pacific Blue remains in the engine bay). This is when surprises knock on the door, a lot of body "repair" badly done, plenty of patches, poor quality welding and so on, especially on both front ends and the floor. Some rust holes showed up as well, but can we blame a 44 yo car from Northern states ? Nop... Then, following my original vision to make her "as new" the work started, removing patches, cutting, hammering, welding... As of now, the body work is 70% completed, the floor kit arrived from Zedd Findings (Big up to Charlie Osborne for his support) and will be replacing the old one. Some other area to be finalized in the next few weeks, cleaning the engine bay from the "useless" pieces, deleting the side markers (front/rear), deleting the unused rear bumper holes, closing the ugly speaker holes made in the toolkit hatch and some overall rear panels hammering for perfect alignment with doors (as they were probably replaced in 1998 as well). I also managed to get some parts in prevision of the rebuilding process: - Jenvey ITBs kit with 480cc injectors, MS3 Pro Evo ECU, DG508 ignition coils, OneSixIndustries CAS, complete engine seals/gaskets kit, timing chain kit, water pump, T3 front/rear strut brace, T3 weld-on coilovedr kit (car came with unmounted KYB Excel G), Prothane bushing kit, full weatherstrip kit. In the meantime I was also keeping myself busy restoring the dashboard and gauges (obviously cracked and hidden under a plastic cover). It will be eventually wrapped in dark black alcantara, but I didn't want to wrap a piece of garbage... Regarding the gauges, I got my hands on some LED rings and bulbs in order to get some decent lighting, and decided to redesign the speedometer (originally imperial and I need metric) and tachometer and have them screen printed), as well as giving a neon orange touch to the needles. The painting should be happening within 2 or 3 weeks, and then the reassembling process will start. Happy New Year to you all !

@DutchZcarguy Unless you have a roll bar, please ditch your four-point harness! Back in the 1960s I had a DKW 1000. Like the 240, it was hardtop, that is to say skinny pillars front and back, and none at the back edge of the doors. Wearing a simple seat belt, I had a roll over. On the drivers side, the top of the windshield frame came down as low as the top of the horn button. Whether because of instinct or impact I bent over at the waist, probably below the dashboard. With the flexibility of my then-18 year-old body, and more importantly the lack of any shoulder restraint, I was able to crawl out of the car with no more harm than a bit of glass in one eye. If I had a three or four point harness, I would not today be enjoying my 240Z, my golden years, and the company of this prestigious forum. I may probably be breaking some law, but my 240Z has just a three-inch lap belt. As is required by law, modern cars have substantial pillars that serve the same purpose as roll bars. My DKW and our early Z cars do not have this. The weight of the car will crush the roof. Happy New Year, and be safe all.

I Just found an old article from Automobilrevue May 1972, where they tested the "final version" 240Z. Here seen with swiss (Zürich) number plates and all the spoilers, only one mirror, etc. I guess it was one of the first imported ones, used as a press and show-car from datsun switzerland. You can also see it has the hatch without vents. the original article from 1972 can be found in the historic database on zwischengas.ch and it has been re-released in the Automobilrevue issue March 2020 with these better pictures. The article is full of praise about the car from japan and they thoroughly tested it with lots of data (various acceleration tests etc) listed in the original article. Pictures with permission from Automobilrevue switzerland. Original article can be purchased here (5. March 2020 issue): https://automobilrevue.ch/epaper/

Don't get me wrong. I am a tool snob and HATE 99% of the HF tools. I buy latex gloves and tarps there, but little else. As for jacks, they really aren't much of a safety concern because no jack, no matter the brand or condition should be trusted even for a moment. I treat floor jacks like I treat guns and assume it's up to me to be safe. The jack stands are the exact opposite. I have never bought HF jack stands as I'd rather not be crushed to death under my car. I like the Pittburgh 2.5 ton jack.

Which is all well and good, but I would not advise anyone to use photos of a pre-production test chassis as reference for how the cars came off the production line en masse... OP: The advice of *everything painted body colour* is good, but somewhere along the assembly line a guy was assigned to put his head into the front end of the car and - equipped with a pot of satin black paint and a suitable brush - his job was to 'black out' two thirds of the front half of the radiator support panel so that it was a little less visible through the front grille. He and his friends also walked around the car blacking out body colour anywhere it was deemed unwanted, like around the insides of the door apertures and where it could be seen through trim gaps and behind grilles and vents. Being hand-applied, there was inevitably some variation at play on a case-by-case basis with this 'blacking out'.

Wow Site.....didn’t know that you were ever wrong LOL......wouldn’t admit it anyway. One point that people tend to miss. The fenders were bolted on when under the hood was painted....therefore the bolts along the top of the inner fenders were painted. The bolts on shock towers weren’t.

I'm sorry Mr Arnett, I was wrong. Imagine that! The 240s are black with no overspray, just a little rust. Mine is still 1972 except the motor and transmission. They have been reworked. 280s seem to be unpainted, zinc coating?

The black-out of the radiator bulkhead and grill mount tabs is commonly overlooked with many repaints.

DKW 2-stroke 3-cylinder delivers the equivalent of a 6-cylinder 4-stroke Good illustration of why you should never roll your Z. And now, back to our original program...

S30 Shell Vibration Testing (Painted) ( probably in 67 or 68)

The car was originally painted as an assembled shell: fenders, headlight buckets, hood, valance, doors, rear hatch, fuel lid - all were installed for painting. So... yes, the engine bay including the radiator bulkhead, was part of the paint effort to get a full coat of body color.

The price we pay for a beautiful design.

A miniature 1957 Ford Thunderbird. On that same note, a well-known early-60's Ferrari owner once remarked that he sold his 250GTE because the front end styling eventually just reminded him too much of a 1957 Thunderbird.

A few cars back, plotting a big pass!

For reading pleasure. Not for argumentative. https://sportscardigest.com/datsun-240z/?utm_source=sendfox&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=january-3-2021-sports-car-digest-weekly-update

Thanks all for your responses! His health has improved and it'll be a while yet - and I couldn't be happier!

After reading this thread a couple of days ago I had a look on kijiji to see what was for sale at the moment, found a Lincoln 4 ton air/hydraulic jack for $80 He even delivered it to my door. He says it is bleeding air so I guess it's time for a rebuild, they still sell seal kits for these jacks. The base is 50" long which WAY too big for my little shop, I plan to get it working and put it back on kijiji.

Live long and prosper.

I’m Another HF jack off. I have two Pittsburg aluminum jacks . I’m like Cliff, I just bought the 1.5 . It’s super light and fits anywhere. I also have the 2.5 which is also great . Even with my lowered car and a front spoiler , I can fit either one between the front tire and my spoiler and reach the center of the crossmember . Jack stands save lives , not the jack

Put your name on the list I guess. I’m not sure how much I will want for these . They will be cleaned , pressure tested , probably a skim cut to make sure all is flat and perfect . I might just have 44mm valves put in them all if they give me a break on quantity! I will be using at least one of them. So far they are all looking pretty good . Looking for the right machine shop to put the correct finish on the mating surface . They didn’t even offer a price with them pulling it ? I took a big gamble , but I might have got lucky .

The best. Screw house jacks. They're high though but my old concrete slab garage floor shifts with the weather.

Well, Did much better in my opinion on the second go around. @EuroDat how you saved the brackets? Kudos to you!! Just opened up one other hole. Rookie mistake! But it looks like a Z Now!!

This is what it looked like fit well really quiet as well!

@siteunseen I found the plastic horn button retainer on Zcardepot. I haven’t had a chance to install it yet, too busy with the engine refresh at the moment. It looks like it will work well though.

Winter storage. Got the car up on stands and pulled the battery. Snow begins tomorrow here. Not much to see I guess. I will add another from this Summer.