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Try furnishing your local automotive paint store with one or more of these paint codes: https://paintref.com/cgi-bin/colorcodedisplay.cgi?year=1970&con=y&make=Datsun&rows=50

I bet they were really good with playdoh in middle school!!

……..or take your favorite IPA down to the paint shop. Brandon just painted his Z31 Safari Gold. I’ll see if he can help.

I found these on ebay and wanted to share in case anyone is looking for the two-wire type clamps. The heads aren't exactly OEM but for the price and the fact they come pre-zinced i think they are worth a shot. https://www.ebay.com/itm/403644655801?mkcid=16&mkevt=1&mkrid=711-127632-2357-0&ssspo=apbb2nwyrmc&sssrc=2047675&ssuid=a4d1fc-qQ9K&widget_ver=artemis&media=COPY I ordered a couple of sets and should have them in a few weeks as they slow boat it from china. Will report back on quality once I get them. I like that they have a wide range of sizes which can cover probably most if not close to all of the engine bay. They have other variety of sizes and qty to meet your needs in different kit types if you search. In comparison to what i previously purchased from zcar depot these certainly are economical at like 50 cents per compared to at least 5-8 bucks per from the big boys. Plus the z car ones are not even capable of holding zinc and the wires were pretty crappy and twisted fairly easy as they tightened. Wouldnt recommend them. Hopefully these do the trick if not, not much money wasted.

Thanks for the suggestions everyone! Unexpectedly, the order the shim was on has shipped! I am suspicious, however. I think they may have let the 90 day time frame they originally quoted for the "national backorder" run out and then crossed that shim off the order and shipped the rest (some side shims). I don't know that though. I will have to see what shows up. In the meantime, I was able to remove the rear pinion bearing today and free the existing shim for measuring and test filing: Shaft collar side and gear side, respectively: The OD is 53-54 mm and the ID is 35 mm. With regard to filing, I ran a fine single cut file across the surface of the left picture very lightly and it immediately started removing the dark coloring from the outer edge of the shim. I want to say that where the "collar" contacts... or sits against the shim, it is now lower (compressed?) than the outer edges of the shim. I did not want to, nor did I file more than a few light strokes on the surface of the shim. I also note some very light chaffing on the surface of the shim. I suspect that would be hard to achieve on a "hard" shim. I think this thing is actually pretty soft, for whatever that is worth.

Those are Libre wheels. Much loved but like "love", hard to find.

Breaking Away, 1979. Dennis Christopher, Dennis Quaid, Daniel Stern, John Ashton and Jackie Earle Haley. Ice blue Z with 4 spoke "mags" and a whopping CB antenna.

2 in Fast Times at Ridgemont High:

I probably should have sold it. I actually had a lot of interest in it, maybe the white wall aspect?

@rturbo 930 thank you for taking the time! I appreciate the clear & close up pics. What is the smaller (M8?) secondary offset captive nut retain?I does appear that I can make a top plate & weld it in - I would thank that would also help beef the structure of the inner towers also, so a plus all around. In the meantime, I realized I can add a beefy support to the strut bar I've already made, and lay the reel on that until I feel like dismantling the hatch interior for welding. I will make a vertical stack with two 7/16-20 nuts at each end with a horizontal support element

For 2k it would have a new home!!

Hahaha ……yep we were just browsing that last week. Happy New Year Site. The color is easy to mix. We use PPG.

Alright, the suspect carrier is in a vat of oil and the new one is in. This one has fewer miles on it anyway, so I’m looking at this as a glass half full situation. Once I had everything ready to go back in I put fresh bearings on the new carrier and new seals in the case, which is what caused this most recent delay. 🙄 Figuring out how to torque the ring gear bolts without putting it in a vice was fun. The key ended up being an oil filter wrench with a reinforced rubber strap. Two people can do it, three would be better. They need 78 foot pounds on the Subaru diff (probably the same on all “K” r180s). They are only 50 to 58 on the Datsun (probably because they have lock washers). Luckily I had the right mix of shims to get the backlash within tolerances (0.1mm to 0.2mm). Major obstacle out of the way! Edit: I forgot to mention the Ron Tyler style differential arrestor. Not much to say about it other than I was surprised how much of the bushing had to be removed to get the r180 to fit. I only had two notches to go before it was all the way to the hilt. I’ve seen these where there was a gap leftover but they must be using a different bushing. This one is pretty compressed. This isn’t going anywhere. *** So now the differential is in. My 240z now has a limited slip… sort of. It’s a Torsen, so not a true LSD, but I’m thinking this is the most drivable option given it behaves like an LSD under power and like an open when you let off (open into the turn and closed out of the turn). *** This was perhaps unnecessary, but Nissan added this transmission mount shield when they designed the 280ZX/S130, so it is probably not a bad idea. It’s not like it weighs a ton.

I test fitted the floor pan and toe board yesterday, then cut the transmission side and welded in today. I still have to fill in the welds and grind more but it's good enough for now. This is an air tool I don't get to use very often but sure saves lots of the labour of drilling holes, I paid $40 yrs ago at a pawn shop. A hole punch on one side and a flanger on the other.

Boogie nights

I think I have most if not all of the metal working done now, at least the cutting and welding. I picked the supplies for the new paint job today, still have to go back p/u the paint and clearcoat as the guy at the autobody supply shop couldn't find a modern code for 920 Safari Gold. I'll ask that question in a separate thread. We knew there was something funky going on with D/S quarter panel, I got all the filler dug out yesterday. Time is money in collision shops, so much so that an extra 10 min with a hammer and dolly is asking too much.😄