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Painting the block, masking is always fun to do. I couldn’t stop my self to paint the bolt fixing the engine mount bracket. If I had extra genuine marked ‘7’ bolts I would have re-plated it. The outcome is so so, I sprayed fluorescence green over metallic yellow. Finally I put just a little bit of metallic purple. Please see the engine mount bracket, it has over spray of blue, is is original? And the date shown on the center muffler and the rear muffler ‘72 07’ they make the car so proud as a survivor. In Japan so many people wanted to replace it with a dual exhaust pipes. I think it looks odd to see some very bright parts in the non restored engine bay. Kats

Hi, I have been doing some work for my 240ZG. I felt I should take care for my ZG because it looked dirty and old. I don’t have money to do full restoration for it so I decided to do easy job by myself like painting and cleaning. Also I have my parts re-plated by a professional shop. Did you know here in Japan most of plating shops don’t do gold zinc plate for the local environmental regulations. I found one very far from my town, they do great but very very expensive compare to a several years ago. I couldn’t separate each of the exhaust components because they are all rusted and melted each other. So it seemed to me the only choice was taking off the exhaust manifold with all the components together. I tried to take the front pipe from the manifold apart, I snapped off the stud bolts. The rusted bolts annoyed me a lot. Please see the original unique nut for fixing the exhaust front pipe. I want to use it again. I saw orange paint brushedat the left front of the block, is it a factory marking? I see ‘ 2-6 ‘ on the bonnet catch and the door lock mechanism as my ZG seemed left the factory on June or July 1972. As well as matching date shown on the heater box decal, the seat belt tag and the coding on the glass. Kats

Pulled the Old Gal out of the garage to sweep out the dust bunnies underneath. Bonus...no fluid puddles on the concrete 👍

Thanks Patcon! I am enjoying to see your restoration of your 240Z, keep good work! Kats PS Nissan blue is still available from local dealership or some internet vendors. You can order with the parts number 10128-90026. Or in Japan only?

I finally painted the radiator. So, I was able to install it today. Is this the correct orientation of the hardware - just the bolt on the front side, and the flat washer, locking washer and nut on the inside? Oddly, the flange on the side brackets of the radiator basically touches the insides of the frame rails. All three of the radiators I have in my possession have this flange on the inside surface of the radiator. It appears to be for mounting a fan shroud, though I don't believe US cars had them as original equipment. I think this is an original radiator cap: I put some reproduction stickers on today as well:

There is no pressure (other than weight of the fluid) in the transmission. Most people tighten both the fill and drain much tighter than they need to be. They only need to be as tight as not to leak. I used to recommend just using Teflon tape on the threads but now use Loctite 567 Thread Sealant and only tighten to snug or slightly past. (got pretty sick of having to use a 3 foot cheater bar to remove customers fill plugs and an impact on the drain...) (I'm a journeyman plumber and spent 35 years cutting and threading pipe. Just like flare fittings, there's science to threaded pipe fittings - which the fill and drain plugs are - just like there's science to the dissimilar metals involved. Tightening a threaded fitting too much is as bad or worse than not tightening enough. "Pipe dope", Teflon, cutting oil (lubricant) it used to control heat caused by friction. Too much friction (heat) causes micro fractures in the metal of the thread which means leak. So, the Teflon is actually more of a lube than a "seal"... Also the more torque you put on it, the more friction there is, more heat to damage the metal. - There, I've given my unsolicited plumbing advice for the day!)

The reason it doesn't thread in as far is probably because of the thread profile differences. NPT uses 60 degree threads, while BPT uses 55 degree "Whitworth" style threads. So while the pitch is the same, there are some minor differences in the shape of the peaks and valleys. That said... If you are working on one of the sizes where the BPT and NPT thread pitches actually lines up the same (some of them do and some don't) and you aren't intending to hold back a lot of pressure, you can usually get away with using an NPT plug in an application where the correct part is actually BPT. Put an extra wrap of teflon tape on it and crank it in. Of course, the right thing to do would be to source a BPT plug.

Zed may have the answer I was looking for. Just the slightest flat spot on the rim of the backing plate. I gently bent it with a screwdriver and (knock on wood) no more clicking when I back up...! Thanks, Zed...!

Remove the return spring from the pedal and it might be easier to get things in a position to come apart. It will also take any pulling force off of the rod. Also, you can loosen the locknut on the clevis and turn the rod with a pair of pliers to unscrew it completely from the clevis. Ths will leave the clevis hanging free on the pedal. Turning the rod while everything is together is the way to adjust it after installing too. Adjust it without the return spring until it is correct, lock it down, then put the return spring on last.

That's all great progress. The plating looks really good! In almost 40 years I don't think I've ever take the exhaust manifold/down pipe joint loose without breaking at least one of those studs.

Word on the street is that the tapered pipe threads used (everywhere?) on the Z's was British standard... BPT. So the 14 TPI would be correct, but the thread profile is a little different than NPT.

Attended my first local cars and coffee since moving to the North Georgia mountains. As expected, mostly US cars, with only 4 Japanese and a few BMWs.

It isn't easy even when things are stock and not worn. It is typical for the pin to become worn (read: grooved). The groove may (may... what am I saying... WILL) hamper the pin movement. In that case you need to move (wiggle) the pedal while you're prying the pin to find the "sweet spot" that will get the pin to move. (and that's if the wear hasn't created a ridge on the pin that also hampers it's removal...) For me, I cuss at it for longer than I should - then make my son do it. I too would like to see the guy who would be able to weld anywhere near that pin... and live.

I try to minimize cutting and welding long sections whenever possible. Looks like there are about 40 spots that would need to be cut to r&r the entire tower. May take a bit longer, but would be my preference.

McMaster-Carr has BSPT fittings. https://www.mcmaster.com/products/pipe-fittings/thread-type~bspt/low-pressure-galvanized-iron-and-steel-threaded-pipe-fittings/

I like the spot weld cutters like this or this I do not like this style A little oil helps. Be careful with the bit corners, they are brittle and easily damaged. Constant pressure helps. The carbide or specialty coated ones last a lot longer. My tool of choice for spot welds is a die grinder with one of these That section of the frame is pretty stout. It's thicker than a lot of other areas of the car