Careless

received carbs from Z Therapy. They look amazing. Well done, nicely cleaned up by just brightening up the factory parts and rebuilding the carbs to better than OE specs. Excellent work. I only want to remove two linkages that are easy to access, and the vacuum idle control actuator. They are sprayed with a "faux" plated colour that looks closer to orange or copper than it does yellow zinc, so I will tumble those and seal up the holes before sending them to get plated with hopefully the last batch of stuff I need to actually start putting parts on the car. Also, the heat shield under the carbs has a "cold galvanized" coating on it. A very flat grey look to it. I've seen some with yellow zinc plating... Opinions? I can't seem to find the finish in the photos i've been given. It's a little unnerving when you go to bolt something up and realize you're missing something- and you find it... right after a plating run! the delay becomes the biggest hassle. And I can't do this thing without that thing, and those things, and etc. How are you guys fastening the oil pan to the block? I see the old cork gasket style was used. To be honest, I've never used cork gaskets, always took them out of the gasket kits and put them as trophies on the wall because they've never served me well, and most of the engines i've done re-gasketing on had just the rubber end pieces and were upgraded to RTV/form-a-gasket... Should I use the cork and lightly brush on some RTV to both sides? Also, being that the engine is assembled... Is there anything I should be aware of when rotating the motor over to install the pan (rather than doing it upside down)? There are no Lost Motion Assembly pieces or shims that can come loose, are there? Once it's bolted up, it should be good ok to turn over, if I'm not mistaken? I never took apart my L26 when I had it, sooooooo. Oh, anddd... What are your guys opinions on spraying the manifolds with cast-iron high temp paint? I would like to do a bunch of light coats so that they don't build up and become shiny- but enough to prevent the item from developing ugly rust. VHT has a good paint that i've used, and it's available in cast iron colour, which is pretty close to real cast iron from what I've seen. Now if I could only get this stupid air injection gallery tube off so I can have it plated... Maybe I should just get another one and clean this one up and offer it for sale later.

Awesome. Thank you! I managed to put the distributor back together this morning, despite battling with the breaker plate, trying to figure out how it goes back together. I believe I got it. It has some good action on it now. The grease that was between the spring discs and ball bearings was so thick, it was uncured body filler. Managed to put some new grease and lubed everything up with ACF-50, prior to wiping the inside of the housing with Sharkhide to prevent corrosion. I have some of the smaller parts in the tumbler, washing away right now. I'll post photos of my next large update when I have room to lay everything out and take some photos that do the stuff justice!

came here to find a picture exactly like the one posted on the first post, because I took this early 240z diz apart and didn't take a great set of photos... annnnnd it's different. I think I got it, but I wanted to be sure. I'm going to attempt to put it back together again right now. daaaaaamnit. "This shouldn't be too difficult" I said, as 3 x 0.5mm bearings fell onto the paper towel while the assembly shot apart due to the tight fit of the center bore on the spring discs... I think I can see how it goes back together using the indentations on the spring discs.

Also looking for OE colour of the timing chain cover (3 bolts on the front of the cylinder head with an F stamped on the front). It appears to be plated but at some point it was painted.

does the R..|..L timing adjustment indicator plate on the middle of the distributor have to be yellow zinc plated, or clear zinc? Can't really tell from the current condition, but it's looking like it's yellow zinc? Also, the vacuum advance diaphragm too, right? I managed to block off the oil pump holes and run it through the tumbler and then used the corn cob media to brighten it up a bit more than OE. it's in a spot where you can barely see it, so it will not look much brighter than the timing cover when it's all assembled with a new top-plate gasket, so with the sharkhide, it will look excellent. distributor housing and base looks great, although the D612-60 (ISO) etching is no longer visible on the flat plane where the vacuum advance diaphragm arm go through. I don't think it's a big problem. I'll make note of it, and took pictures beforehand, so if I find a way to use an ink transfer or someway to recreate the marking, I can do so in photoshop.

Update. Pictures coming soon! Got the Intake back from the powder coater. Pretty sure it matches perfectly, and I had them do the smoothest coating possible. The first powder supplier I visited mentioned that the colour we used is even closer than the custom colour he could supply, and it's a perfect match by his standards. It looks amazing. Just as good as the OE single stage orange without clear coat- which is what the original intake was as far as I could tell from the fresh paint under the gaskets on the inside of the unit. The radiator fan was also matched as close as we could get it without a custom colour. The issue I had with the fan from the beginning was that some areas were darker, and some were lighter- I guess due to being closer to the heat radiator or having a lot more abrasion wear. But either way it ended up amazing. The alternator has been rebuilt to OE spec. The case is slightly more dull than I would like the timing cover and the valve cover to be, I am sending those out for further tumbling using plastic media and then a quick run through the ringer with corn cob media. I also spray painted the balancer with the California Datsun blue, and I am happy with how it looks when it's sprayed over a grey primer. A white primer would perhaps be a slight bit closer, but I had trouble finding white engine primer, so I went with the grey. I will be spraying the engine next week. I also took apart the oil pump and the distributor and ran the housings through the plastic media tumbler, while keeping the oil pump ports closed off. I just removed the gerotor from the inside. It managed to get all but the smallest bit of silver paint off the housing. I will be using a q-tip and some wax & grease remover to knock that off. Then I will run those through the corn cob media for 3 hours, and it will come out looking like assembly line parts. I already ran the distributor base mount through it, and it looked astounding. And it actually looks even better with the Sharkhide coating. When it's that bright, it doesn't change the surface to a dull finish, it just gives it a very slight shine and will protect it for years. I tested it on the spare lower t-stat housing, and it was perfect. I only wish that I had sent the alternator out to get tumbled with the timing cover and valve cover, but for the sake of getting things moving, I let the unit be put back together with just the vapor blast and sharkhide. I'd say it looks great, either way.

I'll have to get the paint from the shop and give it a good shake. Maybe bring it to home depot and see if they can shake the can for me in their shaky doohickey vibration thingamabob. perhaps some of the colour has settled to the bottom of the can. doubt it, though!

I have pretty good experience with cameras and lighting, as I studied photography for quite some time, and also have had plenty of thousands of dollars in camera equipment before I decided to move on to other interests- which is why I know for certain that the two colours vary much too wildly to be different in photos, but the same in person. The white-balance based on the cardboard, wood, and silver engine items in each photo can be used as a reference for the cold/hot levels of the photos- which generally change the hue- Plus, I've sampled parts of the other photos in Photoshop to get a better understanding of the lighting changes, and tried to adjust the overall image hue- and it really didn't do either colour any justice. These two paint colours are entirely different. There are just too many online examples of the two shades with other items in the background to make it a camera sensor/lighting thing. This is my dilemma. .

I just don't get how the colour could vary so wildly. It's definitely not different from weather/heat. It's TOO different to be that. I have two cans of California Datsun paint that I don't think I can use now. But for some reason- one of the brackets and some other items I have laying around had the California Datsun colour sprayed on it. I wonder if the colour is actually the base coat they use before the dusty blue colour?

Got this reply from the California Datsun Yet, this is the image I have that was taken of the engine as it came out: :-/ should I buy from Banzai? this colour is too dark. yet, the alternator bracket has the darker colour on it as well, for some reason...

That's the colour I've been seeing on other motors as well, but the one I posted I've also seen. Damnit. I don't know what to do now. It looks as if there is some original paint on the motor that is the darker colour, too. So I'm not even sure what the thing came with from factory.

Having a debate with myself over the engine colour. The datsun TRUE BLUE I've received from Datsun Parts LLC (Now California Datsun) is closer to this colour pictured here: Is this the right colour blue? Because some items like the smog pump may have been either sprayed differently from factory, or have been top-coated with something a bit more "sky" like.

I think that's a little too aggressive- definitely etching, not brightening. The Hydroflouric Acid content must be a little too high for what I'm using the Brightener for. Had they been soiled, the valve and timing covers would definitely need some of that stuff like some of the transmission cases I have here at home, but it was just painted silver and sand blasted... So the vapour blasting is nearly the finish I'd like. If the Aluminum Brightener doesn't work on the small lower thermostat housing (not pictured), I will not use it on the rest of the stuff to be safe. The Vapour Blasting does look really good as is- but just a touch more "shine" or smoothness to it will really make it look factory fresh. I found a NAPA location that has a couple of spray bottles in stock. I'm going to test later if I can get a couple of hours at a friends race shop. I don't want to spray and wash this stuff on my driveway, best to do it elsewhere where there's a hose and some open space and no foliage. I was just de-wiring everything that was plated. Only a couple of items might have to be redone, but everything came out amazing. I was in awe at all it's lustre and beauty the whole time! Once I get this stuff sprayed and brightened (if it works), I'll be doing the sharkhide dip on the alternator goodies, and dropping those off with Glen @ Vaughan Auto Electric. He has the stator and rotor at the shop, as he took them off the housings for me to get them blasted. He's goign to test the new and old regulators for me, and check that the rebuilt starter has the proper shimming on the bendix gear to make sure it actuates properly. He's very particular about that, so I'd rather he looks at it before I install it. He's also a Datsun owner, and his 240 is always in the shop and is a really nice example of a Datsun as well- but more Resto-mod style. As for the intake plenum... that scratch was bothering me, so I went back to the powder coater and asked to see it for a couple of minutes. Went to my car, took out my trusty Milwaukee Cordless Rotary Tool with some dremel attachments, and cleaned it up with a cross-buff wheel before scrubbing it with some green scotchbrite. I made sure to just glide it over the surface and not mess with the contour of the edge of the intake box, as I'm very familiar with grinding tools and porting heads and whatnot... Ended up with this: which should cover up with the powder coating way better than this: Also, here's one of the 6 boxes of plating stuff that I was tangled in, crying for help from my garage from 3 to 5AM (with a smile on my face because of how shiny they are!) Will post the before/after photos of the parts later today when I go to put them back in their little containers for easy transport... On schedule for today is: - organizing the plated stuff a bit better - Aluminum Brightener testing - Perhaps some more tumbling. - making a brake line straightener. Will be posting info/pics/tutorial on how it's made one it's actually made.

heyitsrama, I'm just a middle-aged insomniac that has no real schedule as far as my day-to-day stuff. I'm kind of "out-and-about" when it comes to doing this restoration. not quite what a lot of you guys doing restos for yourself are going through. but not unlike a lot of them either!

awesome! :-D thanks!

motorman7, any shots of the engine up close (particularily the valve cover, and the front of the motor) or any of the underbody? thanks a bunch! awesome fairlady! just got some good news. going to pick up the rest of the plated stuff at 1:00PM! yaaaay!

Chris, Have you thought about canting the engine over a bit more to match the angle of the Z engine. This would allow the pump (which will still be in the way, even if you change to a different pump design, due to how it's driven) to clear the mounting bracket, so that you can modify the crossmember, and drop it half an inch. That would be where I would start (I've modified many crossmembers and done some really weird swaps with similar mods).

Any more pics of your car you can send me? Funny, it's the same colour too!

The engine bay it's going in is just as pretty, promise! Will post pics when I get the stuff back from the powder coater, etc. Do you have any photos of the results with the Armour Etch? I see it's nasty on the skin, .

she's a beaut! nice job keepin' her fresh.

RE: Radiator fan... that last photo I posted was of a grinding mark I saw on the fan, and it's present on maybe 3 of the 7 fins... I was wondering if this is intentionally done by datsun? It was all painted with the original cream/ivory finish, so I don't think it was done afterwards. Maybe poor quality control for that part? It doesn't have very many moving parts, so it probably got an OK back in the 70's.

Update (In Words) - I got the parts back from vapor blasting, done by rocketperformance.ca. Brian Holmes took his time to do them well, and the price was absolutely great, and the results speak for themselves. Way cleaner than bead blasting, smooth to the touch, and looks just like the inside of the timing cover. The only thing I need to do is clean them up with some aluminum brightener (aka, phosphoric acid, concrete etcher, etc.), and then wipe them with some baking soda + warm soapy water to neutralize. Once that's done, they're ready to put the where they need to go. Once installed, a little bit of grease & wax remover (or acetone), and let it evaporate. Then apply Sharkhide when it's on the engine, and she'll look like new for minimum 5 years, provided no fuel gets on it. Right now they might have some finger prints or a little dirt. But they're soooooo nice. - Acid dipped parts didn't come out like that. I had to scrub the ever loving s**t out of them with phosphoric acid and a mix of wire brushes, scotchbrite pads, and steel wool. I didn't like how they came from the acid dipper, as they were dunked in a caustic solution- not an actual acid based solution. There were some deep scratches that I sanded down with 120G pad on an orbital, then moved on up to progressively finer pads. I am just going out the door after this post to drop 'em off at the powder coater with the exact-match paint codes I got for the fan and the plenum that I took a week to hunt down. Will post results and side-by-side with the 71 parts car intake when I get to the shop in a weeks time. The issue with scratches on the intake that were just on the paint ended up being more than just scratches on the paint. There was a ton of little specs of rust that I didn't want to powder coat over. The phosphoric acid and scotchbrite took care of that real quick. I really wish I had taken a before and after. It's a little trick I learned from way back when I had my 260Z. I removed paint and coated the doors with phospho, and they were left bare in my garage for 2 years and never rusted, even on days when I would go in there and everything was covered in moisture/dew during humid weeks. - Hardware that you see so far is just a bit of the clear zinc plated stuff. Mostly oil pan bolts and wire-clamp bolts and washers. I think I'm missing a string of the small washers. Hopefully they can be replaced with some M4 or M5 washers, or maybe they're all there- or still some at the platers. Not sure, but it doesn't look like I got them all back. There was an issue with "bleed out" on the yellow zinc stuff. Essentially, anything with blind holes traps caustic fluid or plating solution, and when they are removed from the plating bath, they end up leaking out the trapped fluid and washing off the dichromate finish coating. So it looks like a very poor plating finish. Not anything like the previous items I had done (brake lines, and transmission plate). Thankfully, they have a muriatic acid solution that they can dip them in for a couple of minutes to remove the plating and try again without damaging anything. I would have done muriatic acid stripping in my garage- but while the chemical itself removes rust and previous finishes, the fumes will rust everything in the garage that's not coated. And I have a couple of expensive 370z/350z transmissions and some engines that I'd rather not test that theory with- so no muriatic acid in the garage. I haven't had that happen with phosphoric acid, so that's why I use that.

Radiator Fan Acid Dipped:

Intake Plenum Acid Dipped:

Clear Zinc Plated Hardware: