Travel'n Man

Pascal, Welcome from the Carolina's.

I've been using this site for over two years now and just realized how much money this site has saved me on my Z car fetish, I mean restoration. I would like to challange more people to have their names in red and get to be a supporting member. Everytime I do something to my '72 that I have learned from this outstanding group of individuals I'm PayPal'n at least $5.00, if not more! If all of us were to do that we could ensure this site to stay up and keeping our Admin happy and upgrading servers and resources. I'm not saying to donate everytime we help somebody or participate in a conversation, but when the site benefits us with improving our cars we need to but a portion of our savings (vs. using a mechanic and garage) back into the site. With a little from a lot of us I'm sure that would add up to a good chuck of change at the end of every month, to ensure the site keeps on growing! Your name will look a lot better in red, don't you think, who's up for the challange?

Great looking car....keep the color, very 70's!! Looks great. A good body shop should be able to use the camera gizmo and shoot the color and make a close to perfect match (age, fading, and all). Those camera's gizmo's are the cats meow for matching old colors with new paint. Once it is completed I'm sure it will look great. Ask around and get the best body / paint guy you can. It's worth a little more money and time to have a great job. If they are just painting the hood and an inspection lid that should not be too big of a deal. Keep the pictures coming with the updates.

Dave- I have to agree with Mike W. It really depends on your budget. Find a great body shop and take the car there and let the techs tell you what they can or can not do. I don't think any of us can judge paint from a picture (yea, we all like to look at pictures, but I don't think a qualified answer can come from a picture when you are dealing with paint and surfaces). I'm sure somebody can recommend a shop in your state that is qualified to do your body work, the price on the other hand is bound to crazy. Oh, by the way, don't be in a hurry, 99.9% of all body shops make their money with insurance jobs and turning a production quota for their owner. You may be able to find friend of a friend that can do the work for you. You can call your local PPG paint store and see if there is anybody that does minor paint and body work on the side in your community. The PPG paint stores knows who does good work and who doesn't. My body shop had my car for two years.............all it takes is time and money. Be sure to get a couple different quotes........spring is almost here!!

I just installed all new panels in my interior a couple of months ago. That panel was very difficult to get into place. I did warm mine up and bent it into place. I did not have to trim any at all. Make sure all your speaker and antenna connections are finalized. I ran some sound deadener on the metal as well. The back taillight panel I trimmed a lot. Good luck.

Seafoam is great stuff. I always keep some in my garage.

Dan- It all depands on how much money you have to play with. If you have limited means than make her road worthy and enjoy your $750 spent. If you have the funds to complete the Z fantazy then find a car worth restoration and use the current as a donor. If I ever do it again, it will be with a donor parts car, the individual parts prices will kill you. A local salvage yard will lessen the pain quite a bit. Somebody had to have done a fast bondo paint job just for a fast sell, so I would really wonder how long before the bondo starts poping out due to moisture under it. I personally would not elect to keep that particular car. You have 1/2 the battle won with a great donor car for only $750 (with an uncracked dash not to mention the rest of the car).

I've got a neighbor down my road that has a '66 or '67 Camaro that has sat outside in the field for the past 15 - 20 years, just sitting and rusting, rusting and sitting. People have tried to buy it from him but he would rather let it sit and rust than to let somebody preserve it...........I just can't understand. Then again it could be the "hey, did you know I own a '66 Carmaro" kinda thing. I would at least have to tarp the ground where the car sits to keep all that evaperation off of it, something is better than nothing. Some people just do not make sence at all.

Welcome, it's kinda like an infectous diseaze, the Z bug, once it gets ahold of you, it will have its way. Welcome to a great journey of repairing a great car and let other appreciate what we all know. Be sure to use the "search" feature and then if you can not find your ultimate answer just ask. There is some extremely talented and knowledgeable folks on this site. There is no way at all I could have transformed my car with-out the help of this site. My father as well has helped me pittle with my car two years ago in the summer (my garage is too cold for him in the winter) and it has been some great time spent for us. Keep us posted with pictures and good luck.

Let the projects begin..............great find!! Keep us updated. I always keep my eyes open as I am travel'n every week with my job. I have yet to find a "cobra in the barn", but there is still time (great book in case you have not read it).

Damn, I just replaced mine and I was browsing the MSA website and just ran across this new item for their inventory........... Code: 30-3051 Price:$324.95 http://www.thezstore.com/page/TZS/PROD/SBC1B11/30-3051

IM71Z- I have one lower window molding (original Nissan part) left over from my last project. If you are interested let me know and I can see what side it belongs to and we can figure out a price(PM me). The black protective tape that protects the stainless steel has never been remove and the part has never been installed. Somehow I got two of one side from somebody and can not locate my invoice so I can send it back..............let me know

I've got a couple extra as well.............PM me with phone number if needed.

Congratulations!! The biggest "high" of my life and I'm sure your's as well!

After reading this thead about doin' nothin', I felt a little guilty about taken my windshield motor and linkage out last week, cleanin' & greasen' and then letting it sit and it not back in the car.........I reinstalled the assembly this morning and now I feel a sence of accomplishment of finalizing the now working wipers. Another project completed. NOW...........I'm going to do nothing!

Good luck on your newly acquired project. I believe I would get the rust resolved first and get that cancer stopped as soon as possible. The engine can not hurt the balance of the car were "rust never sleeps". FWIW

Once I removed mine (like Arne and Mike said with a razar blade) I taped mine to a large cardboard box cut out piece so I could store it and the metal not get damaged. I went to Sears and got a washer box they were going to throw away. These parts are very flexable and have to be handled with care and stored the same way or you will get bends in them that will not come out. Good luck on your project!

Mike, She is going to be a beauty!! Be sure to forward some pictures once you get her back together, great color. Another nicely preserved early Z car. Can anybody let me know why Nissan stamped the lower rear valance with the offset stamping opposed to the center of the rear car?? Mine and all the others are that way and I've yet to make since of it?? See picture above^^^^^.

Thanks for the compliment, but the real compliment needs to go to this board and the information that all have shared.:classic: Good luck on your journey!

Bubba Drew, The only advise that I can give you is NOT to buy on emotion but on solid found facts of the indivdual car you are looking at. I agree with the others and stay away from ebay if possible (or to use one of us if the car is in our neck of the woods for inspection). It would have been many times cheaper for me to have purchased an airline ticket and flown to Calif. for that inspection rather than to fix the issues I was mislead on through ebay, but, that was part of my journey on this adventure. Sometimes adventures get expensive but at the end the results could be worth it. Good luck on finding your Z.

I agree with everybody above. I puchased mine in Calif. and had it shipped to the Carolina's, and I still had to replace floor pans, dog legs, rear deck lip, rear valance. I would stay clear personally................IMO. Now, somebody has changed the rear end looks to a fiberglass look and IMO destroyed the profile of the rear end. It's all up to you but I would wait and don't get in a hurry. A hurried decision can cost your 1,000's down the road. Make a good educated, firm fact found decision. In the long run it could pay you to spend a little more now and not have hidden suprises later. Good luck and keep us posted.

Rick, There are several guides on tires and the diameter and radius's that show the exact difference on the speedo. The 205-60-15 differs the most at a gain of 3.6mph / the 195-65-15 differs the least at -4.3mph. Stock was a 195-60-14, they differ 0, so the tires size is really up the individual and the looks that the owner is after. My fronts are -2.75 and my rear are -1.7 so I'm always a couple of MPH slower than my speedo says. Somebody correct me if my research is in-correct Rick brought up a good point if your trying to avoid tickets but actually the difference is very little unless your running 15+ over the posted speed limit, then it could really make a difference, if you are on the gain side (or it could be a good reason to talk the occifer (wait.......... I haven't been drinking) officer out of giving you the ticket - the old "I've got an old car and my tires are oversized - I didn't know story":stupid:).

SandyI- My wheels are American Racing Ansen Sprint -I purchased them through Summit Racing - Free Ship - The PO has the two different tire sizes and I was rubbing with my old wheels. I did not want to replace all wheels and tires at one time so I opted for wheel replacement first and then I work on correcting the tires at a later date when these get down to the wear bars. MSA does not offer the "Flashback" at this time 15 x 7 // Zero offset // 4" backspace My front tires are: 195-60-15 My rear tires are: 225-60-15 Keep us updated with pictures!!

SandyI- Looks like you have quite the gift, congrats to owning one of the funnest cars ever built. These are real head turners and the folks that actually remember them will twist all the way around as you drive by them. I actually had one guy last week pull out his cell phone and take pictures as I was driving by. Anyway, the guys at MSA are very good with their product line, they can offer great advise and trust me, I'm sure most of us that have done restorations have given them a lot of our money. It just depends on what your car needs and how far you want to go with it. I just installed the 3 point seat belts from MSA and they bolted right in, the only challange I have is the recieving end tends to get lost between the seat and the center console so you may want to look around and see if you can find one that has a firmer recieving end that will not flop between those areas. Send us all some pictures when you get a chance I'm sure we all would like to see it. Welcome to the site!

ConchZ- Key West, what a great place. My wife and I were down a few years ago during the last week of October, you know, around Holloween - what a surprise we had with all the diverse people that attend Fantasy Fest. We hung aroung for the Parrot Head Convention.....what a blast......welcome to the site. If you use the search feature you can find how to repair that dash crack, and resolve a lot of your questions. With all the salt around you in that area of Flordia you may want to make sure you are protecting that body and metal while it is in the bodys shop. You could have all that work go down the drain in just a few years. There is a lot of good information about rust-proofing if you do a little "searching". Good luck on your refresh. Get some pictures posted for us when you get a chance of your progress.