motorman7

Boy, got sidetracked with my daughters wedding, landscaping projects, contract work and life in general. Finally getting back to working on the Z now that all of that stuff is done. I finished the front end, installing the halogen headlights (will install relay kit later) front turn lights and side lights. I rebuilt the headlight holders which were freshly zinced, installing new screws, wire sleeving, new connectors and over shield. Installed the aftermarket antenna. I will post the brand name later as it was a pretty nice install. Added bullet connectors to mate to original harness. everything lined up well. I put in the new threshold vinyl and scuff plates. Also installed the Sparco seats. The rails on the Sparco seats are about half an inch wider than the stock seat rails so I had to drill 2 additional 3/8" holes to accomodate the wider rails. Started work on the fuel system. I mounted the K&N electronic fuel pump on the rear suspension brace after modifying the electrical wires and making a custom mount plate. I added about 8 inches in length and added bullet terminal to mate into the existing harness. Also started installing fuel lines. Should have the fuel system complete in a couple days. Installed shock tower braces front and rear. Will remove protective blue plastic once car is complete...or let owner do that. Will leave on for now to help prevent any scratches. Pics are below.

Car parts arrived, so I am now continuing the assembly. I installed the rear hatch vents, the spoiler and internal hatch cover. Installed the radiator and temporary install of hoses (clamps are a little on the large size and will need to be revisited). Also installed the front air dam, Skillard grill, and bumper deletes. I wish I could say that it all bolted together perfectly, but such was not the case. The rear spoiler was fairly simple as were the vents, however the front air dam and grill are a very close fit. The grill has about a half inch clearance from the body at the top, however, the air dam is line to line with the grill. Also, on the grill, the lower support in the center required some modification as the slot was not long enough to engage the support. I had to drill a hole a bit below the slot in order to get full support. Also, the grill comes stock with just 3 support points, 2 upper (one on each side) and 1 lower in the middle. There are two lower side mounts on the front clip that are not used as the grill has no features for these. These would be nice as they would help with alignment of the grill. Below are a few pics.

I did a little work on electrical wiring the last couple days. I installed the new modern fusebox, splicing it into the original harness. Conveniently, the new fuse box had the yellow terminal sleeves to make it easy to graft into the original harnes. I worked under the passengers side dash to make the connections for the engine bay, dash and rear harness connections. Most of this was pretty straight forward as the connectors are Poke-a-Yoke. I did have to replace a few broken terminals on the harness, but overall, not too bad. I had to drop the tank a bit to install the fuel tank harness which was coiled up in the back of the car. Also, I could not find the ground nut hole on the frame under the rear panel so I drilled a hole and secured the ground to the body. Not sure if the hole was covered up or did not exist at all because it is a 1970 car. Anyway, wire is now properly grounded and securely attached. Pics below. A little more car info: Engine was rebuilt by the same shop that does Adam Corolla's race car engines.

The paint job on this car is gorgeous! I love seeing this in my garage even though it is not mine. It looks right at home with my other cars. After a two year break, I am back restoring Z cars....in my retirement. I love it. I did some of the work on this Z back in San Diego for a good friend of mine (the owner). I helped install the motor and transmission, all of the glass, most of the interior as well as the electrical harness refurb and wiper motor refurb. To make a long story short, I moved to Idaho, the owner is moving to Texas and not much has been done on the car since I left San Diego. I was asked to complete the build by the owner which I am more than happy to do. So, I will blog my progress on the site here for both the owner and others to see. Some of the plans are to remove the current brake set-up and install the Z car garage set-up. Also, I will add air conditioning. I have done neither of these on my previous builds, but hope to get input from the group and installation videos as needed. So, car arrived yesterday evening. We unloaded the car and pushed it into the garage where I will do the work. Today, I just wiped down the car with detailer and microfiber cloth to clean off the dust on the car and the engine bay, also cleaned the windows. I aligned the hood and latch mechanism so that everything operates smoothly. Tomorrow, I will begin to tackle the electrical wiring. Most of the remaining parts are still in San Diego, but will arrive here in two weeks. Until then, I will clean up some of the items that are currently on the car. Here are a few pics

The paint job on this car is gorgeous! I love seeing this in my garage even though it is not mine. It looks right at home with my other cars. After a two year break, I am back restoring Z cars....in my retirement. I love it. I did some of the work on this Z back in San Diego for a good friend of mine (the owner). I helped install the motor and transmission, all of the glass, most of the interior as well as the electrical harness refurb and wiper motor refurb. To make a long story short, I moved to Idaho, the owner is moving to Texas and not much has been done on the car since I left San Diego. I was asked to complete the build by the owner which I am more than happy to do. So, I will blog my progress on the site here for both the owner and others to see. Some of the plans are to remove the current brake set-up and install the Z car garage set-up. Also, I will add air conditioning. I have done neither of these on my previous builds, but hope to get input from the group and installation videos as needed. So, car arrived yesterday evening. We unloaded the car and pushed it into the garage where I will do the work. Today, I just wiped down the car with detailer and microfiber cloth to clean off the dust on the car and the engine bay, also cleaned the windows. I aligned the hood and latch mechanism so that everything operates smoothly. Tomorrow, I will begin to tackle the electrical wiring. Most of the remaining parts are still in San Diego, but will arrive here in two weeks. Until then, I will clean up some of the items that are currently on the car. Here are a few pics

Thanks for the advice. Post deleted

I owe Z Car Depot an apology on the gasket issue. Looks like I ordered a 510 gasket instead of a 240Z exhaust gasket. Not sure how I made the mistake, but will need to be more careful next time. Since the 510 gasket works for now I will leave it. Lesson learned here.

The oil leak is a pretty easy fix. It's the bodywork that concerns me more. Assuming I were to take possession, I would probably have every single part, nut, bolt, glass, dash, etc. removed from the car within a week. I just want all the parts to be there. Running is a plus though

https://bringatrailer.com/listing/1970-datsun-240z-102/ I went over to @flynjim place to check out the Z up close. After looking the car over, I will probably place some bids on it but I am guessing it will go for higher than my cap. The car is pretty much what you look for in a restoration candidate as most of the parts are there and alterations are minor. Both the engine bay and undercarriage have a few minor mods, but nothing that is a show stopper. In the engine bay, the smog equipment has been removed or capped off and the the main steel fuel line has been modified/shortened to accomodate an electric fuel pump that was once in the engine bay. Other than that, it is fairly original. There are still a number of original hoses and wire clamps which is nice to see. Alternator has an internal voltage regulator, so no voltage regulator on the engine bay side wall. Remnants of wiring to the electric fuel pump are still there but would not be hard to delete. The undercarriage looks pretty untouched except for the exhaust system. Dirty, but not that difficult to clean (or powdercoat and re-plate). Looks like all the original parts and bolts are there, having never been removed. That is nice to see. Interior is not bad with most items that need to be replaced available on line. With new seat vinyl, radio and a Vintage Dashes Dash, the interior would be pretty nice. Most of the weather stripping is trashed, but the owner has the Precision replacement kit which would be useful for a majority of the seals. Bushings in most locations are original and would need to be replaced. These items are readily available on line. The body needs a bit of work. Both rear fender wells have a significant amount of bondo and should have been repaired using welded in patch panels, again, avaliable on line. It looks like the individual that did the body work used hand formed sheet metal and bondo to repair. The hood dents are in a difficult to access spot, but still pretty standard work for a body shop. Rear hatch panel ends are rusty as usual and needs to be replaced. Other than these areas, the rest of the body is pretty reasonable needing just minor rust repair work. The floor pan looks fairly clean and does not have any undercoating on it which gives you a nice view of its condition. Frame rails had some minor rust spots and a few small dents but were better than most that I have seen. Also, looks like the rear dark gray panel has never been removed as the original plastic rivets are there. Anyway, hope this is helpful. I will be watching the auction to see how everything goes.

No longer in San Diego. Wife and I moved to Boise in October of 2021 and absolutely love it. We have a beautiful home in the hills and about 4 times the garage space (1500 sq-ft)

Will be checking this one out tomorrow AM. It's about 20 minutes away from my place and looks like a nice restoration candidate.

"ZCCA judges can tell it at one glance." Kats, you give them too much credit. Most ZCCA judges are Z owners just like you and me and are occasionally incorrect in their assessment. I am sure a number of the ZCON participants here can point out quite a number of ZCCA judge errors. Unfortunately, you usually don't find out until 4 months later when you get your official judging sheet.

Rear diff is correctly painted all black including bolts.....according to dad's 4/70.

I stand corrected. Thanks for the info Carl.

Also, regarding the rear hatch panel, again I recommend jdm-car-parts.com for the panel. Their part is a quality stamping. Other sellers have low quality stampings and the features are blurred.

Wow, a very impressive car. As I said on the other thread, I have not seen many restorations better than this one. Of special note in regards to detail are the cloth wrap fuel hoses, inspection marks and correct clamps (color and style) in the engine bay. That being said, putting my ZCON judge hat on (which sometimes doesn't count for much), the following items do not appear to be correct, but can most easily be fixed. I will not mention items already noted above. - Hub caps are from a later series 1 car. Hole for the valve stem should be under the spoke, not the slot. - Horn face should be olive drab color, not bare zinc - Seat texture for the base/seat does not match the back. The back is the original vinyl, the seat is aftermarket. (This one probably bothers me the most). I would have changed the back also, just so the textures match. - Plastic trim is missing from seat base, both seats. On early models only. - Steering wheel color seems to light. Could be lighting. - choke knob is later model. should be more trim and rounded. - Door panels should have two screws near the bottom holding them on. On early models only - Hatch attach large flathead screws should be silver zinc - I dont see rivet divots in the rear hatch panel. Also, I am not a Just Dashes fan as I think they do a poor job with the three scallops over the center instrument cluster. Vintage Dashes is more true to the original on this feature. And, when buying the braided engine hose, get it from jdmcarparts.com. There are other sellers out there for these items, but they do not match the original NOS very well. I am sure I may have missed some stuff, but pretty darn nice car. Will be watching this one. Rich

Wow, fabulous car! The engine bay is virtually flawless. I could knit pick a few interior items, but will give those a pass for now. I have not seen many that are better than this one. Should top $100K.

Just thought I would say 'Hi' to all of the regulars and give a bit of an update. I took a break from the classiczcars site as life has been pretty busy. My wife and I moved last year from San Diego,CA to Boise, ID, so the move in and getting set-up has kept us pretty busy. I also picked up a job that kept me way too busy but that is now in the past. I now consider myself semi-retired and will probably do odd jobs on the side, or perhaps do another resto now that I am mostly settled. Wife says it's hard for me to sit still, so I am sure I will always be doing something. We bought our dream home in the foothills of Boise and we should be here for quite some time. The house is huge, has incredible views of the Boise foothills all around us, and also has a 1500 Sq-ft garage that currently contains a 20 ft Geo-Pro trailer and 7 cars. I am cheating a bit as I have one of the Z's up on a lift, but the other vehicles are all on the Epoxy coated floor. Also had a large heater installed so I can keep the garage at 55 degrees F all winter long. I can crank it up with the thermostat if I want to work out there for a while. Z-wise, it's been a pretty good year for the restorations. The last Z I restored, took first in the Japanese class at the La Jolla Concours in April. The owner was thrilled and it was a tremendous event. It was a nice way to start the year. In July, @jayhawk Blue '73 took first in the Japanese class at the 66th Hillsborough Concours de Elegance. That blue is still one of my favorite Z colors. And last but not least, a side job that I did and posted mostly on IG took third in the 240Z category at the JCCS in September. Pretty impressive given the large number of 240Z entrants at that show. Unlike my other restos, it was not a complete resto, but still looked good enough to place. So, it was a pretty good year for the Z's. I did enter my white Z in one of the local car shows here in Boise. The venue was nice, but the car culture appears to be a bit different than So-Cal. First off, not many foreign cars. Also, flashy colors and aftermarket mags seem to go over much better than an all original vehicle. Sadly, I think if I brought my beater yellow Z (with black side stripes and panasports) and my dad's original '70, the yellow Z would get a lot more looks and draw the larger interest. A bit disappointing, but maybe it was just the couple of shows that I attended. Will have to see how this developes in the future. Also, I stopped at the Z Doctor's shop here in Boise. Nice to have someone to talk Z's with. Anyway, I should be a bit more active on here now that I am caught up with most things. Will most likely be at ZCON 2023 and may even bring a car. Thanks for the support. Best regards, Rich

I would definitely feel more comfortable with it bolted down. I am always a little hesitant to pass underneath it and always check all 4 locking latches after setting it in place. From a mechanical standpoint; without being secured, based on the post and crossbar design, I doubt it could fail in the fore and aft direction. I do think with some coercion it could fail in the side to side direction with a heavy load. It would be an interesting, albeit expensive, experiment to see what it would take to fail.

Floor is not heated, but yes I should definitely bolt the lift down once I settle on a final location for it. I put the cardboard down to avoid scratching the epoxy floor. The lift actually has rollers so you can move it around which I like. With rollers attached. Putting the lift all the way down lifts the 4 posts.

Got my Triumph NSS-8 4-post lift installed. It operates nicely and was fairly easy to assemble, with the help of two local kids for the heavy parts. Once the framework is assembled, it's easy to manage by yourself. Got my 4 Datsuns and wife's trailer on the RV side of the garage. Other side has the Jeep, the Elantra and plenty of storage along with boxes that still need to be unpacked. Once the NewAge cabinets come in, I will be about done.

Very delinquent on posting these, but life has been pretty busy. We moved into our dream home in the foothills just north of Boise in early October. I had the garage floor epoxy coated before we moved in. Garage is almost 1500 sq-ft. Garage was epoxy coated by my friend who does this for a living so the price was quite reasonable. I pick up the four post lift next Tuesday. NewAge pro series cabinets arrive in January. Garage is coming along, but still filled with packing boxes. Here are a few pics.

Decided I would add my thoughts on this auction since it's free to post here (more comments from the peanut gallery). I was wondering if the guy who mentioned the '95+ Concours restoration' ever entered a Z in a car show. ZCCA judges on a 300 point scale, and most Concours judges have no clue what they are looking at when it comes to original Z's. An old Z sage once told me you could tell the judges that Z's came stock with V8 engines and blacked out engine bays and they would believe you. I have been in enough shows, ZCON's and Concours, to know that this is not far from the truth. Personally I thought the silver Z that sold a bit earlier for 36k was a better and more valuable car than this red Z. There were too many unfinished items on this car. The silver car was all there, very complete and original. I would have put the the value of this Z in the $50-60k range. As to restoration costs, someone who says it's near $100k has never restored a Z or is getting taken. My Z restorations for customers have been in the $50-60k range and are well documented on this site. If you do it all yourself it's even less, free labor. Most importantly, as mentioned earlier, it's good entertainment. Some people get a bargain (silver Z), some people get taken. Just my thoughts

The door gaps scare me more than the floor pan. Not sure how to deal with those.

Will try not to steal your thread here, but yes, this is our dream home in the foothills complete with 1500 sq-ft garage. Meeting with the epoxy floor coater tomorrow. Will start posting on the Garage Majal thread here soon. So you will have to post some pictures of your current Z(s) and roadster here. Gotta have the pics!