motorman7

It was in pretty good shape in the first place, so I just lightly sanded the front smooth surface of the steering wheel with 600 grit and then sprayed with clear enamel. You need to be careful with the bumpy part of the steering wheel (finger grips on the far side) when you refinish because you can wear through the wood grain. You will notice that these bumps are whitish and don't have any grain on some of the poorly restored 240Z steering wheels on e-bay. So be gentle with the bumps.

Got just a few things done this weekend. I put the seat belts in. Also removed the seats and cleaned and lubed the rails so it would move back and forth nicely. I did a touch-up on the wood part of the steering wheel. Will probably do the black parts a little later this week. I installed the horn assembly with the horn guts just because I had parts. Will have to remove it all to finish the black on the steering wheel, but that is fine. Also riveted in the door ID plate. I added some of the parts to the vent assembly panel, but not ready to tackle that yet. Maybe next weekend. Here are the pics.

Here are the latest pics. The interior is coming along. Still some electrical to finish.

Here is how I did mine. For the 3 piece strip, I put the center one in first, centering as best I could. Then put on the two sides....trimmed the extra length. Hope the pics are clear enough

Made a lot of progress this weekend. I got all the lights; high beams, running lights and blinkers working. Got the brakes bled so no need to pump the brake pedal to get the car to stop. I put the left rear speaker in and hope to get a right rear speaker in sometime this week. I will need to run an extra pair of wires for this since it is not in the original harness. Still not sure what I will be doing for a radio, but it will be nice to have two speakers if needed. The speakers I got are the Kenwood KFC-1352S speakers. They are similar in size to the original speakers, Coax, 4 Ohms and use the same attach points as the original speakers. The the install was pretty easy. Just added a couple bullet connectors to the speaker so they attach nicely to the original harness. Got the air cleaner housing installed with air filter and hot air hose attached. Also got Dan's battery cover installed, so the engine compartment is near complete. Will post some pics tonight. Now I just have the interior to continue work on. Will probably do seat belts next weekend and start the re-furb of the steering wheel. Also need to get the heater panel in. It's getting close. Will probably hit the DMV next week to get it fully registered. Right now it is still non-op. The plate tags say 2005 on them so it's been a while since the car has been registered for the road.

Hi SB, His shop is just 10 miles away from my house, so I am over there whenever I need those hard to find parts. The quality of his parts is excellent, but his focus lately has been more on racing than on restoration. I have never ordered a panel kit from him so not much I can offer on that side. Also, he usually does not carry much stock. Usually he orders from his suppliers then sends to you, so you may not get parts that quick. Anyway, just my thoughts. Lucky for me that he is just a quick drive away and his shop is incredible. If you are ever in town, you need to stop by his place. He has about 30 Z's, roadsters and 510's in his shop all under construction and they are way cool. Best regards, Rich

I think it is worth $8K as shown in the pics

He just texted that it is sold

Just texted the guy again. If it's available I am going to pick it up

It's gone

Wow, that is a steal at $3K. Would drive up there now and get it if I had room for it.

I agree, the blue one goes. Nice to see another person with three or more Z's. I don't feel so bad now.

They came that way...kind of a flat Titanium color. I got them from Les at Classic Datsun Motorsport (http://classicdatsun.com) . I was in his shop and they were on the shop floor and I loved the style and color. He was planning on using them for his Z. I told him if he ever wanted to sell them to give me a call. Several months later he gave me a call and said that he would sell them as his car has been long delayed. He said there were only a few made in that color.

Very nice, Great Job!

Very cool, Congrats! What Class were you in? What were some of the other cars in the class? Best regards, Rich

Got the electrical figured out, WooHoo! I had the Black/white wire and Black yellow wire swapped in the four pin engine connector. Once I swapped the contacts it worked perfect. Just thrilled about that. I put in new diff fluid and trans fluid (Valvoline full synthentic 75-90). Got the clutch working and brakes kind of working (needs more bleeding). Took it for a short spin in the cul-de-sac and lined it up for a group photo Op. Here is a little California Sunshine. I don't care for the mags on the persimmon car at all. Will put the hubcaps on next month. That should be much better Rich

I do the yellow chromate immediately after the blue chromate, so the part is still wet. When the yellow chromate is done I dip the part in hot tap water then blow dry on high heat with a hair dryer. This works well for me and often I will install the bolts within an hour or two. I think the heat from the hair dryer is important in hardening the chromate. I typically dry the part for about a minute on high heat.

Yes, it really is a big help to have a second (and third) for reference. Would be difficult without them. I am running the stock distributor with points. My initial findings point to a short in the green/white wire that attach to the ballast resistor. I get 13.4 volts on the Black wire side but just 2.3 volts on the green/white wire side. Ballast resistance was 1.9 Ohms so that is good, but way too much current passing through to have that large of a draw down. Hope to work on this a bit more later on this week.

Well, I kinda got the car running today. I say 'kinda' because I had to hot wire the car to keep it running. Looks like I may have an open circuit on the Black/White wire that goes to the coil. The car would run when the starter was turned on, but died when left in the ON position. Looks like I will have to track down the electrical gremlins on that one. Otherwise, the car ran absolutely great with the hot wire. I set the air flow and adjusted the fuel mixture on the carbs. Also, set the timing so it is running nice. It sounds great with the original exhaust and the motor just purred. Very thrilled about that. If the 'ON' would have worked, it would have been a perfect day. Oh well, I will have to tackle that in the next couple day. Oh, also had a major oil leak. I think I put a roadster oil filter on the car and not the a Z oil filter. The gasket on the roadster filter is a smaller diameter and never sealed. Fortunately I had a number of Z filters available (Thanks Bob!) and was able to put the correct one on. Also had two small water leaks when the system pressurized, but just had to tighten the clamps on those. So, I will be testing circuits here and looking through schematics. Fortunately, I have other Z's to reference here, so it helps with the trouble shooting. Will keep everyone posted. Rich

Will print this up today

Thanks for the Face Plate Pics. I may try and 3-D model that and print the part. I cant make the texture, but I can do the rest.

ABS, Dark Gray in color. I put a single coat of satin black paint over it. Probably wouldn't hurt to primer and sand first to hide the small ridges.

So I 3-D printed a Radio Faceplate Blank. I will probably leave this in for the short term until I can figure out what I am going to do with the Radio. I may try to print one that looks like the original radio faceplate. Won't help me much without the radio though, but it does give me some options.

Whoa...totally freaked me out! I thought someone was selling my car.

I got mine at Motorsport...just the rear shock towers and wheel arches. About $53 per side