motorman7

I went through all this on my re-fresh. You can check it out on this thread. It will discuss most of the items you will encounter. Very interesting history. http://www.classiczcars.com/forums/thread34777.html have fun with it, Rich

Items 1 and 4 I know are the same on my HLS30-02614. Not sure about the plastic ties, I will have to check when i get home, but seems pretty legit. For item 7, you can get those from MSA or make your own as noted above.

Yes, this is normal. Just make sure that you put it together correct initially. This thread has nice pics: http://www.classiczcars.com/forums/thread35670.html

I was watching that one and surprised to see it end early. My estimate, assuming no rust and actually is as described, is around $20K. It is one of the more impressive Z's that I have seen on e-bay.

Very nice! I would love to see pictures of the frame rails and better pics under the battery. If there is next to no rust, I would say it is at least a $20K car. One of the nicer ones I've seen with an apparently good history. First year, series one, original paint, dash and seats....that's a nice car. Engine bay looks about right. First thing that I would do it though is put Jay's braided hoses in the engine bay. That would be the right touch. Hard to tell with pics, but the paint seems pretty good too except for the few noted areas. Will have to watch that and see what it goes for.

Yes, you can see the alarm horn/cone inside the engine bay. Looks like a pretty un-touched car to me other than the alarm. Impressive actually based on the info. To me, it seems like a pretty legitimate price at $15K if the verbage is true.

That is tempting. I should call and get the serial number. Unfortunately I am at 6 cars now at my suburban home so I am running out of room. Really looks like a great project though.

This '74 looks very impressive. Wish I had the money and the room for it. http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/Datsun-Z-Series-6-CYLINDER-2-6L-COUPE-4-SPD-MANUAL-RARE-?cmd=ViewItem&_trkparms=aid%3D111000%26algo%3DREC.CURRENT%26ao%3D1%26asc%3D18%26meid%3D76875434191067231%26pid%3D100015%26prg%3D1008%26rk%3D1%26&_trksid=p5197.m1992&item=180910580117

Hi Phil, That is a very nice write-up on the zinc plating. I would just add a couple things. 1. The wire wheel is pretty key, but the Caswell kit also comes with an orange particle filled nylon wheel. That things makes them really shine prior to the plating process. My typical procedure is to wire wheel first, then use a quick buff on the orange wheel to brighten. My set-up is a 1/2 HP grinder with steel wire wheel on left and orange 'buffer' on right. 2. Under color- for yellow chromate, I usually do the 10-30 second blue chromate dip, then go straight into the yellow chromate for about 2 mins. The blue helps the yellow to 'stick' better and also provides the nice rainbow effect. Also, after the yellow chromate dip, you will want to rinse in very hot tap water, before drying, otherwise the part will continue to darken. A hot rinse works better than room temp water with the yellow zinc. 3. A power supply is pretty key. I am running a nice BK 1621A Power supply. It gives you plenty of power and a nice digital readout. It is a little pricey, but I wouldn't plate without it. The write-up is a nice summary. Best regards, Rich

Yes, I love it. Takes a little practice at first but great once you have it down. The thing I like best about my Caswell kit is I can adjust the brightness and rainbow of the yellow zinc. Plus it's convenient to have in your garage instead of sending stuff out.

When my dad passed, my mom took a lot of his stuff to the dump. A week or two before one of my visits (in Idaho by the way) my mom tossed away a number of batteries that dad had saved. He was an aerospace power systems expert so he saved every battery he came in contact with. I would bet money that the original Yuasa battery was in that lot. Very disappointed that I missed checking the batteries before mom tossed them. The pick of bigfoot must have been taken shortly after my mom took the batteries to the dump is my guess:).

When my dad passed, my mom took a lot of his stuff to the dump. A week or two before one of my visits (in Idaho by the way) my mom tossed away a number of batteries that dad had saved. He was an aerospace power systems expert so he saved every battery he came in contact with. I would bet money that the original Yuasa battery was in that lot. Very disappointed that I missed checking the batteries before mom tossed them. The pick of bigfoot must have been taken shortly after my mom took the batteries to the dump is my guess.

Roadster is coming along well. Should start the body work here in a couple weeks.

These are the best pics I can find. Last one spotted was taken by the hairy guy in this official photo

Here's a gold one. Shown here being officially blessed by Mr Matsuo .

Hi Cam, The car looks great and should be a fun project. You will have to stop on by when you get her going. The body looks to be in great shape. Best regards, Rich

Wow! That is so perfect. I want one of those so bad. Very jealous here. A car almost exactly like that will be my next project. Only thing I will change is the color and the rims. From the outside that car looks bone stock. Pop that hood and you have a 'Big Old' motor that looks like it was designed for that compartment. Just Beautiful...Congrats!

I think my cousin still has one of those. I may have to call him up and see about restoring that thing. I am sure it was over 40 years ago that I saw it in his garage.

And here's the Caddy's....Simply amazing to see. Can you tell that I like Jags?

More Z's at the concours. Went to the Muckenthaler Concours this weekend with my Z. All I can say is that they were pretty "Mucked" up. I entered my car in the preservation class, only to arrive and have them put me in the Japanese Sports car class. Long story short, they....uh....theoretically moved me into the preservation class, had the preservation judges do the judging on my car (they had different judges for the Z cars). A short while after all the judging, the judges told me, and the guy with the sweet 1970 red 1600 BMW that our cars were too "young" for the preservation class and we would not do well against the old 1930s and 1940s cars. In the end, I got a third place trophy (last place) in the Japanese car class that I did not enter, nor was I seen by it's judges. Go figure. Guy with red BMW and his wife were pretty upset as they had apparently placed first in some pretty big shows, including the PV Concours. A '40s Lincoln Continental took first, 1930's DeSoto took 2nd. Anyway, here's the pics of some cool cars. The group of three old cars were some of the other preservation vehicles. The two 1930 Cadillacs on the next panel were incredible. Love that LS2 motor. Will put something like that in a Z someday.

Hi Bo, Yes, your engine bay does look great. That motor fits so well in there. Looks like it was designed for it. Very nice. Yes, after my roadster is finished, I will be makin' me an LS Z. Best regards, Rich

Aaaahh, it's now the Z at the Concours and Aerospace thread . Couldn't help but respond as my first job out of college (almost 30 years ago) was designing a Centaur second stage to fit in the Shuttle Bay. Needless to say program was canceled after the Challenger accident. After that worked US space programs for 12 more years and then 3 years with the Russian space programs. Traveled to Florida often enough to be considered a local.

Hi Bo, My favorite LS was the blue one near the end. Engine bay was done very well done. Thanks for giving us the info on the 260 stock.....glad the guys did that. Best regards, Rich

Very cool that you got to chat with Wayne Carini. I think that is the cool thing about the Concours events; you get to meet some very interesting people. Last year at the Dana Point Concours, I was able to meet Barry Meguiar, CEO of Meguiar's car wax. We really had a nice conversation about the Z car as he had a '72 when he was younger.

I really like how they had the vendors all set up. And the products they were selling were great. Food was good and fairly priced. That part of the show was done very well. And best of all was all the talk and conversation...it's great talking cars. I was very interested in the Z's with the LS motors installed, and there were at least 4 at the show. After my roadster project I will be making one of those. The motor fits very well in there and looks great. That would make for a sweet daily driver. And of course I want AC on that as well My biggest beef with the car show is that the car types are scattered all along the block. It's like a big easter egg hunt to find cars in your category. I'm guessing cars closer to the center of the show did better, because that's where most people hung out. And you really have to look at the dash placard because stock and modified is pretty much based on what category the owner wants to put their car in. Motorsport does nothing to ensure that cars are in the correct category in spite of what they say on their website. They are too busy selling product to worry about adherence to car standards.