motorman7

Updates from the paint shop. Slow going, but glad everything is being addressed. A couple small holes in the floor have been welded up. Plugs welded in where the AC hoses used to be. The orange paint is in, PPG brand, 918 orange. That is a good sign.

I just used the Rust-Oleum gloss black for the housing. I wire wheeled the entire housing down to the bare metal and wiped with lacquer thinner to make sure it was clean. It sticks pretty well that way. I used Matte Clear for the aluminum. I used to use gloss clear to protect the metal parts, but it does not look as good. Matte produces a finish that is a bit closer to the bare metal appearance.

Cleaned up the differential this weekend. I took a little bit of 'artistic license' and put clear coat on the aluminum parts. Who looks under the car anyway? I could paint the aluminum black but it looks nice like this, the cast aluminum is beautiful. Before and after pics below.

$15K wouldn't even cover the bodywork and welding needed. A serious restoration on this car with correct parts will be in the $40-$50K range easy

Latest photos from the paint shop.

Just a quick pic of three Z’s at the 2017 San Marino motor classic (formerly the LA concours). Mine is in the middle. This really is a great venue with a lot of very high end cars. Lots of space to walk around, trees for shade and the best goody bag of any car show that I have ever been to. Last year I even saw Jay Leno here, so it is definitely a very nice event. Unfortunately, the Z’s drew blanks and did not place at all in the Japanese Classics category. Yes, even Jay’s Gold Medallion Z did not place which seldom occurs. However, as has been mentioned before, it all depends on what the judges are looking for. Sometimes they are looking for workmanship, sometime its authenticity, or un-restored, or a ‘great story’ car. You just never know, and it is different for each show. In talking to the judges afterward, the judges gave high marks for ‘how rare’ (translated expensive) the cars were. Yes, even though the craftsmanship on some of the Z’s was exceptional, when it comes to rarity a $600K Toyota GT, complete with oil leaks, detached and dilapidated weather stripping, deep scratches and non-stock radiator (among other issues) trumps the Z’s hands down. The 2000GT, with car cover on in the pic, took second. The Mazda Cosmo, another six figure (nearly $200K?) took third. First place was a 1961 Mazda R360 coupe, which also took first last year at this show. The conversation I found most interesting was with Mike Malamut . Mike owns the R360 that took first and also has his own museum of cars with over 150 cars including a 2000GT. He also just purchased that blue 1970 240Z on BAT and Mike Sage’s Beautiful silver HLS30-00222. Seems he is adding to his vintage 240Z collection. The comment he made is that some of the nicer VIN’s below S/N 500 are selling for over $100K to private sellers. That is pretty fascinating. Putting 2 and 2 together, make me wonder what he paid for #222. Anyway, just thought this was all pretty interesting

Yes, I guess I would have figured this out when I went to put on the hoses. It's funny, I originally had it on correctly, but the pump would not rotate freely through the length of the slot in the support arm. The lower housing starts to contact the support bracket as you rotate it towards the engine, with about 2 inches of slot left. The interference gets worse the closer you move it toward the engine. In the upside down configuration it rotates freely over the length of the slot without interference. Thus, not looking at pics, I thought this would be the right install. Will have to fix this.

Sounds great! That has got to be very exciting having that baby up and running. It's a work of art.

A little more progress tonight. Got the smog pump cleaned up and painted. Lubed the bearings while I had the back section off. Used clear satin over the aluminum housing and inlet and outlet pipes. Also got the air breather attached. Loosely installed the pump onto the motor.

I have been prepping my orange Z for the upcoming San Marino Motor Classic so have not spent much time on the resto here. Just did a couple small items. Not sure why, but the smog pump was painted blue. I used lacquer thinner to strip the paint which worked real well. The aluminum looks nice underneath. Still need to remove the back part of the pump and paint that nicely, then this will be ready to install. Assembled one of the smog system parts here (Throttle opener control valve?). That came out nice. Cleaned and painted a couple brackets. Not much to update with the paint shop. Miguel took a little time to work on another vehicle but will get back to this one this week.

So this has all worked out very well so far. Drove to the sellers home with my wife in the roadster. It was a beautiful cool sunny morning and the drive through Rancho Santa Fe and Fairbanks Ranch was absolutely perfect. We spoke with the seller and his wife for about 30 minutes and I left a $1000 deposit for the car. I told him that I would pick the car up in a month or two as I currently have no time or space and he said that was fine. I did check on the front windshield glass and it is the original Nissan stamped windshield in excellent condition. So, very happy with all of the original parts and especially the interior. The original motor is even sporting some of the original braided hoses. Any, will post pics later.

It looks like you ground off the protective zinc plating on the steel, which will lead to the clip rusting rather quickly. Might me easiest to spray some clear coat over the assembly to help protect it. Otherwise, looks very nice under there.

Well, It looks like we are good for me to pick up this Z. I will need to contact the owner and work out arrangements....aahhh the concessions. She said that I should see if i can put a deposit down on the car and pick it up in a couple months when we have more room. If not, I will have to see about working out a storage location with Montezuma. And she want some house upgrades done as well....concessions, So, I have to be completely honest here. The love of my wife's life is her 1 year old grand nephew. We are not grandparents ...yet...so I guess she is practicing with the grand nephew. She asked about putting together our kids old hobby horse which had been stored for years, in pieces, up in the garage rafters. She wants to give it to her grand nephew for his first birthday. So instead of doing car stuff on Sunday, I surprised her with the completely restored hobby horse. I even put clear plastic over the springs to prevent finger pinch. Anyway, she was just thrilled to death about this. I figured this was necessary to make sure she was in a very good mood. I showed her pics of the car this AM and she really liked it. So, very happy with all this. I will try and work out some time where we can drive out to the sellers place in the roadster and see the car. Maybe next weekend. Will keep things updated as it progresses here. .

That's funny, I don't think I could get away with that. Anyway, wife comes home tonight. I will see if she would like to check it out tomorrow if the owner will let me stop on by. I think this would help as the owner lives in Ranch Santa Fe, one of the nicest areas in So Cal. I took the Hyundai when I checked it out originally and was completely embarrassed driving it in that area. I think if I take her there in the roadster, that would go a long way. The area is absolutely gorgeous. Just part of the 'winning her over' process. I mentioned it on the phone when we talked and did not get a negative response, so we will see how it goes. As @Hardway mentioned above....there will be concessions. I'm good with that.

From what the lady tells me, these were not done in the basket which actually is supposed to be at a better price. She said the quantity was not large enough to utilize the basket. So, apparently they string these up. I can see where the string is attached on some of the parts so it seems that these were done 'manually'. I am sure that I had over 20 pounds of parts on this last batch and still, not enough for the 'basket'. It looks like all the parts are there, but I haven't done a thorough check yet. I am thrilled with the color though. The pictures don't do it justice. Honestly, I need to get a new camera. The one I am using now is pretty old. Also, the cost was less than expected. I am sure this was easily double the weight and quantity of my last batch and the cost was almost the same. Very reasonable. A lot of what I do is what Les Cannady has done in the past, and he is just 10 miles down the highway. He has given me all his suppliers and I think I pretty much get his cost, which is less than standard pricing. This actually makes a restoration fairly cost effective.

Got a large batch of freshly zinced parts in today. The pictures look lousy but the parts look great. Not sure why the 'gold' color does not work well on the camera. Also picked up the powder coated air cleaner and ceramic coated exhaust manifold. They really look great. Loosely placed a couple of parts on the motor just to see how they look. It's almost like Christmas

Uuuuumm. I have one at my Mother-in-Law's home.

Congrats! That is a lot of Z's in the picture. Now I don't feel so bad about my garage and driveway.

A lot of work going on at the body/paint shop. Miguel is pretty much taking everything down to the bare metal and fixing it up correctly. This is really the right way to do the job. In the first pic, everything kind of looks OK, but underneath it's a different story. Bumper attachment has been aligned. New sheet metal installed on the back end, beautiful work.

This is definitely sage advice! I completely agree and will take this approach. Looks like @Montezuma can set me up with a place to store it. This is starting to look possible.

Yes, It is easy to accumulate projects. If I decide to buy it, it will probably sit as is until September or October. No time to work on it until then. Financially it is not a big issue, space is the bigger problem. I already have one of my Z's at my mother-in-laws place, 3-car garage is full. I need a car barn. Surprisingly she was cool with the roadster which I keep in the garage. So you never know. Probably not best to 'surprise' her though. :-)

Whether tis nobler in the mind to suffer the slings and arrows of my wife's complaining that we don't have room for another Z (or another project), or take arms against that sea of troubles and let this car pass to someone else. Yes, I am faced with the conundrum of deciding on whether to pick up another Z. Tough call on this one. The car is in many pieces right now, but would not take much to get running. Of course I would tear it all apart anyway and re-build from the ground up. The good: The car is very original with minimum rust (just the right rear dogleg is rusted through). The frame rails and underside are dented but in decent condition. I love the color combo. interior vinyl and seats are in very good condition, original radio, original motor The bad: paint is crazed and in bad condition, dogleg rust, cracked dash, minor dings. Wife is out of town now, but will be back in a couple days. I will see what she says when she comes back. The price is right. Maybe I sell one of my other Z's and pick this one up (I hate to do that) I need a Ouija board or something to figure this out. tough call. Pics below

You could clean it up so it would be ready to drop in at a moments notice. Plus, they are beautiful works of art and would nicely compliment any garage.

The dog days of restoration. Hours at the wheel prepping parts for plating. It will be all worth while when we start putting this all back together. Separating yellow zinc from clear zinc. A few motor additions. Attention to the small details are what makes it all come together nicely.

Just a few small updates from the paint shop. Got the Exhaust manifold off to be ceramic coated, Air cleaner is being powder coated at the same place. Been adding a few pars to the motor. Will try and get the rest of the plated items wire wheeled this weekend.