motorman7

Hi Chris, The engine serial number is 005353. I re-painted the block Nissan blue, but taped over the yellow inspection 'blob' so it will remain. I also left the engine serial number unpainted and will put a clear coat over it. I will get you a pic of the oil pan later today with the inspection 'V'. I will see what condition the pan is in and see if just a clean will be sufficient. Maybe just some touch up. It reminds me of a 'tie dye' 70's t-shirt. The overspray on the engines is funny. The heater hose 'Y' had overspray on it. Makes me wonder how the first units were manufactured. Now, need to find out where to get new head bolts. Not sure if they can be re-used.

The cylinders look great, so I will not be doing anything with the pistons or crank. The cylinders actually have the original cross-hatching on them still. I was happy to see that. Not much carbon on top of the pistons either. We cleaned that off and taped to the top front and bottom before paint. We did have one glitch. Broke one of the head bolts off in the block. The bolt broke near the head so I have some body to work with. I put several doses of liquid wrench on (it worked for the smog rails). Will add more and work on this after the paint is done. Hopefully this comes out OK. I have learned not to rush this, let the solvent do its job. I originally did not want to take the head off, but had a very minor leak near the back (passenger side) between the head and the block. Also, it will be easier to clean and paint this way. Also allowed me to check the cylinders. Looks like I will need a new cluthch plate also. It is looking pretty worn. It has maybe 10K more miles on it before I hit the rivets. Time to change it. Rich

Well, we (my son and I) got the engine block out smoothly. As soon as it was out, we began pulling parts off of it to prep for paint. We stripped it down to a short block. After cleaning the block (wire wheel and lacuer thinner primarily) We wiped it down and I applied several coats of the blue engine block paint. It looks very nice! Will apply a couple more coats later. I do have one question though. What is the color of the oil pan? Mine is complete chaos. There is black over the blue and prominent weld marks on the outside. The is also a nice white quality V mark on the black portion on the bottom that I would like to keep. I am leaning toward black for the entire thing. I would like to tape over the quality 'V' and leave it on the pan. Rich

These are mine. Pretty close to original but with some minor corrosion. build dat 3/70 Rich

If I had $1K to put into it and a couple weeks, I could have it looking pretty sweet. Too busy with my own though. Just thought I'd post it here. Sad to see it wasting away in the sun. UV kills

A used car dealer is selling a '71 240Z on craigslist. I checked it out. The body is very decent and has minimal rust (dime spot under right rear hatch, trace rust in some body grooves). Paint is oxidized but most likely salvagable. Minor bump to right front fender. Engine needs help, degreaser anyway. Choke not hooked up. Previous owner tried to incorporate the 'cruise control' throttle. Unfortunately the car has been sitting in the sun on his lot for the last two years. 1 crack in dash in the middle. Sad to see this go to waste like that. Also, car is most likely 153K miles based on tires, drivers seat and PO mods. http://sandiego.craigslist.org/csd/ctd/1221124258.html

I know. Actually pretty excited about it. I'm already talking to my son about getting another one. How crazy is that. We are already a 5 car family.

Thanks for the input. I was kind of guessing on the tire size. I will go with the 16X7's for the rim. Rich

You are correct, although I was not aware of this. When we brought the parts to Classic Datsun, Les informed me that there were two different types of coating. So, we (uh, Les) separated them into two piles, cad gold and silver zinc. The clamps are silver zinc as well as some of the bolts/screws. There were also some items that we could not do because of incompatible material.

OK, its off to Classic Datsun to get parts plated. Some of these large parts I am not sure how to handle, so I will bring them as they are and see what Les recommends. The bucket has all the bolts, washers and clamps and other items, all cleaned with cleaner and the wire wheel. The washers and bolts aren't bad to clean, but the clamps are a pain (still have all my fingers so it was worth it). I love the clamp. They are works of art (though my brother-in-law the Honda mechanic hates them). Not easy to use, but they sure are pretty. I will go with all the original bolts, they all seem to be in pretty good condition. They just need the plating.

Well, Looks like I am really going to take the plunge here. The car drips a couple drops of oil from the rear seal (I think) every week. Not a bad leak, but it is a leak. And, with the engine this stripped, it is only a couple bolts to remove it. This will also make painting the block a heck of a lot easier. So, looks like I will pull the engine this Saturday. A friend has a hoist and a spare engine stand so I will use those. Now, it's time to order an engine gasket kit with rear seal included. Will also check the clutch plate while every thing is apart. Ahh, what was once a simple zinc re-fresh has now turned into quite a project. Good thing it's not my daily driver. Will keep posting as things progress. Rich

OK, so maybe the carbs are not too bad. I did a quick clean and the zinc on these looks pretty reasonable. In fact, there is still a bit of the rainbow effect in some areas. I will clean these up further in the next several days and hopefully they will be OK as is. If not, I will have to get these pieces plated also. For now I will wait. I have about half of the parts cleaned up for plating. Will have my son try and get the other half finished up today, so I can take them in tomorrow AM. Finally got the last two smog rail fittings loose. The rail is now ready for clean and plate. That was a chore. Also got some of the final bolts in the engine bay removed, so progress is going well. Rich

I have no plans to lower the car, but would like to get some 16 x 7 Panasports with 205/60s for driving. I hate driving around in the original hubcaps for two reasons. First, I am worried that someone will take them (I think if I tried I could get all of them off the wheels in 30 seconds). Second, I once had one come off during a hard cornering maneuver (although that was over 30 years ago. A funny story goes along with that. I will share it eventually). So, will have to get some someday so I can drive around comfortably without any worries. Best Regards, Rich

Boy, this refresh is starting to get a little scarey. There are a lot of nuts and bolts on this car and a lot of parts. Was not feeling too bad until I hit the carbs (which I saved for last). That starts to get a little tricky. Most of the carb parts aren't bad, but everything really must go so they look the same. Will tackle this animal tomorrow. The plan is to get the parts to Classic Datsun for plating this Thursday. No pics tonite, even though I took tons. I took pics of the nuts and bolts with their respective components. This should help the assembly once I get there. Rich

WOW, that motor is sweet! That is definitely something to shoot for. The aluminum looks incredible (as does the zinc). Rich

Yes, that makes sense. I will go ahead and 'refresh' the block with paint. I guess it just had that 'ugly puppy' attraction, that's why I was hesitant. Thanks for the feedback

Yes, mine are also the olive drab and original. There is a pick of them on the '70 refresh thread.

Hi Randy, Nice to hear from you again. Funny thing about the engine paint here. I am wondering if this is the norm. Actually, right now I am debating on what to do with this. I almost want to keep it because it is original and so bad. The coverage is pretty complete and there does not seem to be any corrosion set in. I was actually debating on whether to just give it a clear coat instead of the true paint color. As everything else on the car is original, I am now wondering if painting this is a good idea. I will think about it here for a while as I have time and am in no rush. Will spend time prepping the zinc parts and continuing the clean. I hope to get my zinc parts looking as good as yours. Best Regards, Rich

I cleaned up most of the engine bay paint with Maguires cleaner wax this evening. Still have more to go but got about 75% of it cleaned. Still have a lot of little detail areas but not bad. The engine (Carb side) cleaned up well but took a lot of effort. I used mineral spirits on the paint and greasey areas; 0000 steel wool and lacquer thinner on the corroded aluminum. That came out pretty well but is a lot of work. Probably less than halfway done with this. Was surprised at the poor paint job on the engine block. There are paint drips. Perhaps it was painted on a Monday at the engine shop. I did get two more of the smog rail fitting loose. Four down, two to go. It's nice to have a 17 year old son to help. He works in exchange for letting him drive the car on occasion. He did a nice job cleaning the nuts and bolt with wire wheel in prep for zinc plating. Rich

I will need to search for a line wrench. The 14mm is too big and 13 too small. 9/16" is as bad as the 14. I will try again tonite to loosen the remaining 4. Rich

Thanks James! I will begin this process shortly. Best Regards, Rich

Thanks, I probably would have overlooked those. I also need to take off the plate for the windshield washer fluid lines. Will do a careful final check before I take everything in. Thanks for the heads-up, Rich

Hi Bob, I have not ordered any yet, but it is on the list. Will probably order in July or August once I finish the refresh. I figure I will be out of commission here for a month or so. I am planning on going to the JCCS show. I always enjoy that one. Will be my first time with a car to enter though. Best Regards, Rich

Well, got most of the engine parts out. Will take out the brake lines tomorrow or Tuesday. The only glitch in the process was trying to take the smog tubes out of the manifold. :disappoin They are rusted in. I could only loosen two, so I have applied Liquid Wrench to the threads and will let them soak and try to loosen them again tomorrow. The plan over the next several days is to sort the parts for plating and document them with photos. I will then clean them before taking them to Les for final clean and plate. While those are out to plate, I will clean and touch up the long block and engine bay. I will also clean and wax the engine bay paint before I start any assembly. Am also planning on cleaning all of the aluminum parts while they are off the engine. I am not palnning on a carb overhaul as they seem to be in excellent shape already. Should be fun. Also, any tips and advice from members on this refresh is appreciated. Rich

Hi Monte, It was a tough decision. The engine bay doesn't look that bad, but the fuel rails and smog tubes were bugging me. They look pretty bad. Also, the parts that I cleaned the corrosion from look good, but now have little or no plating and are succeptable to worse corrosion. So, I figured it was all or nothing. Plus, it would look funny to have a couple 'newish' looking parts and most older. So, the only way to address it was to do the whole engine bay. That is all I am planning for now. I am happy with everything else on the car. Thanks for the best wishes. Best Regards, Rich