Namerow

Kudos for illustrating that -- for certain applications, anyway -- there are choices other than welding. Reminds me of a friend (also located in BC) who successfully built a rotisserie frame for his 240Z project from wood. Looking forward to your photos.

Hi Chris: Congrats on your pragmatic solutions here. A few questions, if you don't mind: I've heard a lot about extreme increases in paint prices, so I'm curious about what the real-life numbers are. What were your approx. over-the-counter costs for the three categories of paint used (primer, colour, clear)? p.s. Costs in stated Cdn $ work fine for me. For once, I won't have to re-engineer costs stated in US $ to figure out what they mean here in Canada What was your source for the overhead strip lighting? Please explain the materials you used to fabricate your new flex sanding pads.

Based on the comments on the Chevelle website, there is a least anecdotal evidence that this product degrades over time. The problem, of course, is that 'over time' doesn't mean how long since date of purchase, but instead how long since date of manufacture. And the degradation process might depend on the storage conditions. A call to the manufacturer's support line might provide some better insights or guidance. Your side experiment with the spare piece of sheet metal will probably* indicate whether your particular batch is flawed (* but not necessarily, because the spraying conditions won't match the conditions that existed within your indoor booth re temp and humidity). Regardless of that outcome, I think that the safest route would be to write off what you have left and buy new. Unfortunately, the law of paint system mix-and-match says that you should go with the same manufacturer again, so that all of your layers are Nason. The comments on the Chevelle website provide some useful thoughts on how to determine whether the new batch is also flawed. Maybe there is more/better guidance available on other paint-and-restoration websites. Also, the manufacturer may have their own guidance for pre-application checks on their product. I had a similar outcome with a vinyl paint that I applied to a Z upholstery panel. Fixing the bad result was a PIA... but it was successful. Crappy way to start the holidays.

It seems it's hard for some painters to un-learn what they've picked up in the insurance-driven collision repair business.

The late Colin Chapman would have referred to this as 'adding lightness'. So, a good thing 🙂

In your last photo, is the light-green panel (so-called 'K-box') a KF piece or is it something that you made on your own?

Colombia, as in South America. When I dealt with them in 2019, the sales office was based in Florida (Miami, IIRC), but the parts are stamped in Colombia. If you do a little snooping on line, you can find some pictures of the factory. They made their rep supplying the VW microbus community and then decided to branch out into other types of vehicles. Datsun and Toyota models were chosen to lead the way.

Without meaning to shill for this vendor, they have really taken the Z restoration process a completely new level when compared with the bad old days of Tabco-or-make-your-own. I just checked their website and was pleasantly surprised to see that they've pretty much doubled their range of Z repair panels from the time when I last checked in 2020 (the 240Z catalog now includes 44 items). Some of the noteworthy additions: radiator bulkhead front inner fender patch panels, c/w separate 'pocket' piece for the crossmember join area and separate 'doubler' panel for the K-box area firewall repair panels (lhs and rhs) battery tray - separate, or c/w inner fender patch panel dogleg repair pieces - inner and outer, plus lower B-pillar piece front fender lower-rear patch panels, c/w mounting details Worth a look. KF Vintage JDM 240Z Separate catalogs for 280Z, 510 and 620 (!)

Who makes it? Or, who was the supplier that you bought it from?

Here's an article on re-bushing the SU's that I found in my e-library. Credited to Delaware Valley Triumphs club member, Tony Rhodes (www.dvtr.org -- based in Philadelphia) . It provides some insights into the symptoms, the cause, and one of the cures (re-bushing). In essence, this approach assumes that the majority of the wear problem occurs in the steel bushing ('ovaled'), not the ends of the chrome-plated brass shaft. That seems counterintuitive, but I miked a set of worn shafts and found very little difference in the diameters of the unchromed ends vs those of the chrome-intact sections. Maybe someone else can verify by doing some measurements on used throttle shafts that they have on hand. SU Carbs - Rebuilding - Bushing Reaming.pdf

I wonder if Nissan had some build tolerance issues with the earlier cars' structures and used this strategy as a cheap-and-dirty way to get all three engine/trans mounts points to line up with the structure after the engine/trans was put in position (i.e. secure the transmission mount first, then bend the engine mounts to line up)?

Intriguing idea. Not so much 'outside the box' thinking, but more like, 'What if we turn the box upside down?' Some pix would be nice.

While the Z community is well served by a couple of specialty manufacturers of replacement body panels, there remain certain large panels that can usually be sourced only by taking a replacement panel from a donor vehicle. Examples would be the hood, roof, hatch, outer and inner door panels, firewall, inner front fenders, rad bulkhead, and the tail panel. Nissan has recently previewed a new technology that permits large, complicated-shape panels to be formed without a die. While it's probably intended to serve the collision repair industry, it's conceivable that they might be talked into doing short runs of panels for older classics like the Z and Skyline. Here's a video from the auto industry daily blog, Autoline Daily:

It is a broken-off section of the electrical system's reverse encabulator mounting block.

Even if CO had completed that undergrad course in fluid dynamics, it wouldn't have taught him anything about the behaviour of bubbles entrained in fluid flowing through a pipe. That's pretty specialized stuff. It definitely wouldn't have taught him anything about dislodging a bubble trapped in the corner of a casting. It's worth pointing out that applied science (engineering) is usually based on observing a behaviour first and then finding ways to apply the theory so that it generates a decent prediction. Grannyknot makes a valid point about the ratio of the bubble diameter vs the brake pipe diameter. However, even if the brake pipe was 1/2" in diameter I suspect that the bubbles would stay small and would still be swept along with the flowing brake fluid. This would be a great weekend project for CO: Build a demonstration rig using clear tubing and some drilled-out clear acrylic 'castings' and then pump some fizzy brake fluid through it to see what happens at the high points and inside the casting voids. Somewhat off topic, but microbubble technology is a pretty hot topic these days in the field of medical treatments and drug delivery technology.