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Over the last few weeks, i did some small things and collected a lot of stuff again. First, I exchanged my US-spec front lower valance. Before:


And After: Euro spec valance:

In case you're wondering, what's the difference? The euro spec has the additional mounting holes / nuts to install the Euro spec front spoiler lip. Here you can see the two side-by-side:

This allowed me to temporary test fit my wobbly, worn-out, cheaply-repaired Euro spec front spoiler lip:

I still need to change the corner valances to euro spec ones, but also the lip needs a replacement, as this one is beyond repair. But at least I could see how it will look:

People often say they're impressed with what I'm able to find for purchase. But this time I even surprised myself. You might remember the Eaglemoss Fairlady Z Kit that I bought a while ago and came with a bunch of magazines? The set has dedicated folders / binders to put the magazines into. I always had two missing, so some of the magazines were stored "loosely". Luckily, I was able to find two unused Folders for exactly that kit in Japan:

So all the magazines are now nicely stored:

And my book shelve / archive looks much better :-)

I also bought a small lot of vintage Datsun (Switzerland) Stickers. Some of which I haven't got yet in my collection:

Then I also got a bunch of Documents:

First, the Datsun Sports 311 Introduction Bulletin from 1967.

Theoretically, it has nothing to do with my 240Z project. But with this car the FS5C71A transmission was introduced

The original Overdrive transmission, used in a similar (albeit slightly different) configuration in the early EU-spec 240Z. To find information about it is a bit tricky. So when I saw that this booklet has more details about it, which I haven't seen before. I had to get it:

Speaking of transmissions, I also got the Japanese Nissan Transmission service manual from 1974:

This one includes the later FS5C71B transmission and some general information about Nissan transmissions, which is not found in the 240Z specific documentation:

And then i also got another issue of the "Nissan Star", Swiss customer magazine from 1990, which always has cool insights into Nissan from those days:

More to come soon.

I collected a few parts again, recently. Some stuff which is required to complete the car:

First of all, one of those beautifully crafted S30.world reproduction fuel tanks and tank insulation rubbers. I sold mine at the recent japanclassic show, so I had to get a new one for my project.

Secondly, I got a NOS euro spec front lower center valance (with the additional installation holes for the euro front spoiler):

This means i can finally replace the crappy old one with the one that actually belongs there. Huge thanks to Alan for helping me with this!

Then I got one of those original printed Datsun competition parts catalogues. I already have the Japanese versions and had this one digitally, but I always prefer to have the original printed stuff.

For those who don't know the competition parts catalogue, it's basically a "sports option" and racing parts catalogue by Nissan themselves:


I also got another issue of the "Nissan Star" magazine. It was a Swiss Datsun / Nissan customer magazine, which always has cool insights at how Nissan (Switzerland) operated back in the days.


I also randomly came across this "Nissan 50th anniversary" catalogue from Switzerland. It's completely unrelated to my project, but since I have all the original "50th anniversary" badges, I thought it would be cool to have the fitting catalogue to it with the same logo on the front.

Things are a bit crazy at work at the moment, so progress is slow, but I hope to jump back in the project soon. I made a major decision to have the car completed by some professionals, otherwise the project will drag on for another decade. But I still need to complete some tasks by myself, and more details on that topic soon.

Recently, a friend and I were working on the 240Z Original R180 differential and we both were not happy with neither the state of the original factory-installed differential strap belt, nor with the replacement options. None of the available replacements look anything close to the original belts. After a b it of research, my friend found this one on AliExpress, which is some sort of V-belt or something:
https://de.aliexpress.com/item/1005006145171328.html make sure to order the 12ribs pk560 type.
NOTE: We realized all original belts had different lengths (probably due to wear and tear), so make sure to measure your original one (best done with a piece of tape) before you order. I also cannot guarantee that this will fit perfectly and was not able to install it yet.
But so far it looks pretty good:


The only problem: the replacement belt has some pretty colorful markings on the outside and is quite shiny. I tried different things, but the best to get rid of it was simply to sand it off with some 80-grit paper:

After some manual attempts, I chose the belt-sander to get rid of the rest. Be careful to sand off a minimum only, if you remove too much material, the woven white threads inside the rubber will become visible. Not what you want.

And here is the result:
Left AliExpress replacement original, Center: Aliexpress sanded down. Right: Original Nissan Belt. I'm quite satisfied, and so far it looks like the most OEM-looking option I have seen so far. Somewhere in future, we'll see how well it fits, too :-)

You're of course right. The FS5C71A transmission (from my cars), have the Porshe style Servo synchros. If you look at the mixed bag of synchros you can see there are all kind of synchros (Brass and Steel synchros) So we were hoping that something might fight my transmission, or at least we figure out what car / transmission they belong to.

Recently, I collected a lot of cool, rare or needed Datsun / Nissan parts and documents again. Let's have a look:


First, i got gifted this lovely 510 / bluebird Die cast model from my Lovely lady Myrtha. Big thanks again!

She also brought me one of those famous green Datsun Switzerland folders. This one has all the spec-sheets of all Datsuns sold in Switzerland at that time.

The specification goes quite deep. These folders were given to dealerships and were in the HQ for a quick check and comparison of technical specifications of all cars:

So far I only had copies of the single Z-specific sheets, but now, finally, I have the missing folder in my collection. Very cool. And big thanks gain to Myrtha!


Additionally, I got various random bits and pieces from Alibaba, thanks to some tips from my man Urs. 
Two different sized rubber plugs for the drum brakes (It seems that not all drums have the same hole-diameters?)


And various Nylon washers. I will try to see if one of those fits the rear hatch strut damper. Since my original washers are either broken or damaged:


My man Stefan also gave me a box of what appears to be Brass synchro gear wheels. We still have to figure out if they'd fit the Z, as they all came without part numbers or description, included in a big Datsun Parts lot.


From my Man Dan at Japanese Allstars, I got this starroad Poster. Dan is an official starroad dealer in Switzerland, and he got this during his last visit. Although I'm not a huge fan of the Starroad creations, these days, I really like the photo on this large one-page calendar:

After Months of searching, I finally found this 1994 NISMO 10th anniversary parts catalogue.

I will put it on display with my NISMO 10th anniversary collection of Accessory catalogue, sticker, steering wheel and shift knob :-)

The cool thing is, this catalogue came with an invitation flyer o the NISMO 1995 New year's garage sale at Nissan KN's factory:

And even better, a two-page flyer invitation to the founding of the NISMO "club Le Mans". You can read more about that on the official NISMO page.

And last but not least, I found this original printed Datsun 240-Z one-page flyer from Datsun Italy. Something very rare, which I've never seen before. Generally, 240Z information from Italy is very sparse, so I had to get it, when it came up for sale:

I had some physical work done on some Z-parts too, so I will post another update of a little project soon, too.

I've been busy dealing with life recently, but that doesn't mean I forget spending money on more or less useless automobilia :-)

First, the Japanese L-series Service manual. I have it in various language, but never had "the original" one from JP. And since it popped up for a reasonable price, I had to have it.

Then i got another Datsun Switzerland price list. This time from April 1980.
As usual, you can find all of them scanned in high-resolution for free download, here

Some may know my List of various Japanese L6 Intake manifolds, carb kits and Turbo / Surge tank kits. And thanks to a hint, I recently acquired this lovely Japanese printed ad from the very first FET / HKS Turbo Kit.
You can read a lot about it in my Intake / Turbo surge tank post, here.


Thanks to a hint from Mymechanix, i got a beautiful Differential strap. The originals are usually worn out, and this replacement belt from Aliexpress has the perfect fitments and dimensions.


All other alternatives come either in a leather look or rubber, this one is much closer to the original design. Unfortunately the surface is glossy and has some prints on it (see the one on the left) so i will try to sand it down, to get as close to the original look as possible.

So, I have been busy test-fitting various parts on my Z again.

To set the alignment of the hood and fenders properly, I had all the hood hardware spacers, dampers and rubbers installed.

Next on the to-do list was the rear hatch damper, so I can work on the hatch without having that temporary wood rod as a not-so-safe hatch holder. Wile both dampers I had were still working nicely, the mounting brackets were worn out on both and both had missing or cracked plastic / Teflon spacers.

So after I got everything straight and assembled a temporary setup (I still need to find a good set of those plastic spacers).

I finally had it all installed. Works perfect.

It seems like that little-bit of extra-tension from the damper is required to have the hatch aligned properly with the roofline. I didn't expect the damper itself would already fix the alignment, but I'm happy it does.
Now I only need to finalize sanding on the trunk spoiler and bring back the holes for the spoiler emblems. I also need to find a good rear bumper to test fit it. Mine both had a decent hit and are way too wonky to use them for test-fitments.

Then, some people were suspicious about that extra sheet metal on my transmission tunnel (I have the updated body version from 1972, but still the early A-transmission, so I suspect they added that sheet metal to cover the hole?). Even though it's the original transmission of this car, it made me want to test fit it, just to be sure it all fits, before i paint the shell. So i had to assemble parts of the transmission first. Mainly the gear selector with the shift rod mechanism.

For simplicity, I only used the center section of my FS5C71A five-speed transmission, because that's fine to test fit it. So I added the transmission bracket with the rubber insulator to it.

And installed (Bolts only temporary, as usual - please ignore).

And here we go. I can shift in all directions without hitting anything. But it's still a bit close to the front. I need to check if I put the directional insulator between the transmission and the mounting bracket in the right direction.

And since I had an original center console lying around from my recent center console comparison i put it in there, just for fun's sake. Even though it's all only temporary test-fitting, it's really fun and nice to see all the bits and pieces come together nicely.

I have already prepared some next steps on the interior, so stay tuned for another update soon.

Yesterday I got another bunch of NOS parts for my project, straight from the Nissan Stocks:


Fuel tank sensor / sender Mounting ring and O-ring, plus the timing cover gasket.


Front and rear bumper rubbers, Inspection lid foam rubber pieces and rubber seals


Various spark plug wire brackets


Hood bumpers, Hood stoppers and inspection lid rubber bumpers


Window crank fasteners, Engine tube hose clamps and some heater panel knobs

And last but not least, I also got a Swiss 260Z 2+2 brochure, which i for whatever reason didn't have in my collection yet:

I also did some actual work on the car again, so stay tuned for another update, soon.

I've collected some parts again recently, so it's time for another update full of random bits and pieces.


Reader RIP260Z pointed out that the Pump diaphragm is missing in the American Mikuni rebuilt kits which I got recently, but are included in the Japanese Mikuni rebuild kits. Luckily, I was able to find a guy in Japan who sells all OEM Mikuni / Solex parts individually, and I ordered plenty of parts, that were still available - Including the Pump diaphragms and many wear and tear parts like springs, etc.

Speaking of Mikunis, I also found an original Japanese Solex NPHH44 service manual.  I had a Copy of it before, but this is an original one, which is very nice to have :-)
And on the left side, you can see an original German PHH44 manual. This is a completely different manual for the original Solex PHH44. Those were used on the NSU TT and TTS and the BMW E10, 2002, etc. if I'm not mistaken. The manual is quite useless, as the NPHH44 Mikunis / Solex don't have too much in common with these, but nevertheless it's cool to have a reference to the "original" design of these, with some German explanations.


The explanation of the working principle in the German book is really cool, with all those hand-drawn graphics.

The biggest part of the various deliveries was this Center console:


It's made by VintageDashes in the USA. After he explained how he made it and so on, I decided to give it a try, despite the big price-tag. So far it looks very promising, but i have to check the details. I will compare it with the OEM console and the one from ResurrectedClassics which i also have in stock, soon.


I found another Datsun Switzerland pricelist. This time from February 1978. As usual, I scanned them all in high-resolution, and you can download my whole collection here, for free.

And then another useless, but cool part. The Eaglemoss-spareparts box. Which belongs to the kit, but sadly was missing in my set.


If you want to know more about the eaglemoss 1/18 Fairlady set --> read here, and here. Aside from 2 empty binders (for the magainzes) and the original tool-pouch, my set is pretty much complete, now :-)

I already have the next bunch of parts waiting in Japan, a delivery from Nissan directly, and I've worked a bit on the car too and did some research, so you can expect more updates again in a few days.

Oh, and I also got a free heavy-duty grinder for my workshop, and cleaned / restored it a bit this week. If this is your kind of thing, then read the full story here.

I'm having a good pace currently and making some small progress almost daily. Currently, I'm test-fitting all the items so that they can go back to the bodyshop for final adjustment and panel-gap correction etc.
The first thing I wanted t install were the rear quarter windows, but I quickly realized that some areas needed rework.


Some time in the history of this Z, someone bent one of the mounting brackets heavily, so I had to get it straight again...


And after spending 2 hours or so fixing various small details, the rear quarter windows finally went in, and fit perfectly:


While working on it, i noticed the doors didn't fit properly. The reason? The door locking mechanisms were not installed. So the door was either not closed properly, or pushed too much inside.


Before:

And after. To get the mechanism in, i had to remove the upper door window frames out again. But that was a quick task.
 

And on the opposite side, the locking counterpart went in. So now the doors can lock secure, are in the correct position for panel gap and body-line adjustments and are also safe for transportation and moving around, without the risk of the doors open by themselves.


Next i got a bunch of O-rings and circlips for the rear differential, stub axles, handbrakes, etc. which were recommended to me by @Mymechanics (Great YouTube channel, if you haven't checked it out yet!)

The next steps are already in preparation, I got some upgrades for my Workshop and have some more parts on the way, so stay tuned for another update soon

I spent some hours in the Garage again and got some tasks checked off my to-do list.
First, I started to test-fit the taillight panels: 


So I was able to get the installation holes back into the replacement rear panel:


Where the plastic rivets go. Luckily, I have a few for reference:


It took me a while, but in the end, all worked out. I have to say, after studying a bunch of original, unrestored cars, those Panels are quite poorly aligned from the factory, and with a few adjustments to the rear hatch lock panel, they could have made this much more appealing, but at the end I wanted to have it looking OEM.


After that, I installed the taillights too, just to see if it all lines up. Which, luckily, it does. Note that the panels are not properly locked into the brackets here, why it all looks "wobbly":

While at it, I decided to also install the hatch locking mechanism, so that the hatch has the correct height. I own a set of NOS locks.

But decided for testing the old ones will do. As usual, bolts / nuts are only temporary and might be the wrong ones, so please ignore those.

The lower one was a bit tricky. I realized the space in the aftermarket panel is not big enough for the lock to fit through it.

After a bit of hammering, though, it fits now. Still needs a bit of adjustment, though, as it seems the punches are not lined up properly with the bracket:

While working in that area, I realized that this corner is also not straight. So I got that straight too. (Picture shows "before" state):


In the end, I'm quite satisfied with how things fit. It's still all just temporary and needs a bit of adjustment and proper fitting here and there, but for the first mock-up, things at least fit, without discovering major issues:

You might have noticed that the "chrome" (I think it's stainless steel?) taillight panel trim is missing. I had them removed before paint strip dipping, because the previous owner painted them black. Luckily, the paint could easily be chipped off with a carpet knife:

And then I gave it a bit of polish with my "Metarex" metal polish wool:


It still needs a bit of work here and there, but the first results after a few minutes of manual work are promising:

Then I had to test-fit the door steps (or whatever you call those) back, as the replacement panels came without the holes to install them:

So I had them test-fitted:

And then got the holes and screws back in. Note it might look crooked, but that's just the reflection of the protective plastic i left there to avoid scratches on the new panels:

I hope I can keep up the current pace. It's really nice to see things coming back together, even if it's only temporary.

4 hours ago, RIP260Z said:

The Mikuni gasket kits (US) don't have in them the pump diaphram, did you get those separately?

https://www.jauce.com/auction/1155785394

This what they look like if you don't know. From my experience the gasket kits from Japan do/more likely do come with the pump diaphram than the US kits.

Thanks for the input. No, those were not included in the kit and from what I know those are prone to wear and tear, so I guess i have to source them separately. Let's see where I can find them 🙂
 

I Just came back from the workshop (more on that in the coming days), and realized I never posted about my recent purchases.

Firstly, a set of L-series Factory Service Manuals in German language:


The Lot also included a German training manual for Nissan OEM Register carbs. Mainly of the A-series and L4 Engines, but also of the L6 of the C230, etc. Not relevant to my project, so I'm going to sell it.


The Lot also included the Service bulletin N0. 201 "modification of the 260Z 2+2, One which was missing in my collection of S30 bulletins yet:

I also got the last piece of the puzzle to complete my Datsun Special tool wall. The Kent-moore ST-351-00000, for the front axle. I had it before, but the handle was missing, and now i found a complete one:


Then I also got a bunch of Mikuni Performance Carburetor gasket rebuilt Kits Z70-1044, which should be the correct ones to rebuild my recently acquired PHH44 S5 Carbs

Today I also got the US Market 1972 FSM, which should be the almost correct one for my model. I recently realized I had only a very early 1969 version and then later S30 generations ones, but never one close to my actual build. And then you can never have enough Factory documentation 🙂

The seller also had a bunch of OEM parts, so while buying anyway, I decided to throw in a set of NOS Hood bumpers in the order: 

I've been busy working on the car myself in the recent days, so expect more updates on the project soon.

I did not only buy plenty of stuff for the project recently, but also spent some time tinkering around on the actual project itself.
The first task was to install the S30.World fuel tank together with the recently acquired S30.world fuel tank installation kit. To prevent the shiny tank from scratches, I wrapped everything in plastic.

And after finding the right technique to hold up the tank while installing the mounting straps, i finally had it installed. Fitment is just like the original one, and it looks great together with the NISMO / Competition electric fuel pump and bracket:

Next on the list was to install the fuel filler neck protection plate in the RH rear fender arch. The fitment of this reproduction item was somehow not right, so I had to bend it a bit, first. 

After a bit of trial and error and drilling some holes, I'm quite happy with the results (As usual, the used bolts are temporary for mock-up only!):


Another test fitment was required for the front under panel / splash guard thing:


I have to admit it fits really well. The only problem i discovered is that on the replacement NOS frame rails on the RH side, the threads / holes to install the under panels are missing. Most probably because they came from a later 260Z or something.

Overall, I'm happy with the progress and my to-do list gets smaller with every day. Unfortunately, with every bit of work I carry out, I find one or two small problems that need to be corrected. So while my list gets smaller, the body shop list gets bigger. Nothing that can't be fixed, and I think I have a good plan for the next project.

Recently, i also bought a collection of original (mostly european) Datsun / Nissan Colour and fabric sample charts.
I scanned them all in High-resolution and you can download them all for free, here.
they include all random type of Datsun / Nissan cars from the 70ies and 80ies, but also the Z's and ZX's.

In the recent days, I picked up various items again, which I bought recently for my project:

The elephant in the room is obviously the all original KM1520-ZC AM / FM Radio.

It's a bit rough around the edges. Just perfect for a restoration. In case you don't know. Restoring old audio systems, including Car HIFI, from that era was my profession for many years, so this one will be fun for me to get nostalgic. It's said to be in working condition and complete. Let's see.

Then i also got an original June 1972 Datsun Switzerland dealer price list. I had it scanned, and you can download it HERE among many other price-lists from that era.

One delivery also included an original NOS 240Z rear drum brake cylinder. I had several from the other side, but this side was somehow always missing. Now I have a complete pair:

I also aqcuired a bunch of Japanese "Car graphic" Magazines from the early 70ies, when the Z was new, and those issues include a few nice details of the Fairlady Z and Z432 development. On the right side, you also see a Nismo accessory catalogue and sticker from the 10th anniversary, which I will put next to my 10th anniversary steering wheel and shift knob:

And then i got something cool, which is a bunch of photos and two CD's full of Photos from a nice bloke. Some photos will be very cool, and I'll post the story about a certain barn full of S30's from Switzerland in the coming weeks on this blog.

If you read the story about Aerotechnik. A Swiss Datsun parts dealer that quickly became one of the countries biggest wholeseller for wheels and exhausts, you might remember this photo. Now i even haven an original of that Schaffhausen-plated (SH) red 300ZX.
Read more about that story here

I have some more cool deliveries pending, so stay tuned for some nice stories and parts here. and oh, i also had some progress on the Car itself, which i'm going to show you soon!

Today I was finally able to close another big gap in my documentation archive. The Nissan L-Drive and R-Drive Parts catalogues:

There are various versions of the Parts catalogues, the L-Drive (Publication No. C-0010L) is for the Left-Hand-drive cars and the R-Drive (Publication No. C-0010R) is for RHD cars.
Totally, I have no three versions. From what I understand, the dealerships once got the original Binder in the early years and then constantly got updated sheets to add or replace.
That's why you can see varying years and models on the back of the binder.
The Left one and center one are new, the R-Drive on the right is one I bought from the UK a while ago. I have seen other versions, which are probably even rarer, but for me, this will do.

So what is it exactly? Well, it's basically the early print versions of the parts catalogue, which were later also available as Microfiches, in smaller book form, or as digital version on Nissan FAST / E-FAST disks, etc. Today these are all available online. But in my opinion this is still the best readable version due to its size and quality of print, and the most detailed version of them all.

The cool thing is that I now have one of the versions with the original seat leather samples on it, which only was in specific versions of the manual, and is something quite cool, if you ask me.

So, again another year-long search for something very specific comes to an end, and I'm happy to close that task too. These books will again help me to clarify some details and to do my research on the various topics. Also, the pages are easier to scan to show on different topics here on the website, since the pages can be removed individually from the binder. So sooner or later, all you readers will benefit from this, too :-). Now on to search the even rarer stuff...

1 hour ago, Patcon said:

I was thinking original 240z springs were marked for front and back locations and I was thinking that they were also marked for the Left and Right side of the car too. If so it would make sense that they wouldn't match for different load conditions depending on which side of the car they're on

I'm not sure if those special springs had any markings on it. Either way, the spring part number for Left and Right is the same (see catalogue pages above) and the fronts are much shorter (171,5mm), so it's in my opinion definitive a rear spring, which is shorter than factory specs, for whatever reason.
My guess is that they had set the adjustable suspension for a strong compression (low car position) for a long time, for whatever reason, which caused one to become more compressed. I checked the winding-counts and they're the same.
I don't know how these springs have been stored over the last years, but either that, or have race use caused that. But I might be wrong.

Quick update on my previous suspension post:
The catalogue says the free length of the rear springs is originally 205,5mm. To figure out if they're originals, I measured the length of both rear springs (the fronts are still installed on the struts). Surprisingly, they have different lengths.
One is around the original 205 millimeters.
The other one however is more like 109 millimeters.
I'm now wondering if this is due to mechanical wear? Or if those probably aren't originals? I know for e.g. on my Honda adjustable suspension that it dropped by 1-2cm's in the first years after installation, even without heavy race use.  My guess is that you won't feel any huge difference once those springs are installed and compressed, unless an experienced racer uses it on track, so I'm not sure if I should give it a shot as it is, or if they need replacement? Luckily, I still have plenty of time to figure that one out.

Thank you all for your comments regarding the suspension and the carb restoration. I have some good ideas now how to proceed. Vapor or dry-ice blasting seems to be a good solution. For the moment, they will remain in the box until i completed some other projects.

So a few days ago, I got this delivery of a Nissan Factory adjustable Competition / Sports option / NISMO suspension set, and I finally found the time to do the research.

First some Details, I got the two sets (front and rear) from two different sellers in JP, and it's a lucky coincidence that they actually fit / belong together.
The Part numbers are:
Front: 54303-E4622 & 54302-E4622 (Atsugi)
Rear: 55303-E4622 & 55302-E4622 (AMPCO)
On all four strut housings, each of the two platforms / adjustment rings are adjustable in height, and none is fixed, like they are on some other kits.
I assume that those sets were made by both Atsugi and AMPCO, that's why they have two different brands stamped on them, as most factory suspension for the Z was available from both suppliers at the same time.

The suspension set is listed in the January 1978 US sports option catalogue as "Gas variable type" and you can also see the Spring length of 171,5mm (front) and 205.5mm (rear).

The same set is also listed in both Marc and September 1978 Japanese sports option catalogues. It is also mentioned that those parts are approved for Group 3 / closed circuit racing and are harder than the factory suspension setup and allows you to lower the car.

The older race and rally preparation manual still lists the predecessor with the end numbers -E4621. Please note that the springs remained the same -E4621, even with the new -E4622 suspension.
As the older -E4621 is also listed in the March 1976 Competition parts catalogue, my guess is that this kit was introduced around in 1976 or 1977.

According to Alan Thomas, the term "gas filled" refers to a system where the "open design" dampers are oil-filled but gas-charged to help stop the oil from foaming during heavy race use.
Unfortunately, the previous owner opened the rear suspension and now that gas is gone.
See here for more details on the open / cartridge strut inserts comparison:  https://www.jdmjunkies.ch/wordpress/2017-01-19/240z-the-ultimate-guide-to-factory-suspension-and-options/.

According to Alan, there are companies that add a threaded hole to the upper strut section with a valve, so you can add gas again later. But he also mentioned, that the Gas is only really required for heavy race use and it will work without it. 

Alan was also kind enough to share this photo of the factory gas filling setup / tool. To be honest, i don't really know how it works but it looks nice 🙂

You may have noticed that the front struts came with these additional aluminum spacer disks.

According to the above competition manuals (Part no 12), those were used on two-seaters built after 1974 and all four-seater cars, but they were meant to be used on the Rear suspension of the car. It appears that people used them also in the front to gain additional ride height.

The competition manual mentions that they are made from aluminum (which mine are) and are 20mm thick. I quickly measured the thickness, and it appears I was lucky to get a free set of probably rare Nissan competition spacers included with my suspension.

 

Remember that mystery adjustable suspension I bought a while ago? I never figured out which car it belongs to. It seems it's not listed in any of the competition / NISMO / Sports option catalogues i found.
But now, i finally got to compare them, and it appears that it's definitely not for the 240Z / Fairlady Z. (Left = Mystery, right = 240Z)


The length of the strut housing, the length of the thread, the strange upper mounts, and most obviously the brake caliper / brake dust protection shield mounts are completely different. Also, the mystery set got an integrated switch to adjust some settings.
Lower = mystery, Upper = 240Z:


Since the mystery set is quite incomplete (it only came with one spring, some of the adjustment rings seem not to be original, etc). I think the best I can make out of it is to keep the original adjustment rings from the mystery set as spares for my original set. The smaller, lower adjustment rings have a strange size of 101mm. That shiny one, which seemed to be an aftermarket / homemade item, had a diameter of 100mm, while all original Nissan ones had 101mm.

So I'm very happy now to have a complete set, even though from two different manufacturers, but that doesn't really matter, as it's only a small stamp on the strut housing which is different. I will yet have to figure out how I can restore them back to factory, especially the strut inserts might be tricky to find a good solution, but it's definitely doable and definitely worth to bring back this set to former glory. A big hat-tip goes out to Alan for all the Inputs and the nice photos. Your knowledge is of huge value to me, a and I owe you at least a gin-tonic next time we sit at a bar again!

19 hours ago, HS30-H said:

Hi Nils. You've had some happy hunting again I see...!

Your ATSUGI Sports Option front struts look just like a pair of E4621s that I've got. They are oil-filled but gas-charged to help stop the oil from foaming. Don't let the gas out!

 

Those red-painted rear legs also look like Nissan Sports Option items to me. The welded-on (steel) threaded sections are very characteristic. The strut tubes themselves look very long so I'm wondering if they might be the late Nissan Sports 'Rally Option' with the adjustable lower platform which superseded the fixed-platform E7220s? The part number should be engraved on the tubes same as the Atsugis. 

@HS30-H Thanks for your feedback, Alan!
I just checked the Numbers on the strut housings, and it seems they are a later version of yours with the last digit being one number higher.
Fronts are: 54303-E4622 & 54302-E4622 (Atsugi)
Rears are:  55303-E4622 & 55302-E4622 (AMPCO)
On all four strut housings, each of the two platforms / adjustment rings are adjustable in height and none is fixed.

So i guess i was really lucky to find a complete set of factory adjustable suspension that "belongs together". Even though they are from different manufacturers and i bought them from two different sources 🙂 The guy with the orange ones also sold a front set but the description led me think that it was an aftermarket selfmade adjustable suspension system.

The fronts have an additional (Aluminum?) spacer on top, which i have to find out yet if it's a factory option or not

My guess is that the these "open design" original strut inserts, which came in a separate box among with loads of other parts, belong to those orange rears.
Not sure if they are still usable after somebody opened them and let that Gas, you mentioned, out? My guess is that you still can replace them with some standard japan market spec strut inserts, or are those different in length / rates from the standard struts?


As far as I know these "open design" inserts were only ever installed as original factory supplied struts and all Nissan replacement parts were the closed "cartridge type" strut inserts? This is from the installation guide that came with a set of NOS 260Z 2+2 European standard spec cartridge inserts, which I have:

Last but not least, the whole delivery came with a box of four additional springs and shock inserts, which i didn't remember buying, so they must have been included in one of the two sets i bought. they don't seem to belong to any of the adjustable kits though. the Dampers are all aftermarket (KYB) and springs seem too long for the adjustable strut inserts, which have much shorter springs. at least at first glance. The colour markings on the springs are also from the previous owner (L + R) and no factory markings. The small tags that you see have some numbers written on it, so i guess they are spring rates.

17 hours ago, kats said:

Hi Nils, you are the only one who got the films except me, 

I too digitized them all, I can spend all day just watching them. So interesting. 
You can see some tiny tiny details which we have never seen before. Enjoy!

Kats
 

@kats I thought at least you or Alan must also own such a set of microfilms. They are so cool! I still need to scan the other slides.
It seems that yours are in better condition than mine. I only checked film 1 so far, and it's not in a plastic bag like the ones you showed. The photos (even in the original dia) have a heavy red-pitch. I hope i can fix that in photoshop, but it will be hard to bring the original colours back nicely. especially since i'm not a specialist 🙂

5 hours ago, RIP260Z said:

Nice Nils! These are type 4 PHH 44's, there are different types, and gaskets differ a little. I restore and rebuild these in my spare time, so by the time you replace all the gaskets, its essentially a strip, clean and rebuild. The pump diaphram at the bottom of the carb is where most of the crud sits, and the diaphram is worth changing. I find them a nice project to do.

Here is my before and after;

@RIP260Z Wow, those turned out really nice. I guess you had all the yellow parts cleaned and re-plated?
May i ask you how you cleaned the cast housing parts? Any special technicue or fluid? Blasting or Ultrasonic cleaner?
I have a set which seems to have been blasted at some point and you can clearly see that it created rough surfaces in some areas. I have a "rattling" machine with some soft abrasives. so that might be an idea to give it a try.
The state of yours look pretty similar than mine.

Recently, I went Datsun NOS parts hunting again. Well Sort of. I found a bit of a cryptic Ad online about a guy who was trying to sell a complete Lot of old Datsun spare parts inventory from the 70ies and 80ies.
After finally getting in touch with the seller, I realized it's quite a bit of a ride for me to get there, so I asked my Man Cagedude (who is always looking for such kind of lot's to buy) to pay a visit, as he lives much closer.
Fast-forward a few days and here we are, with a complete bus full of NOS parts in his possession.

Naturally, I had to check out the parts and see if there was anything useful for me (Luckily, Z-parts are pre-reserved for me). But yeah, it will take some time until we (he) have checked out all the part numbers and figured out which cars they belong to.
Nevertheless, if we are lucky, some parts might be very valuable. Like these (possibly) brass synchro gears:

So far the findings were limited, but i didn't go home without anything.

He had a Z clutch cylinder waiting for me since a while

I also got this Choro-Q toy car as a gift from his last trip to Japan.

These usually are installed on top of the BOSS brand coffee cans, so i had to put it back there to the can i have in my workshop. Perfect 🙂

And then there was this early European Service manual with the early 5-speed A-type FS5C71A transmission:

Another reason i wanted to visit him is to check out his collection of amazing cars:

First, his original Swiss four door Hakosuka C10 Skyline 2000 GT

Then his Portugal spec four-door Yonmary C110 Skyline 2400K-GT

Then, there is another European spec 2000GT four-door Customer Hakosuka in the workshop.

And last but not least his S14 Silvia, which is buing built up from ground, after the original car got completely drowned in the garage during a flood.

This is only a small fraction. There were customer cars being converted to partial tube-frame chassis, his RX-7 FC drift machine, and another S14 chassis waiting to be converted to a shop show car in some future.
Thanks for the Hospitality, mate and thanks for checking out the parts. I hope to see you soon again!

So, Over the last few days i got a few nice parts again. First a set of Nissan 50th anniversary badges in black:

I always had a red and blue one but the black one was missing. now my set is complete and i got a few black ones for spare too 🙂

Then i got some Parts from S30.world.


The first item is the Handbrake cable including all installation hadware. Just look at all the details. it's as close as it can get to the OEM part. including all the little hardware details!


The Second set was the fuel tank installation hardware straps including the rubber insulation pieces. the rubber blocks for the fuel tank and the installation hardware.
Again excellent quality parts down to the smallest detail.


This should allow me to install the S30.world reproduction fuel tank on my test-assembly soon. Thanks again Chris for those awesome parts.
Make sure to check out their ever-growing lineup of parts on the S30.world shop:

Recently i acquired two pieces of Nissan sports option aka Datsun Competition aka the Triple Mikuni carb heat shields from Japan. One was in a good, used condition. the other one seemed to be restored on the first sight. But after i received it and inspected it closer, i quickly realized that they just sprayed it with some silver paint that came off upon touching it.

After looking at it again, i also saw that it was not straight and had a few cheap weld repairs. Here is the "good" side, which only needed a bit of flattening with the hammer (probably from wiggling it off the previous installation):

And here is the bad side from the inside You can see the corners and the holes have some weld leftovers and do not look nice:

And this is the outside (after i already started to work on it). You can see some rough remaints of the welds:

And this is how it all looked after an hour of filing and straightening everything with my recently bought bodyshop hammer and file set:

Now it's Much better than before. Everything is straight and the surface even, and the curvatures / holes are round again. After i took the picture i sprayed it with some rust primer, but i will have to have the whole thing resprayed once it's going to be installed. I also finally managed to get the car back on the lift again and hope i find some time during the christmas holidays to get some stuff from my to-do list checked off!