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I've been hunting for Datsun parts again recently and found some cool stuff that ended up with me. Yesterday i visited a nice guy. He was one of the two founders of the East switzerland Datsun Z-Club back in the days. I originally went there to pick up this beautiful two-sided Datsun sign: He told me he picked it up from a dealership in Vienna (Austria). It needs a bit of TLC. but it's definitely one of the coolest Datsun signs i have seen, with the multicoloured 3D shape, nice mounting bracket and so on. While there anyway, i bought myself a few other items that he had up for sale. This one is an original FIA approved "Datsun" Racing suit, which was previously owned and used by Guus van der Bol, a dutch racing driver. Through my contacts in NL, it was confirmed by himself, that this was indeed his old suit! How cool is that?! Here is a Photo of him at the 2008 Eifel Rallye (Germany) with his Safari Rallye Tribute Car. From what i undestand the Suit was sold together with the Car, and the Team who bought the car, then sold off the suit. The owner also had a few NOS panels and an Euro spec front bumper in mint shape, so i had to bring it home, As my original front bumpers are either heavily bent or have rusty brackets, So this one will come in handy. And after talking a bit about his past, the Club and the Z-scene in switzerland, he gifted me some stickers from the old (now defunct) Datsun east-switzerland Fairlady-Z club, and a medal, which they had made for attendees of a Z-meeting which they organized in (i think) 1986. Quite cool, and goes well with my collection of other vintage swiss z-club stickers and memorabilia: Then there is this guy who always offers me a bit of a "mixed bag" of small parts. There is usually a lot of crap with it, but then you can never have too many small bits and pieces. At some point it's always handy to have this "scrap box" full of random parts. Not all the items are usually from the S30 generation Z (he used to brake down and refurbish all kind of early Z-cars), so you have to be careful to not misunderstand the parts. But then these lots usually come with a few very hard-to-find items which have saved a "quick job" more than once and usually the lots also includes a few NOS parts, which make up for the price. The Majority of the items are NOS or near-new / excellent refurbished (replated) condition. Some are in less-good shape, tbh. But it's also good to have a reference or trial-piece on hand. After all it's always fun to puzzle around with these bits and pieces and figure out where they belong too. I don't know all of them, but meanwhile i'd say i can tell pretty quickly which part goes on which area of the car. Then i got this fuel pump bracket (more on that soon). Which i had to test-fit on the car directly. Not bolts are only temporary for testing (ie not correct ones). But i have to say - it looks damn good!. Expect a lenghty Tech-post about electric fuel pumps on this website soon. That's it for now. By the end of the month, a nice pallette full of goodies should arrive here from Japan and i hope during christmas-holidays i find some time to work on the car again.

I'm doing a full "nut and Bolt" / "Bare shell" restauration, so why not "improve" a few points here and there? I'm not sure how useful it is at the end but it will be nice and fun nontheless 🙂

No, not really, why?

Recently i started researching a bit into the 240Z / fairlady Z fuel system topic and decided to write a knowledge post about some details. For that i found this "240Z / 260Z Fuel system "Modificaiton plus" book very useful. I know it's widely available online in digital form, but i found a cheap printed copy, so i decided to get it for my archives: The book is about a special "V-3 modification" programme that was executed in the US of A in the mid 70ies. Along with this i also ordered some NOS parts from nissan (mechanical fuel pump block-off plate / gasket / bolts) for a little project which you've going to see more about here very soon.

Damn, you have good eyes 🙂 Haha, yeah i didn't have any high expectations either. But the fact that it was officially Nissan approved made me have some hope that it's maybe better than some of the other books. Nevertheless. it will end up in my "junk" section of Z-books (which is the Majority of those books, tbh). Funny enough Flo asked the guys at Nissan germany for some press info regarding the Z and got some clearly wrongly-labelled photos from their archives). I guess this book was proof read (or not) by Nissan USA and hot any historian at NMC in JP. I keep buying and reading these books for fun's sake, but always take them with a big pinch of salt.

Over the past weeks i collected a bunch of S30 related books again which were missing in my collection. Let's ahve a look at them from top left to bottom right. 1. The japanese "gods of Fairlady Z" magazine, which covers all kind of special Japanese Fairlady Z cars. My favourite part was the LY engine details. 2. Japanese "Racing on" Mook (Magazine book) edition 504, which covers the Nissan Z cars in race and rallye sports back in the day and shows the car and some of the details. there's also an interview with racing legends like Pete brock among others. 3. the Datsun USA Collision estimating book. It's not Z-specific but covers many Datsun models, including the S30 and S130 chassis. It's basically a price list of parts that had to be commonly replaced after a collision / Damage and given to workshop and insurrances, so they can calculate the cost of repair. 4. Umm yeah. the next is the Nissan 50th anniversary Nissan Z book.Probably one of the later books about the Z. Obviously it covers all versions from the beginning. Iti ncludes a foreword by Hitoshi Uemura, and is nicely designed. I still have to read it in-depth. but so far it doesn't look like you find a lot of relevant history in there, but just an overview of all models, special versions and some background info. That doesn't mean it's any bad either. 5. A similar book is this one from Japan. An official Nissan licensed 50th anniversary Fairlady Z book, by Yutaka katamyama and Yoshihiko Matsuo. I still have to go through it but i looks very nice. This one is also available in a non limited edition. The one i got comes with a printed Signature Card by Mr. K and a hand signed card by Matsuo. Also it comes in a nice hardcover and cardboard box sleeve. it's limited to 300 pieces so i'm happy i found one at a reasonable price. Also thanks to my buddy Stefan who sent me a picture of this from Japan! 6) Speaking of nice japanese cardboard-covered books. I alrady had the fairlady I and fairlady II books, but part three (the ZX sensation) was always missing. Since they're not S30 related i never wanted to spend a lot of money on it. But somehow i always had the feeling i should complete the three-book set. So when i recently stumbled across one of those for a good price, i had to get it. 7. Oh and then i got some nice Kameari catalogues (sorry, all are gone already) from Japan: 8. And i found another vintage Datsun switzerland sticker, which i had to get for my collection 🙂 That's it. I hope for some work on the car again soon.

Hey Alan, it was definitely great to see you again too! Thanks for your offer. I'm currently in touch with a local guy who might have a NOS Panel, but if not i'm happily coming back to you. Thanks a lot!

During my recent work at the front fender areas, i realized that the corner where the headlight buckets go on the driver side must have had a hit at some point and the panel was slightly bent backwards: I started to enjoy bearing metal panels with a hammer recently, so i got myself a proper hammer and dolly and started to hammer it straight. Worked out pretty well and i'm happy i didn't have to pay a bodyshop for another 30minutes of work. While doing bodywork anyway, i thought it's time to test-fit the rear bumper. I didn't want to mess up my NOS bumper mounts (i'll save them for the final assembly). I realized that my old ones were pretty messed up. A bit of hammering and bending and things started to look usable Then i recut the threads because the bolts wouldn't fit with the thic coat of primer that ended up in the holes: And last but not least i put some rust-converter on the straightened brackets and installed them on the rear. But i forgot to take photos of that. Then i got a bunch of panels in questionable condition from germany. What is special about those front lower valances you ask? Three of them are specific for European spec cars, with the additional mounting points for the euro-spec front spoiler: Here you can see them with my (very wobbly) front lip: I once had a NOS one, but it seems i sold it a while ago (back then i thought i'd go for the xenon front bumper anyway). and now i hate myself for it. Luckily one of the corner valances seemed to be half-NOS. It still had the original protective black primer and sticker on it, but it also had a bit of rust and remaints of a front bumper that was once attached to it. BTW: those EU-spec corner valances have a closed hole for the turn signals (we got the ones mounted on top of the front bumper) and again holes at the bottom for the front lip: Well. it took me a few minutes to get those rusty old bolts out, but now i have again a complete (albait the center part is not very fresh) set of EU-spec lower valances. Oh and a sea-freight pallette with some nice parts left the Port in Japan last week. so i hope in a few weeks i can show you some nice parts... And then, recently i iwas at a very nice S30 related event in the netherlands (more about that very soon). And there i got some nice gifts. Read more about it here: https://www.jdmjunkies.ch/wordpress/2024-10-26/240z-some-gifts-from-the-netherlands/

Recently i found that a seller in Japan was selling three of the Sports option / Competition / NISMO heat shields for the Mikuni triple carbs. which is there to prevent heat from the exhaust manifold going to the carbs / intake. The price was super fair and they seemed to be without corrosion, so i bought two of them just to be on the safe side: The thing with blind online-buy's is you never really know what you get. In this case they looked good. the silver one had been welded previously, but nothing that can't be cleaned. The strange thing was however as soon as i touched it, i had silver paint on my fingers. It seems it was just a rattle-can fix done previously. Nevertheless, they're still both in very usable shape and nothing a bit of cleaning and plating / painting can't fix. I currently have a set of triple Mikuni 40PHH's in stock for th eproject, but i have also a set of 44's in Japan waiting to be shipped with some other parts. so even though it all needs some work, at least i have a complete set now in very restorable condition and that all for a really fair price despite what things are going for today. Here's an exceprt from the japanese sports option catalogue showing the heat shield and the two part numbrs. Not sure what the cover is though. prably just some kind of insulating pad that went on the shield? after looking closer to mine, it seems like they have a cracked additional pad layer on it. Will need to figure this out in detail.

Found another hour to work on my car. and one thing on the to-do list was the rubber mud flaps that are installed inside the fender in below the metal mud guards. Another little detail that is missing on many cars, as they have been simply removed and not replaced on many cars over the year: Here we go: On the LH fender (Similar to the RH one). some previous owner "cleaned" the Fender emblem holes. which was a common practice back then. On the RH side i tried to drill the holes based on some measures i had previously made, but it proved to be not 100% perfect. so this time i decided to use the color stencil method by getting the approximate position marked on the fender by measures. And thenn getting the 100% correct spacing by adding oil color paint to the pins and then pressing it to the fender, like a stencil. here's the result (ignore the old marking i have made previously, they were quite wrong). After that i got my holes drilled. The 4th hole, which is slightly lower than the three mounting holes, is there from factory, and i believe it's to drain moisture that is cought behind the emblem that's why it's at the lowest point of the emblem. Also rust protection primer added. And here we go. I haven't pushed the emblem in completely, because i'd remove it again immediately. Also i will probably use the european "Datsun" instead of the "Fairlady Z" emblems. Good thing is they use the exactly same holes. Then installed the LH fender back on. the front end work is progressing slowly but steadily: Maybe it's just me, but i think the Z looks so much cooler with the original long stalk Fender mirrors: So overall i was able to tick another few tasks from my bodywork to-do list. still plenty of work, but getting there and it's fun to see some progress.

Yeah. i got a bunch of books again, from vairous sources. The top left (lower one in the next photo) is a french book generally about "heroic" japanese cars from 1960 to 1975 and has it's own chapter about the Z-variants. Nothing new, but nicely written with plenty of photos. My french is quite limited so i don't understand everything, but anyway. i found it for two bucks online, so i had to have it. Same for the upper one in the following picture. A german book about japanese cars from 1912 to 1992, it is less a book about certain cars, but more about Automotive Companies, and the industrial history in general in Japan. and also has a broad section of facts and figures about many, many cars. I still have to read it, but it makes a pretty good impression on the first glimpse. The bottom right is the October 1974 Service bulletin issue 216 "hints in servicing the Nissan Air conditionier. which i will use to update some details in the big S30 Aircon Knowledge post soon, which i released recently. And then i got the Japanese Z-4 Service Bulletin from October 1971, which introduces the HS30 Models and mentions changes of the S30 and PS30 models. Obviously it has some details about the HS30 cars including the G-Nose HS30-H models, but also some other details which are useful for upcoming knowledge posts which i'm working on.

So over the recent days i found some minutes here and there to get some work done. First i had to remove the Fenders To install the Splash guards: (Rubber pieces still need to be installed: At that point i also realized that the bodyshop was nice enough to remove the factory brackets / Spacers between the air channel and fender. They thought since they were missing on the "original" (= not so original) chassis, it needs to be removed. At least they were nice enough to give it to me, so it's easy to weld them back. Next up was the hood locking mechanism: And upper one: Then it was about time to install the fender mirrors. I used the JDM Fairlady Z symetric template from JDM-Car-Parts Drilled the holes Did a super-shady primer job (just temporary rust protection for the new-cut holes: And here we go: A set of NOS JDM Fairlady Z Long stalk fender mirrors installed. At this point i also realized that the area where the headlight bucket is installed on the RH side has a strange bend. probably from a previous hit? Anyway, i'll sort that out next time. I still need to do some details on the fenders before they go back on temporarly, but another few to-do's can now be checked off from my list. What else? Oh i always loved this and finally managed to find a reasonably priced "Datsun Saves" Can, plus an original 80ies Advertizement from a Playboy magazine 🙂 Then got this lovely Motorhead Coffee table book collection it's mainly about 90ies skylines and the tuners like HKS and so on, but covers their story very well back to their beginning I mainly bought it because it also covers the history of Japans oldest Alloy wheel maker (besides RS Watanabe), which is Enkei, who made the OEM wheels on my EK9, and Bride Jp, but also the story behind the OS-Giken TC24B1 and TC16 engines, with some beautiful fotos and History from the factory. Did you know that OS-giken raced the TC24B1 in the USA with Nobuhiro "Monster" Tajima (of later Suzuki pikes peak hillclimb fame) at the wheel? I wasn't aware of that and i think that's pretty damn cool. Oh and i'm currently working on a huge knowledge Post about the Z's audio system / radios, so i got an original Hitachi factory operation and service Manual for the AM/FM radio via some friends of mine from back in the days when i repaired those things. Expect an in-depth analysis of the circuit design and loads of details about the Z-specific radios in the coming months. I'm still collecting and researching all the details and i need some time to figure out all those options and details.

The 240Z / S30 Center console is in many cases broken or has been "modified" over the years, but until now there was no good replacement. At least not to my knowledge. JDM-Car-Parts had a limited run of hand made items, but they never reproduced them again. Since all of mine had a certain damage, i was always looking for a good replacement. After having being really happy with the Resurrected Classics front grille, i recently saw they now also released a Center console that fits my 1972 car, so i got myself one. The overall shape and fitment seems very good. i found some smal, hardly noticeable imperfections, but then realized you'll also find those on the OEM center consoles. On the inside they're stlightly different, mainly because the fastening points are made from reinforced, milled plastic bits, rather than small fastener-points, which often brake: They claim that the material and pattern is like OEM, but it's somewhat different. the rear one is the Resurrected Classics one and the front two are OEM. First of all the OEM are full had plastic, while the RC one seems to be some plastic, covered in some kind of vinyl. It feels soft, almost like a modern, slightly padded center console. And as you can see it's pretty glossy, got some kind of blue-ish coloue touch and feels different. The fact that it's probably the only reproduction at the moment, makes it ovciously the best one, but i'm almost sure that soon another manufacturer will come up with a reproduction closer to OEM. However overall i'm pretty happy and it will do for the time being, unless i find an OEM on ein good condition... Oh, and i got some more of those stickers. And the seller added those to the package, which are nice:

I've been shopping again recently and today a lot of packages arrived. First, i found some original "Datsun Genuine Spare parts" stickers in switzerland. I always wanted those, but i never came across them. These seem to be original vintage stickers. as they have some wear marks and the material feels old. also the color is slightly faded on one sticker. Recently i also came across a set of original Datsun color sample charts. Even though not 240Z related, i like to collect those, because they're rare and don't pop up often. I already own some (see here), but these will add to my collection. So new in are charts for the 100A / 120A, 160J / 140J, 260C / 200C, 180B / 160B. Recently i also found a nice set of Nissan "Sports option catalogues" in Japan. I already own a few of those, but the whole lot was a nice find, so i made sure i get them. The Z432-R is specially rare and some of the others were missing. I think my collection is pretty complete now... For those who don't know. These are basically the pre-NISMO era Option / Competition parts offerings from the Factory, back in the day. Some deals take a bit longer, and i've been working to get this lot for quite a few months, but thanks to my man Rob, i finally got the parts today. It's a NOS parts lot, including many rare rubber and plastic parts in good shape. All the small things you don't find very often and are good to have! The lot included: A set of front and rear bumper rubbers: A upper and lower hood lock set, and a set of rear quarter window rubbers Various dust boots, O-rings, a Fuel tank rubber insulator and a Handbrake rod: A set of rear bumper mounts (which i need right now) and the rear strut top covers: And a slightly used but very good condition OEM water pump, which i got for my friend, since he was looking for one: Overall not the largest lot of NOS parts i ever bought, but definitely a quality one! The seller also showed me some photos of a magazine which he recenty acquired. Road Rat no 17. Issue. It's a beautiful coffe table book with stories road trips etc around japanese (car) culture. Nothing Z-related really, but genererally about some japanese collectors cars, great photos and definitely worth a look for those who like high quality images and something to read on a rainy day! It was sold out on the publishers website, but luckily a swiss company still sells them (worldwide) I also got a bunch of excess Datsun 240Z Steering wheel mounts (see here for details😞 And this TechnoVersions diff mount. I don't think i will use it, but a friend ordered some and i made sure i get one just-in-case 🙂 I still have two deliveries pending and one sea-freight pallette in Japan in preparation, so there will be more to show soon. Overall im pretty happy and excited that the parts allow me to work on a few things that were on hold.

The repeating theme of this build is definitely "two steps forward, one step back". Whenever i start to work on something, i realize there is much more work required than expected. Remember that nasty weld on the LH Door upper front in the previous post? I thought it just needs a bit of an attack with an angle grinder and some rust protectino primer. Well - once i started grinding, i realized it was a pretty cheap repair from the past, and once some of the covering layers were ground down completely, rust appeared underneath. So it seems like it was just a simple "patch-up" work rather then a proper repair. It's just a small area and i expect it to be no big deal for the bodyshop to fix, but yeah, another small little area with an hour or two of paid labour required. Even if it's only a small area, which most people wouldn't be able to see, it would hurt my heart to just leave it like that. Also it would be just a matter of years before rust bubbles appear in that area. so better fix it now! I kept up my motivation and decided to install the hood tension rods instead (yeah, i thought i'll sand them only before they go to the paintshop). Before: And after: It honestly took me a minute to figure out how this al goes in, but then it was a fairly easy install, even with the hood and hinges already installed: Now i can work with the hood open safely again and do not need any supporting bars or anything and don't have to fear it falling on my head. Obviously, the hood allignment from the bodyshop is completely off now with the tension rods installed. thats why i do this - so it can be aligned and corrected PRIOR to painting. Next i hope to be able to work on the front fender area. some smal tasks are pending there 🙂

Today it's all about the details. I finally found some time to work on the 240Z project again. I wanted to install the door frames but while looking at that area, i noticed the drip rails were a bit messy. Therwe was some surface rust in the unprotected areas and the rail itself was a bit bumpy. So first i got out my trustworthy hammer and a piece of wood to straighten it Nect i decided to whire-weel the entire area to remove the remaining surface rust and old primer which probably covered some more. You can clearly see this area had some rust in the past, which is not uncommon: After that i gave it a good shot of rust-protection chassis primer: So now it's straight, clean and protected. Time to get back to what i had originally planned. quickly install the door frames. Well for some reason, things didn't really line-up. i quickly realized that one of the holes semed off, as there was no way to move the frame further in the direction of the hole. It even had an "extension" which seems to be done in the factory. I didn't really like it so i removed the exess metal and cleaned it (right foto doesn't show the finished solution) plus added primer. Also not sure about that other nasty weld. i might want to clean it to calm down my OCD. Not even sure if it's from factory or not. it's barely visible when the door is installed. During the installation i also noticed that the upper door skin part didnt really seem to be straight: Nothing a bit of directional force with a hammer can't solve. (note these are just dummy door frames for alignment, i will use NOS ones so i don't care if i sprayed primer on them *lol*) And here we go, both door frames are in: Another thing to check off from my task list. And a new one to add (that nasty weld) PS. Sorry for all Photos being 16:9. Not sure how this happened

Yoiu were probably as excited as me to see big and regular updates now that the car is back from the bodyshop. Truth is I have a lot of work and i'm in the final phase of some massive projects which have been going on tor two years at my work. The good thing is, in about two weeks these should be completed and i can go back to my Daily business and should have more time for my project. Nevertheless, i found some minutes here and there to get some stuff done in the recent weeks. 1) The first thing i did is clean some welds and primer all unprotected areas in rust protection weldable primer: I might have gone a bit overboard, but yeah, better safe than sorry. 2) I started preparing the spare Trunk spoiler by sanding it down back to shape and giving it a test fit on the trunk. 3) Test-fit the front grille hood emblem and front bumper. 4) Did some rear-end test fit mock up 5) Also got a bunch of nice magazines from Japan 6) and got basically gifted this nice NOS cigarette lighter from a good friend, but still need to check if it's the correct one for the Z. 7) I also managed to get the old nissan FAST / E-Fast software running again on my computer. so i can look up parts and stuff: 😎 I hope i can go back to work on my cars and drive them in about two weeks. so far this is the to-do list for the body: Oh and i'm also negotiating about a litle Parts lot which i hope i can get. let's see. expect a bit of silence in the next 2-3 weeks, but i hope i can get back full-on after that!

If things turn out well, i have the great honour to meet a few very special Z-related People in a few weeks. For this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, i thought it would be nice to have them sign a part of the Z. Either it will end up in the car or i'll hang it somewhere on the wall. For that i came to the conclusion that the best part would be the glove box door lid, so i decided to prepare on of them properly: First i removed the back cover, locking mechanism and hinge etc from the plastic front cover: With some gentle heat and some soft hammer-taps, the logo came out too: As you can see the surface had plenty of dirt and some mild scratches and fading: So first it was time for a proper wash: Then it was time for a proper plastic clean with my trustworthy "Novus" plastic repair kit: I used Stage 2 for light scratches and stage 3 (clean and polish). To further reduce fading, i decided to pull out the heat gun and use my old "heat treatment" trick (see here) The one big flaw in the middle is still viseble slighty, but ither it's a bigger damage or a manufacturing flaw and i't only visible under the right light. the overall rsult is quite good. So i'll have it (and the gold paint pen) ready to have a special signature on soon, hopefully.

So now that the car is back at my shop. I thought i'd do a little inspection of all the details, to check if i see any need for rework in some areas. Overall i'm super happy. they did the best, especially since they have never seen a 240Z in their shop before my project. Some areas need a bit of work, and the first task of me will be to cover all the bare-metal spaces in rust-protection primer. They wanted to do it but when the trailer was available they weren't able to finish it, so instead they left me two cans of primer to do it myself. I'm happy if i don't have to pay them for something i can easily do myself. And considering it will be a few months in my workshop before going back for the final adjustment, it's a must to protect it against new corrosion. I don't want to describe every photo in detail, so here's just a gallery with random details. On this side the body line has been hammered back in already by the previous bodyshop: Optional footrest reinforcement, as on the japanese cars (that weld needs a bit of a cleanup, to satisfy my OCD). Luckily something i can easily correct) Floorpan reinforcement brackets on the rear, as on the original cars: That's it. I'm now in the mock-up phase of the car, where i have to prepare and test-fit everything and i'll show you some updates soon.

I guess you're right, because i found thin leftovers strips of the KFV panels in the scrap metal box 🙂

Thanks. On the other side previous panelbeater already did it by hammering it back in by hand, as far as i unerstand. I guess it's tricky to stretch shrinked metal again. probably they have to pre-heat it. We'll see when it's back at the shop 🙂 I thought it was worth taking the time to lay everything on the floor for a quick snap. The car looks still more or less the same then it did a few years ago, but now all the details are better and there is no more rust. I still think it's incredible how many parts were replaced 😁 Yeah i guess so. I think they did it this way to cover up the welds from the previous bodyshop and give it the OEM look. Honestly i don't know exactly how they did it, but the results are great. If you ask me.

Those who follow my Instagram already might have noted that the 240Z ist back at my home. The bodyshop have speed up things to "finish" phase 1 of the bodywork. As far as my limited knowledge goes, i have to say they did an excellent job. They spent quite some time getting everything right, finding the required information and aligning with me, whenever needed. Here are some random photos of the process, which i haven't shown you yet: Floorpan replacement passenger side (2nd time, after the first bodyshop messed it up and with the new KFV panels): Done, with footrest installed: Roof installed and dents removed: New fuel lid flap surrounding area (the old lid would not line up with the body, since the previous bodyshop messed something up): US rear side marker holes closed for correct euro-spec look: One of the many random small areas which they had to fix.. Lower door area got a rust repair: Overall all these small little areas took up 600 hours of work. The project is far beyond reasonable, but i still like the idea to properly safe and restore a "rare" euro spec car back to former glory. This is the current state at the Bodyshop: you can see the side bodyline is still missing in the fender and door (previous owner thought it was nice to "clean" it. But Front end body assembled: Yesterday i got it delivered back in a nice closed trailer: Now it's finally back in my workshop Just in case you wonder: These are all (except the rear end and Passenger side front end) Parts that got replaced on the car. So it's safe to say that aroun 50% of the body has been replaced within the last 5 years. But that was worth it. Now the body is almost back to factory spec. May task is now to install all the rubbers, bumpers, spacers, hinges, remaining panels etc, to bring it back to the bodyshop to have the panel gaps adjusted, the side bodyline hammered back in and maybe fix some areas which don't fit. I'll do a walkaround of the car in the coming days and post it here. and i've already started installing some items. so expect some updates soon.

So since i'm working on the R180 diff, a some nice people here pointed out that there's a special Service manual for this. Luckily one was available for sale just that time, along with another book which i saw recently and was missing in my 240Z reading collection: The differential service guide is an Datsun USA made service manual for various R- and H- Differentials by Datsun and is brilliant. It explains the working priciple, the differences of the manuals and obviously, the service. it comes with calculation tables for settings and a lot of background information about the various diff. It's basically an englisih translation of the original Nissan JP factory differential service manual. But it being english makes it much more convenient to understand 🙂 Registered ClassicZcar users can download a digital copy of the english version for free here: https://www.classiczcars.com/articles/engine/differntial-manual-r115/ The second book which i bought, was a Z-book i haven't seen before. The "Dastsun Z Series - the Complete story" by David G Styles. It made me especially curious because the writer was an Englishman, and the cover features an Euro-Spec Z, so my hope was that there was a bit of a focus on the european cars and market, compared to the usual American / Japanese focus. Well i was wrong. It's honestly pretty much bull****. A LOT of the usual (false) Goertz praise for his achievments, a lot of design comparison to Jaguars and Ferraris 250 GTO and really nothing new or interesting when it came to the design, development, production or testing of the cars. Even though the writer mentions a lot of japanese sources on the first pages, it seems that the Japanese had no big influence on this book and rarely (if at all) a japanese name gets dropped. I didn't expect much, but at the end it wasn't even able to fullfill that. Nevertheless, one more for the "nonsense" section of books in my shelve.

Very interesting photo. thanks for sharing. I've never seen such an installation before. It also seems that in your case the bar itself has been welded to the bracket, which is obviously more rigid comparded to the original detachable design. Thanks for your inputs, i appreciate a lot. Here is the example i took for reference. Rear installation plates are welded in, upper ones are only "laid on" (No visible welds or bolts): The Mizukami rollbar claims that it's close to the original design but has some modifications for easier installation and better fitment. The upper side mounting brackets come with the three holes for the inner wheel well bolts you mention. and including the three bolts on each side: This (terribly google translated) installation manual from the Factory race and rallye preparation "yellow book" shows that the also the upper mounts should get welded, if i get that right. As shown in the Photo by Alan. Unfortunately it is not very well visible in the upper left (black) picture how it is installed, but if i look at the picture in the original Print, it seems to be welded, as in Alans photo. Anyway, as Alan mentioned, i think there were different ways to install those and everybody came up with their own solution. Many probably never had or didn't read the intsallation manual either. Overall the fitment of the Mizukami rollbar is very nice, and i like the way they designed it. I guess it's close enough to the original design to convice the MoT guy to approve it as an original rollbar. Otherwise it can be quickly removed by it's smart design. Overall i like it a lot. If you want to have it closer to the original design you can of course close the three holes and weld the bottom plate to the inner wheel well, that should fix the main difference.

My original Front grille was a bit bent in some areas, had rusted bolts and the original outer vertical brackets were beyond repair. I really tried my best to save it, but somehow the results never really fulfilled my expectations. The vertical Aluminum brackets were worn out, i wasn't able to find the long mounting bolts in an original look and it all felt very fragile and "loose" when assembled. So when i recently stumbled across the resurrected classics reproduction grille, i thought i'd give it a try. Today it arrived, so lets' have a closer look at it vs the OEM grille. On the first glimpse lit looks very good, down to all the small details. like the bends and shapes of the edges on the fins, down to the way it's assembled with that long bolt in the vertical brackets. Also those mounting brakets on the side are very close to the original ones: The main difference is that this one is made of all-steel, whil the original is made out of steel fins with aluminum vertical brackets. I didn't weight them, but holding them in the hands at the same time, i couldn't really feel any huge difference as the main weight is in the steel fins anyway. Another small difference is that the original outer mounting brackets are originally riveted to the vertical aluminum brackets, while here they are spotwelded (since here everything is from steel). It's of course not original, but it gives it a smoother look and more rigidity. Also note the square vs oval mounting hole of the bracket. As you may know, the grille came in different shapes over the years. I have this odd one where the top three fins are long (as usual) but then the 4th is extra-short, for whatever reasons, before the three regular short ones come. I think i will cut my resurrected grille with a dremel tool to get the original look. So far this seems to be a pretty solid alternative to the original damaged grille. I know there are other replicas, and used original ones to buy, but this looks like a good solution to me. The few grams in extra-weight and the minimal visual differences to the original will most probably never be spotted by anyone, while the improved rigidity and absence of rust definitely make up for it. Once the Car is back in my workshop, i have to test-fit it and see how it looks and fits and if i'll shorten that 4th fin.