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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.

Today marks a bit of a milestone: the 240Z frame / Body / Shell is more or less completed. The rollbar and all the accessories (optional passenger foot bar, etc.) are fitted. And all the panels are installed: The car got new floorpanes, new front inner fenders, rear quarters, rear inner and outer wheel wells, new frame rails, new inner and outer side steps, new roof, a complete new rear-end, new seat-rail mounts, and much more. Many small areas like alle the little brackets got fixed and rectified. I think i can say the car is as rust-free as possible. In the next few photos, you can find some details of how the rollcage was installed, as some were intersted how i installed it. I hope i got it right and close to the factory setup. Welds from the bottom side: Bolts from the other side (inside the inner rear wheel well): So now? They'll deliver the car back to my own workshop, so i can install all the locks, spacers, rubber-dampers, trim, etc. before it goes back for final gap-adjustment and to get the sideline into the doors, etc. Once the car is back in my place, i'll take a closer look at it and share the photos with you. On the first glimpse i'm very happy with their work. but there are still some areas to fine-tune and i'm sure we forgot some small things which i will figure out once the car is back in my place. Meanwhile the next project is already waiting at their shop. A one of four known-to-still-exist Bentley Airline. Something in a slightly different category with wood frame and all.

Great, thanks for sharing. I wasn't even aware this exists. It seems to be more or less the english version of the japanese book shown above, covering the same topics and differential types (R and H versions). Luckily i just found an english hardcopy version for sale and grabbed it. But also the digital version will be very helpful so long. Hat tip for the input to you guys. You just got to love this community 🙂

THanks for you rinput guys, i appreciate a lot. I will try my best and take my time. Also i have the original FSM and the japanese Differential service manual, so i will also try to follow the step-by-step guidance in there.

Over the easter holidays, i had some hours time to work on my project again. First thing i noticed on the Subie R180 Diff, which i bought recently, was that it most probably got painted at some point. A quick scrub with the wire brush made the original silver surface appear again: Same on the Propeller shaft flange: Then it was about time to remove the nasty grease and dirt buildup around the seals: And then give the whole housing a healthy two-hours of wire-wheel peeling: Right: Original Datsun diff, left: Subie diff. Notice the different flange adapters: Surprzingly, the datsun part came off quite easy. While the subie thingy required a puller tool setup. Worked well though: Here we are now. ready to get seals replaced. further cleaning, rust-protection repaint and then assembly everything. Hope i find time again soon to finish this part.

Just a very quick update from the Bodyshop: I got some photos of the Mizukami Auto OEM optional rollbar replica testfit: Looks good on the first glimpse, but i will go and check out the car close-up in two weeks and see the progress on the other bodywork too.

This weekend i was at a swiss Archive place of automotive history. The source of many Experts which judge historic cars and make the FIVA ID cards (hsitoric vehicle authenticity proof), etc.. A very nice place. I was suprised however to find a book about Nissan where goertz has signed the cover during a visit. I forgot to take a photo, sadly, but will visit again. Obviously the experts (in this case they were judges and cars-selectors at all the major global concours d'elegance, so they definitely have some knowledge about historic cars and designers, but the usual lack of japanese cars knowledge) had the opinion that Goerzt designed the 240Z. I collected a few documents to tell them the truth. During my hunt for a few things to prove it, i realized that the original signed letter by Nissan has never been broadly published. Only a transcript of it, without theofficial header, signature, etc. So here we go. It can be found in the german book "Autos die geschichte machen - Datsun Nissan Z-ZX-ZXT" I wouldn't say the book covers the story fully correct, but at least the copy of the original letter is nice: Special thanks to Florian for reminding me where i can find it in my documents 🙂 Also Florian has researched a lot on this topic and you can find all about Goertz and the Z (and involvment in other cars he claimed to be his design) on his special readworthy website only about this topic: http://www.graf-goertz.de/

Today i got a special delivery from Japan with some rare NOS items. I've never been actively searching for these, since i knew they're sold for astronomic prices and are no different from what i already have. But then this nice set popped up for a fair price, so i had to get it of course. 1) A NOS NISMO 10 anniversary steering wheel. It's a factory re-issue from 1884 from the Datsun / Nissan Competition steering wheel, to celebrate the 10 year anniversary of NISMO. 2) A NOS NISMO 10th annivesrary shift knob of the same origin. what make the two NISMO parts a bit special are the fact that they come in the orignal box / Packing and have never been installed before. 3) Additionally i got a nice NOS Choke cable today, which my man Stefan has been storing for me since a while and today we finally met to swap some parts. Thanks mate! 4) And i also got a bunch of taillight panel plastic clips. which i realized were missing and the previous owner put some sheet metal screws there instead. Those are important for my panelbeater to make the right holes and align the rear-end in the bodyshop. Luckily those were still available from Nissan.

So, today i had to bring the bodyshop some parts to adjust the fitment and panel gabs of some areasy and got the chance to check out the latest progress. First the outer LH wheel arch got fitted: At the moment they're working on reinstalling the OEM rear quarter panel: And t hey also created and installed those Floor pan reinforcment panels that came on the cars originally: Now i got some homework: According to the parts manual, the taillight panels are installed with plastic rivets. The upper panel around the trunk lock came without holes. If i look at thetaillight panels the holes seem to be way to big for plastic rivets and i remember that one had metals crews installed. so it was probably a hack-job done by a previous owner. Before we start to drill holes, i'd like to know the original hole size both in the taillight panel and the trunk lock panel. can anybody help me with these numbers? It would be highly appreciated, so we can get this car back to Factory specification. Thanks and cheers.

You can find him on facebook and instagram: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61553353143010 Thanks guys for the link. i will consider this one. Appreciate your inputs a lot.

Recently i saw a new manufacturer "Eingeered 3D" Pop up, which sells these 240Z reproduction fuseboxes. Long-time owners know that the original tends to melt in some areas where fuses might cause overheating due to bad connectinos or moddifications over the years. so i had planned to restore mine to avoid such failures in the future. When i saw this kit for sale, i thought i'd give it a try and see which route i go. The kit is a three piece set and each one can be bought individually. the Bottom plastic part, the clear top cover with the prints and the two-piece lock button clip: The quality and fitment is great, but the surface (especially of the button clip) is a bit rough and seems more of a 3D print than the original plastic injection molding. Also the black base piece has some kind of structure which the original one doesnt have. Maybe it can be sanded away, but it seems like a bit of work to geth the completely flat original surface. I'm not sure yet if i'm going to use it, but nevertheless, it's nice tht somebody came up with such a product after all.

So, with the recent progress on the chassis and body, i thought it's time to kickstart some long-pending projects. One thing i had in mind for a while was to fix the differntial. It was not really broken but i never liked the red colour which the previous owner applied to it everywhere. also the upper plug was completely stuck, there were some strange rubber bumper-things added in some places, the breather vent was closed with some kind of wax or whatever this was and the mean seal was leaking. It's an original European 3.9 R180 Open Differential as standard on all 5-speed Manual Z's (= all european spec cars). I thought when putting in the work anyway, why not upgrade to a limited slip? First of all i disassembled the old one to confirm it's a 39:10, to see what shape the internals were in. I thought i'd give it a test to remove paint with paint stripper from the diff cover. that worked out, but somehow the metal below looked strange. like the outer layer had chipped off, or someone had added a silver layer of powedercoat. I thought i better not use it on the car. At the end, i found a good Subaru Clutch type R180 "K" LSD differential for a reasonable price. so i thought i just go for the whole swap. It's from a WRX STI, and also an 3.9, because it's considered the best "all round" ratio for a street driven Euro-spec 5-speed transmission setup. The only thing you need to do is to install some drive shaft adapters, and swap the propeller shaft flange. Of cour'se it's recommended to replace all the seals and stuff while at it anyway. Left Subaru LSD, right side Original Datsun (Hitachi) Open differential: You can see the big "K" on the Subaru differential which usually differentiates the Subaru diffs from the datsun ones. I also collected various parts. And had bought a cheap kit in the past, so i have all the parts to get them both back together. The subaru one will get the full treatment with all the OEM parts and Keamari drive shaft adapters. The Original Datsun one will get the cheap parts treatment, just to make sure it doesn't leak while in storage. Here's a closer look at the subie diff, Kameari shaft adapters and the NOS parts: And here the original / Repladed parts and additionally some cheap seals. I hope i find some time to get it done soon. I also plan to repaint the Subaru diff, while at it anyway, but need to see how to do this best, first. And i have some more exciting news soon.

Indeed. Nowadays they're sought after cars, but back then they were just cheap and fun sports cars. So most youngsters who got one of those secondhand didn't invest much for repairs and had it done cheaply. If you look closesly at the rear quarter in the background on this photo, you also see the approx 2cm thick layer of Bondo that was applied on the outside of the rear quarter after a repair:

Last week i got a blurry photo from my Panelbeater, asking me to visit them again, since they had revamped work in my Car. I thought the probably had done a few welds and wanted to discuss the next steps. I couldn't have been more wrong. When i turned up, i quickly realized they had been quitely working on the car for the last few weeks and made huge progress! The car even got it's own dedicated workspace now in another building, which they set up only to finish the project without having to move stuff around all the time. They have increased the manpower and got a new teamleader and they seem to push things a bit now. Which i'm more than happy to see. So today i realized they had completely replaced the outer and inner side steps on the RH side. The previous Bodyshop already did this once, but he made all the panels himself since no good replacements were available back then. Since the new green KVF panels are much closer to the original ones (and strangely fit much better on this side than they did on the other side), they replaced it all again and improvad a few areas. On the RH side, the floorpans were finished and the seat rails installed back. They also installed the Japanese Footrest, which is designed for RHD cars, but also fits nice on LHD ones. On my input they also installed the OEM-style "reinforcement-cups" (thanks for showing me these, guys!), on the opposing side of the floorpan. The marked area got fixed later. The previous bodyshop had cut it for whatever reason (probably to install the floorpans) and never fnished it properly. The original battery tray was not too bad, but a bit messed up to be fair, so they replaced this one too. (picture still shows the old one): They also realized that the previous panelbeater has done a bad job around the Fuel filler area, so they reconstructed everything from scratch. You can tell quite a bit of work went into this. (and they also re-did the whole inner part from scratch!). The cas filler door now closes very flush: Aside from a dozen of small areas (which are super time consuming), they also prepared my replacement NOS rear quarter panel, as the original one had a ton of bondo and filler on it from pevious rust repairs. They fixed a transport-damage dent, closed the US-spec rear side-marker hole and modified the C-pillar Vent / logo area from "Series 1" to the newer version. Here is the C-pillar air vent outlet which they removed from the original rear quarter (see hole and bondo on the original rear quarter in the background) and installed on the new quarter panel: The new taillight cover clips and mounts got installed: Then the big work began: The roof skin transplantation. Since the original frame was quite good, they just sanded it down and painted it with rust protection and went for a skin-only replacement, which makes sense. I think one should only cut down the original structure if absolutely necessary. Then they went to work at the rear quarter. It was in quite good shape underneath, so they just cleaned it, removed some surface rust and painted it with rust-protection as well. The Outer wheel arch however was a different story. You can see how many repairs happened here in the history of the car. Almost like the rings on a tree... This is the master at Work when i just arrived. you can see the roof is ready to get welded back in, and the rear quarter subframe has also been prepared. Next up is the replacement of the wheel arch before the quarter panel goes back in. After that it looks "finished" but then the Rollcage needs to go in and all the small cosmetic details and gaps need to be aligned and fixed so it will take some time Also the original bodylines, which a previous owner "cleaned" need to be hammered back in. All these little details require a lot of work and skilled masters of their craft. but will be well worth the result. Maybe not financially. but the fact i am "saving" a messed up car and bring it back to original glory is worth more to me. I'm super excited about the progress and really looking forward to my next visit mid march after they return back from their well deserved skiing-holidays. Oh and i have some exciting news from my side too. so stay tuned for another nice update this week.

Over the past few weeks, i collected random parts from various sellers, which were up for sale cheap or which i was looking for specifically for my build. Let's have a closer look. First of all, Some nice parts for the airbox restauration (Stickers and SU-carb insulators): Then also got a bunch of OEM Bulbs for the dome light: Had to test if my restored dome light works nicely with the new bulb, which it does. Excellent. Found a set of Print "Cliches"- Those are basically negatives used in a print-press back in the days: Will also work nicely as stamps, if you want so 🙂 Also got this OEM NOS Brake repair kit. It only list Skylines and the Laurel C130 on the mark, but i double checked th enumber and it should also fit the S30: Then i got two steelies, which were almost for free. I probably won't use them on my car, but since i already had two, i have a full set now, which makes it easier to sell them, and or use them. The Production date also fits, so that's a pro. You can see the on ein the picture is slightly dented, but easy to repair. Then: Got this super-wobbly OEM front spoiler. It was only 20 bucks and not sure if it is salvageble. But i think a pro might maybe fix it with some warm temperature and bending, but let's see. The reason why i bought it, is because it's probably the only one which i've ever seen where the mounts are not Corroded (yet) inside the rubber and has bloated it up. I'm not sure yet what i've going to do with this, but i thought i better secure it, as those original lips have become rare. Even if i don't need it, it makes a funky looking moustache at my garage wall 🙂 Oh and also got these books. The left one from ebay (which cought my interest because of the euro spec Z on the cover), and the right one from my Mate Florian. While flipping through the book on the left (which came from america), had this photo inside from the previous owner of the book. On the back it was noted that it was taken at Christmas 1998 🙂

After the successful restauration of the dome light, i thought i need another project. I opened a random storage bn and the first thing that fell into my hands was the Airbox. I'm not even sure if i'm going to use the OEM airbox on the finished car. but i thought it's going to be a fun project anyway. This is how it started: Afte disassembling it, i quickly went through my various parts collection boxes and found a NOS filter (still in box) and a NOS rubber seal for the airbox. The original SU / Hitachi Carb insulators were quite brittly and disappeared once you touched them: At first glance i thought it was just dirty, so i gave it a quick wash. Then i quickly realized that there are many black dots on the "snorkel" that are baked in. Not sure if this is tar from the road, oil stains or some attemt of a "on-the-car" spray paint job. I also ralized that there are some corroded areas, but nothing that can't be fixed. While it was drying, i went through my collection of re-plated fasteners and found some of the fasteners in a nicer, shinier version. It's damn handy to have boxes full of Z-bolts which have been replated. Aside from the corrosion, there was a damage to the snorkel. Not sure when or how that happened. but aside from looking ugly, it also didn't allow the flap to close completely or evenly. So i used my very limited metal hammering skills to get it straight again. Not this is a mid-process photo, that dent on the bottom right side got corrected later too. Now the flaps closes nicely again (tent still not fixed). After realizing that the rubbers are all toast, and the housing needs a repaint / powdercoat anyway, i decided to remove everything and then get some replacement. This is it for part one. More updates will follow. meanwhile i wait for the delivery of some parts Since i need to take it to the paintshop, i will probably postpone the rest of the project a bit until it fits the timeline with other parts that need to be painted.

No, the contact cleaner spray was only used for the switch and not on the wire connecting contacts. To clean the wire connector contacts, i used 1. A brass wire brush to get rid of the worst surface rust and corrosion, 2. Then used the "Metarex" Metal clean and polish wool to get rid of the remaining dirt (this stuff is incredible!). 3. Towel to clean of the dirt and dust from 1. and 2. 4: Contact cleaning strips to get rid of the remaining fluids and stuff from 1-3 and give it a protecive layer with low electric contact resistance.

Regular readers may have noticed that i haven't actually restored anything from my 240Z in a while. Well the reasons were various, but it's time to change that again. I thought i start with a simple part which i had prepared to get done since a while. The interieur dome light: From the outside it was mainly dirty and scratched, and on the backside you could see the contacts and the bulb metal parts were corroded: So first i took it apart The bulb fell apart immdiately without even touching it: First i gave everything a gentle clean in warm soap-water and tried to avoud water coming close to the switch: Next it was time to pull out me secret weapons. I've got an electronics repair background and over the years i've gained a lot of experience which tools and fluids work the best. Here are a selection of my all-time favourites. Which i all used for this project: - Kontakt 60: Contact cleaning solvent (I used it a bit on the switch) - Metarex. Some kind of wool fabric soaked in a metal polish fluid. You rip off a piece and clean your metal surfaces without scratches. - Contact cleaning strips: Perfect to clean corroded electronic contacts (after corrosion is removed with a brush) - Novus plastic cleaning and polish kit. Removes larger and smaller scratches from plastic surfaces and lets you get it back nice and glossy again. After i cleaned and polished everything and had removed the corrosion with a wire brush, i checked the switch, just to ensure it works fine. Which it luckily did. Probably i should test it BEFORE i do all the work, next time. And then assembled it all back together. IKI Japan Dome light switch from the 240Z in all it's glory. Btw. Also found a production date stamp (i guess?) of 3 / 71 on the lamp housing. So it was produced almost a year befor the car got registered in switzerland. While most of the other parts in the car have a production date from end of 1971. It seems like those dome lights were produced in larger batches and then stored before being used. And here the backside with the fresh cleaned contacts. Now i only need to get myself a new bulb. which shouldn't be a big problem. Now i need to find my next project. I missed actually "finishing" something 🙂

Hmm You're right, of course. I don't know why i had the L20 on my mind all the time. The model guide clearly shows L24 and the mentioned model:

It's done! After a few weeks of tinkering around i had it finished. Well, actually, quite a while ago. But it's finally time to show you some details. The kit took me approx 2 weeks of work every evening 1-2 hours. it's not too much of work, and pretty straightforward. the Manual is idiot-proof despite being in Japanese it's easy to make. The difficulty level is so-so. It will be tricky if you never used a screwdriver before. But for me, who didn't really have any experience with such kits it was doable. In my case the previous owner messed up a few things which i had to fix. The kit is intended to be only installed with screws (no glue!) but in some cases, it was nessecary to add some glue to make it more fixed. Some of the parts require quite some force to be installed, while being fragile at the same time. I broke 2 small things, but nothing a bit of superglue could'nt fix. At the end it's a super detailed model car of a Japanese Fairlady Z (with L20 engine). There is light, door light switches, brake pedal switches, many controls are movable (heater control knobs!), and it's pretty much close to the original car, from the chassis frames to all the engine bay and interieur details, it's absolutely incredible. It's a super fun project and well worth the hours spent: Here arew a few details. Frame rails and front axle with steering rack installed: All the lovely details of the L20 engine (yeah, you have to install every ignition wire manually!) Rolling chassis with transmission Propshaft and engine installed: Time for the interieur: Here's an example of all the details. the battery alone is for e.g. 17 Parts: And completed: Or look at the hood hinge: Incredibly close to the original design 12 screws for one hinge alone!! Some parts, like the door lock is as tiny as this: The window have an actual working crank mechanism: Body completed: Time to put it all together: This part was a bit tricky: Batteries for the interieur, headlights, brake lights, etc: And done, including the nice display stand: The interieur is really lovely: And all the details in the engine bay: The tools and towel that came with the kit (original tool pouch got lost by the previous owner): The spare screws, which are leftover at the end (each screw comes with at least one spare): It's not going to be my hobby and i had to swear more than once, but at the end it was a super fun project with a really nice result. And the magazines, dvd's and the car itself are well worth it.

I got myself the encyclopedia of japanese cars the "a quet greatness" books: They cover all the bigger and smaller brands and are written by some well known japense car collectors Brinker and vernis As an S30 owner I'm espeically happy to see many rare and nice photos and a big chunk of one book dedicated to the Fairlady Z and 240Z: And the PS-30 get's it's fare share too, Since one of the authors owns a real Z432: It's limited to 1000 pieces, and not exactly cheap, but definitely worth for the real enthusiast and collector of japanese cars. thousands of beautiful photos, quite well researched and covering anything from the Autozam AZ-1 to the Zagato Autech Stelvio 🙂

Haha yes ST 174-20.001 Kent Moore Timing chain wedge, wood 🙂 Last week i got offered another bunch of parts from a seller which i've bought parts from before. His packages usually contain a lot of mystery parts from other generation Z's, some random Z memorabilia and then some really nice and rare bits for my project in a package deal. This time was no different and the parts arrived today. The lot incldued two very nice hubcaps and two pretty worn ones: A bunch of NOS parts and refurbished ones. I was told the switch with cable on the top center is a "Joker" switch for those blind spots in the center console. I have to figure that out and confirm it first. One of the most important parts for me definitly is the Handbrake divider thing, which was still mising in my parts so far and that "Datsun" horn button on the top left (no brand, but i guess it's aftermarket) which might be nice to fit to one of my aftermarket steering wheels. A set of random new and re-plated fasteners. Some which i can immediately identify as S30, some remain a mystery. Also not all of them are in very good condition despite being replated and beyond usage. But that's no problem, i have most of those parts either new or in refurbished good condition and will just keep them as "spares" in my nuts and bolts box 🙂 The set also included a newer "Option" Magazine about the fairlady Z, which included a starroad tuned S30 and a Car with the Datsunworks Crossflow head. And then this metal model of an 1932 Datsun. The box looks old but i wasn't able to see a manufacturer at my quick first look and i've seen a few of those for sale over the year. anyway. Nice to have in my diecast-corner. And then some other bits and pieces which might or might not be useful at some point of the restauration. that 260Z (i think) center cap is absolutely mint, so i will probably put it up for sale and that bob sharp keychain is definitely nice, at the end it might look like a useless lot of random parts, but from my experience you can never have a good enough diversity of all those small bits and pieces, because i assure you that definitely one of these small little bastards will miss during your assembly and that 50cent item is blocking your assembly for weeks. I have a few nice documents coming in soon, plan to visit another seller soon and also hope to have a visit to the bodyshop again soon. Stay tuned

A while ago i finally saw something for sale which i've been searching for years. And even in Photo form i have only ever seen two of those. The only problem - it is a 6 hour drive away. Well today i spent more or less the whole day driving to middle of germany and back to pick this up: The thing i bought was the Datsun workshop tools from the mid 70ties. It's quite an interesting setup. It's basically a printed foil by a company called "Genku" on a Perforated sheet metal plate. It seems that you could probably buy the foil with the tools as a kit, but you had to put it somewhere yourself, because the foil and the sheet metal don't align 100%. The tools are diveded in 4 sections (from left to right): Motor, Front axle, Rear Axle and Drivetrain. Anyway it was mostly complete with a few bits missing. and then plenty of nice extra tools (Valve spring tool?!) which i didn't have yet and will come in handy. The tools are not all exclusively for the Z but some are. It came from this little former 70ies Datsun Workshop, but the other (the dad of the seller) decided to switch to motorcycle and bicycle repairs in the early 80ies, because he couldn't fulfil the showroom demands from the car companies. Since then the tool wall hung mostly untouched on the same wall. The tools however are labelled with "Kent-Moore" but have the original Datsun part numbers on it. Every tool also has such a kind of sticker on it from the original purchase (Similar to datsun / Nissan spare parts back then): Funny enough i got a "Kent-moore" Datgsun special service tools book / Catalogue a while ago, and i also own the original Datsun / Nissan tool catalogue. so i will definitly do a bit of page-flipping to find out exactly which cars and work each tool is intended for. To my surpries the seller also found a pair of very cool, (child sized) datsun workshop jackets in an old workshop locker, which he gifted to me. These are so rare and almost unused condition, of course i gave him some extra money for those. My guess is That the Owner got those for his kids to "help" him in the workshop. That used to be a pretty common practice, before parents got overprotective and started to keep kids away from all the fun (and danger) of a workshop. At the end he also pulled out a box of random Castrol 70ies / 80ies PR-stuff like stickers and oil-change tags. so if course i grabbed a few. The seller was a bit sad to see his childhood and his dads (who passed a way a while ago) life being sold, but i promised to give it a good home, take care nicely and send him some updates when it's all at it's new place in my garage. That seemed to make him happy and me too. I will definitely try to find the perfect spot for it in my garage or workshop in the coming weeks. I love to meet these kind of people, the stories behind the stuff they have and why they sell it. it makes a 6 hour car drive to pick up some tools worth it even more. Stay tuned. I have plans to pick up another bunch of parts tomorrow after work 🙂

When i recently talked to Florian at Datsun-autowerk.com/. he reminded me of his stock of nice parts, and we made an exchange deal of some things. So i got this nice delivery of NOS (New-old-Stock) parts today, and some extra: It includes a set of inner and outer door handles: Various Door stoppers, hatch stoppers, door lock mounts, etc.: A heater valve and a clutch Cylinder piston: Inner door steps, Door seals, some rubber stoppers and seals: And it also included a nice Japanese Real-X 1/72 300ZX Z31 Model car (thanks for the freebie, mate!) And also a set of nice Japense market Fairlady Z brochures, which were still missing in my collection! Thanks as usual for the excellent service, mate! And stay tuned. another nice Parts delivery is on the way, i bought some more Documents from Datsun Switzerland, and on sunday i will pick up something Cool for the Datsun fans, which i've been searching for for quite some years. And i guess i should visit the bodyshop again soon to check out the progress there.