inline6

I am getting ready to "sand blast" (using Black Diamond coal slag instead of sand) most of the parts in my list above. Before I do the frames of the seats, I have a question, if anyone following my thread can help. what should the orientation of these pointed metal clips be? Should they be straightened? I have not put on upholstery before. It seems like they should be straight to start with, and after you puncture the upholster, then you tap them down at about 90 degrees to grip the upholster? I'd like to get the orientation right before I sand blast.

Found a post about the colors on the springs. Thanks @KatZ. I don't know if I am reading this correctly. So the two springs with one white mark only are rear springs for my car - HLS30. Looks like the part number is 55020-E4102. The front springs are the two with blue... I don't know what is different between the two. Perhaps the free length?

I located all of the following parts today, pulled them out of boxes and gave them a good look. Some needed a bit of filing... this and that - nothing major. The plan is to sandblast almost all of these items in a day, and prime and paint them the next day. There may be a few exceptions. For example, the seat backs are just thin sheet metal. Also, the torsion springs for the hood have some really durable paint on them - paint that laughed at lacquer thinner. I have never seen that before. But it clearly is paint. They are pock marked from road debris on their front sides, but not their backsides. A few other, more fragile pieces will get bead blasted instead. Anyway, if you see anything that is supposed to be black which is missing from my list, please say something. anti-roll bar anti-roll bar mounting brackets anti-roll bar mounting reinforcement plates battery upper frame brake booster brake booster one way valve mounting bracket brake pedal clutch pedal clutch slave cylinder differential belt arrestor strap brackets differential case differential front flange to driveshaft differential front crossmember - diff and front suspension mount differential rear mount - mustache bar differential rear mount - mustache bar washers with bonded rubber differential rubber isolator mount - front driveshaft engine mounting brackets engine mounting isolators engine oil pan front ball joints front brake backing plates front compression rods front control arms front crossmember front strut springs front strut upper mounts front strut upper spring seats front struts front tow hooks front wheel hubs gas pedal gas tank gas tank securing straps handbrake handle assembly (partial) hatch gas lift support bracket hood pull bracket hood tension rods inner front fender supports left and right air vent pull brackets lower dash mount brackets to tunnel pedal box (already painted) radiator rear axle shaft - inner flange to differential rear axle shaft - outer flange to axle/hub rear axle shafts rear brake backing plates rear strut housings rear strut springs rear strut upper mounts rear strut upper spring seat rear suspension brackets - control arms to vertical supports rear suspension control arms rear suspension crossmember - rear suspension mount rear suspension vertical supports rear tow hooks rear wheel axle/hubs seat backs upper seat frames lower steering knuckles steering rack housing steering rack mounting brackets steering rack stop bracket steering shaft with u-joint tie rod ends - outer transmission mount transmission mounting isolator Some pics: Surface rust removed from rear hubs by glass beading. Nice to see so little rust damage (first two pics). Plate behind hubs has an interesting grey coating (pic 3 and 4): Differential stub axles received no paint from the factory (pics 4 and 5): Stock springs... I need to search to determine what these paint marks mean. I recall something about location on the car... First pair: Second pair: I am taking note of different amounts of gloss on the various pieces. The dash vent control knob brackets are pretty glossy compared to the lower dash mounting brackets (pic 1). Most parts have a gloss level like this gas pedal, shiny, but not super shiny. (pic 2). Gas tank straps were originally gloss black (pic 3): More parts that were glossy but not very: transmission mount bracket (pic 1), seat back - note florescent light reflection is "dull" (pic 2), heater core (pic 3): Some interesting pics - the seat adjuster brackets seem to have been sprayed with a coat and this "spritzed" with another to give them a bit of texture: Steering rack securing brackets have interesting paint marks on them: Near the beginning of this restoration, I experimented with painting some parts black using different amounts of "flattening agent". The plan for most of these parts will be to utilized 10% to knock the gloss down. I have a suspicion that the flattening agent takes a few minutes to "work in". This pedal box was shot without any flattening agent, the steering rod has 10% and the mustache bar has 20 or 30%, can't remember which, but it is too much. I am looking forward to getting all these parts stripped and painted.

I am interested to see what you find. I am not quite following what you mean by "I noticed it was pouring in under the vinyl on the rear shock towers." Can you elaborate? My contribution, for what it is worth: I found that brand new tail light gaskets did not seal air tight on my first Z. The tail lights commonly develop waves in the mounting flange, so that where the flange contacts the body there are ripples. When I installed new gaskets and bolted the tail lights in place, I didn't give it a second thought. However, what was probably a few years later, when I was chasing the source of exhaust smell, I pulled the left tail light and saw "exhaust staining" on the paint under the where the gasket met the body. Looking closer, there were clearly air gaps between the body and the gasket. So, I put some 3/4" wide, 1/4 or 3/8 deep closed cell foam rubber weather strip on the body of the car where the gasket sits, and then bolted the tail light (with factory gasket still in place) to the car. This made a notable difference in the exhaust smell. It did not eliminate it, but I didn't do the same treatment to the right side tail light (still - many years later now). And the car I am talking about has hatch vents, so I assume there will always be a bit of exhaust smell when I drive with only one window down. The other thing worth mentioning is while I thought my hatch sealed all the way around on my car, I found out it did not by observing snow melting off of the car. After a light snow, the car was parked and heating up in the sun. I noticed that snow melted at the gap between the hatch and quarter panel on each side of the hatch panel in areas about 6-10 inches back from top edge of the hatch panel. It was apparent that heated air from inside of the car was escaping there and caused the snow to melt. Testing with small bits of paper, I confirmed that the panel was not touching the main hatch weather strip at those locations (only for a few inches). Those are what I found when I went looking. The car I am restoring now has vents on the quarter panels instead. When it comes time to do the assembly, I'll be investigating the same areas closely and addressing any issues I find.

It's a 1995 - Avus blue with black interior - US spec.

Thanks Charles. It feels good to do something other than bodywork. Today I changed the oil in a couple of my other cars (the GT3 and M3). For right now, it feels like everything is easy compared to bodywork!

Well... I have reached a milestone in the restoration, delivering the car to the painter on Friday. It was a mad rush at the end. For the last two weeks, I spent every spare minute I had trying to get through my punch list. I fell behind on the tasks I had outlined for each day, and even taking Thursday off from work to power through, I was still at it until 3 am on Friday morning. I got a couple of hours of sleep and was back up at 6 and back working on the car at 7 am. Another 3 hours later and then I called it "done" when the truck and trailer to take the car to the painter arrived. Finding a painter was difficult, and it will be expensive. I understand now why many take on even that part of the project themselves. In the late 80's and in the 90's, in my hometown I grew up in, it was easy for me to find someone who was willing to spray a car for a few hundred dollars. I was not as fortunate this time around. There is a saying or variants of a saying that "It pays to know people". Myself, having moved to GA somewhat recently in 2011, and generally not being the type of person that makes a lot of contacts, I simply don't know a lot of people or businesses here. But, I have a few, and my friend John put me in touch with the place that will paint the car. While it will be expensive, I know at least that the remaining body work and paint will be done right. And, I am relieved that I do not have to spend any more time on bodywork on this car. It has taken an incredible amount of my time over the last 2 years. Pictures taken at the painter: I was in a rush, so I didn't take many pictures of assembly, but I took a few: Now the painter has my punch list and anything they find in addition. They will be sending me some paint cards so I can have a look firsthand at what 901 silver is before I commit to it. If it is too grey for me, I might go with orange. Or green... or blue. 🙂

Interesting. Thanks for sharing that.

We still have solvent based paint available here in the US. However, I will want to see what Glasurit 901 looks like with clear on it as a baseline. I like the lighter silver color of my other Z better personally. It will be interesting to see a sample or samples my painter will provide. Lots of variables to be sure.

Metallic is visible on the inside of my lid in the video.

What are your thoughts on the impact of this on silver vs the other original 1971 colors? Do you think silver is more impacted by base coat clear coat than the solid colors?

Here is a 240Z that was on Bring a Trailer a while back - it had original paint. https://bringatrailer.com/listing/1971-datsun-240z-205/ Perhaps the paint on the inside of my tool door is not representative of the actual color. I will have the paint shop spray some 901 on a paint card so I can see a sample of it before I commit.

As I am a week away from taking the car to the painter, I find myself looking online at silver 240z's. Examining the original factory 901 silver on the inside of my tool door, I am having difficulty many of the cars I see online which have been painted "901" silver. While lighting can certainly play a role, is it possible that some people take a bit of liberty with silver - and choose something a bit less grey? For example, my other Z is silver too. Just - not 901 silver:

Well - the long version is in the 21 page document - LOL. The short version is that I want them to spray silver on top of the undercoat, but not to full coverage. I want to replicate how the factory did it. So, lots of direct spray on rear fender wells and some on the front fender wells, and some on the floor and spare tire well.

Getting so close to handing the car over for painting - I am very excited to finish this phase of the restoration. I've written up painting instructions for the place that will be painting the car. Many reference pictures included, but even so, it is 21 pages long!!!!! Link included there if any of you would like to check it out. My punch list is going to be challenging to get through by bedtime on the 12th. Hoping I don't run into any unforeseen issues. A quick walk around video: Sometime this week, or this weekend, I plan to bolt on the custom wheeled sub assemblies I made and take it off the rotisserie. I'll post some videos going around the car with some silicone and wax remover sprayed on to have a final look at the quality of the body work.

I have been motivated to put in more hours last weekend and this weekend. My deadline for finishing the body work is the night of Feb 12 when I go to bed. Little things here and there are getting addressed along with final wet sanding. One of the things I noticed a while back is that the sound deadening mats are supposed to have rounded corners at the luggage strap bolt down location and at the mid point. Took care of that: Another thing I have been needing to do is make some block off plates for the holes that were cut in the firewall for the dealer installed AC. I made some plates and tack welded them in, then sealed with seam sealer. This way, if I decide to add AC later, it will be pretty easy to knock these plates out. Tomorrow, I will be shooting the entire exterior with a couple more coats of primer. Sanding from this point forward will be 600 grit or finer.

I found some similar boots when I searched for RC boat parts like this on eBay.

I have this belief that, generally speaking, successful selling and buying should be getting easier, not more difficult. If I had to source parts by dealing with local club members, or my local community, I am afraid it would cost me more and take me longer, and actually, I doubt I could source everything I need. It is apparent to me that the classifieds section of our forum is not a hot location to look for parts. But why is that the case? It seems to me that it has a couple of advantages over other options. For example, there are no seller fees, which is like 12.9% of the sale price on eBay.

Yes.

Regarding the block, I have found that in some cases, you just have to request Jauce to look into it, and it will become unblocked. In other words, just because it says it may not be shipped internationally, doesn't mean that is actually the case. I was able to buy a couple of items recently that were both blocked for the same reason, initially. Price is what it is. Maybe another one will come along, or somebody here may have a used one to sell for less.

Got lucky with this purchase this morning - a NOS hatch lock! And it comes with two of the old style keys! I bought a lock from Kuwait recently for a Cedric that came with two of these keys. Using a lock tumbler kit, I started rekeying my locks (which is not difficult). And now, this comes along. 🙂 Sometimes this happens: I buy one thing to solve a need (need two old style OEM keys), and then find a better deal that solves another (hatch cylinder even after re-keying was quite worn). So, now, I will have two sets of these old style keys, but a new hatch cylinder without wear (and no need to have the lock cylinder outer sleeve re-chromed). I also was able to find another Datsun tumbler kit. This one has the ignition switch tumblers.

Cool!

Is this that mirror? https://www.jauce.com/auction/d1077956240

Is this you, Bob? https://skagit.craigslist.org/pts/d/oak-harbor-datsun-240z-260z-280z/7569354926.html Many Z items from this seller in the Skagit, WA on CL... I've tried to reach about these washers, but no response.

Hubcaps have arrived - these have been on my list for a very long time! Thanks Hank!