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The rest of my parts have been plated - yay! The parts which are yellow are likely to be much more shiny than the finish from the factory. I think they came out quite nice though. Not sure why, but a couple of the hard lines got bent pretty significantly. I think I'll be able to straighten them out, but will likely have to wait until they are ready to go back on the car so I can see how they need to be bent to fix them.

I sanded for about 8 hours today. Most of the left side of the car is straight. The right side is not quite to the same quality just yet. I hope that 3 more coats of high build primer in the low spots will be enough to bring the surface up to where it needs to be. I feel like I am closing in on finishing the bodywork - which means I might only have another 50 hours to go! 🤣

And now the hood, which is very close to being done.

Bodywork is once again under way. In this video, I am checking for unwanted undulations in the surface of the outer panel of the door. With a large panel like this, it can be difficult to get it perfectly flat. I am finding that a suitably coarse grit of sandpaper has to be used (I am using 240 grit) and movement of the sanding block as the area is sanded must cross over from high point to high point "bridging" them. Sanding high points down, and filling low points (with more primer in my case) is how I will resolve the undesired distortion that can be seen in the lower half of this door panel.

I'm trying to achieve nearly "perfect panels" on the 240z I am restoring. I had many months where I couldn't move forward because the hardware was off to be plated. Recently, I received the fender bolts, washers, etc. So, I have mounted the fenders. I used close cell foam in the locations that the factory used foam strips on the inner fender support and backside of the fender. Interestingly, this weather stripping caused the flat expanse of the fender behind the front wheel wheel to bow out slightly. Something I have learned with these cars is that the sheet metal "moves" in various areas, either from foam supports behind, or from tightening down the fasteners. I absolutely do not recommend doing bodywork on the fenders or cowl panel while off the car. A couple of videos showing the latest progress:

Yes, it is some of the benefit from my car being from AZ originally and kept in a garage in CO for 28 years after that which allowed my clips to survive. Some clips are available in the aftermarket - just fyi as options: Ebay auction 6 for $32.95 and free shipping Vintage Rubber $35 for 12 of them if the page will load for you (it was not fully for me) Datsun Garage (or sub-vendor) $6 something each

Some actual assembly has occurred. It's been almost four years since I bought the car, and so much of my time has been spent tearing it down, stripping, sanding, etc., but I finally got to put something back on the car! Pics showing the repainted driver side inner fender support, rubber seal to seal against the inside of the fender, along with original clips to hold it in place, and pics of newly plated outer fender hardware: I I'm not sure why the factory put a flexible sealer along the top edge of the pinch weld on the inner fender area, but I replicated it as best I could. It is interesting to note that underneath the old material was bare metal. I scrapped it away and used wax and silicone remover to clean the area. I then used Eastwood Flexible Strip Caulk to replicate the original. I added as many strips as were needed and then hand formed them together in one solid mass to cover up the pinch weld area (third pic is the finished product): Interestingly, you can see that the original material got pushed downward where the clip is located (see third pic here): Something I did that is a bit different than factory - I added some double sided 3m tape so that the rubber seal would be more securely fastened than would be otherwise with just the little "s" clips. In the third pic, you can see the caulk was displaced in a similar way when I pushed the clip "home" into position. The seal doesn't do a particularly good job of sealing the "upper shelf" area from dirt and debris coming from in the wheel well area, but it helps. Maybe with this 3M product the sealing occurring here will be slightly improved. Pic of the product I used, and rubber seal installed.

I guess I have taken a pretty long break. Looking back over the last couple of months, the progress has been little and the updates few. I have, however, been waiting on some hardware to be plated, and quite bit of it showed up on Saturday! I spent many hours on my living room floor hunting down fasteners using my spreadsheet and ruler, and putting them back into their respective zip lock bags with labels which identify where they go on the car. I have many hours to go! None of the larger parts have come back yet, but I was in desperate need of the fasteners for the hood, hood hinge plates, fenders, inner fender supports, cowl, inspection doors, and hatch hinges. Especially for the inner fender supports and the fenders, I am proceeding with my plan to do final assembly before paint, meaning these parts will not be coming off the car when it goes to the booth for paint - nor after. Final primer coats, sanding, etc. will be done with all fasteners torqued to spec. The inner fender supports and foam rubber seals push on the fenders when the fenders are bolted in place. The fender panels, therefore, "move" a little when bolted down. To get them as straight as possible, I need them fully secured when doing final sanding. So, here are a few pics. I am pleased with how most everything I have received looks. Part of what is special about this car is how little rust it had. That carries over to the fasteners as well. For me, there is substantial value here when it comes to the fasteners because they haven't suffered the rust pitting that many do. The olive drab doesn't match the factory color well, but it looks pretty nice as the only reasonable alternative I think. I didn't send anything else to get that color - I missed including a couple small brackets, but those look ok as original anyway. Only a small number of bolts do not look as shiny as I would prefer. And for some reason, hex nuts came out exceedingly shiny. I am hopeful that the large parts will come out nice.

Nice - I like that you got the matching plate in place there too.

Haha!!! And here is another point that I would like to add to this discussion. I knew about the repro mirrors. I absolutely intend on buying one within the next 4-8 months. Getting back to this another point, however... Who else who would like to have one, but doesn't know they are available? If everyone who would like to have one knew of their availability, and could raise their hands to identify them as such, would the decision to invest in reproducing them have been easier? Would the cost of them come down? I contend that the efficiency of the market isn't what it should be. Pricing is too varied. And information is more imperfect than it should be. At this point in the history of the internet, it should be far easier to find out what is available, and to determine what is a good price for it.

Thanks. It is similar to my favorite toy from my childhood - a Remote Control car I had when I was 12: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1j8jiEC7IjXTNtWj_4ekyiU77dE3rFqWe/view?usp=sharing

It's been too long since I provided an update! Well, I have worked on the car very little in the last month. I was sick for a couple of weeks with a cold (or Covid19 - who knows) and also injured my wrist in a soccer game (I'm a keeper 😛), and it has been pretty dang cold, so I haven't been spending many hours in the garage. I also was busy (and stressed) with the process of buying another car to add to my collection, however it is not a Datsun, so it might not be interesting to y'all. Its a P car, so if you have interest: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/11TKy03xPCheKGSkzxDvpRYW0BNLmyCSn?usp=sharing Steve at Precision ran into some equipment issues, so plating the parts has suffered a delay. Hope that the parts are being plated soon. With warmer weather arriving and delivery of plated parts imminent, progress should resume soon.

I thought so. I commented about one that was on ebay a month or two back - I think it sold for around $19k (not running). $50k for the one above is not a bargain. But, if you want a rare 240z, it is rare.

Is blue on blue the rarest combination for cars delivered to the US?

Did Paul ever drive this car? It doesn't say in the eBay description, but my first memory of attending auto racing was Summit Point, WV in about 1975, and I think I recall him being there at that time. And, I do remember seeing the red white and blue Datsuns. I was 5 at that time.

Good points. Profit is important. There are lots of factors for sure. And yeah, some of those remanufactured starters are garbage. One of the touted benefits of capitalism is that it is dynamic. Generally speaking, market opportunities will be found and filled with solutions better than the other economic and political systems. In my opinion, another benefit should be better relative market efficiency. I think Amazon is a good example of that. On the whole, they have made purchasing things easier/cheaper/better/faster or some combination. What I find odd, speaking back and more directly to buying parts for Datsuns, is that I have to spend so much time looking (on the internet) through "garbage" product offers (availability/price/shipping cost/time for delivery) to get to the ones that are "good". The market efficiency that I believe should be there (nearly three decades after the internet became a thing) is lacking. I think that is true of more than parts for our old Datsuns, but for purposes of discussion, Datsun parts are a fine example.

Let's have a look at a water pump as an exercise. Original part number: 21010-E3026. Part number supersedes to 21010-P7589, which is discontinued, no longer available from the dealers in the US. Looking for info on original manufacturers, I came across this thread here on our forum: The Aisin part number is WPN-013. The Aisin has the cast impeller. Looking around online, I found many options, and as expected, pricing was all over the place. Here are are few: 15.89 Euros plus shipping: This one from Motorsport Auto may or may not have it - it is a "premium" water pump - no indication of brand. While pictures aren't always guaranteed to be accurate, "Autopartsgeek" offers on eBay an ITM pump which appears to have a cast impeller for $32 US with free shipping. Rockauto has a couple out of their several options which, according to the pictures, have cast impellers. This "Airtex" is $16.40 US plus shipping. Their price on the Aisin pump is $23.70 US plus shipping. As is typically the case, I find that even the same brand pump (such as the Aisin wpn13) varies in price considerably. And of course, if you look at the more comprehensive list of options, you see even more variation. Take this one for example: Isn't that nice?

I have been an avid Datsun enthusiast for several decades now. I have accumulated a ridiculous number of hours looking for parts. I've probably logged thousands of hours on Ebay. I have search Craigslist, even utilizing special Google searches to search different locations across Craigslist nationwide. I have "searched" Facebook, joined Facebook groups specializing in Datsun... I have searched Google high and low. I have found various sites that sell Datsun parts. I have looked through as well as searched many of those sites which I found via Google. I have used Datsun forums, their classified sections, etc. I have used Datsun car clubs, contacts I made via those clubs... I have used Datsun forums, and their classifieds. I am a Datsun parts searching expert. I am sure many of your are as well. So, I'd like to throw a few questions out to fellow Datsun part seeking experts and amateurs alike and see what y'all think. I realize that pricing is a pretty big topic. So, I think a bit more restriction of the discussion would be helpful. Let's not talk about used parts. Let's not talk about parts which are new, but are quite probably if not for sure discontinued and no longer available. Let's just talk about new parts which are not backordered. I think the scope can include aftermarket parts, as long as these are commonly available from more than one vendor (and orders can be fulfilled). And the scope can include OEM Nissan parts, which are brand new, and available from Nissan of North America. Why are prices of these new parts, in this day and age of the internet, so wildly varying from one vendor to the next or from one dealer to the next? Take for example, OEM Datsun parts which are still available as one classification. Why the hell is there such a wide range of pricing for the same readily available part? Are the people pricing them at much higher prices than others idiots? Ignorant? Both? Or, are they the smart ones?

I heard from Steve at Precision Plating yesterday. They will be plating my parts in about a week. I am excited to get them back soon and hope they look amazing.

Yikes 🥶. That car looks to have had an extensive going over, and the quality doesn't seem to be worthy of the price to me. But what do I know?

I am happy for you - job well done. It is nice to see hard work, and wisdom with regard to hiring a photographer, editing the video, etc. pay off for you.

I had today off from work, so I worked on adjusting the tail light panel to make the trim panels and license light fit better. A straight edge laid across the hatch latch opening revealed a slight gap on the left side. Because the top panel of the tail light panel is not flat, I used sections of flat bar and a good quality C clamp to persuade the low spot upward. The hole just to the left of the flat bar in the third pic is the license light (left) mounting hole. After raising that up, I had improved things by about 1/32". I reinstalled the license light and the measurements on each side were equal. Unfortunately, I still had a gap between the license light assembly and the left tail light panel (first pic). The right side still fit nicely (second pic). Given that the license light was level, I pointed my attention at the left tail light panel. A little work with hammer and dolly and the "ledge" was brought downward to meet the license light assembly (third pic): Here is the license light assembly after finishing the fitting work: Next, I turned my attention to the bottom of the three trim panels. I measured the depth of the middle license panel at the left, center, and right - the right side was pushed in by 2 mm compared to the left and middle. So, I had to work a bit on the "stand off" to which the right side of the license panel secures. It was still not 100% right, even with the work I had done on it originally (it was squashed a bit when the car was hit). I was able to straighten it out the needed amount so that the depth readings were the same: left, middle, and right. Finally, I test fit the hatch and looked at the gaps at the top and bottom of the three panels: The fitting of all these bits took many hours, however, I think I finally have it. Next, I will pic back up on filler work on the tail light panel and get that looking really nice.

Picking up on the tail light panel, I applied some filler and worked further on the tail light trim panel fit. I also got out the new old stock (nos) license light assembly to check its fit. I am glad I did because I have a fit problem. I did not expect it, but better to find out now than after paint. It is wise to check panel fit as body work is done, especially in areas that it is known that a car was damaged. This is a new learning for me that I discovered during the restoration of this car. Using a bright LCD light at a 90 degree angle helps show high and low areas: The tail light trim panels are pretty flimsy pieces of metal, generally speaking. Over 50 years, they likely have taken some abuse and therefore, it is a really good idea to get them to fit perfectly before covering them (and the car) in paint. The gap between the right panel (first pic just below) and the quarter panel (right edge) is a tad narrower than the same gap on the left panel to the quarter panel. Also, it is hard to see (third pic just below), but the bottom edge of the three trim panels (left, right, and license) does not stay in line with the sheet metal on the car. In the center, the body of the car sticks out a bit more than on the two ends. Because this car was hit in the rear lightly, I am checking all of the fit and adjusting. These two pics are of the left and right side of the center, license plate trim panel. There are small sheet metal stand offs that locate the bottom of the panel away from the body. A .5 mm difference was measured - so I need to adjust it. While I am at it, I want to make sure the gap around the left, bottom and right edges of the three panels is as uniform as possible. The left lower corner (third pic) is inconsistent and much wider than... the right lower corner (first pic). There was no damage to the car in these inside corners, so this fit is "factory". The second and third pic show the width of the gap along the bottom. It looks pretty good. The license plate light doesn't fit very well at the moment. Glad I tested fit. The top edge of the panel needs some adjusting to bring the left side mounting screw area upwards a bit: More hours down, and more to go for sure on this area.

Not every day you can buy a 12k mile 240z in really nice condition. I didn't want it so I could show it or drive it though. I thought it was worth a shot to try to get it for a price that would leave room to cover the cost of the work it needs to take it to condition 1 or 2 level and then sell it for a profit. That car is most likely going to be a trailer queen (or stored in someone's private collection) from now on anyway. I was thinking of bidding again just before pwest and steamboatenthusiast hit the gas. Oh well. CW240Z72 - Your car is off to a strong start!

Ok, I'm in.