26th-Z

I like the hood.

The only comment I would add to the attached thread is that a number of sheet metal forms attach at that seam. Both inner and outer sheet metal. It is a high stress area. Eventually, moisture trapped in the crack will rust the metal and the welded seam, so it is important to get all the old lead out and inspect the seam when making a repair. I prefer replacing the lead filler. Welding is not a filler technique, Freerider. The seam is already welded.

I went for the fixer - upper / investment option. I figure that by the time I have $40,000 invested in the Princess, she will be worth $40,000 The only piece of good advice I have not seen posted is the observation that the sale price of any restored car is about the same whether it has been repaired cheaply or expensively. Someone who has taken the time to restore / repair a classic collectable correctly is likely to document it. Lots of good advice - I think all the points have been discussed. While we are on the subject, I'll use this thread to let you guys know that Princess 27 is about to move to long term storage in Sarasota from her first rest stop in Tampa. I have collected all the sheet metal I need except a driver's fender.

Wecome to the club! Sounds like you scored a nice one.

Let me add to what tanny advises, Lachlan. You don't have to strip the paint - just paint over the old. The plastic is very fragile to chemicals - stay with water or alcohol. I know some places that will re-chrome the plastic, but a brand new plastic badge is cheaper.

Carl is right - the rubber is not exactly the same. And with a smirk on my face, I'll say the Nissan rubber seems "less expensive" than the PRP rubber...less dense. I didn't realize repro rubber was all from the same mfgr. I find that any of the rubber takes a lot time and effort to install. The bends and folds in the shape cannot be simply slapped in and away you go. I think the majority of complaints come from inexperienced installation. New rubber always requires a good deal of adjustment. Lots of time, but I don't have the most experience either! I like the kits from MSA.

Thanks Andrew, I'll givie it a try

Headlight gaskets - unobtanium. Hatch hinge socks - unobtanium. How about the rubber dust cover that goes on the emergency brake mount in the tunnel - unobtanium?

There is no reason to diss the example on eBay, but it is far from "stock". Way far. I love the "museum stock" reference. Can't wait for some museum to step up and offer me the big bucks - ha! We museum stock guys talk about things in terms of correct, correcter, and correctest. And it is a tough nit-picky conversation! Vicky provides a great illustration - the Japanese oil filter would be correctest. Stock is defined by the ZCCA to exclude just about any modification or aftermarket part. This definition drifts into the "all original" conversation. For my cars, even Nissan / Datsun replacement parts could be different (many times they are) and not correct for the year. Thats why we are seeing huge money being spent on fabric covered hoses and such. Kats just found a correct alternator for his car - very small difference, but what he had was not correctest. The 7 / 70 date could go either way. If the car was sold in July, it was a '70. If it was sold in August, it was a '71. That's why I could care less about "model years". It was built in '70 - it's a '70.

That is a very nice looking car. Her Majesty is going to sport those headlight covers. The muffler is not an original type, but I think they were supposed to be silver. Mine is. I would say the modifications are extensive throughout the car, but I don't mind any of them. The big box under the passenger side dash is the air conditioning.

I'll go with Carl's recommendations for Classic Tube as well as Inline Tube. Also check out www.fedhillusa.com Some other advise; Make sure the new fitting is an exact replacement - the extended necks and thread shoulders make a difference. Double flaring is a specification for safety purposes - you have to double flare. Chamfer the tube inside and out with a file before you flare the end and you get less splitting. Thanks for the new link, Chris!

Marty, "abas" was asking about this a couple of weeks ago. http://www.classiczcars.com/forums/showthread.php?t=14818 Some good info about the transfer, but sorry, no part source.

Please clarify the "Brown Bread insulation" for me. What is it? Where do you get it? I'm confused! SOP

Relevant pictures

Lots of electrical questions lately....

I just went through the SportZ article again - volume 4, issue 4, fall 2004, "Crank Up The Power". The article incorrectly states that the 240 -280 Z came with a 60 amp alternator. As I stated previously, 50 amp for most of the 240Z population. The early cars like mine came with a 40 amp alternator. When you add up the amp draw on the alternator, fully loaded, it is easy to climb past the 50 amp mark. Head lights and running lights will draw more than 15 amps alone. Wipers draw about 5 amps. Fog lights, another 5 or more. Electric cooling fan - 8 amps. And finally, stereo system - 20 amps at a minimum. The main wire from the alternator with the fusible link is #10 gauge and is not adequate for current applications over 40 amps. The spade - lug connectors used throughout the wiring harness are rated for less capacity than the wire they service. Their recomendations include replacing the alternator, increasing the main alternator wire gauge, adding fusible links / circuit breakers, capacitors, and addressing the battery capacity. A very informative article.

I think the $470 MSA kit is a pretty good deal and you can get it "stock" if you want.

My parts book shows the Hitachi and Mitsubishi alternators at 50 amps begining 7 / 72. Canada cars got 60 amp Hitachis begining 7 /72. Begining 8 /73, the parts book shows a 50 amp Hitachi for the L26. This is begining to sound like a water pump issue. If the water pump shaft moves / wiggles at all, replace it immediately. Back to the amp capacity thing....There is a good article in the latest issue of SportZ magazine about this very subject. Bottom line is that there is VERY LITTLE capacity to spare in both alternator capacity and wire gauge. I'll go read the article again and report back. This is the second or third time this issue has come up in the last month.

You guys keep your hands off my knob!!! I saw it first. That's my bid and I swear I'll let all the air out of your tires if you outbid me. $15 for an old knob is enough!

Lots of good advice and several valid points. I like the "go ahead and cut it up. It makes mine more valuable" one the best. My father bought an old porsche and was thinking of cutting the top off. He remembers the days when coachwork was typically personalized and is considered quite interesting in the classic collector car world. I told him the same thing; "If you want an open car, buy an open car". On the other hand, many people are constructing replicars of famous Zs that no longer exist. I think it would be a very admirable project to replicate a prototype example, just as it is popular to replicate the race cars. Convertables are popular. Have you given thought to a convertable, MickieB? There is a rear hatch deck component I have seen called the "Pantera" deck. My first thoughts about it were how well it would work with the targa design.

A targa top scheme was thought of during the design process of the S30. Here is a poor quality picture of the C2 protoype constructed aroung June of 1966. The C series of prototypes played with the idea of pop-up headlights. The C-1 was a roadster and the C-3 looks remarkably like a 1967 Maserati Ghibli.

Good luck, Will. !!

Thanks for the compliments, Ben. The spun aluminum slots on Her Majesty are 14x6s that Rob put on the car about a year after he bought her. They have been on her since I can ever remember. They say "Japan" inside the castings, but other than that, I know little more about them. They are old, have a bunch of curb rash, and when I started the restoration, wheel reconditioning was in the budget. Ok, so I thought you knew I had the Watanabes. This all started when I decided I really wanted American Racing Libres and bought a set from a junk yard in Sanford, Florida. The guy took these nasty old dirty, dusty Libres off the shelf; still with old tires mounted - $400. When I got the tires off and the wheels cleaned, I discovered they weren't a matching set. The junk yard gladly took the cleaned up wheels back and refunded my $400. About two weeks later, I wrote to an add on Zcar.com for a set in N.C. - $350. This was when I met the lovely Jim Edwards who is listed all over the net and I have filed fraud charges against. I'll never see that money again. During that time, Alan sold a set of his Watanabes and made a crack at my Libres falling out of style and wouldn't I rather have his Wats. Last winter, I saw a set listed on eBay. I took the add to a car club meet at ZFever in Tampa and talked to Doug about them concerning offset and we misjudged the deal. I think they sold for $700 or so. With the description and pictures, I struck up a conversation with Alan who taught me more about Watanabe wheels than I could absorb. Then, one early Sunday morning, I saw the wheels I bought posted on eBay. They were exaclty what I was looking for. When they arrived, I was talking to Alan who turned me on to Japanese Yahoo auctions for lug nuts and wheel caps, and I was able to find new lug nuts, new wheel caps (plastic), and the Falcon sticker about a month later. The Watanabes are used, of course, but they are in real nice condition. Very minor curb rash and they have a nice ring to them when you ding. The insides are sealed with some sort of white paint. I should weigh them.

Hey thanks! I like the color and agree they may look good with the green. I also like that dark wheel Jap look - sort of sinister. May have to experiment with it. I prefered this spoke as it engages the rim inside the lip rather than the other type where the spoke laps over the rim. I just thought it looked more period correct. I picked the size for the same reason and they should appear similar to the slots in my avatar.