26th-Z

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The Blues Brothers As long as you are going to mention LeMans with Steve McQueen (don't even talk to me if you haven't seen it 20 times and bought the DVD), don't miss Grand Prix with James Garner. The new BMW films are pretty good, too.

I'll confirm that!!! I spent $6500 on Her Majesty in 1991 and I'm about to do it again. And she's been in storage for five years! I guess if you are going to take your car down to a stage that you can sand blast, you won't abuse it so much by letting it sit out in the rain. Down here, it's not good to let the car see sunlight.:classic: I might suggest that a car completely stripped is the best candidate for sand blasting because the mess can be cleaned up the easiest. I aggree it's too messy to blast areas without taking the car apart. And there are areas in the frame that would trap media and be difficult to clean out.

The plastic interior panels are held in by plastic expansion rivets that attach by pushing the pin in after the rivet has been secured. You need approximately 25 to do a car. They are usually available in any color you want as long as it is black and I'm guessing they run $1 each (usually in packs of 10). There are some areas that use screws, and the screws are either chrome counter sunk phillips head or black anodized counter sunk machine screws. This also depends on the model. A few areas require a chrome scew and grommet, either chrome or clear plastic. Here are some blue 280ZX rivets on eBay now

Oh...Here we go again!!!!! ROFL

Thanks. Lets see how this works. Edit: Perfect! Thanks Old dog just learned a new trick!

Thanks kats. The hubcaps are great! I wonder if the hex caps fit on the hub cap like the "D"s do. Just great many thanks. edit: No! They are part of the pressing. Just great.

Sorry to take so long getting back to this. Somebody needs to coach me through the quote insert part. I don't know how to insert a quote. Hello Alan! You listed some part numbers for fuel door locks. You'll get a kick out of this - it is so Datsun. My fiche lists the two thumb latches as 84360-E4601 and later E4602. I believe 01 is plastic and 02 is metal - both chromed. The two 78820-E8200 and E8201 numbers are listed as key cylinder type and optional. No dates are listed and there is no 78820-E4100 listed. So Datsun. I'll mention this for interest. I don't know what you think of the idea, but molds can be made of the emblem / badges and reproductions cast - easily in plastic. I am casting plastic and rubber parts. It is quite likely that a chrome finish could be applied to the plastic casting. Hey kats! Please post a picture of the hubcaps. I would like to see what they look like.

I can confirm the vented hat brake rotors from HLS30-00026. I believe I have the same problem with the rotors, and noticed the difference when I bought replacements, but now I will look into restoring them.

I saw a new kit from Studio 27. A Group C March 87G (Calsonic) Nissan from LeMans 1988. The V6 twin turbo car prior to the GTP Nissans. $150!!! Zowie! I picked up the Fujimi Fairlady Z432 I have been looking for and a Fujimi Fairlady PS30Z 432R. One was $19 and the other was $24, both with engine detail.

I think the spring nut in the fiche is what we have been calling a barrel clip. The clip that fits on the grill pin. Once you push the pin in the hatch body - with the barrel clip / spring nut on the pin - it springs into place. Just like all the rest of the emblem pins. The more I think about it, it's after five. I'll have another beer, please. Ah yes! The tapping screw would be a good idea as you could take the grill off and get to those damned C clips. The vent duct box and the vent plate should be bonded together and if I remember Chloe's picture, they come that way bonded with foam. The only other thing that comes to mind is the way the side marker lights are screwed on to the body with a tapping screw through a C clip / nut. That would work the same way and the screw head would be exposed. I don't recall ever seeing that.

Yea, isn't that bizarre? But where does the tapping screw come into play? With your photograph, Mark, there is no way to screw on the nut because the pins for the grill vents go into the vent duct and there is no way to put the nuts on!!! I broke the grill pins when I took them apart to paint 26 twelve years ago, and I broke them again this time. There is just no way to get to the back of the grill pins. Perhaps the C clip only clips to the vent duct plate, but one would have to tear the vent duct off to get to the pins. I tell ya, I hate them C clips. Ruined another perfectly good set of grills. With the tapping screw shown in the fiche, the grill would have the screw head exposed. Not a bad detail, but I don't recall ever seeing it. There is no supeceded part number for the grills in my fiche, making me believe they were always this way.:dead:

Hey Marty! I was looking for that thread where we were discussing LeBaron-Bonney and came across this one. The sample arrived today. It is from page 92 of their catalog - part US 121, 35" wide rolls at $3.99 a yard or something like that. The insulation "jute" is a synthetic fiber mat about 1/4" thick and it is grey in color with red fibers - grey red. It is not brown (light or dark) like original, but it is the same consistancy and thickness. Actually, this is much nicer material than original. Much more dense (denser?). The finish is fibrous but smooth and it looks like two bonded layers - one side is greyer than red and the other side is redder than grey. I could easily use this under the tunnel vinyl and my only hesitation about using this under the carpeting on the floors, would be the horror on the faces of the purists who pull up my carpeting to check for rusted floors or forbid, original jute.:tapemouth :tapemouth :tapemouth This stuff reminds me of the "jute" that comes bonded to some carpet kits, but with out the plastic finish.

My compliments, Alan. I'm impressed. :classic:

Yep! Them's the ones. I hate em!!!!

Wow Mark! I don't have a picture of the C clips. But imagine...without the grill in place (it goes on last), hold the vent assembly in place and aligned with the rectangular holes in the hatch. The C clip "clips" the vent to the hatch on either end - right over the grill pin holes. But the C clip has grill pin holes also, so the grill pin holes line up and you just push the grill into place. Edit: Actually, I think the C clip arrangement is disasterous and I might suggest glueing the vent to the hatch with silicone seal.

Here's a better picture of the assemblies - disassembled. The top piece is the vent plate I was talking about with the "eroded" drip edge. See what happens after 34 years? The plate glues on to the duct box and holds the duct off the hatch so that air can flow into the duct from inside the car. See the other slit vent in the duct box? The picture Chloe sent me of the new pieces have foam between the duct box and the face plate, holding the duct box further off the hatch. The round holes in either end of the box and face plate is where the grill pins go. After fooling with all this (plastic - breakable), I can understand why Datsun went to the vents in the wings.

Ok right. The installation is perminent without breaking parts (hatch grills most probably) to take it apart so be careful. Take a look at texasz's picture. The vent duct "boxes" and the vent face plate glue together as one unit. The vent face plate has a rain guard drip edge that faces into the vent duct box. The drain tubes are not really part of this issue. They can be put on later. It's the vent duct box assembly that gets sealed and clipped to the underside of the hatch. Seal the vent duct assembly to the underside of the hatch and clip it into place with C clips that grab the hatch and the vent assembly. The C clips have holes in them to align with the holes in the hatch and the vent duct for the grill pins. The grill pins with the barrel clips snap into the holes. Once that is all put together, there is no way to get to the back side of the grill pins. They are inside the vent duct and it is glued and clipped to the hatch. Prying the grill off from the top usually results in breaking the plastic pins. Also, this is a great area for exhaust gasses to leak into the car. Sealing the vent to the hatch is essential. The vent face plates usually get real brittle and disintigrate from UV. I can see how the duct boxes could be sealed directly to the hatch with silicone sealant. You might try sealing the vents to hatch instead of using the C clips. They just make the installation REALLY hard to get apart without breaking something. Yea, I was amazed that they are still available.

Hello Caen Fred and I can't thank you enough for the link www.hlj.com I found EVERYTHING I was looking for, ordered stuff that was even listed as backordered, communicated easily and this morning they shipped it all from Japan. I'll let you know when the stuff arrives, but so far this has been the find of the century for S30 models. Check this place out. It is all in english and they have everything I have seen described NLA on eBay.

Not a bad idea at all. I would venture to guess the #3 driver is a little worse off than the #2 driver, but I would love to hear an explanation.

Yea. Isn't that great? Hey kats - the Z is white! Too cute.:classic: Oh! I forgot...I called this morning and HLS30-00016 has a chrome Z.

FISCO stands for Fuji International Speedway Company, I think and the badge is from an event - I'll bet motorcycle races - in May 1966. That's my best guess.

theswan, Your question comes up quite often and I encourage you to web search "rust removal", "acid dipping", "metal restoration", and "media blasting". You will find all kinds of information. I don't like the acid dipping approach because it is difficult to stabilize the acids and they will do as much damage over time as rust. Your observation about the effects of media blasting could lead to trouble as well, trapping material inside the chassis. I encourage you to look at "electrolytic dipping" as a safer alternative. You will have the seam seal and primer issues to contend with, the chassis will be cleaned to bare metal inside and out without damage to any metal plating that has been done originally, and any rust issue will be eliminated. All of the seam seal areas are accessible. I will use a long wand to spray primer inside the frame as best I can.

I'll have to get some pictures for you kats. The metal latches have smooth rounded edges, and the plastic latches are square cut without any taper or roundness(?) to the edges. #16 has a plastic one and my car used to have the plastic thumb latch, but after 30 years..... I was trying to clean it and broke it. The plastic latch looks as though it was a part for prototype before refined for production. I was talking to Chloe about the gas door locks and didn't realize how unique they are. I suspect they were keyed with the doors and deck lid - seperate from the ignition? Back to the subject - too bad the part number is not on the part! I think you have a good explanation of E4600, chrome Z, but I don't think the dates apply exactly to production. Only to part inventory. My explanation would be that E4601 was placed into service 2/70 and used after the E4600 part supply on the production line ran out. That would explain why later cars would have an earlier part. I don't know this, but if there were several production lines, parts on one line may have been different from parts on another line depending on how fast they were used up. One line may have started using E4601 as soon as it was available while another line may have used E4600 through 3/70. After discussing this with you, kats, and thinking "unique is a good thing", I am inclined to use the chrome Zs.

Yes TomoHawk, These guys look at cars so often, they have their own lingo to describe an overall condition or impression of any particular car. If we were collecting coins, for example, we would be using grading standards to describe the condition, such as MS, VS and further substandards like MS-60, MS-65. In our car world, I see "daily driver", 50/50 rule, and the descriptions you just refered to. And it is all subjective! I just read an article in AutoWeek about a $57,000 Plymouth 'Cuda (1971) that the writer thought should have been priced around $30,000 sighting such things as door dings and chips in the original paint. (Not to mention the engine had been changed - original for the car, but not THE original engine) He expressed; "Better than a driver, but not stunning". What's the difference between a #2 driver and a #3 driver? Opinion, most likely. Educated, experienced opinion. Mr. Jackson's expertise is from looking at thousands of cars and the show discusses the differences in an educational format - applying certain terms to describe the differences, likes and dislikes he sees in a car. The show is interesting because they show a bunch of cars and educational because they use a set description to convey their opinion. The one sentence I though most pertinent to the AutoWeek article was; "But the market speaks with it's wallet".