26th-Z

All great advice and the only other source for blue engine block paint I may mention would be Tower Paint (towerpaint.com) for rattle cans of PPG and Dupont products. This formula comes from IZCC: Find a Dupont Dealer and ask them to mix up a quart (5 or more engines) [or spit it in half for a pint] of Dupont "Chroma 1" paint. Be sure and buy the "Chroma 1" catalyst and reducer also. Tinting guide mix size 806J HS BLACK 177.2 801J HS WHITE 290.0 828J HS FAST BLUE 373.8 830J HS FAST GREEN 444.4 702OG BINDER 844.0 7030G BALANCER 960.4 The color of the engine mount bracket from the sub-supplier was semi-gloss black. It may have been a lacquer or an enamel paint depending on who made the bracket and when. When the engine was built, the mount bracket was bolted on to the side of the block before the block was sprayed. Depending on the mood of the engine builder, the brackets were either sprayed completely blue, oversprayed blue with black showing, or all black and bolted on after the engine was sprayed. None of this was quality controled nice looking. It was all done economically in a minimal amount of time. Every time I look at an engine with nice cleanly painted parts and shiny aluminum head, I think of the expression "over restored". Of course it looks much better, but it does not replicate how the cars were constructed 30 odd years ago. Blue overspray is on the heater hoses, timing cover, head, water pump, and other major parts.

Go check out his gig, Mike. If you like what you see, go for it. You might consider paying for his supplies as he requests them or paying him weekly for work completed as an alternative to investing up front. Asking for money down is common, but reputation needs to back up the trust involved with someone who is going to do this "after hours". I agree with 2ManyZs in that $4 - $5 grand usually covers overhead expenses like insurance, equipment, and taxes involved in a business. However, many businesses are started at home and if the guy is good, you will become his next reference. Good luck!

I forgot to mention kats' website. Lots of real good pictures and info http://www.geocities.jp/datsunz903/

I agree and have budgeted between $20,000 and $30,000 for my project. This will be a complete frame up restoration. To rid Her Majesty of the rust problems, I found a place to dip the chassis. That place also restores cars to museum quality and I think Carl's $50,000 is a little low for that kind of service. My strategy is to play "general contractor" and outsource the restoration of many components while doing most of the grunt work myself. I am also seeing higher resale values lately. Now, my project will go on for a couple of years, say three. If you look at monthly payments for a $25,000 investment over three years, the cost of restoration is not so bad. I took the strategy of buying parts first and it has paid off with the increasing parts costs over the last two years. I'm not doing this for resale investment purposes. Perhaps "Enjoy the Ride" is the best way to put it.

You might consider Auto Carpet Direct, automotivecarpet.com They have insulation products as well. Lebaron Bonney has jute.

I have been reading along with you guys and want to comment. Carl brings up several valid points, the first of which cannot be overstated. These cars are assembly line cheap and the construction is by no means considered a crafted art. They were built quickly and economically. All sorts of things vary from one chassis to another. The seam between the roof and the quarter is lead filled and as such should not ever require any other filler. Lead IS the filler. I am doing a thorough job of "carcheology" as best I can as I take Her Majesty the 26th apart. I have a real original car, very unmolested (until now). What do you guys want pictures of? I have tons of pictures. Every time I get into one of these discussions, I learn something so shoot. I have a great example to talk about.

My thoughts would be to go with making an impression for the new filler material. Try a modelling clay or a urethane compound to cast a mold. The wrinkle black paint is also a good idea to get a consistent color and finish when all the patches have been made. Do a web search for people in the business of refinishing interiors and find out what they do. I have two consoles in such a state and this very project ahead of me. I figured I would repair both, select the one I want and sell the other. I plan to cast repair blocks in a urethane compund that cures to a rubbery latex material and is used like a stamp on the filler material. I suspect I will paint the consoles as well. I also plan to cast molds for replacement rubber and plastic pieces. At one point, I was planning to cast radio face plates and console control face plates with this nifty urethane stuff I found. As far as trying to find a complete clean console; just keep looking for what you want and "cheap" is going to be the price of the console at the time you want to buy it. Believe me, a similar console I bought a year ago for $75 is now for sale on eBay for $150 with the rest of the day to go. There are also people around making replacement consoles and I think Dashboard Restorations will cover a console for you.

Carl, If you are talking about my "mild" comment, I shouldn't have been misleading. Apologies. I wrote some more about expectations in my thread about the dash cap I have for sale. I suspect "expectations" are everything concerning restoration work and I have no fault with Dashboard Restorations at all. I think it is appropriate to say that if I do another DR dash, I will send the frame with it "expecting" that it might save me some time and skill to have someone better than me fit the dash pad back on the frame. We all sent our pads without the frames because we mistakenly thought it would save shipping costs. Shipping for a dash is a matter of size, not weight. Size matters! Because I am in Florida, shipping cost me over $250. Generally speaking, I am a satisfied customer and will consider doing my other series one dash as they are getting harder and harder to find and more valuable. The DR recovering is a very economical and thorough solution to the cracked and degraded dash problem. I'm still fitting the pad to the dash as I have high expectations and it is taking a lot of time to get it to my liking because I have never done this before. That's my only bitch

I have two dashes and just sent one to Austrailia to have it resurfaced by Dashboard Restorations. I looked at two other companies before I chose DR, and to make a long story short, sent the pad without the frame attached. There are a couple of threads in the archive - including my input messages - that document DR coming to this club. A number of members here have gone through this process recently. It seems to me that now that I have done two types of dashboard repairs, I know what to do to repair a dashboard and what should be considered for an expected outcome. It really comes down to price. A replacement Datsun series one dash will cost somewhere in the $1500 range. A surface replacement like DR's thorough replacement is half that. A dash cap like like the one I'm selling is less than 5%. I drove around with the dash cap for years and hardly anyone commented or even realized I had a half cap on the dash. It took me a full afternoon to fit and glue the cap on with silicone seal, block it into place with weights, and 24 hours to let it dry. If I do the DR replacement again, and I may - I have another dash, I would not take the pad off the frame and I would ask DR to fit the covering to the frame as it was originally attached. It is going to take me many hours to fit everything back together, working with a heat gun and contact cement. The glove box area is quite complex. Even if I were not so picky, reassembly of the dash; pad and frame, instruments, wiring, and installation represents a hell of a lot more time the car is "down" as we say. A replacement Datsun dash may actually be faster! The dash cap is a textured ABS plastic cover and does not look the same as the original dash. If you don't block it into place correctly, it's going to look wavy. The restoration is a textured plastic molded over new foam and it does not look the same as the original dash. The plastic material is thicker than the original material and it doesn't mold as well as the thin cheap stuff that we are trying to fix. I have yet to find anyone with the same texture. A 34 year old replacement Datsun dash is going to look 34 years old and not like the original dash. After 34 years, the thin cheap stuff looks as fragile as it is. Nothing is going to look like the original dash. It's a matter of what comes closest. The ABS dash cap has a really nice texture and the DR restoration is a really good alternative at a really good price. Espescially if you have problems with the foam or cracks inside the instrument clusters. So my opinion is adjust your expectations accordingly and respect the age of our cars. We are very lucky to have repair alternatives to the very complex original dash design and construction. Thank you and Good Day - Oh! - buy my dash cap!

Lookls like a lot of work, thanks to David Colby who compiled that list! I wonder if the Miata will be as popular as the 240Z when I see this kind of information.

Hey Mike! I have the repaired dash back, but have not installed it yet. Mildly disappointed.

MSA half cap in good shape. I had this on 26 for a few years. It fits well and looks good. The front edge tapers on the natural dash crease and it is hardly noticeable. Black ABS plastic with same texture as the dash. Fits 70-73 $25 plus shipping

I got this blurb from Zcarz.com - Hope it helps. We also had another Black Pearl discussion about two weeks ago. In 1978 Nissan released a Black Pearl Edition 280Z, as a test market device to determine if the color black should be added to the Z-car model line colors. Some of these Black Pearl Editions came with a Sports Appearance Package which included the following options: Availability: Package Content: -2 Seater Coupe - Red & Silver Accent Stripes On: - Body-side - Hood - Deck-lid - Headlights -Black Pearl Metallic Paint -Rear Window Sunshade -Dual Racing Mirrors This all with a price tag of $8,287.00! The eBay car has the mirrors and the louvers (if they are original) meaning the car may have come with the appearance package originally. I got a kick out of the description; no real rust issues other than a frame rail replacement. At 112,000 miles, it sounds like a clapped out 280Z rather than a collector car. Might be worth saving if the price was right.

Craig, I refer you to this old discussion with respect to removal of the cam towers. http://www.classiczcars.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=10076&highlight=cam+tower+shims Some of the thread may not apply to you, as this was about E31 heads, and I suggest you look at a couple of books and manuals about surfacing the deck and aligning the cam in the towers.

halz, If authenticity of color and texture is important, I would recommend Les Canaday at Classic Datsun or Mike McGinnis at Banzai for the most authentic material and texture. I bought a tan interior from Les some time ago and he was very attentive to color match and proper texture. Most of this material is aftermarket, now.

The Suncoast Z car Club is meeting in Tampa, Saturday, January 10th. http://www.suncoastzcarclub.homestead.com/ January 10th - (Sat) - Z Fever Grand Opening Celebration - Z Fever will be hosting a large Nissan-Infiniti meet to celebrate our Move to their new location. This meet is primarily for all Z cars, 240sx's, and G35s, however is open to anyone. Their New location at 4607 A N. Lois Ave, will have parking for roughly 50-60 cars. They will also be showcasing many of their project, customer, and shop cars inside their large new shop. They have some interesting projects in the works, so should be fun. They will also have some give-aways, a BBQ, and discounts for those who attend. Should be a good turnout, and I look forward to seeing everyone there! Date: January 10th @ 12PM - ? Where: Z Fever, 4607-A N. Lois Ave, Tampa FL 33614 Phone: 813 877 7600 (Ask for Charles for questions reguarding this event)

He says it is ready to get in as a daily driver but then says the headlights don't work and the speedometer doesn't work. He also says a rubber kit and a carpet kit are included making me wonder why he doesn't fix this stuff before he sells the car. I think the $4600 is pretty high for a 32 year old used car that needs work.

The S30 was designed in the late sixties when air flow around a car was not given thorough consideration. Contemporary styling at the time did not take into account air flow modeling the way it affects design today. Air tunnel testing was performed on the S30 chassis, but remember that air tunnel technology was not what it is today. Coupled with the light weight of the car, it is no surprise that top speed is limited by air flow stability. I remember driving through the Ocala National Forest one morning on my way down to Daytona. It was cool and calm. I noticed a great deal of front end drift at an indicated 120 mph - enough to awaken my better judgement and convince me to back off a bit. We also complain about exhaust gasses coming back into the car because of the pressure differentials off the tail of the car. Another air flow fault. The S30 sure is beautiful with classic flowing lines, but for all it's grace and beauty, it flies like a turkey and smells like turkey farts! Later versions of the S30 included modifications to suppress some of the early faults. A small spoiler was added to the front valance and then the valance was lowered. Interior venting changed almost immediately. Later version weigh more as well.

You were very correct, Mark. The ash tray sold for $128 without good chrome! Amazing. Here is a link to an old ash tray discussion I wrote some time ago discussing the differences in early types. The Bakelite material is very difficult to glue and repair, but I have found that "superglue" does the trick and suggest a high viscosity glue to keep the glued joint clean. http://www.classiczcars.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=9374&highlight=ash+trays

Remember kats posted this picture of production summaries by year? If I read this correctly, it says 683 S30's were manufactured in 1969 - 41 PS30's, and 438 HS30's. If there is a higher serial number with a 1969 manufacture date on the ID tag, I want to see a picture!!!! Let's not confuse the issue with model years and production dates - please. I get so frustrated when someone asks why their car registration says one year and the date stamp says another. We all know that records do not exist to answer some of our particular questions. After all, we are talking about 30 year old used cars! If the 2098 serial number (HLS30-02098) has a production tag of 1969, I would love to see a picture of this unique piece of Datsun history.

I'm always interested in hearing about a 1969 car. Details! Details!

I have ash tray parts DJACEY. I have a body without a lid. PM me and we can talk.

Hi Burt! I went down to Cape Coral and looked at the 280z for Tom yesterday. Nice, sound car.

You guys are getting "Zanal". You saw the car, Smokey. It is what it is as best you can tell anything about a used car. Some people don't keep records like we would. My father has the receipt for gas he bought at Brown Deer Airport for his airplane in 1949. I just don't keep all that clutter. It's a fire hazard. Did I tell you about the Black Pearl I saw in Hemmings? 33,000 miles $16,900. I say step up to the plate and feast your pallette on Black Pearl of Z!