26th-Z

Ahhh... A gracious trip down memory lane...looks better than my lovely 27th. February 1970 build, probably. I certainly hope the car is worth $100,000 when it's complete!

Yea, take everything found on Facebook with a grain of salt. This was a link to a RACER magazine page. I was initially attracted to the photo, but I just couldn't help clipping the article. It's so 'BENCHRACER'!

From the HSR Facebook page and Racer magazine; "Another very significant car that will be competing at Historic Sportscar Racing's upcoming Classic Motorsports Mitty at Road Atlanta on April 26-29 is this 1976 IMSA GTU Championship-winning Datsun 240Z now owned and campaigned by David Martin. In 1974, Brad Frisselle made the decision to compete professionally. He formed a company and a racing team (Transcendental Racing) that designed, constructed, and tested a Datsun 240Z prototype for the IMSA Camel GT Series. In 1975, Brad had his first three professional victories and was awarded IMSA's Most Improved Driver award, becoming the only man to win these coveted awards in both IMSA and the SCCA. Frisselle went on to win the IMSA GTU championship in 1976, in his team's Datsun 240Z, scoring eight victories out of the eleven races that he entered. Brad soundly defeated the factory Datsun team as a privateer with his own team, Frisselle Racing. This car is the 1976 IMSA GT/U championship car. The chassis of this car was the first 240Z imported to the United States in 1970. Mac Tilton designed the suspension and built some of the specialized parts. The chassis, roll cage and body were all constructed by Dave Kent with assistance from Yoshi Suzuka who was also responsible for the design of the aerodynamics on the car. John Knepp of Electramotive built the engine. After the car was finished Trevor Harris added his expertise in the development of the chassis and suspension. In the day this car was the most advanced and fastest GTU car racing in IMSA."

We have covered this topic - in the archives somewhere. This is a picture of Kats' early gas cap. No flange on top and no chain. We also covered the gas door knob. Early, early ones were chromed plastic and locked in the vertical position. There are two versions of the later metal chromed knobs which closed in the horizontal position.

I see Bruce every now and then. He lives in Sebring.

Jerry, The rounded top, phillips head wire hose clamps are zinc plated. Silver, not yellow cadmium. I DO have later style wire hose clamps with hex head screws that are cadmium plated, but they are not the 'correct' style for my early cars.

Yep. Specifically, those are the Hitachi HJG 46W-3A type. My cars came with the HJL 46W type. The heat shield is for the long return springs rather than the short ones.

This is the optional 8-track for a "240Z". I don't think it was commonly available in North America until the 1972 model year and accessories catalog. Your model # is different from mine.

Couple of points: Unless you guys claiming to have lived 'American car culture' are in your mid-seventies, no you didn't. The Datsun 240 Z is an American import in every realm of the meaning associated with the 'American car culture'. Nissan's export strategy wasn't any different than English and European export strategies at the time. There's a reason for that and if you studied world history past the third grade, you would know. Any association with 'exclusivity' is a thin thread on a drunken day. Alan, I'm afraid your four aces of knowledge and perspective have been trumped by the intellectual insufficiency in which we find so persuasive from our society today. My sympathies and condolences. Finally, thanks for sharing the information, Blue. There is quite a bit of interesting and useful information; my preference being the technical information, diagrams, graphs and charts. Perhaps we could focus on our astonishment of how much thought, how many people, how much effort went into the design of the S30 to make it as successful as it became.

Mr. Junkie is smok'in too much JDM. This has to be the funniest thread I have seen in a long time. Thanks for the chuckle this morning! Ya' know, the more JDM you smoke, the less your spring rate. Unless, of course, you vape with a TOR CO. Sorry, I couldn't help it.

Depends on your serial number. 'D' wheel covers lasted until about HLS30-46000 according to Carl Beck. The Nissan parts catalog lists HLS30-46001 beginning in September 1971. 40315-E4100 was replaced by 40315-E4101 and used up to 7/73; 40315-E8800 was from 8/73 according to the parts catalog. I would recommend 40315-E4101 - shown below - unless you have a build date and serial number later.

The topic question has to do with correct color, not how cheap you can be with something close. Studegard seems to think that what he bought is too light even though it is supposed to be 'correct'. Can we please stick to the topic?

Search the archives. This topic has been beaten to death! I did a quick search and came up with this from Wick Humble's; "How to Restore Your Datsun Z-Car", page 174: Ditzler Duracryl DDL 2862 Argent with quite a lot of suede additive. The specific formula is: 1 pint DDL 200 units DX265 300 units DX264 Thin 100-150% and spray on fairly dry. Regulate air pressure to the high side. Swirl paint around in the cup constantly to help keep texture additives in suspension. Maintain spray gun distance and overlap coverage on the final coat, or variations in surface texture may be unacceptable. This paint should NOT have gloss, so don't expect any. I am of the school that Nissan did not make different colors for the grill, wheel covers, and tail finisher. They all match. I call the color "anthracite" which is a darker gun-metal grey. Others seem to think the grey should be lighter / more silver grey. Best of luck!

I used a 3M urethane seam sealer PN08361 and applied it by hand (finger) to all the seams underneath the car and in the fender wells. Paint was PPG DCC Concept 2-part acrylic urethane in three coats over two (more in some areas) coats of PPG DX primer. The interior was mostly one coat in areas that were going to be totally covered (footwell, under the dash, roof). The one coat doesn't cover completely and the primer is somewhat visible. Two coats for complete coverage included the rear deck and tire well, behind the seats and floor. I got very good coverage with the spray application. The painter was slow and knew the product very well. The exterior body got three coats; the final coat being pretty heavy. I could see four coats on the outside. Especially if you want to polish the paint.

Godspeed Dan Gurney.

The hand throttle was not original to the car. If you remove all evidence of the original paint, you are free to paint it any color you want IMO.

The Vintage Z program was not a 'factory' sponsored arrangement if you consider the 'factory' to be Nissan Motor Corporation - Japan. It was a component of the Nissan USA "Dream Garage" advertising campaign in 1996 - 1997 and the cars were restored HLS30 export models from four different 'sub-contractors' based in Southern California. Thirty-seven cars were completed and delivered, however there were several cars that did not make it to completion when the program was ended. The restorations could be best described as 're-builds' as the common notion of restoration correctness was not considered. New parts and components were drawn from existing parts stock and used on the cars regardless of the differentiation we discuss regularly on this site. Engines and transmissions were not installed in accordance with the original build and some components, like interior vinyl, were remanufactured. Two cars that I know of were custom restored to specification for Morey Sage of Universal Nissan and Keith Crane of AutoWeek. None-the-less, there are only 37 of them (38 if you consider Pete Evanow's count, 40 if you consider my count). Carl Beck has an accounting for the cars on his website. Not all of the cars have been "found". As Alan points out, several cars were "restored" by facilities outside the U.S. at approximately the same time, however they were not part of the Nissan USA program. I'm not surprised with the auction results. I have seen the price for unique, "provenance' examples soar in the last few years. I expect the trend to continue.

For how much did the Nissan R90C sell? I would love to have such a wonderful ride!

I was about to say; the headlights worked just fine when the car was new. There's little need for an upgrade to define what was perfectly adequate in 1972. Make certain that your system is operating as it was originally intended. Save you a lot of needless cost and effort. You may want to change the bulbs.

Ah! Nissan R91CK from Daytona 24 1992. This was actually an R90C (Chassis 07) updated and campaigned by Nova Engineering with a VHR35Z V8, 4 valve DOHC. Drivers were Mauro Martini, Volker Weidler, and Jeff Krosnoff. They finished 8th.

Brand new pre-drilled headlight cases! You're killing me!

Well....life took an opposite tac back in 2008 and we just seem to be getting back on course now. Both cars and the donor body shell have been in dry storage. 26th is about ready for paint. Meanwhile, almost all of the drive train has been restored. I still need to decide what to do about shocks and I haven't done the carburetors yet. I need a big chunk of change to make the body green again. Then there is the whole question of the interior. I have a way to go. It was good to watch the auction and get into the conversation. HLS30U-00305 is going to need floors and frame rails. The rear quarter is not going to be easy either. It looked solid, other than that. Gas tank looked all bent up. The thing is that these cars are appreciating fast enough such that the car will be worth close to what is in it by the time it is finished. Or at least one can hope!

You gotta stir the pot, don't you?!

Pictures of HLS30-05811 on the lift at Datsun Alley and on the floor at Universal City. Silver HLS30-56609 on display at Universal City. Something was mentioned about three Vintage Zs in Japan. Here is the third, HLS30-03924

That's in much better shape than 27th was. Blue on blue - very pretty color combo.