26th-Z

Just sent you a PM

IMSA is kind of alive in the American LeMans Series - ALMS. I just saw the 1000km, ten hour race at Road Atlanta in October. Audi is king at the moment with their R8's. The Sebring 12 hour race is also an ALMS race and I saw the LeMans winning Bentley last spring in their only American appearance. One of the things I have liked about ALMS is their "Meet the Drivers" venue the day before the race. I talked with Geoff a bit last fall. Bob Tullius keeps his collection of Group 44 cars in a hanger at Sebring and will show his cars by appointment. The Nissan GTP car is just beautiful and I miss it as I miss many of the other cars of my younger days. I don't feel very old, but lets face it. Her Majesty the 26th is celebrating her 34th birthday this month!

Yea Marty, I haven't seen them in a long time. I was talking to Les Canaday a couple of weeks ago about the rubber material. He says he can get close to the texture with sheet material he has. Might call him at Classic Datsun. I also want to note that the rocker side rubber is slightly molded to conform to the chassis shape, especially near the seat belt mount.

Ok guys, We are talking about three different things! Kats, your mat is carpet with a clear backing. My mat is simply rubber - light grey, leather texture. Marty, AMCO is an aftermarket company and sold floor mats to protect the carpeting.

Marty, I'm working on a jute source, and currently waiting for a sample. Kats, Yes, that is the shape of the rear deck mat.

Alan, I have the rear deck mat and was going to make photographs this weekend. I would love photographs of the floor mats and now kats has piqued my interest for the finish of the floor behind the seat and up to the rear bulkhead. I know all the early cars in my vicinity have carpeting mixed with side rubber and deck rubber. It is common to see carpeting over the rear deck rubber as in my car. I understand the floor mats are held in place with snap grommets and I have them in the old firewall insulation. I don't think an 'L' version was available in the early days of American importation. I know my car was pre-purchased immediately after the New York Auto Show and would have been a "here's what you bought" version! I must retrieve the sales literature from the safe deposit box and see if any of the photographs show that detailed an interior finish. Personally, I'm going to finish the car with carpeting as kats has done, keeping the rubber side rocker mats. They are glued in place. Thanks for the pictures of the 432-R. After looking at them, I have a million questions / observations for future discussions.

Ask Chloe.

Kats, Alan, I have "rubber" side sill trim and rear deck mat remaining from original. Leather texture. The rubber floor mats, if original, were replaced with carpeting long ago. I have never seen rubber floor mats, but I understand the driver mat had the Datsun logo pressed into the surface texture. Nice tunnel insulation, kats. I plan to cut new material from that pattern. My old material is indeed "soaked" in a tacky, sticky substance.

I had to go looking for it. Here is the link discussing the differences between Series One and Two cars. http://zhome.com/History/New71Late.htm

And further more.... a build date of 7/70 would indicate a Series 1 car. Datsun did not implement design or production changes based on Model year, but rather Calendar year during this period. Your car should exhibit all the characteristics of what we refer to as a "Series One" car.

Nissan specifically does NOT recommend removal of the cam towers for reasons of the cam bore alignment. If you surface the head or repair a warped head by surfacing, the cam tower alignment will need to be adjusted. Shims are available to raise the towers to the proper height after surfacing. Goodson Tools and Supplies #DHS-60 Head Saver Shims. You may have bronze intake valve seats and want to replace them to run unleaded gasoline. A 45 1/2 degree cut is specified for the valve face. Be sure to check for the correct margin on the valve - 0.4mm+ and 0.8mm for intake and exhaust respectively. The valve seat is cut at 30 degrees, 45 degrees, and 60 degrees top to bottom. The 45 degree cut corresponds to the valve face angle. The manuals I have discuss all of this over several pages. Aside from the Datsun engine manual, a really good source of info is "How to Rebuild Your Nissan and Datsun OHC Engine"; Tom Monroe, 1998, 2001

I only have the original jute on the tunnel. It was glued to the tunnel and then sprayed with contact adheasive for the vinyl covering. Thus the sticky nature? However, my jute is very dark brown and the solution mentioned could very well be the explanation of color. Too bad we can't all get together and compare! Many, many thanks kats. I saved all your photographs for reference. I believe you have researched the "correct" jute and carpet. I will make a point of looking at the early cars I have access to and reply to this post with my findings.

Kats, Did you make tracings of the patterns? I removed the jute padding from my tunnel and traced a pattern. This is very interesting. Does the jute cover the rear bulkhead? Is the jute exposed under the tool lids. or does this have carpet also? Your car is looking great!

I bought a used one browsing on Amazon.

Given my sick sense of humor, I would suggest showing the car in the "Gross-out Pig Category". Trophy winner, there.... As a "show car", you could trailer it.

I was looking at wheels, Guus. Did you see the lovely wheels on the 432? I'm convinced, now, that I prefer a polished rim to the all dark wheel. I like the larger darkend center, but polished rim. What a nice variety of wheels! Hello kats!

Are the headlight scoops metal or FRP? Welding a stud extension on to the FRP scoops / buckets could be a problem, depending on how short the fixed stud is by now. I have had luck carving out the old stud and replacing it in an epoxy bed. How good of a welder are you? Weld the old part back on if you have to and tap the threads when you are finished. Wd 40 is a petrolium based light lubricant. It will evaporate. A penetrating oil should be used to free corroded fasteners. Kroil is great stuff. I like "PB Blaster" also. I have seen this discussion many times on this site. Wd 40 is for assembly - Not disassembly or the stuff to use for corroded fasteners.

I would like the door hinges, please.

I'll give you the quick method for white smoke. Check your cylinder compression by standard compression guage test - remove the spark plugs and test each cylinder by turning over the engine on the starter five to ten rotations. Each cylinder should read around 160 psi or so evenly within 5% or so. If you find a low cylinder, squirt some 3-in-1 oil in the cylinder and check the compression again. 140 psi is getting pretty low for any cylinder. Suspect worn rings if the psi increases substantially. If there is no increased psi, suspect worn valve guides or valve problems. Black smoke is from an improper fuel mixture (rich). Steam is a blown head gasket or worse. This info is pretty basic just to give you an idea of specific questions that will be asked sooner or later. Check it all out and let us know what you find.

I spent a time looking for original braided hoses and had some luck, but nothing with the radiator hoses. I saw a pair on ebay months ago and they were expensive. There is a peculiar reducer hose sold commonly with braiding. Braided hose can be purchased in coils of various diameters, but the shaped hose are really tough. Good luck and keep looking!

Those are really nice parts, Ben. I wanted to add that the quarter panels are not easy to install especially where the seam meets the roof. That connection which I believe is a three layer overlap seam is structurally important.

Hey - let's not forget the guy who started this conversation! Geez. Get zinged and have my thread hogged in on all in one day! Must be Mercury in retrograde or something! I want one also!

The original grease fitting for the steering rack PN C4366-0501P was a plastic cylinder that screwed into the rack housing. A useless part, most were thrown away when the rack was greased and replaced with a nipple grease fitting. See parts fiche B 16 section 101-4 item number 25 "reservoir-oil (with grease)" I might make reproductions if I find a nice one.