26th-Z

I heard it was because they're spending all thier money moving to Tennessee. I hear ya, Preith! $ per track time is where it's at. Vintage racing is a little on the expensive side of the coin. Don't miss the Can Am reunion at Elkhart Lake. I'm still juggling the corporate books to pay for me to fly up to that one. Chris

With all hope and intention - See you there! Yea, if you like racing, old sports cars, Road Atlanta, and a really good event, don't miss THIS ONE.

Months and months and months ago, we had discussions about cleaning up and / or replacing the hardware as part of the restoration. Not just the nuts and bolts, although a major portion, but the little metal bits and pieces that hold the car together and fasten things. Hose clamps, brake parts and fittings, linkage and such. At some point all the golden cadmium plated stuff is going to have to look absolutely clean and georgeous. Some guys tried to buy new hardware and we found that a lot of it is not the same as the piece we took off the car. At least that is the case for me. You wouldn't believe all the odd little peculiarities about the first cars. I didn't want to replace everything. I think it defeats the point of "restoration" and to me, a little bit of the original car is lost when parts are replaced. Then there is the whole thought about a peculiar piece that is no longer available or in my case, peculiar to my car(s). Cleaning up and re-plating my original hardware became my choice. I located a plating company and started to experiment with the task. I soon found that the quality of the surface is directly related to the quality of the plating. Plating does not fill so if you want your hardware to have a mat finish, bead blast it. Wire brush marks show so use a brass wire wheel. The smoother the metal - the smoother and consistant the plated finish. This goes for zink plate as well. Zinc doesn't show pits and scratches as much. Basic rule of thumb is the cleaner and smoother the original piece, the better the results. One thing I really dreaded was the idea that I wouldn't know where all this stuff went after I got it all back from the plater. A big bucket of beautiful golden nuts and bolts! I will say that this is a huge task and meticulous organization is required. But armed with a couple of parts books, service manuals, photographs and drawings, I'm not anywhere near as afraid as I was! I highly recommend taking notes and pictures - good pictures. A tap and die set is a big help measuring things as well as cleaning threads and I recommend at least a cheap Harbor Freight set. Take Notes! So after looking at a number of different methods for cleaning all this junk up and seeing what I needed to get the results I was looking for, I bought a 2 quart rock tumbler from Harbor Freight ($30). Then I bought "green pyramid" tumbling media from Eastwood ($17). It is small plastic pyramid shapes just the right size to clog up your sink drain. After a few experiments, the mixture is one and a half cups green pyramids, one cup hardware and one quarter cup "Simple Green" cleaner / degreaser. Tumble 24 hours. I'm very satisfied with the results. The metal finish is smooth and even. Most of the rust is removed and the pitting is quite minimal. Hard to reach areas are, shall we say, hard to reach. Even for green pyramids. A little hand work is necessary some times. Threads don't clean up very well and I run a die on the bolts and a tap in the nuts. The nuts fill up with grime from the tumbling process anyhow and have to be cleaned. The "Simple Green" takes off all the grease and the whole mess cleans up easily with water. I puched holes in a large coffee can to strain the mix after tumbling. The liquid is black and filthy.:lick: So far, I'm having good luck and happy to report that Her Majesty the 26th will be sporting most of her original hardware - restored.

You know....If you go over to the Mikuni web site they have a nifty little slide-valve that works great as a set of six. I saw a set of them on a Z about nine months ago and am still waiting to see the car out at the shows. I am told it is the prefered Japanese drag racing design. I could probably get away with a set of Mikunis on 26th as they were technically available from Datsun as a Datsun part. I guess it would just be up to the judges to accept the dealer add-on rule, huh? I already asked Beck and he laughed. Oh well. Guess I'm off to the street modified class.

Shame on you guys for not getting out your parts books and looking this stuff up! Just comparing the black seats; the type 1 seat is listed up to 12/71 however the type 2 seat is listed up to 4/71 and from 5/71. I believe the type 2 seat was available as an domestic option, thus our import change around May of 71. They both came with four branding irons in the locations shown. The next seat change for the American market came in August 73. I found it interesting that the parts catalog doesn't say squat about the seat frame, springs, or webbing. Huh? Nova, your Fairlady could have a type 2 seat or a type 1. If you think it is a ZL model (I think we bantered it around some months ago, didn't we?) then the type 2 recliner seats would probably be correctest. Here are a couple of pictures of upholstery texture samples. The part number is in the file name. ZOOM-ZOOM

I am only able to drool Mikuni, Ron. Thanks for your clarifications. I don't know what people will think of me if I put a set on 26th, but Her Majesty told me several times that she would like a set.

Wish I had a really good close-up of a Mikuni. Search the archives and I'll bet you find what you are looking for. The top of the carburetor body will say SOLEX in big letters, but it will also say Japan right below. Mikuni. I don't agree with you, Ez, that Weber is the weapon of choice. IMO Mikuni is the weapon of choice. Here is a blurb from the Mikuni catalog. Datsun competition sold Mikunis in both Japan and America. BRE / Interpart sold Dellorato. Chris

Nice interior Mike! I didn't realize you did your dash in color. Nice! Arne, I'm not sure of anything! No sooner do I think a certain date applies than I find an exception. It all leads me to believe that there is nothing certain about what when and where - just generalities. I have never held in my hand a solid plastic seat mounted belt hook. Is it different from the plastic belt hook side mounted?

Yes! I am aware of the plastic seat cusion guards. Kats has the only car I have seen with them installed. I am a little seat impaired at the moment. I need whole seats as well as seat parts, but seats are way down on my list of appropriations as I focus on the body shell and suspension. I need to get a rolling chassis before I can think about sitting in it! Here is where I am headed, though. Original seats had metal vent grommets (4) in the seat back lumbar area. You can almost see one of them in the picture. They get very hot in the florida sun - believe me. My ex-wife has one of those cute lumbar tatoos from them.

What concerns me about your question, Steve, is that you say vinyl covered. The hooks in the picture matria posted are solid plastic. Vinyl covered what? Take a look a the picture to see if your hooks are the same size and shape. If not.... Smaller, vinyl covered metal shoulder strap hooks screw to the side of the seat with a chrome screw. This would appear on cars built prior to 8/70. I'm looking for this type of hook for my cars. Chris

Mike, The seats are all pretty much the same through the years. When you say the headrest design is different, do you mean the upholstery? Headrests are definitely oriented right and left, but the basic shape of them is constant. What does change is the hardware. The seats for my early cars do not flip forward or recline. They only adjust slightly via a round, hand turn knob on the inboard side. Now...you have a Fairlady and the seat hardware could be different from what was exported to America. I would doubt it, though. Have a look at Kats' site for some excellent pictures of seat restoration. http://www.geocities.jp/datsunz903/

Enrique, Over and over I see you post thorough, experienced, advice to various difficult problems and I want to express my recognition and thanks. Not just this thread, but countless others over the past couple of years; you have offered great advice which obviously takes some time to type up and convey. It doesn't go unoticed from me and I'm sure there are plenty who feel the same. Thanks Chris

I was planning to drive over to Sebring this weekend. Was looking forward to it all week. But I just have too much that needed to get done around the house...er, farm. You DO know that I am a part time citrus farmer, don't you? Seriously. I cleaned out only three of the trees and squeezed about six gallons of orange juice and another three of grapefruit juice. By the time I'm finished, I'll have coctail mix up to the 4th of July! This is the time of the year to prune the trees and fertilize. A farmer's work is never done, but the back yard is looking great. Please accept my applogies, Greg. I'll bet that red Z of yours looked pretty darned good in front!

I have to use lame excuse number 23 as I harvested the citrus crop this weekend. Sorry I missed it.

I think Troy beat you to the punch, Will. I haven't seen his tail lights, but he is advertising like hell on eBay. Do you have the same deal going with the same manufacturer? Try this place to get your chrome refinished. I haven't used them yet. http://www.cvvacuumplaters.com/ I would simply make a judgement call and say that if you don't include the reflectors, you may get arrested for violation of the Homeland Security Decree and you certainly won't pass "stock" at the car show. Reflectors are wholesome.

Its a concept, guys. A concept. It is NOT a car. Its a show piece. A concept.

Vicky, Remember Jimbo had that white '72 with the red interior and the red pinstiping? It was beautiful pinstriping, Gav. Hand painted. Not tape. I'm not real big on the chrome wheel arch accents, but a Z looks good in pinstriping and it is quite period correct. Very feminine. Chris

Yeah, I didn't mean anything bad, Zthing. I was just using, perhaps poorly, an expression of what I am very guilty of. May the gods of metal bendage and bondage grace the floor of your Z-car.

Zthing, I would be willing to bet that the reason everyone else charges more for Charlie's floor pans is because they ARE Charlie's floor pans! There is no better deal out there. My advice here would be that by the time you get through crapping around and spending time and money trying to make your own metal solution to your rust problems, you would be far better off buying the metal from Charlie. Believe me! There will still be plenty of bending and fitting to satisfy anyone! I just finished installing pans and rails in 26th. 27th will get the same and I am very satisfied. There is no question in my mind. This is the standard floor pan and frame rail repair solution. Chris

It is a little known legend that Dat's son ruled the Japanese sports car province with regal silver Z cars cast down from the silver cloud lining atop Mt. Fuji. Now, I would say that Japanese sports cars should be white with red accent, but the historical archives of Her Majesty the 26th show the final Z prototype cars painted silver. Perhaps silver was the designer's choice? You might say; "Chris! What about British Racing Green"? Well, BRG was a na-nana-boo-boo color chosen to snub the British car industry when the far superior Z car was introduced. There is no question that all Z car colors are beautiful, that the Z car looks great nude or painted, but silver is closest to nude metal and sexiest; conveying power and strength in the design.

Great job, Mark. If you get bitten by the show bug, think about bringing her to Florida in 2007!

Those are a different spoke design, Arne. Notice how the spoke comes into the rim on top of it rather than inside of it on the other set. Those center caps may be cast aluminum which would be nice. Typically new center caps like mine are chromed plastic.

I would like to point out that the intake and exhaust IS on the passenger side. These are right-hand drive cars and the American imports are backwards.