26th-Z

I just ran a search through the archives for "floor pan replacement", "floor pan installation", and the member galleries for "floor pan". There is a ton of stuff here. Has anyone produced a video of this process? Is a home made video of this and other rust related stuff worth $20 ? The basic question of floor pan work is real common. I am going to do floor pan surgery on 27 and maybe 26. Everyone seems to agree that Charlie Osborne has the best deal going. Does everyone know seat brackets are available from John at www.baddogparts.com ? Eastwood sells videos of general welding and metal fabricating. I have those and they are very good. Seems all you have to do is spend 11 buzillion dollars on their tools!!!!!!!!!

Well that's very interesting. I wonder if it is a car I saw for sale not too long ago and talked to Ken Jones about. I think CM is over on the other coast getting blown away at the moment. I'll have to look in to this. Thanks

I hear ya! And that is my plan. A friend just paid $1200 and they are seriously drop dead gorgeous. They will be in Syracuse. Might we take the time to go over some old thread material for everyone's interest? The 'D' hubcap represents Datsun's initial wheel cover appearing on cars built up to mid 1971. The center hub sports a round plastic emblem with the letter D. The pressed metal spoked design was also used for a chromed hexagon symbol in the center and a few hubcaps are simply painted black with no emblem. Only the 'D' centers appeared in the American market. The stamped steel is chromed on both sides with lacquer paint finish on the outside spokes. The hubcaps press fit to the standard steel wheel using a series of spring clips around the circumference. The earliest metal stampings were bent with fairly large spaces between the clips - almost like a series of tabs. These caps had a tendency to fall off under hard cornering and were soon replaced with the later design offering more clips and much less space between them. The original chrome finish is typical of Datsun cost saving techniques of the time. Inspection "ken" markings are typically inked on the inside. Used hubcaps suffer from rust and brake dust corrosion. The paint finish does adhere to the chrome very well, but suffers from age. The plastic center 'D's were chromed plastic painted satin black on the surround. They pin through holes in the hubcap and metal backer clips. Generally speaking, they are fragile and a serious pleasure to find used in good condition. All of these pictures can be found in various threads on this site.

Greetings and welcome from the twins!

Yea. Scrub the surface rust with steel wool or a Scotch Bright pad. Wet sand it with Ospho (use rubber gloves) to remove the rust. Don't undercoat over rust or paint over rust. Bare metal only. I am interested to hear recommendations for spray applied undercoating products and paintable undercoating products. What is the slightly rippled body protectant stuff that has a painted finish?

I see the results of the first two auctions, but Ben had a third cap for sale. Does anyone know what he got for the third cap? Did the same guy buy it too? There used to be a Japanese guy in Canada who had brand new stuff. About a year ago he was getting $300 for a new hubcap. I'm with Mark; deal privately whenever possible. I bought the AM radio from your guy, Mark. Chloe turned me on to him. Frankly, I think the world has figured out these cars are finally worth something and we will see the prices of choice pieces soar in the future.

Can't wait to meet you, Ed. And all the rest of you who will be there!

The 2005 convention is in Syracuse, New York - August 1 - August 5. http://www.zccaconvention.com/ Also try www.northeastzadventure.com Most of the web site is up and running, but it is still pretty early. To the best of my knowledge, the 2006 convention has been selected for Dallas. I do not believe a location or host chapter has been selected for 2007. Hope this helps. Oh yes, Track day is Watkins Glen

There is a great discussion about the Z wiring and headlamps in the latest issue of SportZ magazine.

xray, Your choice of finish simply depends on how you want to use and present your car. "As delivered" was a chassis (unibody) painted as the body with variants of black for the suspension and other bolted on components. The black finish ranges between satin and gloss. There are certain areas of the chassis painted black. Three that come to mind are the front of the radiator support, seat brackets, and the vent behind the quarter emblem - satin.

Girls, I'm tired of the American bashing. It is non-productive, unfriendly, and it isn't funny. One does not make themselves better by putting others down.

Here is what I was looking for. I clipped this from the original brochure - 1970. See how the valance matches the hubcaps? The grill is the same color. It is not real dark charcoal..

Good to see you back CoastGuardZ.

Hell yes a 240Z is faster than a 280Z!!!! :tapemouth Take that door panel off and tune up your locking mechanisms! They are really simple. So simple, in fact, that they wear out...go figure. There are several plastic pieces and adjustment screws to fool with. Some times the plastic washer / spacers break and fall out leaving a lot of slop in the adjustment geometry. Make sure everything is in place and not worn out / replace the broken plastic so that the mechanism operates directly and snug. Lubricate the hell out of the mechanism and get it real clean. I prefer lithium grease when I put them all back together. For a 240 Z, the doors should only lock when they are closed.

Great blurb about what investment quality cars are doing in the market today. Compare the five year averages with the last year averages. Zeds are on the gain!!!! Great time to buy a collector Zed. Glad to see old Zeds are newsworthy. How about the "poor man's Corvette" comment? And the rust comment!!!!! A-men!!!!

The valve cover is cast aluminum which polishes very well. It can be chrome plated but it sounds like it was polished. The head gasket goes between the cast iron engine block (blue) and the cast aluminum head (silver). It sounds like you are looking at an engine that had a valve job recently?

Her Majesty has just been informed that the hose will be appearing at the national convention next summer. She is very fond of the car it will go on. It hails from the Banzai Spa, a most respected restoration authority. The buyer told Her Majesty that he thought the sale price was quite reasonable. Can you believe that? Reasonable..... Her Majesty is pursuing a relationship and has made advances with a fabrics suitor in the Northeast. Some scheme is afoot to cover regular hose with the new fabric (by hand, of course) and I will let you all know how that works out. Oh...and Ed, the hose was sold by the same guy who sold a lower hose about a month ago. I forget what it went for - $127?

My dearest gentle suck-up, The electro-chemical dipping process you describe is performed for cars of distinction by the exclusive spa "Revivations" in the sparkling metropolis of Wauchula, Florida. All Datsuns of serious pedegree attend, however Her Majesty was horrified to discover that they also cater to other such rif-raf as classic pick-up trucks and (dare I mention it?) muscle cars. Princess 27 thought the place was cool as a couple of her dancer buddies, Mercedes and Porsche, attend frequently. I am begining to see the twins are going to take a while getting used to each other. They are already arguing over who is going to wear what part!!! The electro-chemical stripping process includes a dip in a stripping tank along with a power spray wash of water. It is a some sort of paint stripper solution which Revivations claim is not acid. The final dip is in a heated alkaline solution (baking soda). A sacrificail anode is used to "reverse the rusting process" by passing a DC current through the tank. Ferrous ions are drawn off the metal leaving a completely derusted piece. Wherever there was rust is now gone leaving 100% bare metal. This process will not harm the lead fillers or the plastic padding on the wiring harness tabs as long as no rust is present. For instance, it won't harm properly applied bondo where there is no rust underneath. The greatest thing about this process is that it removes the rust ferrous ions completely, inside and out. No blasting process does. The bare metal dries with a dust of baking soda on it to prevent flash rust. I have seen parts go 6 weeks or so without flash rust. Revivations gets around $1500 to do the chassis only. Doors, hood, body parts are extra. They do gas tanks, wheels, you-name-it. If it is rusted, they will take the rust off. They just did a metal shingle roof for a client of mine. Great place. Seriously slow and royaly pricey. Kathy is also quite capable of recommending the best and most expensive places to have other parts restored. Pioneer Restorations next door does complete automotive restorations - museum quality. Revivations / Pioneer Auto Restoration, Inc. 122 South 8th Avenue Wauchula, Florida 33873 Kathy 863.773.9152 The tail light valance is painted a charcoal grey. I have heard arguments about the value of the color - ranging between a #4 warm and a #8 warm grey. I will probably go for a lighter value, but I think it should match the grill and hubcaps. I bought authentic engine paint from Mike McGinnis at Banzai to discover he was using the same source as I had been tempted to use. I'm going to take that formula to www.towerpaint.com and see what it looks like. The original finish is an unpolished lacquer which does not take wax very easily. It seems the color fades quite easily. Older, used examples of mine are much lighter than my new examples. Perhaps thus the controversy? I'll be posting pictures of my experiences with the dipping process. I was just about to start with 26 when I bought 27. I'll also return to this thread in the future to discuss my thoughts on the paint color. Let me get a can of this and see what it looks like. Chris

Article in this morning's Wall Street Journal http://online.wsj.com/public/resources/documents/info-invcar04.html?printVersion=true Includes the 1971 Datsun 240 Z recommended buy. Thought you might be interested.

Hey Ben, Troy from "Too Intense" put in a bid. I think I recognize Les Canaday there also. Who is plumprandy? It is going to be hard for me to believe the mileage, but it IS possible. Looks like a super nice car.

No whining at all, Alan. I think you just made some very good points and explained your position very well. And I don't particularly disagree with you. In fact, pointing out your "technique" of posting known copyrighted material with your intent is very well put. Your association of photograph to topic is an excellent way to express intent. In that respect, a gallery posting would be much less appropriate. Your other comments about litigation are well expressed also. I can tell you from experience that when a situation gets to lawers and courtrooms, the only thing we know for sure is that a lot of money will be spent. Or made! Respect for the watermark is key. I see the use of a watermark much more frequently and I agree that it is inappropriate to crop it off. I'll bet the original intent of this site's gallery, or most others, is to file and display images that might otherwise require special software that individual users may not have on thier computers. Our gallery also contains the structure to hold "collections" from contributers - say - the collection of photos from the national convention. In that respect, I would think that everyone's individual gallery is simply their personal collection. I think of it that way. What might be appropriate to say is that when one posts an image, they are sharing. Sharing is a basic act of friendship. Sharing also requires that once something is shared, contributed, given away, it is no longer subject to conditions. It has been "given away". One is to be commended for sharing. We celebrate sharing on this site and those who put in a lot of effort to share. Thanks for sharing, Alan. Chris

I am very happy to see this poll. Thanks, Mike. I wish to point out that copyright laws DO exist already and that anyone is entitled to pursue litigation under the protection of copyright laws. In all the circumstances that I have read in previous posts about this topic, only one complaint seems to be legitimate. Evidently, someone copied someone's photo and is selling it on eBay. That is a copyright violation. Everything else is not. One of the most vocal complainers about this topic scans and posts copyrighted material all the time. The information is posted without any intent to sell; it is for informational purposes only. That is no different from anyone else posting the same information elsewhere. It is a right we enjoy called "freedom of the press". It is a shame people take offense from their copied pictures, but in the United States of America, we are free to do that. One of the things that makes this site above and beyond all the other sites dealing with our subject is the photography. I truly believe that locking up the galleries will diminish this site and cause it's demise.

GunnerRob, The hubcaps shown are not 'D' hubcaps. They are appropriate for the model / year car. 'D' hubcaps would be inappropriate. karst, Rubber tips between the bumper and the body would not be appropriate for this model / year car. In fact, rubber tips are not appropriate for any HLS30 to the best of my knowledge. Gear shift boots are vinyl except for 1969 built cars - perhaps. I'm still researching that one.

Drop dead fantastic site!!!! Wow Thanks!!!!