zspert

Exception here (damn it).........Remember/PAY ATTENTION - the second iteration all had my reproduction door jamb and engine compartment ID tags. I've stated this more than once but given the source it's not taken into consideration. I consider Les a friend, confident and partner- in- crime, we had several long chats about the car(s) he did. I won't repeat any of them here for obvious reasons.

As it's clear I don't know what I'm talking about this will be my last post to this subject. Cue the cheering throngs!

There we go again with the insults. I've found that people like that aren't very happy people in general - that's always been my frame of mind when trying to understand such behavior.

Roo - You're correct, and I know from first hand experience, Pierre wasn't amused! Many moons ago I serviced 2 of the Z Store cars and just can't remember what exactly I did to them. If I did a valve adjust to one or both and found little or no adjustment room left for the exhausts that would have told the tale about valve seat replacement, but............

Good morning deanhuff, Can't answer your question as I just don't know. However, if you're like the owners of the vast majority of old cars and only put a few hundred miles on your Z per year it isn't really an issue. Of course if your comfort level requires a lead additive by all means feel free. If you've recently acquired a Z I strongly suggest 1 - cold and hot valve adjustment 2 - cold and hot cylinder leakage test 3 - new valve cover gasket (the absolute best is Nissan which is still available from your local dealer under P/N 13270-Y7010) Cheers

Wasn't my invoice somewhere near the winning bid?

I just wish I could remember that car!

OK, the geniuses @ the Nissan US marketing Dept. came up with a brilliant plan to keep the motoring public's mind on the new Z car still in the incubation stage; we'll restore a bunch of old Z cars and sell them for cheap. They spend a ton on advertising but not too much so there's still a bit of mystery/speculation to the operation. They buy, at great expense, more than they originally thought it would cost, 200ish old Zs. Next they send one of their minions - now the company president - down to the parts dept to get the ball rolling. The guy behind the counter listens to the plan with growing amusement before telling Mr. Minion that there just isn't enough quantity to make his bosses plan work for 10 Zs let alone 200! Minion now worries about how he'll break the news to his boss and still keep his job. Of course an automobile manufacturer can't/won't resume production or ask one of their closely held - forgot the Japanese word - suppliers to resume production for a quantity below 0k say 5000 units of anything. At the time I found it interesting that they wanted me to reproduce and supply parts A-D but weren't interested in already available reproduced parts E-H. Note the nasty-looking washer bottles on the Z Store cars. I learned later that Nissan US had broken the restoration process down to individual operations and had decided that each operation/step of the process would have a max dollar amount assigned to each operation. Don't know if this is old ground but there was NO effort, none, to keep engines and transmissions with the cars from which they came. They had my reproduction ID plates so any # could be stamped.

It is a different brand of car!

Always a pleasure Guy.

Route66 et all, Want to clear up a couple of things about the Z Store program. 1 - Those are 280 front fenders that Nissan superseded the 240/260 numbers to in about 1995ish. There are 2 subtle differences that in the end don't amount to a hill of beans. 2 - Poorly run, then and now, Nissan - just last week they announced the closure of 2 factories because nobody is buying their cars - didn't go back into production of parts for the Z Store program. If they did why did they have very little me supply them with so many goodies? However, before he retired I had a friend pretty high up in the Nissan food chain in TN. One day I got a call, Mike, windshields and rear mufflers are available again. I called my local dealer where the guys are long time knowledgeable friends and asked them to do an INQUIRY - that's the official word - on those 2 part #s. Sure enough they were available. I ordered 10 muffs and 5 windshields. The muffs and windshields arrived a few days later but 2 of the windshields were cracked. I had them order 2 more windshields but only one came in as they were again unavailable! What the hell was that?? This was after the end of the Z Store program. Now, the fly in the ointment of my story are slam panels. That is, the horizontal panel visible when the deck lid is open. Nissan had someone reproduce them and they were listed with a special description and part # 240 PATCH PANEL 999M1-M0000. I still have 2 in stock. I have a real strong suspicion that this was a Nissan US deal. I feel this way because Nissan batteries, manufactured by Interstate, have the same 999M1 part # prefix. Cheers

Thank you

It's always a mistake to paint/powder coat those rear stub axle brake drum flanges, Nissan didn't.

At least he has the front tie-downs

Here we go again! Someone who should know better claims that the Z Store program car currently offered for sale on BAT was undercoated from the factory, it WASN"T!! How do I know this? I PERSONALLY, not from an article I read in a car mag, not from something a collector with 50 Z cars in her collection wrote somewhere, not from what a general manager @ a contemporary Nissan dealer told someone, undercoated lots and lots of 240Zs, 510s, 1200s and trucks while working as a Datsun mechanic in the 70s. We were paid 3/10ths of an hour labor for each car we undercoated. NONE of the models indicated had factory undercoating. Now, we occasionally see the rare Z offered for sale that were not dealer , or otherwise, undercoated. The factory paint applied to the bottom was often uneven, but not always , thin, thick, or just plain sloppy. Therefore, some internet experts will claim that it was a Datsun factory type of unique undercoating. OK, while you're certainly entitled to your opinion that doesn't make you correct. Here's one that, I'm confident, will shake the bushes. None of the Datsun models mentioned above came with grease fittings from the factory. That's right, NO GREASE FITTINGS. During the Per Delivery Inspection, PDI, or @ the 1K service we installed them, or were paid another 3/10ths to do so. Unfortunately in many, many, cases this meant that the tie rod ends and ball joints were grossly over greased . I don't know why but I saved a handful of the removed blind plugs and installed them on the 240s that Banzai Motorworks sent along to Gold Medallion awards in the stock 240 class. Did the judges notice? Don't know, probably didn't, but I knew that I'd done the right thing. (No charge) I hope everyone had a safe and fun 4th holiday. Cheers

SpeedRoo - If you're interested in more on this subject, like the 3 iterations, I'll be glad to talk on the phone or through email however this crowd clearly is fixated on that distant shiny object as opposed to facts on this greasy, dirty planet. I'll leave it at that. For those 2 chaps that responded to my question about the application of the replated parts. They will be going on what is probably my last restoration - 1972 Datsun 510 Wagon.

SpeedRoo - This is a mystery that I too don't understand. I understand the attraction to a special "Program" car but one built to a high standard. Would another manufacturer put out such a product? Now, the 3rd iteration cars were much nicer - to a point - but all of the 3 batches were indeed built to a price, a low price. While I'd be glad to go into more detail most of the occupants of this forum have little or no interest. Might A Fool and His Money Are Soon Parted apply?

Mr. Beck, You're correct in stating that Nissan didn't use any 1973 model year cars in the Z Store program. One can only imagine the confusion and delay that would have caused! However they did use - how many I have no way of knowing, more on this subject later - 1972 model year cars that required what I call "late 72" door jamb ID plates. Nissan sent me one of each of the plates they wanted me to reproduce. These were not new unstamped plates but used plates which were in good enough condition to serve as models for reproduction. I assume(ed) that they had come off of the cars they, Nissan, had purchased for the program. After a 1 year apprenticeship followed by 10 years as a Datsun dealer mechanic - no, not a "tech" - I opened Banzai Motorworks in the summer of 1980. From that time until I closed my shop on 12/1/23 I retained copies of ALL of the repair orders I wrote. If stacked up they would have been 2+ feet tall. They all had production dates and VINs. From time to time I referred to those ROs whenever an anomaly got in my shop - saw a few of those - or a parts customer had a question or concern about where his/her car fit in the pantheon. A handful of those cars had 4 or 5 of 72 production dates and "late" 72 door jamb ID plates. Ran into this with a recent ID plate order. As I remember his is 5/72. There is a lot of info/static about how many cars Nissan bought for the Z Store program, how many they planned to restore or how many were restored. However, I can state as FACT that they, Nissan, ordered 50 of everything I reproduced for them. That fact, and the first, second and third paragraphs of this rant, I'm comfortable standing behind. Why because, unlike the originators of so much of the disinformation surrounding the program, I was there as a direct participant. Cheers

PATCON, Please don't misunderstand me - of course what one does with his/her car is his/her business. Hell, I've done a handful of what I call easily reversible personalizations to my 280. However, my point is that every Z that gets irreversibly modified means one less of a finite number. Cheers

Sorry, partially incorrect PATCON - don't know what the hell that is but I'm pretty confident it shouldn't be called a Z!

Mr. Beck you're incorrect.

Also, This car has a factory radio delete plate. I have several in stock.

Early 72 on left and late 72 on right. These are examples of the ID plates Nissan commissioned me to reproduce for the program. Begs the question - when did "late" 72 begin? About 4 or 5/72, no one @ Nissan were willing to stick their necks out more than that. However, my experience backs that up.

Almost forgot, it was officially the Z Store program.

This Z was in the first of 3 batches. As the program went on more reproduction parts needed for the program became available. In the meantime there was a lot of recycling.