Gav240z

@kats just wanted to say thank you for sharing that 8- track repair information. If I manage to figure out how to restore these Hitachi TM-1081ZB(S). I'll be sure to share a write up.

Thanks mate, I've actually found a shop like that that deals in antique radios along the central coast of NSW, but it's a bit of a drive out that way. I was hoping to figure it out myself and share the knowledge with the community. My mum is good friends with someone who used to repair old Television sets and has been doing part time work (he's retired) repairing vintage fuel injection systems for early BMW's that are being restored. I've been meaning to ask him to take a look, but he lives in Melbourne and I'm up in Sydney. So it's a little difficult.

Kats do you have any tips on repairing these? I've got a couple of TM-1081ZB(S) radio's and some of them only move in 1 direction, but don't return and come back the other way. I was looking for a switch to clean. I've sent the housing off for gold plating, so until I get it back I haven't looked at it more, but would love to learn more about refurbishing these radios.

Kats I'm sure I don't need to tell you this, but old tyres are for display not driving on. ? On my 72 240z when I replaced them after having the car in storage for many years when I was living in Europe (7+ years) I decided to replace all 4 tyres. To my shock I discovered they were from 1987! I couldn't believe how different the car felt when I put new tyres on it. It completely transformed the car. It went from a bone jarring hard ride to a soft complaint car. When we replaced them we noted the sidewall was starting to crack. I am not surprised you had a tyre blow out.

By the way @kats I wasn't sure if I should share this here, but I figured this car would appeal to someone such as yourself. https://bringatrailer.com/listing/1970-datsun-240z-39/ More from it's originality stand point that the history being put forth.

@kats I love love love the 8-track. ? I really like the warm feel of the old radios. I think the movie The Man From U.N.C.L.E captures the magic of the old radios in this scene. I can almost taste that sandwich watching it. ? I would love to find an Peppino Gagliardi 8-track out there. :).

Nice Kats, love the idea of recreating the old genuine part sticker too. Looks like you carried that glass with you through the airport lounge. I'm glad I'm not the only 1 who carries car parts with me on international flights. :D

I'm not sold on the bead blast finish of the intake manifold. I have been using vapour blasting to refinish my alloy parts and wouldn't try anything else personally. I'm not sure how good these looked 50 years ago, but I feel these look better than new and that may be "over" restoring for some, but I'm more than happy with it.

Kats I'm so glad the dashboard turned out the way it did, the early S30Z dash is a timeless design and still looks fantastic today. I'm yet to see a more exciting instrument cluster in a car ever! My FD RX-7 is close, but I still love the trio of center gauges and think they really add to the sporty feel and the deep tach/speed-o-meter binnacles are the best look in front of the driver. Ergonomically it may not be the best by today's standards but aesthetically I still love it. I see aftermarket accessories for the FD RX-7 to give the 3 gauges to the left of the driver. Even my Stagea 260RS has the trio of gauges in the middle. So I really think it's a timeless look emulated by many all these years later. FWIW, I hate the way it was replicated in the 350z (Z33) / 370z (Z34), it doesn't look cohesive with the dash, like the early cars did.

Thanks Kats, but I don't think those particular sections will help me out. The damaged areas on mine are the base and sides but not those particular pieces. Is that an early car feature/difference Kats? I've never seen that on a 240z myself.

Hey Kats, let me know if you have any old blue seat material you don't need afterwards? I would like it for HS30 01415 ?

It's absolutely disgusting how good this car has turned out. Shame on you! Haha. A real credit to your George. Especially given all your new responsibilities in life. Hat tip.

Kats let me check the AU parts manual also. On the topic of interior colours I find it fascinating that home market cars never got the Blue / Red / Tan interiors. Did they get white? Any idea why not? Was it considered too lairy for the home market customers? Even today with Nissan I see examples of unique interiors on cars they produce. I recently bought an Autech car which has a different interior (similar to the Skyline GTRs) which didn't appear on the other models. I like it, but because of you Kats I now want to keep everything as original as possible on my cars and I have got seat covers etc.. to protect all the original materials. So in another 10-15 years people like us will be able to appreciate the original cars.

It's a shame the shell and engine were separated.. I wonder if the motor is available for sale?

Go for it Kats!

You can imagine the Prince engineers were a close knit group that worked well together, when the merger happened with a much larger company, there would have been far less freedoms and more bureaucratic squabbling etc.. Big companies are often overly process heavy, compared with the freedom's they probably enjoyed at Prince they were able to be very agile (that business word) and innovative within the group. Just looking at the differences in the S20 and L-series motor. It's clear 1 was made for profit, 1 was made for love. ?

Hey Kats, Do S20 engines have sleeves in their cylinder bores? *Edit actually I went back through the thread and saw they do indeed have sleeves, unlike the L-series.

Where did you get those dollies under the front wheels from?

I am glad they sell them in Australia! I was wondering where I was going to find 14" wheels for my 71 date stamped Topy's to suit my white 71 240z. My Australian delivered 70 240z, HS30 00150 was fitted with "Aunger Hotwires" and not the steel topy's (I believe dealer fitted) and so the spare tyre is actually of that era. I'll have to check but I believe it's a bridgestone. Kats has already noted I have a "432" style spare wheel tie down for it in the rear. I think HS30 00051 also had jelly bean wheels like these (probably Aunger branded) new from dealer in place of the original caps + steelies. I've got to great lengths to find appropriate date stamped steel wheels for my cars. Although I may clean up the dealer fitted "alloys" like you have done here.

+1 on technique, I've thought about using vapour blasting to clean the wheels (remove all old brake dust/road grime etc..) and then have a fresh surface ready to polish. Looks like you're using a mechanical method to clean these?

Someone probably stuffed the thread and tried to repair it. Worst case a tig welder would be able to apply some new material, redrill it then retap. It should be easy enough to fix. Did you win this head on Yahoo! Auctions recently? I saw a head for sale a day or 2 ago?

I had a quick look in the parts manual for AU market cars and I see European (non European) Automatic and even Air-Conditioner fitted cars had different spring rates. Bit hard to make sense of it all to be honest. I see mention of spring rates, but not height.

I will have to look in the AU parts manual Kats to see what the part no. is for 260z springs. I am not sure of the spec, but I believe it's similar to European.

It could be an AU market car, but we didn't have the turn knob on our fuel filler door. We had a lock. Also we had 1 mirror on the driver's door. (No passenger mirror).