My Swiss 1972 S30 240Z rebuild project

[JDMjunkies.ch]

As regular reader, you might know i plan to bring a few panels and stuff to professional paint stripping soon so i'm preparing a few things. Talked to my bodyshop guy yves, about this and he recommanded me to open the fold at the bottom of the door to get all the rust removed and see how it looks inside. As he's the professional and i'm not i do whatever he says. First i needed some special tools. An Unfolding plier for bodyshops and a spotweld-romver drill.


So this is how i started. Rusty buttom of the door but otherwise nice (note pictures are mixed up from two different doors, so don't be confused, one is a lot better then the other door is..)


First removed the rubber sealing above the seal / fold with a small spatula. Then it looked like this:


Then decided to remove old rust, debris and paint with a scotch and brite CSD disk. This are brilliant for that kind of work:


This was the result:


Next i removed all the spotwelds with the drill (sorry, forgot to make pics) and then started to unfold the fold with the special pliers:


Worked out really great and after only 30 minutes the door looked like this (after another cleaning with the CSD Disk). So the doors are ready for paintstripping now :)

[JDMjunkies.ch]

Yeah i know, progress is really slow tue to the fact i'm leading a training for engineers since three weeks and that means im working all day long. however it's done soon so i hope i find time to work on the lady again. And it's also very hot these days. exceptional hot so i prefer swimming istead of working :D  However, got a package from japan today with some nice goodies:
1) M.Speed japan Water pump pulley:


2) Aftermarket waterpump from M-speed:


3) And a nice set of corner-lights including the pigtails and seals. great deal :D

[JDMjunkies.ch]

I've been working for my job like crazy lately and now i have a lot of overtime. So i decided to take one day off and spend some long overdue time in the garage :)
I've saved some money lately for bringing parts for Chemical dipping (See details below).
However i had to spend two hours yesterday preparing everything. removing small bolts and bits like the chrome trim on the taillight panels:


And removed:


Then i collected all t he parts from My garage and my second workshop at home and somehow felt i need to make one of these cool "exploded view" pictures. Always wanted to so this was a great opportunity :)




So i collected the parts from my two chassis and some more i bought. therefore a lot of different colours :) What we have is in total 23 pieces:
2x Doors
1x Roof
1x Front center valance
2x Front coner valances
2x Metal Headlight surroundings
1x Hood
1x Trunk
2x Taillight covers
1x Taillight center cover
2x Fenders
2x Access-flaps
2x Toolbox flaps
1x Hood cowl
1x Dashboard cowl
2x Mudflap metal pieces

And another pic:


Finally loaded and today i brought them to the specal company:


Compared to most of the companies they don't use Acid for dipping but a own mixture of Solvents. Different kinds of alcohol (Rum, Tequila and Whiskey maybe? :P) and they're quite famous. The advantage is that this solvend is 100% neutralized when cleaned with water at the end. so no corrosive leftovers are there at the end.
The friendly staff was quite nice and told me a bit of their process. they are like 4o people and a big part of their business they're dipping complete cars and a lot of big parts. My car will get a Complete paint- and rust removal, a rust passivating as well as a cleaning and then a be primered with Doltan 2k Washprimer to prepare from new rust while waiting to be worked on / painted.
I managed to take a shot from outside where you see a dipped Chassis from a different customer. It's not cleaned or primered yet. Should be able to pick up my parts within a month. This brings me a big step towareds the completed project, while this is still many years away...

[JDMjunkies.ch]

Few days ago i brought my Z-Bodypanels to the Company "Meier Oberflächenbehandlung Rafz" which is specialized in rust and paint removal with an alcoholic / adhesive mix. They did a very nice job and the Doltan 2K primer let's you see damage, old welds and problematic areas while preventing from new rust. Perfect. Only mistake they made was they forgot to complete thre pieces of my delivery so this friday i will go there, pick up the rest of the panels and then make the complete layout shot again. The gold colour you see is actually the Doltan 2k Primer :)
The roof was in mint condition with no damage, old welds and most important - it never had a sunroof installed:


Doors have some minor surface damage but nothing problematic:


The smaller bits all were in great shape:


Had to put all the parts on the car just for fun :)


Finally looks a bit like a car again:

[TENDRIL]

i love this z

[JDMjunkies.ch]

i love this z

Thanks mate, me too, if only progress was faster :P

[The Taterhead]

Wow, just wow! Great attention to detail

[JDMjunkies.ch]

Wow, just wow! Great attention to detail

Thanks a lot :)

[JDMjunkies.ch]

Picked up the three missing parts from the rust-and paint stripping company today and put the parts together on the car just to remember how the car looks when it's completed and give me a bit of motivation :P


Of course nothing is aligned or bolted on at the moment, i just hung the parts on the car for fun :)






Here you clearle can see previous damage, rust, welds and old Bondo on the front lower valance. i think this is the only part worth replacing. just too much damage :)

[tr8er]

I just love Japanese girls.... Sexy

[JDMjunkies.ch]

I just love Japanese girls.... Sexy

Sorry to say, but it's not a girl, it's a lady :P

[JDMjunkies.ch]

To make a long story short, it seems like the horrible stressful summer is over for me and i finally have some time to think about private stuff like my cars. And i've really been waiting to come back to the garage... So that's exactly what i did this week. I spent several evenings over there. Unfortunately not directly ON the car but more some preparation work. Because a fellow local Datsun Z Enthusiast asked me if he could buy my sparechassis and some parts. so i had to prepare it. Here's what the rear axle looked in the beginning:


and a few days later this was leftover and ready for sale along with some small other bits.


then i had to prepare the chassis, mainly just cleaning it a bit, because it already was a bare shell with no single bolt left on it. (the fenders are just hung there for easy storage).


Yesterday Krisztian came and picked up the shell. I'm happy for more than one reason.
First and mainly i know it's in good hands and that every  usable parts (and there are not many on this shell!) will be reaused and transplanted into it's new owner. So none of the usable parts will be scrapped.


Second i don't have to deal with the old chassis anymore and have a lot of storage space back in the garage now :)


And last but not least i got some money for it which will be used to bring the second chassis, which is currently at the bodyshop back to life.
This is how the garage looks now. Plenty of space to clean and sort all my spareparts which currently are a bit in a messy order :)


So plans for the next weeks are cleaning the garage and going through all my parts stored in there and get them organized better.
Second i have some news regarding the mirrors which i sent for repair a while ago (will make a separate post on that topic soon)
and Then i bought some parts in Japan again which should arrive here soon. So stay tuned :)

[JDMjunkies.ch]

After i've done the Kakimoto valve cover a while a go and started several things i'm happy to announce i finally completed another (well at least a small) part of the car. The JDM 240Z fender mirrors. This was quite a story. Because it's quite difficult to find the obsolete long-base mirrors, while the short base Datsun 510 mirrors still are available in new condition. Well i wanted to have it authentic so i went the extra mile for a detail most people probably even wouldn't notice :)
Started with a set of crappy long base mirrors i found on ebay a while ago. But sadly a lot of parts where missing and the mounts in the bottom where all rusted away...


So i bought a set of new 510 short base mirrors for spareparts.


then stripped the paint of the old long-bases


Disassembled and Test-fitted everything and had it painted at the paintshop in the original charcoal black.




Special thanks goes out to my Fellow datsun enthusiast Stefan who once again showed incredible support with his magic metal skills and was able to move the base mounts from the new 510 mirrors to the old long base version. Perfect work once again.


So finally i was able to assemble the mirrors back to what is now a completed genuine set of long-base JDM Fairlady 240Z Mirrors.








Couldn't be happier. One less point on the 2do-list to care about :) More soon... :)

[decoy12]

Awesome work on the mirrors! I have a set of long stalk mirrors but the hinge on the bottom is broken... any tips on how to repair the pot metal? 

[JDMjunkies.ch]

I had exactly the same Problem. so i bought myself a set of short stalk 510 mirrors (you can get them relatively cheap from ebay, they're still widely available). They're exactly the same exept the lenght of the stalk. However i then had my friend (Metal worker) grind the old broken hinge-part off the Long stalks, and replace it with the complete hinge-part from the 510 mirrors. I don't know how exactly hi did it, but it Looks like he glued it there with some industrial grade metal glue (which can be even stronger than welding or soldering).

All i can say is it ended up brilliantly and im superhappy with the result :) Check  out the 6th pic in my last post about the mirrors there you can see how the new hinge including the Long scrow and everything is glued to the the grinded-down old base area..

hope this helps :)

[JDMjunkies.ch]

Long-time readers might remember i already sanded down a 240Z Rear wing in the past, but after i bought my second car i figured out the wing which came with that chassis is in much better overall condition. So i sold the first wing and decided to prepare th e second one as well. And thats what i did yesterday. Started like this:

 

The wing had terrible multiple paintjobs from the past

 

Started with a drill-mounetd CSD-Disk and after a while the wing looked like this. You can see the first layer was a gray primer, then golden paint. then another layer of red primer and on top the horrible black paintjob. Sanded it down as much as possible. but as soon as the disk hit the plastik i figured out the plastik is too weak for the disk. 

 

Ath this point i continued with 400grit Sandpaper and manual sanding. Wing looked like this before i ran out of sand-paper.

 

And i looked like this will continue next week until the surface is smooth and all old primer and paint is completely gone

[JDMjunkies.ch]

Nothing big, just spent another two hours at the garage compling the sanding down of the wing. Before:

and done :)

there are a few damages in the FRP surface like it's normal for a 40 year old FRP-item, but no problem. i know a good FRP-specialist and will bring it to him for repair.

Also needs new studs in the bottom end as well as a new foam-sealing ;)

[RedSquare]

Looking good. Btw, I bet you'd do a damn fine job repairing the 40-y/o fiberglass yourself. Mainly because I'd like to see the process documented in pics.

[JDMjunkies.ch]

Thanks for the Input. I'd love to do it by myself, but so for my only experience with epoxy and Fiberglass ended up in a huge mess... Due to the fact i know THE Fiberglass / Carbon man in switzerland (Proper race-car builder) very well and i want the wing to last, and some parts of the repair (like replacing the studs) Need some experience to end up well, i decided to bring it to him. But i can ask him to take some Pictures. i'm sure he'll do it. However i have to ask him about costs and possibilities first anyway :)

[JDMjunkies.ch]

While i'm waiting for some parts from japan and for some answers from USA i realized i never showed you some pictures i made a few months ago (Only a teaser shot for my FB-followers was published). I made a mock-up of the  Front axle and steering setup to see how everything fits together and get the idea. So first i adjusted the steering rack according to the manual:

And then mounted it the the front subframe:

Next was the stabilizer bar, steering knuckles, tierod endlinks and new bushings allround

And then while at it i decided to add the Doglegs. Seems like everything fits as it should. perfect :D
What you see here is:
- Nagisa NAMS adjustable tierod endlinks
- Kameari engine mounts
- Rocky auto adjustable doglegs
- 555 Ball Joints
- Autorefine ARC stabilizer bar
- Datsun competition short steering knuckles
- Rebuilt steering rack
- All new energy PU bushings
- All other parts have been sandblasted and powdercoated
- All new OEM Nissan Screws, bolts and nuts used whenever available, otherwise replated original bolts!

 

oh, and then this:

[tr8er]

Sorry to say, but it's not a girl, it's a lady :P

Unless she's changing her oil monthly, she's just a girl.

[JDMjunkies.ch]

A while ago i wrote about different intake Manifolds and that i probably want to go for a FET (Better known as "Far East Trading" Japan) Manifold. But as i have other priorities at the moment i wasn't really looking for one. Well untill my Friend Stefan remembered my Post when he scanned the Internet for some Kenmeri parts and stumblet upon one. He immediately sent me the  link and because it was a Steal of a deal i had to get it. Today i had something in the mail :)

Thanks to the finned or striped design i think it perfectly fits the Kakimoto intake once it's painted in the same wrinkle-paint colour. And yeah i know the balancer tube might make everything a bit mor difficult to adjust, but i'm sure there's a way to work around it (like plugging the holes going to the tube or so...)

And because it's too expensive to only send one single part from Japan to here i ordered my self a set of Projectu Drumbrake shoes which will go nicely together with the hayashi racing drums :) The other set is for stefan's Kenmeri Project. Thanks again, mate!

[Lockleaf]

That setup will look awesome together

[JDMjunkies.ch]

A while ago i started the assembly of the Pedalbox. While i still wait for some small components like the flasher unit and the Brake light switch i couldn't resist assembling all the shiny new zinc-plated and powdercoated parts :)
After putting the new rubber to the pedals i installed them to the box with the fresh plated bolts.


 

Then the stopper bolts and springs came in.

 

Looks brilliant, doesn't it? :)

 

here's a comparison between the old crappy one (right side) and the completely rebuilt one, left.

 

Oh and while at it i did the throttle pedal as well :)


Oh and then i have some good news from Japan again soon :)

[JDMjunkies.ch]

I have a truckload of parts on my way from Japan, but other than that i don't have too much news. Im going to be out of country most of the time of the rest of the year for some business trips and some long-needed vacation. However i wanted to get some stuff done before i leave and mainly it was about cleaning up the mess in the garage. I've collect parts from two chassis and the internet and put them in various boxes but somehow i lost the overview over time so i wanted to have that fixed. this is what it looked like before i started cleaning yesterday:




So i started sorting all parts from various boxes to other ones and marking everything nicely to find the parts whenever i need them :)


And while in the garage anyway i decided to remove the old brake calipers from the front struts


And out they are :)


And then also removed the moustage bar from the rear diff and figoured out everything was covered in a thick layer ouf some rubber-stuff. Probably the diff was leaking at one point and they putt this nasty stuff on it to get it fixed cheaply. Anyhow the diff will get a full rebuild or R200 swap (haven't made any desicion yet). so that won't be a problem ;)