HS30-00019

[George]

With regards to the loom, once you remove it, just check for any major damage like wires melted together or from previous owner butchering, and if it all seems good, just re wrap and install. I've repaired a few looms and it's not that complicated to do yourself.

 

Thanks Dimitri. I did email the business that Paul recommended to get a quote but I will try to salvage what I have if possible.

[Brabham]

Hi George,

 

where are you getting all your interior bits from? So long as the loom hasn't been cut/modified, it should be ok to use the original.

 

Cheers

[Grandad]

Hi George

I think your current budget of 50k plus P&P is about right for starters but I'll be surprised if it comes in under 80k total.

It's quite amazing just where the money goes without any improvement to the vehicle for example off the top of my head we moved Whitties car to have things done five times @ $200.00 ea return trip so there's 1k gone and then there's all the consumables that will be required over time plus annoying things like requiring one clip but having to but a packet of them while these are not major items it's surprising just how quickly the small amounts add up.

Regarding your choice of engines if this were my project I'd go with the original.

I look forward to following your progress.

Dad

[gav240z]

Hi George,

 

where are you getting all your interior bits from? So long as the loom hasn't been cut/modified, it should be ok to use the original.

 

Cheers

 

I don't think much of George's interior could be salvaged from the sounds of it.

[George]

Hi Alex,

 

Les from Classic Datsun is supplying everything for me.

 

6 Piece interior kit (with early inner hatch vent panel)

Carpet kit - nylon loop

Vinyl kit

Door skins (no holes for RHD fit)

Front kick panels

Headliner

Side rail runners (only if they will fit RHD)

Windshield post & upper door jams

Seat cover x 2 & foam kit x 2

Seat x 2

Seat services (powder coating, zinc plating, rails in army green)

 

I haven't got the final pricing yet and his website pricing is a bit old but it should all come to around $3.5k taxed & delivered. A fair price I thought for nearly the whole interior which is why I budgeted so little in the first place.

 

Vintage Wiring replied today. They offer early or late harnesses at $770 plus freight. I thought that was a fair price for brand new, tagged and with instructions. I could go either way here - it all depends on the condition of my harnesses.

 

Regarding your choice of engines if this were my project I'd go with the original.

 

Thanks, I'm really torn about this one and could go either way. It's not on my radar as a decision that has to be made yet but I do think about it often.

[George]

I don't think much of George's interior could be salvaged from the sounds of it.

 

Gav, I think Alex was referring to the harnesses. They can possibly be saved. I just need to go through them thoroughly.

[Karljsw]

Hey George,

 

Good luck with your restoration I'm looking forward to reading and seeing your progress

 

Re engine, I'd go original for the moment to get the car running and then when its all 'done' (its never done haha) go for a built up engine and keep the original with low Km's etc

 

Karl

[George]

 

Re engine, I'd go original for the moment to get the car running and then when its all 'done' (its never done haha) go for a built up engine and keep the original with low Km's etc

 

Thanks Karl and I like the sound of that. Mind you, I'll be broke for the next decade after this build so a second engine might have to wait a while...

[PB260Z]

Hi George

 

I have always said people should do their car their way, but with such early numbered car I believe originality is the way to go.

 

Just my two cents worth.

 

Cheers

 

PB

 

PS if you ever need a hand or want to borrow stuff just sing out, us Northerners need to stick together 

[George]

Thanks Pete. If by northerner you mean north of say Melbourne then I accept. I do however live in the south of Sydney.

 

I'm afraid I'll be banished from the interwebs if I deviate from anything original with this car...

[PB260Z]

Thanks Pete. If by northerner you mean north of say Melbourne then I accept. I do however live in the south of Sydney.

 

I'm afraid I'll be banished from the interwebs if I deviate from anything original with this car...

 

Yes North of Melbourne. FWIW whilst I live in the northern suburbs I work in the "Shire"

[Brabham]

Classic Datsun looks like it has some good stuff. Will be interested to see how good the parts are when they turn up, keep us posted on this as a lot of these bits are very hard to find original.

 

+1 for a stock rebuild of the original engine

 

Cheers

[Fairlady Z]

i just spent 45min from pg1 to pg11. guys too much crap. leave the silly comments to general discussion.

 

rustiest z,not worth it it will cost this much and that much. everyone has their opinion.

 

George first  congrats on few things.

1.buying the early girl

2. sticking to your guns and ignoring the silly comments.

 

you are close with your estimate and you did the right choices so far.

 

some people don't get it. its not about money , work involved or time spent. its about the car and you.

 

once this crazy weather calms down here i see a trip to Pauls is in my schedule.

 

George also yahoo auctions is your friend and worse nightmare to your bank account.

 

will be following and checking the progress in person.

[George]

Thanks Johnny. I intend on having fun and learning some stuff along the way, including how to deal with the problems that crop up. I would be silly to assume it's all going to be roses; it won't be.

 

It's a ride I've wanted to go on for a number of years now. Every ride has its admission fee; I'm OK with mine.

[George]

There won't be too many posts of substance from me for the next 4 or so months. Paul has parked the shell while he finishes other jobs and I'm busy finishing some home renovations and then taking a holiday. Despite working 7 days a week for the past few months I've found the time to strip the shell and source some parts. Other than that I don't have the time nor the place to be working on anything related to the car although I have sourced a lot of parts but I don't really want to spam this thread each time a bolt or a clip arrives.

 

Having said all that, I did find the time to play around with the radio. Check out the whole process here:

 

 

 

I've mentioned before that I enjoy tinkering and that's all this was; just winding down for a couple of nights after work.

 

PeterAllen sourced the platers and he did me a big favour running around town on his own time. The result is an interesting one with the streaks and wild colours unlike the original consistent cad plating finish. I believe it's called thin-film interference but I'm no expert in plating.

 

 

 

 

It would have been fine to leave as is but I undid one screw and the rest followed.

 

 

 

 

The inside was in need of a clean up as much as the outside.

 

 

Funky streaks and colourisation.

 

 

 

[gav240z]

Hey George, radio looks good. Although I'm wondering if it's possible to get plating done that doesn't have that funky green colour in it? On a head unit like this it really doesn't matter as it's not going to be seen for the most part, but in the engine bay etc.. I'd rather a gold / yellow plating colour for hinges and latches, inspection lamp etc..

[George]

Hey George, radio looks good. Although I'm wondering if it's possible to get plating done that doesn't have that funky green colour in it? On a head unit like this it really doesn't matter as it's not going to be seen for the most part, but in the engine bay etc.. I'd rather a gold / yellow plating colour for hinges and latches, inspection lamp etc..

 

Agreed Gav. For visible parts I would prefer a consistent finish as per older cad plating.

[d3c0y]

Looks great, i think once it's in the car you wont even think about the colour of the cad plating. I think it's easy to take some of these details too far that you wont be able to fully appreciate once it's installed.

[George]

Looks great, i think once it's in the car you wont even think about the colour of the cad plating. I think it's easy to take some of these details too far that you wont be able to fully appreciate once it's installed.

 

I agree, this might seem like a waste of time but I really worked on the radio to get used to a new bench grinder which I'm using as a polisher and to try out plating parts. Brushing up on my soldering skills was a sobering experience as well.

 

I should flog this radio on fleabay. I've seen some recently asking close to $1k for ones in worse condition.

[andyk_79]

Been loving reading through this thread George.  I admire your dedication in taking on such a mammoth restore job and it'll be great to watch another early one saved !!

[vorn70]

Nice work on the radio George. I have just been catching up on you build budget and progress. I like you idea of putting a figure to each area. As the body work is getting done you can start to collect the bits and pieces you need, I'm sure where you spend more is some areas you might be able to save in others. Keep the updates coming mate.

[gav240z]

Agreed Gav. For visible parts I would prefer a consistent finish as per older cad plating.

 

Actually George, I noticed when I was refurbing the steering wheel that the original horn assembly was in that yellow cad plating, but it had a hint of that discolouration like the Hitachi head unit you had done.

 

I didn't get a good photo, but just saw this for a heater 'c0ck' on Yahoo! Auctions that shows this.

 

By the way do you know what it costs to have parts electroplated like this? Does it make sense to do all items at once? I hesitate to give them everything in 1 go only because I'm scared they will loose parts etc..

[George]

 

By the way do you know what it costs to have parts electroplated like this? Does it make sense to do all items at once? I hesitate to give them everything in 1 go only because I'm scared they will loose parts etc..

 

Gav, Peter and I paid $80 for a small lot of parts but in saying that I don't think it'll go up by much, if at all, if we had twice as many parts. To a plater I imagine the cost is in the prep as that's the manual component. As long as that part of the job is relatively easy it shouldn't cost a lot.

 

I wouldn't do everything at once if it's the first time you're using the plater. Try them out with a small collection of parts and if you're happy do the lot.

 

As for loosing parts, I wouldn't worry too much as long as you don't give them a chance. By that I mean drop them off and pick them up ASAP. I understand your concern there and I'm sure they would as well so bring it up prior to engaging their services. I bet they get that question from restorers all the time.

[PeterAllen]

A lot of the green/purple discolouring you see in photographs is the result of flash photography. While they are not perfect they look much better to the naked eye.

 

Interestingly the less polished the surface the more consistent the colour seemed to be. Unlike chromium plating it appears that a rougher, media blasting, finish results in a better zinc-passivating finish.

 

A photo of the lot, minus George's bits, is available on the 'Plating' thread I started. The cost depends somewhat on the labour involved. In our case George included a dozen very small screws and tiny washers which the plater had to bind individually to a length of fuse wire for dipping. I thought it was great value for money.

[George]

So this just happened today.

 

The spare engine is on the left and is sitting on the sump. Seems ok.

 

The matching numbers engine leaning against the wall got some water in I believe so it will need some attention.

 

I also had a tranny and the diff sitting on a trolley further back but they barely got a splash on them.

 

Long day and we're still a bit damp! The water got up to around 12cm in places and did a bit of damage but nothing that the insurance can't fix. Just a bit of a pain really.