Julian's 72 240z

[Dragonball240z]

Good evening all,

I'm not sure what to call my project, it not really a restoration, more of a reassemble and refurbishment.

I was luckily enough to become the owner of a very straight example of a 1972 240z. The guy i bought it off had the car for about 15 years. When doing the body/ paint work there were only a couple of minor rust repairs to be made. The shell was then sitting in a shed for the last 6 years untouched and collecting dust (does this count as barn find? )

The car came with a good chunk of the interior parts already refurbished (seats, dash etc) these have been mixed in with good condition original parts.  

I picked up the car on Saturday evening, and got it safely home Sunday afternoon. The evenings this week have all been about sorting out my garage and parts. Then delivering the parts to dad (who is helping with the project). He has been cleaning them up as we go, so when the time comes we can just assemble.    

Once we do this, i will have a better idea of what parts i need to find to put her back together. 

  

[gav240z]

Nice, I'd call it a revival or reassembly. Since restoration usually means going back to original.

Good luck, rust work is the hardest part of fixing these cars I find. So this should be relatively straight forward provided someone can guide you who is familiar with these cars.

[gav240z]

By the way if you get a chance I'd love to know the VIN no. 72s are actually quite thin on the ground.

[Dragonball240z]

HS30 10951

[theremm]

Welcome, sounds like a great project. Looking forward to seeing updates as you progress

[Dragonball240z]

Good evening,

So over the last week and a half we have been trying to clean/ revive as many parts as possible and now have a better idea of the parts i am missing.  I cant wait to start installing. 

I also had chance to have a good look at the body of the car, inspected sills, under body etc. Noticed that there was a heap of media/sand in one of the outer sills. Spent a couple of evenings trying to vacuum all the media out. I managed to get majority of it out. I attached some old radiator hose on the vacuum cleaner to protect the paint and the get more of the media out.

I also decided to drop the front end (suspension, steering rack etc.)  to clean and repaint (job for this weekend). 

 

[Dragonball240z]

I made some more progress over the weekend. My aim was to clean up and paint the underside of the first 2/3 of the car.  I was pretty happy with he result, 1/3 to go.

[Dragonball240z]

My dad has also been super busy test fitting parts to the car. Seeing those lights/ bumper  makes me want to get the car on the road asap.

I also had a chance to give the engine and gearbox a quick clean. I need to make a plan of how i will tackle the running gear. 

[Ponyo240z]

Good progress. Did you manage to find a set of rear light wiring?

[Dragonball240z]

Thanks Ponyo. I haven't managed to find a set yet. I will do a wanted post when i get the time. 

[Dragonball240z]

Over the last week we have made some more progress. Spend a couple of evenings cleaning the rear underside and had a chance to paint it. I wanted to see if i had all the brake lines so i test fitted them. There are a couple of kinked sections that i will need to replace but overall they look in pretty good shape. I also gave the fuel tank a good clean on the outside. I want to repaint the outside, but i do like the markings/ stamp on it... what to do..?

 

[Dragonball240z]

I did a bit of research over the weekend on how to install the rear hatch glass, rubber and chrome with my dad. On Monday i got a surprise message mid way through a hike (was supposed to be working on the Z) on Monday. To my excitement he had already installed it using a combination of what we had read, watched and his own method. I was really please with how it turned out.

[AndBir]

Pity he did not make a video of this as I need to replace my rear hatch glass rubber (with the chrome trim).

I assume he inserted the chrome trim before he installed window into the hatch?

[theremm]

9 hours ago, AndBir said:

Pity he did not make a video of this as I need to replace my rear hatch glass rubber (with the chrome trim).

I assume he inserted the chrome trim before he installed window into the hatch?

Ditto, literally need to do the same thing right now too!

[GTI-Z]

2 hours ago, theremm said:

Ditto, literally need to do the same thing right now too!

Me three,  even a set of written instructions would be helpful !

[Dragonball240z]

5 hours ago, GTI-Z said:

Me three,  even a set of written instructions would be helpful !

The first thing i said to my dad when he sent the me the pics was did u take a video... lol 

His response was "i was by myself and i don't know how to use the video on my phone". 

When i get a chance i will post a set of written instructions    

[Dragonball240z]

Good evening,

I have put together some written instructions for the installation of rear hatch glass rubber with chrome insert. The whole process took approx  3.5 hours. It will be easiest if this is done on a table so you don't have to bend down whilst working on the hatch. 

1. Make sure that the rim of the hatch, the glass and the rubber is clean. Mine had some old masking tape along the rim the whole way around. 
2. For the string we used some leftover curtain rope roughly 5mm thick (see example image below). You have to work this inside the inner groove of the rubber (the groove that will fit over the body work) . You can use a fly screen plastic spline tool to assist with getting into the groove without damaging the rubber. Make sure that you have excess rope overlapping roughly 300mm.
3. next step is to fit the rubber around the glass
4. Once the rubber is on the glass you can carefully install the chrome inserts. Try getting the longer sections in first, then move to the smaller pieces. Once within the rubber they should fit pretty snugly. If they seem a bit loose hold in place with some masking tape.
5. Now place the Glass (with rubber and chrome insert) into the hatch. It should work in pretty easily. At this point tape the glass onto the hatch from the outside as you will need to flip the hatch over to work on the inside. It is best to get some help with this (make sure the glass does not fall out, this almost happened to mine)
6. With the hatch now turned over, you should see the excess rope/string hanging out. Now the theory of the string is that as you pull the string out, it will pull the rubber over the rim of the hatch. You have to be quite patient during this step as you don't want the the rope to cut the rubber. In practice you will need some assistance.  To assist with this step we used (Ezy Glide Dry Lubricant Aerosol). if you don't have this handy, try looking in your bedside table and use some of your silicone based lube that's sitting in your drawer. If you cant find that  look inside your medicine cabinet for some vaseline (would probably be a bit messy and would require more cleanup...but that's nothing new when using such products )  
7. Now spray the rubber and the rim of the hatch with the Ezy Gllide and start slowly pulling out one end of the string. Make sure there is tension in the string when pulling and don't yank it as this will increase the chance of damaging the rubber. When pulling the string, try pulling at a 45 degree angle. We found that this worked best (see image below). Repeat this until all of the string is out.   

I hope this helps!

Edited June 17, 2020 by Dragonball240z

[theremm]

Great write up thanks! One more question - which branded rubber seal did you use and where did you buy it from? I need to buy a new one that will accept the chrome trim too, I notice you can buy seals that don't accept the chrome trim.

[Dragonball240z]

9 hours ago, theremm said:

Great write up thanks! One more question - which branded rubber seal did you use and where did you buy it from? I need to buy a new one that will accept the chrome trim too, I notice you can buy seals that don't accept the chrome trim.

Not a problem. Unfortunately I'm not sure of the branded rubber. It was in a box of parts when i purchased the Z.  

[Dragonball240z]

We have made a bit of progress in the last week.  I sourced some Kia rubbers for the doors and hatch. They fit great and were very easy on the wallet.

Continued with cleaning and painting the underside. Most of it completed now. 

Hatch was also installed. She is starting too look like a car now!  

 

[AndBir]

2 hours ago, Dragonball240z said:

We have made a bit of progress in the last week.  I sourced some Kia rubbers for the doors and hatch. They fit great

Looks really good, glad you found the Kia door seals work well, I have used them and they provide a good seal - not sure if they are better than the originals/OEM type replacements but the doors close well and have a "solid" feel when shutting.

[AndBir]

17 hours ago, Dragonball240z said:

I sourced some Kia rubbers for the doors and hatch

Just be aware that when you come to fit the rear plastic internal lining panels you may have some issues where they adjoin the hatch area as the Kia pinchweld is thicker than the OEM rubber seal.

[Dragonball240z]

 

2 hours ago, AndBir said:

Just be aware that when you come to fit the rear plastic internal lining panels you may have some issues where they adjoin the hatch area as the Kia pinchweld is thicker than the OEM rubber seal.

Thanks for the heads up!

[Dragonball240z]

Whilst looking for parts in his garage, my dad came across his receipt for his 260z that he purchased in 1976. He also had a Datsun price list from the same year.    

 

[gilltech]

Can/did you buy the Kia seals new or are they only available second-hand? What year(s)?

I've already put new repro S30 door seals on my 260 as the originals were perished, but they're too fat and haven't squashed down, PITA as after two and a half years I still have to slam the doors hard to get them to close.