240Z Restoration - the dream.

[ND240Z]

1 hour ago, JDM-TOY said:

@ND240Z Did they dunk the whole dash to Zinc plate it? Looks amazing

I removed the dash pad from the frame and reinstalled it after I got it back. Very easy to do, it's just a bunch of screws and washers. Dash has also gone to the dashboard doctor to be repaired and reskinned. Will see that in 3-4 months or so.

Spending a few hours after work most nights a week in the garage doing things that don't make much noise lately. Window's cleaned up and remounted back onto the mounting brackets with the refurbished zinc coating. Looks soo good, what a difference.

(drivers side glass has some very slight upwards scratches in it, looks like there were rocks or dirt stuck in the weather strip and the previous owner just didn't ever clean it out. will possibly need to replace it with a perfect one)

I also pulled apart the heavily oil-soaked factory Hitachi LT150 Alternator a few months back, hardware reconditioned and covers vapor blasted. Bearings and brushes also replaced. Really happy with how this piece turned out. Love uncovering the long lost factory stampings on the covers.  

Earlier in my thread, I posted photos of a NOS Tokico Brake master cylinder that I acquired. Sadly, that one was a series one which isn't correct for my car and I didn't feel like paying $1,500 for another new old stock Tokico one. So I found a NOS rebuild kit on YahooJP and got to work cleaning up and restoring my original BMC.

 

Im still waiting on my last batch of zinc plating goodies to come back to finish it off, but i'm very happy with how it's come up so far. I used my home sandblaster with a fine media to bring it back to this raw alloy finish. Just like factory! Will post more photos on completion of that part. 

Still need to find a late 240Z/early 260Z Brake booster in restorable condition, mine is waaay too rusty and pitted to even bother. If you have one let me know.

[JDM-TOY]

19 hours ago, ND240Z said:

I removed the dash pad from the frame and reinstalled it after I got it back. Very easy to do, it's just a bunch of screws and washers. Dash has also gone to the dashboard doctor to be repaired and reskinned. Will see that in 3-4 months or so.

Came up really nice, hope you dont mind haha

[ND240Z]

Non date matching TOPY wheels acquired. These aren't the 11/72 set that i am looking for, but until i find those - these will do. I'll blast them and paint them satin black and silver. My other only slightly rusty 1200 Ute in the background making an appearance. 

 

Pulled the wiper motor out of its bag and was really stunned on the condition. Gave it a wipe over and gave the electrical terminals a quick once over with a fine file to make the contact spots nice and new again. 

Before cleaning:

After cleaning: 

PS: the wiper bag was extremely firm, but i waved a heat gun over it and it made it very workable. 

Had a minute to spare so i took the other Nissan out for its monthly drive to charge the battery. 

[ND240Z]

Keeping busy at night time tackling jobs that don't make much noise. 

Sent off more stuff to get zinced, and have since got it back. Seat runners done in factory black (dark green) zinc plating. Really happy with how these turned out! 

Found a NOS Bonnet cable.

 

Finished reassembling the car's original TOKICO BMC. Came out great! See photos above for how bad it was.

Re-assembled the seat mechanisms back. Still need to get a few circlips and some clear tube to cover the spring to make it 100% proper again.

Had another spare mechanism lying around, my original ones were in even worse condition than that! 

I've found a few more NOS parts that are in transit. Cannot wait until this car is painted and assembly can happen.

 

Edited August 15, 2022 by ND240Z

[gav240z]

12 hours ago, ND240Z said:

Sent off more stuff to get zinced, and have since got it back. Seat runners done in factory black (dark green) zinc plating.

Can you tell me if they were pulled apart for the process? I've got a spare set I wouldn't mind sending off for replating but I am not sure how / if they come apart easily and they are covered in a grease to help them slide, which I would think would hinder their plating ability if not cleaned off.

[gav240z]

By the way here is the distributor I bought off you recently restored.

I had it vapour honed, rebuilt and re-graphed to suit a stock 240z ignition curve (w SU's etc..). Quite happy with how it turned out. I didn't do the work on it myself, I had a shop do it as part of the re-curve. But they made it look pretty.

As with all used 280zx distributors they are often stuffed in terms of advance mechanism, with the ball bearings and cage in bits. This was no different.

I also had another done at the same time minus vacuum advance assembly for the Triple Mikuni 240z (My 72 240z).

Cost a small fortune but hopefully it stops my red car pinging from too much advance.

[ND240Z]

58 minutes ago, gav240z said:

By the way here is the distributor I bought off you recently restored.

I had it vapour honed, rebuilt and re-graphed to suit a stock 240z ignition curve (w SU's etc..). Quite happy with how it turned out. I didn't do the work on it myself, I had a shop do it as part of the re-curve. But they made it look pretty.

As with all used 280zx distributors they are often stuffed in terms of advance mechanism, with the ball bearings and cage in bits. This was no different.

I also had another done at the same time minus vacuum advance assembly for the Triple Mikuni 240z (My 72 240z).

Cost a small fortune but hopefully it stops my red car pinging from too much advance.

That came up really good.. I may have to get the contact details of who did it so I can have my distributor done to that spec too. I’ve already zinc coated all the metal parts from it already, and have a NOS rotor and cover piece for the top - so mine ‘should’ come up as new.
 

as for the seat runners, they were not pulled apart. I think they’re kinda pressed together so I didn’t want to mess with them. The Zinc process got to all areas though. They did dip them in acid to get rid of all dirt and grease first.

[gav240z]

10 minutes ago, ND240Z said:

as for the seat runners, they were not pulled apart. I think they’re kinda pressed together so I didn’t want to mess with them. The Zinc process got to all areas though. They did dip them in acid to get rid of all dirt and grease first.

Thanks, that's what I kind of figured happened. Is there a specific process for that green colour I should ask the platers to use, do you know?

I have a spare set of rails because I damaged the threads on the ones in my car when I modified my car to suit Recaro's (big mistake) anyway, I will tap and die the threads back to good and then send off the rails for replating because I bought another pair of rails years ago (for $100) from the US but they were a bit rusty/messy looking at since I installed the Ikeda Bussan seats the rails are a lot more exposed and look crap, where as the stock seats would cover them more from view.

12 minutes ago, ND240Z said:

That came up really good.. I may have to get the contact details of who did it so I can have my distributor done to that spec too. I’ve already zinc coated all the metal parts from it already, and have a NOS rotor and cover piece for the top - so mine ‘should’ come up as new.

I have a couple of spare 280zx distributors here, I couldn't find them at the time otherwise I would have had all of them restored also. So maybe I can offer people an exchange service? Sounds like yours have been nicely done. I was in the process of doing that kind of plating for my '240z' points distributors, but the shaft was stuck in the housing and no amount of heat seemed to free it.

[Agno]

Performance Ignition in Nunawading (Victoria) did a full rebuild of my distributor about 2 years ago with a similar scope of work as what Gav suggested.

[gav240z]

1 hour ago, Agno said:

Performance Ignition in Nunawading (Victoria) did a full rebuild of my distributor about 2 years ago with a similar scope of work as what Gav suggested.

That's where I went, hopefully you were happy with the regraph on your Z?

[Agno]

36 minutes ago, gav240z said:

That's where I went, hopefully you were happy with the regraph on your Z?

Yep it's good. The distributor was effectively locked because the advance mechanism was completely seized.

[ND240Z]

Distributor was next - I had a few parts zinc plated from it already, so i figured I may aswell pull it apart, clean, sandblast the casings, polish with scotch brite and reassemble so that the company who refurbishes the insides has a clean part to work with (hope they give me a discount since they don't need to clean anything or plate anything lol)

Found a NOS Harada HA-11D which if i'm right, was the factory power antenna for the 1972/73 'series 2' 240Z.

Brake check valve pulled apart, hardware plated, casing blasted and vapor honed. Came up nice! 

Heater control box re-assembled. Silky smooth now.

I found and purchased this NOS roof skin from a fella from QLD. It wasn't cheap but I needed one, seller stated it was straight as and had just surface rust... When it arrived, had 4 fist sized dents scattered throughout it. 

Really wanted to avoid sandblasted this piece, as it's quiet thin. Paint striper first. 

Those black marks aren't paint... so much for being just surface rust

I spent all of today buzzing out those rust spots with the orbital sander with 80 grit paper. Majority of it came off, but i think I will get it blasted. 

 

 

 

 

[ND240Z]

Finally went and picked up the remaining parts from paint. The Satin black really looks great. I still have to paint the inner barrel of the TOPY wheels silver, but thats easy enough. I also need to find a proper date matching set too, but these will do until i can find four 11/72's to match the car's spare. 

Put the seat rails on the seat bases, and bolted the seat backs onto it too. Really happy with how these came out. I've also got new foam inserts for them, just need to purchase the actual black seat covers now and find a suitable replacement knob for the rail slider lever. 

I've had a pair of 'decent' 240Z doors for awhile now, one had damage (looks like wind took it and swung it open at 125km/h). I heated it up the damaged area and door frame, bent it back into shape ready for the skin to come off. The doors looked very solid and rust free... Until I removed the skin. 

This skin was going to come off anyways so that doesn't matter. But the drivers side door is completely intact with a slight rust patch needed on the bottom (probably 5cmx5cm in size).

I'm thinking now that i'll also take that skin off too and blast the bare door shells. Only issue is that the only door skin replacements on the market (rare spares) i'm told fit like crap. So not sure what to do here as I want panel gaps to be +/-1mm perfect. 

Even if i did find completely mint 240z doors, i'm worried they'll be the exact same under the skins. This car will never leave my possession, so I really only want to do this once. 

 

 

[240ZBUILTBYME]

32 minutes ago, ND240Z said:

Finally went and picked up the remaining parts from paint. The Satin black really looks great. I still have to paint the inner barrel of the TOPY wheels silver, but thats easy enough. I also need to find a proper date matching set too, but these will do until i can find four 11/72's to match the car's spare. 

Put the seat rails on the seat bases, and bolted the seat backs onto it too. Really happy with how these came out. I've also got new foam inserts for them, just need to purchase the actual black seat covers now and find a suitable replacement knob for the rail slider lever. 

I've had a pair of 'decent' 240Z doors for awhile now, one had damage (looks like wind took it and swung it open at 125km/h). I heated it up the damaged area and door frame, bent it back into shape ready for the skin to come off. The doors looked very solid and rust free... Until I removed the skin. 

This skin was going to come off anyways so that doesn't matter. But the drivers side door is completely intact with a slight rust patch needed on the bottom (probably 5cmx5cm in size).

I'm thinking now that i'll also take that skin off too and blast the bare door shells. Only issue is that the only door skin replacements on the market (rare spares) i'm told fit like crap. So not sure what to do here as I want panel gaps to be +/-1mm perfect. 

Even if i did find completely mint 240z doors, i'm worried they'll be the exact same under the skins. This car will never leave my possession, so I really only want to do this once. 

 

 

@C.A.R. has said in the past that the rare spares ones fit ok. Im sure KFvjdm will eventually do door skins, will just be a matter of waiting.

Edited August 30, 2022 by 240ZBUILTBYME

[C.A.R.]

7 hours ago, 240ZBUILTBYME said:

@C.A.R. has said in the past that the rare spares ones fit ok. Im sure KFvjdm will eventually do door skins, will just be a matter of waiting.

They fit 'ok', but like anything they need work to make them look nice.

Edited August 30, 2022 by C.A.R.

[ND240Z]

Pretty decent order from Nissan came in. Consisted of various bushes, suspension gear, wheel/diff bearings, nuts, bolts, badges etc. 

Putting together the rear suspension struts was very fun. (This was before the wheel studs came in)

I also had a go at "Cold Bluing" the steering column components. I think this was how it was done from the factory, someone correct me if i'm wrong. Came up pretty good. Sandblasted, cleaned, cleaned again, waited until it was 100% dry and simply rubbed the stuff on and washed it off under cold water. Pretty cool stuff! 

It's very hard to get a proper photo of how it turned out, but it came out pretty good. 

[NickF]

Hi

Did you order all that stuff from Nissan Australia Local dealer?

Thanks

Nick

[gav240z]

On 8/30/2022 at 11:09 PM, ND240Z said:

The Satin black really looks great. I still have to paint the inner barrel of the TOPY wheels silver, but thats easy enough. I also need to find a proper date matching set too, but these will do until i can find four 11/72's to match the car's spare. 

Just stamp them the correct dates lol.

[240ZBUILTBYME]

On 8/20/2022 at 5:24 PM, ND240Z said:

I spent all of today buzzing out those rust spots with the orbital sander with 80 grit paper. Majority of it came off, but i think I will get it blasted. 

Hey Nick would it be possible for you to post up some photos of the corners of your NOS roof? where it ties into the roof pillars, Just would like some photos in case i need to rebuild my roof skin. Can DM them if you don't want to post here

Cheers

[ND240Z]

On 9/19/2022 at 7:57 AM, NickF said:

Hi

Did you order all that stuff from Nissan Australia Local dealer?

Thanks

Nick

I ordered it all through Amayama.com. 

On 10/19/2022 at 10:56 PM, gav240z said:

Just stamp them the correct dates lol.

Blasphemy! 

On 10/20/2022 at 1:19 AM, 240ZBUILTBYME said:

Hey Nick would it be possible for you to post up some photos of the corners of your NOS roof? where it ties into the roof pillars, Just would like some photos in case i need to rebuild my roof skin. Can DM them if you don't want to post here

Cheers

Here you go mate, sorry for the delay. Not sure why there is so much of a gap around the edges. Maybe that was filled with lead from the factory, but it just seems like alot. 

I really need to restart progress on the Z. Life gets in the way too easily and it's definitely a bit of struggle not being able to make too much noise when you've got an 8 month old that goes to bed early. I really wish the body wasn't as bad as it was, It does get a little disheartening whenever somebody see's this Z in person or in photos and they remark "Why would you bother?". So I just hope in the end its worth it, but I also need to remind myself that I've only started working on this car since July last year and restorations can take up to the better part of a decade.

Nearly all the bolt-on parts are restored - so when I get a painted 240Z back, I can't imagine it will take me long for it to be on the road afterwards. //rant over. 

At least this other Nissan gets me through those cravings to drive something exciting. 

[gav240z]

On 11/17/2022 at 10:52 PM, ND240Z said:

I really need to restart progress on the Z. Life gets in the way too easily and it's definitely a bit of struggle not being able to make too much noise when you've got an 8 month old that goes to bed early. I really wish the body wasn't as bad as it was, It does get a little disheartening whenever somebody see's this Z in person or in photos and they remark "Why would you bother?". So I just hope in the end its worth it, but I also need to remind myself that I've only started working on this car since July last year and restorations can take up to the better part of a decade.

I hear you, it's a long slog. But just remember it will be done right and will be worth it when finished.

My 2 year old son is a time thief. Constantly up to mischief so I can't have him with me in the workshop.

[240ZBUILTBYME]

10 minutes ago, gav240z said:

My 2 year old son is a time thief. Constantly up to mischief so I can't have him with me in the workshop.

2 years old Gav! must be time for another time thief???

[JDM-TOY]

38 minutes ago, gav240z said:

I hear you, it's a long slog. But just remember it will be done right and will be worth it when finished.

My 2 year old son is a time thief. Constantly up to mischief so I can't have him with me in the workshop.

I have a 3 and a 6 year old and man its so difficult to get work done on the Z. Not to mention the Mrs always needing help. 

@ND240Z Bro you will get there. As long as you get small tasks done you will be finished in no time. 

Also I hear vodka & orange helps lol

[ND240Z]

Thanks for the kind words guys. It'll get there, I just hate progress staling!
 

But a bit of luck happened today.

Picked up this very early 74' 260z for parts and cuts today. From the firewall back, the car has a fair bit of rust but still some good bits on it. But the cream of the crop was the front end which I so dearly needed for my build.

Passenger side was very good with the only issues being some rust under the battery tray as they all do. Chassis rail seems solid but once I carefully remove the clip, I will check the internals from the exposed end. 

The drivers side is still overall very solid but the chassis rail has rusted out near the firewall and will need to be replaced. (Already have a pair of KFvintage rails on hand).

There is also some slight rust around the interior air guide panel where the bonnet hinge bolts too, this doesn't seem to have gone through the actual air guide part, so i think this could be repaired without having to remove it, but we shall see.

Some radiator support pieces are rusty too but I have a full set of good KFvintage/original pieces that can go in without issues here. 

Overall I'm really happy with this purchase. If anybody is interested in buying the rest of the 260z when I'm done with it (Firewall back) feel free to message me. 

[ND240Z]

Got the front end off completely intact.

Sat it onto the front of the Z today - slid straight on without much hassle. 

I've cut the supports for the transport jig but I ran out of time today to make sure they are at the right height. I'll have to confirm this before I weld them all together. Overall pretty happy with how it fits, now I can finally get to doing that firewall patch/drivers kick board area. 

Received my restored dash back. 

Had to trial fit the NOS Stereo surround and the factory AM radio. Looks very nice, would like to find that NOS map light area next - I've still got the old ones but the plastic "Push" button has snapped in two.

I started to restore the dash gauges, starting with RPM. Pulled it apart, thoroughly cleaned the lens and tachometer and painted the surround in Satin black. Very happy with the results - was worried the black wasn't going to be correct, but it came out perfect. Have already started doing the other 4 gauges now the same way. 

Before: 

After: