The Brown Hornet - as NEW 1971 240Z - SOLD

[NZeder]

Those tail lights look like new I am hating to think what some of my parts are going to look like after sitting in storage for 13 years. Let hope if they need restoring - and I do 1/2 as good as this I will be happy

[C.A.R.]

Looking oh so smooth Adam - hurry up with the Colour!

[garvice]

I agree with Lurch, the suspense is killing me. Don't know how you are dealing with it!

[Brabham]

Hi Adam,

          Where did you get the re-chroming done and how much was it if I may ask? I need to get a bumper straightened and re-chromed and I am looking for a good place in Sydney.

[acf321]

Brabham, what I had done is 'plastic chroming' which is real chrome, but done in a very different and therefore expensive manner. For yours and NZeder's info, those bars were $85+GST a side .. but, for the car that the Hornet is becoming, I could hardly add a 38 yr old crusty piece of plastic to it now could I?

 

And yes, the car is stupidly over budget, but i'm quietly confident it'll be pretty nice when done ... even my wife has agreed it's going to be pretty cool!

 

As for the bumper bars, the place to go to in Sydney is call 'All Metal Bumper Bars' in ingleburn. I got a quote to re-do my F&R bars, and the price was ~$350 per end, BUT this excludes repairs ... Nat reckons they'd cost me about twice this, once straightened and chromed. For my car, I think I'll go with the reproduction bars that frankly are better than OEM and are very reasonable now with the A$ at 93c!

 

Now as for the colour, I will say this, it is a colour that is from a Lamborghini  Muira, that ALSO was very very near to an OEM Datsun colour (not necessarily from a 240Z either!!). So close infact was the colour, that the names used are almost identical as well. Now that should give some of you hardened 'hornet' followers something to think about. Remember, old school 70's racer, none of this candy apple / pearlescent / metallic stuff!!!

 

At the rate its taking me to find a FREAKING door lock, it might be another six months before we get the thing painted!

 

Cheers until next week

 

Adam

 

p.s; Oh yeah, from my last check, there were about 50 factory colour options for the Miura, and then there were the customer special order colours!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[FLEXZED]

good on you adam 

 

Loui

 

 

[PeterAllen]

...At the rate its taking me to find a FREAKING door lock, it might be another six months before we get the thing painted!...

 

I thought I had been following this thread but apparently not. What's with the door lock/s? I'm swapping over to Honda locks and thus have a unwanted pair.

[NZeder]

I thought I had been following this thread but apparently not. What's with the door lock/s? I'm swapping over to Honda locks and thus have a unwanted pair.

The striker plate was misplaced. Here is pic for reference - so not the lock per say.

 

 

Adam's colour whatever it is it will be amazing and period correct if not a Nissan/Datsun colour. And you have to admit the donor vehicle is one of the all time greats from the same period. Lamborghini Muira Just had to put this in as it is black and white

[PeterAllen]

Would I be correct in assuming the flat plate items are shims and that each door may or may not require them? If so, were they manufactured in different thicknesses?

 

Could someone provide a photo of these fitted. These were not fitted to my car when I got it so I'm a little unsure about how they are to be mounted.

[acf321]

Week 27...

 

Following a spirited drive in a mate's 996 GT3 to get some very early breakfast, we arrived at Nat's to see the Hornet. Did not take any photos of the car this week, as its again stripped back to the shell, given Nat's been completing smoothing / detail work in the engine bay, rear hatch shut panel, and door jambs.

 

It was a little bizarre today, as when we were driving north on the Pacific Hwy at 6.30am, we followed a magnificent E-type that was being pedaled along at an alarmingly fast rate. Turns out the car was also headed to the same place as us! When we arrived, the owner told us he had re-built the car five years ago, with extreme spec OEM 6.0L V12, tranny, brakes, suspension etc. The work was completed by 'Still One' at Granville. The penny dropped, and I instantly remembered that 'Still One' was the shop Nat opened with his brother before starting 'Gladesville Auto Body Works'. Nat's surname is Stillone. In a nutshell, this same hot jag underwent a complete nut and bolt restoration by Nat, small world!

 

On arriving at the workshop, some new customers come in to enquire about their period rally car. It turned out the Swiss couple are doing up a Renault Alpine for tarmac rallying. Its a 1971 model, is 800kg, has a 110hp 1.4L that makes a series one Mx5 look like Mr Creote from The Meaning Of Life !! (ie extremely large). Another way to say it is, the Alpine is significantly smaller than a Lotus Elise, and looks positively undernourished compared to a 240Z. Notwithstanding, its a complete animal and sounded like two motorbikes coming up the street.

 

Showed the Swiss couple my colour sample and they loved it. I'm of course still a little anxious about it. Nat (and my mate) overruled my colour sample with one of his own (that is almost identical) that he says will give the car much more of a lift.

 

Here's the day's notes on film... check out the finish on that jag !!!

 

Enjoy.

 

Adam

 

 

[acf321]

Week 27 ... (part 2)

 

Forgot to mention another weird incident today.. I did not get any books with the hornet when it arrived, and it was certainly not registered, nor had it been for at least six years that I can remember being told. I have not contacted the RTA to enquire about the cars history... yet !!

 

Nat had sanded back the serial number of the car on the firewall ready for paint, to clearly show HS30 - 00683. In the process, Nat also discovered another serial number located on the top of the drivers side suspension strut tower that neither of us had before noticed. The plot thickens, because; 1) the complete car was in one piece when I got it and showed NO evidence of weld marks or funny cut an shut business, 2) the whole car had the original OEM 918 orange underneath its current colour, and the engine bay was still in its original paint, having not been re-painted from new, but 3) the number on the top of the strut housing is HS30 - 00663 !!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

The three of us were completely confused and just stood there scratching our heads. We all checked the discrepancy three or so times each. How could this be, that an entirely original car have two separate serial numbers only a foot or so apart that are exactly 20 digits apart, that is 00683 (firewall) and 00663 (suspension mounting plate). Nat examined the seam welds of the strut tower and they have not been disturbed, and the original welds otherwise between the body and front members are also OEM.

 

Apart from genuine human error at the factory (which can be done, particularly with 6's and 8's) does ANYBODY know what this could mean? I note that the stamp on the firewall appears to have been done as part of the factory machining process of the firewall (ie as part of the factory tooling), whereas the stamping on the top of the suspension mount is done by hand and shows slight movement of the actual stamps in the process (that is the lettering and numbers are slightly crooked). Perhaps the factory worker looked at the firewall thinking he saw HS30 - 00663, when infact he mistook the  8 for a 6!

 

Can anybody explain this? We might have to call on Alan !

 

 

Rgds

 

 

Adam

 

[PeterAllen]

Theory #1 - The markings are unintentional and possibly resulted when the ADR compliance plate was stamped by some heavy-handed person - assuming the plate was placed of a firm surface to be stamped and then riveted to the normal position on the side of the strut tower. Check to see if the letters dimensions are the same as on the compliance plate. The '6' in lieu of the '8' might simply be the '8' punch was not square when struck.

 

If so, this may have occurred at the Datsun dealership when the car was first registered or during a rebirth!

[NZeder]

I have never head of a chassis number stamped anywhere on the body of a S30 other than the Firewall Location. Other countries ie the US had ID plates on the dash. But nothing stamped on the body. Is this in the engine bay or the rear of the car. If in the engine bay then my guess this has been added at some time in its life and not from the factory. So if it was added later -then human error would be the answer as the 8 on the firewall could easily be mistaken for 6 if the firewall number was full of paint and hard to make out.

 

I would check with HS30-H to confirm that no S30 left the factory with other chassis ID stamped on the body other than the firewall - but I have never seen this on the 10+ zed I have either owned, seen blasted/striped back to steel etc - so this makes me think it was added later in life well past factory build.

[HS30-H]

I agree with NZeder. Nissan Shatai would have had no call to be stamping the full chassis number on the strut tower when it was already on the firewall.

 

In fact, those factory firewall 'stampings' were engravings - made by a fairly curious machine that was lined up on the bodyshell in a pre-designated position ( obviously on different sides for LHD and RHD ) which made any numbering mistakes somewhat less likely to happen. Only time I've seen a 'mistake' on an S30-series Z firewall engraving was when a chassis was re-designated by the factory ( turning an 'RS30' prefix into an 'S30' prefix, with a change to the body serial number too ). But these were annotated with a Nissan 'hamburger' stamp next to the changes to indicate that the change was a factory mod.

 

Some European markets in the early Seventies stipulated that the firewall stamp ( and the tag in the engine bay ) should be made so that alteration was more difficult ( adding extra numbers or letters would be fairly easy ) so they simply added a big capital 'X' at each end of the chassis number, and they look to me as though this was done with a letter stamp just after the engraving had been made ( but before painting ). This was also carried out on some of the Works rally cars that I have seen, and probably because the particular cars had come through mainland European ports like Rotterdam and Antwerp.

 

Some people might try to tell you that the firewall stamp is some kind of indication of the car being 'special', or that it was some kind of competition spec.  Better to take such stories with a big pinch of salt I think. The only extra stampings I've seen on such cars were actually carnet stamps, used when cars were being temporarily exported, and applied by the Customs authorities ( matching up with carnet documentation ). These stamps identified the carnet paperwork relevant to the car, so there was no reason for them to repeat the chassis number of the car. They were not applied to every works car either. Depended on the circumstances.

 

My guess is that this is some kind of later addition / alteration to the car in Australia, maybe to make the chassis number easier to read ( especially in terms of location )? I've often met people who were oblivious to the fact that their car had a chassis number engraved on the firewall ( it's often obscured by paint, wires and tubes ) and they are most surprised when they eventually find it.

 

The fact that your 'extra' stamping looks to have been made by hand, with individual number and letter stamps, seems to indicate a 'privateer' effort. The fact that it has one digit different to the factory engraving on the firewall could be just an accident, or - if I was being more cynical - a little bit suspicious! Whatever the truth of that is, I'd say that you should treat the firewall number as the right one, and ignore the other one. Maybe even cover it up with filler & paint if it might cause some awkward questions to be asked some time down the line...... 

 

If only these cars could talk!   

[acf321]

Alan,

 

Thanks for the that detailed explanation, I do appreciate your thoughts and comments. As for yours, Mikes and others comments on this, I do believe its a hand made stamp using individual letters and numbers that do not exactly line up. Its also in a fairly obvious location, which goes further to explain its purpose, that is legibility, given the factory engraving is frankly pretty hard to find, particularly given its shallow, has paint on and in in, and is often covered by wires etc etc etc.

 

Nat made the point to me that 'the Hornet must have one only stamp, so one of these must go'. Given I can be sure the firewall marking IS OEM and correct, even down to the correct (slightly italicised) font, then, folks ... HS30 - 00663 will be going i'm afraid !! Its simple, its man made, is a mistake, is NOT OEM, and therefore should be filled and forgotten.

 

God, for a moment there I thought I could sitting on some freakshow one of a kind experimental half a million buck car ... but then sanity prevailed !!

 

Thanks again.

 

Adam

[PeterAllen]

Wait wait wait... Even though the car is old (mature!) it might be worthwhile to find out which number the RTA has associated with the car. Give them a call at 'technical enquiries' and see what's what. They have specialist rebirth VIIU ("view") officers. I'm not suggesting there is anything suspect with the car but I know they have very strict protocols around this sort of thing. Make perfectly sure it can be registered with the number you decide to go with.

[acf321]

Week 28...

 

No too much to report this week, other than Nat's completed the stone guarding of underneath the car and inside. Since we're not using much initially in the way of heat shielding or carpets, Nat used stone guard pretty liberally. I took a few photos, but for some reason the camera is not allowing me to download them.

 

I took the lights over to have Nat properly fit the rear fascia panel and ensure it all lines up perfectly. Also heard back from Watanabe Japan on the correct size and offset wheels to use on the hornet, that are also used on the green 432 that i showed earlier in this thread.

 

Have sold my two sets of extractors to now put the money toward a modified SWR set, that James will be building a heat shield into. We're also having the new set ceramic coated to ensure maximum heat retention. Also had a look at my rebuilt gearbox and frankly it looks like its just come out of the factory. Bead blasted case is as new, as is the timing chain cover etc. Can't wait to hear this motor run!!!

 

I'll try to get a few more photos next week.

 

Rgds

 

Adam

 

 

[acf321]

Week 29...

 

Nothing more to report this week. Car has been covered, but I did take these photos just today, as the last ones for some reason didn't work.

 

The hornet is in stone guard internally and externally underneath. Nat's going to paint it in three stages; 1) interior, 2) underneath, and 3) externally, once fully re-assembled. Still needs the exterior wet and dry hand sand before its good to go (and of course the $$ for the Glasurit).

 

Cheers

 

 

 

[bluerat]

G'day Adam,

 

Which SWR extractors are you getting? I'm keen to see what the hand made one's look like?

[acf321]

Hi Blurat

 

I was not planning on buying the handmade tuned length set as last time I called, they were asking $1500 for them. If you want to spend that sort of money, you can buy some very nice (Stahl) tuned length handmade items from the US for much less. At this stage, i'm planning to buy the SWR ~$400 set, which we'll ceramic coat and modify to fit brackets for a heat shield.

 

For what its worth, unless you're chasing every conceivable HP for racing, there appears to be limited difference in using the tuned length item (from the questions i've asked). Others, of course may have different experiences.

 

Have a look at these beauties;

 

http://www.stahlheaders.com/Frame%20New%20RR.htm

 

Wonder if Santy can fit a set in his sleigh for me at late notice?

[RB30X]

Funny how the 'Datsun Race' headers are 4>2>1 which is more suitable to street headers due to keeping some bottom end torque and the normal Zed headers are big bore all top end high rpm headers?? What would you get for your set up??? A lot of primary sizes to choose from.

[NZeder]

'Datsun Race' headers are 4>2>1

Not a zed mind you as you are 2 cylinders short 

[C.A.R.]

Not a zed mind you as you are 2 cylinders short 

 

/Thread Hijack.

 

Hahaha. I think Tim meant to say 6>3>1.

I still have a hankering to make a set of 6>1's but the packaging of the pipes might be a stumbling point...

[RB30X]

Doh, 

 

If you were keen Lurch, you could get someone like 6boost to fabricate a collector for you and you do the rest?

[acf321]

Week 34...

 

Just back from Nat's workshop ... its been painted. To me, the car just looks completely amazing, that is old school, period style, that is not miles and miles away from the OEM Safari beige. The colour is known only as a code, but is actually McLaren Orange, as in the factory colour that Bruce McLaren used in the late 60's and early 70's on his CanAm racers. Its distinct from the 'Papaya Orange' that McLaren used for the 1996 McLaren F1 LM.

 

Hope you like it as much as I do!

 

Next comes the fun part of putting the thing back together.

 

Cheers

 

Adam