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Well. Stopped thinking about buying a Zed and actually did. You might recognise this from the classifieds, it is Linton’s second car he was in the process of working on, after the orange 2+2 he splendidly restored. AKA known as “the Ratson” because it previously came with free rats. 🐀🐀🐀🐀 RS30-00981 260Z 2 seater It will take a while, and be very much one step at a time. We’re competent with mechanical things, can get by on electrical bits and pieces, but welding, body work, sheet metal fabrication, and spray painting we will be learning as we go! Plan is an L26, manual, with some upgrades such as triple webbers, disc brake rear end, and maybe a Subaru A/C system. Yellow, with perhaps a body kit. So after lurking around here for a while now, we’re no longer an imposter because we actually own a Z car! Our second Datsun after the 1600. Cheers, Richard

In our shop, from bare metal we Epoxy, then prime, then mask off the rails, stone chip the flat panels, then apply body colour over everything. IMHO This is the most professional way to go about the underside of a Z:

I went with some products from Car Builders : 1) Insul-Layer - applied to inside of doors and rear quarter panels 2) Mass Noise Liner - used in place of the old sisal under carpet areas and on the firewall. From their web site : "Sound deadener is generally a misunderstood material. Normally the first stage of treating noise is referred to as ‘sound deadener’. This stage only really treats vibration in panels. It was often a bitumen-based product but more commonly consists of a butyl rubber with an aluminium top layer. Cheaper sound dampening sheets consist of a lower grade butyl, which is not as durable or resistant as those used by leading brands. Butyl sheets by themselves however, will not result in dampening droning or external noise that you may be more interested in treating. This will be treated more successfully with mass loaded vinyls. If you are aware of the type of sounds that are annoying, you will be able to treat them more successfully with targeted products."

If you go this way make sure you get the 45 DCOE 152G Weber Carburettor that has the 4 progression holes. You will need to specify what engine specs you have as it will influence what chokes, idle jets, emulsion tubes, and main jets are required in the Webers- best to get advice on this as it becomes expensive to replace all of these.

- If you have to rebuild the L26, look at rebuilding an L28 instead. Depending on your budget for the motor, you can get a decent build out of Pearl Automotive Engineering (VIC). - Buy brand new Triple Webers from Weber Performance (VIC), and go straight for 45s. Even if you put the L26 in, and an L28 is an option later on, atleast you will have 45s already.

My painter has now requested that we make the 260Z at least a rolling shell or drivable, so it's easy to move into paint booth. So I had a chat with Daniel about the direction of the build, as I was not going to refit the dirty and rusty suspension to the freshly painted chassis. We came to the decision to break the suspension down, have it media blasted and painted in 2k black. ALL the fasteners, brackets, catch's etc were cleaned and wire wheeled, then sent off for electroplating. The braking system can be upgraded later on by Daniel if he so wishes, but for the moment we had all the braking components rebuilt. However Daniel DID want a suitably lowered ride height, so I purchased a set of Z31 Front Koni Yellows, and Lovells 30mm lowered rear springs. The old Pedders 'Comfort Gas' inserts went in the bin! A new rubber suspension bush kit will be installed. Daniel had SW Motorsport rebuild the engine, with some tasty mods. Stewart then shipped it down to us to install. More on this later.

Time for another update! My painter was busy (he always is) but eventually he made progress, an in the space of a couple of weeks, it was in high build primer and the underbody in Nissan 305 LMB!

5 speed manual box (don't know what options exist) 280ZX / S2 bluebird '71B' is a bolt in. You can fit a 71C box from an S13 or R31/2 Skyline, but it requires mods and is not DIY friendly. You will also need to consider your diff ratio, as the auto diff is very tall. Subaru A/C system I've not heard of this. Another option is an AC system from a later 260Z is a bolt in, or you could go Vintage Air. Possibly a body kit (flares, side skirts, air dam, haven't seen a spoiler I like yet.) Each to their own, but none of the bodykits of seen for a Z improve the looks. Possible after market front suspension to eliminate rumor of bump steer. It's not a rumor and it gets worse the more you lower a Z. And it's a significant undertaking to deal with it, and none of the adjustable suspension kits on the market adequately deals with the issue. I suggest you speak to a Zed specialist - either Les Collins or Stewart Wilkins.

That's a bit of a 'how long is a piece of string' question, as it depends on what you are planning to do... '73 onwards wiring looms have more wires and the plugs are colour coded and not available new. Unless it's been butchered, it's can be reused. FWIW the last '73 I did, we unwrapped the loom, inspected it, fixed any issues, then re-pinned the terminals and re-taped it. I do recommend fitting a new modern fuse box though: https://www.thezstore.com/product/4750/msa-fuse-box-short-pigtail-72-73-240z as the originals are almost always damaged in some way. If you are modifying it in any significant way, I would suggest you 'dry build' it before paint to avoid damaging fresh paint.

Hi Mate - it was just the largest format Outside Decal UV Stabilized commonly used for real-estate boards - that you order through for Office Works. It up to you supply the graphic - just have a chat to office works about the resolution requirements to get a sharp image. Cheers AK

Here we go again...