Leaderboard

I ended up ordering a handful of rough old original ones and 1 set of reproductions and a set of the new hardware out of japan, but haven't seen any of it yet as it all got sent to Australia and I'm still in the US. Looking forward to comparing them in hand maybe early next year

So as a few of you would know, I made the decision to sell my 2+2 (https://www.viczcar.com/forums/topic/16813-neds-z-76-22/) early 2020, as I felt that I would need to spend too much money to get it to the stage that I would be some what happy with, and with a little one on the way and the wife buying a new car, it just made sense to me to make way in our single car garage. This finally sold in April 2020 just after we got out of Melbourne's first lockdown. Now for those who like long stories: As most people with the Z bug, I never actually stopped looking for another Z, preferably 2-seater (most have always been out of my budget), or if the right 2+2 appeared, I would still be happy, but this was not at the front of my mind during 2020. We all know prices started to creep up, and then we got of lockdown for the summer, I started paying more attention! April 2021 came around, an orange 260z appeared on Facebook for $40k I believe, but sold the same day. It was that day the wife and I discussed a budget should something like that appear on the market again. The seller also had a white 2+2 for sale as well, so I thought I'd go have a look. Not my thing, but he had another 2-seater, but as I umm'd & ahhh'd, it sold later that day. DOH! After chatting with Gavin, I decided to put a wanted ad on facebook and gumtree with a budget of $40k for a Z I could essentially hop in and drive. A couple of projects, some rust buckets and a couple of Zs for $70-90k. Then one guy just NW of Melbourne, messaged me and said lets talk. I have a white 260z (originally silver) with a 4.4L V8 from a Leyland P76, Supra 5-speed (W58), R180 diff (assuming OEM 3.7), he sent me some pictures and had a decent price range around my budget. I was a bit snobbish about the idea of the motor, and we also just went into yet another lockdown, so I kept the conversation open and said we will organise inspection after lockdown. He said no worries, I am not in a rush, and I am not going to list it. He wasnt even looking to sell it, but saw my wanted ad, I guess they work. I message him early December to see if he still wanted to sell, and he said he will let me know in a couple of weeks, so I reached out again and he gave me a non-negotioable price under my budget. Sweet! Organised to go have a look at it with the Z Godfather, and to both our surprise, the body was in very good condition and barely modified to fit the motor, and currently on club permit with the motor. We agreed on price, and said he will hold it until I am ready to collect it. January came around, picked up the car and took it to a mechanic, who said it wouldnt be an issue with the motor regarding the RWC, he would give me a list of things I needed to fix, and he also got the carbie sorted, so she starts up first time. Then the fun started, he did some work on the motor and the carbie, got it running, then tells me he wont give me a RWC without an engineers cert. (Car has previously been registered and on CPS with this motor, so not really his concern). Off to another mechanic, and the list of things to fix was relatively small compared to what I was expecting. - drivers side seatbelt freyed - door rubbers - tires cracked - bonnet safety catch missing - gearbox mount hitting metal - engine mounts to be replaced (standard 260z mounts) - exhaust too close to the steering arm (less than 15mm, could cause binding) - headlights not working (headlight switch and also loose connection at drivers side headlight) (The Japanese Torana)

Yeah I got the impression you didn't want them on the red car.

I purchased the repo fender mirrors from https://jdm-car-parts.com/ and Im quite happy with them. Haven't seen the originals in person but look the part in comparing pictures. Main thing for me is they look the part, do the job and are solid cast Happy to drop some more pictures if you like Youhan

I was going to go with STEDI as I got the other LED lights from there (STEDI™ 7 Inch Carbon Black Pair LED Headlight pair with DRL | Kit) but ended up giving these ones a shot as they were $150 instead of $400 7 Inch LED Headlights to suit Nissan Patrol GQ / Holden H series / Jee (demonproparts.com.au) They needed some very slight modification to the headlight backing (some notching shown below and drilling out the hole to fit the connector) but overall fairly straightforward.

Hey guys anyone know of any z fender mirrors floating around Aus for sale? Happy for repro or genuine. I can only find stuff from the states at the moment!

Quick update, I've slowly been getting things ticked off. I installed a maxi blade fuse block to replace the fusible links and finished off the engine bay wiring including headlight relays. Also installed LED headlights - I'm fairly happy with how they look and they should provide much better light than the stock headlights. They also have indicators and day-time running lights built in. Finally I got the tail lights cleaned up and including the surrounds and polished the old lenses up as well as I could, I thought they came out pretty well. Next steps: Bleed clutch and brakes so it can actually move under it's own power Tune the SU's & adjust timing Finalise dash wiring and mount new fuse box Begin interior fit-out (sound deadening, dash, etc) - most of the interior I think i'll get done professionally. If anyone has any contacts or suggestions for interior in the Brisbane area please let me know!

Finished painting the shift boot and surround. Went with black for the shift boot to break up all the red. shift boot and surround were brown to begin with. The surround plastic was pretty knackered from UV damage. Lots of sanding later I had a paint shop match the interior trim color, it was spot on, happy with the result. And with everything installed also can we take a second to appreciate how cool the oem Nissan gear knob’s are? Rule number 32 of zombieland, enjoy the little things… My slave cylinder rod was too long and didn’t allow for any downward adjustment of the clutch take up point. I cut 15mm off my slave cylinder rod and then threaded 15mm further down. Drives like a dream now…

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.

7.45hrs later: And with a coat of Phosphoric Acid: