gav240z

Please keep us informed, I have been looking at Yellow Cad Kits also, but wondering if I'll just outsource. As per discussion here: http://www.viczcar.com/forum/index.php/topic,13841.msg155310.html#msg155310 @Peter - you mentioned the discoloration is more obvious in photos (I totally get that, given my steering wheel and center console resto thread and various other things I've done on the car the flash / photo makes certain things look different). I'm wondering though did you discuss this with the plater? Is this something that can be adjusted controlled in the process? I'd like to go with a yellow as can be look if that's possible?

I was at the Tafe Course last night and completely forgot to ask. I will try and remember next time and perhaps take my rear garnish piece in - if I can find a spot on it that looks like the paint is decent still. @Mossy - looks good, if you get a chance to take another photo of your rear panel in better light please upload it? Do you know what the paint was matched to? As in do you have any info from when it was matched? *Edit I found some of your photos That looks pretty close to me.

You know Rudy, I think you're actually enjoying yourself. I pulled the door skin off my drivers door yesterday and I actually enjoyed it haha. Now I know what the radiator support looks like from that side thanks to your photos . Oh and don't get me started on previous owner botched repairs. Why you would get out of bed in the morning to do this I don't know? I mean surely doing it right wouldn't take that much longer?

Actually George, I noticed when I was refurbing the steering wheel that the original horn assembly was in that yellow cad plating, but it had a hint of that discolouration like the Hitachi head unit you had done. I didn't get a good photo, but just saw this for a heater 'c0ck' on Yahoo! Auctions that shows this. By the way do you know what it costs to have parts electroplated like this? Does it make sense to do all items at once? I hesitate to give them everything in 1 go only because I'm scared they will loose parts etc..

Well simply painting your car in 918 orange doesn't make it a replica of anything. I'd call that more of a tribute car than a 'replica' - a replica implies you'll be finishing the car to represent an original Z432 - for which case you would want to look at obtaining an S20 motor and all the other subtle detail differences to that model. I'm a huge fan of that pictured Z432 that was offered at the Bingo Sports auction, and dare I say it, that car made me do something silly which was buying car #150 - I just love the early car details after all and that paint colour was an early S30Z colour. 918 Orange is also a really nice colour and perhaps my 'favorite' early 240z colour, but I also love 905 red and 920 has really grown on me in recent years. I have to say I prefer the earlier S30z colour options over the later ones that were used, although there is quite a few nice colours used in the later cars also. For me I started to really like 'period' looking cars after seeing this at the Melbourne Hot Rod show in 2007. I had always hated this style of Falcon in this particular colour, but that was because when I saw them they were always run down and looking tired. I couldn't believe how much I liked this particular car when I saw it. Now if the same car had been painted in an overly used 'house of kolors' hue, I think it would look dated when looking at it today (2014), but instead it looks as good to me now as it did back then. That is the reason I think period colours are a good option. You'll always have a car that looks 'correct'.

I was going to start a topic on the subject or re-skinning a Z door, then discovered Lurcho's already had 1. So I figured rather than create a duplicate thread I'll add my 2 cents here also. Since many people are wondering about the rare spares skins - you can rest assured I'll be using 1 for my car. So while I'm at it, if anyone has a spare they aren't using let me know? As I'll be buying 1 shortly! Anyway I started by taking some reference photos of my drivers door alignment and the kind of panel gaps I have. Since I'll be working on this panel off the car and at my Tafe course I won't have the car handy to check how everything is aligned at all times. Note: My front fender is not quite aligned (it's just sitting in place and needs a bit more fettling / grinding around 1 edge) to fit properly - after doing rust repairs I have a bit of metal on it that is higher than previously). I suspect the door has been removed at some stage in it's life because it's pretty average in terms of alignment at the rear. This is completely shut. The photo makes it look further out than in reality it is, but it's a good indication that it's not perfect to begin with. So anything better than this is a win! The reason I'm re-skinning... The other reason I believe the door was removed and re-aligned (poorly) at some stage is that it slightly rubs on the chrome door trim at the front here (like it's sitting too far forward). I suspect it was removed when the car was repainted in Safari Gold (at some stage), originally I thought the door wasn't original, but as you'll see in the following photos I'm fairly sure it's the original. It's worth noting that the passenger side door alignment is far better than this! Before I strip the door down, I decided to take some reference photos of all the various bolts / screws and their positioning etc.. Hopefully it helps when it comes time to put this thing back together. God knows I'll need help figuring out the window winder set up! Early Window Winder perhaps? Looks different to later ones. Door Handle Winder Assembly Rear Door Dove-Tail and Lock / Catch Mechanism Note: Lower hole for stainless trim securing point. Doesn't look factory anymore. Will probably need to patch that and re-drill it. Oh and I found this repair job on the door card. Yes that's a magical flexible substance known as cardboard with sticky tape. What a fix! The door handle also didn't open anymore from the outside because of this. Which is quite common actually (see the crack?). FYI: I had previously thought that the screws at the bottom of the door trims were something found on early S30Z's. After stripping the door cards off, I don't believe this is the case. Rather it seems more than 1 owner found a fix for warped door cards and that was a regular screw drilled into the door to make them go flush again. More screws and fasteners You might be wondering why I'm sharing all these photos of misc fasteners - well my 72 240z window is a pain in the butt to wind up. Turns out that a lot of the fasteners used don't look anything like the above. So I'm guessing the previous owner just used what he found worked. (Don't get me started on previous owners!). So I figure this might be useful for others who are wondering what screws go where at re-assembly time! Although I wouldn't be surprised if not all of mine are OEM. I also found a couple of rusty fasteners in the door shell itself, probably fell in there never to see day light again (well until now!). Remove stainless trim at top of door. and I don't think many Zeds still have this window roller in place? Probably the source of many a window rattle haha. Although it's hard to see in the photos, it appears that the rust in the doors is mostly confined to the skins (and not the shell!). I really expected to find chicken wire, bog, cement, wood, newspaper etc.. inside the door shell but to my amazement the only botch was bog! Stripping all the door trim pieces, like the handle, door lock, window winder assembly is pretty straight forward just undo the bolts and then remove through the holes in the door shell as required. I had about 3 separate zip tie bags to put different bolts / fasteners into. Time to ditch the Falcodore Mirror! Once the door was 'undressed' and all I had was a naked shell left I undid the bolts on the hinge assembly. Now you might be wondering why not just replace the bottom half of the door skin? Well actually I checked the top of the door skin and it only had minor rust. But... whilst that might still be an option I think far less work will be to reskin the whole thing and probably a better finish also. Also this book I have called How to Restore Classic Car Bodywork by Martin Thaddeus http://www.amazon.co.uk/How-Restore-Classic-Car-Bodywork/dp/1845844114/ recommends doing the whole thing - rather than just a section repair. Here are some good videos on the topic of door skin repair I found also. I'll update this thread as I go. *Edit I forgot to mention, the reason I think the door is original is that it's been painted in 920 gold on the inside / door shell - under the door card etc.. I doubt in the case of a repaint / replacement door someone would have gone to that effort in painting it. What I did find interesting is that the door has a side intrusion bar in it. I was told that early 240z's in Australia didn't have this, but if this door is original perhaps that's just another myth that's been repeated over by people over the years?

It would seem lighting makes this grey panel look quite different. Here are some examples. But I found this and quite like the way it looks. I'm guessing this isn't original though? Looks like a gloss / sheen to it. Have to say though it looks good against 920 gold.

Well done mate.

Could be, I've never seen who is driving it. I've just seen it parked outside a restaurant in Drummoyne and near Concord a couple of times. They are quite a wide car and it's still a left hooker. I'm just glad to see it being driven about, but if I get a chance I'll see if I can talk to the owner. Found this:

Feel free to add links to specific Television programs, Youtube Channels that are related to our favorite topic of cars!

I don't have any information on the car but I'd love to know if it's still around. Would be good to find it again.

No problem Alan, totally understand and take your time.

There is a DMC getting around my area, it makes me happy to see it on the road. Very cool car, I think they are going to get mad money soon! Once my generation (80s kids) start getting some cash together and get nostalgic for Back to the future I'm sure values will soar. So about 20-25 years away haha.

Early 240z 1/4 badges in metal. (NOS) http://www.ebay.com/itm/Datsun-240Z-1970-71-METAL-NOS-Roof-Pillar-Emblem-Set-Pair-/131243182627

I can make a sticky post called "Must watch tv" if you think that would work?

http://www.shannons.com.au/club/video/allan-moffat-episode-1-shannons-legends-of-motorsport/ Can be seen here.

Usually these type of articles are a bit of dribble but this was actually not too badly put together. Also highlights desirability in light of the recent ABC programming George posted up on the mk1 Ford Escorts. http://www.pistonheads.com/gAssing/topic.asp?h=0&f=23&t=1420996&nmt=RE%3A+Datsun+240Z%3A+PH+Heroes

Hi Alan, Any recent updates on your build? It's London weather in Sydney at the minute (Freezing) and I'm too soft to go into the garage and work away. I was wondering if you can share any photos of the fibreglass bonnet? I'm wondering if you sourced a 'special' make or from a specific manufacturer, or is it a rare Nissan NOS part? I was looking at the ones the company restored offer like this here: http://www.buyee.jp/item/yahoo/auction/m127582577 and was wondering if they are anything like the ones that would have been fitted to the PZR cars? Also curious to see how the underside of the bonnet is painted (a flat grey isn't it?) compared to the top side and was there any bonnet pins or similar used that the original steel bonnets didn't have?

Anyone want the early twin knob rally clock? http://www.buyee.jp/item/yahoo/auction/m127423555 I was going to bid, but can't buy right now. It's missing the oscillator box though and no idea if it's working. More info here: http://www.zclocks.com/rally-clock-identification.html

I was happy to see they went with the original paint scheme and gave it the proper period look. At first it was looking like it was going down the white paint / black stripes and fog lights path. I giggled at the sunroof part - thinking about my 240z project and how many Z's need a new roof thanks to those god awful things! Definitely 1 of the better car shows - agree though would have been nice to see a bit more detail on the way the car was being rebuilt in particular the body work details and the engine specs etc...

Bump - still don't want to sell, but will if someone is interested in them. Just sitting in the garage taking up space and have a couple of bills at the minute.

Agreed good price, you can't get them that cheap on Yahoo! Auctions before shipping and broker fee's so good deal for someone. 40s seem to be harder to find than 44s also.

Hi mate, I'll send a PM.

If you haven't been to the site lately, you might not have noticed I've been working on the steering wheel restoration and gear knob refurb. Full thread for future reference is here: http://www.viczcar.com/forum/index.php/topic,14508.0.html So finished the steering wheel off this evening. Now to put it on eBay with the title "series 1 240z steering wheel, *uber rare*" and a price tag of umpteen million dollars. I would like a "Datsun Compe" wheel but I also like the "Bus" wheel as a friend once described it.

Thanks Peter, last photo I'll post in here Funny how even though I stained both with the same colour both the wheel and gear knob look different. I guess the gear knob was a bit darker looking underneath to start with. The difference in the car is less obvious (flash makes it look like that!). Obviously my interior is dusty - it is a project car, but with new door trims, dash and my restored center console it should look good!