C.A.R.

10 years! Time flys... Jamo drops into my shop with his Z a few months ago. Unfortunately he'd clipped a wombat with it which had shattered the spoiler and damaged the RH front guard, and he wanted to know if we could fix the guard and paint it. Not a problem. In July he dropped it off. Jamo had fixed the fibreglass spoiler himself, but the guard had a crease in it, so we tapped the crease out and then prepped it for paint. Straightening the guard: Feathering the paint back: Base coat: Clear: The Z got a cut and polish, then we reassembled it:

This was sent to Gav - Shocking news today about Linton: "Hey Mate I'm Stacie - Linton's daughter. Unfortunately I have some awful news to share and I wasn't sure how to go about it but as I saw you had messaged with him on a few posts and am an admin I'm reaching out to you. I wanted to let you and the Vic guys know that dad was involved in a fatal truck accident on Tuesday 23rd of July at 615am. He was ever so grateful to this community and really enjoyed the Christmas BBQ in Melbourne and the help he received from all of the members on the forum. Would you please share this information for anyone who knew him. I don't think there will be anyone but I'm happy for you to share my mobile number with a a few trusted members if they wanted to make contact at all. The only name I can think of is Gordon? I'll attach the Facebook link which has his memorial announcement on it. If anyone is included to leave a memory or message there they can. Sorry I couldn't get a more specific link. Apologies for delivering the news this way https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100026160045544

News today via bookface that Loui has sadly passed away RIP mate - it was great to know you.

The original cast exhaust manifold came with the Z and it was in good condition. It will get media blasted and coated in due course. However, there were no secondary pipes - these are 2 into 1 that bolt to the manifold and finish at the gearbox cross-member. During a conversation with Les Collins he mentioned he had a couple replica sets made - one for someone in interstate - and a spare. What like it? Goes without saying! With the dummy engine in place and the exhaust manifold & secondary's bolted up, I wanted to sort the rest of the exhaust system as I didn't want to potentially damage fresh stone-chip / paint if it gets done later. While this Z is going to be factory fresh one deviation from this is the exhaust system. I have a dislike for mild steel exhausts on my restorations as I think they look cheap, and the local exhaust shops don't do a good enough job for my liking. (In fact, one shop refuses to do work for me on the restorations as I'm apparently too fussy...!) The engine is only 2.4ltrs, so it didn't need to be a large diameter. I settled on 2.25" for the system. So I contacted AMRON in Melbourne and they sent me up a box full of goodies: 2.25" S/S mandrel bends, 2.25" S/S lap clamps, 2.25" S/S hotdog, 2.25" centre/offset S/S muffler. It should sound great without being noisy and/or droning. I enjoy the process of building mandrel exhausts, but I'm no guru exhaust builder so it does take me a while to make them - this one took me nearly two days (so I'm not going to make a career out of it!), but it's tucked up nicely under the Z and it still clears everything. Only thing I might alter is the fitting of a S/S flex joint to the front of the system to reduce NVH further.

Early 240Z were supplied ex-japan with front Fender (Wing) mirrors fitted. These didn't comply with Australian regulations at the time, due to the glass in the mirrors being convex. So dealerships had to remove them, have the holes in the fenders filled & repainted, then new door mirrors fitted. This Z was no different with repairs in the tops of the front guards being visible. However having driven a few Zeds with reproduction fender mirrors fitted, they are a pain to use as the viewing area is so small being so far away. Talking with Tony we decided to fit a Genuine Nissan door mirror to the drives side only, so it could actually be functional...

Yes, clear.

The seats were in a pretty sad way: the covers were split, the foams were disintegrating and the support straps were broken. Unfortunately it appears I don't have a photo of the old covers. I handed them over to my trimmer who carefully disassembled them, then I collected the frames, sandblasted them, welded up some rust holes & fitted new cover tabs, followed by an application of 2k satin black by our painter. I then handed them back to my trimmer, ready for reassembly. Tony (the owner) had already bought an interior trim kit from a ZFactory: seat covers, new door cards, trans tunnel & rear strut tower diamond vinyl. My trimmer is going to make the headlining and carpets as he already has patterns. And I have already bought seat foams from Interior Innovations. It was at this point we had no more parts to fit to the bodyshell to finish the dry build. Bookface Marketplace and eBay yielded some excellent buys though: Original Koito sealed beam headlights, NOS 'twin spar' wiper heads, NOS grommets, NOS interior door step trims, NOS emblems, NOS luggage straps, NOS EGR hose, NOS cigar lighter housing (old one in the dash was stuffed!) Reproduction indicator assemblies via Japan (there was none with the Z when it arrived at my shop). So then it was time to give the Credit Card a hammering go shopping in the USA! I went with the ZStore as their shipping was cheaper coming out of Cali. Just over AUD$10k later I had two boxes of new parts arrive, being a mixture reproduction and - where available - OEM parts. New door winder mechs from T3: And new interior plastics from Resurrected Classics:

Time for another update. With the wiring loom in place, the painted pedalbox was assembled and bolted in, then we cleaned up the steering column and installed that to. The assembled heater box and fan unit were then bolted in. The dash was retrieved from storage, the gauges were checked over and installed along with the refurbished dash loom. Then it was bolted into place. The centre console was also sat in place, but it needs some love... We also installed the new tail lights from Resurrected Classics along with the finishers that will be painted in gunmetal as per factory: Les @ LCR also finished rebuilding the original 3.9 R180 diff. Les said the CW&P were in remarkably good condition and that it had been rebuilt previously with new bearings, but it was FILTHY inside apparently. It was stripped, everything was hot tanked, the wipe was checked on the CW&P, the housing was repainted and the aluminum components were hydro-jet blasted. New seals & gasket, plus re-plated bolts. Almost looks too good to put back in the Z... We then decided to install the (dummy) engine + carburetors and gearbox to check fitment - thankfully no issues. At which point I couldn't help myself, so I bolted on the wheels that it came with and rolled outside for some glory shots:

Do you realize it can be bought new in Melbourne? https://zfactory.au/Datsun-240z-10-piece-diamond-Vinal-kit-p492658888

https://www.swmotorsport.com.au/

All SOLD!

240Z NEW Interior Plastics Set Resurrected Classics brand. Made out of durable ABS plastic. Black ONLY. They are the best fitting plastics on the market and we've test fitted them to one of our customer 240Z to confirm. Early interior plastics set: AUD$1600 - FREE Postage Late interior plastics set: AUD$1500 - FREE Postage EFT only. PM me if you are interested.

NEW 240Z Rear Tail light assemblies. Resurrected Classics brand. I have 2 pairs available. Come as a pair (L&R) with globes, centre trim and rubber sealing gasket & new fasteners - see photos. You will have to use your existing tail light wiring looms, but it's an easy swap. $730 and FREE shipping Australia wide! COD or EFT only. PM me if you are interested.

Through the restoration of the body I'd also been keeping track of what parts we did and didn't have as I came across them. More concerning, was that I wasn't sure what parts were missing that I didn't know about! Upon discussing this with the Tony, we decided to 'dry build' the Z as I didn't want to be drilling holes and/or scratching the new paint if we find missing items. So that's what we are doing and I'm glad we are! Up on the hoist with the body-shell and we got the brake and fuel hard lines out to install them. The hard line isolators were perished, but a friend of mine has a 3D printer and used the old isolators to recreate new ones of of a material called TPU which is oil, water & UV resistant. From the RH side accident, it appears the fuel hard line was damaged and cut off near the firewall. The rest of the hard line was in good condition and I couldn't be bothered remaking the whole length, so we cut the the pipe back to under the gearbox tunnel, then we set about remaking the front engine bay section with some new bundy pipe of the correct diameter. A sleeve was then turned up, slipped over the join and silver soldered into position. The front brake pipes were also missing, so new ones were make up in Kunifer with new flare nuts. All this will then be replated along with some other items that didn't get done with the first lot of plating. We'll be refurbishing the brake and clutch master cylinders in due course. Next, the painted front components went in, along with a reconditioned steering rack from SW Motorsport. Followed by the rear suspension: Next the new wiring loom was fed thought the body to make sure the terminations were in the correct places (they were): And the natty engine bay inspection light that we refurbished.

Not that I'm aware of.

He is. And Kameari.

Considering how expensive the L6 head from them already is (nearly AUD$10k), I can't expect the TC version to be cost effective either.

The original wiring loom for the Z was an utter dogs breakfast: Dirty, extra wires, soldered joints, cut wires, crimped joiners, broken plugs, broken & burnt(!) pins and... SCOTCH LOCKS!!! Not surprising given the condition of the rest of the vehicle, and obviously there was no way I could fit this to the restored Z... Fortunately I have a friend who builds wiring looms as a side-hussle, although he prefers to build Millspec MoTeC race looms, I pleaded with him to remake the factory loom for the Z. He said yes, on the proviso that he able to acquire the correctly coloured wires and that I order two looms (fine by me) and that I NOT hassle him for it. After some searching, all the correct coloured wires were obtained in the correct gauge, along with new plugs. Mint! I waited over 18 months, but he did deliver with a new body loom, engine bay loom, headlight fly leads and a checked and refurbished dash loom. The original Nissan wiring tag was also able to be saved on the dash loom! Refurbished dash loom: Cost was eye-watering as it's build by hand, but I can now guarantee that there won't be any electrical issues with this Z when it's finished!

Onto the suspension. Aug '22: The front engine cross-member had clearly been damaged in the accident - the kink in it was a give-away. However I also noticed that it had inner LCA eccentric eye bolts fitted, presumably to get the camber back to somewhere normal - check out how far it's been slotted! I thought about fixing it, but it wasn't going to be economically viable, so I went through my collection of crap and found one. This was media blasted and painted. (The old one went into the scrap bin). We then moved onto media blasting an de-oxidizing the suspension components. Then they were given a coat of Stain Black as per factory. When we were reassembling the brake components, they all looks very new. I queried Tony (the owner) and he confirmed that the brakes and wheel bearings at all four corners had been recently reco'd. This was good - one less job for us to do. I did think it was strange considering the state of the rest of the vehicle though... The heater box, fresh air duct and fan housing was also given the same treatment:

The wiper linkages needed to be rebuilt, so in May '21 these were carefully disassembled but annoyingly one spindle was seized in it's aluminum housing. I carefully heated it up with my OxyAct and quenched it in water, and I was then able to wind the spindle out. Unfortunately I cracked one of the pot-metal bushes, so I'd have to make a new one. The parts were all Hydro Jet blasted, and re electroplated (with all the other parts) ready for reassembly. In September '23, I machined up a new bush in plastic and locktite'd it into position in the alum housing. Then reassembly could begin: (Completed photo missing - TBC) When I was disassembling the wiper arms in '21, I then went though the box's of parts to find the wiper motor and bracket. I couldn't find it, so I searched the box's again. Nothing. I then spoke to the owner in case he had in in Sydney. He looked and reported back that he didn't have it either! Bugger! I'd have to source an early 240Z wiper motor and bracket...

Just make sure you read the PDS...

I've texted you.

You'll save time, money and end up with a better result if you just buy a new hatch frame: https://allmusclecarparts.com.au/datsun/240-260z/datsun-240z-hatch.html Or https://resurrectedclassics.com/en-au/collections/sheet-metal/products/1971-1978-datsun-240z-260z-280z-hatch

I have a set of new extractors down here in Warragul, Rob. PM me.

You can't avoid GST on larger shipments. However Import Duty IS NOT payable on NEW parts for vehicles 30+ years old. When you get the invoice from DHL(?), an email back to them stating this have have them correct it. AUS>USA FTA is also in place. Hopefully this helps next time you order from the USA...