George

Good stuff so far. It'll be a weapon with 500hp. A bit too much power if you ask me but no doubt it will be fun.

Welcome to the forum Jeff and congratulations again on that beautiful Z. Have you taken delivery?

Yes, I was just thinking about the lamp when I spotted the other one last week. I'll get around to collecting it one day. Sorry it has taken so long! Thanks for the offer too. Trekking across the city isn't the most fun thing I can think of which is why I was looking for someone on the south side. Still, I'd love to visit your Z shop one day. Cheers Ian. A pleasant drive through RNP and along the coast sounds fine to me. I'll keep your offer in mind.

Hi all, I'm hoping to find a 1970 240Z in original condition local to me (St George/Southerland area of Sydney) and an owner willing to let me pop in occasionally to take some pics and have a chat. It will be an invaluable help as I'm working through assembly. Alternately, someone that can take some photos of this and that would also be an immense help. Please contact me via private message if you can help. Cheers

Happy New Year to all the loose Z-nuts. Correct-spelling-Geoff, in my language the correct spelling would be a very curt Jef. It's a phonetic based language which means none of this pair pear there their where wear business.

Sounds like an invaluable assistant. Happy New Year Jeff.

Spring 2017 A Beautiful Chronicle Spring brings new life as they say. They weren't kidding! My wife started growing another little peanut this spring... high five! Elation soon made way for nausea - the all day type, not this morning sickness variety. A few years ago we went on a boat ride to The Great Barrier Reef. The seas were rough, unrelenting in their swaying. She's stuck on that boat ride with the only relief coming from sleep. While I'm not physically with her, I am on board, trying my hardest to calm her rough ride. Not surprisingly this has sapped my energy along with my free time. I did make some progress early in spring though. I completed the heater box, had all the brake and clutch cylinders re-sleeved, worked some more on the insulation and as always, parts are rolling in as the budget allows. In the weeks after purchasing the Datsun I thought long and hard about a name. I haven't named all of my cars, just the ones that were special to me and each name has had some meaning behind it. I felt she deserved something with a Japanese origin and came across the name Miki which means beautiful chronicle. A succinct and fitting name for what is a beautiful car that will chronicle my life. Miki also felt fitting as my wife's nickname is Kiki, another beautiful lady.

Dave, I highly recommend getting some professional photos taken while it's all fresh. There are plenty of photographers that would do it for free even to use in their portfolio.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D8_nRkCJx9o

You have single-handedly fixed the interwebs. Thanks.

I bet that will happen often. Congrats Dave. You've worked hard to get this car on the road. I hope you enjoy the fruits of your labour for many years to come.

Tough job that...

2mm trimboard from Daley's. They have stores in pretty much every state. http://www.daleys.com.au/products/view/264

I've brought it back to 99.9% stock which was surprisingly easy with what I had to start with. I've already started with some subtle mods being a new exhaust. I have and will keep all original parts should I want to bring it back to stock spec. My plans are to modify it for enjoyment and to be honest they're fun even in stock form. Revs well and sounds great. I'll probably do coilovers and possibly wheels next. Not much more than that really. Another Peter far more capable than I is attempting to make a template. I'll leave that to the more industrious. I'm sure something will turn up. I returned the left hand mirror by the way. I paid a RHD price for it so it had to go back. Shhh, they'll hear us... Jeff, that's marvelous. Made me chuckle both times I read it.

Distractions Around the time winter set in I realised the only way to get this car finished in under 10 years was to get rid of all my distractions. With that in mind, I bought an MX5... Bear with me now. My logic is sound. I purchased a huge distraction to get rid of all my distractions... It makes sense if you think about it. No, wait, I had that backwards. It makes sense if you don't think about it. Just don't think about it. Buy a car over the phone without inspecting it, with only half a dozen small blurry images to go off, and fly interstate to drive it 850km's home. Take that distractions! So now that I have less distractions it is time to work on the... MX5? Baseline There's something thoroughly enjoyable about baptising a new-old car. I don't dunk it in water though and there's very little scripture babble going on. Instead, all oils are changed out and some cursing might occur. I was lucky with this car as all previous servicing had been done by the book and stamped in the book. The service book that is, not The Book. It didn't take long to go over the whole car and I had quickly run out of things to repair. Ironically it is the complete opposite situation to the 240Z. Some minor repairs to the door handle, sludge in the washer bottle, a shifter kit, replaced the pod filter with stock air box, replaced wheels with stock ones and she was good to pose for some photos. Back to my sound logic then... Why did I buy a car that will only distract me from finishing the Z...? Let me answer that question with another question. How do you satisfy your need (yes my lovely wife, it is a need) to go for a soul refreshing drive if the only car you want to drive is in thousands of pieces? I just could not imagine the years ahead without something enjoyable to drive. What I can imagine is being frustrated and losing interest in the Z because it always seems so far out of reach. The MX5 is my mistress in a way. She's younger than the Z, easier and less expensive to maintain, loads of fun and she's pretty tight... suspension wise that is. I shopped around for months to find the right ride and as with the Z I looked for an early example. I was hoping for a 2 digit VIN but settled for #269 in the end as it was too good to pass up. It has only been through 3 to 4 mature owners all of who managed to keep it stock and used it sparingly with only 128,000 km clocked up since 1989. I won't bore you with any more updates on the little 5 but if you are interested you can follow our journey on Instagram and on my blog at headlightsgoup.com. Parts and More Parts The pace at which I'm completing small projects related to the Z can only be described as glacial. This winter I've spent more time buying parts than working on them. I'm slowly ticking off items as they come up and as the budget allows. One of the more interesting items I picked up was a door mirror. I thought I had hit the jackpot with a brand new right hand drive mirror but alas, it was just another left hand one posing as a gem. Things are looking up though. I have my willing mistress, my little apprentice is growing up and taking an interest in cars, some much needed parts are coming in and spring is in the air.

Yes please, I'd love the contact details when you have time. Cheers

I don't want to say I hate the NB wheels but I really do hate them. They do nothing for me on this car. I'm going to buy a set of clean daisy wheels to store away and then look for a light set of 15x7's. The black RPF01's are at the top of my list. Any sense in going to 15x8 over 7? I won't be tracking it so I figure lighter weight of wheel and rubber on the 15x7 will suit me just fine. I have not had a chance to inspect bushings yet. The car has done 129,000 kms and I figure if I'm going to be changing to a nice set of coilovers I might as well do bushings. MCA actually recommend retaining the factory swaybars and I agree re rubber bushings. My most immediate concern is correcting a visible toe out on the front. I'm going to get it aligned and then drive the car for a bit. From the highway drive I did on Saturday I can tell you that it has a dangerous sway at that speed. Swinging the wheel back and forth induces a plush sway that feels like it can throw the rear out if you turn too abruptly. This had me wondering about the state of shocks, sway and bushings. All have to be inspected thoroughly. Not sure if toe out can cause swaying like that...?

I was looking at FD's and FC's Gav. For me it came down to value and you can't beat the MX5 in that department. Budget was a big consideration.

Cheers guys Gav, I flew down on Sat morning and drove it home. Was a surprisingly easy drive, especially considering I had 5 hours sleep the night before! The car is very smooth although the toe settings are way out which I'm guessing explains the swaying steering at highway speeds. I had been searching for another MX5 (this is my third) for a while now. My criteria was pretty specific in that I wanted an Aussie delivered original car with a low VIN. Surprise surprise. I had found earlier ones but this one was well looked after and never modified aside from air filter (bought an original air box today). It's car #296 and has done 128k kms. There are a few things that need attention like steering alignment and possibly new shocks, original wheels, antenna not working etc but apart from that the body is rust free with the usual small dings. The engine/gearbox are in excellent condition as is the interior. While this car will eat into my limited spare time I have for working on the Datsun, it will also give me something cheep and cheerful to enjoy for the next few years while I get the 240 on the road. Time to start a tape collection... anyone have old ones laying around they want to donate?

The little man approves!

Thanks. I have booked a flight for Saturday morning so I will inspect and hopefully drive away with it.

I just wrote a long reply and hit the back button on this silly mouse I use. Here we go again, a bit more succinctly. You might be confused by the mirror part being angled for the RH side. I did that thinking it was a RH mirror. It can swivel all the way around to it's correct LH side position. The main difference I've realised is the stalk angle to it's base. Looking at the mirror face, the RH one leans to the left (towards the car) and the LH one leans to the right (again, towards the car). The mirror head swivel is a clever design if only the stalk was 90 degrees to the base. Sadly they deemed it important to design it at a different angle and cursed us all to waste our time searching for unicorn poo. I personally don't see too much of an issue with the LH mirror on the RH side other than that OCD thing bugging me. Here are a couple of helpful photos with what looks like correct mirrors on correct sides. Note the stalk to base lean angles (bend your head to the base horizontal and it becomes obvious). Alex, that is what got me thinking it's the wrong one. The part number on the box says 96301-E4600 which a quick Google search will take you to a variety of US LH side mirrors. After some digging around I found the Australian RH door part number is actually 96302-E8800 but good luck finding that. Part 96301-E4100 is the Europe equivalent. See here: For reference sake here is a US manual with the part number 96301-E4600 - http://www.carpartsmanual.com/datsun/Z-1969-1978/body-240z/door-moulding-finish-arm-rest

As I've suspected, it appears to be a LH mirror. As you look at the mirror, the stalk leans to the right from the base. RH ones should lean to the left. Hard to tell from the photo you posted Gav but yours looks to be a LH one as well...? Peter provided this photo he took just now. Plated stalk is a LH unit he purchased from the States. Unplated is the original RH one from his car.

Thanks to you sir! I'm still not 100% convinced they are RH until I compare to an original though...

Can anyone tell if this is a LH or a RH mirror? I would love to compare it against an original so if anyone has a RH mirror in Sydney please let me know. I can come over most evenings or the weekend. PM me if you prefer. Thanks!