gilltech

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Ditto. Having restored a Mustang ragtop with a myriad of rust issues under the paint (more cosmetic than structural, thankfully) and knowing the long time it took me, I'll not rush to tackle another. So AFAIAC maximum credit to those intent on saving this car. Just goes to show what increasing Zed values are doing, making very rusty cars like this one more financially viable to rebuild. Which saves more of them. Whereas a decade or so ago it would surely have been a source of parts and the remainder eventually scrapped.

Nice work indeed. But what was involved with fixing the rusted out frame in behind? Looks real nasty.

Well whichever party was responsible IMO the outcome is just not acceptable. Those are major defects. PS: if I were you I wouldn't accept it, those are more than a minor surface defect or two. Send it back and demand a refund, or an undamaged replacement, either of which I expect you would surely be entitled to under Australian consumer law.

Well that would explain the lack of paint coverage in some places and paint runs in others! Awkward things to paint on or off the car, given all the concealed faces whether they are extended or closed. Recently I removed mine as they had got so daggy they spoiled the look of the engine bay, so I cleaned them back to expose the plated finish and they can stay like that meantime. Maybe I'll paint them, maybe I'll just have them replated as there are areas around the pivots where the plating has worn off and will rust again. Ditto AFAIK, never having stripped the car totally down to its shell. Cream primer externally, grey primer internally. Different formulas perhaps?

Ah, I suspected as much. Yet many 'restored' Zeds one sees online have the hinges painted, personal preference I suppose. I've removed all the red overspray, or what I had suspected was just bonnet-repaint overspray as the coverage was inconsistent, off the hinges and the torsion rods. There did seem to be some black on the rods beneath the red, so I wonder whether they got that when the factory painted the black on the radiator support. Or perhaps that was a rattle can job by a PO to hide them from front view. It's my contention that Nissan were pretty economical with paint on these cars, to put it tactfully. So any repaint by an enthusiastic owner will inevitably result in a far better outcome than 'factory' with respect to longevity, corrosion protection, quality of appearance etc etc. I see great examples of that on this forum.

Interesting questions. I can only comment on my own '74 RS30 which I bought back in '84, it hadn't been subject to a full repaint just touch-ups here and there. The painting procedures used for earlier cars may have been different of course. IMO the front guards and 'sugar scoops', the front valance panels, the battery and washer bottle inspection panels including their hinges and clips, and the doors and hinges, were pre-primed then painted the 110 red body colour only after being installed to the shell because their bolts were all painted. Whereas the plenum panel, and the rear hatch, must have been painted separately as their installation screws are unpainted. But the hatch hinges are body colour. I can't comment on the bonnet or its hinges as the LH leading edge of the bonnet had been damaged and repaired/repainted both sides before I bought the car. As for the primer, on my RS30 it's more of a cream colour (faintest hint of green) rather than a grey. PS. The plenum recess area is in primer with some body colour overspray. There's quite a defined line against the body colour of the engine bay, maybe the plenum panel was just sat in place for painting (but not yet screwed down) which might explain it.

Hmm. Maybe better you ask whether anyone on this forum even has factory A/C on their 240. I think I've only ever seen it on JDM Fairladys, although supposedly it was indeed a factory option on RHD 240Zs. Anyway, with all the extra weight and gear involved I suspect many A/C units got removed, especially once they started to break down.

On my Zed I have long had fitted a pair of old-school/period Lucas horns from a pommy car, after the original Z horns started to fail. They'd always sounded a bit weak and high pitched anyway. Whereas the British ones have a very useful and much louder 'would-you-please-be-so-good-as-to-get out-of-my-bloody-way' tone. But, I've been thinking it was about time I brought the original type horns back to life. In the interests of originality, and because they annoy me as one barely worked in a raspy manner while the other was silent. So I've taken them apart, and after stripping layers of paint and crud off I've repainted their front and back covers. I found the internal diaphragms to be somewhat corroded so have polished those up but the internal points mechanisms are very clean. I made up new gaskets for the covers. Part numbers are stamped into the back covers but neither is marked as to which is High and Low tone. There are different numbers of internal shims which I presume is what alters the tone. When powered up and the adjusters suitably tweaked there are sounds of life in both but I haven't managed to get a proper toot out of either as yet. Not that I intend to re-install them any time soon. I just want to tick them off along with all the other electrical parts on the car that I've been progressively refurbishing. So it's still a work in progress.

That and a LOT of fresh BHP steel sheet...

Sounds about fair to me, for the complexity involved with the Z dash compared to most other cars of the era. One can't expect quality work to remain at the same pricing of a decade ago. And a 2-3 month backlog means that I'm not alone in thinking that.

I don't know when the electric fuel pumps were fitted to the 260Zs. My '74 RS30 just has the mechanical pump and the pair of fuel supply & return lines. Given you have the original flat top carbs then why not install the mechanical pump and pair of fuel supply & return lines and see how you go? Surely simpler.

I presume by that you are referring to Australia-new cars. I've collected quite a lot of 1970's advertising material and magazine road tests of the time which show quite a number of English and European 240Zs and 260Zs didn't get the over-riders, just rubber plugs in the bolt holes. I also have an Australian Modern Motor Sept '74 road test of a brand new 260Z 2+2 which has over-riders on the rear bumper only. So I guess there was a bit of variation across the markets. Perhaps HS-30H could enlighten us.

Yeah go the chrome one if you can get one compact enough in the body. IMO the factory plastic one just looks cheap and nasty even when new!

Good move. The quality of the original chrome wasn't particularly good.

I got a brand new one myself off eBay, as the plastic toggle on mine had very long ago deteriorated and broken. But that would have been maybe 4 years or more ago. As an interim, for many years I had fitted a generic compact push button switch such as used on bedside reading lamps. As for the lenses, they were available at one time too but I missed out. Instead I carefully polished mine up to remove any yellowing and it looks just fine.

Check that the various plugs are compatible with the various electrical components. If they are shaped differently or different numbers of wires then your loom may be off a 260Z.

Interesting, but no surprises there. Yet if you recall about this time last year a certain new forum member was loudly and persistently proclaiming that our beloved hobby cars can't be worth anything like the advertised asking prices as they're only Datsuns after all. Also saying that by year's end car values will have crashed thanks to pandemic-induced panic selling and he'll have the pick of the crop for a bargain. He couldn't have been more wrong.

Could always be worse... https://www.gumtree.com.au/s-ad/brendale/cars-vans-utes/datsun-260z-wreck-no-gearbox-has-carbs-1000/1273816746

So it's true what I've heard then that Range Rovers make for good anchors... Nice work NickF.

Jeez, surely that shell is way too far gone to go to all that trouble... every last section of metal is rust pitted. And is the guy just lining it all up again by eye? I don't see any reference profiles anywhere.

Yours were plated? Looks better, whereas mine (RS30) were factory painted on the car, underneath is just the factory cream coloured primer.

I've seen a few on NZ cars though.

I can just slip a piece of 7mm ply into the gap like a feeler gauge, at closest point, so allowing for paint and underseal, I'd say 8-9mm is all.

Some Zeds, maybe it was just the early ones, had that twistknob rather than a key lock.