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The Brown Hornet must go off to have a set of carpets made up and I want a really good set. Am going to go for a more dense loop style carpet in wool, as opposed to glued and hopeless nylon stuff that was OEM. What i am wanting to know is, does anybody have a really neat trimmer in Sydney that they can recommend that has does Z's before, and furthermore, does anybody have a template for the correct OEM carpet size for the car. I will need mats, rear parcel shelf and the side carpets for the drivers and passenger side. Any thoughts on this, greatly appreciated. Regards Adam

Broke the nlyon genuine 'T' piece in the car when fiddling with the fuel filler rubber bump stops at the weekend. Does anybody have a genuine t piece, or know what I need to do to replace it? Regards Adam (The Brown Hornet).

Wow, all the crew are still here live and well!! Great to hear from you chaps, Lurch, Peter, Zedman, Katokid, Sirpent, Mossy, Mike and so on. The car has i think the lowered yellow King Springs that from memory are new. Reason I know this is they are yellow and when I bought the car and they had little paper stickers on them. Suspect I will take the car to East Coaast Suspension or similar in Sydney to get them to set her up right once its actually going. Need obviously to be cautious not to go too low, but just enough to tighten things up a little. Here a few cars that I think have got the ride height, PERFECT...Again, to me Jimmy Flett (orange Zed) has just nailed the setting perfectly! I think he's using slightly cut King Springs and 5 way Tokico Illumina's in this shot

Hello MIKE!! Yes mate, still the standards, but I have the Mk63's in a box that i had fully re-built and assembled. I will have them installed when i take it to MIA, or may have a crack at it myself. Actually, on the t piece, thought I might be able to use some gardening irrigation joiners if I can't get an OEM one. The car is just superb and I am SO happy!. Just can't wait to get her going and go and smoke a few 911's! Adam

Ok Ladies .. 4yrs 4mths and the Hornet has returned home. Still needs an exhaust and then its off to MIA Engineering to get started. I literally could NOT believe how nice it looks, and the attention to detail that Nat has undertaken is phenomenal. I love the wheels and tyres too, but she needs about 1" less height in my opinion. I broke the 'T' junction between the fuel filler pipe and breather tube while fiddling about thisafternoon. Does anybody kwow where I can get a new one of these? Its a while / translucent plastic 'T' with abotu 3/4" ends (2x) and about 1/4" going to the fuel breather tube. Thoughts on the car?? It looks unbelievable in my view! Adam

Patience Grasshopper ... All will be revealed in the fullness of time. Adam

Yep, I agree with Gav. Get a 'good' set of SU's on a relatively standard L24 and it will work a treat. If you do want to go aftermarket, I can recommend the OER's which I bought for my car. Having said that, i'm only going on what i've been told as i've not used the car .. um .. ever!

Hi there. Have not done anything on that front with my car as yet, but I know there is some excellent heat shielding you can use these days. Perhaps Dynamat on the inside of the car, and use some of the OEM heat shielding that BMW's have, that is a crinkle looking Aluminium shield material. Should be able to make it cooler inside. I remember that i used to slowly cook in my old 240z, suspect this one will more of a 'fast cook'.

Mmmm Timing on registration... won't put that in writing. Need tyres, exhaust, battery, and a trip to M.I.A Engines to have a wiring problem resolved, that is the bit where the electric dizzy talks to the Tacho. One or two more things then it'll. Enquired yesterday about rego, so psychologically I am very near.

Go G! Love the work, and +1 on the factory guards .... DON'T CUT THEM!

BIG development ... Panasport Ultra light wheels arrived yesterday and I think they look absolutely fantastic. I can't explain why, but I actually prefer these wheels to Watanabes. Weight is very minimal at ~5.2kg as I stuck with 15*7", and UL takes about 1kg off per corner over standard. This means I need to buy tyres very soon (Dunlop Direzza Star Spec - yep silly name I know, but excellent intermediate tarmac rally / road tyre), and then its off to the exhaust shop to have that 2.5" mandrel system installed. At that point, we're about 98% the way done save for one or five little tid bits. I've gone back to Jim's car with the exact same wheel and tyre size, and the red car, with slimmer rubber on Panasports.

i'm old(er), so 17+ " rims and rubber band tyres do nothing for me these days and I much prefer the look of a car 'in period'. Having said that, modern tyres are infinitely better in the larger profiles, and with suspension lowered to a sensible height and modern brake linings and so on, there's no reason that a 'period' look can't offer excellent ride and handling, that is a vast improvement on OEM. Here's a few Zeds that I think win the 'stance' awards. One is a genuine 432 with magnesium 15" watanabes, the other is Jim's car, also with 15" rims (incidentally the same as what I have arriving for my car this week).

Ok, this for me was a very delicate decision. Lots of cheap rubbish rubber kits out there that are totally frustrating and fitting so be warned. I bought OEM factory parts on line from a well known datsun ebay vendor, for F&R windscreen. These even have the Datsun hamburger logo on them and are genuine OEM. Suppose you might be able to source these from Nissan new too. Its worth it, the screens need to fit properly, and don't forget that trying to fit the chrome strips can and will be a nightmare if not a correct fit. For the main door rubber, I bought 'precision' brand. Its in a green plastic bag and is EXCELLENT. Have looked at it and its the correct part for your car. So, look up Precision, and OEM Datsun. Cost will be better now because of the stong A$. Good luck. Adam

Hi Graham, Sorry for not getting back to responding earlier, time just flew by. I will look for a Full River battery as you have suggested, and as for the Rally Clock, no I actually bought mine from a fellow member that had it sitting on the shelf in his shed. They are great too, so I recommend it if you can find one. On the wheels, you might have seen, but I just bit the bullet and bought a set of Panasport eight spoke 'race application' wheels. These are almost as light as the the magnesium wheels by Watanabe, and I think look ab fab. Having said that, the Enkei wheels are a real treat, so well done. I know I keep saying this, but my car is getting much closer to being completed, so I look forward to seeing your and mine in person. Keep up the good work on the Zed. Adam.

Um Gareth, i think there is a better looking Zed sorry mate! The car is outrageously cool looking and totally unique. Now go over to Peter Mac's place to get him to stick a stonking donk in it. You'll have every car on the street in convulsions.

Your mate wouldn't have one of those genuine 432Z engine too would he, or how about one of those TB24 valve trick OS Giken heads too? I'd pay top brass for either! Just check all the corners of the shed would you Cheers

i have them in mine, they are readily available and fairly cheap. PM me for more info. Mine is running 10.5 ish :1.

yep bullet mirrors a must for this project. i'm no panel /paint guy but I would have thought a coat or two of clear and then a nice rub down with wet and dry used dry to leave that very matt / weathered look. I really like the way this car has come up, it looks excellent. Not sure if it has a chrome tip exhaust, but I think a rough looking mild steel pipe would finish the job nicely. Lastly, a plastic rear window with some of those aluminium braces running up it would make it look the real deal.

Now you're talking G, Now those handles could use a few more holes to be truly 'light', and while you're at it, have a go at the front and rear hood hinges (yes porsche also drilled these extensively in their race cars) and if you're looking to really lose extra flab, google what they did to LeMans winning 917's ignition keys in the day too... Holy indeed! As usual, the car looks unbelievably good, well done fella. Adam

The car looks excellent, very cool!

Mmmm, could be a slight disappointment in store for you. I have SOLD the watanabes, as I did not think they were the proper fit and for some reason I just love panasports, which are even lighter than the Watanabes. Have decided to give the car a go with the bullet mirrors, and move on if need be later on. Can't wait to get the 'zorst done. That will be a real turning point, as that is the last mechanical part I need to have the car working.

Andrew, I think you, me and Aaron should meet up. My Brown Hornet is very near to completion, and I am based in Sydney too. Might be nice to get these three very lovely Zeds out on the roads one Sunday morning very early. Who did your motor, out of interest? Adam

Love white Zeds, and still reckon yours is the best zed on this whole forum!

Bit of an update but more a question. Called up Steve about the Panasports, and they will be arriving here in Sydney early to mid Jan, Yipee!! Also have sourced the right rubber that is sure to do the job. Thought about Bridgestone RE11's, Yokohama A-something's, but have stuck with my earlier decision to buy 205/60/15 Dunlop Direzza Z1 Star Specs. Price is right too. After these are on, car will be trailered to Castle Hill Exhaust for completion. A battery and a tank of fuel will then be all that is stopping me from starting it. On another note, as the hornet gets ever so close to finally coming home, I really think I've made a massive error with the Jap style fender mirrors. I think the best look is perhaps just a single OEM driver side mirror and am questioning if I should just call Nat and have him change it back now!?!? (I keep looking at Jim's 71Z and can't help thinking that's the best one I've seen) The only think making me pause on this is I've not actually tried the car as is, and on looking at the Toyota 2000GT on the Top Gear James Bond cars special last night, I noted that it has those front wing mirrors, that for it are absoluteluy sublime. What do you think, should I change back to single door mirror, or stick with the OEM Jap versions? The other think weighing on my mind is the double digit racing number.. I feel as though this car needs one on the door and off centre on the bonnet!

yeah Gareth... Or after 3.5 years and 40,000 hits, i'll beat you to it!