Sirpent

Thats one clean Zed, congratulations on maintaining it so well and welcom. John

Hi Buddy, See some of the guys are responding already, OK the wiper assy sits under the wiper scutle inside a plenum chamber this chamber also has the duct work in it that leads to the inner passanger area where the heater fan is, the sheet metal of this chamber is spot welded where the chamber intersects with the fire wall and was sealed with a bead of sealer from the factory, unfortunately it becomes one big swimming pool although it has drainage pipes at each corner that drain water away from the area and down the side of each skirt. Problem is that if they become blocked with leafs etc the water dosnt drain away and eventually the water breaks down the seal which leads to 2 things, water in the passanger area which causes the floor to rust and rust at the spot welded areas which causes rusting of both the plenum and fire wall, hey presto, therefore the flloor rust inside the vehicle. The carbs may need a drop of oil as when I revved the motor up their was a definate flat spot before it picked up revs, unless I am mistaken this is due to the SU's internals not reacting quickly enough. When are you down to pick up the car? If I am around you are more than welcome to come around as see my Zed and I can take you through some aspects of what you are in for and see if I can lend a hand time permitting. Cheers John

Buddy, When you get the car and strip parts of it back you will see how far and how bad it is, at the moment everything is speculation, but the worst parts that I saw in order of worst to not so bad are #1 Inner fire wall / plennum chamber weld seam is shot and rusted out in a number of places, this will need some major cutting and grafting. #2 Battery mount area in swiss cheese, but this could be an easy fix, single but curved panel replacement reqyuired. #3 Passanger side sill, but if you have a guy who can fab this then not so bad considering the dog legs look OK on the outside. #4 Floor pans passanger area's, drivers side has had some Frankenstinian work done, hard to tell exactly to what extent and I'd say the passanger side would be as bad. $5 Drivers side rear quater panel looks like it has more plastic in it than Michael Jackson did. #6, The sunroof is an aftermarket one and not the prettiest of things. #7 Only slight rust, as far as I can see on the upper Tail lamp panel on the passanger side. #8 Rear tail gate glass area and structure including front glass area look intact. only slight hint of a few rust spots. #9 It has aircon, so that means if the core is cactus as I suspect then you will need to find a replacement not sure how hard this will be. The carbs are definately round top 240Z type HJG46W units, and use SAE-20 oil, I havnt been around these before but Im sure someone on the forum can tell you to what level they need to be topped up to. I'm sorry to be the barer of bad news, yes anything is repairable, but in the end you need to decide to what extent you want to go. Cheers John

Well good news and bad news after 1+ hours of toiling with the beast, good news got it started, fuel in the car had turned to turps it was so old, cleaned all electrical points, rotor, cap and checked all the plugs, purged some of the old fuel from the lines, the physically held the chokes in place while the owner kicked in the gutts for the better half of 2 minutes straight helping it along with jumper leads off my car. By the way, before I forget dont forget to tighten the fuel line clamps to the carbs, I may have forgotten to tighten them. Bad news, I wont go into the body, no brakes apart from hand brake, the resivoirs for the front and rears are bone dry, and there is nothing but a paste left at the bottom of each, the started is tempramental and needs some good taps with a wrench to get the car to kick over, make sure you top up the clutch fluid as its at the bare minimal level. Lights and electricals seem OK, heter hoses have been totally bi-passed at the bulkhead and re-routed, so no heater, hence no dim-sting, so hope it not a rainy day in Melbourne otherwise windos open all the way. Mechanically no noise from the motor, it was running pretty sweet once I got it to start up, radiator water is nice clean and green, think it must have been bone dry and the owner topped it up, no signes of moisture in the oil, so I'd say the head is intact. Runs rich as can be seen from the black smoke coming from the pipes, no signs of any blue grey smoke at idle, so Id say ring gear is good. Its running round top SU's not the traditional flat top Hitachi's, but they do need some oil, chikes are not operating from the cable, hence the need to hold them open at start up from cold, would suggest you bring some plastic ties with you if you are starting it yourself on the day and need to keep them open while cranking. "IT LIVES", but it will be a bit of a ride using the handbrake all the way to the docks. Cheers John

All's well, but maybe you could make a donation to the site after I deliver the news about your new born?

You can call now, forgot about day light savings, it's 8.30 now, will be able to go down today, no cost to you buddy, but you owe me one. Cheers John

Im not to far away and could drop in for you. Give me a call after 9.00 am on 0419 556 286 Cheers John

I think you are right, whats decieving is that it is termed a MICA as oppossed to a PEARL, it is a tri-coat paint as I found out after researching it a bit more, in other words, Primer, Base, Mid-Color coat and Clear, but I also found out that apparently photos dont do it justice and that the depth of color is pretty amazing, lets hope your buddy comes back with something special when he sprays it out, and of course you will be able to confirm if the real thing is better than the pics reveal. Apart from that, Im not spraying the thing in the garage anyhow, was hoping to edge up the jams, but will probably hand over the rolling chassis to my mate to finish in his oven now instead. Cheers John

Its all good Johnny The Z Head lamp Cone would give a good indication, Id just use a white as posible base undercoat, and make sure he lays the red in dust coats not heavy coats so its consistant and only just achieves coverage without transperancy of the undercoat, then go nuts on the clear coat. Cheers John

HEY JOHNNY ! I didnt say you could use it ! LOL !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Remember, try to have it put over a light base color, even though it's MICA the substrate color can still have an effect. And for God's sake, post a pic on here afterwards. Cheers John

Thanks, and think I will, but it's not a pearl, as mentioned in previous posts in this thread, it's a MICA color, one of the reasons I prefer it. Cheers John

Thats a great color too, I'm not big into blues, but that one does hit the spot. Cheers John

RBZ, The color isnt available on Australian LExus models, however I have spoken to a beater mate of mine and the formula's are available and can be mixed by any panel shop or auto paint retailer. The code is LEXUS : Matador Red Mica (3R1) Cheers John

Stunning achievement ROV, one of the cleanest I have ever seen. Welcome to the forum. Cheers John

Lurch, and so the story ends so it seems, if Gordon is so reclusive seems that the story may end here, your thoughts out 2 sizes to small Tux wearing friend?

Sorry PA I still think they are NSW plates. Note, K series plates in Victoria came out in 1968, I owned a 68 S-Type Jag first registered in Vic in 1968 with the prefix "KAJ" they didnt last till the time that pic was taken. Secondly, all VIC plates had "vic" at the top centre, those seem to have it along the left hand side as I believe NSW plates did back then when both Victoria and NSW used black and white plates. Cheers John

Gav, Great to hear it, think that Gordon must be getting on in his years, it would be a testament to a man who spent 30 years behind the marque to have his story available to members to read, think I may place an email to him tomorrow see what I can do to track him down. Whens the next club meet, maybe he could be invited as a guest speaker? Cheers John

Good to hear it Dimitri.......... So what do you think, should we try and track down Gordon and take him out for a beer and a chat?

Hope you got Alain Joudaines permission to post them pics Zedman, no offense PeteAllen, just pointing out what you wrote in your last response.

Hey PeterAllen, Ive never seen a Bathurst car with NSW rego plates on it, hmmmmmmmm think you may be right, maybe not a Bathurst race day pic.

Great thread guys, hope this gets added too and that maybe Gordon Dobie may be able to add some light to it, does anyone know him well enough to see if we could interview him for an article on the site......any ideas?

And here are 2 pics of the car, Datsuns R380A MK3 driven by M. Kurosawa at Surfers Paradise on the 26th October 1969, still looks great after 40 years.

Pic of Doug Whiteford at Sandown Park 1970 in the Datsun 1600 P510 SSS factory race car, note the Datsun Racing Team logo on the RHF guard.

Some more clues...... DOUG WHITFORD / JOHN ROXBOROUGH and GORDON DOBIE In Australian racing, the 2000 sports in the hands of drivers like Doug Whitford of the works Datsun Racing Team cleaned up the competition, and in the US drivers such as Pete Brock and Bob Sharp did likewise, production continued until 1970 when the huge success of the Datsun 240Z ended the roadster’s run, the factory space being required for the new model. The Datsun Racing Team, whose Chief Mechanic at the time was Gordon Dobie, ran the imported Datsun 1600 P510 SSS factory race car which had a 5 speed gear box as fitted at the factory. This car was driven by both Doug Whiteford and John Roxburgh between 1968 and 1970 as an improved production touring car. Very early examples were specially imported by John Roxborough's factory backed "Datsun Racing Team" to compete in the first 500 mile endurance car races at Phillip Island, later Bathurst. So it seems that the both the 240z and 260Z belonfed to John Roxborough and that he raced the 260Z in 75 under his business' name and the 240Z which did not qualify under the "Datsun Racing Team" banner It seems that the man that would have the answers to all your questions is Gordon, he runs Datsun Performance Centre, 1/3 ELMA ROAD, CHELTENHAM VIC' 3192, Phone (03) 9553 5309 Fax (03) 9553 5436, Email datcar54@hotmail.com Maybe we could invite him to write a piece on the "Zed's" and shed some light on their whereabouts, maybe they are lurking under some tarps at the back of his workshop. Cheers John

No problems Quandary, The 240Z was a works car it seems, as I said the records say it was entered by "Datsun Racing Team" most probably a combined Datsun Dealers Team, similar to the olf "HDT" which you may want to contact Nissan Australia, they may have more info. If you do find anything out keep us all in the loop. Cheers John