Iceberg

Hi Scoota G, Donation made. Gav, please confirm as it does not show up on my Avatar yet paypal says that it has been taken out. Thanks everyone for the advice. I also picking up another two this Sunday so if anyone gets stuck let me know ans i can send you one and you can replace it later. Thanks again for all the advice. PS if anyone wants to come and help me replace all of my bushings on my Z this Saturday please let me know - as if. Cheers Tomas

One passenger side black is still available from Nissan in Japan for a $600 something shipped . For 260z that is, they have a few more choices for 240z. I know this because i am after white Datsun 260z door trims and white interior so local Nissan dealer looked it up for me. PS if anyone wants to sell white/off white seat with the funny looking insert in the middle from 260z, i would sure appreciate it.

Hi AK, The tank i did was out of the 2+2 as well, some what not easy to remove (all of the hoses) I did the same research as you have AK but i went with lining of the inside of the tank as other ways it will start to rust out again very quickly and if it is lined then i just will wash it out every 18 months or so. Other than that the vinegar will work, especially if it is concentrated but you should neutralize the Ph level properly after the vinegar treatment. Also you will end up with some what 'etched" insides so it would be easy to seal it already. I like the idea of the cement mixer, i did not think of that. you inspired me, I may make up a jig These tanks will become hard to come by so i am thinking of refurbishing the tanks and sell them both lined internally and externally with good hard seal such as POR but i am not sure if there would be interested people out there.

Thanks Peter, Cozza, Dat2kman. I must have spent at least good 5 hours on that one spindle. Amazing just how well it binds. I will have a chat with the SW Motorsport guys. Peter Alan, is there a specific material bolt you would recommend? I did hacksaw the end bits already, the control arm is held up by lots of metal zip ties so that i can move the Z about he workshop but the car cant stay there for long, we do have a 2 tonne press there so i may try to use that as the hydraulic one is only 1 tonne. It is going to be another interesting Saturday. I just cant believe how long everything takes to refurbish parts properly on these cars.

Hi, Does anyone have a spare control arm spindle? Ordered one will take 3 weeks to arrive so I can replace yours or purchase outright. These are the worst to try to get out! Left was easy but the right would not let go, we tried so many methods: • Soaked it in WD40 • Manufactured a tool to pull it out – the thread stripped • Hit it with big copper hammers from both sides to make it move – nothing • Heated it with blow torch and hit it with copper hammers from both sides – still nothing At this point we hit is so hard that the thread ends warped and squished, so we did the following: • File and re-thread the ends • Heat and cool the hut to try to break the bond • Used the pull tool again It just does not move. The plan is to borrow a hydraulic press and get press the spindle out; I suspect it will come out with a tonne of force. Once it does I need to do the bushings replacement and replace the spindle (with copious amounts of copper grease) But I do not have a spindle and I am not allowed to leave the Z there as it is not my workshop so I am stuck.

You got yourself a bargain. Very nice. Do you have think it was this colour originally before the respray?

It's a great deal and nice colour, I hope that was the colour before the respray. I think it is worth the money you paid and if I was in QLD then she would have been going into my shed. Look forward to your build.

For $7000.00 i would buy it. But i doubt that he will let it go for such price.

260z. 2 seat $7000 Be quick http://www.uniquecarsandparts.com.au/classifieds/index.php?a=2&b=6095

Hi Gav, I am very happy how it came up, now that it has cured it looks really good. No more blocked fuel filters for a while. I am planning to paint it. That is why I wanted that Snap On air compressor you were looking at, use some soft pallets to take the paint of everything, I really like the idea of refurbishing stock items. Ps next job is to get her RWC and then copy your interior restoration of all the plastics - thanks for posting those photos.

Guide - How to restore rusty fuel tank without splitting it. Most of the old fuel tanks look pretty bad inside rust, dust and old fuel - just have a look at my #1photo. If anyone is struggling to find a good condition fuel tank, you may be better do a quick restoration and get few more years out it. What you need: High pressure washer ( I used car wash – ask the attendant if that is ok first) Decent adhesive tape Hot water – not boiling Liquid Measuring container Marine cleaner Paint etcher Fuel tank sealer Or you can just buy a kit from a car paint sore Por-15 seems to have good reviews and you should not pay more than $135 Aud for it, some shops will try to sell it for up to $200 so ring around. Step 1 – Wash Once tank is empty and the fuel sender is out, wash the tank well with the pressure gun, you should be able to stick the nozzle inside the tank and try to get all angles, when you think you have washed the fuel tank well then wash it for another 5 minutes. Try to get all angles and rotate it. See Photo #2 – Much better already. Step 2 Dry Next dry the tank, with a decent heat gun set inside the sender hole the tank should dry out in 1.5 hours or so. But I noticed there are a lot of fumes, even after decent wash, so I kept on stopping and letting the fumes come out by using pressurised air. Step 3 Loosen the left over rust (repeat this step any time the tank is properly dry ) Once tank is dry, really dry! Bang it around gently and you will notice more rust flakes, I vacuumed this out. You can also use a handful of washer inside the tank and then rolling the tank. See Photo # 3 Looks even better. Step 4 Mask the holes Using adhesive tape cover the holes but the fuel filler hole See Photo # 4 & 5 Step 5 Add 1 litre of Marine cleaner into some container and add another 1 Littre of hot water. Pour the contents of the container into the fuel tank through the fuel filler hole. Step 6 cover the fuel filler hole with tape to seal it. Step 7 shake the tank with marine cleaner, move it around for 20 min. Step 8 empty out the fuel tank contents and repeat steps 5, 6&7 steps Step 9 empty out the fuel tank contents and repeat steps 5, 6&7 steps Step 10 empty out the fuel tank contents and repeat steps 5, 6&7 steps Step 11 repeat step 1 Step 12 Etcher Once the tank is empty of the water and there is no pools of water inside mask the holes again and add in 1 litre of the etcher. Roll the tank around for good 30 minutes minimum ( no more than 2 hours ) After this, empty the contents Step 13 Dry the fuel tank, bone dry! Again you can use the heat gun or just leave it in the sun for a good day. I used a heat gun to pretty much dry it out and left the tank on the shelf for 3 days. Step 14 Loosen any rust dust When the fuel tank is bone dry, once again bang the tank around with your palm, also you can gently hit it with a hammer on the seams of the tank. You should see some more rust loosen up but it is just the very fine rust dust, I vacuumed this out and used the air pressure gun. Step 15 Tank sealer Once I was happy that I have managed to get all nasties out of the tank and fuel tank was bone dry then sealed the holes and poured in 1 litre of the tank sealer. Sealed the last hole and rolled the tank slowly for around 20 min. Need to ensure you cover all surfaces, even the fuel pipes inside. Once you have covered all internal surfaces – pour the tank sealer into its original container. Try to get as much of the sealer as you can, even little drops count. Place the tank upside down, blow clean the fuel lines ensure it is not full of sealer. Take out the tank drain plug and clean the thread inside the tank – ear buds work well but removing the plug and putting it back in once cleaned a few times also does the trick. The seal set really hard so clean all surfaces that it may spill onto immediately. See photo # 6 Decent coverage – arms and back is tired. Step 16 leave the tank for 4 days upside down to properly set. See photo # 7 Once mistake I made was that I did not mix the tank sealer well enough, 10 minutes of mixing it was not enough and now I have these little lumps of hard seal. Still very happy with the outcome.

Bad news bearer here, we have lost Trevor. Apparently he has relocated to QLD and possibly around Bundaberg area. I did try to find out if he indicated where he will be working, no luck in finding out so far. So this thread has just become even more important.

Hi Gav, I meant it in a comical way, though i may make someone to grin for a second or so. I actually did the same and did check the inflation calculator, so many way to interpret it. $50,000.00 would go a long way in securing one of early clean S30s.

Waiting for parts to arrive from the states so i could not help myself and had to make this. It would be so much cheaper.

Gav, Snap on charges $1850 for new aircompressor with the same specs for the 100 litre one. Put it this way, if you do not want that compressor then please let me know and i would like to buy it as i would love to restore my control arms and such.

Had a look at this car last weekend. But did not spend much time on it. It is actually not bad, not my color of choice but apparently it had full body respray a few years ago, if this is true then it is holding up very well. If you are going to have a look then check the infills where the door mirrors used to be, this should give you an indication of the quality of work. Rails and lower radiator support also worth checking as I did not look at those areas. If I did not have 3 datsuns already I would buy it.

The one inside the she'd is not as bad as the one outside. Floor, roof, guards, around one tail light and she is ok ish. Owner is a lady and is looking for $14,000.00 for the lot. However she doe not know much about the cars so number was placed in her head by some other people. I would say for $5000.00 it is a fair buy for the lot as there are a lot of spares on the "worst" car as it is nearly compete. Plus the better one is Matching number car. You can't even clean the windows on the one outside as the stain has burned onto the glass. Sad to see. The good things is that there are a lot of these cars still being stored in the back of the sheds. I have another lead for a original complete car but the "in between" man does not want to share it with me any longer as he realized what a complete good condition car is worth. I will share it with the forum once i get the contact information as I have found another two 240zs - paying a deposit next week and hopefully will be at my place by the end of the month. The price for those two is more realistic and cars are more honest.

So yesterday we started a bit of work the blue 2+2. Just trying to get it running. I really was looking forward to hearing it run and the sound of the exhaust. First of all, we found some decent rust. The previous owner did not have restoration history so i am very happy that i did not pay the asking price. Second, stepbrother drained the stale fuel few weeks ago, some fresh petrol and we give it a try...... We could hear the pump running but no fuel was being fed to the front. So we worked backwards all the way to the tank and still could not find the problem. Finally we gave up and took the fuel tank out. Tank is blocked inside, what a pain. I do not know how to unblock it. Any ideas? has anyone had this problem before? I may have to ask Rob at Mordialloc Z shop, he is very helpful guy (Must buy him a Parma and Pot soon) I could not wait any longer not to hear it run so we figured we can start the car by feeding the petrol out of an open container, it worked, sort of. 4 littler of fuel went through in no to flush out any stale fuel in the lines, ignition and the engine spattered in to some kind of life. Few seconds later fuel is coming out of the air filter...... Time to rebuild the calibrators. Mission for the next week, Figure out how to unblock the tank. Rebuild the carburetors. Check timing at the same time. If you have any tips i would appreciate it. Cheers Tomas

Hi All, I know this is long overdue but here is my introduction. Quick disclaimer, English is my third language so apologies upfront for the sentencing mistakes. I have been dreaming about owning a Datsun 240Z or 260z as a daily driver for a long time, so i have been stalking the forums and searching across the country. When i was financially ready, Every time i found something i liked i was late by a week or two. When i was not ready financially a decent Z would pop up and i would miss out. I have been supporting the family and always gave everything i could away for the greater good so I gave up hope of owning a Z and just forgot about it but then one evening after turning 30 something clicked inside and i said to myself it is now or never so my build thread starts here. I still find it hard to spend this kind of money, money i could use to change some unfortunate souls life for ever but i need to be selfish at least sometimes as i am running out of motivation to continue my way of life. So here is my selfish act. Blue Datsun with grass growing out of the grill. With haste i purchased a Datsun 260Z 2+2 from this forum, the asking price was allot but i got it for a fair price. I am glad i did negotiate as even after the decent inspection we found some decent gremlins ( Don't give them water!) more on rust later. We borrowed a Hillux and towed it home on a hire trailer. The trip took many hours and the only car we managed to overtake was a broken down vintage car barely moving on the side of the road. The Hilux we borrowed was not in the best of shape. I could not own a Datsun by myself as my step brother loves them as much as i do so we went for two and purchased another 260z 2+2 from the forum. This one is in an amazing condition, while it is only the shell, it is as good as it gets. So the intention was for me and my step brother to do the clean shell justice and do an amazing job of prepping and painting and then transfer the parts from complete car while reconditioning them and replacing the seals, rubber, bushes and so forth. Over the last few weeks we realized that the blue car is not that bad and that it would be a shame to let it go to waste, so now the intention is to bring both of them to life. While i also am looking a two seat 260z or a 240z. I think we found it but i wont talk about it until it is in the garage. I want to learn everything about Z's thought the process of restoration, spend time with my step brother and hopefully create something decent. Unlike allot of people, i actuality like the 260z 2+2 shape, it reminds me of an interceptor with a touch of E type Jag and Ferrari GTO. I wonder, if there were not 2 seat versions of the Z cars then the 2+2 surely would be a loved car. You simply cant find that many cars with such beautiful curves. I would like to say thank you to all who have been so helpful so far, there are some amazing people on this forum. Very welcoming. I have even been offered a ride to see what its like to drive a Z. One day! Cheers also to Gav and Lurch and few other who have taken your time to reply to the questions and messages.

Sad to see.

Hi Guys, So thought i start contributing to the forum rather than just digest all of the great work that has been done here so far. While i am typing the introduction i also want to post this. A month ago or so i get a lead that there is a clean Datsun 240z in a Barn in QLD. I managed to get a phone number of the owner so we had a decent chat, it all sounded perfect. One owner, complete, good condition 240z that has been stored for 15 years and one rusty one that can be used for spares. I am thinking that i have finally uncovered the holy grail of the Z's. Just before booking my flights and a rental car i thought i get a mate of mine to go an check it out as he lives near by. I will let you the judge of the 'good' car. On a good note, the parts are all there, matching engine (Dismantled) but it is not one owner and far from good. Owner wants a lot of money for the lot as it has family history. (Will not sell separately ) My recommendation is to store them dry and maybe in 10 years they will get what they are asking for. PS the owner asked not to share the contact details as they get to many offer to swap other cars or silly low offers. Shame to see such cars rusting away.

Hi NATO, any chance I co of have Gareth's rails since he has dropped out? Pm sent. Found nice 240z but the rails and battery tray have more holes than swis cheese.

So true. But I wonder if those days are gone now.

Wow, I thought the metal grey one from Ireland looked amazing. That's the style I thought I will follow but this orange one is just as good. Wow.

Hi Decoy, To be honest I do not know what much an RB conversion is worth hence the question, it would assist Ash in figuring out how much the vechicle is worth. Plus I would like to know as well. Anyone have an estimate?