But a project is never done 😉
I just realized I never posted pics of the car all back together and back on the road. So here come a massive pic dump.
I finished the complete project in just over 12 months and got the car back on the road and registered in October 2021, just before hibernation. Since then I managed to drive 1000miles with no real issues.
Even though the progress was slower during summer and holiday season, I’m super happy to report that I’ve driven the first 5km to test everything. The carbs need a bit of tweaking, the brakes need a proper bleeding and some other minor stuff. But I’m super happy of where it’s at. Exactly 1 year and 23 days after I started disassembling the car. 1 year and 23 days to do a complete nut&bolt resto myself (except body work). Every part, nut and bolt on this car was either cleaned, painted, coated, renewed, changed, modified,…
So here are a few pics of the last months in chronological order:
Another motivation milestone: the engine is in. Just the engine, no ancillaries, no gearbox, no…
Just needed to see it in there. Stay tuned for the June recap soon…
The shell was transported to a specialized media blasting company to remove all the layers of old paint, bondo, under sealing,… Nothing better than bare metal to start building a “new” car.
After I went to see and inspect it, the naked shell was then transported shortly after back to the resto shop where they instantly put in epoxy primer to prevent any oxidation while the works have to be done. All in all we found a few bad repair jobs, some minor rust spots,… Nothing major and nothing shocking. The guys at the resto shop are quite satisfied with what they have to work with.
While the shell is out, there is plenty of space to start organizing and refurbishing parts. Some parts went of to powdercoating, other stuff will be sandblasted and painted/coated by myself. But where to start? It isn’t easy when you have all the elements on the shelves, floor, hanging from the roof,… So I picked the most random part I could think of. The interior blower fan.
After the start was made I wrote a list of elements that needed to be refurbished, what parts needed to be ordered, what parts I wanted to have a makeover. So now, everytime I go to the garage I just choose a task and get work done. As there is so much different things to chose from, I can match the work to my mood 😉
Before tearing the car completely apart sometime next year, I’m trying to repair, retrofit, modify, optimize a few things.
As the car wasn’t that nice to drive, so first thing was to remove the cut springs and replace them by some new ones of the same brand. Of course it now looks to high, imho, but it drives way better. Cut springs had no preload at all, and no real travel, as the slightest compression would let it sit on it’s bumpstopts.
I also removed the slightly worn steering wheel and fitted my Nardi ‘deep’ wich I had laying around. I’m not sure what steering wheel I’ll mount after the resto.
Ordered and mounted some Ramair filters for the DCOEs and repaired the water temp.
I sourced a non series 1 driveshaft, moustache bar and rear transverse link. This is all thats needed to change the rear drivetrain to the later geometry. While at it I also changed the diff support for a hangingt RT diffmount. No more straps or rubber bumbers for Tosbo.
In my quest to optimize the driving sensation a bit more, the car needed a rear swaybar. As it hadn’t any at all. I ordered a complete ST suspensions swaybar set from the US.
And I played with wheels, a lot 😉 Work, Rotas, Konig and JBW
Removed the bumperettes.
Oh, and I enjoyed it a lot.
Now I’m waiting for some camber tops for the front axle and the car definately needs an upgrade in the seat department!
Big news, I acquired a second Datsun 240Z. At the end I couldn’t resist any longer and had to buy this yellow beauty from my best mate!
So a few months ago my mate Yves decided to sell it, what a bad decision 😉 I hesitated to long, and it was pretty much sold, but I’ve been given a second chance and now it’s mine. Couldn’t be any happier.
1970 series 1 240Z, originally in universal blue, but refinished 30+ years ago in yellow.
Cool story bro: Back in 2004 (or was it 2005) this particular car was my first real encounter with a 240Z. I knew since circa 2003 that I would love to own one, but as they aren’t really common here in Europe this yellow and a purple one which was parked just next to it where the first S30 I really laid my eyes on. Even took 3 picture of it back then, so here is one of them.
And yes it’s 100% the same car my best buddy bought about 13-14 years later.
I’ll drive it ‘as is’ for at least this summer, which gives me time to establish a plan for it’s ‘nut&bolt’ resto.
As my blue 240Z now has Work Equip wheels I instantly mounted my 14″ wheels:
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