1) Im still busy planning and ordering a lot of stuff, so no progress at the car itself. anyway, was looking for a few “rare” parts for the datsun and figured out i alleady have a “sought after” part on my Zed: the genuine “Elephant” oil filler cap:

actually i got that feel it isn’t too rare, there are several similar caps for sale on ebay, pretty cheap. anyway, it was a kind of limited item so i’ll clean it up and re-use it. specially like the japanese lettering

2) after reading about THIS Hakosuka on speedhunters i was curious about the watanabe steering wheel. checked the 2009 watanabe catalogue, but no steering wheel for sale. a bit investagation and i found ot it’s discontinued, rare as hell, and usually expensive:

I found one for sale, but really expensive.. i’ll think about it tonight, but i believe i need this

the other possible steering wheel could be a vintage nismo one. a guy on Yahoo auctions is selling about 15 of these, but sadly all without horn button and all need some new leathering:

They’re cool and rare too, but somehow i feel like the look more 80ies than 70ties. fits probably more into an R31 skyline or something boxy..

these would be a fitting horn button:

Also found this cool one, but somehow it doesn’t look OEM:

So what do you guys think? what should i go for? rare or ultra-rare?

Today we had some nice (but cold) weather, and it has been a while since i spent som time at the garage. You all know saturdays are made exactly for this, so i had to

1) The powder-coating guys missed to poweder a few hard-to-reach points on those parts so i decided to clean those parts and paint them before rust gets them:
Before:

After:

2) I decided to test my new Stone-tumbler, so i had to assamble it first:

installed and “rattling”:

My first attempt with walnut-shells and a few test-screws:

Actually the result sucks because after reading the manual i figured out i’d also need a special sanding-lube (or whatever it’s called in english) some brush-paste or something like that. allready ordered a package…

3) Now i have the taillights so it’s time to get them fitted and that ugly old different-taillight-installation stuff removed: (me at work )

that’s how the “Holes” loooked afterwards, still need a lot of detailing and work to look OEM:

But yeah, the taillights fit through the holes  now:

And looks even better with the surrounding plates installed:

Thats it for today, hope to get updates on more regular basis soon again…

Yeah, you remember i tried to get those OEM screws cleaned from rust and old paint and stuff? nothing really worked, so i followed your inputs and bought myself a cheap stone-tumbler from ebay with some walnut-shell grain
hope this works. the walnut-shell’s came for free with the tumbler, so if this won’t work i might use some more specific stuff for cleaning metal. have to try it soon

yeah the project has been a bit on hold during christmas holidays, but it seems to get better now got some parts today:

Yepp – a full NOS Set of brand new Nissan Fender mirrors. they where sold as C10 skyline mirrors but i think they come from a 510 Datsun.
Now you might wonder why i bought these?
The thing is genuine 240Z / Fairlady mirrors are hard to find or very expsensive, and these are exactly the same with only one difference, the mirror-base has a different length:

So when i found these on yahoo auctions japan for 75$ (complete set) i decided it’s best to get these and interchange the bases. because i definitly want the taller genuine fairlady bases. it’s those details that make a restoration perfect
I’m really happy now, got all the installation hardware, complete new mirror including the convex mirror glasses, new rubber seals, etc. and they really look sexy

Just a little update: the Brake fluid paint removal trick doesn’t work. soaked stuff over night, but after brushing about 15minutes paint still was there. i think i need something more agressive and wonder why i ever thought this will work great