I have a new favorite tool of metal destruction, but more on that later
1) Started with cleaning the “Elephant” oil filler cap today:
- Tools of choice: old toothbrush, acetone and the oil filler cap:

got inspired by inzane’s blog, probably i’ll highlight the textures too (like he did). kinda like it. but here’s the result for now – really like it! and the o-ring looks good, so no replacement needed

2) now back to my new favorite metal tool..
- this is how the taillight-cutouts looked about an hour ago – still a lot of “wrong” metal there from the attempt to add different taillights (some corvette kind of…), which some of the previous owners did..

now here’s my new favorite tool: FIBER DISKS so much fun and so fast to work with:

and here’s how the taillights looked after i used the disks:

Still needs much sanding and detailing to get it perfect, but at least i don’t have too much “wrong” metal there now and no sharp edges. great

also oredered some tools and stuff from around the world again, hope they arrive here soon

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