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240Z: A rare Datsun Suisse parts & Documents lot
A good friend of mine just recently sent me this photo and said i need to visit him ASAP, he got hands on some cool stuff. Who i am to turn such an offer down? Especially the boxes, martketing material and stuff made me a bit curious. it’s not usually stuff to be found at dealerships or at collectors, but only at the Import Company Datsun Suisse SA, back in the days. And that’s exactly where these parts come from. A former employee of DSSA took home random stuff which they wanted to scrap at some point, due to lack of space or some other cleanup. He stored the parts…
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EK9: GoldMook & MotorFan EK9 TypeR Knowledge Magazines
So, recently i acquired a set of Japanese “Mooks” (Magazine books) about the EK9. They’re both of the prefacelift model evolution, since i wasn’t able to find later versions. I think they didn’t produce a lot of “facelift” magazines, since they changes were mostly cosmetic. The first one is the “GoldMook GT-Series No.3”. It includes a full reprint of the original pre-facelift EK9 brochure in the centerfold: But also design sketches of the EK9 rear wing by Chief design Akira Shimoyama Of Honda’s design studio C, responsible for the EK9 and others: You’ll find a lot of information from the lead engineers of the EK9’s various parts like suspension: Engine,…
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OTHER: The Honda Dealer sign restauration, pt. 2
So, after we left in Part one here, it’s time to finish the work up. After the cleaning, i realized that parts of the sign were a bit dull, so i thought i’d give it a gentle manual polish. Before: Some manual towel polish: Worked out pretty well. Not perfect, but also without looking too worn: Then it was time for the LED retrofit. I decided to remove the old FL-tube inverters, because honestly they looked toast. And out with all the brittle tube mounts, stiff wires, rusty and heavy inverters and the “hot glue” installation and the starters: Here we are with a fully empty canvas: And here’s what…
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240Z: Rare early two-button Rallye Clock scored!
Today i managed to find something nice and rare. Something i have been looking for for quite a while and recently one popped up for sale: An original Nissan “two-button” Rallye clock including the oscillator box in excellent shape: It consists of a the clock itself including the wires and two buttons. On many used items for sale online the two buttons on the stalks are missing, but this one is completey as it left the factory: And the adjustable oscillator box:, which sets the clock signal for the clock. also note the “up” marking on the box: A while ago i got this aftermarket oscillator box From japan on…
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OTHER: The Honda Dealer sign restauration, pt. 1
A few days ago i picked up this Nice old Honda dealer sign without any big plans. I thought to give it a quick wash and hang it somewhere nice on the wall. As usual, the project quickly escalated in a full “restauration”. First i thought i’d take out the Plastic signage covers from the frame, to see the inside, just because i wanted to know how the frame was intended to be attached to the wall, and because i was curious how such a sign generally is constructed. Well, turns out the sign once was lit up inside with not less than 5 FL tubes, despite the fact that…
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ATENZA: Mazda Japan 1/64 Diecast car
When i was at the Tokyo Auto Salon in 2016, the Mazda booth had some of the most iconic demo cars of the recent years, like this one here: I also took some brochures from their booth but filed them and completely forgot about them until when i recently sorted through my documents. I realized that i had a pretty cool “Mazda Goods collection” brochure with all fancy japanese Mazda goodies inside. which you can buy at a special Mazda shop or order via the dealerships or online. Those goods are normally not available outside of Japan. I realized that they had a 1/64 miniature version of my actual daily…
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240Z KNOWLEDGE: The S30 Steering system and options post
Time for another geeky deep-dive into a not-so-common Datsun 240Z / Nissan Fairlady Z (S30) technical topic: The original steering system. Disclaimer: As usual with my knowledge posts, i put this together over the course of years, spent countless hours on this, bought rare factory documents and literature for reference and tried my very best to get all information from trustworthy and official sources. But still i cannot guarantee that all information is 100% correct. Sometimes not even the official factory documentation is really clear. Let me know if you found a fault. Also please ask before you use any of this! As with all my knowledge posts, i update…
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EK9: Honda Dealer sign & Workshop manuals
Today i made a great deal. After getting my Datsun Dealer sign for my workshop, i thought it would be nice to get one from Honda for the Civic too, but really didn’t want to spend a fortune. I put a Search advert online and then forgot about it. A few weeks later, while looking for something else on the website, i realized that some guy had just answered me the day before and said he had an original Honda Dealer sign. A few messages back and forth and today i was able to pick up the sign an hour away from my home: It is a bit rough around…
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ATENZA: LED Bulbs & other OEM options installation
A while ago, i bought a few factory optional / accessory parts from Mazda for my Mazda 6 / Atenza Station wagon. Today i finally found the time to complete the installation. 1) Let’s start with the simple stuff. the retractable USB-C phone charging cable. Before: And after: It’s really just swapping a cable, but i like the retractable style of the new one, you can neatly store it in the (also optional) storage bin in the center console: 2) The Parcel net: It requires you to cut a (premarked) hole in the (also optional ) trunk rubber mat: To get access to the parcel net hooks which are behind.…
