Good news. The Z project is back! Well it was never gone and i’ve been continuously working on it, but due to an management education i had on the weekend for the past two years, a big step forward in my job and many other things in life, the project was progressing much slower than i wished. But i’m a guy to make long-term plans and i’ve always had the plan to get things done when life allows me to. So here we are. My school is completed. Well i still have my exams in mid april so i’m working hard on that, but until then that and my job…

When i got my “west germany” Spec turn signals last week, i went through my own parts to compare them, and realized i have everything ready to assemble a nice pair of restored ones. A perfect task for a saturday morning. so i got everything ready and started the project: From the three complete sets i have, i realize only one of the amber lenses was still without cracks: What a difference a little cleanup in warm soap water makes: Then i cleaned the rubberpieces and chrome trim with a bit of warm water too and had the rubber seals greased up with a bit of petroleum grease (Vaseline) and…

Today i got an odd little NOS piece set in my mailbox. I found these turn signals a while ago in Germany. When i checked the part numbers, i realized the European Microfiches say it’s a “West germany” Spec part. 1x Left side 26165-N3600 and 1x right side 26160-N3600. This made me even more curious, so i got them. I’m not sure why they’re different. Must probably have been some local law or regulation (Similar to the french taillights), which required different blinkers. Here is a comparison of three different types. Left: West germany”.  It has a tilted rubber piece, for a more angled turn signal, and a long tail…

This is the fifth part of a multi-post series about the (hi)story of Datsun, Prince and Nissan in switzerland.  Check out the other parts HERE. In this post we take a deep look at the Datsun Suisse headquarter in Urdorf and how they were organized. Where did the new cars come from? Where were the spare parts stored? How did they operate? That’s what we answer here and i’ve got plenty of rare photos and internal documents to prove it all… 1. The Location. In April 1972 DSSA relocated from the former Location in Zürich (see part 3) to the new and bespoke built Headquarter in Urdorf , A quick…

This is the fourth part of a multi-post series about the (hi)story of Datsun, Prince and Nissan in switzerland. Check out the other parts HERE In this part of the story, we’re having a closer look at the inside of Datsun (Suisse) SA, starting from 1978 until it became the Nissan it is known today. The times between 1978 and the early nineties were quite a bit hectic and sometimes hilariously comical to say the least, but lets dive straight into it where part three ended. 1. The unfriendly british takeover, Octav Botnar & Silvio Cereghetti In the late 1977, a certain Mr. Octav O. Botnar, a german with romanian…

Today i had my Datsun-Mate Dan over for a visit and as usual we exchanged a few documents and things that we’ve collected for each other over the last few months. today i got some nice things from him: First of all a few early swiss Datsun pricelists, including the ones which were missing in my collection. Like one of the very first ones from 1968! Now i’m finally ble to put the complete series of pricelists from 1968 to 1979 online! Then i’ve got a bit of a curiosity: a Datsun branded Padlock. I first thought it was a random engraved lock like you can buy it at many…

Recently i ran into a NOS lot for sale again. Turns out a still active Nissan dealership in germany is cleaning out his parts warehouse and wanted to get rid of all the old parts without any stock movement. Well, i signed up for the whole package and got the deal. It were not exactly many parts, but some really nice scores and some parts are not very common to find NOS. I checked the partnumbers beforehand and all of them are definitely S30 parts. but not all might be correct for my 240Z. Nevertheless, i got a good package deal, so i took all of them. The first one…

The big Sea-freight shipment from Japan, which arrived last week and constisted mainly Honda Parts, also included something nice for the Datsun Project. A set of Seats: Seats? Why more seats? Longtime readers might know i spent quite some time and money on finding “vintage” japanese seats – and i ended up buying Bride histrix seats. I really like them, but they never really looked that oldschool. They’re new seats with a vintage touch. So when i found a set of genuine japanese Autolook type B Seats for sale recently i had to get them. And personally i think they fit the car perfect, At least for my “Japanese street…

I recently collected a few different Carb insulator setups. mainly  just because i first got the wrong ones, and then some more 🙂 Left to right. Original Datsun PHH44, but for the U-series (Fairlady) Engine, PHH44 L-series replica, PHH40 (L-series) Replica: The main difference between the U and L-shaped items are a slight offset in the stud position (see left) What also came in one of those deliveries was a set of NOS rocker arms. Not sure if i will need them, but as you know i can’t resist whenever NOS parts get offered: So my “fun” Motor intake side setup is nearing completion. I meanwhile have enough parts to…