Well it’s  holiday season. First i was away for two weeks enjoying the sea, now my bodyshop us running on low flame, so the recent progress is a bit slow. Also because they have to finish another nice project for another customer first. Here’s what happened in the last few weeks. The inner wheel tub has been repaired on the inside and outside visible part, as well as  LH inside trunk area which my previos bodyshop messed up a bit. The rusty swiss-cheese bit which you still see is the part from the rear quarter, which will be replaceed completely with the NOS piece in my posession soon. The main…

It has been a while since i got something new to read, related to the Z(X) topic. but a few days ago i found not-so-well advertized 280ZX Book for sale. The pictures didn’t give a lot of information about the book, but one photograph showed a Rallye 240Z and it was super cheap. That was enough to start my interested and buy it. And this is what i got today: It’s an english book about the 280ZX from 1978. A mix of brochure, Catalogue and information about the 280ZX. It shows how it was developed: But also how it is being built, tested and so on: It also doesn’t forget…

Soo. time for another update from the bodyshop. After the floor pans got prepared and made sure that everything fits: They got welded in and attached to the frame rails: Next then was the inner rocker panel: Along with the rear rocker extension the seatbelt mount and seat rails: And the rear section of the floor pansl. Looks really need. and completely differnt to the RH side, where we used the older type of floor pans and lots of homemade panels. What is missing now is the little factory reinforcement piece (see previous post from the bodyshop). and the outer rocker panel. there we currently have a little fitment problem…

So, i thought i’d pay the bodyshop another visit. i was a bit suprized to see the car looked more or less the same than last time on the first glance. But upon closer inspection i realized they have worked on a lot of details. They finished the welding of the front area. added some threads where they were missing on this version of the parts i had (some have minor differences to my original ones, since they might come from a different year version, despite being factory parts). Also the firewall area behind the pedals was completed. The floor pan and seat mounts were removed and the inner side…

Sooo, i’m thrilled to bring you finally a *drumroll* update from the Bodyshop! After 1,5 weeks i thought it’s about time to give them a visit and see if they made any progress. I didn’t get a lot of updates so i was a bit worried if anything had been done. But turns out they rather focus on working than sending me messages. When i arrived the guys were working in full swing: After thinking about only replacing the rotten parts, they quickly realized it makes more sense to replace the whole panels, since i had those completely NOS items on hand. Like the air channel Or the frame rails:…

Today i got an Exedy (Daikin Clutch, Japan) OE replacement Clutch kit delivery, which i ordered a few days ago: You may ask why, when i have most of the original clutch Parts in NOS condition or so? First of all they seem lighter (i still have to compare them), secondly they come with all the installtion tools required (centering tool, bearing, grease, etc) and last, i just thought the materials used might be a tad more modern and advanced, and maybe less harmfull then the ones used in the original 70ies production clutch. Since you won’t notice anything from the outside, i thougth this is a good upgrade and…

So today another bunch of parts arrived: First a bunch of goodies from Sean over at datsun-zstory.com in France. A Bronze upgrade worm gear for the oil pump: Something similar has been on sale by Nissan (in this catalogue they state it’s brass, but in some others, they mention it’s bronze too). Here’s a phote of the japanese Nissan “Race & Rallye Preparation manual” showing the “Spindle Oil Pump drive” and mentions the improved durability using this, and that it comes from an “old Cedric”. If i get the translation right, this was used previously as a standard Oil pump gearing in an early Nissan Cedric car. Interesting. And a…

A few weeks ago i saw a set of 240Z factory seats for sale locally. I put a bid on them because i thought they’re in better condition then the ones i had, or i could use them as parts donors or sell them again if not needed. I didn’t expect to win the auction but well i did.. so today i went to pick them up from a nice bloke: The seats are used, but generally in nice condition. Perfect for a refurbish: I asked the seller if he maybe had some more parts, and he said he sold his Z approx 20 years ago and is cleaning out…

Today i have some very good news, some not so good ones and then some good ones again. The very good news: The bodyshop started working on the car in full force. And they seem way more professional than the previos one. Not that he was really bad or so, but you see those guys have a different approach of working. Before they even plugged in the welder, they decided to measure through the entire chassis and compare them to the original drawings and check if everything is straight. And now the bad news. It seems it’s not. According to them, it once got a hit front left, and the…