I guess "anything Man can make, Man can fix".

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1970 240Z

Being a devoted car owner is just like being a parent. A real novelty at the beginning, with new learning experiences that we eventually get pretty good at coping with. Hiccups, diapers, leaks and cleaning up. There are issues that are part of being gifted with our bundles of joy. We travel the years together, learning from each other, sharing both the memorable and not-so-memorable. Show events, achievements, awards and losses. Then one day something changes and our parenting roles are no longer needed. Our wards move away to locations which are no longer under our supervision. We must now let go of our control over any future events and take on the role of a spectator instead of a participant. Now, just the knowledge of the (future) awards, achievements, progress, or advancements will put back those smiles on our face. We don't have a choice and must move on with our lives.

I admire how calm and how supportive you are with the car's resurrection.

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1985 300ZX- GLL Dark Pewter Metallic - Survivor

Thanks Howard. That's an insightful and accurate analogy.

I appreciate your admiration. I think what helps is that I didn't come to the decision to let it go quickly. It happened over a couple years and through a series of life events. The hardest part of selling her ultimately was not knowing what kind of home I was sending her off to. I hoped I had found someone who would care for the car as I had, and fix it up properly (and ideally tastefully). I think things have worked out well in that regard, the new owner is a great guy and I have no doubts that my old Z ended up right where it should have.

Jay

Boy, having raised and released kids into the wild and devoted years to a Z only to let it go (and get it back) I can tell your words come from true experience, Howie.
You really are a lot smarter than you look.

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1970 240Z

Frank. I haven't quite figured out how I can make myself "look" as smart as I supposedly am.

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1985 300ZX- GLL Dark Pewter Metallic - Survivor

Tomorrow will be a week since the last update. I'm anxiously waiting for some new pictures of progress and I'm curious how far they've gotten over the past few days.

Since I don't have new pictures to share, I figured I'd share some of the things I've been thinking about with this rebuild project on my old car. I haven't asked the owner anything about his goals for this build, or what he has planned. I don't know how crazy he plans on going in terms of restoration or customization.

I know the color that is planned only because he told me what color he wanted to run with, and needed advice on which shade of that color to select, which I enjoyed being a part of. I did advise him to have just a small amount mixed and sprayed on a "test" panel first to be sure he likes it, but I feel confident it's the right choice. It's actually one of my favorite colors on a Z, and is a bold one. I also know which wheels he's selected and I think they are a great choice as well.

Based on what I see in the bodywork photos we have here I notice the side marker light holes have remained, as well as the emblem holes. So I'm assuming he plans to keep those. I like that approach as I think both items add to the character of the car. This has me thinking that the goal is probably a subtle and clean, mildly custom body rather than a very custom approach. I assume this means the bumpers will remain, or be changed for chrome/painted ones without mouldings, or some variation of that. Apparently he's not shaving the bumpers though, which again is in line with my tastes....so I'm enjoying that aspect of this.

The plating on the emblems was in bad shape. Very pitted, and in some cases flaking right off. I'm assuming he will have these refinished, or just replace them. We'll see. Also the rear bumper got smashed but really wasn't in great shape anyway. The front bumper actually was nice but had some chrome spots missing (like chips in paint). 260z bumper moulding is super hard to find, but so are full quarter panels and he managed to track one of those down. I'm curious what will happen with the bumpers. Stock ones or something stock looking, or maybe something custom. Time will tell.

Lastly, knowing this will be a dramatic color change, I'm also wondering what will be done in the engine bay. It's painted silver currently, and of course would be a large undertaking to change the color on. He seems like a guy who would want it all to match but maybe he'll surprise me.

Will we see a full paint job under the hood? I don't know. Maybe we will see something different like rhino lining or textured paint, or just rattle can flat black. Again time will tell.

Have I missed anything? Any ideas what might happen with some of these things?

Jay

The early Z electrical systems were always a soft target for gremlins, especially in the 240 series. Their haste and lack of foresight (and trying to keep the car under $4,000) caused nearly continuous upgrades over the years, and sometimes literally within the same 'production year' (Datsun didn't think in those terms; that's my offering to demonstrate what I mean). Electrical components are seldom interchangeable btwn 240Zs of other months or years.

Over the decades since the S30 production ceased, great advances have been made in electrical upgrades for these cars. In plain fact, there are more improvement options available today than were ever available while the cars were still being sold.

Entire NEW MANUFACTURE electrical looms can be had for cheap, and hot-spot fuse boxes can be replaced by cool temp relays. Better quality wiring and insulation make the cars at least twice as reliable and short-free as they were when showroom new.

My personal recommendation would be to replace the entire electrical and ignition wiring if he has to pull the engine out to paint the bay, anyway.

Also, if your car somehow escaped the factory without A/C, it would be the perfect opportunity to install one while they had unlimited access to the passenger side firewall. Smaller and stronger A/C units are available today which neatly replace the old "boat anchor" compressors of the 1970s. Battery box should be scrubbed and protected as well.

Who's doing this work?

Frank

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1970 240Z

Don't know who actually.

Upgraded wiring would certainly improve the car, that's a great point. After I finally began driving mine I noticed that it could have benefited greatly from relayed headlight wiring, as well as a stronger alternator. If I spent time driving at night more often I'd have done that actually, but for daytime driving I didn't have trouble. You make a good point though, the electrical system is frail and would certainly be worth upgrading to a more modern setup. The switches would have less current through them with properly relayed circuits, the lights would be brighter too. The starter should be on a relay as well.

My old car is a non AC car too btw. If the engine comes out I'll mention it to him.

Jay

["...The switches would have less current through them with properly relayed circuits..."]

There is probably no better example of that statement than the early 240z 4-way switch. Probably every possible electrical circuit runs thru that poor switch somehow. If you viewed an electrical diagram of the 4-way switch you would think you were viewing a WWII German railroad terminal thru a bombsight. Maybe the 260 and 280 did a better job of it, but the 240 series ALL made the 4-way switch a meeting point for all electrons.

Same-same for the early headlamp Multi-Switch. That also has just too much juice flowing thru it than it needs. MSA makes a great 2-circuit breaker unit which relieves a whole waterfall of current thru the headlamp switch.

I can no longer attest to how much of this applies to the unique 260. I once owned one of the ultra-rare 260Z shop manuals which had all that great info in it, but I sent it to a friend.

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1970 240Z

I believe your friend still has it.

I don't believe the 260 or 280 did much better, they certainly didn't relay the circuits.....so the full draw was still being pulled directly through the switches. Had the switches been wired up to simply trigger a relay, the draw would be reduced significantly as it takes very little to actuate a relay. The current would then be directed through the relay instead of the switch.

I have read about the 240z fuse box melting issues though, which I believe MSA sells a kit for too? I haven't heard of that being an issue in a 260z. (Take that with a grain of salt). It seems like it was improved upon somewhat.

Jay

When I first got my 240 rebuilt both John Taddonio and Vinni Bedini warned me to replace the old glass tube fuse box with a new MSA bayonet blade fuse box as quickly as I could. I assured them both I would, but didn't.

One night less than a mile from my home the whole thing melted, leaving me with only the ignition circuit and not a single electron flowing anywhere else. I limped home and had Vinny bring me an MSA fuse box and a complete wiring harness with relays.
Lesson learned. Listen to the big dogs.

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1970 240Z

So you know first hand about the electrical hazards. I'm glad it didn't set fire to the whole car, probably could have. Yikes!

So you replaced the entire wiring harness in the car then, and added relays? Did you do that yourself or did Vinny carry out the upgrade? I imagine the peace of mind with that upgrade is hard to describe. Worth every penny I'm sure.

Jay

Vinny actually performed the manual labor under my very eyes. A successful friend once told me, "It's better to have someone to sue than to botch it yourself"

It took an hour (with conversation) to install the plug-and-play loom and relays, and another hour for the fusebox. Everything forward of the firewall is now on two relay boxes mounted on the passenger side wheel well. All wiring tucked neatly up into the loom cradles and looks like factory. For a few days afterward the headlamps were reluctant to turn on at switch command, sometimes taking long moments to activate. I drove the car to Vinny and he did "something" which gives me instantaneous headlamp response to the multi-switch so I can actually "Zig" at oncoming Z cars. It has worked as advertiZed ever since (years now).

Also, the tach stopped working when I replaced the points ignition with Pertronix, until Bryan Little told me I needed a small resistor inline with the primary circuit. That has worked ever since too, as accurately as the old cookie-stamped Datsun tachs ever were.

Probably none of this applies to your 260 because Datsun was constantly making improvements to the Z electrical systems and the 260, as much as it had in common with the 240, was really a very more-advanced and refined car.

I am dedicated to the "Series-1" 240s (and to mine especially), but my hat's off to the 260 because it is unique among the American Z experience and has features which it's older and younger brothers never shared. It really was the best of both worlds, had an excellent engine and, considering our very limited single-year production access to it, could eventually become even more valuable than it's brothers. Long after my own shelf-life has expired, I can easily picture a 2+2 automatic, airconditioned, fuel injected 260 being the very final remaining old Datsun Z car left on planet earth. They were considered sporty family cars so they hardly ever got modified or hot-rodded or driven insanely, were stout enough to sustain and survive dramatic abuse (yours is a sterling example) and they were decidedly more reliable than the others. The 2+2 was actually more aerodynamically perfect than the early S30s (but ugly); Bob Sharp surprised himself and everyone else when his one-year 2+2 260 race car beat his best times around his Lime Rock home track.

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1970 240Z

I'm always learning new things about Z's here Frank. I did not know Bob Sharp ever raced a 2+2, and would never have believed he'd set a good time with it. That's surprising to me.

I really love the series one cars too. They represent the original concept, the lightest and purest form of the S30 chassis cars. They are unique and are responsible for starting the Z craze that still persists today, 50 years later! Any 1st gen Z car is appealing to me though, in 2 seat form with manual transmission of course.

2 hours to convert the fuse box and wiring........that's a no brainer. Every car should have that done.

Jay

The headlight relay kit and upgraded fuse box from MSA was THEE BEST upgrade I did on my Z. It was a simple install and I was impressed by the design of the relay kit which earned it a "plug and play" title in my book. I too had the same melt down experience.

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John Kish
1971 240Z - original owner