1975 C110 (KHGC110 240K) Build

[blk180]

What did you use to polish the clear plastic i mite have a go at mine.

[Adzmax]

Novus plastic polish. It's really good. My only issue is that it's not course enough for really deep scratches. You could however use something a little more course then work your way back.

http://www.novuspolish.com/

[Mastadd240K]

ToothPaste works a treat on Deeper stuff and Stains from plastic

[uras1]

you can sand plastic with 800 grit and work your way up if needed as well

[Adzmax]

Nice, thanks for the info, I'll check it out. I've got 800-200 at home so might come in handy. I also saw a nice buffing kit form Novus which could be handy.

[uras1]

Also with the clock i think it was still a option to have a clock from factory or the owners just fitted them later. I have a few pics of genuine GTR's with them but im not 100% certain on the strory behind it.

[Adzmax]

Yeah I've noted that also. Maybe an option, oooh fancy :P

[uras1]

are the wheels you have on there 240z ones?

[Adzmax]

Yeah I'm pretty sure they are, the guy that I bought the car from was into Zeds.

I fitted the breather/fuel cap covers yesterday. They look great but the cover for the fuel cap was no where close to fitting so I had to sand it down. Finishes off the covers really nicely. I just need to find a new lock mechanism for the fuel cover as the one I have is missing the key hole cover.

[uras1]

pretty sure i got a spare lock if you want it

[uras1]

o and them caps look mint

[Adzmax]

Man, I'm gonna be in your debt big time haha. Would be awesome if you did though, mine has see MUCH better days. I'm happy to remove if and post back the cap if you like?

Yeah they came up super nice huh.

[uras1]

already removed, has no key though but you will be able to get one cut. will inspect tomorrow for you

[Adzmax]

Thanks again

[Adzmax]

Pulled the glass out over the weekend and the rest of the interior. The windscreen wasn't too bad, it obviously been replaced before because the sealant was still quite soft and workable. I used the heat gun and knife and managed to lift it out pretty easily in one piece, too bad it's chipped and needs to be replaced anyhow. The rear glass was a differennt story, the sealant was seriously hard and they heat gun didn't do much other than set it on fire

My dad came up with the great idea of using his new Makita Mult-tool to cut though the sealant. It cut like a hot knife though butter, I would have been there for hours doing it by hand otherwise. We got the rear glass out with no scratches or cracks, I'm not sure if rear glass can be sourced?





I still have to clean up around the windscreen but both the front and rear seem to be in pretty good shape with only some very minor rust at the rear. On the drivers side there is a few clip mounts missing and some pin holes that will need to be fixed.







The inside looks pretty good too, some minor rust in the rear foot wells where water has sat around the drain holes and some surface on the sides but I'm pretty happy. Next will be the doors, and the dash which will be re-skinned.

[uras1]

keeping blue interior . Lucky on finding not much rust

[Adzmax]

Oh yeah, the blue is just so sexy....

Yeah not much rust so far, but I know it's in the usual spots. I've been digging....just wait, the car has a few surprises in store yet.

[Adzmax]

Being the glutton for punishment I am, and wanting to use as many original parts as possible, I decided to bring in a rust GTR grill I found in Japan. It was a lot cheaper that most I've seen going at around AUD $700 and considering a replica grill is close to AUD $600 I figured it was good value. I knew I was going to have to do some work on it but I wasn't sure just how much. I picked up the grill from Aaron at Import Monster (http://www.importmonster.com.au) last week and took a look at it over the weekend.

It's rusty alright!



The top and back aren't too bad..





But the bottom is worse than I feared and will need to be replaced..





I'm not too fussed, I'll drill the pop rivets, dismantle the entire grill and then send the salvageable parts away for acid dipping and zinc plating. I'll take the bottom piece into a metal fabricator and hopefully they can knock me something up. Fingers crossed!

[khughes]

My grill has some minor rust on it as well (and that cost me over $1k a couple of years back!), the issue for me is finding a similar colour touch up paint, i would rather that than a full respray as the rest is in good original condition.

[Adzmax]

Yeah the paint on this is junk as you can see. It's going to be tough to track down a paint code for this. I do have some really nice pictures though but dunno how much help they'll be. It's not the same paint color as the rear panel is it?

[uras1]

i thought about bidding on it the first time it went on and no one bidded on it but was unsure on how bad the rust actually was. Colour wise i think it's different, really hard to judge by photos though

[Adzmax]

Yeah agreed, I reckon it will come up ok. Might tackle it this weekend. Picked up some more bits from A A Vinney's (http://www.vinneys.com.au) this week. Still waiting on the polishing jobs to come back though, some parts were pretty bad. I got the mirror bases sorted, these go under the guards and hold them on.





I also got the rest of my fuel filler back and the clips that hold the boot and bonnet chrome work on. The clips are somewhat decayed but they were doing a good job before I took them off so I'm sure they'll hold. Also the number plate lights.



Also had some used and NOS parts arrive...



A mint light cover, these are usually cracked and discolored



Some black grab rails for the new black interior



Some NOS switches for the dash



And a NOS gear boot, choke cable and skyline badge for the dash.



And new rubbers for the window divide and bonnet.



I also fitted the Nissan logo to the gauges instead of the clock. Lots of GTR's came with a clock, some didn't. It would appear there many options, right down to the cigarette lighter and switches for lights etc. I've noted some GTR's that don't even have heater/air controls, talk about basic.



I also picked up some power window mechanisms and switches. I'm missing a rear mech though. Not sure if I'll fit these yet or not, could be cool though.

[uras1]

so many cool parts

[uras1]

unsure if you have noticed but some skyline dash badges have the skyline in chrome. Dont know if it's a early/late model thing or what?

[Adzmax]

Yeah the badge isn't new so the chrome is missing, I've got this picture saved too Not quite sure how I'll do this yet.

[uras1]

yeh, would be hard todo. you would have to chrome the whole piece and mask and paint

[Adzmax]

Yuk. It's been done already though haha.

[Adzmax]

I've been stripping more parts off the car, the dash is out and I'm dropping it in for repairs tomorrow. Got a bunch of stuff off being plated, powder coated and all my stainless is off being polished. I don't expect to see the stainless until Jan/Feb at this stage though.

A bunch of parts arrived today too.



New washer bottle



New fuel cap



New indicators



New steering column cover



One part of the door seals



And some new window seals for the stainless trim



I'm trying to track down some replacement weather seals for the stainless trim that sits on the top of the doors and the base of the small rear coupe windows. Not sure where I'm going to find these, any suggestions would be appreciated. I had an e-mail sent off to rubber soul (rubber-soul.net), I'm just waiting to hear back.

[uras1]

i assumed it was you that got all them parts, was keeping a eye on them for weeks haha.

[coupe72001]

I like you've got a pit crew to check out your window seals.

[Adzmax]

Haha yeah he's always sticky beaking!

[Torker Man]

Your attention to detail is EPIC! I admire your quality of work, I just wish I had the drive and patience to replicate this kids of work!!

Well done, and keep it up!
Adam.

[Adzmax]

Thanks

I did some more work on the weekend. I've removed most of the remaining interior now including the roof lining, dash and heater parts. I starting labeling the wiring loom and connectors to make the job much easier when it comes time to reassemble.



I also had some new seals for the doors arrive



and a blanking button for the cigarette lighter



Had some parts come back from powder coating also, the bumper supports and the bonnet latch support





I've had a lot of trouble finding some new rubber seals for the outer window chrome work. I got in contact with Datsport and it turns out they have a guy who can replicate seals. I'm going to send off my old front and rear seals and he'll replicate them and then they'll be able to offer them for sale so stay posted on this! Very cool!

Also went to see a restoration specialist about my body work. I'm pretty sure I'm going to go with him as this stage. I'm hoping to strip out the rest of the car including engine and running gear and build a frame for the chassis similar to this.



Going to be a long wait though, minimum 6 months before I can get the car in but that gives me plenty of time to have the car blasted and primed etc. Oh, and save money for body work!

[uras1]

where did you get the blank from?

[Adzmax]

I found it on Yahoo, they come up from time to time. My lighter is all ****ty so I thought I'd just blank it off. I might add an AC socket in the glovebox or center console instead.

[uras1]

will keep a eye out .

what about a rotisserie style frameto hold the car up.

[Adzmax]

Yeah I dunno mate, I had one and then sold it off when I got rid of the last shell. In hindsight I should have kept it. The place I'm sending the car to has a rotisserie they'll use. I figured it might be cheaper and easier to knock this up?

[uras1]

something like this will be better, can work on engine bay/rear end without bar work getting in the way. done a few cars at work like this and works great
http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/507/p1011156.png/

[Adzmax]

Yeah I dunno man. The guy was pretty specific about having wheels near or at where the cars wheels were for balance etc. I get what you're saying though.

[EuroDat]

WOW, Your attention to detail is bordering some sort of sick disorder, but I like it Dedicated to say the least. This resto is nothing short of Sensational.

[Adzmax]

Haha, thanks. Yeah what can I say, I'm a little OCD

[240k Style]

Nothing wrong with that. Just means you have done it right the first time and wont have to do it again in the future!!!!

[Laggy6]

Keep up the great work!

[Adzmax]

Happy New Year everyone! Bit of an update on the grill. So to recap I bought the grill on Yahoo Japan, from the pictures I could tell it was rusty but thought I could simply dip it, repair and then refinish it. When it arrived it had a lot more rust than I'd bargained for.





As you can see the base and supporting brackets are pretty much dust.





I drilled out the old alloy rivets and disassembled the grill. The mesh and surround are actually stainless so I had this dipped and linished ready for paint. It's not back yet though.





So quite a few parts were well beyond saving. I send the top section away to be dipped and zinc plated with some other stuff. It came back with quite a few small holes where the rust had taken it's toll.



I filled these with lead and then rubbed the surface back flush ready for filling. No doubt once it's filled and primed it will look as good as new.





I had the lower section and brackets remade by a local custom body shop. He did a great job!







Once the mesh comes back I'll rub back all parts including the plastic ends and prep them ready for priming then reassemble ready for paint. Some people are probably wondering why I bothered with this grill instead of buying a fiberglass replica, I just prefer to use as many original parts as possible and enjoy resting these old and broken parts.

[240k Style]

Didn't want to get the top bit remade as well?

New bits look the goods!!

[Adzmax]

The top is a bit more tricky to remake and was salvageable.

[Adzmax]

I had two fuel caps arrive from Japan this week so I pulled them apart to look at the lock mechanism. I wanted to have a key and lock with a key flap and none of the Australian deliverd caps seemed to have one, I just assumed they were missing. On closer inspection it looks like the local caps have no tumblers at all meaning that the lock does nothing, you could open it with a screw driver of knife. The lock barrels are completely different. The design of the caps is also slightly different to accommodation the spring mechanism in the JDM caps. I'm going to mod my cap to fit the JDM lock with key flap.

Some useless info, but still interesting to know.

[Mastadd240K]

But we got an actual cut key with the Australian delivered cars for the cap/flap? so it was more so just for Looks?

[Adzmax]

Yes, my car also has a key. I'm 99% sure that is the case, the barrel has no tumblers. You should be able to test it with a small flat head screw driver. Does yours have a key flap? I'll post some pics tonight.

[Mastadd240K]

yeah i have the key flap on both my cars, but your right neither needed more than anything flat to open it just assumed that it was warn out?

[240k Style]

So the JDM one is the way to go then, since you ACTUALLY need a key to open it?

[Adzmax]

At this stage I'm going to say yes, unless someone can prove otherwise

[Mastadd240K]

thought you would have a brand new Aus one to check against? ^^

[Adzmax]

OK, the difference are pretty easy to see...

[240k Style]

Tumbler wins. Hands down !

[Adzmax]

All done! Talk about a pain in the ass though. The whole barrel had to be modified to accept the cylinder and be able to use the key. The lock system has two groves on the inside for the tumblers to move into as the key is moved in and out. I had to make these in mine along with removing a piece of plastic and cutting a slit at the back so the spring mechanism would fit. Bottom line, if you plan to use a key, start with a Japanese fuel flap!


Japanese


Local

[240k Style]

Top work as usual Adam!!! Might be ordering a JDM one now, that looked like alot of rooting around

[Adzmax]

Don't, I've got 1 here you can use. You'll need to have a key cut but I can't see that being too much trouble.

[240k Style]

Lol I have heaps more stuff to purchase before I get to a fuel filler cap lol. When I get around to it and if no one else wants it ill buy it from you

[uras1]

updates? keen to see what your up to

[Adzmax]

Hmmm....update is dash is away, I just re-did the skyline badge for the dash, a horrible job. still waiting on the grill center back from linishing to reassemble, still waiting on my stainless back, still waiting on my wheel and cluster back. Got some parts back from zinc, and I've pulled the wiper motor off to do.

I've been building a shed out the back of my parents place so that's been taking up car time. The car will move in there then I'll strip the rest down. Kinda in a holding pattern for now.

I'll post pics of all this stuff when I get it back.

[Adzmax]

An update, finally. Did some more work on the interior, I had the remaining blue trim pieces dyed black including the door handles and the roof trim.





They came up pretty nice. While they look ultra shiny in these images, they actually match the door trims quite well.





I also had the dash badge vacuum metalized and the I masked it with blutac and sprayed it black. That was a tough job! It's very tricky to get it looking nice.





The blue dash I removed was in really bad shape. It wasn't until I took it to be repaired that I saw just HOW bad it was, full of bog and spray painted.



I had a pretty nice black dash I purchased a couple of years, it had no cracks but had been slightly damaged.



I called the Dash Doctor to see how he was getting on and he told me that while he could probably fix the blue dash, it was going to be pricey. I ended up having to use the black dash and have it re-trimmed. It wasn't such a bad choice because on closer inspection the black dash was really brittle and would probably have cracked after a while anyhow. The end result is great, he did a fantastic job, the badge fits flush and it also has the factory speaker hole.

[Adzmax]

Duplicate

[240k Style]

Sexy dash Ad. Badge came up great!!

[EuroDat]

Thats a really neat job you have done on the dash. The skyline badge just tops off a perfect job.

[uras1]

so was the dash recovered? badge looks mint, same guy that does your other chrome work?

[Adzmax]

Yes the dash was retrimmed. The badge was vacuum metalized by a place in Dandenong, pretty cheap too. It's not chrome like the other stuff I had done. Only down side is it's not durable like chrome. Ended up ok though.

[uras1]

nice, looks better then new

[Adzmax]

I pulled the old wiper motor off my car to clean up. Seems someone decided that spraying it black with a spray pack was a good idea...





One thing I do like about the old 70's stuff is it's serviceable meaning it can be pulled apart and put back together. I sent the alloy body away to be hydroblasted, the metal away for zinc plating and I cleaned up some of the screws.



A word of advice if you're looking to do the same, the rivets used to hold the bearing in the end of the rotor housing are alloy. When the housing was pickled before plating they dissolved and the bearing assembly fell out. Lukily the strong magnet it the housing held the parts in so they were not lost. If I did this again, I'd drill them out prior to plating.



The bearing was slightly melted and had to be ground out so the rotor would run smooth then I pop riveted the internals back in.





I had to drill out the alloy rivets used to hold the plug in place too, I replaced them with some M3x15 screws with nylon nuts and a pop rivet which worked well.



Anyhow the finished unit came up looking good!







I also picked up a tool kit from which I cleaned up



Got the boot and bonnet latches back from plating also.

[240k Style]

Magnificent as usual mate

[uras1]

thanks for doin all the hard work first haha, now i know what todo

[Adzmax]

That's the idea

[Adzmax]

So it looks like I'm also after a rear left stainless trim piece. I called in this morning to drop in more stuff for plating and he showed me the part stripped of paint, full of bog. It can be fixed, but it's never going to be right.



Anyone got one they want to sell?

[uras1]

might have a spare that was with the other i got you, will check condition.

[Adzmax]

Awesome, let me know. Happy to pay.

[uras1]

found it, will post it sometime this week.

[Adzmax]

Legend. What bits did you need? Horn spring and something else? I'll send them up if you let me know, cheers!

[Adzmax]

Picked up some NOS number plate lamps. The lenses in these things are always dust so I'm pretty happy with this buy!

[uras1]

wow, so lucky to get these.

[Adzmax]

Got my steering wheel back from the upholsters today and it looks great! Pretty much every wheel I see is rusted so I decided to prep the metal and have Troy spray it, this way I never have to worry about rust again. I refitted the horn pad mounts and it's complete.

[240k Style]

Just so nice mate. Well done...should stay nice like that for a VERY long time...i'll be doing it like this me thinks after seeing the results

[e-tek]

wow wow wow. Simply amazing.

[uras1]

looks pretty mint, better on pc then mobile haha

[Adzmax]

Rather than buying new horns I thought I'd strip down and clean up the originals.



I had the cast rears water blasted and rust treated because it was going to be to tricky to remove the internals for dipping. The came up nice though, it was probably the best choice in the end. The gaskets were totally stuffed so I bought some gasket paper and remade them also.





I reassembled then tuned them, they are loud! My hearing was a bit NQR after that haha.



Also got the bonnet stand prop rod back.

[240k Style]

Purdy horns! Great work as usual mate! Came up a treat

[Adzmax]

I spotted some beautiful velocity stacks on Sudou-san’s Hakosuka from Garage Saurus Suro-R at the Nostalgic 2 Day event recently. As soon as I saw them I had to have a set



I had these made up to suit Solex/Mikuni 44's. They are 80mm flared velocity stacks in titanium with heat treated tips. I removed the old studs from the carbs and fixed them with matching titanium hex head bolts. I also had the fuel feeds replated and the brass studs on the manifold hyroblasted as they were not looking the part. Now I'm only waiting on the linkages to come back and they are complete.

[240k Style]

THAT...IS...HOT

I get the must have feeling too

[Flauski]

I would hate to think how much this car has cost you to build so far. So jealous of those stacks!

[uras1]

car porn hands down

[Laggy6]

Those trumpets look rather sexual!

[Adzmax]

So things have been kind of quiet with the car. I popped over to Troy's yesterday and did a bit of work on his Savanna GT. He picked up a NOS bulkhead so the old one and a few other parts had to come off.



While I was over he sprayed my cluster for me which I'd rubbed back ages ago. I attached the alloy cover which I'd stripped back months ago to finish the GTR style cluster. It's not 100% perfect, but it will do until I can find a NOS grill.

Before -



After -





I also finished off my carbs with a few more small bits. I picked up some wing nuts for the jet covers, titanium screws and a new stainless rod for the linkage and I had the rest of the linkage components hydroblasted. The rod is a little long at the moment but I'll sort that out when they are finally mounted.



Before -



After -

[uras1]

love them carbs, cluster surround looks great as well

[240k Style]

Oh those carbs....... Mmmmmm

[uras1]

did you pull every part off the horns?

[EuroDat]

It's not 100% perfect, but it will do until I can find a NOS grill.

Man, like wtf is wrong with it. For us mere mortals its like 110%

If I only had the time, patience and the dedication you have? Looks great like everything else you have done in this thread.

[Adzmax]

Regarding the horns, I left the guts in there and let me tell you, I had a hard time retuning them, it's quite fiddly. I had the backs blasted and zinc plated the rest.

With the cluster, the light is kind in this image. There are some minor dents, I manager to roll them out a little since but it's still not perfect. It does add some character though.

[uras1]

just re read your earlier post and I understand now

[Adzmax]

So you may remember this POS from January....



I finally did some more work on it recently. After I'd finished lead filling the holes in my original centre piece I had to grind back the filling and prep the metal for epoxy primer. The outside came up nice but the inside (which is visible when the bonnet is open) is really pitted. I used filler to level the surface off so it will come up nice once it's painted. You can see the pits in the images.





The plastic end peices were looking pretty shabby also. They had to be rubbed back in prep for priming also.



It turns out that under all that grime, rust and black paint that there was some original colour under there which was great as it gave us a chance to colour match the paint. Hiro, one of Troy's painters mixed up some colour for me ready for paint.



Troy painted up all the pieces for me ready for reassembly and now I'm ready to go, just need some time to sit down and work out how to put it all back together

[Adzmax]

I also picked up some other gems.



Some OEM S20/GTR turnbuckles which I think look better than the plastic end type



and some NOS scuff plates from a guy in QLD for a crazy cheap price!

[uras1]

envy of your part collection