Customer Reviews

How to Restore Your Datsun Z-Car

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I saw this book long before I bought it, and after buying it, I was very sorry I took so long to get it! It covers most every aspect of the full restoration of this beloved car. From the frame-up or a little at a time. This book has the info you need, and more. The info inside can not be purchased, borrowed, or stolen for a better price! Alone, this book is not enough, but it's a great way to get the spark ignited. (No single book could possibly have everything, I know, I have bought almost all of 'em.)

This book is great, it takes you through almost all of the steps that you need to completely restore your car, but on a lot of things it merely mentions them and doesn't really tell you a lot about what your supposed to do. What I did was I bought this book and a haynes automotive repair manual(or Chilton's) and I used that for the more technical stuff. This book has 20-30 pages of exploded views of various areas on the cars and also has a list of retailers that sell parts and/or services for the z series. If your trying to restore your car get this book.

How to Restore your Datsun Z-Car is the most complete manual on Z restoration available on the market today. It throughly covers every aspect of the project, from the intial cleaning and disassemly through the final touches to bring your car back to "better than orginal" condition. Chapters include: Engine & Transmission, Body Repair, Interior Trim, Suspension and Brakes, and Electrical Components and Wiring.

The detailed text is accompanied by numerous clear black and white photos that can serve as reference for your own work. The book is peppered with tips to assure that your project goes smoothly and you avoid the common pitfalls of a restoration.

In addition to the fine restoration information Humble includes technical bulletins on various models, Z-Car identification codes, and over 30 pages of illustrations from the original Datsun parts manauls.

Whether you intend to simply give your Z-Car a light going over to bring back its youth or to perfo! rm a "frame-up" restoration you should not begin the job without this book!

This book gave an excellent overview of how to restore your z car and a lot of interesting bacground stuff. But was technically weak. I still found myself going to the repair manuals for many things.

This book gave an excellent overview of how to restore your z car and a lot of interesting bacground stuff. But was technically weak. I still found myself going to the repair manuals for many things.

This book is a necessity for those restoring their Z. Very useful.

Other reviewers have raved about this book. I bought it hoping to fill some of the gaps the Field Service Manual. Well, maybe because I'm not doing a full restoration and I have a 280Z rather than a 240, but I found the content and level of detail to be uneven and not necessarily relevant. Some topics were covered in excruciating detail while others were skipped over.
Some random examples:
All the pictures and most of the diagrams in the book were 240Z specific: e.g detailed diagrams of the engine, emission system and fuel delivery system. Nothing for the 280.
Dash removal covers an entire chapter but there's nothing about simple clock replacement.
The section on power antenna replacement was useless. The trickiest part: accessing the antenna by removing the interior trim panel (which involves removing three other panels and a hatch strut) was covered in a single sentence while rebuilding the old antenna (new ones are about thirty bucks) took 2 pages. A full page of instructions and tips was devoted to washing seatbelts.

Still, it's an entertaining and sometimes informative read. For real solutions though it doesn't replace the web forums.

This book is great if you have an early Z car and need some pointers on how to restore/refresh your Z. A good mechanic would figure a lot of this out by using the factory repair manual, however there are tips and tricks here that the author gives you based on his hands-on tear down and rebuild that will save you time, money and effort in your pursuit of the perfect Z car. Some of the info is outdated but that's to be expected with anything in print. Updates on his info can always be found with a Google search.

This book looks good and has a lot of information, but many of the photos are old and difficult to see what is being described.

The book is very helpfull even if you have alot of experience with Z cars. Thorough and informative, an easy read.