Datsun Roadster Forum-311s.org

That red upholstery looks fantastic, overstuffed or not!

notoptoy wrote: Mon Feb 03, 2025 1:48 am That red upholstery looks fantastic, overstuffed or not!

The red interior photo that I posted was not the "overstuffed" seats in question. I posted it to show the use of wire in the seat and seat back which provides contour to the foam. Yes it is gorgeous. Picture is from a BAT sale.

Well, as I was rebuilding my stock seats, I get a message from a Z car buddy in Calgary. He's selling off a pile of parts he's been hoarding and has these:

Recaro LX:

So we make a deal on the 'if I can get them to fit, we'll talk price' agreement. Not that I needed them, but I sure like the look.

So having read about Recaro LX and finding people saying they wouldn't fit in the roadster, I'm not sure they will work. So here goes:

Old seat out, just dropping it in to see if it will fit:

It's snug but doesn't rub or bind. Can slide it back and forth and recline without hitting anything. The recline adjuster is up against the trans tunnel but not pushed against it. If you flip the seat forward you can access it, so everything seems to fit.

So, now time to build some brackets to fit the roadster rails:


Need to bring the Datsun slider rails inboard 7/8" from the Recaro seat mount holes. After cutting and trying some 1 1/2" steel angle iron, find it won't be the right dimension and will raise the seat too much. Go with some 1" aluminum angle bracket:


Used two pieces of angle to make a rough Z shaped bracket. Figured out rail placement with the help of some CAD (cardboard assisted design) templates


And drop it in:


The good: No binding or rubbing. Door closes fine. Rail slider allows the seat full extension forward and backwards and doesn't hit anything.

The bad: Seat's about 1" too high, steering wheel bottom rests on my legs. Will make another bracket out of flat stock to position the Datsun sliders without lifting the seat and see how that goes.

brilliant

Update: Made new flat brackets out of 2" steel. Not as pretty as the aluminum angle. Had to do some carbide bit die grinding modifications to the roadster stock rails to allow fastener fitment.

Result: Seats are 1" lower:
Both still travel full extension on the sliders without binding or hitting the trans tunnel or door side... it is close, however:
legs now (just) fit below the bottom of the steering wheel... were pressed up against it with the higher aluminum rails:
Absolutely love the look and I have side support with these seats:
Now I have to replace the carpet that's faded to brown.

Bet you will be a lot more comfortable! Regarding the carpet, not sure what's in there or why it faded, but one option is to use upholstery spray dye. I used it to change the color of my wife's Z3 soft top from tan to black and it worked great! 3 years on with full weather exposure and it's unfaded, hasn't shown any sign of deterioration or flaking, remains perfect. If your carpet is still good you could mask off or remove a few things and not have to rip it all out, and for a fraction of the cost.

I might suggest RIT dye instead. Sometimes the spray can make carpet feel crispy. Up to you!

https://www.ritdye.com/

Excellent suggestions. The carpet is a bit worn but not destroyed. Can try dying it first and see how it goes.

Hood replacement: The 67.5 came to me with a later 68-69 hood. Prop bracket is a slider type on the hood which someone had bolted a piece of metal to 'fix' the prop from sliding :/ Bigger issue is that the cutouts by the brake and clutch reservoirs didn't fit and the hood rubs on the caps of the reservoirs and the clutch one keeps popping loose.

So, got a 67.5 hood from Ross @ Sports Imports and sent over to my Z Club buddy who happens to be a manager at a local high-end paint and repair shop:
So, it's reasonably straight, but with a 'history' of repairs, so my buddy got to work:

underside decent, a little rust but nothing major:


Prep done, time for primer:

And the car came with a 'custom red' paint job, the closest match my guy found was this:


So red roadster is secretly Italian... who knew?

Painted yesterday, will pick up for weekend install.
Have a set of metal DATSUN letters to replace the plastic ones I pulled off. Will polish up the scoop trim piece as well.

Thinking of putting a graphic on the underside of the hood... I like what a fellow club member did with his 240Z resto-mod:
I won't copy him (not putting up a battle flag, lol) but I'm open to ideas as to a fun graphic for the underhood...

Looks great! It helps to have a friend in the biz eh?

found this online, like the idea but would prefer more 1600 elements (grille, low windshield, no license plate) in the drawing:

and this isn't bad either:

A Japanese car….in Canada hahahaha

Japanada? Canapan ?

redroadster68 wrote: Fri Mar 14, 2025 4:05 pm B7610731-5D4E-4F91-984E-81BA412B2A9E.jpeg

A Japanese car….in Canada hahahaha

I have a sudden urge to play Pong