Whitley_280z_2+2

Since we finished all the welding / metal work in the interior, we went ahead and primed it. For the worst spots with surface rust, I wire wheeled all the rust off and then coated it with POR-15. Now, these spots will be extra protected from rusting in the future. For the rest of the interior I wire wheeled all surfaces to remove any left over sound dampening residue and prepped the metal for primer. Here is the finished product:

Did some more work on the 280z today. Finished welding the last piece for the battery area. Here is what it looks like from the outside. To weld this metal, I am mostly using plug welds because I only have access to a flux core 90 amp welder and I am new to welding. So, I purposely left overlap on some areas so that I can fold it up, weld it in place, and then apply seam sealer. Now, we are going to work on the rear of the car... filling the holes in the bumper, repairing some rust areas in the rocker panels, and there is some rust behind the rear wheel wells.

This is a build thread to document the progress on a 1977 Datsun 280z 2+2. The previous owner had started stripping the car with intentions of restoring it but it ended up just sitting in a storage container. Before that, the car sat in someone's yard because of a lien against it and eventually a tree fell on the back portion busting out the rear glass and leaving a nice dent. Because the car has been sitting for so long, it has a bit of rust but nothing structural, like the frame rails, is damaged. We've never done any car restoration work before so any pointers would be appreciated. The long term goal is to swap a LS v8 engine (probably a 5.3L or 4.8L), upgrade the suspension and brakes, and have a solid daily drivable Datsun. Below is a list of what we have done to the car already: -Stripped the interior and exterior -removed the sound dampening material with some freeze spray and an air chisel -removed the engine, transmission, and engine bay wiring -misc metal work (cutting out the usual Z rust and welding in patch panels) -coated all internal frame rails and cavities with east-woods internal frame rail coating or POR-15 Here is what we started with. Inspiration / Goals Pulling the engine - relatively easy. When you don't have a load leveler, you just use screw drivers to make sure the chain doesn't slide! Hopefully, the steering rack will be salvageable. Cutting out the rust (floor pans, battery tray, and a big spot in the bumper area) Here's some of the welding / patch panels. We used weld through primer so the the welds won't rust through. Battery Compartment The front nose area - patched on both sides driver's side floorpan (not nearly as bad as passenger side just one patch panel near the seat mount). Passenger floorpan - we fabricated a floorpan that was mainly plug welded in place and also replaced a rusty spot in the trans tunnel. a shot of some POR-15 rust convertor work underneath the cowl panel. That brings the project up to present time, lots of work to do still.