A to Z

Similar to this pic below:

Got my proofs back from speedhut with the Z in there.

Happy Thanksgiving! I started the layout on my new hood before going in for the holiday. 13 1/4" from the front hood corners. this should allow for the radiator support to see seen, AND because some of the center bulge remains, those bends in the steel will help with keep the sheet metal rigid. I wanted to keep some the center bulge anyway, as it helps set the tone for how the bodies lines go back visually. the side will be cut to cover the tops of the struts, yet, show the tops of the frame rails and how there are no exposed brake lines. With the hood being black but the engine compartment blue, it will also set off the edges around the polished engine sticking up. At least in my mind.

I got mine on eBay.

11-26-2025. I got the rear tires mounted on the wheels and balanced, and I was able to attach one headlight bucket and then started painting several coats of filler primer for deep scratches. The bucket has deep scratches in the metal in the bottom of the scoop portion, so this will get a start on filling them, and then I will put some glaze on there and sand it smooth and sealer prime it before color and clear. The other headlight bucket, after sandblasting revealed a crease in it, and I don't have the moxie to want to fight and fix a crease and make it look good, so I ordered up a reproduction bucket. I then got a call from J&S Polishing, and ran down there and picked up my intake and valve cover. Pics heavy.

11-25-2025. My new fender and hood came in from Resurrected Classics today. I quickly hung the fenders on and took some pics to show how well they fit. Very impressive. High quality parts. The box does say "Made in China", but they are VERY nice pieces. I also went ahead and got the front tires mounted on to the front wheels. The wheels are 16X8 with 0 offset, the tires are 205/55R16.

Earlier I received my new hatch from Resurrected classics, and it was so well packed to prevent damage I was impressed......today a pallet arrived for me which had a new hood and front fenders. I am very impressed at the lengths these guys have gone to, to ensure no damage occurs. The box for the fenders had a puncture hole, but I was very happy to find that it didn't damage it. So, in addition to the high level of craftsmanship used in making these parts, these guys do a very good job of packaging them. Buy from them with confidence.

Today the mobile welder stopped by and welded the collars for my coilovers in the rear. progress made.

Update from Ken at Chop Suey on my rollpan: https://photos.app.goo.gl/SrTor4XxT6yc5HSD9

11-22-2025: Today I finished getting the front end together, as least enough to roll it around. The shims between the frame and rails are really aluminum blocks. I started with a 2 inch thick block, minus the factory plate I removed so they give about a 1 7/8" drop to the crossmember and engine. This is to get a starting point. With the front end together, I have 2 3/4" worth of adjustment left in the front struts to lower the nose down further with these plates in there. I have at least 4 inches if not more of clearance between the bottom of the cross member and the concrete. I installed some 1" thick bumpsteer spacers, and from the pics you can see the bottom arm is level, so pretty good for a starting point. I will now work on modifying the motor mounts to drop the engine 1-1.5 inches and see how it goes. With the block in there, and lowering the motor mounts, I believe the engine will fit completely under the stock hood. However, it will be necessary to get longer bolts and put spacers between the TC rod and arm to get the TC rods to bolt back up, and the sway bar end links were shot anyway, so they need replacement. I found that with the bump steer spacers, the factory wheels hit the steering rack end links. With the factory wheels, you would have to run wheel spacers for clearance, as even after grinding the ends down, they were still hitting.......will my 16" wheels clear? will be interesting to see. After this I removed some of the remaining factory undercoating that was peeling off and spot painted some spots with rustoleum primer to keep things from getting rusty. the pale yellow you see in the pics is actually the factory metal primer!! I then jacked up the rear, and removed the wheels, the 3 nuts on the top of each strut and then stood on each drum dropping and pulling out the rear struts. Because of their length, I had to go ahead and chop them in two in the car to finish getting them out. hydraulic fluid leaked and made a mess, but I got them out and after a cleanup with some shop rags and g@s, we are back to making progress. I have a mobile welder coming soon to weld on the collars in the rear and then I can put the rear suspension back together and get the car back up on 4 wheels. At that point, it will be time to pull the windshield and remove what's left of the paint and start prepping the Sheetmetal for the body and paint guy. PICS:

got my shims in today. that is VERY hard to do with the engine in, etc. Got a real nice drop on everything. I will also mod my motor mounts for some drop there also.

11-20-2025. Well on the 260, interior, especially dash is a LONG way down the road, but all these black Friday deals going, and talking to speedhut they cut me a great deal, I went ahead and got the gauges I wanted for this car. They will go in my dash with a full cap, and the center section will be a blocked off plate and will house 2 gauges from speedhut along with some switches. At any rate, The gauges are going to be "Gulf Racing Blue", in modern script, and show black with orange lit numbers at night. I have some pics here but they don't show the "z" script I am having added to the faces. it is just the thin black outline of the original "Z" badge. Anyway, here is what they will look like, without the Z, there is a pic of the script at the end. These things are crazy expensive. I love that the speedo is GPS. Pics:

11-19-2025: I dropped the fuel tank and got rid of it. I also did some prep to get ready to install the shims under the crossmember and put the front suspension back together. My MOMO steering wheel, adaptor and a few other bits also arrived. Pretty cool.

Today I picked up some sandblasting and powder coating from R&S Powdercoating here in Colorado Springs: And......you seem to always find hidden damage once everything is stripped off, huh?

Got out there this morning to gather some stuff to take to the powder coaters. It was also a good time to clean up the front suspension bits so I can put the front end back together. It was a dirt/oil glob on both sides, so with cleaner (g@s) and a toothbrush, a rag, a screwdriver, and a wire wheel attachment in my drill I got everything cleaned up enough to put together in my effort to get this hulk to the body shop for some block sanding and a coat of blue and clear, color sanded and buffed.