Jeri_74_260Z Posted July 1, 2011 Share Posted July 1, 2011 (edited) 6 Years ago I fell in love with a 74 260z. Rather than get into specifics as to it's overall condition I'll say this; it only cost me $350......yeeeeeeah, I think y'all can imagine it's overall state. But I saw potential in her... I got her home and proceeded to start pulling her apart, learning much as time went on. But then, life threw a curve ball and we were separated by 1500 miles due to a sudden job opportunity. She sat at my folks place up in NY, gathering dust and cob webbs, waiting... Finally I managed to secure a permanent work space down here and after some negotiations got transport arranged. Now we're back together and the work can begin anew. There are some places that on re-examination are much better rust wise than I remembered, and then there are areas that are much much worse than I had thought. It's gonna be a long road I'm sure, but I'm confident that someday I'll have her back in one piece running down the salt free roads here in sunny FL. I'll definitely be coming to you guys here for advice and guidance as the project goes on. thanks in advance gang. Edited July 1, 2011 by Jeri_74_260Z Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
michaelp Posted July 1, 2011 Share Posted July 1, 2011 :-\ good luck, my $200 heap I dragged out from under a tree that was near the road in PA isnt even that rusty in the frame rail area in front of the firewall....just needs floor desperately, needless to say idk if it'll ever get them. Picked up another 74 in better shape with triple webers and crap for $1000, but with a siezed engine. Regardless, good luck. If you're good worth bodywork and...welding, and fabrication, I'm sure you can definitely make something of this with a little money and love. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ducer Posted July 1, 2011 Share Posted July 1, 2011 6 Years ago I fell in love with a 74 260z. Rather than get into specifics as to it's overall condition I'll say this; it only cost me $350......yeeeeeeah, I think y'all can imagine it's overall state. But I saw potential in her... I got her home and proceeded to start pulling her apart, learning much as time went on. But then, life threw a curve ball and we were separated by 1500 miles due to a sudden job opportunity. She sat at my folks place up in NY, gathering dust and cob webbs, waiting... Finally I managed to secure a permanent work space down here and after some negotiations got transport arranged. Now we're back together and the work can begin anew. There are some places that on re-examination are much better rust wise than I remembered, and then there are areas that are much much worse than I had thought. It's gonna be a long road I'm sure, but I'm confident that someday I'll have her back in one piece running down the salt free roads here in sunny FL. I'll definitely be coming to you guys here for advice and guidance as the project goes on. thanks in advance gang. Yay, that's freaking awesome. I got my 74 260z a few weeks ago. I recommend: POR 15 Rust treatment. I ordered a quart of it already. Hear good things about it. It's expensive but it works I hear. $40 a quart. and like $125 a gallon. I also recommend getting a good carburetor set up. The stock "Flat Top" hitachi carbs on the 260z's are garbage. I didn't want to believe it, and so I rebuilt them and they failed. I desperately wanted to salvaged them, but I am so happy with my Holly carburetor set up. 1 Large carburetor easy tune, easy start up. GOOD LUCK! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
turboHLS30 Posted July 1, 2011 Share Posted July 1, 2011 Nice! I got my rust free 280z for $400, came with a complete 240z parts car. I'm in the progress of making 1 out of 2. Where in Central Florida are you? I'm in Daytona Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
1 tuff z Posted July 1, 2011 Share Posted July 1, 2011 where in ny? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeri_74_260Z Posted July 3, 2011 Author Share Posted July 3, 2011 I picked it up in the Saratoga Springs area. Right now I'm right near Orlando. at the moment she's more or less down to a rolling shell after getting the rear diff and fuel/brake hard lines pulled out today. project's gonna be on hold while I secure a welder so I can put braces in strategic spots before I begin really cutting into her. My plan is to start with the front frame rail repairs, then the rockers, floors, and finally rear wheel arches. I'm sure though I'll find more that needs to be addressed but I'm pretty confident I've identified all the "major" cancer spots. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeri_74_260Z Posted August 16, 2011 Author Share Posted August 16, 2011 Been working on the 260 off and on for a bit now (sadly I can't quite my job and work on her 24/7), progress has been slow but I never thought this would be a fast/easy endeavor. I'm learning a LOT as I go along and would like to say my welding is getting better with each consecutive piece I put in. Be kind when you see the pics as this was more or less the first time I ever did any welding, still proud of the work I've gotten done though, luckily this is the sort of stuff that's gonna be hidden by other panels/interior panels/undercoating.. So far I got the messed up inner rocker panel patched , as well as the outer rocker where the fender bolts up. also started working on the driver's floor the other day, that's gonna take a bit of work as the floor pan replacement I got was pretty simple, nothing like the zedd findings pans, but what can you ask for at $80? I also decided to lengthen the frame rail to go full length and up the riser behind the driver's seat as the back area where it attaches was pretty rusted and not much was left to weld to once all was chopped out, luckily I have enough rail left over once that was done to do the same on the passenger's side. thanks for looking, will post more as progress gets made. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rick Dorion Posted August 16, 2011 Share Posted August 16, 2011 Very inspiring! I've used POR15 on a few camaros. Remember that it is extremely toxic and you need a quality respirator and ventilation. I've had good results also with RustBullet. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gk666 Posted August 16, 2011 Share Posted August 16, 2011 This brought tears to my eyes... lol good luck bro. I've never used POR but I hear good things about it but personally I don't know if I would use it on a unibody car because people say it works better if you paint over the rust and not remove the rust but I don't know, I'm no body work guy, people just say it sticks better. I need to ask the guy I bought mine from where he bought the floor pans, all I know is he called up some old company but he couldn't find the magazine to tell me. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
morbias Posted August 16, 2011 Share Posted August 16, 2011 (edited) If you're painting POR-15 on new metal you have to clean it with degreaser first, and then soak the hell out of it with metal ready (or whatever it's called now) to etch the surface, otherwise it will just peel off. You really have to do it as they suggest or you'll end up re-doing it all again. Edited August 16, 2011 by morbias Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeri_74_260Z Posted August 17, 2011 Author Share Posted August 17, 2011 I told myself last night I was gonna take a break and not work on the Z today... Well that idea went out the window pretty quick... more progress, check it out. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sweetleaf Posted August 17, 2011 Share Posted August 17, 2011 It looks like you're welding in pieces over rusted metal. I would highly recommend against it, waste of your time. Do it properly the first time around. Good luck with the project. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeri_74_260Z Posted August 17, 2011 Author Share Posted August 17, 2011 Oh no worries, it's still in the testing for fit stage, right before I start welding I'm gonna grind everything down to bare metal and/or chemical rust conversion/encapsulation for spots I can't get at that well. With the FL humidity and all I didn't want to grind everything clean and then have more rust form while I was hammering/cutting/fitting the piece in. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pharaohabq Posted August 17, 2011 Share Posted August 17, 2011 Looks like you're doing awesome work. it's a ton of rust you've got there. Gotta admire you though for opting to save this one rather than junk her for something in better shape. Your Welds look a bit messy, lots of spatter, You might try reducing your amperage and moving slower, more stitching that trying to actually run a bead. you'll get better results if you only weld maybe up to an inch at a time letting it cool a few seconds in between. Spatter could also be from dirty joints, since you know welnding into rust is bad. Shielding gas will also work wonders. If you can't afford supergass or nitrogen/co2 mix then just straight co2 from a Soda tank is pretty cheap and cheap to refill. It doesn't take much pressure to clean up the welds a LOT. Where are you getting your replacement panels from? Tabco has a bunch, much like MSA etc. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeri_74_260Z Posted August 17, 2011 Author Share Posted August 17, 2011 Thanks I'll try slowing down a bit, already have the amps set to the lowest setting. Like I said this is the first time I have done any welding, any advice I'll take. For the non visible stuff I'm gonna stick with flux core wire, I do have a tank of c-25 argon/co2 for when I staart doing the outer body panels and what not but that's a bit far down the road here. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pharaohabq Posted August 18, 2011 Share Posted August 18, 2011 remember with your welder, you'll need to use the right polarity when switching between fluxcore(gasless) and Gas settings. your manual will tell you how to select that. Stitching like I said earlier is the best way to do it, basically like you're painting a monet. Just a series of spots to seal the seams. look in the welding forum on here for pict examples and there's some good vids on youtube about it. Grind down some of your welds and lets see some pictures. maybe we can tell a little more then. You didn't say where you were getting your panels? Phar Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeri_74_260Z Posted August 18, 2011 Author Share Posted August 18, 2011 Well I don't really remember where I got those floors from, got them about 5-6 years ago and they had been sitting along with the car at my folks place ever since. I get what you mean about the stiching and that's more or less what I had been going for, I guess I was maybe doing them a bit too close together and that makkes them appear as if they were attempted beads. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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