zero Posted October 11, 2011 Share Posted October 11, 2011 Hey everyone, I've been keeping a blog of my work on my Z, but I figured that I should start posting here as well, since 90% of the people in the world who would possibly care about my Z are on here. This post won't have all the pictures I put on my blog, so if you'd like more detail go there. From here on out I will post updates here with pictures and everything. If you're interested, please read through my progress of the past 6 months or so, click through on my blog. So, the first order of operations on the new 240z is as follows: 1. Remove the factory sound deadening and undercoating from the floors so I can 2. Weld in thicker, stronger, full length frame rails over the originals. 3. Apply POR15 rust inhibiting paint on the floors 4. Apply new undercoating. 5. Put in new sound deadening and insulation. This weekend I started step 1. Normally this stuff is pretty hard to remove. I have heard a lot of stories about guys having to chill it with dry ice to get it to come off in chunks. Luckily, mine came up pretty easily with just a hammer and broad screwdriver. At the front of the footwell, because of the angle, it was a bit hard to remove. Lacking dry ice, I used the refrigerant from canned air to chill the sound deadening so that I could chip it off easily. I got the bulk of the work done by Sunday. I also got a bit more aggressive in investigating the rust on my old Z. Needless to say, it's a good thing I have a new shell. I only discovered the rust on the A-pillar after removing door molding. Someone had filled it with silicone and painted over it. Scary stuff... On monday, having most of the deadening off, I decided it was time to get the new Z in it's proper place. earlier in the week, I spent some time clearing the scrap that was in the back of the shop, mainly to make room for a different sort of scrap. I dragged my old Z into the corner by myself, just as AY stopped by. He helped me push the new Z onto it's bay. ' Afterwards, we pulled the engine out of his 912, a surprisingly easy process. Disconnect, unbolt and drop it out the bottom. You don't even need an engine hoist, just a floor jack. Good progress all around. I'm ordering framerails, POR15 and possibly sound deadening this week. Stay tuned. -W.W. SBSS Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rturbo 930 Posted October 11, 2011 Share Posted October 11, 2011 So you bought #1905! Glad it went to a good home. Can't wait to see what you do with it. That A pillar rust is frightening! I thought my A pillar rust was bad, but not compared to that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cygnusx1 Posted October 11, 2011 Share Posted October 11, 2011 Nice. Can't wait to have another awesome Z in the neighborhood. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EvilC Posted October 11, 2011 Share Posted October 11, 2011 Glad to hear the car is working out for you. The car did go to a good home and I know I will see it around on the road soon. Dave is right, another Z car local in our club! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zero Posted October 11, 2011 Author Share Posted October 11, 2011 That A pillar rust is frightening! I thought my A pillar rust was bad, but not compared to that. Yeah, I could pretty much write the book on what what to look for when buying an s30, cause all of it is on my Z. I bought my car when I was a young dumb 15 year old, and was pretty much struck by "fall in love with the first Z you drive" syndrome. Fiberglass driver side floor - check Riveted/bolted in passenger floor - check Bondo over foam rear quarter - check Poorly repaired frame rail - check Riveted in galvanized dogleg covered in fiberglass - check x2 Riveted in battery tray area - check Sclupted silicone covered by paint A-pillar - check Fiberglass taillight mount area - check I've learned quite a lot in the past 10 years or so, and I finally have the space to build a car right. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zero Posted October 13, 2011 Author Share Posted October 13, 2011 Hey guys, I have a quick question. Bad Dog rails will be on their way as soon as the rear rails are available (~a week or so). I was planning the install and was unsure of what to do for an undercoating solution. The floors only have 1 quarter sized rust spot in them, so I was gonna patch that and weld in the new rails. The existing undercoating is chipping in places, but there is little to no rust. Should I: A - strip the undercoating only where I need to for welding and where it is obviously loose and spray over existing or B - wirewheel the whole floor and recoat. I'm not worried about how much work it is, but I am sort of concerned about the transition between the old and new undercoat. I don't plan on stripping the whole bottom of the car, so at some point there will have to be a transition. I'm planning to use POR15 on the inside of the floors, but I know it is pretty picky about prep, so I don't know if it would be the best idea for the underside. What product would you suggest for this? Thanks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EvilC Posted October 13, 2011 Share Posted October 13, 2011 I had the body shop strip where they needed to weld. When I got the car back home, I seam sealed the rest and plan on one day getting the car to a place that does undercoating for truck beds. Your biggest problem will be welding and not burning through the thin floors. So do not final prep the top part of the floors until you have the rails up. Hope that helps alil. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zero Posted October 25, 2011 Author Share Posted October 25, 2011 (edited) Pasted and modified from my post here Last night I went to the shop with the intention of just putting another coat of resin on my gas tank. Fortunately, this only took about 20 minutes to trim the excess carbon and recoat the tank. It's looking pretty good so far, and I'll start to sand and polish it soon. Done with this so early, I found myself with an evening to work on something else. The tiny rust spot on my new 240z chassis has been eating at me for a little while, so I decided it was time to fix it. Here is the spot in question. (that circular hole is a factory drainage hole, there's a plug that goes in there) First I took a wire wheel to the area, removing both the undercoating and the loose, thin rusty metal. Next, I removed the thinner areas of metal, and made a shape that I could replicate with new metal. Next, I cut out a piece of cardboard to approximately the shape I need to patch. Then I traced the outline of the cardboard on some new metal. Cut out the desired shape and wire wheeled the metal clean. Fit the new metal in place. Welded it in place. (this was difficult, as the metal I was patching with was substantially thicker than the existing floorboards.) Then I started to grind the welds smooth. I ran out of time, so it isn't quite done. Once I have it all ground flat, I can see where I may have missed some spots welding and can make another pass. It is VERY nice to only have to do this once or twice, rather than ALL OVER THE PLACE on my old car. Edited October 25, 2011 by zero Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zero Posted November 30, 2011 Author Share Posted November 30, 2011 (edited) I've been bad about updating this but good on my blog so if you'd like more info, check there. Here are the major bullet points of the past month or so. I sold my rusty old 280 2+2, It was a good runner, but I wasn't going to put much effort into it as long as the 240 was on jackstands, so it was best it went to a new owner. The suspension is coming apart. I still need to get ahold of some illuminas for shortened struts and a new bushing kit, but I started cleaning everything up for paint. Bad Dog frame rails arrived. The original rails were actually in very good shape and I decided not to cut them out, so I'm in the process of...massaging the original rails to get them to fit flush. The main goal is to take the curve out of the original rail where it transitions to the floor rail so that the new one lines up. C-clamps, floor jacks, and a good hammer are your friends here. I'll be painting most of the original and new rails with POR-15, and using weldable primer close to the welding seams. Eastwood undercoating will be going over everything. Edited November 30, 2011 by zero Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EvilC Posted November 30, 2011 Share Posted November 30, 2011 Looking good. I need to stop by since now I have all toys packed away for the winter. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zero Posted December 28, 2011 Author Share Posted December 28, 2011 The frame rails are in! It took a while because I had a busy holiday season. but they're finally in. First I prepped them for the POR-15 with Marine Clean then Prep and Ready Then I painted the non-welded sections on the inside with POR-15 Then I sprayed the areas that would be welded near with a weld-through primer. Put them in place. Tacked them up And, after some trouble with welder #1 and switching to the spare I welded them in. If the welds look ugly, thats my reason, and I'm sticking to it! Done for the day. Going back tomorrow to clean up some of the ugliest welds then spray it with undercoating. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zero Posted December 30, 2011 Author Share Posted December 30, 2011 Undercoated the rails. and POR-15'd the control arms and the floorboards. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zero Posted January 30, 2012 Author Share Posted January 30, 2012 Just wanted to throw some sound deadener and insulation pics up. I ended up going with FATMAT and EZ Cool. Ez Cool is extremely lightweight, so I'm gonna use it everywhere, including on the back of the interior panels. FatMat is pretty dense, of course and I used about 70 sqft of it. I didn't want to go overboard with the heavy stuff. My headliner was perfect so I didn't do anything up there. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EvilC Posted March 1, 2012 Share Posted March 1, 2012 UPDATES? lol Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zero Posted March 1, 2012 Author Share Posted March 1, 2012 Haha, I'll throw a quick one up. As I've mentioned here before, I'm losing my shop so I need to get the car done ASAP. I sectioned the struts Installed the struts, springs and brakes in the front. Installed the carpet. RT diff mount Rear struts bushings etc Rear Brakes Engine. Hey look, It's EvilC! Fenders and wheels. Details List of what's left to do: Fuel tank Center console passenger seat hatch glass Proportioning valve fuse box misc trim Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zero Posted March 12, 2012 Author Share Posted March 12, 2012 It runs! From my list last time: the tank is in the center console is at least figured out (I had to bend the shifter pretty drastically to get it to clear the early center console). Passenger seat is in. Hatch glass is mounted. Proportioning valve is plumbed and brakes are bled. MSA Fuse box is in. Also here's some trivia for you. many of the barrel connectors in later cars are spade connectors in the very early 240z's... Some of the trim is in. In other news the SPAL fan is in, and the clutch is operational if in need of adjustment. More details and videos here http://southbronxspeedshop.blogspot.com/2012/03/31212-it-lives.html Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EvilC Posted March 23, 2012 Share Posted March 23, 2012 She runs! Run Vid Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zero Posted December 3, 2012 Author Share Posted December 3, 2012 Ok, quick update with some L engine questions. I've been driving the car around it's been great, even took it to Lime Rock in April. The problem is now clive has built an engine for his 260z and Jason's 240 has an L28+triples, so now I'm the slow car with my lowly l24+su's I've been collecting parts for a mild, budget L28 build. So far I've cleaned up a set of triple 40's I also picked up an E31 head and was planning to run it on an L28 flat top block, but after doing a bit more research, it seems that would give me a bit too much compression for the 93 octane we can get here. Now I'm mulling my options and was hoping for input. This engine isn't meant to be an all out build and I will likely be doing another swap in a year or two, so I'm trying to keep the budget reasonable. I know that this subject has been beaten to death, but I was hoping for input based on the parts I already have/would have to buy and the price of machine work nowadays. I have a stock E31 head, I was figuring on buying a healthy cam as well. I also have a running L24 with modified E88, but I don't know exactly what was done, I'm fairly sure it has a mild cam in it though I don't have my L28 block yet, but I'm sure I could find either a flat top or dished block for about the same price From what I understand the E31/flat top combination would be a bit high for pump gas unless I pulled a ton of timing. I've looked into the cost of installing the larger valves in my area and it would likely bump this combo out of the range of what I'm trying to spend. I could likely run it on a dished L28 block, but would I be giving up too much compression to make it worth while? I could run my existing unknown E88, though I'd still have small valves (I think, haven't pulled the head yet). Compression would likely be more streetable with the flat top block. Depending on how it feels I might be able to get away without buying a cam. I could also sell the E31 and pick up a later head, possibly a N42 These would benefit from the larger valves, and could probably get away with the flat top pistons on pump gas. Any thoughts on these options and what would make the most sense given the budget nature of the build and the parts I'm already sitting on. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EvilC Posted December 3, 2012 Share Posted December 3, 2012 I have the slowest triple car out of the group! Glad to see you movin forward on getting this L series engine together. Will let you know what I read and we can try and fig out a nice combo for you. First we have to see what that cam profile is that you already have. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zero Posted January 21, 2013 Author Share Posted January 21, 2013 Hey guys, I just wanted to drop in here and say that there will soon be a new VQ swap here on the HBZ. I was going to build a mild L28 and triples, but I recently found a deal I couldn't pass up on a VQ pullout and will be assembling the car over the next few months. A guy building a drift 350z sold me his 80k mile VQ, harness, pedal, ECU, radiator and fans, trans, driveshaft, NATS and key, and a pair of leather seats for $1700 delivered to my door! I'll likely be building my own mounts using the cad files another member here posted. I'll probably leave the harness building to Zfever or McKinney, The only real variable at this point is whether I try to find a fuel injection tank for my 240 or build a surge tank, but I feel like I've got a great head start on this project. Luckily I've already laid all the groundwork for the swap with frame rails and subframe connectors, coilovers, and AZC Wilwoods all around. In any case, VQ here I come! I'd also like to thank you all in advance for answering the numerous questions I'll inevitably have. Thanks Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.