choppntops Posted June 19, 2012 Share Posted June 19, 2012 (edited) Project: 74' 260Z Choices for motor, brakes, suspension will be made as I get to them. I do know I want 250-300hp and street worthy suspension with good braking. This build will be a slow one due to a baby on the way and I'm in the process of buying a new house. I try to get a couple hours in each day and half days in on the weekends. The approach on the frame rails was inspired by Drew RBZ's build. Thanks Drew RBZ! I have been taking lots of photos and decided to share them. Its been a few years since i have welded so excuse my rusty welding skills. Hopefully I will have my TIG welder up and running in my new home in a few months. So the welds will be sexy, for now just a cheap Eastwood MIG is being used. Im currently working out of an apartment complex garage with one electrical outlet and no compressed air. With what I have to work with I'm enjoying being back in the garage and working on a car. The military has had me away from my personal projects for a while now. Sorry for the poor quality photos all I have available is the camera on my iPhone which is pretty beat. Well let me know what you guys think. The Z sat here for years before posted on Craigslist where I found it about a month ago. Edited June 19, 2012 by choppntops Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
choppntops Posted June 24, 2012 Author Share Posted June 24, 2012 Managed to get a few hours in today. Still taking care of rust. Its never ending. I have been doing a lot of thinking and I almost certain Im going to be going with a sr20det S13 for the engine and S13 rear suspension. Although they are a few months away. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
choppntops Posted June 24, 2012 Author Share Posted June 24, 2012 Sorry for the poor photos. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rsicard Posted June 24, 2012 Share Posted June 24, 2012 You are doing a VERY GOOD job. Keep up the good work. At some point the body needs to be taken to a media blaster and have the surface rust taken off. Also the new steel needs to be blasted also. Then blow it all off and shoot a coat of primer needs to be shot onto the bare metal as soon after media blasting. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
choppntops Posted June 24, 2012 Author Share Posted June 24, 2012 Thanks. I was hoping to get around sand/media blasting and just do the long hard job with a wire wheel just cutting and replacing anything that is rusted all the way through. I already tested the problem areas and the wire wheel does a pretty good job. I was thinking about getting a small unit to use at my house to get the extremely hard to reach areas. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
choppntops Posted June 27, 2012 Author Share Posted June 27, 2012 Small update not much at all other than getting the firewall patch panel tacked in and a small patch on the top of the passenger side frame rail where it meets up with the firewall. I was pretty happy with the fit of the patches other than the top of the one for the firewall about two or three millimeter gap. Ill work something out to close it up cleanly. Anyway here are a couple pics. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gmanatc97 Posted June 27, 2012 Share Posted June 27, 2012 Keep at it and don't let it overwhelm you. I (ARMY!) got my Z from my father-in-law (Airforce) about 4 years ago. It has taken me until now to settle down and really get my project 280z going. So from one military brother to another, welcome back and thanks for serving! Good luck on the baby, house and Z. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
choppntops Posted June 27, 2012 Author Share Posted June 27, 2012 Keep at it and don't let it overwhelm you. I (ARMY!) got my Z from my father-in-law (Airforce) about 4 years ago. It has taken me until now to settle down and really get my project 280z going. So from one military brother to another, welcome back and thanks for serving! Good luck on the baby, house and Z. Thanks! This site helps keep me motivated, also my wife and I found someone to rent the house we own in Alabama. This frees up money for the baby and the Z. Hopefully I can find a 240sx rear subframe soon. I hope to be working on the rear suspension in August. Ill have my 220 outlet and have the TIG welder up and running. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
choppntops Posted June 30, 2012 Author Share Posted June 30, 2012 Floor Pan!! Took about 3 hrs after work today to bend this up with a couple c clamps and the rectangle tubing. Worked out well. It took about 10 times longer than if I had a box brake and stomp shear. But I enjoyed doing it anyway. A lot more proud of it than if I had all the nice tools at my disposal. I will be welding it in this weekend. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
choppntops Posted July 3, 2012 Author Share Posted July 3, 2012 Another hour and a half invested! I really think I should tally up the hours actually spent on the car. It would be a much better gauge to see how much work went into the build, in a comparison to how many months and days its taking to get it done. Anyway here is the progress. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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