Midnight Warrior Posted April 20, 2014 Share Posted April 20, 2014 (edited) Hey Guys, Just wanted to share my build project with everyone. Just a bit of background, I am a 22 year old Australia, currently living in Melbourne. Ever since I was a kid, I loved these cars, so on my 18th birthday (Legal driving age in Australia) I purchases my first 260z 2+2. I mucked around with that for a couple of years, and eventually sold that to fund my 240z build. This is what it looked like when I purchased the car. Check out the build thread on : https://www.facebook.com/pages/The-Midnight-Warrior-Datsun-240Z/469346503080900?ref=hl As you can see, there is a lot of work that needs to be done on the body, engine, interior... Well everything to be honest! So it begins..... Edited April 21, 2014 by Midnight Warrior Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
260ZT Posted April 20, 2014 Share Posted April 20, 2014 Welcome Looks like its going to be a fun project. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
310z Posted April 20, 2014 Share Posted April 20, 2014 Welcome to the site.Enjoy the ride. I do not mean to sound negative and I do not know how the availability of Z cars is in Australia, but If I was going to invest a lot of time and money I would want to start with a car with less rust. In your cars current condition you will have a lot of time and money tied up in just eliminating the really bad rust areas. If you work in a body shop and are acquiring skills for a life time job the project will be worth while. I have seen projects in other countries where the Z is rare start with cars with similar rust conditions. Evaluate your options before you have a lot of time and money invested. A Z from a non-coastal environment might be worth looking for. Then you can spend your money on performance goodies. Just my opinion and it may not fit your situation. Good luck and have fun. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Domzs Posted April 20, 2014 Share Posted April 20, 2014 You have done a great job so far . It's going to be a fun journey . . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Midnight Warrior Posted April 21, 2014 Author Share Posted April 21, 2014 Welcome to the site.Enjoy the ride. I do not mean to sound negative and I do not know how the availability of Z cars is in Australia, but If I was going to invest a lot of time and money I would want to start with a car with less rust. In your cars current condition you will have a lot of time and money tied up in just eliminating the really bad rust areas. If you work in a body shop and are acquiring skills for a life time job the project will be worth while. I have seen projects in other countries where the Z is rare start with cars with similar rust conditions. Evaluate your options before you have a lot of time and money invested. A Z from a non-coastal environment might be worth looking for. Then you can spend your money on performance goodies. Just my opinion and it may not fit your situation. Good luck and have fun. Thanks for that feedback, I think with hindsight, I should have definitely considered a different project base. However for the price that I got this car for, and the fact that there weren't that many around swayed my decision. The car was left on a hill, which meant that the left side of the car was pretty rusty, as well as the rear hatch area. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Midnight Warrior Posted April 21, 2014 Author Share Posted April 21, 2014 Anyways, Some of the body work was done at a local restoration workshop called "Street Weapon Restorations". Doors: The first bit of work to be done was the doors. Both doors were cleaned out, with new skins. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Midnight Warrior Posted April 21, 2014 Author Share Posted April 21, 2014 Once the doors were done, the next section to be completed was the dog legs. Dog Legs: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Midnight Warrior Posted April 21, 2014 Author Share Posted April 21, 2014 Once the doors and the dogs legs were completed, The rear hatch was tackled. As you guys can see in the initial pics, the rear hatch area was a complete mess. It needed all new light housings and a complete beaver panel. Rear Hatch: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Midnight Warrior Posted April 21, 2014 Author Share Posted April 21, 2014 As mentioned above, the car was sitting on a hill for a good couple of years. This was both a good thing and a bad thing. It meant that only a few areas were badly rusted out, as all the water gathered in set areas. It however did mean that the areas that were rusted out, were pretty badly rusted out. The next area was the roof area. Roof Area: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
310z Posted April 21, 2014 Share Posted April 21, 2014 The work looks great. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Midnight Warrior Posted April 21, 2014 Author Share Posted April 21, 2014 Surprisingly the floor and rails of the car were in really good condition. The only other areas that needed work to be done to them was: 1. battery tray area 2. Windscreen area 3. Front fenders 4. Firewall (Where a crappy after market aircon unit was) 4. flares Battery Tray: Windscreen Area: Firewall: Front Fenders: Flares: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Midnight Warrior Posted April 21, 2014 Author Share Posted April 21, 2014 Once all those area were completed, Dare I say that the car is 100% Rust free (is there even such a thing with a ZED?) It was then sprayed in a flat black to water seal the car. Here are a few random pics. (One of the other members had a V8 custom hood, so we thought we would try that out) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Midnight Warrior Posted April 21, 2014 Author Share Posted April 21, 2014 Once all the "Rust" work was completed, I set my eyes on the engine bay. I repainted the engine bay in a gloss black, and concentrated on getting the mechanical of the car working smoothly. Here was my list of things to do: 1. Remove old busted L24 (non matching engine) 2. Pull out a rebuild L26 that I had from my previous 260z and drop it in. 3. Do a manual conversion 4. Fix the electronics 5. replace busted starter motor Engine Bay: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Midnight Warrior Posted April 21, 2014 Author Share Posted April 21, 2014 Once the engine was sorted, and the car was running. I then turned my attention to the inside of the car. I put a set of RX8 seats in, (Which fitted really well, and didn't need much work to install). All that needed to be done was drill 2 new holes for the front of the car, and attached a metal bracket in the back to mount the rear holes. I also fat matted the entire inside Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Midnight Warrior Posted April 21, 2014 Author Share Posted April 21, 2014 After all the ground work was done, I then started on the prep work to get the car ready for paint. I decided to go with the Aurora Blue Paint Work: Primer: Paint: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Midnight Warrior Posted April 21, 2014 Author Share Posted April 21, 2014 GOODIES: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Midnight Warrior Posted April 21, 2014 Author Share Posted April 21, 2014 Once the paint was sorted, I got the coilovers installed along with new bushings, wheels and shocks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Midnight Warrior Posted April 21, 2014 Author Share Posted April 21, 2014 Interior: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Midnight Warrior Posted April 21, 2014 Author Share Posted April 21, 2014 Here is what the car currently looks at as at today. There is a still of work that needs to be done. 1. Needs to be Registered 2. Dash reskin 3. Centre console 4. Badges 5. L28 upgrade 6. Triple Webbers 7. Rx7 seats rather than Rx8 8. Sound system 9. Weld on battery tray 10. Mount rear spoiler 11. Tune But in the most part its pretty much there. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Midnight Warrior Posted April 21, 2014 Author Share Posted April 21, 2014 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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