To Strip or Not to Strip?

[terse]

Hey guys, I got a 74 260z a few months ago and the paint and body is in very good condition...... on the surface.

I don't know much about the history of the car, so I don't know where it's originally from or where it's been most it's life.

 

There are obvious signs of deep rust though... above the tail lights and underneath the car on one of the frame rails. It has rusted through, so I'm sure there's more rust hiding somewhere else. Other parts like floor pans seems like surface rust. Nothing going on in the battery tray area.

 

My question is, is it worth it to sand blast the car and strip it down to see what other rust is hiding beneath?

I plan on keeping the car forever and don't want to start building/modding and end up having to strip it down later if it's going to be an issue.

 

 

 

 

Edited June 24, 2014 by terse

[terse]

Here are the major rust spots that really need to be dealt with (that I can see).

Should I just deal with the rust spots only, or would stripping/ sandblasting be opening up a can of worms..?

 

I guess, I'd just hate to strip the car down at this point since the paint is still good.

Edited June 24, 2014 by terse

[rturbo 930]

I'd strip it in those areas to see how far the rust spreads, and fix the rust. Leave the rest alone. If you decide to do a bare metal restoration later on, you can do that too. But many people (me included) strip these cars down to nothing, and completely underestimate how much work that sort of project is... and they never get finished, and either sit, get parted out, sold, or scrapped. Believe me, you want to keep the car in one piece, unless you've got the means to do a bare metal resto the right way.

[NgoZ]

I agree with what Rturbo 930 said. I have a 280z that I have in pieces and it's been a bear to actually find time to slap back together.

 

Those areas you showed are typical and shouldn't be hard or take too long to repair. Poke around more by the floor boards and get a good light and peek around the darker areas you can't see well.

 

Anyway, it does seem very nice tho.

[socorob]

In my opinion that's a tough call. If you want to "keep it forever" then strip it all the way down, fix the rust and start fresh. Zs have lots of rust hiding under undercoating, sound insulation, etc that are going to just keep rusting unless they are dealt with. On mine I blasted the bottom, engine bay and frame horns behind the fenders. Amazing how much shows up after you blast it. You wouldn't want to do all this work to a car, assuming you're going all out, to later have to pull it all apart to fix rust and put it all back together again. The other side if the sword is just take the easy way, patch what's noticeable, drive it, have fun with it for a few years and flog it in. You lose less money that way and its less work to do. You just need to be realistic about your goals of this car, whether you want it to be short or long term. Nothing wrong with whatever route you choose.

[terse]

Thanks for your feedback guys.

 

In my opinion that's a tough call. If you want to "keep it forever" then strip it all the way down, fix the rust and start fresh. Zs have lots of rust hiding under undercoating, sound insulation, etc that are going to just keep rusting unless they are dealt with. On mine I blasted the bottom, engine bay and frame horns behind the fenders. Amazing how much shows up after you blast it. You wouldn't want to do all this work to a car, assuming you're going all out, to later have to pull it all apart to fix rust and put it all back together again. The other side if the sword is just take the easy way, patch what's noticeable, drive it, have fun with it for a few years and flog it in. You lose less money that way and its less work to do. You just need to be realistic about your goals of this car, whether you want it to be short or long term. Nothing wrong with whatever route you choose.

 

Thanks scorob, I think you hit it on the head with what my concern is.

I DO plan to put a lot of work into it (redo full suspension, brakes, RB25 swap, etc) so I want to do it once, and do it right the first time.

It's nice being able to start with a clean fresh car, and not have to worry about any rust appearing later.

 

Stripping the car to bare metal and putting back is a daunting task though, and certainly not a "fun" mod unlike adding hp

[m1ghtymaxXx]

If it's in your budget and schedule, I'd certainly blast it. I can only imagine the luxury of work on a bare metal chassis after attempting to fix rust on my previous car.