Jboogsthethug's 1971 240z build

[Jboogsthethug]

so about two weeks ago I tracked down my first 240z, I found her in the bushes in Blackfoot Idaho, a bit of a drive but she was a great deal and for whatever reason she has almost no rust on her, considering she's an idaho car.

I am shooting to be done with this by September, as far as aesthetically is concerned.

I have a bunch of photos I've been taking along the way and I am uploading them now, will post soon.


EDIT:

here is a direct link to all my photos, rather than photo bucket links

http://forums.hybridz.org/gallery/album/1589-jboogsthethugs-1971-240z-build/

Edited July 7, 2015 by Jboogsthethug

[Jboogsthethug]

alright, finally got some photos uploaded, still looking for a better method but for now this will do.

so here are a few pics of my babe when I got her and when I got home.

 

 

 

 

 

 

THe body itself, for being out of idaho, is almost 100 percent rust free, other than the rear fenders. Luckily those will be cut out for fender flares and life will be much better then!

I was happy to find out that the original jack, tools, and wheel stops were still with the car. I was told an old man had the car in his garage for years (1st owner), a second owner bought it then later on sold it to a kid who I bought it from, with nothing really being done by either of those two to it, as far as I could tell. 

 

 

 

 

 

I immediately began doing the prep work to get this bad boy painted, starting with sanding down the front drivers side fender and the rear spoiler, just to get things moving. I have a short attention span so I move fromthings to things in a pattern to keep me going

 

 

engine all intact and runs great, new alternator was a nice find

 

 

also began taking off the bumpers, at least the front one as I hear the rear is a pain so that will be soon enough.

I also have already ordered the flares (silverline motors - the wide zg flares), a performance odyssey battery, and a carb rebuild kit from the zstore.

 

the carb rebuild kit came in the mail so I got to work on removing the carbs

 

thoe hoses in case I get confused putting them back together haha

 

no more air filter box cover

 

 

 

this thing was interesting to figure out. its the throttle bracket thing, couldn't figure out how to remove it

 

 

but then figured out the answer. my friend said it would pop off if I pulled hard enough but I wasn't brave enough to try

 

the answer: unscrew the end bolt things 

 

 

 

 

and after a bit I have this:

 

 

removed from the panel

good ole engine degreaser (does anyone know if the degreaser harms the gaskets in any way? wasn't sure but wasnt too worried as I would be replacing them anyways, just for future info?)

 

a bit dirty, better than I expected 

 

dissassembly

 

old vs new:

 

finished product

 

 

battery showed up

as well as the flare mount bolts, I got a special kit from Pegasus auto racing, they actually bolt the thread inserts into the panel rather than screwing into the panel, I figured it'd be a bit cleaner.

 

 

so far this is where I am, I'm about to start on the second carb and then continue the tear down soon, although I plan on getting a few really cool shots for a video before I do to show the before and after. I have a guy who will be painting it a gunmetal dark grey metallic paint, very sexy. soon to come hopefully.

 

will post more later

Edited August 7, 2015 by Jboogsthethug

[Jboogsthethug]

So this week I really got to work on the teardown of the interior in prep for paint.

 

the paneling is all in pretty good shape

 

out come the seat rails

 

 

the metal under the sheets is in fantastic shape and I am stoked!

 

dash started it's way out

 

clean metal interior

 

front bumper off

 

anyone know where to find a new overfill? mine has a tip broken off

 

the thing I'm most stoked on is the fact that this vinyl is in INCREDIBLE shape, it all peeled off very easily and I will easily be able to re glue it, I am stoked!

 

 

 

 

the top of the fender is almost completely sanded down. I'm going to need to find a better sanding method.

 

also, back to the carbs!

 

so I finished cleaning and rebuilding them, here they are all polished up!

 

during myself installing the new gaskets and the carbs my uncle went to town to change the battery terminals for the new battery!

 

(the next day I had to cut some off of the terminals to fit these better, turned out pretty good.

 

he also installed my new fuel filter, the other one was bollucks and disgusting

 

here are the carbs mounted in, definitely the cleanest part of the engine.

 

 

so I installed them up and we had ourselves a good go at trying to get them tuned up but for whatever reason we couldnt dial it down. I hadn't messed with any nternal adjustments but to be sure I pulled off my float cover and started checking things out. first:

 

the new jet looks identical on the outside in comparison to the old jet, minus the 2.0 on the side.

 

but further digging in I find this:

 

definitely not the same as the stock jet. Not only are they obviosuly different mechanisms, (the new one has a spring loaded internal piece whereas the old one was spring loaded in the middle, not sure if that makes a huge difference) but if you look at the tips you can see the slimmer cone of the old one in comparison to the new one. This might be for performance reasons, if somebody has input let me know but we were having no success with the instructions that came with the rebuild kit.

 

either way I just cleaned up the old ones as they were working fine before and I reinstalled them.

 

I also adjusted the float height as per the directions that came with the kit.

 

 

 

It says 10.31mm gap, I think mine was more along the lines of 10.5-10.75 mm but it was way better than when I began (15mm??). hopefully these directions are good!

 

more updates soon as I go!

justice
 

[Jboogsthethug]

I recently purchased the wide z flares from http://www.silverminemotors.com and they showed up in the mail yesterday night! so stoked, held them on my body and they look so good so I hope to install them sometime this week!

 

more updates soon!

justice

EDIT: I am not sure if they still sell their flares, I can't seem to find them online anymore.

Edited August 7, 2015 by Jboogsthethug

[Jboogsthethug]

Also, 

How can I post the pictures and have them pop up on this site rather than redirecting you to photobucket when you click on them? sorry for the inconvenience, any help would be appreciated.

[ryanabab]

Same flares that I bought!  They are a nice addition, still haven't put mine on yet, but soon.  The way I have been putting my pictures up is to upload them into a gallery on my profile and then simply clicking my media in the reply part (next to the smiley face) and then clicking the ones I want to use.  Not sure if this is how everyone else does it but it does work great for me

[Jboogsthethug]

Ryan! Thanks for the advice I'll try that this next time! I'll probably upload everything into it as well just to get it together here! And I plan on getting them on not next week but the week after so wish me luck I don't screw it up! I'll post pics when I do, glad to see others with the same good taste in flares

[Jboogsthethug]

It's been a bit since I posted, here are a few updates.

I've been focusing a bunch on the flooring, chiseling out all of the old sound proofing. I'm trying to get it all out of there so I can check the condition of the metal underneath. Sadly, I've found a few spots on the passenger side where it's rusted through, but luckily the driver's side is perfect! also, it seems somebody tried to jack the car up from the middle of the passenger side and bent the floorboards up and part of the trans tunnel out, dummies. oh well, I'll fix that too.

 

had to get a few screws out with some clamps but no worries.

 

As you can see, it cleans up nicely!

 

 you can compare the two sides pretty easily, I will probably cut out those spots and weld new metal in the specific spots rather than do a full new floorpan. I can't find any place where they sell single sides, I can only find sets. anybody know of a place?

 

 

as you can see I pulled the dash out. I have a chevelle that I am working on as well and I made the mistake of not marking each wire, not this time though! It took a few hours because of how meticulous I was being but it will be worth it putting it back in.

 

 

I also finally got around to putting my rear flares on, I still haven't done the cutting but I figured I'd bolt it all on and check it out before doing any cutting. screw holes are easier to fix than a whole sheet.

hoping to get the fronts on later today, wish me luck.

 

j

 

Edited October 10, 2016 by Jboogsthethug

[psdenno]

You mention looking for a "new overfill" tank. That's a vapor recovery tank, not a fuel holding tank. What's broken on it?

Dennis

[Jboogsthethug]

You mention looking for a "new overfill" tank. That's a vapor recovery tank, not a fuel holding tank. What's broken on it?

Dennis

 

Hey Dennis,

 

Good to know, I haven't found any repro's yet. one of the stems broke off at the base and got lodged in the hose, I hoped to get it out and possibly repair it but in getting it out the stem was damaged beyond repair so I am looking for a replacement. Know of any that match up? Even one that isn't original but has the same amount of inlets will work for me.

[Jboogsthethug]

This week I went the distance and cut my fenders. It was pretty terrifying to think about but once I started I realized as long as I didn't royally screw up I'd be ok as it would all be covered by my flares. I did my best to get them perfectly asymetrical  when I placed the lares on and drew the outer lines. I used those outer lines as guides and with a measuring tape marked an inch inward all the way around (although I have seen other people use a half inch to 3/4in, my flares have a wider edge so I opted for an inch for extra room to bend them up), then on the edges went straight down with the cut as best I could. My best go at making a upside down U.

 

 

Now on to the welding and pounding of the rear fenders!

Edited August 19, 2015 by Jboogsthethug

[88dangerdan]

I have a couple of different styles of the recovery tanks laying around. If you want to send me a picture of yours and are willing to pay shipping costs you can have it. Pm me if interested.

Daniel

[AkRev]

Glad to see another Z in the area. Good work with your car.

[Jboogsthethug]

Glad to see another Z in the area. Good work with your car.

Yeah it's always sweet to see other z's, I'm going to check out your beaut in a sec as soon as I'm done with this post, yours look quite pretty!

 

anyways,

 

today I focused on the tank, rear bumper, and the wiring and side lights, along with a bunch of smaller parts in the engine bay. I marked all my wiring with blue tape with specific names on every end and part so I'd know where to put it all when I'm done, as well as I've taken all these photos to help me remember when I forget. hopefully this helps anyone seeking some help in the wiring department.

 

 

Here are a few pictures for dan, this is the tank I broke! I emailed you these as well but if you've got anything like this I'll gladly pay the shipping costs.

 

Edited August 21, 2015 by Jboogsthethug

[Jboogsthethug]

So this week I've focused on getting the body ready for paint. First things first, I need to get those rear flares welded together. I started by ripping out the sealant, it turned out to be pretty easy. I was able to get inside the car and go behind the whee; wells and use my hammer and chisel to scrape both sides of the sealant and push it out through the gap in the fenders. 
 

I also did the same on the outside for the front sides of the flares, but after scraping them i pivoted the chisel to pry the pieces out

 

be careful when doing this, I slipped and it cut my finger pretty dang good, but this whole process took me 15 minutes tops.

after that, I grabbed a sheet of metal from my local store, picked up glavanized without thinking about it, my bad. for those of you not familiar if you weld this and breathe in the fumes it will make you super sick.

 

 

so I went back for some cold steel, ended up cutting the crap out of myself with that sheet, took out a chunk of my thumb but after I put the piece back in place then gauze padded that beast all is well.

I went to work by wire wheeling all the spots I needed to weld, including the holes in the side for the door trim.

My brother is a welder by trade and so I got him to do most of the welding done so far. here we are deleting the  rear bumper indents with sheets we've cut out, trying to make it as flush as possible then finishing up the rest with filler. NOTE: we tried initially cutting that piece and pulling it out rather than welding a new sheet on to cover it, that didnt work as it is part of the main body and would leave a gap on the inside of the car, so an extra sheet was cut. 
 

 

I also cut out a few of these circles by cutting squares then rounding them to delete the door mirrors and the antenna. turned out pretty good, held it in place with some decent magnets so we could tack.

 

 

Thats all for now, I will update more in a few days. really stoked on how it's going. hope to have the body work done and get it painted in the next month.

[Jboogsthethug]

I got around to doing a few things today with my sexy babe today, aka my z! 

 

so first of all, I am terrible at welding. Don't judge the welds, I am slowly getting better and this definitely has been good practice for me. but some of them turned out good after grinding so I am happy! This is what my welds to fill the trim holes ended up looking like:

 

 

not bad at all considering previous weld jobs I've done.

 

I also began pounding the inner fender of my rear fenders and Tack welding those. Mind you, my tack welds look like I was trying to weld, whereas I was actually just trying to get a good tack. This is what the pounding looked like. I'm trying to get the inner fender to touch the outer fender. once it got close I started on the next part.

 

 

the next part being the tack welds. as you can see, my initial welds I had to grind out, that was also right handed. I decided to try it left handed on the left and the welds came out a lot cleaner and stronger. weird.
 

 

I also cut out some cancer and scooped out some of the original fender sealant that had fallen down. I'll do the same tomorrow on the other side and get some new sheets put back in.

 

Also, big shout out to 88DangerDan on here, he saw my need for the resevoir tank as mine was broken and he sent one over to me after I sent him some money for the shipping. Very cool thing to do, thanks mate!!

 

More tomorrow!

 

 

[Jboogsthethug]

I guess it's been a few days, sorry I lied to you all haha. I've been working on the z every chance I get, I am almost finished with all the welding and I'm happy with the outcome so far. I may have touched on this in the past post but I've decided to shave the rear bumper indents on the side of the z. So far I've only welded the new plate on the passenger side (I tried to cut through the drivers side and then just pull it out, but I found out it overlaps the flooring on the inside of the body, so I had to re weld and the next step is clean that up and cover it up with a different sheet I've already cut out.

 

I do feel a lot more confident in my welding abilities as time progresses, and after messing with the welder settings my brother and I think we've hit a good point (we are only using 110v so it's been tricky to figure out).

 

I also took a few pictures to send to the guy who I plan on doing my body work, these are the mistakes that need fixing. I've been trying to get most of it out the old way, with a hammer, but I am not super proficient at it yet so I will keep trying. the one that worries me the most is probably the dent in the rear valance, that needs some pounding out. Am I a wuss for not wanting to get under my car and have all those cobwebs fall on me? haha I hate cobwebs. Spiders are ok, but when webs are on me I can't tell if a spider is lurking about and that's really what trips me out.

 

I also started putting my new flare rivets into the body, I ordered them from pegasus racing, they're the 10/32 nuts I showed at teh end of my second post. they are kind of a pain, I have stripped a ton of bolts. I would recommend the lighter duty version, I got the heavier duty flanges or whatever and they are a pain to squish down. I'm going to weld an allen onto a bolt so it will work, that's where I'm at right now after stripping so many. they do come with a  couple bolts in case you do strip them but not enough, and I bought some more from Cal-ranch (do they have that outside of utah?).

 

as you can see by the third picture my bolts aren't holding up. anybody got a better way of doing these??

 

I also went through a few areas with a wire brush and one of those sponge looking brush things that don't last too long (but are amazing while they do last!). I went over a few spots on the outside that had surface rust beginning to form from me  exposing the metal to weld, as well as the door jambs (I want to go over those more, some cancer still lurking there), and the rear hatch area. I had pulled out most of the dead and dry water proofing crap but the residue was still left over, so I wirebrushed the crap out of that and after I wirebrushed all the things I went over it with some spray can primer for the time being, to keep the rust gnomes at bay.

These things, they're great. paint stripping brush? 

 

I also got around to doing the rear passenger flare a lot more. so far it's just tacked a bunch (tack it down, pound out the next inner flare area, tack that down, pound, tack, pound, etc.), my brother thinks we shouldn't weld the whole thing, rather leave it tacked as is and then use a sealant (I plan on the sealant either way, just for safety measures against water seeping through and rusting my fenders). What do you all think? Weld the whole way or just sealant the rest shut??

 

 

I also cut the excess off in preparation to finishing it up. looks a lot cleaner now!

As you can see I used some 24 gauge metal to patch up some cancer! first time I've ever done patches, and I have yet to grind down the welds but I was pleased, although I would recommend 22 or 20 gauge for future reference, 24 seemed a little thin in comparison to the rest of the body's metal. I used my super fancy wrench to help bend the shape, I got it more refined than this before I installed, I was pleased with how it turned out!

 

before:

after:

 

very cool stuff, this body work!

 

anyways, That's all for now. I'm planning on finishing up both rear flares today, wish me luck. 

 

also, I've found these around the internet, very helpful little diagrams! figured I'd post them for reference.

 

justice.

 

[Jboogsthethug]

so first and foremost, I found a video and the original ad from when I bought my z, I thought it would be rad to show it, as well as the video the kid sent me of it starting up. It really is a strong engine even still.
 

 

I've been trying to get these freakin studs in, they are too think or something and they literally won't bend like they're supposed to. after stripping multiple bolts I decided to weld the allen key into one to stop the stripping. I ended up breaking the allen key, so I think I'm going to email pegasus and see if there's some sort of trick top these things.

 

as you can see. my allen key was no match for these super strength inserts!!

 

anyways, I had a spot or two that I needed to get fixed up in my flooring.

 

I had some bending upwards on the passenger side as well, somebody must've jacked the car up using hte frame rail and it bent up, so I got in and just jumped on the bend as hard as I could. luckily my 200 pounds of fleshy blubber was able to straighten that out for now, but I will definitely look into the mad dog frame rails to strengthen them up.

 

Does anyone have any other recommendations??

here is a pic of one of my patches. I am a terrible welder, I pretty much just try and tack it in and tell my brother to finish it off.

 

 

I also got around to the other fender. those are all my own tacking and pounding, I am proud of my little fender! stoked to see I am actually getting better.

 

I also am getting a bit better at the whole cutting out the cancer and replacing the sheet metal thing. I was almost spot on with my bends this time in comparison to last time (spot on in my own way, of course). I took a few pictures to show how I bend everything into the shapes I need.

here is my sheet metal cutouts:

 

sophistication at its finest.

 

not too shabby for a one eyed kid!

 

after that, I tacked the couple of pieces into the body! turned out decent!
 

 

so before:

 

and after:

 

pretty stoked, I've got all tomorrow to work on her and I am stoked!

also, Found this diagram as well, check it out!

 

more soon!

justice!

 

 

 

[AkRev]

I have only had to use those rivet nuts once. We used a socket Allen with an impact turned down to get it. Let me know if you want to try that. I am out of town until Monday, but I live not to far from you at the base of G mountain.

Edited September 12, 2015 by AkRev

[Jboogsthethug]

I have only had to use those rivet nuts once. We used a socket Allen with an impact turned down to get it. Let me know if you want to try that. I am out of town until Monday, but I live not to far from you at the base of G mountain.

Not a shabby idea! I actually leave Tuesday afternoon for a week, but what might be a good idea is I go buy some of those today at home depot! I'll try taht out because I am having no luck with this so far haha. do you know if they make like star head bolts the same size as the allen key bolts? something like this: http://i00.i.aliimg.com/photo/v1/2013326862_1/JSZY_China_hardware_manufacturing_star_head_bolts.jpg

 

I want some bolts that wont be as easy to remove, and I don't think every person has a star bolt sockets, I just haven't found any the right size haha