Papabohnert Posted November 15, 2015 Share Posted November 15, 2015 First off, I'm a student at McPherson College doing the Auto Restoration major. I picked up this Z in the Texas Hill Country where I'm originally from in exchange for a '47 Chevy coupe. I knew there was rust going into it, but now I've stripped the shell and I've got rust in practically every place I could have it. It's approaching too far gone, but I'm tackling it anyway. There's a completely rust free 280 body I'm going to pick up for patch panels that has been wrecked in the front end. My question is how much of the 280 can I graft onto the 240 without being a detriment to such an early car? Is it blasphemous to use the longer frame rails under the floor? Will that add enough stiffness to justify doing it as opposed to fabricating early style frame rails? I've heard the trans tunnel has a different shape on 280s, so perhaps the floors won't fit at all. Even that isn't so easy because my inner rockers are rusted where they meet the floors as well. How about the stacked boxes of the frame behind the t/c rod mount? I'm not after a custom job, but a mostly stock finished product capable of being a daily. I intend it to be more of a personal car than a flip, but I am interested in having a 240 when it's done and not a total frankencar. Any advice on how to approach the rust would be much appreciated. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rturbo 930 Posted November 16, 2015 Share Posted November 16, 2015 (edited) 280z floors are totally different than 240z floors. You can get replacement floor pans from zeddfindings (google it). It sounds like you want to do something close to a restoration. Check out classiczcars.com - that site is geared more towards restorations than this site, which is pretty much dedicated to bastardizing these cars. It does seem to have a lot of rust, but I wouldn't call it too far gone just yet. That can all be fixed... just takes time. And you're doing an Auto Restoration major, so I think this could actually be a great opportunity for you, and the car as well. IMO it's worth saving, based on what I see. As for the rockers, you could probably use the ones on the 280z to repair that part. Not many other ways to replace the inner rocker except for a body cut from another car, or a handmade replacement. Edited November 16, 2015 by rturbo 930 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GeeZ Posted November 16, 2015 Share Posted November 16, 2015 Consider finding a less rusted one. Better off in the long run. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Papabohnert Posted November 18, 2015 Author Share Posted November 18, 2015 I finally got the parts car and y'all were right, the floors definitely aren;t going to work. I was hoping to avoid buying floors because the parts car cost about the same as floors and frame rails. How about the frame rail behind the t/c rod mount? The mount on the 280 looks beefier than the 240, but the frame looks nearly identical otherwise. Would I have any problem pulling from the 280 to put on the 240? What is y'all's opinions on the roof rust? Would it be easier to replace the skin than stitch in pieces and repair the the drip rails? I've got rust underneath the drip rails as well. The lead line on the b pillar is the logical place to cut the skin on the back, but where on the front? Thanks for the replies! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rturbo 930 Posted November 18, 2015 Share Posted November 18, 2015 Here's a thread detailing the process of reskinning the roof if you go that route: http://forums.hybridz.org/topic/66240-successful-roof-re-skin-s30/ The 280z rails under the floor pans are beefier, but I wouldn't recommend using them. #1, they're designed to fit the contours of the 280 floor pans, and #2, on a car like this (low VIN, possibly #s matching), I just don't think it would be appropriate. I would recommend staying as close to original as possible. If you really want more strength, look into bad dog rails and subframe connectors. The roof repair... I don't know. Reskinning is a big job, but I've also read that patching a roof and getting it straight again is extremely difficult to do. What do you mean by rust underneath the drip rails? Pics? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Papabohnert Posted November 20, 2015 Author Share Posted November 20, 2015 I'll probably end up picking up a set of floors and rails. I have rust under the drip rail behind the lead line, where the drip rail is tacked on above the quarter window. I'll attach pictures soon. It is a numbers matching car. I'll likely restore this car back to stock and maybe pick up a 280 to "modify" further down the line. Thanks for the links to the roof swap threads. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rturbo 930 Posted November 20, 2015 Share Posted November 20, 2015 I figured that's what you meant. That area is going to be a pain to fix, but I'm 95% sure you can use the 280 parts car to fix that vs fabricating from scratch. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Papabohnert Posted November 22, 2015 Author Share Posted November 22, 2015 Burned out the lead line on the drivers b pillar and found most of the metal around that weld to be rusted away. This combined with the fact that nearly every other panel on the car is rusted, leads me on the search for another 1970 shell minus rust. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Papabohnert Posted November 22, 2015 Author Share Posted November 22, 2015 (edited) Sourcing an early shell appears to be a fairly difficult procedure. I suppose I could make any 240 work with enough cutting and welding, but this appreciation in value doesn't help my cause. Edited November 22, 2015 by Papabohnert Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rturbo 930 Posted November 23, 2015 Share Posted November 23, 2015 Not surprised, Mine is rusted in that same spot. I have pics from another member from when he did the same repair. I'm not sure if this album is private or not, let me know if you can't see it. http://s78.photobucket.com/user/rturbo930/library/jmortensen%20rust%20repair There is definitely a point where you have to say 'it's just too much work'. If this were a later car, I'd probably tell you to scrap it. Being such an early car, I'd be more willing to give it a chance at a new life. I don't know if you did already, but I would definitely suggest signing up at http://www.classiczcars.com/page/index.html and show them what you've got. They can give you much better advice than I can, and if it is worth restoring, you might even find a buyer if you decide not to pursue it yourself. I'm not sure what the cutoff is for what would be considered 'very early' but I'm guessing under #1000 makes the cut, or close to it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JSM Posted November 23, 2015 Share Posted November 23, 2015 Album shows private on my end. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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