artishard116 Posted November 16, 2018 Share Posted November 16, 2018 (edited) Hey everyone, I have a new project 280z and am looking for a bit of advice on how to progress. I've been reading as much as I can on the forum and build threads. Not new to cars, but this is my first project of this magnitude. The car seems sound structurally, all of the usual problem spots are solid. It's currently sitting completely stripped except for the doors, with the body panels and glass removed (but resting in place). A bunch more pics can be seen at: https://www.dropbox.com/sh/1kilb77s5otd5l3/AAC5oOHGWWXdiqU_hs8Atwx4a?dl=0 I would like to take it down to bare metal and go from there. I've been looking into either blasting or chemical dipping. I recently had a guy from a local restoration shop come take a look at it. He said he would sand blast the unseen parts of the car and use a combination of aircraft paint stripper and sanding on the body panels to avoid warping. This sounds logical to me however in the front frame rail area, where the tow hooks are, a lot of rust/dust fell out of the holes as those bolts were coming out. I’m worried there might be more spots like that that could rust from the inside out if I only address the surfaces (hence the dipping idea). Looking for a second opinion on this. My tentative plan so far is: -Strip shell to bare metal -Epoxy primer -Test fit engine and drivetrain (RB most likely) -Strip down to shell again -Send off for final primer, paint, body panel alignment, undercoat, etc. -Reassemble I also am planning on doing the below steps but I'm not sure where they should slot in in the order of things: -Welding up unneeded holes (rear bumper, remaining side-marker, antenna, door mirrors, interior holes left from bolt-in roll bar, hacked up interior speaker holes) -Rear half cage including harness bar, tying into rear strut towers, roof -Possibly weld-in camber plates, unsure how I feel about the bolt-ins that my towers are already cut for In true "while you're in there" fashion, I'm also considering: -Bad dog frame rails -Support connecting rocker to upper frame horns (will also be using strut tower tri-bars) Also possible: -Replacing all removable body panels with carbon/composite and then painting Anything I should add to these lists? Is my game-plan stupid? Any advice greatly appreciated. Edited November 16, 2018 by artishard116 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
grannyknot Posted November 16, 2018 Share Posted November 16, 2018 (edited) Sand blasting and chem strip are good as far as they go but will leave all the metal rusting inside the frame rails and sub frame, I dipped my 240 and would do it again but would change the order of work that was needed. Dipping is going to remove 95-98% of the rust, you can never get the rust in the seams between the spotwelds but you will need to seal all that bare steel pretty quickly after the dip. The place I used sprayed the car with a water soluble rust inhibitor that was good for a week to ten days and it worked pretty well. If I did it again I would get ALL of the metal work/welding done before hand and have your shop ready to spray frame sealer inside and 2k primer on the outside. If you are using something like Eastwoods internal frame spray get way more than you think you need, I bought 3 cans and it wasn't even close, 7-8 cans were needed, it disappears quickly. It is a real treat not spending 3 months of your spare time scraping tar, paint, oil and undercoating off. The pics are the day she came out of the bath. Edited November 16, 2018 by grannyknot Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
artishard116 Posted November 18, 2018 Author Share Posted November 18, 2018 (edited) On 11/17/2018 at 12:28 AM, grannyknot said: Sand blasting and chem strip are good as far as they go but will leave all the metal rusting inside the frame rails and sub frame, I dipped my 240 and would do it again but would change the order of work that was needed. Dipping is going to remove 95-98% of the rust, you can never get the rust in the seams between the spotwelds but you will need to seal all that bare steel pretty quickly after the dip. The place I used sprayed the car with a water soluble rust inhibitor that was good for a week to ten days and it worked pretty well. If I did it again I would get ALL of the metal work/welding done before hand and have your shop ready to spray frame sealer inside and 2k primer on the outside. If you are using something like Eastwoods internal frame spray get way more than you think you need, I bought 3 cans and it wasn't even close, 7-8 cans were needed, it disappears quickly. It is a real treat not spending 3 months of your spare time scraping tar, paint, oil and undercoating off. The pics are the day she came out of the bath. Appreciate the advice, looks beautiful out of the tank! I also wondered about those pinch/spot weld areas. So you'd suggest taking care of all the hole filling, chassis reinforcement, etc, before stripping? I sort of wanted to find out if there were any catastrophic surprises hiding under paint before I went that far, but I guess it doesn't matter. I'm probably already in this for the long haul haha. *Could I ask where you got the bath done? I'll be looking for places around the bay area if I go that route. Edited November 18, 2018 by artishard116 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
grannyknot Posted November 18, 2018 Share Posted November 18, 2018 I say get all that work done before hand because you have such a short rust free window before it starts again. The place I used was these guys, https://www.technostrip.com/restoration.html Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
artishard116 Posted November 19, 2018 Author Share Posted November 19, 2018 12 hours ago, grannyknot said: I say get all that work done before hand because you have such a short rust free window before it starts again. The place I used was these guys, https://www.technostrip.com/restoration.html Yeah I guess I was thinking I could do that stuff after an initial primer coat and just spray can prime the areas I needed to grind, but this sounds smarter. Thanks again. Any suggestions for holes that can be filled while I'm at it? I know it will vary a bit depending on the build. I've been looking at the floor pans and wondering if all those holes are necessary... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
grannyknot Posted November 19, 2018 Share Posted November 19, 2018 You'll find them necessary if you are ever in a flood, Nissan put them there as drain holes I think. Personally I never fill or eliminate stock holes because I am just the current owner, the car is definitely going to have other owners in the future and they may want to go back to original. Also I don't like the thought of being cursed at after I'm dead Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
artishard116 Posted November 19, 2018 Author Share Posted November 19, 2018 9 minutes ago, grannyknot said: You'll find them necessary if you are ever in a flood, Nissan put them there as drain holes I think. Personally I never fill or eliminate stock holes because I am just the current owner, the car is definitely going to have other owners in the future and they may want to go back to original. Also I don't like the thought of being cursed at after I'm dead Haha yes, I’m all for function. Also don’t plan to ever sell this thing but we’ll see. Did you do much chassis reinforcement? Not sure if the frame rails, etc are necessary on a 280. Better to overbuild I guess, in case i want to up the power down the road. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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