1974.5 260Z ATLAS build

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got my shims in today. that is VERY hard to do with the engine in, etc. Got a real nice drop on everything. I will also mod my motor mounts for some drop there also.

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11-22-2025: Today I finished getting the front end together,  as least enough to roll it around.  The shims between the frame and rails are really aluminum blocks.  I started with a 2 inch thick block, minus the factory plate I removed so they give about a 1 7/8" drop to the crossmember and engine. This is to get a starting point.  With the front end together, I have 2 3/4" worth of adjustment left in the front struts to lower the nose down further with these plates in there.  I have at least 4 inches if not more of clearance between the bottom of the cross member and the concrete.  I installed some 1" thick bumpsteer spacers, and from the pics you can see the bottom arm is level, so pretty good for a starting point.  I will now work on modifying the motor mounts to drop the engine 1-1.5 inches and see how it goes.  With the block in there, and lowering the motor mounts, I believe the engine will fit completely under the stock hood.  However, it will be necessary to get longer bolts and put spacers between the TC rod and arm to get the TC rods to bolt back up, and the sway bar end links were shot anyway, so they need replacement.  I found that with the bump steer spacers, the factory wheels hit the steering rack end links.  With the factory wheels, you would have to run wheel spacers for clearance, as even after grinding the ends down, they were still hitting.......will my 16" wheels clear?  will be interesting to see.  After this I removed some of the remaining factory undercoating that was peeling off and spot painted some spots with rustoleum primer to keep things from getting rusty.  the pale yellow you see in the pics is actually the factory metal primer!!  I then jacked up the rear, and removed the wheels, the 3 nuts on the top of each strut and then stood on each drum dropping and pulling out the rear struts.  Because of their length, I had to go ahead and chop them in two in the car to finish getting them out.  hydraulic fluid leaked and made a mess, but I got them out and after a cleanup with some shop rags and g@s, we are back to making progress.  I have a mobile welder coming soon to weld on the collars in the rear and then I can put the rear suspension back together and get the car back up on 4 wheels.  At that point, it will be time to pull the windshield and remove what's left of the paint and start prepping the Sheetmetal for the body and paint guy.  PICS:

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Update from Ken at Chop Suey on my rollpan:

 

https://photos.app.goo.gl/SrTor4XxT6yc5HSD9

 

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Today the mobile welder stopped by and welded the collars for my coilovers in the rear.  progress made.

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11-25-2025. My new fender and hood came in from Resurrected Classics today. I quickly hung the fenders on and took some pics to show how well they fit. Very impressive. High quality parts. The box does say "Made in China", but they are VERY nice pieces. I also went ahead and got the front tires mounted on to the front wheels. The wheels are 16X8 with 0 offset, the tires are 205/55R16.

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11-26-2025.  I got the rear tires mounted on the wheels and balanced, and I was able to attach one headlight bucket and then started painting several coats of filler primer for deep scratches.  The bucket has deep scratches in the metal in the bottom of the scoop portion, so this will get a start on filling them, and then I will put some glaze on there and sand it smooth and sealer prime it before color and clear.  The other headlight bucket, after sandblasting revealed a crease in it, and I don't have the moxie to want to fight and fix a crease and make it look good, so I ordered up a reproduction bucket.  I then got a call from J&S Polishing, and ran down there and picked up my intake and valve cover.  Pics heavy. 

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Happy Thanksgiving! I started the layout on my new hood before going in for the holiday. 13 1/4" from the front hood corners. this should allow for the radiator support to see seen, AND because some of the center bulge remains, those bends in the steel will help with keep the sheet metal rigid. I wanted to keep some the center bulge anyway, as it helps set the tone for how the bodies lines go back visually. the side will be cut to cover the tops of the struts, yet, show the tops of the frame rails and how there are no exposed brake lines. With the hood being black but the engine compartment blue, it will also set off the edges around the polished engine sticking up. At least in my mind.

[calZ]

I can't tell from the tape what you're doing. Cutting a hole in the center of the hood for clearance? Making the hood into a donut or a U? 

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Got my proofs back from speedhut with the Z in there.

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38 minutes ago, calZ said:

I can't tell from the tape what you're doing. Cutting a hole in the center of the hood for clearance? Making the hood into a donut or a U? 

Similar to this pic below: 

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11-28-2025.  I started today by sanding out and using some filler glaze on the left headlight bucket, and then sanded down both front fenders.  Then I finished scribing out the hole on the hood and cut it.  After that, I went ahead and primed and painted the front fenders and the one headlight bucket I currently have. 
There are 5-6 spots I will have to fix / paint correct, but progress is made.  Pics:

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11-30-2025.  Weird day for progress.  Last day of November and its 15 degrees out .  So, it was time to bring stuff inside to work on.  My Rage Gold finally showed up, so I can begin the tedious process of making the doors, quarters, roof and tail smooth.....when it gets warmer.  A couple corners on the hood had some nicks from cutting it, and I filled them with all metal filler and was able to sand them smooth quickly.  All Metal is the only filler that can survive powder coating, so the hood is now ready for its trip to the powder coaters for gloss black just like my new hatch.  I brought my valve cover in, as well as my coils, dash vents and dash name plaque.  I used my bathtub, and some pine sol, water and an old toothbrush and scrubbed out the valve cover...it was full of dust from the polisher, then scrubbed my coils, fresh air vents from the dash and the dash plaque.  1974.5 is different, the dash vents are very unique, when it became a 280Z the next year the vents have a push pull knob in the center to open close the vent....these are just vents, with no door to open and close them.  Since this is a one year car, there can't be many of these setups left........The dash plaque I will attempt to paint the letters etc with a paint pen, but I have no faith at all in my ability to do so.  I have shaky hands.  Anyway, it was mentioned earlier that the port I added for a catch can wasn't baffled, and that as such, I will just fill my catch can up with oil......so I asked A.I. on Chat GPT about it, and did some thinking, and came up with this.....I cut a piece of sheet metal and bent it and then used some JB weld bonding glue I had in the garage to make a baffle which will allow the pressure out but keep the oil IN.  See the pics below.  Once dried, it will function fine for keeping my catch can from filling up with liquid, and let the crankcase breathe.  PICS: