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HybridZ

is it worth fixing/painting? (lots of pics)


caszboy

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I bought this 1974 260z (early) not to long ago and now that its warmer outside, I'm starting to take a serious look at the body/paint. I'm not sure if its worth the bodywork and paint. structurally, the car is very sound and running great. There is no rust on the frame, just the body.

 

My plans for the car is to do a 350 V8 swap. So what should i do? just hold out and buy a good body z with motor problems and swap that while i use this as a daily driver? or should i fix the body on this one?

 

I have figured the body work, if done by myself with my friends help to be about $500 for parts and $1500 for paint after i prep it. That's $2000 + my man hours. While i have seen some good body Z's with nice paint for around $3000. About the same price + and extra car.

 

here are some pics. Please help me decide!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

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It is hard to believe that door sill is so far gone and there is no rust on the underside. Start hitting things hard with a screwdriver and see what holds up. You may have to replace more than you think.

 

If you can find a car that doesn't need paint, the by all means start with that. You will easily drop over $2k and a bunch of time painting any car. Plus brand new paint can mean things like all new weatherstripping, refurbished decals, etc. Cost adds up.

 

But are there really that many rust free Z's in the Virginia Beach area?

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If you love the car... it's worth it.

If you don't, 3 grand for a decent body plus all the extra parts that go with it is a Better Deal. You would save man hours. Be on the road much sooner. Have more parts to choose from. Sell the remainig pieces on ebay recovering some costs. To me it looks really rusted inside the rockers, places that will pop rust again you can't repair without spending even more money... and the sunroof with roof skin replacement.... Tons of work.

If you plan to spend 2000 it will be more than that in the end. I don't mean to come off negative here, just being real.

It all depends what you want to do?

Full resto or patch n paint?

If your going to a 350 swap and all the extra time and money, find a better Z. You'll be glad you did.

 

Brian

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I would just remove the sunroof and reskin the roof...

 

Agreed, however, it is not that easy. While you can easily reskin the roof, remember that the roof is convex and would require a bit of shaping. Otherwise you'll be using quite a bit of bondo/filler to form the correct shape.

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check your frame rails and the floor pans...these are the typical S30 weak areas. Do a search under my name and you will see I rescued a S30 from the crusher...I smile every time I see it, even though its on jack stands.

 

Aftermarket sunroofs are a terrible thing...especially for these cars.

 

Yasin

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the frame rails from what i can tell are in great shape. the floor pans were replaced about 2 years ago (or so i was told by the PO, they look good). yeah, i think im going to use this as a daily driver until i pick up another Z. then sell this one or use it for parts.

 

This is the third z that i have owned. I sold the other two because i moved 1600 miles. I really want to do the 350 install. im thinking that if i just happen to stumble upon some cash, i might go ahead and install a 350 in this one. Learn as i go and swap everything into a nicer z later. I just don't have the experience for body work, nor a garage anymore (just moved). I dont want to end up being the PO that someone is talking about who messed up a car with crappy bodywork.

 

thanks for the replies. always helpful!

 

I am going for a daily driver/once a month 1/4 mile car.

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someone brought up an idea about the roof. a friend told me to get a new sunroof that is slightly bigger. this way when the hole is cut, it removes the bad metal also. just kind of an idea.

 

Also, i have always wanted a car with a targa top (sp?). has ANYONE ever done this with a Z? like the Toyota Supra style top or Honda del sol? sorry if this question has been asked before.

 

Casey

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Guest Death69

lol! a targa top would acutally be pretty hard, seeing as its just basically sheet metal up top. you'd have to do ALOT of work probably.

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