What should be my "plan of attack" with building the Z

[icapture]

So I just sold my motorcycle so I could start my Z build. I am going to go with the SR motor and am shooting for 300-350hp. The motor is not the part I need help with, that kind of stuff I know. My question is this. After I buy the Z what should be first on my list?

 

I wanna have stages to complete. If you could do your Z restoration/build over again, how would you do it?

 

This car is gonna be fully built, motor, suspension, interior, ect. But I dont have the cash to do it all at once. So what stage should be first? clean up the body? then motor? or clean up the body then suspension?

 

Thanks,

 

A

[MoNkEyT88]

Well, heres what I'm doing. And it's taken me a year already.

 

1. Strip car down

2. Build rotisserie

3. Blast entire body (some missed areas)

4. go nuts with saws all/cutoff wheels.

5. weld new floor pans/sub frame connectors, stitch weld seams.

6. Get car off rotisserie, cut off frame rails, weld in new frame rails.

7. Weld in roll cage, box strut towers, stiffen chassis. Seat mounts.

7.5(added)Modify struts with adjustable coil overs, disk brakes .etc.)

8. Fit motor/fabricate transmission/engine mounts.

9. Fab fuel cell mounting area.

10. Assorted other fab.

11. More assorted fab.

12. Re-blast, or clean up with grinding.

13. Paint.

14. Fit brake lines/electrical/interior

15. Body work (in my case, because I want to make carbon fiber panels, otherwise I'd do the bodywork before paint and blast)

16. Finding problems to fix.

17. More problems/possibly find a solution.

18. OMG it moved.

19. More fixes

20. Probably okay now.

[PanzerAce]

I'd say clean up the body first, since that will be hardest to do once everything else is done. Then just get it running, then interior.

[jeffer949]

Start with the body and get it to where you want. Everything else bolts to the body. So get it looking and modified the way you want and then start with the parts that bolt on. Engine should be last in my book. (not saying I followed my book) but if i had to put it on paper which way to do it i would do

 

body/paint

suspension/brakes

interior

engine

[78280z]

I completely agree with jeffer949. I have considered a number of ways to attack my build, and that makes the most sense to me, too.

[serx93]

I mainly agree with Jeffer949, but there is one thing I would change in the order

 

body/paint

suspension/brakes

engine

interior

 

You can get the car running and start to enjoy it while you complete your interior. Tint the windows and no one will know that your interior in still crap.

[Mayolives]

It's the same old story and sorry to say, but it all boils down to dollars and cents. The body work should come first but if your wallet can't stand it, there's only one alternative. SAFETY first and bling thereafter. Think about how to stop a fast car and make it handle. That's my two cents worth.

[rturbo 930]

Since I just got a turbo motor, my build will likely go something like this:

 

Fix rust

Engine (L28ET)

Suspension

Chassis stiffening

New engine (V8)

Tear it down and sandblast it once I've got it performing how I want

Body work

Paint

Interior

Other

 

Of course, this is all subject to change.

[Glitch]

It's always good to do the body first if you can afford it. If you are anything like me, once you get it to the point where it runs and drives, you will never get around to doing a complete tear down in order to do the body work. At the very least, repaint the engine bay before you do the swap (but after you have finished ALL of the test fitting)!

After the body:

brakes/suspension/tires!

engine

interior