My new project: 1971 240Z

[MJLamberson]

Id think you would have enough spare parts from your 3 other Zs to do all that, lol.

[EvilC]

What is the vin on this car? Looks like a very cool project to start with.

[rturbo 930]

what is the vin on this car? Looks like a very cool project to start with.

hls30-17955.

[Xnke]

Having just finished the A-Pillar rust repair on my '72, I can say with a little experience that the repairs you will have to make in that area will drive you crazy. Mine was not nearly that serious, and I had to cut a large amount of the metal away to get at it. It's caused by the cowl area rusting through and leaking into the space behind it, combined with badly adhered weatherstripping in the door. If you don't fix the cowl, you won't fix this rust. Also, you'll ruin your interior and floor pans, eventually, since the space that the rust is invading provides a door seal, and the leaking portion of the cowl is also directly connected to the space where the top door hinge bolts up. It'll likely be rusty too, gonna be fun to fix. Lucky for me, my door hinge area was just light surface rust, the wire wheel and POR-15 did it.

If you are farming out the rust repair job, make them take pictures of EVERYTHING when they work on that area. Tell them about the cowl rust issue, and make sure they fix it where it won't come back and can prove they did fix the cowl.

 

I'd take an extra careful look at the cowl area along the firewall in both the engine bay and in the cabin to make sure it's not rusting out around there too, just in case.

[rturbo 930]

Having just finished the A-Pillar rust repair on my '72, I can say with a little experience that the repairs you will have to make in that area will drive you crazy. Mine was not nearly that serious, and I had to cut a large amount of the metal away to get at it. It's caused by the cowl area rusting through and leaking into the space behind it, combined with badly adhered weatherstripping in the door. If you don't fix the cowl, you won't fix this rust. Also, you'll ruin your interior and floor pans, eventually, since the space that the rust is invading provides a door seal, and the leaking portion of the cowl is also directly connected to the space where the top door hinge bolts up. It'll likely be rusty too, gonna be fun to fix. Lucky for me, my door hinge area was just light surface rust, the wire wheel and POR-15 did it.

If you are farming out the rust repair job, make them take pictures of EVERYTHING when they work on that area. Tell them about the cowl rust issue, and make sure they fix it where it won't come back and can prove they did fix the cowl.

 

I'd take an extra careful look at the cowl area along the firewall in both the engine bay and in the cabin to make sure it's not rusting out around there too, just in case.

Oh wow, that sounds awful. I'd like to think that isn't the case with mine, since it, generally speaking, looks pretty solid except for those few areas, but I will definitely check it out.

 

Do you have pictures of your rust repair, before, during, after? I'm interested to see what you did/went through.

[Northern NJ Larry]

I parted my 71... let me know if you need anything...

[turboHLS30]

Hey i have a 72 parts car with mint interior for sale if you need anything let me know because i might be in New Jersey for a race from the 17th to the 20th. 386-307-2145 Shane

[rturbo 930]

I parted my 71... let me know if you need anything...

What build date was your 71? I can't afford much at the moment, but I'm semi-looking for a 71 dash, center console, wiring harness, and radiator.

 

Hey i have a 72 parts car with mint interior for sale if you need anything let me know because i might be in New Jersey for a race from the 17th to the 20th. 386-307-2145 Shane

Thanks for the offer, but I'm looking only for '71 parts. I assume you're going to NJMP? I checked it out with my family on fathers day just as spectators, looks like a fun track.

[turboHLS30]

i have a dash and ceter console in mint condition

[rturbo 930]

i have a dash and ceter console in mint condition

From a '71 or '72? I'm assuming '72 since you said you have a '72 parts car with a mint interior, which I'm not interested in. '71 parts only.

[turboHLS30]

it's the same thing

[Xnke]

No, it's not the same thing. the dash from a '72 and up will fit, but IS NOT the same as a '71 dash, and can be either a series 1 dash, or a non-series one, '71 dash. THEN you have the non-series one '72+ dash.

[rturbo 930]

Small update:

 

-Dash is "in". It's physically in the car, but only held in with a few bolts.

 

-I determined that the reason that the old doors that came with the car were not fitting properly was more than just an alignment issue. New doors in the process of being put on. They appear to be a much better fit.

 

-"New" wheels and tires. New, as in, I got them on a parts car, and the tires are good. The tires that the car came with were not good, and one of the wheels was the spare tire.

 

-I got a new (to me) series one steering wheel and four strut isolators, radiator and electric fan, and series one hatch, thanks to Armand, getoffmyinternet and zredbaron. All are great people to deal with

 

-This car will be getting flared. When I got it, the PO let me know that he took a DA to the rear quarter and noticed there was a bit of bondo. He thought the car had been flared at one point, which I think was a very accurate assessment after my findings today. Curiosity got the best of me and I removed the remaining bondo from the drivers rear quarter. There is a seam about 2" in all the way around the fender lip. On the back side, it stops about where the bumper is, very much like if someone were to flare the car with ZG flares. Didn't find the end of the front side. At the very least, it stops at the top of the dog leg, where it transitions into the fender lip. Will investigate more later, but at least my questions are answered.

 

-Oh yeah, I discovered my e-brake is not connected to anything today. Surprised me, since it seemed to be working the whole time, haha.

 

-And one last thing. My mustache bar bushings are not only shot, they don't exist. The car came with new mustache bar bushings, and only THREE of the four washers. If anyone has a fourth washer that you won't be using that is used in the replacement urethane bushing kit from MSA, or otherwise, please let me know. In the meantime, I will see if I can't locate it, or find a suitable replacement.

 

I'll get some pics taken in a few days, hopefully. In the meantime, here's some pics I took a few months ago.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[rturbo 930]

Got the bug to work on this thing again, and made a little progress since my last update.

 

- Did an electric fan conversion, since my radiator came with one. Why not?

- Installed said radiator, and new hoses (which did NOT fit out of the box).

- Fuel system is all done as of today.

- Driveshaft is in.

- Cleaned the interior a bit... including a mouse nest I found in the rocker.

- Put on some snowflakes with good tires from my parts car.

- Put on a spare door to fix my door alignment problem... the bad news is that it didn't fix it, so now I've got a real problem, and NO idea what the hell is wrong.

- Got a new wiring harness, correct for my car, so it will plug right in with no problems as soon as I fix a burnt wire or two.

- Found more rust, but also found solid metal where I didn't expect there to be. I guess that's good?

 

Not a lot, but it's something.

 

However, there is bad news. As mentioned, I keep finding more and more rust, and basically I've decided not to use this shell. I will get it driving and all the necessary things functional, but only so that I have a Z to drive while looking for a better shell. If anyone wants this shell, I'll be selling it as a roller, and probably pretty cheap. It is in fact salvageable, but it would be a bit of a pain in the ass to fix it, since it has rusted in a lot of hard to fix areas, although where it has rusted is generally not very serious. Lots of bubbling and pitting, but there are also some holes. It would be a good welding project for someone who wants to put in the work. It's not for sale yet, but if someone wants to get their foot in the door, feel free to PM me.

 

Onto a few more recent pics, although not much has changed.

 

[rturbo 930]

It runs.

 

 

So, today I changed the oil, filled the tank, and filled the radiator. Tried to start it, and we didn't fuel. This is because the hardline that goes under the car, the only one I haven't replaced, is bad. Currently have a line going from the pump, through a rust hole in the spare wheel well through the passenger compartment, and through the firewall. Try again, and it does fire. Got it running for a bit, shut it off to recheck the fluids, and there's a pool of oil on the floor. When I changed the oil filter, the old gasket stuck to the block... remove spare gasket, reinstall filter, problem solved. Finally, the rear brakes need work. Left one was stuck, and the right one is clearly leaking. There are no rear brakes, at all.

 

Lastly, when I pulled in the garage, I noticed two wires on the floor, one with a freshly cut connection... turns out it was from the headlight that was in my spare fender. Bummer, but oh well.

[rturbo 930]

Small update: I ordered an RT diff mount and bumpstops. Got a choke hooked up, and the rev limiter working correctly, as well as the alternator. I'm about to order a new tach, but I can't decide between black or silver face... surprisingly hard decision for some reason. Going to order a new (used) driver's lower hinge as well.

 

That's it until winter break.

Edited December 5, 2010 by rturbo 930

[240zip]

I read your thread. Because it's a series 1 and fairly complete, I'd personally restore it. I've seen far worse ones fixed. I seems you'll need to media blast the thing and then start welding away ...

[rturbo 930]

I read your thread. Because it's a series 1 and fairly complete, I'd personally restore it. I've seen far worse ones fixed. I seems you'll need to media blast the thing and then start welding away ...

Although I'm sure I'll change my mind several more times, that's the conclusion I've come to. I WANT to fix it, but it's a matter of my abilities, and I don't think many people will want to take on the project, so selling it is out. Also, at this point I think I know this car pretty well, and what it needs, although there's just a few areas I've yet to uncover. Personally, I like the car because I can do whatever I want to it without feeling bad, and I like that it's a series 1 since it's the ORIGINAL Z design. IMO, they got worse as the years went by. Not to mention, finding another (from the west coast) shipping it, etc, etc, will be a huge hassle. Although, I'm somewhat of a perfectionist, and I highly doubt I can make this shell perfect, but I think I'll be okay there...

 

It has some rust though that's going to be a royal pain to fix. A few weeks ago I decided to take the vinyl off the rear strut towers, and found exactly what I was hoping not to. There's a small amount of surface rust in the seam between the inner wheel well and the outer wheel well. It seems mostly superficial for the most part, but it's just another thing to fix, and if any actual surgery were required, it would be a MAJOR pain in the ass. There's a few other areas like that on the car, but not quite as bad as that.

 

For the record though, the pics you see here are pretty flattering.

[240zip]

well, I started with what I thought was a decent starting point and it still was a year long endeavor ...

 

http://forums.hybridz.org/index.php/topic/96860-update-on-240z-restoration/

 

see the second post for the before ....

[rturbo 930]

My car also has minor front end damage. I'm planning on a making a new radiator support that's a little improved over the original. Honestly, I think you had a much better car to start with. Here's what's rusted to some degree that I know about:

 

TC rod reinforcements on frame rail - both sides.

Floors

Top of rockers, and a small spot inside the pass. rocker where there was a mouse nest.

Bottom of A pillars

C pillars

Rear hatch sill (severe)

Rear roll pan

Dog legs

On the driver's side, the seam that the inner fender supports (I forget what they're actually called - splash guards?) is rusted. It's not bad, but it's rusted. Don't know about the pass. side.

Firewall where it meets the cowl.

A seam on the underside of the car, passenger side. Roughly 8" of the seam is rusted.

Driver's side interior wheel well seam, as mentioned.

Spare tire well.

 

And there's a little bubbling around the car that can be dealt with using body filler, and also the rear fender lips were replaced, so there's that to deal with, but I'm going to go with ZG flares.

 

A lot of what I mentioned is NOT severe. I don't think anything on the car is completely and totally rusted out. The inside of the pass. rocker could probably just be POR15'd. The driver's rocker has a few small holes from me testing the metal. The rest is just pitted. It looks bad (IMO) but it's really not. Regarding the A pillar rust, I'm not positive it's even a threat. It doesn't LOOK like the rust has even made it to a single spot weld, it's just rusted the edge of the metal. The pass floor has a hole (and patch) under the seat, which could just be finished off, and one on the front right corner. Driver's side has a small hole near the front seat support, and needs a somewhat sizable patch at the front left corner. Doglegs are just standard rusted out doglegs as far as I can tell. Same with the TC rod reinforcements, I don't think they're too far gone. Hell, the subframe under the floors that is almost always rusted out is rock solid. The hatch sill is gone though, and the C pillars will need some significant work. The spare tire well I don't really care about. The firewall needs some work though, I think the car sat outside for a bit too long on the coast of CT.

 

Hopefully that gives some insight as to what I'm dealing with. I can't get any pictures right now to show you better. As far as I can tell, the structure isn't really compromised, and it could all be fixed with a lot of work... it's just a pain in the ass, and I'd like to have a Z to drive sooner than later. I'm planning on getting a second opinion on fixing my rust at some point since I might be making it out to be more than it actually is.

 

I will say though, I too have seen worse fixed. The other day I was looking at a thread about a '70 on CZC that was repaired that I think was definitely worse off than mine. I think just about everything that was prone to rust on that car was rusted out...

Edited December 8, 2010 by rturbo 930