Project Fairlady z

[LegnaZetr0]

Quick intro and some history on me and my Lady.

Name's, Angel. This my second Z, my first one being a pile of rust held together by bondo and a shiny paint job. Lesson learned there. I was looking for a Fairlady for a few years with no luck and not enough money, it was merely a wet dream back then. Until one day i saw this car for sale and recognized it from a z meet I had attended as a 15yr old. I immediately Emailed the gentlemen (since he listed no phone number, just an email and said he'd reply back to those interested) And impatiently waited for a reply. It took several emails before I got his number, I felt like I was being interviewed (which turns out I was) and then finally he agreed to let me come see the z. The car drove great considering she had sat for quite some time, I was immediately in love and had to have it. I didn't have high hopes though, because what i could afford was about half of his original asking price, but i figured it wouldn't hurt to try. And it didn't! Luck was on my side and, Bob being an older man, told me money wasn't as important to him as finding a good owner for the car, one who was interested in the car itself and not trying to make a profit on a quick flip. He wanted the car to go to someone who was in love with the car as much as he once was when he first purchased it, his only reason for parting with it was the fact that it sat too low for him and was taking a toll on him climbing in and out of it. We made a deal and he held the car for me, never even accepted a deposit from me. It took me a little over a month to get all the money together, then i was on my way to pick up my Fairlady! 

 

 

 

Fast forward a little bit and now we're here..

 

 

 

Okay well I'm starting this in hopes to maybe motivate myself a little better in moving forward with this project.

She is a 1973 Fairlady z, I bought her about a year ago and daily drove her for about 8 months, when I started realizing the rain here in florida wasn't helping the small rust she had, I decided to not drive her anymore and park her until I fully restored the car. Well, I actually managed to get a personal loan from my bank to just about completely cover the cost for everything I wanted to do on the car, body and wheels wise. I found the shop that was going to do my work and all that remained was getting my hands on a nice g nose front end. The week I found the front end and was making final arrangements with the seller, murphy's law kicked in. I received a phone call from my mother that my father was involved in a nearly fatal accident in Nicaragua, And that it didn't look like he was going to make it. Without much thought, I called my job got the leave and hopped on a flight to Nicaragua. Upon arriving there i quickly realized it was a very serious accident( long story short my old man got hammered and tried to beat a 18-wheeler around a mountain bend, the semi won.) but it wasn't long after being there that the hospital staff starting going after my pockets, so the $8000 loan i had taking out to restore my z never made it back to the states with me. But the old man lived, and wouldn't have without all us pitching in money, so i suppose it went to good use.

Now, my dilemma. I have a z that needs a restore and minimal money. This is when I decided to do anything i could myself in the restomod to save money. 

All work will be done in house by me unless otherwise stated.

 

Here are pics of how she was when I was daily driving her, I almost feel stupid for ripping her apart cause she looks so clean in the pics, but the rust needed to get addressed.











This is actually pretty cool, its a brand new japanese wrench set that was never used brand new just sitting in the rear compartment.


And these were some of the rust issues that concerned me the most
passenger side frame rail

random rust spots on under carriage




Floors seem solid but that rail is pretty bad from battery acid leaking onto it.

This is her in the current stage, I don't have recent pics. but all glass is out along with most of the interior dash etc. all removed. i found quite a bit of rust underneath the front windshield and underneath the rear window on the hatch. Hatch will most likely get tossed but the windshield tunnel will have to be patched. Most of the white paint has been peeled off. Literally it was so brittle that it came off with a scraper.(the random black spots on the body are rust stopper, I applied it on any surface rust that was found)







So this is it for now, I'll try to post any updates. Keep me motivated guys! Between working full-time and college this car has been neglected.

Edited August 17, 2014 by 73FairladyZDriver

[LegnaZetr0]

I finally started doing some welding on the car. But I keep having a problem with fire, i've been grinding down the area where I'm welding but I get a flame going just about every time.

Edited August 14, 2014 by 73FairladyZDriver

[dzl]

1. You know that family is important.

2. You are working a full time job.

3. You are in college.

4. You are only 21.

 

Compared to most of the people I meet, at your age, you are way ahead of the game.

 

It may take a little longer than you would like, but you will finish this project.

[LegnaZetr0]

A few small updates. i was welding wrong, instead of doing a bunch of tack welds to put in the new metal i was doing full bead welds, which was producing too much heat. obviously why i kept staring a fire. Aside from that the rear suspension and drums are all pulled along with the gas tank. My brother is sandblasting the suspension components for me, when i get those back i will post pics. Hopefully i can start making more progress now since I'm done with my classes for the time being.

Edited June 1, 2010 by 73FairladyZDriver

[RB26powered74zcar]

73FairladyZDriver

Please click and read this >> Location Rule

 

Thanks!

[LegnaZetr0]

This was me taking a break from all the hard work on my brothers 50th anniversary, 300zx.( changing the wiring harness. not fun but not to hard either) don't worry all the paint will be removed at some point.

[LegnaZetr0]

Thanks j-soileau, appreciate it!

[RB26powered74zcar]

Thanks j-soileau, appreciate it!

 

 

Thank You

[RB26powered74zcar]

This was me taking a break from all the hard work on my brothers 50th anniversary, 300zx.( changing the wiring harness. not fun but not to hard either) don't worry all the paint will be removed at some point.

 

 

That would make a cool sig picture for you....

 

[LegnaZetr0]

I thought so too, but have no idea how to do it. I'm gonna try and figure it out

[LegnaZetr0]

Alright finally got things rolling again with this project. I've been pretty busy with other things but my new goal is to have her back on the road by january.

[LegnaZetr0]

well first things first..... what i've been up to the last few months thats kept my mind off the z........

 

My 05 zx10r trackbike ( aside from my z, motorcycles have always been a passion for me. So it was a long overdue upgrade from my 600 to a 1000 )

 

 

 

Working on my brothers 08 zx10, completely ignoring my baby sitting in the background patiently awaiting me.

 

 

And then we have my newest project........ A 1966 Honda cb160. She is in horrible shape and needs a lot of work. But i got her from the original owner with only 7,548 original miles!

 

Current stage.

 

 

And the cafe racer make over i plan to give her. ( same concept, different color scheme )

 

 

But no worries, i've swore to myself that i will not drop a penny into her until my z is finished.

 

Now. Shall we get back to the Z?

 

Okay this is her closest current stage. About to remove drivetrain and front suspension.

 

 

Drivetrain pulled.

( Thats me by the way, in the white. )

 

 

Interior. Or whats left of it. ( anyone know the color code for that factory blue? Might respray original color. )

 

 

All my Z's guts....

 

 

Misc. parts. ( putting my brothers 50th a.e to good use, lol )

 

 

Donor hood. Being chopped up for any useful sheet metal.

 

 

Taking a break from helping my brother tune his bike.

 

 

contemplating leaving or welding shut the upper quarter badges..... (black spray paint is only to prevent bare metal from rusting)

 

 

Well thats it for now, i just bought a new needle gun. So i'll be attacking the undercoating with that, and welding in new metal should start this tuesday. I'll try and keep this thread updated from this point forward.

Edited November 22, 2010 by 73FairladyZDriver

[UofA_ZCar]

Well thats it for now, i just bought a new needle gun. So i'll be attacking the undercoating with that, and welding in new metal should start this tuesday. I'll try and keep this thread updated from this point forward.

 

Looks good so far! Try using the needle gun with dry ice...it goes even faster.

 

On a side note I'm jealous off all the work space you have.

[LegnaZetr0]

I read about that on your thread.. but my question is, can it be done on jackstands? ( since i never got around to building a rotisserie ) how would i be able to use the dry ice on the underside? I've never used dry ice myself but i have seen someone use it in their car, but it was on the inside so he just put all the ice inside the car.

 

And yeah the space is nice, i originally had a 1 car garage when i fist started the build, then moved to a 2 car garage. But after a few months i decided i wanted a tad bit more room. That way me and my brother could pull in our bikes and have somewhere to work on them. So then i just got the 3 car garage. And I'm very happy with it.

[OustedFairlady]

hey, another RHD car! nice! you run across them very often? I'm in need of a RHD firewall, lol.

 

Nice work on your build, I wish I could take my car down all the way like that!

[LegnaZetr0]

Nice dude, and honestly not at all man. Mine is the only one that i know of anywhere near me. And thanks bud, but tearing all down at once has its downfalls. If its not that bad i would suggest doing it panel by panel, my car has almost been down for a year now, its a lot at once when you do a full teardown

[UofA_ZCar]

You just hold the dry ice on the undercoating in one hand (using a glove) and needle gun with the other. Leave the dry ice on a spot for like a minuted then move it to the next spot as you needle gun the last spot..... Hope that is as clear as mud?

[HaaJeHaa]

Keep updating, it's fun to follow a build thread! I'm also 21 and well into my 280z build;)

[LegnaZetr0]

I have some updates, but no pictures......

I think i'll just wait for the pics to post everything. Just a little something to hold everyone off, welding has commenced

[spitz17]

Looking forward to new updates! I have a 72 Fairlady Z