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Project Fairlady z


LegnaZetr0

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Im not sure if this is allowed cause i already posted this in the members projects section, but I'm putting it in here as well so i can get feed back, and whenever i run into problems which i have no clue on how to do maybe someone can help. i've never welded or painted at all but i plan on learning on scrap parts before trying it on my z

i will be trying to build my own rotisserie as well.(if this is against forum rules to have it double posted thats fine you guys can take it down, and i apologize if it is)

 

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 6 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 i was waiting for was to get 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 people 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 of my money and my brothers money, so i guess it went to good use.

So now i have a z that needs a restore and minimal money. Thats when i decided to do anything i could myself to save money.

These are pics of her 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.

 

my73fairladyz5.jpg

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

myfairladyz14.jpg

 

And these were some of the rust issues that concerned me the most

passenger side frame rail

myfairladyz.jpg

random rust spots on under carriage

my73fairladyz4.jpg

my73fairladyz3.jpg

my73fairladyz2.jpg

 

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. and 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 is rust stopper, i applied it on any surface rust that was found)

projectfairladyz5.jpg

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projectfairladyz3.jpg

 

so this is it for now, i will try to post any updates. Keep me motivated guys! between working full-time and college this car has been neglected

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Those JDM deck speakers were all the rage when I was over the in the mid 90's. That trend seemed to die down in the 2000's.

 

Always cool to find an easter egg like those wrenches.

 

How much did you get that car for? They're worth tons of money in Japan.. especially when they look that nice. (before resto)

 

 

I would have had a hard time tearing that thing down, but I suppose you're right. That rust needs to be addressed. Very sorry to hear about your father and your money, but very happy to hear he made it out OK. Hopefully he learned a tough lesson from that and won't do it again.

 

Keep up the work on the car. I'm sure it will come out nice. It will just take time.

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turbohls30, i live in west palm beach florida. And hugh i was wondering what was up with those speakers, kinda funny looking just sitting there, but surprisingly they work well. and trust me i went back and forth before tearing her apart but im glad i did, and i paid 5000 for the car when i bought it from bob he owned her for a very long time but as he grew older he no longer drove it much because it was too hard for him to get in and out of it. so she sat for a while before i came around.

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a few small updates, when the dash came out it was fine no cracks or anything clean original dash, but it didn't stay that way. it was very sun dried and just about ready to crack and just the slightest pressure created a few small indentions where my fingers were. so i gutted it out of all the gauges and wiring and it will be drop off at an interior shop for quotes on a restore with new material. but on a better WAY MORE EXCITING NOTE..... I BOUGHT MY FIRST WELDER!!!!! its awesome i played around with it for about an hour today and i feel confident that in no time i should be ready to start doing new sheet metal work on my z. its a lincoln electric mig, wire fed it works good. i cut and welded random piping together today so don't worry i will keep practicing on scrap before i apply my new tool to the z thats pretty much it for now but hopefully i'll have more updates soon.

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I will have to get some pics of the RHD 280z I bought a couple months ago. I got it really cheap from a friend who needed the money to finish the remodeling on his childhood home he had just bought. The car has some rust on the rear but that is it. He had just pulled the fuel injection off and put on a new AZC 4 barrel intake and carb. I found a company in Cali that can strip the dash off and put a new(not recover) on the old skelaton dash frame. I didnt know that in Japan, the 77 S30 still are made with the 240Z style thin bumpers. Will try to get some pics up soon. Good luck with your resto as I will soon be doing the same.

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okay so i don't have a mig welder its a lincoln electric 100 weldpak. and instead of gas it uses a flaux core( i think thats what its called) . so yeah I'm a little disappointed but its okay it still works great and i feel confident it will get the job done. but i have a question for all the body guys i need to do a repair on my fender so i will be putting in new sheet metal what gauge does the fender call for and is it the same gauge for the quarter panels and roof.

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Would you be interested in my fenders? I am putting a 5 pc. IMSA kit on my RHD. I am matching it up to a 72 240Z I have had for 35 years. Probably wont need the fenders again. They look just like the ones on your car with the mirror cut-outs in the front of fender. Had an unusual set of wheels on the car. Never seen them here in the USA. The place I was talking about earlier is www.justdashes.com . There very helpful in explaining their process of rebuilding your dash. Alex is the guy I talked to. The price was $1200 . If you use them let me know how it works out.

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Hey what's up lead foot, im almost positive I won't be going gnose anymore but I'm also pretty sure I will not end up using the factory ones either. I'm will most likely buy fiberglass ones and try to widen them since I'm planning to go widebody. Send me a pm and we'll talk.

 

Also I have been updating this build under the members project section so if anyone wants to check it out there's been a good amount of progress made since I've last posted here.

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