Guest Anonymous Posted November 10, 2001 Share Posted November 10, 2001 http://www.kevins.s5.com/zcar.htm I started disassembling the car and, althought I know I would find some rust, I found more that I had planned. Those of you who have complete a "ground-up" restoration, please have a look and let me know what you think. Is this car too far gone? Keep in mind that I live in NC, now one of those western states where Zs have such a long life expectancy. Once I make a decision, I will either have some work to do or alot of parts to sell. Thanks, Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Anonymous Posted November 10, 2001 Share Posted November 10, 2001 Man, I donno, I won't say its hopeless, because nothing is if you have enough money, skill or time, but it'll be expensive and time consuming. Every bit of those eaten through pieces would need to be replaced and patched with new metal, new frame rails, rocker panel boxes, floor pans, quarter panels or at least patch panels on the back. My own personal opinion is strip the good parts, and find a car out here in the west or southwest (or back east down south a bit more, florida?) thats in better shape. You'll be money ahead in the long run and save yourself alot of time and grief. Thats my opinion, anyway, sorry. Regards, Lone Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RPMS Posted November 10, 2001 Share Posted November 10, 2001 Heya, Kevin. The real issue here is, what do you want to do with the car? My advice for someone wanting a concours winner is VERY different than someone who wants a good looking, long lasting daily driver. If you want to restore and show your Z and only the best will do, then you need to do as Lone suggests and find another car. No ifs, ands, or buts about it, there are too many solid Z's to waste time restoring this one to 100 point condition. Sorry. If you want a good looking daily driver, there's hope. The rust you show on your website is a carbon copy of the rust I found on mine, except that you haven't discovered it all yet. Sorry to be the bearer of bad news, but if your doorsills look like that on the top, I'd be shocked if the sheetmetal under the doors hasn't rusted through and been repaired when the car was repainted the first time. Speaking as someone who has just gone through this little bit of Hell, let me assure you that you haven't stopped finding rust yet. Your frame rails can be easily repaired with box sections of sheetmetal, and if you're planning on sticking in a V8, you may eventually wish to do this anyway. The door sills are the least of your worries, since they can be repaired with sheetmetal. They'e going to be covered over with carpet and trim, so you don't have to be neat, just structural. The areas around the hatch are of minimal worry, judging by your pictures. Strip the old paint off, re-sand it, and paint over it again. The battery tray isn't as bad as it looks. You've got a lot of peeling paint and a bit of bubbling metal, but otherwise it looks sound. Again, strip and repaint. The rust on the fender lips is a standard item on old cars, and will probably reappear unless you strip off all the undercoating, eliminate the rust on both sides of the metal, and re-weatherproof it within an inch of it's life. It's not difficult to fix cosmetically, if you're a professional bodyman. (If you're a novice like me, it will take you days of sanding/reapplying/sanding/reapplying to get the body filler to properly blend into the compound curve of the fender lip!) what kind of bothers me most, oddly, is the perforation near the hood hinge. Why did it choose that spot to rust? Is the rearmost headlight bucket attachment point (sorry, can't think of the correct term!) on the other side of that? It's going to be visible whenever you lift the hood, but it doesn't really do a lot structurally (I think). You *might* could fix it with a large repair patch which follows the outline of the panel, cutting holes where the hood hinge bolts have to pass through. That would end up looking like a stiffener, and since nobody sees both sides at once, only a dedicated Z nut would know that something was odd. In any case, nothing you've shown me makes me think that this car isn't still a good candidate for a daily driver. And you COULD get it back to concourse condition, but you'd sure pay far more to do that than you would to buy another rust-free body. It all depends on what you want to do with it, how attached you are to it, and how much money you have to spend. Good luck! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dan Juday Posted November 10, 2001 Share Posted November 10, 2001 I agree with Scott on one point, you haven't found all the rust yet. Repairing rusted out panels is no fun. It can eat up all your enthusiasm before you get to the fun part. Sorry, IMHO, I'd look for a better candidate. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest KraZ4spd Posted November 10, 2001 Share Posted November 10, 2001 Don't give up though There are a lot of solid cars out there. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GrayZee Posted November 11, 2001 Share Posted November 11, 2001 Well, I can honestly say that I've seen worse. I'd love to show you guys some pictures of some cars around here, but I agree with everyone else, if you can find a better car get one! If you plan on taking it to a bodyshop (assuming you can find a bodyman willing to do the job) it'll no doubt cost you more than buying a better car. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pparaska Posted November 11, 2001 Share Posted November 11, 2001 With the severe amount of rust I see in the rocker top and windshield area alone, I'd say there's some really serious structural rust beneath those areas (the reas of the A pillar, the inner rocker box, etc.). I'd cut my losses if I were you. My Z wasn't that bad, and in my opinion, I should have started with a better car. Fixing all that rust (the stuff you see now and a ton more you can't see) will take a long time and be pretty depressing work. A Z shell is cheap in comparison, even with shipping! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Anonymous Posted November 12, 2001 Share Posted November 12, 2001 Thanks everyone for you input. I am not going to say that that is what I wanted to hear, but it is what I expected. I did not picture the floors or the rest of the frame rails because the floors had already been redone. Unfortunately, they were done by "sandwiching" what was left of the floors between two sheets of metal. And yes, the rockers were rotten and repaired before. I will probably do a little more digging to see how bad the lower rockers and floors are before putting the car "to sleep". I have some welding experience but only on thick metal where you can really burn without worrying about holes and I do have access to a gasable wire welder. There is hope although very little. I am going to check the classifieds now but does anyone have or know of a good shell? After digging into this one I can be sure that I will not buy another without a thorough inspection. I can't complain though, I have driven this one for about 10 yrs. Later, ks Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fl327 Posted November 13, 2001 Share Posted November 13, 2001 sorry, that puppy is a little far too gone, any one of those spots could be fixed, but all at once, wow! shouldnt be too hard to find a suitable body. ill sit down and be happy with my rusty floorpans now. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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