A very rusty z.

[Veloce]

I have a Lincoln Powermig 180C, cost me about $900 a few years ago, highly recommended.

From what iv'e heard with lower cost MIG's,  the quality of the wire feed unit is the most important part of the machine and what the cheap chinese units lack.

Mine has been faultless (its american made), however i can imagine a dodgy wire feed causing all sorts of grief (slipping wire, jams, breakages etc).

I'd say a decent welder is a very good investment.

[jamo240]

What Veloce says about MIG's is spot on.

Wire feed is a HUGE issue in cheap MIG machines....if the feed mechanism is dodgy, the MIG can be so frustrating to work with that you'll stop trying, get a crap result, or both.

The good machines have well sorted out feed mechanisms, but also have much more sophisticated current/voltage regulation to produce a nicer start and stop to the weld, as well as consistency and finish.

Pay peanuts, get monkeys.

Jamo

[thriller]

Really appreciate the help everyone, I'm taking it all on board. Just going to quickly post these few shots up as I'm a bit busy and need to give page 5 something to look at.


sharp object of a job this one. Had to pull the dashboard out in my S13 when I was doing transmission conversion, the s13 was far easier than the Z for some reason.


I thoroughly enjoy removing stuff to find beautiful fresh metal underneath. Of course this wouldn't end up rusted, but it's still one less thing to worry about haha. Wiring this back up is going to be buckets of fun...


5 cents in one of the heater hoses.... Was a 1994 coin, and the car was last rego'd in 1992, meaning someone has gone out of their way to lose a 5-cent coin down one of the heater vents. Weird hey? I've found a total of 15 cents so far.


Dashboard in need of some love. See how I go with reskinning this later on.

[zed74]

Hah - the metal from the coins will come in useful!

[thriller]

Haha yeah, slowly finding enough coin that I might not even need to buy replacement sheet! I found a 10c piece between the trans tunnel diamond vinyl and the gross fabric underneath it... strange.

Anyway, with the exception of anything touching the roof, the interior is entirely stripped now. Only leaving the steering wheel in.

Good news:
-I think that every piece of interior I've taken off will be able to be restored. There's a few cracks and splits in some plastic pieces but I think some plastic welding will fix all that.
-No rust under anything in the interior. That's pretty much a give, but always nice to see anyway

Bad news:
-Think I'll have to fork out for a roof. Will assess after blasting though.
-Both seats are buggered, and there's no driver door card. Dunno where I'll find one, but I need to at some point.
-Obviously all the speakers are completely shot. Might trawl YAJ in hopes of finding some sweet oldschool box speakers, maybe a 'becker europa' headunit (or any old looking one that I can retrofit an AUX jack into)
-kick panels are disgusting, can probably make replacements for those myself though. Only looks like cardboard and foam.

Also, I'm just going to ignore all the hanging panels until the shell is sweet; what's the best way to treat those? Just spray some fish-oil on and forget about them, since they'll be stripped eventually the fish oil won't react with the new paint...right?

[1600dave]

I'd just store the hanging panels away somewhere dry if you can - they won't need any treatment that way. Stuff like fishoil will only cause you lots of extra work down the track and will need to be scrupulously removed before painting.

If your shed is at all damp, just wrap and seal the panels in plastic (cheap plastic painting dropcloths from Bunnings are perfect) to prevent any surface rust that may possibly result from condensation forming on the panels.

I've got panels that have been stored away in my shed for many years, they haven't deteriorated any further.

[mossy]

Maybe try and contact jeff43 on this forum for a roof, he recently bought a shell off me and not sure if he was cutting it up or not but he is in SA also, don't expect a roof skin to be cheap though.

[saxon]

Sometimes I get the feeling I am way over my head with this car restoration thing. And then I see you and I feel okay

Good luck man!

[PeterAllen]

Sometimes I get the feeling I am way over my head with this car restoration thing. And then I see you and I feel okay...

Your logic fails because of an arguable (if not false) premise.

Moving on. I'm not so sure you need a replacement roof. If you only want to fill in where the sunroof was then just cover it with a piece of sheet metal. I don't know that there is any curve front to back but if there is it is minimal in that area. Any left to right curve you can create by just flexing the metal. Even original roofs are near impossible to get right and nearly all restorations have plenty of bog on the roof - enough to cover the welds on an insert. Just a suggestion

[Zedman240]

Its very hard to patch the roof with a piece of sheetmetal. There are plenty of curves on the roof that are very hard to make by hand. If it was easy, people would'nt be killing each other to get roof skins! Best way out but no very cheap is to get a metal sunroof installed; seen one installed in a 2+2 that looked awesome. You'd think it was a factory installation. Might be worth a look. Cost was around $1k IIRC

[Ledge]

HI
Its not hard to make a roof section to fill the sunroof
hole. All you need is an English wheel and the ability
to use it.
regards
Paul

[Roberto]

Rob at the Z factory can do this.  Problem for us is he is in Melbourne.

If you can do this Ledge, I am happy to be your first sunroof removal customer.......

[thriller]

Hahah Saxon. Just gotta look at it in a different light, it's really not too much work.

Unfortunately Paul, I have neither... I'll reserve from making a decision on patching/replacing until I see how it is after the blasting, though I'm 90% sure the hole is going to have to go one way or another. I'll probably be in the same boat as Roberto if you reckon you can fab one up though.

In other news, it seems that someone has applied some oldschool weight reduction techniques to the thermostat....


Everything on the engine is disconnected, radiator is pulled out, stupid shiverty mangled bent-up piece of crap exhaust has been removed, the complete interior other than a steering column (and the sound deadener) has been removed too. Next up is pulling the engine + trans out, followed by the loom and any other random bits and bobs around the rest of the car. Door hinges, windows, chrome trim, etc etc.

[Veloce]

This place in Sydney has a complete roof for sale, it would also sort out your A pillar rust.

$900, but shipping might be a killer.

http://www.sportsclassic.com.au/PartsShells.aspx?bid=103&mid=43&aid=5

[J.B.]

Thriller, you might be the luckiest Z owner I know...

I'm in Adelaide and MAY have a spare 2-seater roof skin that you could use to fix the roof.... bear in mind its a roof skin, not a complete roof cut (i.e no A pillars). I bought it in Melbourne last year, but I've sourced another complete wreck that I will use. It's got the curve you need for the roof and will have you sorted pretty easily (no french wheel needed!!)

PM me if you interested in grabbing this. Man, can't believe this... I waited 6 months to find a roof skin and now I have 2!!