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Gordos Blue 240Z . 13 Year Build.


Gordo

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Hi guys. I bought this car in 2004 for about $2500. I had already built a few zeds but this would be my first full rotisserie build. Wanted to do it with a few ideas I had, not standard but a few mods to make it noticeable from the rest.

Just to be clear this car is 95% finished as seen at the 2017 VicZed BBQ .

 

So after finding a rotisserie the strip down could begin. After taking the engine and gearbox out I would lift the car a high as I could with jacks, blocks of timber. I used the engine Crain to lift the front end and mount it onto the rotisserie .

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Edited by Gordo
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Once the car was striped down and all hinged doors , bonnets and flaps removed it was time to focus on the body work. the floors needed to be replaced. All the lower sections on the doors and front and rear guards needed some attention. The spare wheel carrier was stuffed and the bottom section on the hatch was shoot. So all in all , your standard zed rust..

The first section was the sun roof. It had to go. I managed to get hold of a 2+2 for a spare parts car that would be use so many times I couldn't believe how much I needed all the little things the could not be used on the 240z.

I pulled out the sun roof and traced it onto the 2+2. Cut it out and fitted it to the 240. Tacked it, braced it from the inside to keep the shape, then fully welded it being careful not to get to much heat into the metal. I used a 3mm aluminium sheet under the sunroof patch and supported it with timber props them welded it.

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Edited by Gordo
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Very innovative approach on the sunroof I'm impressed. I'd be a bit nervous attempting to patch a sunroof hole. Did you use Mig or another form of welding?

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Yes Gav, I bought a mig welder for this project. Once I got used to it I was able to weld very thin panels of body work.

The roof panel has stood the test of time , with no cracking or any signs of movement. To be honest I don't think you would even know it had a sun roof in it.

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To be honest I don't think you would even know it had a sun roof in it.

 

I didn't even notice, so you must have done an excellent job. I am guessing a light skim of body filler was required after? I have a simple Cigweld welder, but I don't trust it for a task like this, I'd probably prefer to use the Henrob/Cobra DHC torch if I was to attempt this.

 

Well done all the same, the car looks very straight from what I've seen.

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After the sun roof it was time to replace the floor panels. Rare Spares had the replacement parts. From memory about $95 each floor. The chassis rail section is then welded over the concave section to form the rail. I also shaped and welded a 3mm thick plate of steel to the lower chassis rail at the front. That's where most of the jacking is done and I wanted to strengthen this part. This section of chassis would get crushed and creased.

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So after dealing with all the rust ,it was time to get the body nice and straight with some body filler. I had decided to run the car without the rear bumper. So I welded a plate of steel over the concave section for the rear bar. I also cut the rear lower section with a slight curve up, like a rear defuser behind the petrol tank.

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Edited by Gordo
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On the inside all the body deadener was removed. And in the rear luggage floor area I used some body filler to smoothen out the creased body work. I welded steel plate over the top of the rear shocker tower to clean it up.

After weeks of filling and sanding the edge primer was sprayed on. Was such a relief to get the body all sealed up and not having to worry about moisture and surface rust a peering .

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Thanks Gav. The car never came out of the shed. This was by far the most extensive car resto I'd ever done. This however was the third car I'd painted over the years. Most of the guys on the forum do as much work as they can on there cars. Other wise the costs get out of control. Finding the time is the hard part.

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Now that the body was in under coat it was time to focus on all the other panels and doors etc. the doors needed rust removed from the lower edges, so after rubbing back and paint striping it was decided to take all the lose panels to a mate for sand blasting. This way everything would be revealed and no surprises . The front guards needed rust removed from the lower sections. I also filled the forward indicator holes and mirror holes. One of my little modifications was to put the Holden indicator in the front guard . This was a bit of a gamble but I think it works ok.

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When the bonnet came back I was a little worse than expected. The parts car was looking a bit better and also had the fluted bonnet that would suit my kind of build. The hatch was in good condition and required minor work.

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Now all the panels and parts where in under coat I wanted to give the body filler some time to cure and shrink if that was possible .

 

So time to move to other jobs. The dash board. This was the typical dash . 4 or 5 cracks. Time for a re skin. I'd prepped a dash before and new the steps. First was the groove out the cracks so the body filler would hold. Fill and sand back to shape. Fiberglass one or two sheets over the top of dash. Then go with a thin coat of filler again and sand to shape. The Fiberglass is the strength and will not crack again. Now it's ready to be re skinned . These days the wraps are good enough to heat stretch to shape. Job done.

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While waiting for the body to curer or dry in the hot summer weeks I tackled all the other car parts and prepped them for paint ,powder coat or just restore. The two pack undercoat was rubbed back and some parts needed a little more attention . The colour was chosen straight of a Paint chart. I liked the bright sky blue , picked the colour and that was it. The inside was painted first then the out side.

After a few days a plastic cover was put over the car and paint began on all the other panels and doors. I went to the trouble of hanging drop sheets from the shed walls and ran water through the shed floor to stop dust getting air Bourne .

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Great work Gordo.

But seems weird that we've been seeing this car for years and now we are seeing the build. lol

Your right Simon. It's a bit wearied. It was 95% finished at the end of 2007, but never finished and it just sat there in the shed because I didn't really need it.

The only reason I'm doing this is to share some of the things I've learned over the journey . And I like doing the thread like this. It won't sit for months with nothing happening. lol.

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