260z 2+2 RBZ260 mk2. Back from the dead.

[Fairlady Z]

Not going to stay baby blue Gav.

 

Bought paint today so decision has been made going white.

[Fairlady Z]

Bit of work done over the weekend. Due to silly weather gale force winds and rain any work i planned for outside went through the window.

 

So rearranged the workshop and sqeezed the 260z inside. Didnt think was possible but it was.

 

Took the engine out. And started stripping the entire front end.

 

 

Also managed to get a l28 n42 combo from Greg and few other goodies. But on that later. Priority is fixin the front end and painting it asap.

 

So more deconstruction

 

 

Now probably wondering why did i fit a strut brace. Well because of this

 

 

To fit the carbs the idiot installing it instead of extendg the manifold by 2" decided to bash the tower and skirt to fit. Fudging bush mechanics.

 

As i was planing hammering the daylight out of it wanted to secure the tower so no risk of bending it. Wasnt bent as strut brace fitted straight on.

 

Lot better now. Also striped the paint to metal in whole engine bay. Still few spots but ran out of paint stripper.

 

 

Tonight finish the paint stripping, finilise the hammering and do some welding of extra holes the dodgy previous owners put on.

[MyEnquiringMind]

Hi Ho,

 

I love the Z-26 number plate Johnny... looking forward to coming and seeing this thing...

[Fairlady Z]

yeah z-26 is coming along fine. got few more goodies for it today. so she be ready for next  36 years on the road without issues. yeah right

 

yeah still got lots to do on her but so far so good

 

[gav240z]

That strut tower looks like it lost a few fights.

 

My old 2+2 was white so I have a soft spot for a white 2+2 should look good with the Watanabe's on it.

 

You never take on the easy projects do you? I'm not complaining, quite the opposite, I admire your motivation to get the job done. Really inspires me to see how you build these cars.

[Fairlady Z]

The caffe van is comming along nicely. Few curve balls but im quickly adjusted for them.

 

I ended up blasting the engine bay after all.

Sand.......bloody sand everywhere. I knew was going to be messy inside workshop but had no other option.Weather here is crap so outdoor blasting was no option. Bit dusty inside but oh well.

 

 

Than rusty bits removal.

 

 

After vacuuming the air box of 36years of crap

 

Than attacking it with renex as blasting was not an option at 9pm turning the air comp on.hammering was probably annoying enough for them.

 

 

Still bit to go to remove every tracy of black or brown crap if not it will eventualy come back to haunt. But at 10:30pm age got the better of me.

 

But still managed to fabricate the inner lower radiator panel.

 

 

Still few more final touches to do and preping the outer panel before welding can start.

 

[Fairlady Z]

This bus is getting more detailed work than my last one. Well it deserves it.

 

Lots of boring pics but like to have it all documented for future use.

 

More rusty bits cut out.

 

 

Now who ever has compliance plate fitted in this location 99% it will have a rust hole behind it. As this position damages the inner seal and will cause corrosion. I moved to upper position as per my 76 model so no future rust causing possible.

 

 

Air box all cleaned and treated.

 

 

Re-seled and improved further so no chance of rust re appearing.

 

 

Than entire area body shutz tar type and anticorrosive not water based.

 

 

Replacement parts weld thru primed and enamel painted.

 

 

Than welded back

 

Oh Greg will want to see this original throttle bracket welded back in.

 

 

Than bit of carboard as stencil for the difficult shaped parts

 

 

Few trial fits and adjustments.

 

 

Purist will notice the bigger hole. Well for future improvments intercooler piping will go through there.

 

 

Welding few new bits in

 

 

Final adjustments and weld through primer

 

 

All welded in fairly happy with end result.

 

Now lower rad support same treatment as air box with few extra draining holes.

 

 

And final pic all weld ground and etch primed. Will coat entire rad support with body shutz. This will be daily so rain proofing it as much as possible and improving where nissan skimped out.

 

 

Still to do few small section on rad support an refit the reinforcments. Than sand and get it ready for paint.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[MyEnquiringMind]

Amazing work Johnny... cant wait to see this in real life...

[zzzzed]

You have been busy. Good work knackers.

[Fairlady Z]

Few pic updates. Been working hard.

 

New radiator very surprised by quality for the price i paid. Damn chunky.

 

 

Engine bay 99% metal work done.

 

Than removing the paint from the panels and cutting rust out.

 

 

The last one was nasty she had a bit of water in the right seal. Lucky i kept the seals from my 2+2 parts car so shouldnt be to hard to fix.

 

Oh than decided to fit the rear flares for first time. Quite easy job actualy thought it be harder. Left side the cut out wasnt as neat as right but first time takes longer and not always ideal but second one took 20min to do and looks lot neater.

 

 

Well the few days work landed me a eye patch for friday after removing a metal splinter out of my eye ironic as my last 2+2 did the same thing must be a 2+2 thing.

 

Yesterday had my anal neighbour whinge and conversation ended with me telling him to F off. After 30min landed me a visit from boys in blue (well black now) saying they cant do anything and im free to continue working.

 

I was going to give the neighbour a break and started work on non machine use but after the visit from local police i decided to make more noise  Grinder plus hammering plus radio plus whistling and talking loud   

 

This is the same idiot neighbour that decided to route his down pipe over to my side and flood all my car parts which i had to pull out and store elsewhere. I politely redirected the pipe to his side and never said a word.

 

 

 

Talked to my other neighbours regarding grinder and hammer noise one of them being semi public icon their reply was "dont bother us during the day" And i dont do any noisy work after 5 anyway.

 

So very colourfull weekend.

 

 

 

[MyEnquiringMind]

love the "troublemaker" name change... very apt indeed...

[Fairlady Z]

Ok i have been busy almost any spare time is spent in workshop. My Fairlady gets more attention these days that my lady is getting a bit jelous. 

 

Anyway i get the pics do the talking. Lets just say lots of fabrication work and few surprises slows me down.

 

This what was left of hatch hinge area. Nasty

 

 

New fabricated hatch mount and b pillar repair.

 

Than left 1/4 panel and slam panel repair

 

 

Also fitted front flares so i can start shaping the front guards.

 

 

And i thought it look cool like this.

 

In times when i couldn't use grinder and hammer i did some quiet engine prep.

 

 

Still lot to do but keep chipping at it.

 

 

 

[Fairlady Z]

Oh the old turbo and carb has been sold and gone to Melbourne.

 

 

 

20hrs later after i droped it at ego depo i get a sms from the new owner saying

"Few hrs of cleaning" and this photo

 

 

Kudos to new owner awesome work.

 

He was over the moon when he recieved it 12hrs after i posted and started work on it. Also he was very happy with condition of it. Only pitty it aint going on a z but a patrol. Will be one cool 4x4.

 

 

[gav240z]

As always great work mate, love the Fairlady mesh grille, this is going to turn out great I'm sure. Are you still going to have the turbo L-series or is just a valve cover now?

 

Did you buy new bolts or have the old ones zinc plated etc.?

[Fairlady Z]

Gav still be turbo but efi and bigger turbo than stock.

Got few unique bits but will show once bolted up to engine.

That be first stage.

 

Second stage pending funds and how actualy the l28 runs. If im happy with power it will stay, if not it get an rb.

 

Bang for buck rb cannot be beaten.

 

Bolts and "plated" items bit of a mix

Some new some are plated and some painted with special spray can which is pretty good match to real plating.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Fairlady Z]

still alive still chipping away with it. No time for updates. well body of the car shots wont be updated till its all finished. bit of a surprise so you all have to wait.

 

AND to squash a rumor going around. NO  car is not for sale or sold. its being worked on almost daily.

 

i just decided not to rush the job but to do everything properly.

been without a car for a while and its annoying but workshops getting unbearable so need to spend some time sorting it out and making provisions for a spray booth as i want this paint to be pretty damn good. Aiming for its first appearance at Adelaide All Jap Day in jan/feb next year. Also i have neglected lot of other jobs around the house so need to take care of those too.

 

anyway few pics and my blasting booth that take no room and not limited to size. and cost less than $10 

 

here it is the list of bits you need.

 

1x appropriate sized cardboard  box Free from Bunnings

1x Rear hatch glass from 2+2 (got 5 sitting around so if u need one let me know for blasting cabinet)

1x reasonably tough plastic ( i got a roll leftover from my house build the stuff they use on foundations)

1X roll of tape or duck tape ($2-5 bunnings)

1x multi-fold ladder ( i had this but comes in handy for house work and temporarywork bench area so good to have one around regardless , from $30 Sh or new 150+)

1x sand blaster gun from total tools $20

 

5min of time to knock something up like this

 

 

works well. Put  the grit on one side of the box. lift the opposite side so it has a run toward the bottom corner. poke the suction hose from blasting gun through lid of the box so its fixed. as you work the excess grit automatically goes to one side and gets sucked in again and reused. So no stopping cleaning filtering = time wasting. blasting process is slow unless u have industrial blaster. but the baby ones wont warp damage metal as just does not have that much grunt.

 

The large glass area give u good view of what you doing without using goggles that fog up.

 

also u reduce waste of reasonably expensive media. once finished lift the plastic liner run it through filter ie fly screen folded few times and put it in abucket for use next time. glass stashed side of the shed gun in your tools area and bulky box into recyling bin.

 

need bigger box for doors bonnets fridge boxes are good. so go to harvey's or like and ask if they have a large box you can have.

 

obviously you need a compressor. well you stuffed if you don't have a reasonable one.

 

nothing get rid of rust better than blasting.. though would use it on items painted several hundred times and massive layer build up. remove most by wire brush or paint stripper and finish off with blaster.

 

anyway few blasted items

 

 

and those items painted and ready for assembly when i get time.

 

 

oh and these have been etched primed and awaiting new coat of Watanabe Gray/Brown

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[MyEnquiringMind]

looking good Johnny...

 

Those bits came up looking awesome, I will let you know if I have any more time to throw your way, been attending to those "house duties" myself...

 

Cheers, Jarrod.

[CroS13]

quick question regarding the sand blasting blasting, what type of respirator are you using?

 

When i blasted a few bits and pieces in the backyard with a supercheap blaster and their blackridge grit, i was really struggling to breathe using a SAS duel cartridge respirator. I only did it once, and i want to blast again, because using a dremel with wire wheel takes forever to clean small pulley's and alternator housings etc.

 

Rudolf.

[zzzzed]

Hurry up knackers. We need more zeds back on the rd in sa. 

[DOOM]

Did you have the white zed two-seater with the sun roof, is it still going. I think it's you who used to frequent Torrens RD till recently. I could be wrong.

[gav240z]

I love your posts mate, because I'm always learning something new. Keep it up.

[Fairlady Z]

looking good Johnny...

 

Those bits came up looking awesome, I will let you know if I have any more time to throw your way, been attending to those "house duties" myself...

 

Cheers, Jarrod.

 

Yep mate came realy good cheers for your help.

 

quick question regarding the sand blasting blasting, what type of respirator are you using?

 

When i blasted a few bits and pieces in the backyard with a supercheap blaster and their blackridge grit, i was really struggling to breathe using a SAS duel cartridge respirator. I only did it once, and i want to blast again, because using a dremel with wire wheel takes forever to clean small pulley's and alternator housings etc.

 

Rudolf.

 

Not sure what media you use but sounds deadly. When i was blasting on open just plain cheap dust mask. And was fine using new 30/60 mesh garnet

 

When i was using some other crapy media used my spray painting mask sundstrom brand with chemical filter removed and was ok didnt block it or anything.

Sugges dump that media and get the good stuff. With new gear very little dust. Lot on quick jobs i just used t eye protection as there was no dust And i hate masks but if u have trouble breathing stop it and get rid of it.

With my box setup i use nothing either gogles or mask. Freeeeedom yay. Works like dedicated blasting cabinet. I lose bit of media from the hole where i stick my hand in but ber little compared to open blasting.

 

Also when finished good to wash the garnet with water garnet is red colour and quite heavy so use spray nozzle on gentle or soak to wash the dust off . Let it dry and than pack it in a container away from moisture.

 

 

 

[quote author=DOOM link=topic=13155.msg141128#msg141128 date=1383783789

Did you have the white zed two-seater with the sun roof, is it still going. I think it's you who used to frequent Torrens RD till recently. I could be wrong.

 

My white 240z hasnt been on the road since 00 and i owned it since 02 so definetly not me.

 

I do go torrens rd regularly but would have been rx7 or 200sx or my blue zs.

 

Hurry up knackers. We need more zeds back on the rd in sa. 

 

I know knackers im trying my hardest. Just very hard takling full time job finishing house/workshop, life , relatives etc....

 

I love your posts mate, because I'm always learning something new. Keep it up.

 

Cheers Gav.

 

Funny how humans get some funny ideas that actualy work. 

To make it work u got to include lack of money, time, space and lots of external pressure for job

To be done. the brain ticks over how about if i do this and that McGyver style and it works.

 

 

[Brabham]

Hey Johnny nice work on the rust repairs. What is renex? Is it the same as deoxidine? Also was wondering if it is possible on zeds to run wide wheels like yours and flares without cutting my guards by making the suspension a bit stiffer at stock ride height. Would this work or is it still likely to bottom out on the guards?

 

Cheers mate.

[Fairlady Z]

Alex Ranex is probably same. its available from bunnings.

 

u can put stiff suspension etc without cutting guards. but probably still look jacked up. even with guards choped only gives 20mm or so. so u still got to stiffen it up.

 

 

well sick of hitchiking my daily work horse is here till i finish the 260z without too much rush.

 

pictures make it look lot better lets just say it runs gets me from a to b and its Z.

 

 

[zzzzed]

I think you have a desease John boy