The making of 'Tweety' My 260z 2+2

[zdman61]

Hi all, this is the story of my 1976 2+2. It's been 8 years of fun and frustration and some truly memorable drives. It all started in April 2005 when I flew down to Melbourne on a whim. The ad said it was a good clean original car, I made the call and Steve from Narree Warren sounded like a good bloke. Having more than one friend and at the time young twin daughters, a 2+2 was what I needed. $2,500 looked about right so the deal was done. we met at the airport and I knew I had found my car. A transit rego was arranged and on a typically wet Melbourne morning I set off for the trip back to Jindabyne. The rain kept my speed in check but what a buzz it was to drive the Z up the Alpine Way. I was not to know it at the time but it would be another 6 years until we would drive this road again.

[zdman61]

Once the car was home I needed to get it blue slipped for NSW rego. There was a bit of work needed to cover over the typical rust patches. At the time I wasn't to worried about doing anything to major I just wanted to drive it. So a bit of bog and a few spray cans of white auto paint and all was good

[zdman61]

In May 2005 I made another trip down to Melbourne to pickup a wreak for parts. It came with two sets of wheels and a L28. I thought it must be a fast engine, well it is in a red car. Note the patch of yellow. A test for things to come. I'm not a fan of the original steering wheel so it came off and for rego I had to cover the split seats with a pair of dodgy seat covers

[zdman61]

On the 21st June 2005 my Z was registered as a NSW car instantly adding to its value and prestige  After a few back road drives I noticed that the speedo was obviously faulty and so will need to be fixed 

[zdman61]

For the next 18 months the Z took me on some wonderful drives and a few fast blasts around the high country. A trip to the Central Coast for mothers day gave me the chance to drive the Wisemans Ferry road. Plans were made for a big trip up to the Gold Coast zig-zagging the great dividing range, but it was not to be. A sprited run from Jindabyne to Thredbo in January 2007 ended with a blown head gasket. The Z was put into my shed to wait for the next stage of its life.

[peter t]

More 2013?

[dat240z]

Wheres the road thru the rocks mate? Im from Canberra and would love to head up there for a spin...

[zdman61]

Wheres the road thru the rocks mate? Im from Canberra and would love to head up there for a spin...

It's the River Road. It runs from Wisemans Ferry to Sackville on the Hawksbury River. A great loop drive is to start in Hornsby head north up the Old Pac Hwy to Somersby and then down the Wisemans road to the ferry. Lunch at the pub then the river road and finish with Galston Gorge (fun)

[chris240]

Lookin good...glad to see you get to drive it !

My daughter just suggested you change the name from tweety to casper the white ghost..

[zdman61]

Lookin good...glad to see you get to drive it !

My daughter just suggested you change the name from tweety to casper the white ghost..

Thanks, but up till now in the story my Z didn't have a name. Keeping her white would have been a smart move when it comes to blending in and not being quite so visible to the revenue raisers. If you want to see how the story ends (to this point in time) and the car gets its name jump on youtube search zdman61 or 'Great Driving Roads Australia'

[zdman61]

With the Z off the road I started to come up with a plan for a rebuild and what I wanted out of the car.

1. I want to do as much of the work as possible on my own.

2. More power (obviously)

3. More brakes

4. Less rust

5. Less weight

6. main use is for the road so must remain drivable in everyday life.

All achievable and all fairly straight forward with only one thing standing in my way...............................No money

So it was a case of taking panels off and striping down parts. Finding rust and buying bits and pieces when I could

[zdman61]

I needed more money for the Z or it just wouldn't happen. From what I could see from pulling the car down I would need to invest in the order of $4,000 to $6,000 and at that time I just didn't have it to spare let alone spend it on a toy. You see while the car was in my work shed waiting to be brought back to life my own life was undergoing a few major changes of it's own. I was separated in 2004 with twin daughters who would be dependant on me for many more years. My business took a bit of a down turn in 2007 and would take several years to fully recover. I had to make changes. So the first one was to cancel the lease on my work shed. It was a luxury that I could live without and doing so would free up $3,000 in just 12 months. This will work says I. The only drama would come a few years later. All the bits & pieces. Small parts and a few poorly labelled boxes would cause havoc when it came time to put the car back together. 20-20 hindsight is a wonderful thing. The car was packed up, loaded onto a trailer and taken home to my garage to start the big rebuild.