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Hello all! Advice needed pls


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Hi all!

The reason I'm here is I've bin looking to buy a 260z for an engine swap project 2jz-gte but first I need a 260z.

 

Now I'm stuck between buying a resprayed "rust free" car and a car full of rust. I have no metal works/restoration skills but am willing to learn n I work away 9months a year.

 

Seems like an easy decision yeah? Well I just look at cars from $3000 rusty n $20,000 resprayed, rebuilt engine etc

I'm not needing any mechanicals just a shell. So it gets me thinking maybe I should go the rust bucket n do as much myself n pay for the rest to b done n it still would end up cheaper, maybe.

 

All advice much appreciated

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Reminds me of my beautiful rust free new respray 240z I bought off a car sales in 1986 it had been sitting for a while and not selling and the wheels got stolen off it,They wanted 7k for it then but I got them down to 4.5k thinking I was getting a good deal telling them I wanted to restore it, the work was so well done it completely fooled me, a year later the bubbles started to show and while doing some work on it I stood in the wheel well and fell though it, I had a look under carpets that were glued down and found more cover up so I stripped the car down to do a full restoration and took it to the sand blasters, On picking it up I was not sure what to do with it, Dump it or fix it, the floors had steel signs used as flooring to stop your feet going though the floor, it had spray foam in the dog legs and sills, wire mesh and bog in the other places where the rust was, there was not much stopping the car from breaking apart from the rust, someone had spent a lot of time to doctor it up, yet it wouldn't have taken much more to weld it up with steel, without full photos and proof the car has been done correctly you maybe buying your self a nightmare as well. You could easily pay 20k for a car like that now today.

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Hi all!

The reason I'm here is I've bin looking to buy a 260z for an engine swap project 2jz-gte but first I need a 260z.

 

Now I'm stuck between buying a resprayed "rust free" car and a car full of rust. I have no metal works/restoration skills but am willing to learn n I work away 9months a year.

 

Seems like an easy decision yeah? Well I just look at cars from $3000 rusty n $20,000 resprayed, rebuilt engine etc

I'm not needing any mechanicals just a shell. So it gets me thinking maybe I should go the rust bucket n do as much myself n pay for the rest to b done n it still would end up cheaper, maybe.

 

All advice much appreciated

I have a 260Z for sale which has been partially restored, just need the shell finished. It doesn't have the same amount of rust that others i have repaired had and i have all the panels to fix it. It has matching numbers engine and auto so a swap is something that could be done and store the original engine. It's in the link below.

 

http://www.viczcar.com/forum/index.php/topic,15446.0.html

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But like others have said its a risk to buy resprayed no rust. So would it really cost me that much more to just do it from scratch? All the nicer bodies cars have mechanical work done which is an unnecessary cosy as I'm not using any of it

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Everytime i look at a Zed with a perfect body i go "Looks good but what is it hiding" No doubt there are some out there that have been done correctly but unless it has fully documented repairs in a resto you should steer clear of it. Buying a rusty version has the advantage of knowing what you are getting as these cars all rust in the same area. Unless it's been garaged all it's life then it will most likely have rust forming in certain areas.

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Get the best body your money can buy. Even if work on a car hasn't been documented you can still get a good idea as to how much bog/metal work has been done. Go around (thoroughly) with a magnet and a torch. Just because a car hasn't been documented or resprayed for that matter doesn't mean that it is rust riddled. I own another 35 year old car which is in original unrestored condition, and the worst rust is a couple of blisters here and there in the common sill spots etc.

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So would it really cost me that much more to just do it from scratch?

 

In most cases yes. The cost of tools is a big factor if you don't have access to this stuff already.

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All I want is perfect body, electrics and interior. To do that it'll cost me more then $20,000?

I think that's good if you can do all that for around 20K. I'm over 15K on mine just in parts, labour bumps it up to around 45K at my price. If someone else was to build it would be another 20K at least.

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All I want is perfect body...

 

I want a perfect body... I want a perfect soul...

 

 

At 1:31

 

There has been 1 or 2 rust free shells recently for around 5-8k but often not with other panels, doors, interior parts etc.. Basically a bare shell..

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I think that's good if you can do all that for around 20K. I'm over 15K on mine just in parts, labour bumps it up to around 45K at my price. If someone else was to build it would be another 20K at least.

 

It certain

Y does make sense buying a genuine known rust free fully assembled, and somewhat mechancally improved car, a viable proposition.

Like mine, at $45k

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Dales orange Zed was a rust free car supposedly. Two tiny little bubbles in the dog legs and turns out they were both shagged.       

If you have a rust free Zed and it hasn't had treatment to stop areas like this from degrading then it will rust.

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Dales orange Zed was a rust free car supposedly. Two tiny little bubbles in the dog legs and turns out they were both shagged.       

If you have a rust free Zed and it hasn't had treatment to stop areas like this from degrading then it will rust.

 

No no no my good sir you misunderstand these are not rust free S30z's, they are 240z's with free rust!

 

It makes me wonder how many are really properly taken care of in terms of rust. For example here is my rear hatch that just tonight I separated the skin from the frame in the lower section.

 

IMG_20150323_204831.jpg

 

Now I don't know how long this hatch has been off the road, but imagine it was in use over the last 15 years and driven in the rain or.. it was sitting in a paddock for the last 20 years? There wouldn't be much left.

 

It's actually not too bad considering, there is a few areas where it will require some welding up of pin-holes etc.. The bottom half was always going to be worse than the top part but as you can see there is light surface rust inside, other parts of the hatch are likely the same (inside). I'll probably get this hatch dipped before welding it all up and putting the new bottom section we fabricated up.

 

If you don't do this though, there is a strong possiblity the rust will return and ruin your nice paint.

 

My advice when buying a restored 240z/260z body wise it's good to know how long ago it was restored so you can gauge how well that restoration is holding up now. If it's been several years and it's still solid chances are it was done well, unless it was never driven and always hidden in a garage.

 

If you're not sure how long you'll keep the car once it's complete then finding a good car to start with will make sense, if you plan to keep it for many years, perhaps forever. Do it right, do it properly and spend the money to get it correct first time around.

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A fresh paint job can hide a multitude of sins.

 

Buy the on with the rust you can see, at least you know what you are getting yourself into.

 

Or, unless there is photographic evidence that the rust has been taken care of properly on the one with the nice paint job, expect it to be as rusty as the other one under the paint.

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So you are happy with the look of the bus or 2+2 which you can fit 5 adults and suit cases into it, but they won't be happy, things change then, you can buy them for at least half the price, here is an example of a rust bucket 2+2, you could pick something like this up for $1200.+, it is worth at least that because the front can be used to restore the 2 seaters, I have one sitting in my shed a little bit worse waiting to be cut up.

 

As an example on resale between this and Scooters 2 seater with a paint job you wouldn't want to be seen in, if you spent 20K on both and done your engine change and a nice paint job, the resale on the 2+2 it would climb to about 10k- 14k with you doing all the work on the rust, if you paid someone like Scooter to fix it you would spend all your 20k on the rust and it would be worth about 5k as you have ran out of money to paint and engine change, where the 2 seater that Scooter is selling will climb from your purchase price of 10k it would go to  25k- 45k depending how good the paint job is.

Nothing wrong with the 2+2, they still get up and go and handle fine I had one for years as a daily driver until the rust got it, but the lady was happy to not see it back on the road again, they are a lot heavier in the steering and gave her sore arms after driving a modern car with PS she said if I fixed it she will not be driving it again.

http://www.carsales.com.au/private/details/Datsun-260Z-1975/SSE-AD-3275870?utm_campaign=Auto360&utm_medium=display&utm_source=Auto360&utm_content=banner&WT.seg_4=Auto360

 

 

Here is a nice one with some rust coming though after a nice paint job. This has a RB30 and wants 11k.

 

http://www.gumtree.com.au/s-ad/blacktown/cars-vans-utes/260z-rb30-turbo/1072967438?utm_source=criteo&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=LF-automotive&mpch=ads

 

 

Here is another nice one that needs rust repairs, after the nice paint job, he wants 12k but says he has photos of work before paint.

http://www.gumtree.com.au/s-ad/sydney-region/cars-vans-utes/datsun-260z-240z-registered-restored/1067587076

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