What should I be doing first?

[Robstar]

With only two weeks to go till I go over and hand over the bling and pick up my 260z, I'm pretty excited and considering all my mates will be coming over to have a few beers with me on the day and see it, for all it's glory! One has to stop and wonder..

 

Where the hell am I going to begin? What do I even dismantle first! LOL

 

The plan is to strip the beast down straight away, prep it for the VH45 and repair any rust, I even have a professional welder friend from Subaru (.. this almost sounds like I'm boasting..) coming to have a look at the shell's condition.

 

But bleh, take the motor our first? Take the seats? Should I take a picture every step of the way.. Video even? Should I keep all the bolts and nuts labeled and in separate containers.. Oh my, so much to think about, but better prepared than not.

[aegean]

Take as many photos as you can - it will definitely help (and also a good record if you ever want to sell) and label all your parts as they come off. I went to one of those dollar shops and bought plastic containers with lids and labelled everything as i went. You get about 20 containers for a couple of dollars, so buy $10 worth. One container - one area. The one thing I forgot was to also document HOW things came off and in what sequence. It would have saved me a lot of time when reinstalling.

[gav240z]

Set up an online journal of your adventure. Its a great way to document everything. Much like what Matt Drago has done.

 

http://240z.drago.com.au/ if you need any help getting one set up and running I'd be glad to help.

 

Basically what you need to do is this though:

Buy a domain name, I recommend www.godaddy.com

 

Buy some web hosting I recommend www.rochen.com.au but if you are on a budget www.ipower.com were our first host. Albeit we had to shift due to traffic demands and account limitations.

 

Download wordpress www.wordpress.org and install it on your hosting account.

 

Done!

 

You have a nice shiny web log and journal. See http://datsun-240z-blog.viczcar.com/

 

Alternatively you can just go to www.blogger.com and get a free one that's hosted and all. But I prefer having my own domain name and site.

 

[gav240z]

Oh and from a mechanical point of few, drive the car first for a bit maybe 2 or 3 weeks (if its running). See what its like to drive and enjoy it even if it is falling to bits to begin with.

 

I'd also recommend doing all the mechanical work first and only repairing structural rust. Once you had all the mechanicals sorted then you can do the body work. If you do it the other way around you'll scratch up your nice paint job.

[Toecutter]

Or use the "Member's Project Journal" we have in the forums to start a thread and track progress here on the site as others have, more likley to get people discussing and looking at you progress as they drop in to the site on a daily basis!?

 

http://www.viczcar.com/forum/index.php?board=25.0

 

Sulio

 

 

 

[matt drago]

Since I'm at the stage of putting her back together, all I can say is label, label, label.  I put labels down to the area of the car that I was working on, but I think know I  should have gone to a finer level of detail.  I've still got lots of bolts and I don't know which ones I've replaced and which ones still need to go back on.  Also take lots of photos, close-up photos, to document how things are supposed to be on the car.

 

A blog is a great way to document the rebuild of your car and let others see how you are going.  As Gav has said, I set up my own blog and host it on my own machines at home.  And it is easy to get traffic to it every now and again, just put a post in the forum about it and the traffic goes through the roof!  Since the "How much would you spend" thread post that I did, traffic has shot from 20 requests for a 6 hour period to 300+

 

Also, enjoy the car a little first, or at least get a feel of how she drives before making changes.  That way, once you get her back on the road, you'll be able to appreciate the work that you have done a lot more.  Before I stripped mine down, I drove it a few times and the lack of good brakes was scary.  I've just finished bleeding them after a complete overhaul and man, what a difference!  Cannot wait to see them in action now.

[lightmaster240z]

clip lock bags $1.30 at coles

marker pen $.90

time $0.00

these are all your best frends when pulling it apart and more to the point puting it back together good luck and happy "z"ing

[sco_aus]

A friend told me an awsome idea, if you have the room.  Buy the cardboard you use when doing a an assignment when in primary school, trace around the part pulled off, put each bolt in its respective position on the part and even number which ones need doing first to last etc.  You then have room to write notes on the cardboard and you wont loose the parts cos they are in the cardboard.  But I reckon you would need a bit of room.  I will be doing this next time, cos putting my engine back together after all the bolts and nuts were thrown in the one big box cos we were in a hurry... well you know where im going with this.

[modular9]

1up for the drive before ripping it all apart.

 

Try to get all the parts at the same time so it is literally a pull out and put in affair. Nothing worse than putting in an engine then having to wait a few weeks/months for the next part. That is where the " bah get rid of this thing " comes in.

 

a List of things to do. It is amazing what you can forget. My brother forgot to prime his oil pump ( holden 202 ) and scored the bores when he tried to start it.