Mark B's 260Z Resto

[Mark B]

I bought this car a few months ago from old Ray in Wagga, I had been looking for a project for a while, and I learned pretty quick that you had to be just plain lucky or at the right place at the right time to get a reasonably priced Z car !!  Following a long 2 day return road trip from Port Lincoln SA to Wagga and back ( 1500 km's each way ) I was the proud owner of a 76 260Z which Ray had started doing a resto on, but had been sitting in his shed for who knows how many years??

 

Looking through all the old rego papers it was last registered in 1997 !!, and the service sticker on the windscreen says next service due July 1997 at 78000 km's, (showing 75000 at the moment) along with a wheel alignment and balance !! So it would appear that the long term dry storage is what has saved this car from the usual fate !!

 

After finishing off a couple of other projects that were in the shed and moving them out, and collecting 240Z #277 ( which will be next job after this one , albeit and major one ) , I was ready to start on the 260 !! I had a quick look it around when I purchased it, and thought it was pretty tidy, but when I stated taking it apart on the weekend I was shocked to see just how good this car actually is !! Sill panels absolutely rock solid !!  Inside the lower front guards again rock solid ( although the LH has been replaced by an early 240z one with evidence of the hole for the mirror being patched ), the panels behind the guards ( the panel that the windscreen goes into and the sill joins at the bottom), again rock solid on both sides !!, the only signs of rust I could find was below the battery tray, where there was a fair bit of pitting and corrosion, and some minor pitting and a very small hole in the wheel well where water has crept in under the factory undersealing !!  Even the doors and the hatch are rust free and in excellent condition, only needing a rub back, priming and painting !!

 

Now that is all the good news !! the bads news is there is a bloody big hole in the roof where the Webasto slide back sunroof used to live, and I mean big !!  600mm x 800 mm, about a $2500 repair for a restoration expert in Adelaide to fix for me, I was going to have a go myself, but I think as this is such a nice car body wise and has the correct original motor, I think it is worth spending the money to do it right, and having already seen the work of the guy who is going to do it I know it will come back metal finished needing only prime and paint, no such thing as bog in his world !!

 

I will have to do an inventory of parts, as I purchased this car as seen in the pics while on a trailer, I suspect there will be missing parts, I already notice I have no wiring looms from the bottom of the radiator support panel to the headlights and front lamp assemblies !! and the console is trashed !! I guess as it starts going back together I will find plenty of other bits missing.

 

I have to mention a thank you to Jeff43 , I have been watching his resto and after his reccomendation I also purchased the KBS rust system and can also attest to how good it goes on, I have been painting it everywhere to make sure no rust appears. I have painted under the battery tray with black KBS, but will be painting it factory colour before making the battery tray a bolt in style as seems to be the way to go at the moment. As more work happens I will try and keep the info coming, hope to have it on the road in about 3 months.  

 

Regards Mark B

[mspecr]

Nice find, Good luck with the resto !  

[Sirpent]

Congratulations !

 

Great solid car to start off with 

[PB260Z]

Great find.

 

Very rare to find a car with a body as solid as that.

 

Good luck withnthe builds.

 

Cheers

PB

[Brabham]

Congrats. Who are you getting to fix the sunroof hole?

 

Cheers

[Mark B]

Well work has been progressing, stripped it down a bit more, spread plenty of KBS rust seal around where I has nice clean metal and took the doors and guards back to bare metal and etch primed them. The biggest job of all was took the car 700 km's to Adelaide to get the sunroof hole repaired. Whilst the car has been away getting the roof done I have also taken the tail lights apart and started to repair the broken and chipped housings with fibreglass, started repairing the console with fibreglass, and generally cleaning up all the bits and pieces from where it has been sitting around for about the last 10 years !! Had a call from the man doing the roof repair today, so another 1400 km's round trip coming up this weekend to go and collect the shell and then into it !! Hope to have it ready for "Datsun Day" in October. A few pics attached for those who like to see what happens.    

[Brabham]

Nice work on the roof, who did you get to do it and do you know if they oxy or mig welded it?

 

Cheers

[Mark B]

Tony Derose at One Tree Hill did the repair, welded it in with Tig .              Mark

[gav240z]

Tony Derose at One Tree Hill did the repair, welded it in with Tig .              Mark

Thanks I was wondering the same, I think Oxy would be very hard without a LOT of skill... I am going to start learning TIG myself. Seems to offer a lot more heat control.

[Mark B]

Hey guys, a bit more info and pics as to where the 260Z is up to. The dash was shit and badly cracked, and being a tight arse, and as this is only going to be a driver and maybe a hill-climber and circuit-sprinter, I decided to have a go myself !! so stripped, fibreglassed from behind, then bogged, puttied, primed and plastic the dash, came out ok, got a bit of texture on the dash by painting it from 18inches away and trying to get a dry finish, not concourse, but good enough.

[Mark B]

Also finished stripping the old paint from the sill panels, not happy found some minor rust in the RH dogleg, so did some repairs, epoxied inside the box section and made a new outer panel. Have hi filled the panels and the shell, getting ready for paint in the next couple of weeks, still working towards getting it on the road before Datsun day in Adelaide in October.

[jeff43]

Looking good Mark. You are making fast progress there or at least that is how it looks to me. It doesn't help that I haven't touched my car in about 2 months due to work, family, weather, winter etc. Keep at it and I look forward to checking it out at Datsun Day. cheers Jeff

[Mark B]

Well, just finished painting the body shell and panels, now comes the fun part, I didn't take it apart to start with, bought it in pieces, so hopefully all the parts are there a I start to put it together ( I know there will be stuff missing !! ) Painted with Glasurit paints, cost an arm and a leg, but hopefully I will get 10 years or longer out of it, for those who want to know it was a 2 pack clear over base, 3 coats of colour were needed to cover some because of a couple of minor spots where I had rubbed through the primer and into the etch primer underneath, and then 2 coats of clear but turned out beautifully, hard as a rock and very shiny !! Next job will the headliner before I can put the glass in, and try to figure out how all the door mechanism's go together ( I didn't take those apart either, was just a box full of bits !! )

[CBR Jeff]

Yep that's RED. Looks good Mark.

Sounds like it might be a bit of a jigsaw puzzle for you.

 

Jeff

[jeff43]

Thanks Mark, more motivation for me. Looks great, well done!

[Mark B]

Hi Guys, just had a go at some motor trimming , and made myself a new headlining and pillar and header trims. Surprised myself with the results and how relatively easy it was !! bought some vinyl from a local trim shop, tried to buy 12 mm foam for the roof and 6mm foam for the pillars and headers, but being a small country town they only had 10 mm , so 10mm it was for the whole project !!  about 6 hours work in total and approximately $120 in foam, vinyl and glue !!Pretty happy with the result, and I can say I did it myself, pics attached for those who like to see what is going on.

 

          This weekends project get the dash and the windscreen back in, then hopefully next week the rubber kit will arrive and the doors can be assembled and fitted .

[gav240z]

That vinyl roof lining looks OEM I'd be very happy with that! Where did you buy it from? Do they have an online store? Sadly mine has a big hole cut in it, someone thought a sunroof was a good idea.

[Mark B]

Hey Gav, no online store, just a little trim shop in Port lincoln, I just went down to see what sort of black vinyl they had in stock , that was the only one, so that is what I used !!  I made a template out out half a dozen manilla folders taped together, cut it to the approximate shape on the outside of the roof, then checked it for size on the inside, trimmed a bit more till I thought it was right !!

 

                                              Then I cut the foam to the shape of the template, glued the foam to the vinyl, then when dry (about half an hour later), cut the vinyl around the foam !!  Voila !!  new roof lining. The pillars took a bit more work, cutting and glueing the foam to the pillars and the headers, then carefully cutting the vinyl with some overlap into the windscreen openings and door jambs, but if I can do it anyone can !!  If you pm me your address I will post you a small piece of the vinyl I used to see if can chase up a sample with a trimmer.

 

Only real tricky bit was actually getting the roof lining into place and tucked in around the edges whist dealing with wet glue !!  after a bit of thought I ended up gluing the centre of the roof and all the way around on the inside (not into the opening space where the roof lining slides up and into ), then when tacky, pushing up and into place ( good quality contact will stick almost immedialtely if you have waited the 20 to 30 mins as per the instructions on the can), then after about half an hour when it had set I used a plastic spatula to work around the edges and push them up and into place in the opening !!

 

In total used up nearly a whole 2 litre can of Hi Temp contact, and a pint brush to cover all the surfaces , but pleased with the result and probably saved about a $1000 ?? doing it myself

[Sirpent]

All very impressive Mark, great work on all fronts ! 

[Riceburner]

Agreed Mark, Love it and that's an excellent result

 

Keep us updated!

[Cozza]

Great work.

I have to stick up the hood lining in the daily. What adhesive did you use and where do you find it?

Thanks

[HomeBuiltByJeff]

Looking really good. Moving quickly, well done.

 

J3

[Mark B]

Great work.

I have to stick up the hood lining in the daily. What adhesive did you use and where do you find it?

Thanks

Selleys contact, got it from bunnings, just brushed it on, let it get tacky for 20 mins, then stick it up !!             Regards MB

[Cozza]

Selleys contact, got it from bunnings, just brushed it on, let it get tacky for 20 mins, then stick it up !! Regards MB

Awesome. Another excuse to head to Bunnings!!

[Mark B]

Well, work is progressing, hoping to have this car ready for " Datsun Day " in Adelaide on the 23rd of October. Most of the exterior is now done, although the paint will need to be wet rubbed and polished to get some of the shit out of the paint, and to rub a couple of runs out. The new front corner indicators arrived from Thailand so they can be fitted, and I need to get my auto sparky son around to get all the lights working, the plugs are all butchered and the loom is looking at bit crap at the end, so he will tidy it all up and put some new connectors on, then should all be good.

 

                 Next in line is to fit the rear inside plastic trims and some new vinyl strut/ wheelhouse covers I had made locally, fit the new carpet kit I got from Rob at the Z Factory in Melbourne, refit the Console I repaired all those months ago and then hopefully get it running properly. Still haven't ordered the seat covers, was thinking about going Leather out of the states, will be about $150 more than vinyl, but leather always looks and smells good !!  Once it is going I still have to do some basic maintenance, as it hasn't been on the road since 1997, so I think I will need to change all the fluids, I know it need new brake pads on the front and a disc machine, and I reckon the way it sounds it will need plug leads , points etc and a tappet adjustment !!  But starting to get a little bit excited now !! 

 

One this one is done I will give myself a short break , and then get stuck into #227 which can be seen in the background, on a quiet night whilst working in the shed, if you listen really carefully you can hear it rusting !!  A few pics attached to show state of play,

                                                    Regards Mark B