C.A.R. Posted June 24, 2020 Share Posted June 24, 2020 (edited) So one of my customers purchased this very original '72 240Z a number of months ago, with a view to investing in it's originality. It's a lovely original matching numbers car with history. 901 Silver with red(!) interior car, that has been converted by Les Collins from Auto to Manual. The original bonnet had been damaged - presumably in an accident - and as typical, had been poorly repaired, with copious amounts of filler... My brief from the owner was simply to purchase, fit and respray a new bonnet, as well as realign the rear bumper, and fit better seats that the owner has supplied. So once in the shop, the rear bumper was realigned, and the new bonnet was gapped and fitted, but before the seats were fitted I delivered it down to my spray painter for him to paint the bonnet. That's when the scope of the project changed... Edited November 24, 2020 by gav240z Fixing images Dragonball240z, OdinZ, GregTas and 5 others 5 1 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NickF Posted June 30, 2020 Share Posted June 30, 2020 Hi Is that the all muscle parts bonnet? looks like a good fit for a repro Any problem when fitting Appreciate any feed back Nick Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AndBir Posted June 30, 2020 Share Posted June 30, 2020 On 6/24/2020 at 5:48 PM, C.A.F. said: That's when the scope of the project changed... Sounds ominous?? PB260Z 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CBR Jeff Posted June 30, 2020 Share Posted June 30, 2020 4 hours ago, AndBir said: Sounds ominous?? Sounds expensive.............. Jeff gav240z 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
C.A.R. Posted June 30, 2020 Author Share Posted June 30, 2020 7 hours ago, NickF said: Hi Is that the all muscle parts bonnet? looks like a good fit for a repro Any problem when fitting Appreciate any feed back Nick Fitted perfectly. Just needed the flanges on the inside tweaked to clear the guards. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NickF Posted June 30, 2020 Share Posted June 30, 2020 Thank you I think you said their doors were quite a good fit too Nick Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
C.A.R. Posted June 30, 2020 Author Share Posted June 30, 2020 1 hour ago, NickF said: Thank you I think you said their doors were quite a good fit too Nick They are. Bumpers... Not so much... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
C.A.R. Posted August 16, 2020 Author Share Posted August 16, 2020 I knew in my gut. I just knew, but I ignored it. My spray painter looked at it and I knew what he was going to say from the look on his face: "It's wearing 6 different resprays, mate" "I can't blend that nicely - it'll stand out worse than it does already." Ah shit... It's was true - one could see it'd been patch-sprayed over the years and when you got up close it didn't look nice. The car-park dents and stone chips didn't help either. And in the right light, the doors had more waves in them than the ocean... A week later we had a meeting with the owner and explained the situation. We could paint the bonnet and tops of the guards in a vain attempt to blend it all in and he could live with it, or we give it a complete respray in it's original 901 Silver to truly make it look factory fresh. I had already created a budget for both options and explained both to the owner - his interest in making it look showroom fresh was his priority for the car, so a full respray it was. But not just any respray - this was going the whole-hog, short of putting it on a rotisserie. A couple of weeks after that conversation: gav240z and OdinZ 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
C.A.R. Posted August 16, 2020 Author Share Posted August 16, 2020 Because it was such an original car, I wanted a second pair of experienced hands to assist me in taking it apart - CAREFULLY. Enter font of useless(?) Z information and owner of this fine forum Mr Doolan, who graciously made himself available: Careful disassembly, bagging and tagging was completed and in a week we had the Z stripped down to a bare shell with only the interior left (it was staying put). Gav & I then thoroughly inspected the body-shell for corrosion - it IS a Z after all... Well that doesn't look good: OdinZ 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KatoKid Posted August 16, 2020 Share Posted August 16, 2020 Such a nice looking car, watching how this turns out. C.A.R. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
C.A.R. Posted August 17, 2020 Author Share Posted August 17, 2020 So I started having a poke around the LH dogleg and low down on the panel I could see marks under the paint - rust marks. I unpicked and cut the wheelarch lip off to see what was going on: That's rust! Decision made - Off comes the dogleg panel! Ahh crap... Remember kids, no matter how original your Zeddy is, unless it's been restored (with photos!), it still got rust. There was nothing else for it but to get it repaired. Panel off and out with the media blaster, to reveal more holes: Better get fabricating then... Smooth as a baby's... Probably should have a look at the RH side... Ponyo240z and RAP260 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AndBir Posted August 17, 2020 Share Posted August 17, 2020 4 minutes ago, C.A.F. said: Probably should have a look at the RH side... Interesting to see what is visible via the internal panel circular cut out? I used the flash/camera of a phone to get a picture. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
C.A.R. Posted August 17, 2020 Author Share Posted August 17, 2020 (edited) RH side... Rinse and repeat: Out with the Garnet again: This side needed more removed: Now to reconstruct it... Done! But that was not the last of it... Edited December 30, 2020 by C.A.F. Fix images Ponyo240z and Dragonball240z 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
C.A.R. Posted August 17, 2020 Author Share Posted August 17, 2020 5 minutes ago, AndBir said: Interesting to see what is visible via the internal panel circular cut out? I used the flash/camera of a phone to get a picture. I didn't bother - I KNEW it was rusty. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
C.A.R. Posted August 17, 2020 Author Share Posted August 17, 2020 (edited) When the Z first arrived in the shop and I removed the bonnet I noticed the rust around the battery tray. Pretty unsightly... And that chassis rail doesn't look to happy either... So with the engine bay gutted, I decided to tackle this next. As predicted - rust holes: And with the tray removed... And onto the repairs: Unfortunately I didn't get photos of the repairs from the section further up, but you get the idea. Edited December 30, 2020 by C.A.F. AndBir, Ponyo240z, Dragonball240z and 2 others 5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CBR Jeff Posted August 17, 2020 Share Posted August 17, 2020 From little things big things grow . Nice work Locky or was it Gav? Jeff hmd 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Administrators gav240z Posted August 17, 2020 Administrators Share Posted August 17, 2020 Fyi, I didn't do any of the rust work on it. Just been helping out with disassembly. May help with reassembly depending on timelines. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KatoKid Posted August 17, 2020 Share Posted August 17, 2020 Very noice! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
C.A.R. Posted August 18, 2020 Author Share Posted August 18, 2020 (edited) On 8/17/2020 at 8:15 PM, C.A.F. said: And that chassis rail doesn't look to happy either... After I completed the repairs to the panel under the battery tray, I turned my attention to the LH chassis rail. I buzzed the stonechip off the backside of the skirt to reveal... SOAB! Rust holes! I unpicked the engine crossmember reinforcement and it wasn't pretty. Decision made (again) - time to cut the skirt out. Skirt cut out & the crispy flakes removed: Thankfully other than some pitting, it was sounds. I Media blasted the inside of the rail, then painted it in KBS Rust Seal, along with the inside of the new skirt section I fabricated. And done: A sold few days in all of that, but I'm pleased with how it came out. Then I looked at the RH side... Edited December 30, 2020 by C.A.F. Wags, Ponyo240z, AndBir and 2 others 5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CBR Jeff Posted August 18, 2020 Share Posted August 18, 2020 And that’s a fairly rust free car! Just imagine what’s hiding in other cars that are driving around. This is a great advertorial for CAF. Thanks for sharing Locky. Looking forward to the next instalment. Jeff Gordo, gav240z and C.A.R. 2 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GongZ Posted August 19, 2020 Share Posted August 19, 2020 On 6/24/2020 at 7:48 PM, C.A.F. said: So one of my customers purchased this very original '72 240Z a number of months ago, with a view to investing in it's originality. ... Does the plan to achieve originality include deleting the blinker repeaters from the front guards and sourcing the correct (all white) front blinkers? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Administrators gav240z Posted August 19, 2020 Administrators Share Posted August 19, 2020 Lachlan and I discussed that because some folks were adamant that some cars had them like that, but upon disassembly we noted they were custom cut outs and retrofitted to the car at a later date, along with the split lower indicators on the valance. I am not sure if the owner is set on changing back to stock completely in that regard or not? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Administrators gav240z Posted August 19, 2020 Administrators Share Posted August 19, 2020 15 hours ago, CBR Jeff said: And that’s a fairly rust free car! Just imagine what’s hiding in other cars that are driving around. This is a great advertorial for CAF. Thanks for sharing Locky. Looking forward to the next instalment. Jeff It was a bit of a surprise for sure, I think when we removed the motor and saw the lower rails had come away from the inner wings we knew there was something bigger hiding behind it. Very hard to see unless the car was on a hoist and even then with the exhaust system in the way so very difficult to see. The rest of the car is very good, especially the rear valance and hatch/slam panel. I'd never seen an S30Z with such a clean rear slam panel that was still original. The rear garnish that covers the tail lamps still had the original plastic pins holding it in, I don't think Lachlan had ever seen them! When I showed him how to remove them by pushing the pin in the middle down (and letting it fall to nowhere land) it became obvious why hardly any S30Z's still have those clips.. easy enough to lose or break them! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AndBir Posted August 19, 2020 Share Posted August 19, 2020 24 minutes ago, gav240z said: still had the original plastic pins holding it in, I don't think Lachlan had ever seen them! Rob at the Z Factory has these in stock and they seem to be very good replicas of the originals : gav240z 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
C.A.R. Posted August 19, 2020 Author Share Posted August 19, 2020 9 hours ago, GongZ said: Does the plan to achieve originality include deleting the blinker repeaters from the front guards and sourcing the correct (all white) front blinkers? 9 hours ago, gav240z said: Lachlan and I discussed that because some folks were adamant that some cars had them like that, but upon disassembly we noted they were custom cut outs and retrofitted to the car at a later date, along with the split lower indicators on the valance. I am not sure if the owner is set on changing back to stock completely in that regard or not? I'd spoken to the owner about changing it back to original, however with the difficulty of obtaining original front indicator assembly's, we decided to leave the later indicator additions in place. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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