Micheal's Bent Bus

[C.A.R.]

So this Michael fella posts up on one of the FB groups last year, asking for parts and panels to repair his bent Z that he's just bought.
Like an idiot I pipe up and comment he needs to have it pulled straight by a shop first, before anything can be replaced.
Next thing I know, he's PM'd me asking more questions... And this is how I ended up with another job and a it's bloody Bus!



Turns out he had bought it off a friend who's SON had driven it into a tree...
The Dad apparently didn't want any more to do with it and so he sold it to this bloke Michael.
It looked like an OK thing before the accident:



But now... oof...








It's your typical Z hotrod with flares, big wheels, shitty coilovers & triple carbs.
It was apparently been built buy a shop for the farther & son, but as you'll soon see, you wouldn't get them to service your lawnmower...
Michael had removed the engine and gearbox before bringing it down to me.

In mid April this POS arrives in my shop; it goes straight up on the chassis bench where we give it a good look over and measure.
Miraculously the damage hasn't twisted or bent the shell behind the firewall, so we can get away with just front chassis repairs.
However in the accident, the LH rear copped a hit along with the LH dogleg - and this is where the project snowballed...

Edited May 16, 2022 by C.A.R.

[C.A.R.]

First was to pull the front out - the skirt and rail had pushed into the firewall, so we pulled the assembly forward to get the damage out.



A bit of pulling, fettling and farnarkling and we got  the front pulled square enought to begin the next step.



After further inspection and consultation with the owner, it was decided to remove the front end and replace it with a straight one.
Repairing the original front clip was going to be costly and I was doubtful we could make it look 100% perfect again...

Looking at the other damage, we turned out attention to the LH rear quarter where it had taken a hit,
so we attached the Dozer and gave it a pull along the bottom edge:





Further investigation revealed previous repairs - and they didn't look good...



 

Edited May 9, 2022 by C.A.R.

[OdinZ]

14 hours ago, C.A.R. said:

So this Michael fella posts up on one of the FB groups last year, asking for parts and panels to repair his bent Z that he's just bought.
Like an idiot I pipe up and comment he needs to have it pulled straight by a shop first, before anything can be replaced.
Next thing I know, he's PM'd me asking more questions... And this is how I ended up with another job and a it's bloody Bus!




It's your typical Z hotrod with flares, big wheels, shitty coilovers & triple carbs.
It was apparently been built buy a shop for the farther & son, but as you'll soon see, you wouldn't get them to service your lawnmower...
Michael had removed the engine and gearbox before bringing it down to me.

In mid April this POS arrives in my shop; it goes straight up on the chassis bench where we give it a good look over and measure.
Miraculously the damage hasn't twisted or bent the shell behind the firewall, so we can get away with just front chassis repairs.
However in the accident, the LH rear copped a hit along with the LH dogleg - and this is where the project snowballed...

I can feel the hatred from here!

But one tends to wonder, perhap you actually like working on things you despise.....

On another note, will you be cutting the guards for the flares on this one?

[hmd]

16 hours ago, C.A.R. said:

and this is where the project snowballed...

This is not unusual, I have not seen a car project that have not snowballed.

[C.A.R.]

3 hours ago, OdinZ said:

On another note, will you be cutting the guards for the flares on this one?

Possibly. There is evidence of the tyre rubbing on the arch...

[C.A.R.]

The LH dogleg had copped a hit, so I started to remove the paint in anticipation of replacing the panel (as pulling the dent out probably wouldn't work).



Only to find this bodge-job:



So I set about cutting the dogleg off and found this underneath - the shop who 'restored' the Z in 2018 didn't even bother to repair the rotten sill underneath...





I knew the RH side would be the same so rinse and repeat:



It was at this stage that I called the owner to discuss options as, this was no longer a straightforward job of straightening the body & giving it a new coat of paint.
He agreed that it needed to be restored correctly, so it was now going to get the whole CAR enchilada...














































































...on a feckin Bus

[Wags]

Locky is a glutton for punishment. 
Seriously though, it goes to show that there are ‘restorations’ and restorations. Lots of people just end up putting makeup on a pig. 
im glad this zed has found a place to get restored at to give it maximum life.

[240ZBUILTBYME]

I wish Lurch would tell us what he really thinks….

[Wags]

7 minutes ago, 240ZBUILTBYME said:

I wish Lurch would tell us what he really thinks….

Yes, I never know what he’s thinking when he happens upon bad craftsmanship.

[C.A.R.]

I see $ signs, as this sort of  poor workmanship keeps us in business!

[gav240z]

55 minutes ago, 240ZBUILTBYME said:

I wish Lurch would tell us what he really thinks….

Every time I see another project thread, I think I'm gonna need a bigger server to handle all the inbound images.

 

 

[C.A.R.]

15 minutes ago, gav240z said:

Every time I see another project thread, I think I'm gonna need a bigger server to handle all the inbound images.

I'm hotlinking them from Google Photos - if that helps?

[gav240z]

38 minutes ago, C.A.R. said:

I'm hotlinking them from Google Photos - if that helps?

Yeah I was joking more than serious. Carry on.

[OdinZ]

22 hours ago, gav240z said:

Every time I see another project thread, I think I'm gonna need a bigger server to handle all the inbound images.

 

I see this after I have uploaded all of my photos! ooops lol

[gav240z]

50 minutes ago, OdinZ said:

I see this after I have uploaded all of my photos! ooops lol

Don't worry, we have plenty of space, stored on Amazon Cloud, so it's not previously when I had to increase disk space on the server, Amazon scales well and cost is very modest.

[C.A.R.]

I was fortunate to obtain a 2+2 front cut from one of my contacts that was straight with only minor rust.
They also had some good front guards, headlight buckets / sugar scoops & bonnet hinges.
So Michael went and collected them on ANZAC day & brought it back to our shop.



That week we removed the skirt & rails from the donor firewall and did the same thing to the Z:





The clip was prepped, then clamped into position where all the dimensions were carefully measured and the clip adjusted so that was in correct alignment.
Following this the guards & bonnet were bolted onto check gaps:

[C.A.R.]

With the panel gaps checked & the front clip adjusted slightly, the clip with welded into position.
We then stripped the shell of the remaining parts and installed it onto the rotisserie:





Blasting is scheduled for the 24th, so stay tuned...

Edited May 16, 2022 by C.A.R.

[Michael]

Damn that's a lot of work,  Especially with Sandblasting happening afterwards. Looking at those 1/4 panels, Little Scary.

My 2 seater was in a similar yet,  More isolated accident to the passenger side. Did you find the cowl panel to be bent (with firewall still straight) ? or just removed for blasting? 

Very much looking forward to the journal on this one. Reminds me of Revzed's old bus. They look great Imo. 

 

[C.A.R.]

The scuttle panel was damaged from the guard hitting it in the accident.

The plenum top had to be removed to access the gussets that secure the top of the front clip.
There's a hole what has been fiberglassed up in the plenum that goes straight into the cabin, so that needs to be fixed properly.
Also it's covered in surface rust inside. Hence why it's all been removed

[Michael]

On 5/19/2022 at 7:32 AM, C.A.R. said:

There's a hole what has been fiberglassed up in the plenum that goes straight into the cabin, so that needs to be fixed properly.
Also it's covered in surface rust inside. Hence why it's all been removed

Ah I get ya. We chose to leave that gusset attached and simply drill off the air tube, Impressive to see the job done without those in place to assist with lining up

Suppose that's the difference of being a specialised shop with an appropriate jig made up.  Very nice work. 

 

*Note* I Only required one side to be replaced, Not sure if a full clip would slide in over those gussets or not. 

 

 

 

Edited May 20, 2022 by Michael

[C.A.R.]

Dodgy sods...




 

Edited May 23, 2022 by C.A.R.

[gilltech]

So they fitted up flares and those very wide wheels without cutting and trimming the guards? I suppose at least that's a blessing.  

[C.A.R.]

Oh dear...













RH Rear wheelarch:


Even the site supervisor was impressed...

[Wags]

It’s amazing how much tin worm a relatively straight (before the accident) and shiney zed had. This is where the dollars go in a resto.

[gav240z]

So are you going to find a donor rear half?