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Once the rust repairs were completed, the whole car got another coat of epoxy. Then the panels went on and they were gapped. Nek Minet - High build primer:

This was my headlining act!

OMG colourful photos Jeff

The bonnet was the original - although it had been stripped. It was remarkably rust free, but it had the noticeable front droop along with the derigur dents and wrinkles. Paul tackled it, panel beating and flippering it straight. The nose what smacked upwards with a large block of wood and 40lbs sledge. Then it was given a coat of rust converter and put away until it was needed.

You can actually use them.

Next, the doglegs got repaired. LH side was good - no internal rust: RH side needed work: The hatch deck was also warped from years of use, the that got a few shrinks and a good flippering, fettling and farnarkling:

Have taken the old girl to a couple of car meets recently and great to see people’s positive reactions to the car. went to the annual datsuns in the park meet and the car ended up taking home the best original 280zx prize! then took her to a Japanese car meet, was cool to see a younger crowd appreciating her.

Because I knew what was going to have to be done with the internal roof rails, we unpicked the roof skin. We stripped the remaining filler off the skin, welded up some rust holes that appeared(!) then gave it a good flippering, fettling and farnarkling to make it as ripple free as we could. It was then given a coat of rust converter on both sides, then carefully stored away until it was required... Around this time I also had the heater core and radiator refurbished: Yuck!

I have to back track slightly here: Before the RH engine bay rail was welded into place we decided to correct the misalignment of the poorly installed RH skirt and rail. The whole front end was never aligned correctly post accident and it missed my jig mounts by a good 12mm. The required us to cut the top radiator support and pull the top of the RH strut tower OUT. Paul gave me a hand with this: The bottom of the skirt was unpicked from the footwell and then was gently persuaded to fit the jig at the bottom. This got the RH front skirt and rail back into position and allowed us to continue with the repairs to the front clip. The top of the radiator support was then repaired with new sections:

Seriously a Epic build, shame its in black and white. Hopefully the cameras in the year 2030 will have colour functionality

I heard there is a degree of regret that comes free with fender mirrors.

Time for an update on this pile... It's more or less been unused since CB19 and TBH after it's behavior at Bathurst and also due to the Beerflu not letting any events run, I lost a bit of interest in it. But that has to change. I munted 4th gear synchro at Bathurst, and not wanting to damage the very expensive Kameari kitted 71C gearbox further, I built a new (standard ratios) 71C box for it and that had now been swapped in. After pulling the injectors out to be cleaned some time ago, a wire pulled out of the injector plug. This was a minor issue as I don't possess the correct terminals and crimpers to repair it. But it did give me an excuse to tidy up the birds-nest that is the engine bay wiring... Cue a call to a Z owning mate who does a bit of wiring work for me from time to time, asking if he could repair and tidy it all up. Thankfully he said yes, but he's also ended up regretting it a bit! Old Injector loom wiring: New: And the crap he removed: And the rest of the birds nest complete with many spliced joins! And wait until you see the cabin buchery: How many wires would you like cut, sir? And check out the chocy block joining the headlight wiring together! Barring any other 'discovery's' he should be finished soon...

To be honest ive had many chances over the years to buy decent 260z 2 seaters for not a lot of money. I was too stubborn and fixated on having the original 240z. Looking back I think I made the wrong choice, I could have been enjoying good condition running car instead of trying to resurrect Lazarus.... ahhh hindsight...

Correction! The 240Z, 260Z, 280Z, Fairlady, 432 etc etc, both 2-seater and 2+2, are all of the Nissan S30 family. Others may disagree but my observations over 37yrs of ownership and car club membership are that the 260Z is somewhat better built and more refined in several respects over the 240Z. To each his own. I like them all. Enjoy your purchase, you should have a lot of fun with it.

More plastics installed.

Around this time the rear quarter panels were removed and the outer wheel tubs as both were beyond economical repair. New Tabco tubs were then adjusted for fitment, then tack welded into place: Next we made new drip rails in preparation for repairing the roof rails...

Triple Amen.com

Some A1 vinyl installation:

This it happened: Because we wanted to be uncompromised when getting to these rusty areas:

He meant at the Z car BBQ?

What do you mean 'soon'?!

At C.A.R you don’t just get a build…you get a bit of showmanship too…I have been drip fed a few obscure colour photos and it is pretty special…the shine of the metalwork and the colour doesn’t really come across in the black and white either. Stay tuned for the big reveal coming soon.

Governments needs inflation to decrease its debt. Inflation means they collect more tax and the value of their debt decreases. Obviously they just don’t want it running 1987 hot... all we can do is make sure our money is in assets increasing faster than or at least in line with inflation, so go buy a GTR! *this is not financial advice

No.1 at the box office.

Some more pictures from CAR. Sound deadening/acoustic stage just about in the bag.

Some more stunning photos from Locky and the fine people at CAR. the rear of the new headlights and the brand new side mirror that I bought new from a chap in middle America. Totally worth the cost in my mind.

DD is 8 to 10 weeks.

There's always a bit of buyers remorse when you pay decent money, but looking back looks like you got a bargain there Pete.

They were the poor cousin to the 240Z back in the day! How things have changed, but good to see them start to realize some value now.

You watched one 900 video (probably the hagerty one like I did... and now YouTube has decided you need to watch all the 900 vids lol

Dash is in for the final time. Those new vents and heater panels and knobs look brilliant.

Nah, wind the windows down and go faster.

Was a perfect day and Thanks to Gordo & Shaz for hosting again! Photos here on the FB page: https://www.facebook.com/groups/36878942305

Hi Guys, in these uncertain times i guess its 50/50 but just putting it out there. we propose to hold the VicZed BBQ on the Sunday the 28th of November. Hoping by then we can have at least 50 people out side. Fingers crossed.

The front lower crossmember needed to be repaired, so it was measured, media blasted, cut in half, a new centre section folded up and then welded into place. The rusty ends were also replaced. We also fabricated a replacement for rear of the lower radiator crossmemeber:

The Epoxy is scuffed with 240g, wiped with wax & grease, the it's wet on wet with regular primer then colour.

hindsight is a wonderful thing gav! I think we all wish we bought Bitcoin! I’m much the same, conservative risk appetite. All this crypto business reminds me of the dot com bubble when people were pouring money into anything internet related, half the companies weren’t actually doing anything. 20 years later only a few companies still exist. chance of choosing the right company....slim... I think there’s still a place for savings accounts, in that if your goal is to save a deposit for a house, you don’t exactly want all your money at risk in the market. For example it took 20 years for the US market to recover to its old high after the Great Depression. but I agree, index funds for the win

I think it's also why they are desperste to reboot migration. Because migrants are willing to accept lower wages and worse working conditions (at an aggregate level), which gives business a cheap labor pool, that's why they keep saying inflation is transitory. Because without migration they would need to offer higher wages and better working conditions to attract local workers, which would have the effect of causing wage inflation.. And the problem is not migrants themselves, it's the workers collective bargaining power has been destroyed over 30 years. Many migrants come from counties with even worse working conditions and lower wages, hence will accept poor conditions here becuse from their frame of reference things are much better here. But I think rebooting migration won't work because there are supply side challenges causing inflation due to restrictions abroad for workers which is slowing supply chains, pushing the price of goods up. And that is harder to solve. As for rates going up, it appears they are doing everything in their power to keep them low, even in the face of crazy inflation in specific assets. And if there is a market crash of some sort (stocks / real estate / other assets) the solution from a central banker perspective is to just print more money and push rates back to 0%. I honestly don't see how they chart a path out of this mess. It seems raise rates market crashes. Keep rates low prices of assets continue to go nuts, but wages remain stagnant. So yeah buy a GTR, or something of value to many people. I've bought some BitCoin (small amount <$10k) as a hedge against this stupidity. Even if some think BTC$ is stupid. So far it's been far better than holding cash in the bank. This is of course not financial advice but I'm also doing things to lower my bills like installing solar panels to offset energy costs. And I managed to negotiate a 50% pay bump in my new job. (Not everyone is so lucky I know). Also want to expand the veggie patch in my yard.

True, for money yet to be spent it pushes up prices but spent/borrowed money is then "cheaper". In the past people's wages would increase to cover inflation but not so much now. The hidden benefit of inflation is that the "real"/current value of borrowed money decreases (ie your mortgage) so as long as the RBA does not go stupid and push up interest rates you could say you can be better off.

No final price as yet

Deposit already down for the Z Proto.

Out with the old and in with the new…insulation and sound deadening before and afters

Sound deadening ready to go in

So the original chrome door handles were not salvageable…these baby’s are ordered and on their way:

This popped up on my fb feed just this morning so jumped in the Z and headed off for a look. A few cool cars:

Felt great to tick off this milestone. 5 years off the ground!

Anyone looking for a nice 260Z? https://www.carsales.com.au/cars/details/1974-datsun-260z-manual/SSE-AD-11944761/?Cr=0&gts=SSE-AD-11944761&gtsSaleId=SSE-AD-11944761&gtsViewType=showcase&rankingType=showcase

Well that's the whole point, inflation means rising prices. Some assets have risen more than others. But official inflation rates don't factor in assets like classic cars, cost of houses (only rent) and things like crypto or stocks. But try and they might to hide inflation, it's massive right now and for me that's why I'm long assets as short on cash.

Now the remaining repairs could start, so Graeme worked back to front starting with the unusal damage to the rear tail light panel: Then the new slam panel went on:

And another