where to begin

[turboiwish]

alright so i picked up this 73 240z for free from a buddy who pretty much just found it himself it had just been sitting in the back of the car lot since 85. the motor is an l28 from and 83 280zx with the 5speed. the powertrain is perfect and has just over 6,000 original miles on it. i'm a senior in high school and took the engine out of the car to give it a full rebuild because its been sitting for so long. so while the powertrain isn't an issue the body definately is. i'm working on the engine for an hour and a half each day while the the car just sits at my house.

the body on a scale of 1 to 10 is probably around a 4 or 5. the bottom of the car is fairly rusted out, repairable i'd feel much safer with new floor boards and such. theres a few other places where rust can be found, but for the most part its all under the car. and it needs a new drivers side door and quarter panel from being hit. it has a full interior, dash is cracked but everything else is perfect.

my question is. where the hell should i start with this body. should i rip out all the carpet and find all the rust? should i leave it as is stick the motor in it paint it and rock the rust? or should i just find a completely different body for what is a perfect L28? i'm low on cash and have friends that can help with body work and such but it could probably use some professional metal work under it.

[=Enigma=]

Well we can't speak too much to the rust issues without some good pics, but I recommend a full analysis of the condition before making any decision as to whether to move forward with the existing shell or not. At a minimum, you will need to take out all the floor carpeting, padding, and tar pads to get a good look at the floors. However, there are several other areas that might disqualify it before you go to all that trouble. Namely the front frame rails, specifically where they join the passenger compartment near the T/C rods, especially on the battery side. If this area is heavily rusted and coming apart already, you may be better off finding a new shell unless you have lots of $$$$ or a friend with some excellent fabrication skills and the desire to work for beer.

Anyway, this is all based on info gained from reading the rust threads on the forum here. This topis has been hash over time and time again. Check out the search feature, you'll find lots of info on this topic.

[Ramses]

Yes please post some pics. Enigma knows what he is talking about. On my '73 I had already committed too much time before I realized that she was probably too far gone. I fixed her any way. I pulled EVERYTHING off the car and waited till I had enough money to replace the floor boards with frame rails, rear quarter panel, heat shield around batter tray, front passenger fender - inner and that is only the metal. Good luck and please post some pics, before you get too far.

[turboiwish]

i'll try and get some pics up for you guys.