Jepherz's Datsun 240z restoration

[jepherz]

Not sure if this is the correct place for this, but I figured since it's a huge amount of body/paint work, it'll do. Mods, feel free to move it if it's not!

I can't believe it's been 6 months since I purchased this car! I figured I'd be done so much sooner... However, it turned out to be in worse shape than I originally thought, and I got hung up on a few things so far. Oh well, at least I'm making some progress. If anyone is interested, I can keep adding pics to this thread.

I started cleaning the interior out, and it was nasty:

I removed all of the crappy wiring that someone had done:

Tore out all of the wet, rotten carpet (the previous owner was parking it with the window open in the winter) *puke*:

I started to remove one of the few panels that I knew had a little rust beforehand. This panel commonly rusts out on these cars. I was looking to learn some about major body repair when buying this car:

I got ballsy one night when my ADD kicked in. Took out the angle grinder and decided to expose why there was some rust popping through the paint in a few small areas. *eek*:

At this point, I knew my perfectionism (or anal-ness) would require me to take this project to a whole new level, so I busted out the windshield:

Another ADD session; decided to cut out the rocker panel on the passenger side. The car had been hung up on some huge rock or something at some point, so this whole side was dented as well as rusted through and bondo'd up:

Perfectionist again; coating everything in POR15, even the inside of the rocker! Also fixing the dent damage and fabbing up all of the metal that was completely rusted away:

Prepping the tank for a POR coating. This is the first time I've used POR correctly with all of their cleaning and acid etch products:

Prepping the new rocker panel to go in. Cleaning and acid etch were done before coating the middle area in POR. Outter edges are coated with weldable primer:

Marking out some material to cut away and then to fab a replacement:

And finally tonight, I started welding the rocker panel in:

For all of the pictures, the album should be public here. Enjoy!

[240260280z]

Beautiful work!

[cozye]

Nice! Quite a project you got there. Looks like you've got the skills to handle it well.

[Threehz]

What they said! Fantastic man, it's great to see someone getting down and deep and refreshing an old Z from the bones out! Awesome work, keep it up and keep us posted.

[d240zx2]

Youth is wasted on the young.....

[5thhorsemann]

Why did you smash the wind sheild? They come out fairly easily. Was it broken and you were in need of some stress relief?

[jepherz]

Good question :-) There was a huge crack down the center and it was all yellowed. I found a brand new one (basically) at the junk yard and was able to get it out by pushing it out with my feet from the inside, as there was only a rubber seal. The one that was in the car wouldn't come out that way as someone had used window weld to hold it in.

You can see the crack:

Edited August 16, 2011 by jepherz

[LeonV]

Off topic, but is that your M Coupe? I love those cars, and am considering getting one (if I don't get an S2000)!

[jepherz]

That's one of the guys that I share my shop with. They are pretty cool cars; rare and they drive much like the 240 did for me when I bought it and drove it home. His is a '99 I think, so it only has the s50 in it (around 235 hp) but a fun, cool car.

I too have been looking around for s2k's, but they jumped up in price so much since they were killed!

[LeonV]

One of the reasons I like the M Coupe is because it's so reminiscent of the 240Z! It has a similar "swoopy" but muscular design with a sweet straight six under the hood. The S2k also reminds me of the Z, as it's fairly lightweight, curvy and muscular and has a hell of a drivetrain.

Back on topic, looks like you have your work cut out (literally). Keep up the great work!

[jepherz]

Is there an acceptable way to post up a WTB here? Not sure if I need a high post count or anything, but if anyone can help me out on getting the lower grill mount (the one that is welded to the lower core support) mine is cut off and I'd like to actually replace it for the restoration.

[EScanlon]

Use the Classifieds for your WTB.

Look on the left margin, under the Menu and select Classified Ads. The same name/password that you use here works there.

E