New Z Owner Looking for Advice

[skillinp]

Hello All,

Been active on the forum for just a little while now... bought a '73 240z down in San Diego a couple months ago to learn on and fix up. I've fixed a couple things on it, mostly electronic in nature, I removed the side and rear skirts this past week, and I'll soon be upgrading the nonworking windshield wipers to Accord wipers.

Next I need to buy a rear bumper, either metal or fiberglass/plastic... i don't know yet which. I'm leaning plastic, and I'll paint it matte black. But I digress.

My big problem to deal with in the near future is the rust on the car. Right now, the car has three really bad rust spots, a couple troublesome spots, and the rest seems to be superficial at the most. Also, the current pain job, while not the worst looking, is pretty ****ty. Uneven, textured and apparently just applied over the original paint, which was the yellow-green one.

I'm a college student, so resources are limited at this point. I have some money saved from summer jobs, but not a lot of space to work in. This is important, because it means I can't put it on bricks and work on it the way I'd like to. Overall I'm not too concerned, because my car stays in a garage and is therefore safe from water or sun damage almost all the time, but I know this problem isn't going away, and some of the bad spots are in the door frame, which sort of worries me. I do live in a small town, though, so I'm not really sure what sort of prices I should be looking at, or if it would be worth it to drive it to LA or the bay area for a better deal.

My conclusions so far are that i could:

1.) Wait. Not do anything until later.

2.) Pay somebody to take care of it (I'm thinking this will be the most expensive option).

3.) Take care of the current rust spots at a body-shop, then wait to paint until later to do anything more (would this even save me money?).

4.) Apply rust remover, then sealer of some sort and hope things don't deteriorate further.

5.) ????

Any advice, related stories or general thoughts on the subject would be much appreciated.

Thanks!

PS, the attached files show: The car as bought ($2.5k), what it looked like after skirts removed, then the damage from rust: both door frames (worse on the driver's side), under gas fill door, then some spots on the roof, and a crack in the metal on the roof as well. I should note they didn't look that bad until I poked around at them the other day to see what the depth of the spots looked like.

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[LeonV]

If you're at Cal Poly, I would recommend making friends with everyone that works at The Hangar, especially if you're an engineer! I'm not sure about their current policy on personal projects, but make some friends and see what happens. Take some time to learn some valuable fabrication skills and you'll be able to fix anything on that Z!

[zhead240]

hi, and welcome

i'm no xpert bodyman but with rust like that on the door frame makes me wonder what the floorpans, frame rails, hatch sill and battery area looks like. don't want to discourage u but check out these other problem areas too. also being original color 112 yellow lime, i think this was only offered in the 72 model year. i could be mistaken though. good luck.

[skillinp]

Thanks for the fast responses!

If you're at Cal Poly, I would recommend making friends with everyone that works at The Hangar, especially if you're an engineer! I'm not sure about their current policy on personal projects, but make some friends and see what happens. Take some time to learn some valuable fabrication skills and you'll be able to fix anything on that Z!

I've thought about that, but never given it a try. I'll be sure to go in and ask once break is over, though. Thanks for the advice! I think I'll try contacting one of the car clubs on campus and see if they have any ins as well.

hi, and welcome

i'm no xpert bodyman but with rust like that on the door frame makes me wonder what the floorpans, frame rails, hatch sill and battery area looks like. don't want to discourage u but check out these other problem areas too. also being original color 112 yellow lime, i think this was only offered in the 72 model year. i could be mistaken though. good luck.

I've read that these are problem areas, so I checked them out before buying the car... There is a partial hole in the floor pan, but I figured that I could wait to work on that later. There's also some surface rust under the battery tray, but I don't think it's really anything to worry about at this point. I wasn't able to get a good picture of the floor pan, but I was able to get a fairly representative of the picture of the battery area. Please correct me if I'm mistaken about the importance of the floor pan... it's not about to fall out or anything, but if it's somehow structurally necessary to the car, that would sort of change things. Luckily somebody makes those for $350, so that wouldn't be the end of the world if it was necessary... And the hatch sill looks like it could be cleaned up.

Anyone have any thoughts about what I should do in the sort term to stop or solve the rust? Should I get the whole roof replaced, maybe?

[Oiluj]

If you're at Cal Poly, I would recommend making friends with everyone that works at The Hangar, especially if you're an engineer! I'm not sure about their current policy on personal projects, but make some friends and see what happens. Take some time to learn some valuable fabrication skills and you'll be able to fix anything on that Z!

From another, but much older, Cal Poly Engineer... What Leon said. I'm surprised the hanger is still open to students.

[LeonV]

Thanks for the fast responses!

I've thought about that, but never given it a try. I'll be sure to go in and ask once break is over, though. Thanks for the advice! I think I'll try contacting one of the car clubs on campus and see if they have any ins as well.

Sure! Are there car clubs? I did some FSAE stuff but nothing outside of that. Then again, I didn't have a running Z at the time...

From another, but much older, Cal Poly Engineer... What Leon said. I'm surprised the hanger is still open to students.

Heck yeah, Julio! The Hangar is pure bliss for fabrication. I loved Cal Poly, wish I could go back for seconds!

[skillinp]

Somebody from the club left a business card on my car from Cal Poly Motor Car Assn. I don't know much about them, but I know there are several other clubs on campus as well.

http://www.calpolymca.com/index.html

I think I've seen the SAE car near the hanger before: http://www.calpolysae.org/formula/index.html

I think they actually built the new engineering buildings around the hanger, so it's definitely still there.

[esmit208]

SKILLINP

This car is a perfect candidate for a full restoration. First...there are no quick fixes for the rust that you have uncovered and no doubt will uncover in the future. Second...Yes the floor pans are important for structural rigidity. Third...only if you are really committed should you undertake the task ahead of you. Full restoration is not a quick process even if you have the time and money. Undertake this task only if you plan to keep the car. It sounds as if you are young enough to have many years of enjoyable driving. Trust me many of us have cars that were in worse shape than yours when we took posession of them. You can learn tons and make some pretty cool acquaintances. Parts are plentiful as well as a vast sea of knowledge. Here are some pics of the 1972 I have been working on since 2009. As you can see I have a long way to go yet but the journey is a lot of hard work and fun. Good Luck and persevere.

[esmit208]

It can look better than THAT someday!

[skillinp]

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This car is a perfect candidate for a full restoration. First...there are no quick fixes for the rust that you have uncovered and no doubt will uncover in the future. Second...Yes the floor pans are important for structural rigidity. Third...only if you are really committed should you undertake the task ahead of you. Full restoration is not a quick process even if you have the time and money. Undertake this task only if you plan to keep the car. It sounds as if you are young enough to have many years of enjoyable driving. Trust me many of us have cars that were in worse shape than yours when we took posession of them. You can learn tons and make some pretty cool acquaintances. Parts are plentiful as well as a vast sea of knowledge. Here are some pics of the 1972 I have been working on since 2009. As you can see I have a long way to go yet but the journey is a lot of hard work and fun. Good Luck and persevere.

Thanks for the encouragement. You seem to have a lot of experience restoring Zs, do you think I should do something about the rust now or wait until I can take care of all the rust, floorboards, etc all in one go?

[EScanlon]

If you have access to a place like "The Hangar", and the Cal Poly Motor Car Assn. you might consider doing some rust repair now.

With their help and guidance you would at least reduce the amount of MAJOR rust you would otherwise have later.

2¢

E

[skillinp]

If you have access to a place like "The Hangar", and the Cal Poly Motor Car Assn. you might consider doing some rust repair now.

With their help and guidance you would at least reduce the amount of MAJOR rust you would otherwise have later.

2¢

E

OK, that's what I was leaning towards, but I wasn't really sure. Much appreciated!