Project Boondoggle (or, so I went and bought a Z!)

[charliekwin]

I'm not dead, just been too busy with other things to get much else done on the car, especially since I can drive it again.

But, at least my new plates came...

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[charliekwin]

Well I see it's been <checks thread> over a year! since posting anything (mods, you can move this to Build Threads), but life has been busy. I finally took the time to restore the computer with most of my photos on it and came across some of the small projects I photographed inconsistently --and poorly!-- so here are some of the things that happened:

Fixed my grill. I'm not sure what it had ever done to anyone, but that person apparently got their revenge. I found on in good shape for sale for ~$100, but took the far less sensible approach and set to fixing mine. Drilled out all the rivets, sanded off the old paint and rust, and beat them into shape as best as I could. Finished with leftover epoxy primer, some filler, and painted with Dupilcolor wheel paint. Put back in without even thinking about the after picture. Also not pictured: I sanded off the old baby blue paint and hit the whole area around the radiator support with black Rustoleum, which will stay until I paint the engine bay.

Then I cleaned, repaired and remounted the horns. No horn pad yet, but at least they work.

Ordered and installed 240 bumpers! These came from Vietnam. There were some delays in shipping, but finally arrived after about 6 weeks and a number of emails. Some people have reported fitment issues -- especially with the rear bumper -- but mine fit fine. The mounting tabs needed a little bending to get into position, but that wasn't a surprise. Biggest complaint might be that the supplied hardware was a bit disappointing (I picked up some nuts and bolts at the hardware store), and the mounting tabs for the side pieces on the rear had comically oversized captive nuts (M10, maybe) that required drilling bigger holes into the body than I would have liked. Hardly a deal breaker.

I didn't buy brackets, figuring I could just make my own. Front seemed easier, so tacked that first. Set the bumper in place with things in the garage (an aside: nothing I've done on the car has made me more nervous than moving the bumpers around, as I was convinced that I would drop them and ruin the bumper, the paint, or probably both. Disaster was somehow avoided, though not without a couple close calls.) then made a cardboard template and copied that to some thin steel. When I had what I thought was the right shape, I copied it to 1/8" steel; the thinnest available at the hardware store. The brackets might outlive the car. I whiffed badly on the positioning the first time and had to fix both brackets, but I got to use the welder, so it worked out. They came out nice, and the fit is excellent.

Same idea on the rear: cardboard first, then a ton of fussing to get all the gaps right. I'm sure they were cut and re-welded 5 times or more. I still had a few ounces of paint left from the car, which I used for the brackets and the bolts. One regret: I didn't realize the holes for the bumper bolts on the rear quarters are different between the 280 and 240. I needed to drill new ones and would have closed up the old ones when I did the body work. Same goes for the cutout in the rear valence and a couple of the mounting holes in the back. The bolts are color matched, but would prefer to not have them at all. Ah well. The bumper looks good. Those rear lights could use some help.

I got a ride home and a new fuel pump back in January.

And replaced the blower motor with a Kia unit because the old one was squeaking and rattling. What a great upgrade!

Now I'm in a bit of a holding pattern. Putting audio into the car doesn't seem like a good use of funds, especially since I've switched to full time remote work and barely drive anymore, so I'm mostly watching Craigslist for L28 engines. 

[charliekwin]

Well, today's drive sucked:

 

[charliekwin]

Car pulled out of a driveway across multiple lanes of stopped traffic to get into the left turn lane, which I was already in. Stood on the brakes, but wasn't enough. I'll tear into it tomorrow after the adjuster comes, but it looks like the hood and air dam are probably salvageable. Bumper is bent, and maybe fixable too. Door looks fine so far, so I'm hopeful there's no structural damage. Haven't decided how I want to deal with any of it yet.

[rcb280z]

Hope you are Okay!

Oh man that sucks!! Really sorry for you.  Hopefully its just worst looking than it is and you're able to use everything. Although that fender doesn't look good.

Keep us posted

 

[dmorales-bello]

So sorry to see those pics! Hope everyone is OK.

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[charliekwin]

No injuries at least, so that's something to be grateful for.

Peeked under the hood and didn't see anything that worries me. You're right about the fender and headlight though. I'm dumb enough to at least try to fix it, but almost certainly will need to find new ones.

If I do it myself and if I only have to paint the hood and fender, that's not so bad. I had flaws in those panels that nagged at me anyway. There are other flaws that nag at me, and will try hard not to think re-painting the whole care would somehow be a good idea.

[Captain Obvious]

Oh No!!! Is the insurance company involved, at least for reimbursement? In other words... Was the accident deemed the other guy's fault?

I had the exact same accident occur in my past. I bought a new car and went over to my Dad's place to show it off. He asked if he could take it for a spin. Of course, I tossed him the keys, and while he was out, the exact same thing happened to him. I wasn't with him, and I was really wondering what was taking so long...

Thankfully there were witnesses and the accident was deemed 100% the other guy's fault, but the damage was done. Car had under 2000 miles on it at the time.  

[Patcon]

The fender might be salvageable if it was a super rare item, don't....

Just replace that and the bucket

Look for damage really closely around the top of the radiator support. The fender looks moved in a little. Not the end of he world but will make panel alignment frustrating if it's not dealt with

[grannyknot]

Damn, that's beautiful car.  What Patcon says^  the hood looks like the front side lip might be bent a bit but the reflections are still straight so it doesn't look like it was kinked.   Any good chrome shop can fix that bumper.

[charliekwin]

The other party was in Jeep Compass. They were in a rental (I think some kind of private party rental) and looks like it just got their bumper and some trim. I filed a claim with my insurance company mainly just so I don't have to worry about any of it. No determination of fault yet. If I get anything from my insurance company, great, but honestly, it's the time and work that's hung over me more than any of the costs. Assuming everything looks good after I pull it apart, I'm probably at ~$500 in parts, paint and other materials.

I'm with you guys on the fender and headlight. I'm still just coming to terms with having to re-weld it again and don't want to think about it :)

Passenger side hood hinge was tweaked; same with the front of the fender support (at least). Hope nothing too bad happened to the hood -- they're harder to find. And the bumper's stainless, which I assume is easier to fix than one that's chrome plated.

Buddy of mine suggested that the vanity plate might be a little too on the nose. Next time maybe I'll pick something way more positive and hope it's similarly prophetic 😄 (I dunno...maybe LTRYWNR?)

[charliekwin]

Got to dig into my situation. Preliminary assessment:

One good dent on the hood. Wish it weren't so close to the edge. Bad photo, but there's very small break on the opposite side that I don't remember seeing. If I can avoid repainting the bottom of the hood too, that'll be a win.

Bumper buckled on the top and bottom. No scrapes or dents anywhere, though! Not sure the best way to get it back to shape, but seems doable. Bracket got pretty well twisted. Probably need to remake at least one of them.

Air dam took a little damage from the bumper and one of the holes isn't looking great. I can clean up the bumper recess with body filler. It's not a super-visible piece, so maybe I can get away with touchup paint instead of repainting the whole thing.

Headlight needs a massage. Grill was mostly unscathed.

As does the hood hinge and the fender support piece on the front end.

Best news: no damage to the area around the radiator core support. Feel confident that there's no frame or structural damage.

The headlight bucket is wrecked. The fender isn't much better. 

Gotta source a few parts. Not sure what I'll tackle first. Even though everything here is about the best I could've hoped for, I'm kind of unenthusiastic about it all right now.

 

Oh, and when I came out of the gym last night, I found that THIS happened to my other car in the parking lot. You gotta be kidding me....