New project-72

[madkaw]

Took on a client for some Z work- didn't have enough to do-

1972 Auto from out west- very rust free and original. Going to try and bring her back to glory

[siteunseen]

Weird seeing the rear finisher body color. Is it 110 red with black interior? Did y'all load it onto a railroad car?

[madkaw]

110 with originally white interior. Now just a ugly interior that has morphed black. Bad paint job that oozed onto finisher 

[siteunseen]

The guy I bought mine from used SEM white vinyl paint and it looks like new. I found a small area behind the radio that looks like butterscotch. Amazing difference by comparison. Is it a friend of your's or a restoration job you've taken on?

That shaved rear of your's looks awesome and dual exhaust, wow!

[madkaw]

Contacted "Bo" on line thru craigslist an ad he had. . He seemed to be selling because the lack of experienced help with his car by his ad description. I volunteered my services since he was fairly close . Bo turned out to be a great family guy that was wanting a Z and found one.   He got this rust free Automatic for him and his wife to enjoy, but like all these cars, it needs a Z medic to be right. By the end of day of checking out his car we agreed to get her going to a safe reliable status for him to enjoy and progress from there. With only 90K miles she is just broke in

I told him this will be and up and down adventure with these "classics", so I hope you are ready.  

I don't have facility to do a "restoration", but I plan on doing anything I can. We got it up on the lift and while he was here and just love those west coast cars-so clean. Looked like the gas tank had already gone thru-painted. There was urethane in most of the bushings already. It needs front end work, rack boots, tie rod boots, ball joint boots are all cracked and or gone.

Interior is a gut job, but not sure what color he is going back too. I like the white myself, but either way he is starting from ground zero. Dash is cracked, vinyl is shot , seats are shot. Door panels are some funky aftermarket as well as headliner. Weather stripping is gone to.       

Already have the SU's apart troubleshooting a rich issue. Carbs were badly misadjusted and one needle was bent. Next is a complete tune up, including valve adjustment, electronic ignition,etc...

[madkaw]

Wel the car was described as a " survivor" in the ad- and it survived it's neglect. Rust in the coolant system from running straight water . Coolant lines thru carbs were plugged completely. Thermostat housing cracked and bolts seized in the head. Took the radiator to get flushed and he said it took a while to come out clean .

Brake fluid very dirty and will need total flush. Exhaust manifold missing nut at downpipe and all the head nuts were finger tight. Alternator bracket bolt was just sitting in the hole. 

Good news is compression test was about 150 across. Valves weren't that far out of adjustment and the spray bar was intact and lobes looked good. Lots of gunk build up though. Other good news is that the carbs must have been done once and they actually have some sparkle left. The engine actually has some color on it too

 

 

[siteunseen]

I'm getting ready to sale similar 240. I believe mine may be a tad bit nicer though although it has some rust. Would you know what Bo paid for that one? You can send me a PM if you'd rather not post it on here. I'd appreciate it Steve. 

Cliff

[madkaw]

Well spent the last few days cleaning and inspecting. It took HOURS to get the engine bay clean. It was the worse engine bay cleaning I've done. Black oil , gunked in every crevice to be scrapped and scrubbed , wire brushed and washed - twice. At least now I should be able to find where the leak is actually coming from. I suspect front main along with the valve cover that was leaking. I'm surprised the electrical still worked with the generator and voltage regulator covered in black soot. 

Anything that touched water is trashed but the radiator and heater core cleaned up.  Oil is also baked on inside of valve cover - who knows what the oil pan looks like. The crankcase breather tube was partial obstructed with a build up of carbon dirt. I pulled it off and ran a wire brush thru it and was amazed of the amount of crap in there. 

Brakes were over done. Drums at max size and rotors under sized. It seemed only one side of the caliper was actually moving . One steel line was almost twisted closed. I think I can salvage the rear wheel cylinders , they must have been redone at some point. 

But still no rust to be found

[madkaw]

Well spent the last few days cleaning and inspecting. It took HOURS to get the engine bay clean. It was the worse engine bay cleaning I've done. Black oil , gunked in every crevice to be scrapped and scrubbed , wire brushed and washed - twice. At least now I should be able to find where the leak is actually coming from. I suspect front main along with the valve cover that was leaking. I'm surprised the electrical still worked with the generator and voltage regulator covered in black soot. 

Anything that touched water is trashed but the radiator and heater core cleaned up.  Oil is also baked on inside of valve cover - who knows what the oil pan looks like. The crankcase breather tube was partial obstructed with a build up of carbon dirt. I pulled it off and ran a wire brush thru it and was amazed of the amount of crap in there. 

Brakes were over done. Drums at max size and rotors under sized. It seemed only one side of the caliper was actually moving . One steel line was almost twisted closed. I think I can salvage the rear wheel cylinders , they must have been redone at some point. 

But still no rust to be found

[Patcon]

On ‎6‎/‎19‎/‎2016 at 7:58 PM, madkaw said:

But still no rust to be found

No rust is good! All else is relatively painless in comparison...

[madkaw]

Well the owner came by yesterday to see the progress. I got lucky and found an owner that is realistic about this type of endeavor . An initial parts list of over 1k didn't buckle his knees or anything . Showing him all the damage from abuse he could understand . 

I said the abuse warranted me to drop the oil pan to see if it needed to be cleaned and...

 

we we will really see how tough these motors are. I feel a little bad for Bo, but this is what you can get with an old car. I am going to tank the valve cover and oil pan and probably consider the oil pump at this time. Now if we run a detergent of some kind in the oil it won't stir up this sh!t

[siteunseen]

I did a lot of reading on Shell's Rotella T oil as an alternative to the VR-1.  It supposedly has 1400 ppm of zinc and after a couple of oil changes the valve train is a shiny as the day I bolted it down 4 years ago.  It doesn't leave the dark brown spots like the others have and reads to be a cleaning type oil and I believe it now after using it myself.

Do you think that's from cheap oil or never changing it?  Maybe both?