Early 74 260Z Adventure

[DC_Mike]

Well after purchasing a 71 240Z off Copart and basically receiving a polished turd due to all the internal frame rust issues, I did some searching and found a local early model 260 I will be able to start my 302 project swap on. Someone started this and made an attempt at patching the floor and sealed some things up, but I'm thinking it might be best to just replace the whole floor than to trust the segments of lap welds. The project is influence by @Home Built by Jeff and RWB Jeff, as well as many others and I can't wait to dive both feet into it. More to come as I get the old car out of the garage and the new one in, but I guess at least I have a parts car now ?

Edited September 11, 2019 by DC_Mike

[wheee!]

Awesome! Not thrilled to hear you’re going 302 but to each their own! Looking forward to the build thread.

[grannyknot]

Here is a little inspiration, https://www.lainefamily.com/240Z_V8_Conversion.htm

 

[DC_Mike]

@grannyknot the Laine family page has is also a go to for me to setup the engine and transmission, that is such a gorgeous build. Planning on using the Apex Engineered suspension setup as well as I LOVE the look of the cantilever rear shocks in the back. I think that paired with the AGI roll cage (at least a copy of one made Stateside so I don't pay shipping from AUS) is going to be a kill combo. BUT I get ahead of myself, still have a lot of disassembly and some rust repair to start with :)

[Captain Obvious]

11 hours ago, DC_Mike said:

still have some rust repair to start with

I guarantee it!!

Glad you found another starting point, and here's hoping it's a better start than the last one.  

[Patcon]

On 9/11/2019 at 5:45 AM, grannyknot said:

Here is a little inspiration, https://www.lainefamily.com/240Z_V8_Conversion.htm

 

I think that is a beautiful engine. Now imagine Jenvey ITBs instead of DCOE's!

[DC_Mike]

Well inspiration will be abound as I head up to Road America for the weekend to check out the Vintage races. Then back with project updates and some race pictures next week.

[DC_Mike]

Lots of good info from the VSCDA race up at Road America this past weekend. Now time to to get back to the Z this week. This is just a few there were A LOT of Z cars out there this past weekend.

[DC_Mike]

A rust free body has eluded me yet again. However this time I'm just going to have to dive in a start to work on it. It seems that under a crappy paint job there is some rust on the interior door jam/a pillar section. It looks like there are two layers of sheet metal there so this should be an interesting adventure. I'm going to get some interior pictures this weekend and will update as things go forward.

[Captain Obvious]

7 minutes ago, DC_Mike said:

A rust free body has eluded me

I did guarantee it!  

Hope it's not too bad. I've got a soft spot for the early 260s.  (And as you've found... The early 260's have soft spots).

[DC_Mike]

LOL, that you did Captain, that you did. It's going to be a learning process and a test of patience but it will go back together! Here's a general question. I'd gone some searching and their seem to be as many answers as there are people, but what are the opinions on the process of going about this. My plan is 1) Media Blast 2) Epoxy primer 4) Rust repair and at some point in there I need to fix the oil canning in the roof. I'm holding a bit till the humidity and weather drops around here, but i'll have to act fast before it gets below freezing. Thoughts?

[grannyknot]

21 hours ago, DC_Mike said:

A rust free body has eluded me yet again. However this time I'm just going to have to dive in a start to work on it. It seems that under a crappy paint job there is some rust on the interior door jam/a pillar section. It looks like there are two layers of sheet metal there so this should be an interesting adventure. I'm going to get some interior pictures this weekend and will update as things go forward.

On the A pillars there are a number of layers inside, some lay flat against one another, some attach in a corner and go diagonally across the pillar.  It can be one of the worst places on these cars to repair, if you suspect there is a lot of rust in there you'll have to cutout the flat section facing into the door, media blast everything in there and weld back new metal inside the pillar working your way out to the final layer.

By the time you are done you will be really good at it