'71 240z Project

[SgtAngus]

Hello,

As a number of folks have asked about my car in my 5 speed for sale thread I thought I'd start a little build thread.

A little over six years ago I found the car in Smithers, B.C. and arranged to buy it. The seller has accumulated a bunch of spares for it as he had been storing it in his garage for a number of years waiting for his son to get old enough to restore the car together. Unfortunately, his son did not care for cars at all- bad for Dad, good for me.

Having shipped the spares pallet, he drove HLS30-10714 3 hours to Prince George and met me there. We did the deal and I brought the trove home to Calgary, where I lived at the time. 

Note the classy exhaust extender he used to keep from gassing himself on the drive there...

I got it home and covered it for a few years as work was all consuming and I wasn't ready to begin the project.

We moved to Dunmore and got a bigger garage in the bargain. I made good use of the exhaust extender and drove it 3 more hours on the highway to our new place.  Painful with a 4 speed and stock engine!  Once there, the Datsun moved inside and a year or so later the project began.
First up was pulling the drivetrain.

Then came removal of everything else and lots of labelling.

Then stripping the whole car to bare metal.  A little paint stripper, and a lot of paint stripping wheels!

After spraying the bare metal with Ospho, I began stitch welding the unibody.

The battery tray was in mint condition but as I'm placing the battery in back I removed the tray with a spot weld cutter.  Anybody need a clean '71 battery tray? While doing the engine compartment stitch welding I cleaned up the fender wells and firewall.

The engine compartment welding is now done and this weekend I got a good start on the interior reinforcements. Got the passenger side floor, seat mounts, and rear bulkhead completed.  Also added a pair of stylistic elements to the rear bulkhead.

 

[wheee!]

Looking good!!

[SurferD]

A lot of good work that will pay off in structural rigidity.

I PM'd you about the tray if you still have it.