Restoration of 71 240z

[Clay C]

[Clay C]

My business involves me owning and operating a lot of work trucks. The guy who's shop we are doing this has been my diesel mechanic for going on 20 years. He has done a lot of car work but mostly on newer mustangs and old Ford Pickups. I talked him into helping me out with this car and now he has hired on some other guys to do some resto and body work in an open bay beside his diesel shop......now he's getting a paint booth after my car is done! I am pleased with the paint job. We still plan on buffing as far as I know unless they all are so tired of me at this point and ban me from the shop entirely! He's a good friend and I appreciate all the help so far even though he really doesn't have time for it. 

The car had a 905 red sticker on it when i bought it so I decided to go back with that color. At least I think I have that color. The place I sourced the paint from in town did have the code 905 Red in their system.....they just had 3 very different mixtures of 905 red?? Two of the three formulas were mostly orange so I picked the only one that actually had any red pigment and got a sample. It looked good to me but what the hell do I know....I've never seen a 905 red Zcar in person and there is very conflicting information on the Ultraweb. This is MY 905 Red and its cool with me.

Edited August 26, 2020 by Clay C

[Clay C]

[Clay C]

I was going to say these next pictures obviously aren't part of this build but technically I have used this to run around many days getting parts and shuttling supplies to and from this build so technically it is! Somewhere during this build thread I found this and had to have it. This was the very 1st vehicle I owned. My kids think its stupid and ugly but every time I climb into this beautiful, very slow, cramped, no AC having little pickup truck I am 16 years old again and couldn't be more tickled with it. Makes we want to score a six pack of Miller and go to the Rock Quarry outside of Athens GA to skip school and try and talk some gal into doing something she shouldnt! Its perfect!

Edited August 26, 2020 by Clay C

[Clay C]

Carbs came in from ZTherapy and they look amazing. Got them installed on my engine that has now been sitting for around 4 months waiting on its car.

[Clay C]

Back to the problems with the difference in the 260 front end vs the 240. I think by this point I had noticed it was very different, of course AFTER it was painted, but I didn't realize how different it was. Headlight buckets and lower corner valances with the turn signals go on fine. The center valance, grill and bumper not so much. Those extra angles cover up the holes that are actually still there for a 240z bumper bracket. They also get in the way of the front valance and it cannot be mounted. This is when I really got down on myself about using the 260 front. When i inspected it further I noticed besides those angles and the radiator support panel being shaped around them it was basically the same. I could either start over and cut the car again or do some modifying on the fly. I needed it to be like "The Orange". I looked at the bumper conversion brackets and I think they would work fine but that still left the grill. I didnt want the 260 grill on this car. 

[Clay C]

This is the best I could come up with. It's a little goofy but damnit my grill, bumper and valance fit now and honestly it could look a lot worse. After all the extra metal was cut away that I have chalked up it left the gaping hole in the radiator support panel which had to be patched. The holes are different but everything else is basically the same. I did leave the extra metal on the backside of the support panel but its not hurting anything.

[Clay C]

I do not have another 240 around to reference so this site has been such a great tool to use for pictures of correct cars and how things go. Motorman7 always has good pictures to reference but he threw me a curve ball with this one! The grill mounting brackets in the blue circles are upside down (or bent up). You should have seen me holding my grill up trying to figure out how in the hell I was going to mount it that way.....then after an hour of scratching my head and cursing myself I found a lot of other pictures with the brackets hanging down instead of pointing up.

[Clay C]

I had a guy I've used to do upholstery work on various trucks and things over the years come and remove the old black vinyl while we were tearing it down because it was in nice shape and had that old vintage quality to it. I had intended on reusing it. Someone, I cant remember who told me most of it ripped when they were taking it out. I was pretty bummed about that but went ahead and ordered a new kit. Just doesn't look as good as the old stuff but what could I do. Time came to put it all back in the car and the old veteran upholster sent his teenage son in training over to do the job. I wasn't there but I came back to find this. I think his response was, "I've done a lot of these cars and that's how they all are! There is a bench that goes back there to cover that up." It wasn't funny but I had to laugh. His next words were,  "If you can show me a picture of the vinyl going to the deck on another one of these I'll pay twice to replace it!" The boy had also covered the cross section of the roof with the overhead light all the way from side to side....nevermind those wires and stuff!

I told him to get his check book out. Luckily I found the old stuff that had been thrown over in the corner somewhere getting covered in body filler dust and overspray. A little gasoline and it cleaned up nice. For now I just left the new stuff on the tunnel cover and strut towers but I have the original in case it bugs me enough later to redo it. 

[Clay C]

Same upholstery guy resealed my quarter windows, he said he had done that before too. It's all back together good but it doesn't seal up in that rear corner. I read in the "How to restore bible" that the early cars used some rubber shims and caulking to build that corner up before the outer strip was glued on. At least that's that way I took it from reading the book. There aren't any pictures of that I can find. I didn't take the windows apart so I have no idea how it was "shimmed". If anyone has any advice on that I'm all ears. All I can think to do is removed the outer weather strip...cut up some tire tube and build it up some. I also don't think the window is seated all the way back at the moment but its not that far off. I can see daylight around that corner.

[SteveJ]

13 minutes ago, Clay C said:

I had a guy I've used to do upholstery work on various trucks and things over the years come and remove the old black vinyl while we were tearing it down because it was in nice shape and had that old vintage quality to it. I had intended on reusing it. Someone, I cant remember who told me most of it ripped when they were taking it out. I was pretty bummed about that but went ahead and ordered a new kit. Just doesn't look as good as the old stuff but what could I do. Time came to put it all back in the car and the old veteran upholster sent his teenage son in training over to do the job. I wasn't there but I came back to find this. I think his response was, "I've done a lot of these cars and that's how they all are! There is a bench that goes back there to cover that up." It wasn't funny but I had to laugh. His next words were,  "If you can show me a picture of the vinyl going to the deck on another one of these I'll pay twice to replace it!" The boy had also covered the cross section of the roof with the overhead light all the way from side to side....nevermind those wires and stuff!

I told him to get his check book out. Luckily I found the old stuff that had been thrown over in the corner somewhere getting covered in body filler dust and overspray. A little gasoline and it cleaned up nice. For now I just left the new stuff on the tunnel cover and strut towers but I have the original in case it bugs me enough later to redo it. 

 

Maybe he was thinking all Z cars were 2+2s.

[Clay C]

SteveJ you are in my town. I know you are itching to come put together a car!

Edited August 27, 2020 by Clay C