WARNING, the following images may be triggering to some individuals, caution is advised.

This car rolled into my shop last week, the owner wants to get ready to pass a safety inspection to get it licensed for the road. It has gone through 13 owners. The pics speak for themselves.

 

more pics,

 

more,

 

more,

 

A few welds are strong, most are not and look like they were done with fluxcore, rivets, fiberglass, undercoat, Great Stuff expanding foam in a few cavity's. The thing that stopped me from taking it on as a project is much of the metal north of pans is also rotten and hidden under layers of undercoat.

I don't think anyone is making those panels.

IMHO it could be fixed but it would cost 2-3x what you would pay for a rust free project car. I'm suggesting he pass it along to owner #14 and hunt for a better car.

The owner would like to hear other opinions, what do you guys think?

Edited June 10, 2024Jun 10 by grannyknot

Oh my!!! I’m all for saving cars whenever possible. If the underside looks like that, can only imagine what the body panels look like.. 

Absolute worse shape I’ve ever seen. Personally

How did it behave when you jacked it up to put it on the stands?  Was it flimsy or solid?  The rockers, I believe, are the major longitudinal body stiffeners.  You know more, of course, but overall stiffness tells a lot about potential. 

Was that a muffler hanger holding the "roll bars"?  And a piece of strap steel for the seat belt?  What does "inspection" entail in your area?  How much needs to be done to pass?  Just curious.  It might be possible to get it past inspection but avoiding involvement with a future disaster is reason enough to say no.

Just advise him to order a weatherstrip kit as soon as possible.

That's a shame. A Z that deserved (deserves) to be restored - but who has the $$$$$$ to see it put back near to original... It would take the work those guys in Japan did in restoring the 1969 Fairlady Z.

A true racer! Love it.

3 hours ago, Zed Head said:

How did it behave when you jacked it up to put it on the stands?  Was it flimsy or solid?  The rockers, I believe, are the major longitudinal body stiffeners.  You know more, of course, but overall stiffness tells a lot about potential. 

Was that a muffler hanger holding the "roll bars"?  And a piece of strap steel for the seat belt?  What does "inspection" entail in your area?  How much needs to be done to pass?  Just curious.  It might be possible to get it past inspection but avoiding involvement with a future disaster is reason enough to say no.

I jacked it from the centre of the front crossmember and from the diff so didn't notice any sag or twisting, I wasn't about to use the regular jacking points. It's a safety inspection so first and foremost the structure has to be sound,  you would have to replace the bottom third of the car to pass that test.

The exhaust pipe is welded to the diff mount, the diff is mounted to the bare steel of the crossmember, no bushing.