By Springtime of 2024, a local bodyshop had changed hands. I knew the guy. I asked if he could get me in! I was the first one in the new clean paint booth.

He said, I'm gonna do it my way! Okay, do it! Another 6 grand later......oh well, I past the point of no return awhile ago.

Looks red from the lighting, but it's really 918 orange

Damn!

I don't know why, but I really liked this part. Going over a freshly painted car with a cup of black paint and a brush

Part of my original jute was toast. I wanted to use the original because it's the correct thickness and would make everything fit better. While looking for something, Jenny from the junkyard, yup, her again, comes to my rescue. She shows me a picture and I wasn't even looking for jute, but there it was! can ya get it off in one piece? she did. Enough to do the job.

I coated it with contact cement and let it dry overnight, to keep it from being loose. the next day I glued the vinyl to it.

About this time, I noticed I had trouble fitting the front valance and right headlight bucket. Also, I noticed the engine bay was dull, like it had overspray all over it. I noticed that earlier, but now it stood out even more. I wasn't happy with it, there were runs, and the horizontal surfaces were not shiney like they used to be. I found the problem with the valance repair job. It's supposed to be straight and it wasn't anymore. I ordered a replacement from ressurected classics. I had to modify the holes and do some welding on it, but hey, I got practice on thin metal welding. SO, back to the paint shop for a few things. I was in and out in less than a day. I really like this guy.

See how dull that crossmember is? It was all over the plated lines, which I cleaned.

Runs

Back in the booth.

uh, next time fit everything together before you paint it! oh. He's young.

I like it a lot better after the engine bay respray. I can put decals on that! Time to get out the black paint again. 😀

Edited Friday at 08:26 PM3 days by Parman
added photo

The antenna alone paid for the car!

I got a second batch ready to get plated. For a car that had no rust at first glance, I kept finding it. I also learned from a very knowledgeable gentleman at Banzai Motorworks while ordering floor plugs, decals, etc. that my brake line clamp bolts were the wrong color! Ahhh, they're supposed to be clear zinc he informed me from a picture I sent him. I never knew. I was getting a batch ready anyway......

Unfortunately, my batch that was 1/2 clear and 1/2 yellow, clearly separated and marked, all came back yellow. Crap!

Eventually, I got a 3rd batch ready. I got everything off my Green wrecked car I could and threw that in. I bought some fasteners from Jenny, particularly the fender and valance areas, many of mine broke.

I also learned I got the hatch hinge bolts wrong. The beveled screws are clear and the other 8mm bolts are painted. I'm getting it sorted out. But at this point, the hatch closes nicely. 🙂

The dash: here's the mileage on the car. 99,807 miles. I stripped it, bead blasted the frame, and primered then painted black. Meanwhile I had ordered a dash pad from Hung Vu. I told him for a 6/71 car. He wanted to see a picture of the hazard switch area. I sent it to him. Got my dash pad and set it aside until I was up to the task. The time came, and that's when I realized this dash had a cover glued to it. And when I ripped the cover off, oh no! That's not the dash pad I have! He wouldn't exchange it, so I had to buy another one. The correct one.

I ended up selling my 72 dash pad on ebay. In the 2 years I had it, the prices had gone up. I ended up getting my money back.

My first attempt at painting the dash finisher. I wet sanded the grille and primered, then painted. It doesn't look right.

I added some flattening agent to the paint and tried again. Success!

Edited Friday at 05:18 PM3 days by Parman
photos out of order

Now I'm a 240z addict. I just happened upon a facebook post for a car described as "as rusty as they come" about 500 miles away on snow packed roads and mountain passes. I couldn't believe my eyes! What the........I surely didn't want to make that drive on these roads, but looking back, I should have. Do you see what I see?

I asked if he would sell some parts off the car, what do you need? I said, "the choke cables and levers" okay. I want that alternator too and ash tray, hehe. I paid him and held my breath.

Now there's 3 different gas pedals that I know of, there's at least 2 types of throttle control cable brackets. I think the earliest type of bracket and pedal are what I found on car #1042, the wrecked green, red and white car.

The bead blasted (top) one, came from 1/70 car.

The bottom one came from 6/71 (my car)

The middle one came from in between. It goes with this bracket that Jenny removed from one of her cars.

This bracket is a beefed up version of the first version which clearly failed. What I learned was the original alignment of the cable bracket welded on the bulkhead to the pedal tab (the cable hooks to) is offset.

I installed the pedal on 1042 and noticed this. I measured her measurements and mocked up her bracket on my car. I get the same offset. I consulted with Patcon ... again, he's been such a big help. We agreed that I should line it up! Now I was adamant about restoring this car to exactly original state, but......this is one thing I'm going to add. Because of cooler temperatures here in Montana, I thought it would be nice for warming up the car. Plus, it's cool.

Edited Friday at 06:15 PM3 days by Parman
typo

I disassembled and blasted the grille pieces in my blast cabinet. I think I had to cut a hole in the door for them fit. primed and painted along with the tail light finishers.

They hung here for 2 years, and the rear suspension completed was in my way for 2 years. I kept knocking my head on the refinished gas tank that had been hanging in my shop for just as long. 😆

Here's the rear suspension and gas tank kanji before I blasted it.

I got the firewall pad installed and things escalated from there very quickly.

I used door seals from VintageRubber. They fit great! I also added some of the Wurth floor pan tar sound deadening insulation inside the doors. I bought the tar from Auto Atlanta.

Using the templates downloaded from this site, thanks Namerow, I rebuilt a heater box, definitely not the box I removed from this car..

I installed the door glass and mechanism, and the door panels, the drivers side panel was NOS and came with the car along with 2 grab handles etc.

I removed most of the plugs off the engine bay wiring harness just to install the grommet. I hope I got it back together right. I took lots of pictures of the plugs.

Edited 12 hours ago12 hr by Parman
photos out of order

I ordered all my hoses from bell metric. The green car was coming in very handy for grommets and rubber bits I was missing. If not just to know what I was missing.

It took 2 people to install the gas tank after hooking up all the hoses to it, and getting them started up through the floor. I added some insulation to the back of the vapor tank, like I found it.

All my original vinyl was okay.

I showed this picture to Jenny and she says, "why do you have a grab handle on the drivers door! lol?"

I said because the holes were there! and the handle was there! I didn't know it's usually not on there. So I tried to take it off.....and I couldn't without breaking it.

What kind of a Japanese torture contraption is this thing? The only way I could install it was to loosen to 2 phillips screws. Now I can't get it off.

I finally got it removed and I made some plastic threaded plugs for the holes. I realized that back in 1999 when the previous owner got this door panel from the Nissan Dealer, maybe all they could get was one for a right hand drive car.

Edited Friday at 08:20 PM3 days by Parman
typo

One of the first parts I looked for were the belt moulding rubber strips. That's how all the water got inside the doors, they were disintegrated, hard, brittle. I couldn't find them anywhere and I wasn't satisfied with the non-fleeced variety. I happened upon a YouTube video of a guy, restoring his doors on a 260z I think. He was in Australia. He went down the road from his place, to an outfit that specializes in old rubber for automobiles. He bought some material by the foot and it was exactly the correct shape with a fleeced back. And it was cheap. For the life of me I can't find my paperwork receipt from this. But I called the place and they shipped me the rubber. I carefully ground off the staples on my belt moulding, removed the old rubber, and modified some T-50 staples, dilled out the new rubber where the original staples were, and restored my belt mouldings. If I ever find the missing receipt, I'll post it here. I even lost my pictures.

47 minutes ago, Parman said:

ut I called the place and they shipped me the rubber. I carefully ground off the staples on my belt moulding, removed the old rubber, and modified some T-50 staples, dilled out the new rubber where the original staples were, and restored my belt mouldings

Can you elaborate on this process you did? Maybe a few more pictures?