Mark Maras

It looks like you've got the later trans. to me. It is a four speed, correct? Drilling new holes? It all depends on what you can live with.

Peace On Earth, Goodwill To All Enjoy the holidays wherever you are.

Great idea. I'll check into that.

Nice engine porn pics. It looks great.

Well, I've got one at a reasonable price. How do we get it to you? I haven't inspected the roof in detail but there was nothing that drew my attention to it. I believe it to be a good usable piece.

That would fall under the definition of sculpting not bodywork.

Patcon Those were my thoughts too. I think it could easily be done and actually end up with one good car in the process. All the stars are aligned to do it. Have orig. early 71 with title & rusted out body. Now have late 71 rolling chassis, no title. I almost want to do it just to see if it's possible but I'm not going to do it. What could have been. SIGH

Ok, returning to reality now. The voices have stopped.(for now). Skip the hypothetical question. It looks like this Z is destined to be a donor. Even the good sheet metal. The thought of cutting one up for any other reason than repairing it, leaves me kind of depressed, but I don't need another project right now. There are two more in the wings after the 260. Family cars; 81 RX7-body&paint & 70 MGB-everything. I'll be removing all remaining parts from the body & offering everything that I don't need to club members first. I'd like suggestions what sheet metal to save and most important where to cut it? I don't have space to store the body but I could find room for the roof, q. panels, rockers, etc. I guess what I'm asking is, is there a proper way to disassemble a Z body? The thought of finding and cutting all the spot-welds to take it apart is a bit overwhelming. Thanks

And does the blower turn off and on?

Radiator support, Is it rusted thru or pitted? If the rust is worse than shallow pitting the best way to repair it is cut the offending section out, back to solid metal. Cut a new piece and weld it in. If the damage is extensive, I'd look for a donor car and consider replacing a larger section. There are some common spots that are prone to rust. I haven't seen a rusted rad. support but so much depends on where the car spent it's life. Also, on different cars the rust will be worse in some areas than others. I've seen Zs with one side rusted out but the other looks fine. On others, the front or back is bad but not both. It's best to assume the rust is everywhere. That way you'll be pleasantly surprised if and when you find good steel.

Charley Browns' Christmas Z will have a home. HLS30 39360 originally an automatic trans, now a rolling chassis. Rust damage; rear hatch sill plate and supporting body, floors, spare tire well is not rusted thru judging by the pond in it. frame rails, Missing items; console, heater core, rear plastic panels, trans., tail lights, right fender & head light & trans. Hatch was opened with an axe. I have a spare. He has a 2.8 that came out of it (E88 on a N42) and the orig. 4 screw round tops with E41 manifold and balance tube. The owner is selling these separately if anyone is interested. The body sheet metal is in pretty good shape as is the glass. Vert. defroster. The car has no title and at first he didn't want to talk about anything except parts and they had to pull them for me. Said the car could not be sold whole. I made a list of parts that I might want, and we determined that per E-Bay prices we were looking at around $1,000.00. He knew that was out of the question and his chances of moving the small parts were slim. He said it was too bad I didn't have a dismantler's license so he could sell me the whole car. I asked if he could do it if he was sure the car was dismantled by me? THEN, he asks would I might be interested in it if he took the vin #s off it. Evidently, as long as he's sure the car will never be titled again, he can stretch the rules and sell it to me. He offered it to me for $500.00. SOLD I'm making arrangements to bring it home before New Years. I'll be cleaning it out and assessing the parts and body and their usability. I really don't know what I'm going to do with it yet. The body really is not much worse than the 260 I'm working on now. And there is still that hypothetical question, posed above, rolling thru my mind. I'm open to opinions.

Gonna go look at it today. So many things to consider. The largest hurdle is behind me, I think. My wife, Kathy, is now convinced all thing$ Z related are a good inve$tment. Pretty much a 180` change. Last year she was a "Datsun widow". The diZea$e is contagious. I didn't know the sill plates with the logo were hard to find. A quick E-Bay search turned up none. What is a pair of those in fair condition worth these days? I just bought an EXTRA pair for $10.00 in a bundle deal. I think I did good. Now, A very hypothetical question. Let's say a person bought a 71 chassis with no title and that same person had a 71 with a title. Hypothetically, how difficult would it be to "adjust" the untitled chassis to "conform" to the title already in possession? Hypothetically, the original ID tags could go with the title. Just sittin and a thinkin.

It could make so much sense to bring it home. I still have my orig. 71. Body was beyond repair when it came off the road in 96. All there except for a couple of parts that went to members. I think I'm gonna have trouble sleeping tonight.

Thanks for the trip in the "Way Back Machine". Those were great road racing days. Back then I lived close to what was then Kent Pacific Raceways. My obsession had an early jump-start.

SchiZophrenia?

I'll do that. I can practice on the original cowl. I have a replacement for it. The orig. was looking pretty good until it threw itself under the tire of an RX7. Actually, I leaned it against the wall, unsecured, and it slid onto the floor. Anyway that one will be my learning piece. It can only be improved.

Here are the first pics of the 71. He says the console is pretty bad and no mention about the heater core. looks like many good parts avail. Makin a list. Judging by the pics alone, It looks like a saveable chassis. What a shame it's been picked over.. OH NOOOOOOOOOOOOOO, The voices are returning again!

Going to give him a call first and ask specifically about those parts and let you know if they're available.. Big windstorm coming in today. I'll take a look at it Tues. or Wed. and report back.

IMO everyone that owns a Z should take it out for a spin in the snow. In my younger years, when it snowed, I would set my alarm for 2AM and take my 240, "Hiro", out for a joy ride on Portlands' streets. Night shift Police pulled me over a few times and wanted to know what in the hell I was doing? After they were convinced that my driving was not compromised by any substance other than adrenaline, they cut me some slack and would just blink their lights at me to say hi. Did I mention the 70s were great in Portland?

IMO, a ScotchBrite pad is easier on the bore and cleans very well.

Yeah, I had considered that too. I'm looking forward to learning a new technique. The next car is already on the list. My sons' daily driver 81 RX7. Hopefully the 260 will be on the road by late spring and then we can start on his. The subject has not come up yet but I can see the wheels turning in his head. I'm sure he's planning to drive the Z while the RX7 is down. Fortunately, he can be trusted but he's going to earn the privilege. The sooner we finish the Z, the sooner we can start on the RX7. It will be interesting to see if he still loves his RX7 as much after driving a Z.

Thanks. Great info. I hadn't heard of a shrinking disc. Just watched a couple of videos. Gonna get one and try it. I've got a ways to go on the bodywork.

If the hole in the manifold was centered over the stud a centering punch and a left hand drill bit would be my first choice. That not being the case, I'm with madkaw. Pull the manifold. It will probably save time and remove a lot of guesswork.

What does he use as a heat source. I'm getting frustrated with my hood. I tap the high spots down just below level and they want to pop right back up. I could bash them down and I know they would stay down but I want as little filler as possible. I'm thinking a little heat would help. Opinion? Also, Is he using compressed air to control the shrinkage?

Depends on the condition of the sheet metal of the body, the doubler and the surrounding area. If there is a possibility of rust between the layers, They should be separated and treated or replaced. I've replaced and added a few doublers (fish plates) on mine. 16g galvanized sheet metal with zinc rich primer on the body is my choice. In lieu of those options, a good rust converter should be used. I'm going to be using Ospho on the rest of mine. Wish I had looked into it previously. I don't mind rinsing some areas with water but I can't bring myself to use water to rinse the seams out. Ospho, it appears, can be left to dry.