Resurrection

[Jehannum]

About the middle of May, my 240Z was the meat in a station wagon sandwich.

I was parked outside of the university (where I was studying for a final). A drunk driver plowed into the Volvo station wagon behind me, pushed him up into my car, and my car into the Subaru station wagon in front of me, and so on for about 3 more cars.

Fortunately, and for the first time in my personal driving history, the guy had insurance coverage. After dealing with an adjuster to get an estimate, State Farm's higher up decided that the car was worth (in previous unmolested state), $15k. So, I went out and got my own estimate, and settled with SF for $10k (and no salvage title).

As is typical, the early bumpers served as little more than decoration.

[Jehannum]

First order of business was to pull the motor - it's been on a steady diet of coolant for a few months, owing to some nasty weeping out the side of the head gasket (compression is good in all holes - about 135 at 5000 ft).

The radiator core support was bashed up a bit - the old AC condenser was wedged in there pretty good:

The top is bent a little forward and down:

Fortunately, pulling this motor took about 2 hours (instead of the nearly 12 that my blowed up '92 300ZX took):

It looks so sad (note the OSHA-approved footwear):

[Jehannum]

Motor's torn down as far as I want to take it.

Head off:

Bottom end, after pulling the timing cover:

Front, after pulling the timing cover:

Timing cover, just needs a little cleaning:

Degreased, first coat of paint:

After a little lovin' with a scotchbrite pad (it's going to be covered in header tape, so I figure it's best to get it down to bare metal to begin with):

The head needed a bit of work - though it had hardened seats put in in the middle '80s, the PO obviously ran some kind of crap gas through it, as there was a ton of buildup on the valves:

[Jehannum]

After that, I cleaned the timing cover, and replaced the front crank seal

Cleaned and painted the bracketry, motor mounts, and the heater hose junction.

It's not Ford blue, I promise - my camera is just crap:

Cleaned and painted the harmonic balancer:

2nd coat on the block:

Still hadn't gotten to the oil pan, only drained it:

[Jehannum]

The last 12" of a '72 240Z: I took the periwinkle beast down to the body shop, where they stripped and rendered it for the parts they needed:

Can't beat the price ("come get it off my property"), either. Saving money on the parts budget also makes more room for the repaint the body shop's doing, too.

Meanwhile, down at the body shop (just after I dropped off the periwinkle beast)...

No more fender wrinkle:

The front is "roughed in"

Hood is almost as good as new:

RH headlight bucket is as good as new:

No more RH fender wrinkle:

[Jehannum]

I know it looks it because of the flash, but I swear, swear, SWEAR: it's not Ford Blue.

The body shop started pulling the rear, too. Their plan was to pull as much as they could, in order to save as much of the original metal as possible.

Unfortunately, even trying that, the metal ripped when they put it to the frame rack.

So, they developed "plan B", which was to cut the ends of the frame rails from the periwinkle rear cut (which, by now, was reduced to component, sand blasted parts):

Here's Ed doing his thing:

The body shop also ordered my new bumpers (carbon fiber, yo!) and front fascia. I'm not sure what I'm going to do about a grill right now, but I have a line on an original.

[Jehannum]

The rear cut down to size, and roughly square:

Ed, finishing off the frame rail:

Starting to block down the crappy orange peel the PO had put on it in the late '80s:

[Jehannum]

Shortly before its removal from the frame rack:

Final welding done on the back!

They've got almost all the rear sanded.

The carbs are back on the L24 (I had them cleaned and rebuilt by Art Singer, a member 'round these parts), much rejoicing was heard.

My son, Jason, was much amused by the radiator fan that is now also on:

Where I left the engine last weekend:

The corners are now cleaned up and beaten flat:

They've taken all the waves out of both sides.

Now, I've just got to wait patiently in paint jail for however many more weeks it takes them to get through priming, blocking, and painting. They're doing the car in a Glasurit single stage yellow (mixed to match the color under the carpet in the back), and they're doing the whole car, so it should be as good as new, once they're done.

[=Enigma=]

Excellent thread. Thanks for all the pics. Looks like it's coming together nicely. Amazing that a good body shop can do with abused metal.

[g9m3c]

Looking great! I'm enjoying all the pictures.

[dcompson]

Thanks for the photos and the re-birth story.

[DougN]

Great story, looking forward to seeing the finished result!