260z Restoration - Let's get started

[Turn & Burn]

Ok....wait just a minute here......the beautiful roof of yours sitting in my shop for a year is crying out to be a resident of the UK.
What now....LOL

I reckon it’s been with you that long it owes you rental, so if u can use it it’s yours!

 

[johnymd]

Me Me. Stick it in my shell Mike.

 

[jonbills]

Me Me. Stick it in my shell Mike.

With my doors maybe?

 

[Turn & Burn]

Me Me. Stick it in my shell Mike.

It won’t fit easily! That’s why it’s stuck in the States!

Johny if u took the roof can I fit a door in your shell? Mike has a door for me.

 

[johnymd]

Jon's doors have been on the list to come over in one of my cars for ages so they get priority and there is already one roof to go in the car that's waiting to ship. I think a roof will go in if you cut it tight to the posts although I haven't tried. There is actually very little room for panels in a zed and 2 complete doors pretty much fills it up. We will have to see what space is left.

 

[jonbills]

Can you put extra roof skins on top of the roof perhaps?

 

[Turn & Burn]

I think this one is still on the internal frame, on top may be a challenge. Mike has prev struggled to pack it successfully which is why it’s been there so long.

 

[SacCyclone]

Ah yes, but there are actually 2 additional rollers that John is interested in.

Everyone talk John into it and he shall he become the Z shell KING, and by default the mule KING as well. LOL

 

[SacCyclone]

I think this one is still on the internal frame, on top may be a challenge. Mike has prev struggled to pack it successfully which is why it’s been there so long.

I bet we could cut the skins off and tac weld to the existing roof over the sunroof cutouts. Bet that would work.

 

[Turn & Burn]

I bet we could cut the skins off and tac weld to the existing roof over the sunroof cutouts. Bet that would work.

I reckon thats the best approach, it takes about 3hrs to strip a roof skin off working from underneath so as not to mark it.

 

[Turn & Burn]

Progress has been a bit steady recently due to summer. I’ve cut the rot out of both rear wings and let in extra metal around the arch and also the section where the bumpers indent, all the wings I look at seem to rot out here from the inside.
The drivers door has had to have a patch let in around the wing mirror, again where rot and previous poor repairs had done their worse. I never managed to get a decent replacement door unfortunately.
All panels are currently refitted and it’s a relief to find it all lines up really well.

 

[candy red]

Progress has been a bit steady recently due to summer. I’ve cut the rot out of both rear wings and let in extra metal around the arch and also the section where the bumpers indent, all the wings I look at seem to rot out here from the inside.
The drivers door has had to have a patch let in around the wing mirror, again where rot and previous poor repairs had done their worse. I never managed to get a decent replacement door unfortunately.
All panels are currently refitted and it’s a relief to find it all lines up really well.
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Looking good lots of work done there must be nearly there now

 

[Turn & Burn]

Thanks Derrick, just the rear light panel and hatch slam panel to complete. Then loads of minor tidying and seam sealing.
I’m struggling to come up with the definitive shade of metallic green, I know I want green, but it needs to be a bit special.

 

[jonbills]

Thats nice work. My drivers door is gone in the same place. I do have a replacement door, but I don’t want to scrap the old one. Can I ask how many hours work went into that repair?

 

[Turn & Burn]

Thats nice work. My drivers door is gone in the same place. I do have a replacement door, but I don’t want to scrap the old one. Can I ask how many hours work went into that repair?

Jon, There’s probably an afternoon in the door. It’s slowed down by actually getting enough confidence to take the plunge with the cutting saw. If you do it, I would recommend joggling the lower edge of the repair panel and making a backing strip 1” wide for the vertical seam. The backing strip can also be cut from the donor door so the profile is correct, this helps control most of the heat distortion.

 

[jonbills]

Thanks, that makes sense, although I don’t have a donor door to repair the old door from. I’d have to make the replacement section too. But I guess I can be braver when it’s just a spare door.

 

[Rob Gaskin]

Nice work - well done, impressive.

 

[Turn & Burn]

More steady progress, I can’t believe how long this takes when you only get occasional evenings in the garage. Main focus has been finishing the rear panels. The panel that houses the lights had rotted underneath the slam panel so I let in a section of a 240z panel (all I could get hold of cheap), took a lot of effort as the panels are a different shape to take the larger lights of the 260.
The rear valance panels that you can get from Mike Feeney fit a 240 but not a 260 due to the different style of bumper mount, this prevents the panel from getting anywhere near looking right so more cutting and fabbing required.
The slam panel I got was pretty good and I’ve opted to bond this in Tiger seal to prevent the water getting in that seems to plague all cars.
The centre panel of the lights was a bit rough so I thought I’d try to remake this, came out well so I’ll use this in place of the original.
[/ATTACH]

 

[uk66fastback]

Very impressive work you've done there. Rewarding and satisfying I'm sure, even though I bet it seems to take a while. Nothing worth doing is ever achieved easily!

 

[Turn & Burn]

This feels like progress!! I’ve just completed a trial build on the front end, took a few evenings to get the panels gaps set properly but it’s nearly there.