LiamR's 280z Restomod - SR20DET to RB25DET

LiamR

Club Member
Ok so I think I best update stuff.

For anyone that doesn't know... Andy has broken away from Z-Farm and gone at it himself. I had a few messages with regards to being 'careful' about taking my car and spares to Z-Farm but it wasn't public knowledge about what was happening in the background.

Anyways, I got the message from Andy that his unit was all ready and my car could be dropped off as soon as I was ready. The shell was loaded onto the trailer and the journey to Andys began.

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A few hours later and the car was sitting in Andys workshop looking rather sorry for itself. He had a good look over it and said.. 'It's worse than I remember haha'. Not the words you want to hear but it is what it is I guess lol.

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A few days later I received the first image. He had started to work on the rear.

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Both sides replaced and rear deck panel replaced.
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Im not a huge fan of the 260/280z back end so a 240z rear conversion was next
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Rear filled with lead and smoothed.
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LiamR

Club Member
I had a concern about the alignment of the doors as when I got the shell, I noticed the passenger side door had a large gap between the back of the door and the rear quarter. Andy asked me to take the doors up to him and we could fit them to see if the rear quarters needed to be pulled off and reworked. He quickly threw on some primer on the rear quarter to show me what it would look like when done. I was lost for words....

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We fitted and adjusted the doors and they aligned quite nicely. Few bits here and there need 'fettling' but overall, we were quite happy.

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A few days before I made the journey, Andy had messaged me with concerns about the state of the 'replaced' floors and rails. I hadn't seen under the car properly since it had come back from blasting so I asked him to send me some images and Oh my god...


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I saw them with my own eyes when I got there and how someone can say they were happy with that as a replacement is beyond belief.

So that's right... new floor pans and rails are needing to go in. Something I wasn't budgeting for... but what do you do!?
 
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LiamR

Club Member
He told me he would leave the floor and come back to that.. he wanted to get cracking with the front end. This was the biggest piece of the puzzle as it looked like a huge patchwork quilt and needed everything replacing.

I got this picture from him and to say I was nervous was an understatement. This was it.. it had began.

Front chassis rail out
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New stronger/thicker rail made
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New rail in place, inner wing removed.
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Front slam panel removedIMG-20221123-WA0005.jpg

Replacement inner wing installed.
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Primered up...
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That's all for now!

It's starting to look like an actual Z and not like something Mad-Max stylee.

I'll update in another 6 months 🤣🤣
 
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Rob Gaskin

Treasurer
Staff member
Site Administrator
Well, I was worried about your 2nd shell and how you would sort it. I'm not worried anymore, this will be done properly and by current progress quickly.

Good move.
 

LiamR

Club Member
Well, I was worried about your 2nd shell and how you would sort it. I'm not worried anymore, this will be done properly and by current progress quickly.

Good move.
Oh god yes. I was worried too after seeing it when it got back from media blasting. I guess his speed comes with doing the job for over 25 years. It was funny, when I was there he was chuntering to himself something like 'that's 110mm from there, 25mm there' haha. The mind of a madman! 🤣
 

candy red

Club Member
Great work Liam I’ve had similar issues with front looking like a patchwork quilt,it’s unbelievable what some people think is acceptable even if it was just done for previous Mot’s it was still done badly .I’m just coming to the end of the welding at the front ent ,good to see your Z moving on keep the pictures coming 👍
 

LiamR

Club Member
So the work has progressed and there has been some good and some bad news...

So the good news... passenger side has now been replaced with a rust free piece.

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New lower front cross member fabricated, ready to be installed.

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New custom radiator support panel made. Had the 'air' holes made to the same size both sides to allow for my intercooler piping.

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LiamR

Club Member
Next up, those horrendously fabricated floors needed to be taken out. I lay awake at night just thinking about how shocking they were haha!

Also had the oem gearbox mount removed to allow some more room for the RB25 gearbox to go in.

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And finally, Andy sent me one last picture before the Christmas holidays began. The passenger side rear. Seeing these rear arches, puts me in 2 minds about installing the carbon arches 🥲

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The bad news.... (well bad news for my wallet)

So whilst Andy was replacing the floors, he commented about the condition of the outer sills and rear dog legs. They were bashed and bent and COULD be filled out to get the body lines 100% but I wasn't happy with going this far and then having to stick a load of body filler to pack out a panel. So I have placed an order with KFVintageJDM for some new panels which should arrive shortly.

That's all for this update.😁
 

Rob Gaskin

Treasurer
Staff member
Site Administrator
You are doing the right thing with this shell however importing a good shell is surely the way to go for anyone with the same issues. All this great work saves a shell but costs a fortune.

Well done for getting Andy on the job, he will do the work properly and quickly and also give the car significantly more value than if you'd done the job yourself. I know from my own experience that home repairs can be rewarding but the next person will only see the metalwork for what it is.

I've said many times that we treat classic cars differently to our daily drivers where bodywork is concerned. What would we expect from an insurance repair of our car which in many cases will be worth less than our classic?

Imagine Cat A, B, S and N being applied.
 
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LiamR

Club Member
You are doing the right thing with this shell however importing a good shell is surely the way to go for anyone with the same issues. All this great work saves a shell but costs a fortune.

Well done for getting Andy on the job, he will do the work properly and quickly and also give the car significantly more value than if you'd done the job yourself. I know from my own experience that home repairs can be rewarding but the next person will only see the metalwork for what it is.

I've said many times that we treat classic cars differently to our daily drivers where bodywork is concerned. What would we expect from an insurance repair of our car which in many cases will be worth less than our classic?

Imagine Cat A, B, S and N being applied.
Agreed Rob,

The only thing is it's completely hit and miss with what you are going to end up with. That 280z I had looked amazing from the outside and it wasn't until I sent it away to be media blasted the horrors were uncovered.

The same goes with this 260z, don't get me wrong... I could have just slapped a load of filler onto it and it would have looked spot on, but I feel its worth the time and effort to do it properly.

Unless you are willing to take a car back to bare metal you can never say you have a great example, especially when you would have to import from overseas.

I wanted to save a genuine RHD Z and give it the love it deserves to keep it on the road.

The thing for me is I'm not in it for the money making purpose. I genuinely wanted one of these cars from when I was a child, and I love building and tinkering with cars so this is more of a hobby thing really. I'm done with spending my money on nightclubs etc so it has to go somewhere else haha! If I ever have a son/daughter, this will be handed down to them.
 

LiamR

Club Member
The next update...

The outer sills and doglegs have been replaced. Outer sills were from KFVintageJDM and Andy said they were great to work with and the quality was spot on (for anyone else wondering about their panels). The doglegs were made by Andy.

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The floor rails and chassis rails we're finished with a stronger gusset.
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I got some images of the front end being finalised.
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LiamR

Club Member
I asked him to do a few bits for me... he removed the RHD throttle linkage point, and he removed the passenger side wing stand things... so it was all symmetrical. That sorted my OCD. Oh and he put the holes in for the rear quarter badges which someone had welded up...

A few days later I got the call to say that it was ready to collect. He said I'll fire you over some images of how she looks now.

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So that's it... I went to collect it and after a horrendous trip up to collect it (one trailer wheel brake decided to seize on, and the electrical plug on the new trailer I borrowed was a 13 pin and not a 7, so trying to get an adapter plug on a Sunday afternoon was a challenge lol) the Z is now sat in my own garage! What an amazing feeling finally having my car home.

Andy went above and beyond to help me with collection, even giving up his Sunday afternoon so I could collect it.

I still have a bit of work to do myself, but the huge bits have been done. He saved me around 3 years of work lol.

When I get a chance, I'll take some images of her in my garage.
 

Ian

Club Member
Looks great. Nice work. You must be happy to finally have a good solid shell.


Wish mine could have been done this quick. Doesn't even look like I'll have mine back by April.
 
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