240Z Rustoration

J

JackSmash

Forum User
Hi, I'm a Zclub forum Virgin so I thought I'd introduce myself and my rusty project I have dropped myself into. My name is Jack, im 24, from Somerset and the owner of a UK RHD 1972 240Z that's in need of a full restoration (I shall upload photos soon).

I bought the car just over a year ago, and have started to strip her down to the shell. The previous owner had told me it was involved in an bump to the front passenger side 10/11 years ago, and has been off the road since. Much metal work needs replacing, including both front frame rails and tension rod box sections, floorpans, and A pillar and roof replacement to loose the sunroof (and rust). The front passenger side has warped/dropped due to the accident I assume and lack of solid material, so it will need to be jigged and aligned for repairs. The rear of the car seems to be ok (until I remove the paint and discover rust and filler no doubt!).

Due to the car requiring jigging, I'd rather not learn how to weld on this! So I will leave that in more capable hands.. Could anyone shed any light on some restorers that would take on my car, or anyone they can recommend, ideally in the Somerset area who are able/have experience with these lovely machines? Any advice would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks for reading, more to come I'm sure! Thanks in advance.

Jack
 
As much as I really hate to say this and I wish you luck with the project, I feel from your description it may be beyond resurrection. The rust sounds extensive which usually means its also in all the places you cant see. My best advice is maybe use it as a spares car for a cali import. and use it to convert to RHD. You may not want to hear this but I think its true. It would be worth posting some pictures so we can be certain.

Finding someone to restore these is difficult and even if you do, the bill for the bodywork could be a long way north of 20k.
 
Hi Jack and welcome. I think Johny is right in that we need pictures to really advise effectively on what you should do. It sounds very extensive in bodywork terms and panel availability in some crucial areas is not what we wish it was.

Basically, it could get very expensive, very quickly. There might be more cost effective routes to pursue depending on what you have to deal with.
 
Cheers for the replies guys. I was preparing myself for that answer to be fair, it would be a lot of work! A shame seeing as its a UK RHD, but that's going to be the nature of it I guess! I will upload some photos tomorrow morning for reference.

Will the LHD shells require much cutting for the RHD conversion? Or were they made in the factory to be kitted out either way?

Would it be worth going down the track car route, with an Engine swap, suspension, uprated frame rails etc etc.? Original plans were never to be concours, due to its condition.

As for money, I was going to put a deposit on a house with savings, but where's the fun in that; could wait a year or 2 longer I guess haha.

Jack
 
To put it in perspective. You could spend 20k very very easily trying to get this one back on the road and you wont get a very good job for that money. It will probably be worth a fair bit less than you spend on it. Or, you could spend 9k on a driveable rust free LHD car that you could enjoy this summer. If you want to make it RHD then you have all the parts you need to do it and pay 1-2k for someone to do the job. Basically you end up with a much more solid car for half the money.
 
Ok thankyou for your advice. I know a guy who has another UK shell not too far from me, not sure what his plans are with it, I may give him a call and arrange to have a look at it. If that's no good, then I'll have to start looking into a US car.. are there any particular sites I should browse through for a US car? After the classifieds on here ofcourse..

Jack
 
Hi jack, give me a call after the weekend and we can arrange a date when I can get over to have a look for you. I am in castle cary.
Cheers ben
07766547871
 
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