260Z Project - 260Z GT-R

tyroguru

Club Member
I love these photos! Everything looks so good. N00b question probably: do you spray with a compressor or just cans?
 

Ian

Club Member
Looking excellent!
Amazing work, that looks fabulous!
Thanks



I gave my heater and blower units and the core for the project car a similar going over. They really do get pretty unpleasant over time with all the foam rotting away and muck buildup inside. It's worth doing rather than just giving the units a quick once over and then slapping them in.
Yes, I'm glad I decided to do them, they were in a pretty bad state and the disintegrated foam was awful.




I love these photos! Everything looks so good. N00b question probably: do you spray with a compressor or just cans?
Thanks. Anything satin black was done with a can, everything else was done with a compressor and an HVLP Spray Gun, not sure you could get such a good finish from a can. You can see the gun behind the propshaft in one of the photos. I use the same gun for primer and paint at the moment, I just change needle sizes.
 

Ian

Club Member
Well, progress is slow, but at least there is progress.


There is both good and bad news. Bad news is that there is going to be more work and cost than planned due to us finding lots of badly done previous repairs all of which will need fixed and I expect some more will be revealed during blasting. Good news is at least it proved my approach of going fully bare metal has been justified and my view that most places do a crap job of metal work has been proved correct. Good that all issues will be found and addressed and my choice of using Resto shack to ensure the work is done as best as possible is a good one.




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Badly repaired rear panel, the rear inner arches were also found to be badly repaired and had a lot of sealer.

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Gone, right side bumper mount was bent, its now been sorted.


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Rotisserie mounts made:


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Scraping time, 12 man hours to get it all off.


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Steam cleaned


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Unwanted brackets and holes in the bay welded up


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uk66fastback

Club Member
Lovely that you've taken it back this far. Is this the car in your avatar - the one that suffered the damaged wing in an accident? (it was so long ago, I've lost track!)
 

Ian

Club Member
Yes, same car as my Avatar and also the one that suffered the damaged wing. Yeah, its been too long, I could have just fixed only the damage and had it on the road ages ago but I decided to go all the way so I had to save for ages, at least the recent revelations have proved that it was probably the right choice. Miss driving it, but I don't plan to ever sell it, so I've got loads of time left for that, will pay off getting everything right now.
 

Ian

Club Member
I'm considering scrapping this project. Its back from blasting and its uncovered terrible repair jobs everywhere, its a disgrace. While I have seen far worse S30's repaired this is well beyond what I was expecting and is likely to add at least £10k onto the total, not sure I can afford it.



All this will need done:

Wheel arches
Outer wheel tubs
Rear lower panel
Quarter panels
Fuel filler area
Both areas where the rear quarters meet the boot
Both sills badly fitted and welded the length rather than spot welded in
Badly joined A and B pillars
Bulkhead where steering rack is attached
Floor pans
Doors
Windscreen and lower a pillars
Even the by needs some work although its minimal.



Is it even worth repairing?

I'll post some photos soon.
 
I guess to this point you've not spent much on the repair work, as its only been stripped?

Might be worth ebaying your shell, warts and all, then get a LHD shell to convert, you'll still have repairs to do but it'll be a lot less than above?
 

Ian

Club Member
I guess to this point you've not spent much on the repair work, as its only been stripped?
£5.5k in already and that doesn't include over £900 it cost me to get the shell there. Plus the repair work, strengthening work and smoothing I had already done on the front end.


Might be worth ebaying your shell, warts and all, then get a LHD shell to convert, you'll still have repairs to do but it'll be a lot less than above?
Thats what I was thinking, but what car would it have to be in order to be able to use my UK 78 260Z parts?
 
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Ian

Club Member
So here it goes, let me know what you think, it might not be as bad to some of you more experienced guys as it is in my head.


Wonder if the guy who did these repairs thinks he did a good job I think they should be shot for crimes against cars.



Some general photos.

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Rob Gaskin

Treasurer
Staff member
Site Administrator
Hi Ian, yes it's amazing what filler and paint covers on these Zs.

I would try to get another shell from the US. You will never be happy with is one.

I 'feel' for you after all the expense and bad luck you've had (including the crash).
 

Ian

Club Member
I 'feel' for you after all the expense and bad luck you've had (including the crash).
I guess I'm just not meant to be doing such high level car projects.



I would try to get another shell from the US. You will never be happy with is one.
I guess a 280Z shell would be very close to this? can't be a 240 as then my fuel tank, intercooler, radiator, diff, front brakes, hubs, engine and gearbox mounts and a lot of my very good condition interior wont fit.

Unfortunately I've just spent over £6k on this shell to get it to this point (not including previous work) and any new shell would cost the same to get to the same point, minus the transport as I could get it sent here direct. I'd still need to factor in the shell itself and the shipping costs though. So thats got to be £10k at least without including the stiffening it would need like the current shell has bringing the cost to over £12k.

So thats £12k+ on a new shell or £12k extra to spend on this. Am I as well just to get this fixed as best as possible, at least Resto Shack will be able to sort most of it.
 
you'd surprise yourself, you'd prob get a few K for the shell as is.

as you can't get full panels, given a 260/280 lhd shell would be circa £5K landed, 2k for whatever repairs it'd needed, you might only end up spending less that way.
 

Woody928

Events Officer
Staff member
Club Member
Dude, I really feel for you! Its scary to see what hides under these nice paint jobs, it makes me wonder what's really lurking underneath mine....

I don't have enough experience to say but I feel whichever direction you go in you are going to get financially screwed, another shell certainly won't be cheap and you still have to play a lottery with that. Hopefully those with more experience will chime in....
 

IbanezDan51

Well-Known Forum User
I know people who have repaired worse (myself included here) but it depends what the ultimate goal is. Show car? Then no chance forget it.
If it’s a car that you want to use and abuse, then sort it. It can be done so it’s structurally sound, but will never be perfect and expect criticism from people on here for doing it, however, you won’t get it from me, if you save the car then fair play.
If you want to know what I’d do, I’d probably be finding a new shell. One on ebay currently for 5k which Mike (Sacs) sent over... needs some work but I doubt anywhere near as much as this.
 

toopy

Club Member
Those pics are horrendous to look at, especially when you consider how good your car looked prior to being off the road!

It's a bit of a no win situation, but me personally, I'd take my chances with a 280z shell.

Gutted for you, and fingers crossed going forward.
 
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