Advice needed on getting all work done by 1 garage..

[Albrecht]

I used Fourways a few times when Geoff was alive but not sure if they still do full refurbs any more.

They absolutely do, I can assure you. A tune-up through to a roll-in, drive out restoration and everything in between.

I was a customer of Geoff's, and I'm now a customer of the new owners. Perhaps you haven't seen their new facilities?

 

[jonbills]

Ha, that's funny, I literally just added that one after a bit more googling! Good to know, thanks Jon. Are you local then?

I've had a place in Salford for a few years for work, and I come up in the Z once or twice a year.

 

[IbanezDan51]

Welding the coilovers on is surprisingly easy. Just cut the tube to the length specified, although that’s not even a huge concern, so long as they’re the same length or shorter. Longer and you may have issues winding the coilovers to their lowest setting… though you probably won’t go that low anyway.

The more of the strut you leave on the more likely it will be as square as can be, grind off any notches and casting marks on the spindles etc and they sit pretty nice.

Make sure they’re nicely cleaned up to get a good weld, the castings are of a decent material and it’s easy to get good penetration when clean.

Everything you’ve said above is perfectly do-able in your own garage or even on a drive over a few weekends.

 

[Robotsan]

Maybe for you guys with a lot more experience and tools it would be! I'm old enough to know when I've bitten off more than I can chew with car work. Plus I've only ever worked on BMWs, and I depend heavily on YouTube a lot of the time! Feels like going into the unknown with a nearly 50 year old Japanese car, and I've never welded anything in my life so all that is definitely out of the question for this.

 

[Ian Patmore]

Spindle pins are easily pulled out with a puller. Mine is made of square tubing. I would still consider new ones to go back, as putting my old ones in a lathe to check if straight, showed they were slightly banana shaped, even when pulled out. It's usually done (bending) by over tightening the cotter pin half way along if I recall.

 

[status]

Fourways is quality stuff,my 240 was rebuilt by them even had leather glove type thingys over the coil overs which was a nice touch but you pay for it as the saying goes u get wot yer pay for

 

[Mr.G]

The monkey work on these cars is not difficult and to most of us is part of the fun in ownership.

If you are that way inclined (i know some people hate tooling and if that's the case then ignore this), try to find a local car friend to motivate and help you with getting her on ramps. Providing you have her jacked up safely and you understand the manual and where to undo, unbolting parts is not hard and neither is fitting poly bushings

I would outsource the work, powder coating, blasting, welding to companies that have got a good reputation then put it all back yourself with your friend. It is so rewarding and you will save lots of money.

The best source of all is the internet, there are so many how toos if you get stuck or forums to fall back on.

Good luck and enjoy the ride.

(caveat to the above, i 've not read every post, just starting work - so apologiese if i have missed you saying you cant do the work for whatever reason).

 

[richiep]

As George notes, these cars are not hard to work on, particularly compared to something like a modern BMW! Being a CA car too, it is likely that nuts and bolts won't put up too much resistance to being undone due to limited corrosion.

As I've said, when the car gets here, I'll help you make a plan. Pulling the struts, blast, weld, powder coat, reassemble with poly bushes won't be a drawn out process, whether DIY or garage.

 

[Robotsan]

The monkey work on these cars is not difficult and to most of us is part of the fun in ownership.

If you are that way inclined (i know some people hate tooling and if that's the case then ignore this), try to find a local car friend to motivate and help you with getting her on ramps. Providing you have her jacked up safely and you understand the manual and where to undo, unbolting parts is not hard and neither is fitting poly bushings

I would outsource the work, powder coating, blasting, welding to companies that have got a good reputation then put it all back yourself with your friend. It is so rewarding and you will save lots of money.

The best source of all is the internet, there are so many how toos if you get stuck or forums to fall back on.

Good luck and enjoy the ride.

(caveat to the above, i 've not read every post, just starting work - so apologiese if i have missed you saying you cant do the work for whatever reason).

Thanks (a fellow George? Good to meet you!). I totally know what you're saying and I wouldn't have bought this particular car unless I wanted to do some work myself. I'm just wary of getting stuck into a job and then perhaps breaking a part which then means I can't get the car back on the road. Then I'm a bit stuck as wouldn't be able to drive it to anyone to fix it. I'd have to mither Richie or someone to come and help me, and I'd rather not be a pain in the arse like that!

I have done a lot of work on my cars myself, but there's also been difficult situations like I mentioned above. And these rear spindles sound like something that would 100% bring me to a halt! I've never used heat on anything to undo it, and I just don't have the right tools a lot of the time.

Unfortunately none of my mates in Manchester are into cars like I am <gets tiny violin out> - all the ones that are, are back in Norwich, as are my brothers & my old man who kind of got me into old cars. So I've done almost all work on my own without anyone to show me what to do - so yeah lots of reliance on youtube and the odd facetime.

But perhaps Richie when you come over to have a ganders, you could give me some pointers and tell me which tools I'll need to do the work I'm talking about and give me the confidence to give it a go.

It's a good point about the bolts not being seized by the way. That would be a welcome change!

 

[jonbills]

Engine bolts in CA cars on the other hand are quite often seized; antifreeze is often considered optional over there. 2 out of 6 bolts on the coolant inlet and thermostat housing have sheared on my CA 240z contributing to needing to take the engine out.

 

[yellowz]

Thanks (a fellow George? Good to meet you!). I totally know what you're saying and I wouldn't have bought this particular car unless I wanted to do some work myself. I'm just wary of getting stuck into a job and then perhaps breaking a part which then means I can't get the car back on the road. Then I'm a bit stuck as wouldn't be able to drive it to anyone to fix it. I'd have to mither Richie or someone to come and help me, and I'd rather not be a pain in the arse like that!

I have done a lot of work on my cars myself, but there's also been difficult situations like I mentioned above. And these rear spindles sound like something that would 100% bring me to a halt! I've never used heat on anything to undo it, and I just don't have the right tools a lot of the time.

Unfortunately none of my mates in Manchester are into cars like I am <gets tiny violin out> - all the ones that are, are back in Norwich, as are my brothers & my old man who kind of got me into old cars. So I've done almost all work on my own without anyone to show me what to do - so yeah lots of reliance on youtube and the odd facetime.

But perhaps Richie when you come over to have a ganders, you could give me some pointers and tell me which tools I'll need to do the work I'm talking about and give me the confidence to give it a go.

It's a good point about the bolts not being seized by the way. That would be a welcome change!

I was the same with the car I picked up from Will Galliers. Extremely underconfident.

With Youtube, the manuals and searching this forum I am pretty confident I can attempt most things but know my limits. Own a blow torch so heating up seized bolts - no problem. Don't own a welder - outsourcing coil over welding but I will get the struts off. I took it to a mechanic who gave me a list of things he thought I could do and said bring it back and I'll do the rest (it's a big list!).

Small things give me confidence and I feel I'm learning a lot. Simple wins. I never knew you could test the temp gauge just by putting the temp wire to ground and turning the car on. If needle moves gauge is good, sensor is not - needle not moving gauge is not good. Simple but only if you know how to or found it out by research.

What I am doing is making it safe (done), driving it and fixing little things, taking it off the road to do bigger things later when I have a plan and more dosh.

 

[Robotsan]

I was the same with the car I picked up from Will Galliers. Extremely underconfident.

With Youtube, the manuals and searching this forum I am pretty confident I can attempt most things but know my limits. Own a blow torch so heating up seized bolts - no problem. Don't own a welder - outsourcing coil over welding but I will get the struts off. I took it to a mechanic who gave me a list of things he thought I could do and said bring it back and I'll do the rest (it's a big list!).

Small things give me confidence and I feel I'm learning a lot. Simple wins. I never knew you could test the temp gauge just by putting the temp wire to ground and turning the car on. If needle moves gauge is good, sensor is not - needle not moving gauge is not good. Simple but only if you know how to or found it out by research.

What I am doing is making it safe (done), driving it and fixing little things, taking it off the road to do bigger things later when I have a plan and more dosh.

Thanks Jim, that does give me some hope! That's a nice friendly mechanic you've got there

You're right, the little things do give you more confidence! Good tip with the wiring I could probably do with learning a few things like how to test electrical components. I've got a multimeter and a test light thing, but that's about it.

You need to start a build thread for your car!