Avocado Green 1972 UK RHD 240z Project

[Rushingphil]

Have also removed the bumpers, lights and front wings. One of my biggest concerns and unknowns when I bought the car was the condition of the air dams, as the tops of these are obviously hidden by the wings. What I found was relatively pleasing; although there is a lot of surface rust, I don't think it's too bad - I've read threads where people have had to replace them and I honestly don't think my skills could cope with that!

 

[Rushingphil]

Unfortunately it wasn't all good news...................................................

 

[MaximG]

In all honesty it doesn’t look that bad to me. I wish you had put up a picture of the inner kick plate in situ on the inner sill. Just curious how they should fit.

 

[Rushingphil]

Had a quick looksee and scrapped off some of the 'stuff' to see what was going on. Basically it's just a thick layer of underseal and the metal underneath is sound - job was probably given to a first day apprentice

View attachment 35930

And how wrong I was!! In fact thinking about it and looking at pictures of other cars - were any cars actually under-sealed/stone-chipped in those areas?

When I removed the two front wings I found that the headlight pods are made of different materials. The nearside is fiberglass whilst the offside is metal. Research tells me that the earlier cars were fitted with fiberglass and the later ones with steel. My car I believe would have been fitted with Fiberglass ones as it is a 1972 (I've found some parts fitted to the car were 1971). Add this to the fact that (as already noted) the front bumper brackets still had the paper stickers on them, led me to believe that the car had a front right bump at some time. Stripping all the 'stuff' off with my trusty paint scrapper revealed that this was in fact the case. The front of the air dam, along with the bottom radiator support frame has been deformed and poorly repaired . It was obviously then smothered with the 'stuff' to hide the deformations . In actual fact it's not too bad, but will need to sorted at a later date!

 

[Rushingphil]

In all honesty it doesn’t look that bad to me. I wish you had put up a picture of the inner kick plate in situ on the inner sill. Just curious how they should fit.

Like this......

 

[MaximG]

Like this......

View attachment 36861

Yep super thanks for that!

 

[Jay.]

Car looks surprisingly clean there!

 

[richiep]

And how wrong I was!! In fact thinking about it and looking at pictures of other cars - were any cars actually under-sealed/stone-chipped in those areas?

When I removed the two front wings I found that the headlight pods are made of different materials. The nearside is fiberglass whilst the offside is metal. Research tells me that the earlier cars were fitted with fiberglass and the later ones with steel. My car I believe would have been fitted with Fiberglass ones as it is a 1972 (I've found some parts fitted to the car were 1971). Add this to the fact that (as already noted) the front bumper brackets still had the paper stickers on them, led me to believe that the car had a front right bump at some time. Stripping all the 'stuff' off with my trusty paint scrapper revealed that this was in fact the case. The front of the air dam, along with the bottom radiator support frame has been deformed and poorly repaired . It was obviously then smothered with the 'stuff' to hide the deformations . In actual fact it's not too bad, but will need to sorted at a later date!

Given the state of that front corner, you need to pop a message to Andy Nidd (Woody) on this forum. He makes repair panels and has this listed on eBay right now:

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Datsun-2...033206?hash=item4453b34336:g:2IYAAOSwhZhd5uqY

That should do the job nicely!

I'd also be concerned about the RH chassis rail, given those holes at the bottom of the inner wing at various points captured in pics above. If the wing is perforated there, I'd be concerned about the integrity/thickness of the chassis rail material and the amount of rusting inside, even if the outside in the engine bay looks alright. I think as you start exploring and peeling back the layers down there, the task list might lengthen!

Still remarkably good overall though!

 

[IbanezDan51]

That's such a good survivor UK car. I love it!

 

[Rushingphil]

Given the state of that front corner, you need to pop a message to Andy Nidd (Woody) on this forum. He makes repair panels and has this listed on eBay right now:

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Datsun-2...033206?hash=item4453b34336:g:2IYAAOSwhZhd5uqY

That should do the job nicely!

I'd also be concerned about the RH chassis rail, given those holes at the bottom of the inner wing at various points captured in pics above. If the wing is perforated there, I'd be concerned about the integrity/thickness of the chassis rail material and the amount of rusting inside, even if the outside in the engine bay looks alright. I think as you start exploring and peeling back the layers down there, the task list might lengthen!

Still remarkably good overall though!

Excellent. Thanks Richie! That's exactly what I am looking for!. Will drop Andy a PM shortly.

Thinking about the damage, and the fact that the bonnet wasn't on the car when I bought it, makes me wonder if the car got taken off the road in 1981 due to the damage, and the bonnet has never fitted again since! I will try and get it fitted and see.

Regarding the holes in the chassis rails - yes they are on my list to get repaired - the rails not the holes

I've actually had a cheap endoscope in there already and it doesn't look terminal from what I can see. I guess the 64 million dollar question is, how much deconstruction do you do

 

[Rushingphil]

Some advice please from you guys that have done it all before!

Leave Dash in and cover it or take it out?

I'm not intending to do much resto work inside the car so don't neccessarily need to remove the dash. However, I know what a mess bodywork creates. I could mask up the inside of the car but would I be better off taking the dash out? I guess I'm scared I'd never get it back in correctly again!!

 

[AliK]

Phil, this is great work buddy!

That repair part from woody does seem like a very fairly priced item and just the ticket.

Not having done it myself, my thoughts are:

1. taking it out; they are very rare items in RHD guise and you would kick yourself if you somehow damaged it during the re-spray! Mine has overspray marks from previous colours the car has been and I really don’t want to use thinners on 40+ year old vinyl! Also, I have found in my various projects on the car that the POs have done some crazy things with the electrics and it was good to discover them and correct before a fire !!! You can also deal with whatever rust is lurking behind it. Especially as you’ve stripped the car this far.

2. Keep it in: you would kick yourself if you damaged it in the process of taking out!!! But you will always wonder what lies beneath. [emoji848]

 

[Paul_S]

I took mine out and, apart from it being a lot heavier than I thought it might be, it was quite an easy job.

I also found some suspect wiring underneath it - stuff I probably wouldn't have come across had I left it in and tried to inspect it. So I'd recommend taking it out.

 

[Rushingphil]

Phil, this is great work buddy!

That repair part from woody does seem like a very fairly priced item and just the ticket.

Not having done it myself, my thoughts are:

1. taking it out; they are very rare items in RHD guise and you would kick yourself if you somehow damaged it during the re-spray! Mine has overspray marks from previous colours the car has been and I really don’t want to use thinners on 40+ year old vinyl! Also, I have found in my various projects on the car that the POs have done some crazy things with the electrics and it was good to discover them and correct before a fire !!! You can also deal with whatever rust is lurking behind it. Especially as you’ve stripped the car this far.

2. Keep it in: you would kick yourself if you damaged it in the process of taking out!!! But you will always wonder what lies beneath. [emoji848]

Many thanks for the reply I've already ordered the panel from Andy and asked about a couple of others!

Exactly my thoughts on the removal/leave-in delema - but I'm certainly leaning more towards the removal atm.

 

[Rushingphil]

I took mine out and, apart from it being a lot heavier than I thought it might be, it was quite an easy job.

I also found some suspect wiring underneath it - stuff I probably wouldn't have come across had I left it in and tried to inspect it. So I'd recommend taking it out.

Thanks Paul - yes I know how heavy the whole thing is - I have one of my sons' spare LHD dash hanging up in my garage! And I'll have to take it out on my own!

You're also right about the electrics - I can see a couple of nasty snap connectors up under the dash so a closer inspection will be necessary - plus I need to remove my heater matrix as it's been bypassed due to a leak sometime in the past ( and of course I'll be wise to check for rust around that area as you say).

I guess it will be easier to remove the windscreen once the dash is out as well!

Starting to look like a clearer decision already

 

[MaximG]

To get to the heater box and matrix its a dash out job in my humble opinion.

 

[Rob Gaskin]

To get to the heater box and matrix its a dash out job in my humble opinion.

Done a matrix change with dash in situ and it's not easy.

I'm currently doing jobs all around the dash and I do often think that I should have removed it. which ever way you decide to go familiarise yourself with the wiring and make sure all your instrument bulbs are working and secure.

 

[AliK]

I can tinker with cars all day everyday without food ! But the one thing that frustrates me with the Z is the fact that you want to do one job but end up doing 5 others .

 

[Rushingphil]

Thanks Mike and Rob, dash is coming out then!
Photos and notes will be taken at every step - I would never remember how to get it back in otherwise

 

[Rushingphil]

I can tinker with cars all day everyday without food ! But the one thing that frustrates me with the Z is the fact that you want to do one job but end up doing 5 others .

Isn't that part of the fun