Avocado Green 1972 UK RHD 240z Project

Use tied-on tags or a marking system to identify all connections as you disconnect them. Do it methodically without fail. I did that when I dismantled and subsequently rebuilt my red Fairlady Z. Apart from a ground issue due to not tightening a bolt up enough at the rear and losing my dome light functionality due to historically butchered wiring on the door switches, everything worked without a hitch on reassembly.
 
The back of the dash, the heater/blower system and that whole area tends to be the hiding place for years and years of dust and other beastliness (up to and including including small mammals...). The heater/blower unit itself has internal foams and seals which tend to deteriorate and turn to (probably not good for you) dust back there, and which can also make the flaps and controls less effective. Well worth cleaning all that out.

Don't stress the dash too much! Try to support it in more than one place at a time to avoid 'bending' the metal frame and - in consequence - cracking the vinyl cover on a previously uncracked dash. I've seen it happen!

If the firewall sound-deadener pad is largely intact and undamaged, leave it in-situ. It's tempting to remove it, but they rarely come off intact and it makes a whole lot of mess and bother. Good RHD reproductions are no longer available (AFAIK) and on the whole it's much better to leave it be unless you are doing a full bare-metal 'shell job .
 
richiep said:
Use tied-on tags or a marking system to identify all connections as you disconnect them. Do it methodically without fail. I did that when I dismantled and subsequently rebuilt my red Fairlady Z. Apart from a ground issue due to not tightening a bolt up enough at the rear and losing my dome light functionality due to historically butchered wiring on the door switches, everything worked without a hitch on reassembly.
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Thanks - will do. I tend to use good quality white electrical tape written on with permanent marker pen.
 
Albrecht said:
The back of the dash, the heater/blower system and that whole area tends to be the hiding place for years and years of dust and other beastliness (up to and including including small mammals...). The heater/blower unit itself has internal foams and seals which tend to deteriorate and turn to (probably not good for you) dust back there, and which can also make the flaps and controls less effective. Well worth cleaning all that out.

Don't stress the dash too much! Try to support it in more than one place at a time to avoid 'bending' the metal frame and - in consequence - cracking the vinyl cover on a previously uncracked dash. I've seen it happen!

If the firewall sound-deadener pad is largely intact and undamaged, leave it in-situ. It's tempting to remove it, but they rarely come off intact and it makes a whole lot of mess and bother. Good RHD reproductions are no longer available (AFAIK) and on the whole it's much better to leave it be unless you are doing a full bare-metal 'shell job .
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Thanks - will take your advice! In fact, my eldest is coming down for lunch on Sunday, so I'll get it prepared and wait for him to help me remove it :thumbs:
 
I second everything Alan said. The heater/blower setup is worth cleaning out and is relatively simple to do. They can be full of dust, leaves, God-knows what else, and the foams and seals can be horrid if dried out and decayed. You can also extract the heater core and flush it out as these can become clogged up with filth from the engine coolant system. It's worthwhile to take it all apart, clean it, repaint it, etc. If the valve on the heater unit looks in bad nick, they can be replaced with new (I fitted a new-old-stock one on Dixie's RHD heater ready for installation - whenever that finally happens!).
 
richiep said:
I second everything Alan said. The heater/blower setup is worth cleaning out and is relatively simple to do. They can be full of dust, leaves, God-knows what else, and the foams and seals can be horrid if dried out and decayed. You can also extract the heater core and flush it out as these can become clogged up with filth from the engine coolant system. It's worthwhile to take it all apart, clean it, repaint it, etc. If the valve on the heater unit looks in bad nick, they can be replaced with new (I fitted a new-old-stock one on Dixie's RHD heater ready for installation - whenever that finally happens!).
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Will add those to the list..............
 
And on the subject of lists.........

When I first set out on this project, my intention was to try and do it little by little. ie. tackle one job at a time - a 'staged restoration' as Wick Humble describes it.

I was going to leave the doors, windows and glass in-situ , whilst I tackled the exterior bodywork repairs, in an effort to try and keep the interior clean. However, the more I thought about it and the sequence to tackle all the jobs on the list, led me to conclude that this wasn't practical. I will need to remove them eventually; I will need to get it on a rotisserie and a dolly, so I will need to remove the engine, gearbox, diff, suspension etc. etc. to make it as light as possible. So, my plan has now changed, and I'm going to strip it down to a bare shell and work from there. It's the way most people do it so why be different! Just need to find a barn to store all the bits in!

Took the doors off - I decided to remove the hinges from the body rather than the other way around. It's recommended to draw/scribe around the hinges before removal so they go back in the same place. However, as I'm going to be repainting that area, I made up templates using the body holes as reference points, so I can draw the hinge positions again once its painted.

Found a nice place to store the doors - hope wifey doesn't notice :rolleyes:

20200226_105354.jpg IMG-20200224-WA0002.jpeg IMG-20200224-WA0004.jpeg
 
Rushingphil said:
........my plan has now changed, and I'm going to strip it down to a bare shell and work from there........
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Going by other people's timescales (apart from John's) you may never get to drive it then. ;)

I am amazed by the quality of resto's on here these days though. It is the best way but keep 'moving' on it or it will stall.
 
Rushingphil said:
Not sure how I'm going to get the engine up the stairs though :rofl:
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I stayed at a mate's house once and slept with an Avenger GT engine. I also had a mate who had an AJS 7R in his bedroom - and his wife approved!

Does that tell you something about my mates?
 
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Rob Gaskin said:
Going by other people's timescales (apart from John's) you may never get to drive it then. ;)

I am amazed by the quality of resto's on here these days though. It is the best way but keep 'moving' on it or it will stall.
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Yes Rob, that's why I was reluctant to strip the car down! There's plenty of projects going on that are into there 5th, 6th, 7th year.......... I'll be your age by than :eek: :p
 
Rob Gaskin said:
I stated at a mate's house once and slept with an Avenger GT engine. I also had a mate who had an AJS 7R in his bedroom - and his wife approved!

Does that tell you something about my mates?
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I haven't got any ;), and probably won't have a wife either if she sees those doors in the bedroom! I've already told her not to go in - it's MY room :rofl:
 
On the subject of wife not noticing - I happened to think for some reason that it was a good idea to put the heat shield and intake manifold on the Intensive cycle of the dishwasher. My wife DID notice when she next went to load the dishwasher - it smelled of intake manifold!!! ;)

Still married - so I figure I got away with it.

She “made” me buy a new engine as she had the same fears about me doing it - I.e. worried that it would sit in the shed in bits for years and take me away from household chores.
 
I got constant s##t for having a pair of JDM-style bucket seats in the spare room for several months. Car bits that come in the house tend to be very temporary (apart from the Farndon stroker crank under our bed, which has been there for several years - too expensive to leave in the garage!).

When I did the Fairlady Z (going back 15 years, with us living in a little flat in Salford), I had the windscreens leaning against the wall under our dining table for 6 months! And rebuilt and did the mirror polishing job on the triple Dellortos sitting on the living room floor...
 
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