Luke's 260z restoration

Rob Gaskin

Treasurer
Staff member
Site Administrator
Having said all that Albrecht (and I fully agree with you) there are still people who want to do the restoration/reconstruction work.

The main thing is to point out the issues as you have done. This is the strength of a club IMO.

As long as potential restorers are aware of the task and listen about the difficulty of obtaining parts and the costs involved they can make more informed decisions.

I wouldn't do it again but I have done it.
 

gazc130

Active Forum User
Albrecht,

Your Mummy obviously never taught you the "if you can't say something nice don't say anything at all" rule did she? It's a car for nothing and Luke is getting someone else to weld it.... Sounds like a great deal to me!

Go for it Luke!!!

Gary
 

Albrecht

Well-Known Forum User
Albrecht,

Your Mummy obviously never taught you.....

See? This is exactly the usual retarded level that the conversation comes down to. Lowest common denominator. Never fails.

If the OP - and all the people ushering him towards the cliff he's just about to dive off of, shouting 'Go For It' and wishing him 'Good Luck' - are happy only with 'positive' posts and don't want to hear anything objective, then party on..... :rolleyes:
 
Albrecht,

Your Mummy obviously never taught you the "if you can't say something nice don't say anything at all" rule did she? It's a car for nothing and Luke is getting someone else to weld it.... Sounds like a great deal to me!

Go for it Luke!!!

Gary

There's no need for comments like that, people are only trying to help, with blinkers off you'll see that.

Its not the welding that'll be the issue, its getting replacement panels, or paying a fabricator to make some, then taking the whole thing apart and getting it back together in some sort of accurate fashion.

I'm sure there's 240Z that's been listed for a sale for a while for well less than the 'going rate' that simply hasn't sold because of how its held together.

If you go ahead with the car, good luck, i'm sure you can find the panels but you'll be paying a huge amount for them.
 

MaximG

Well-Known Forum User
Perhaps a staged approach might be in order. The car is free and stripping it will only cost time. When the car is dismantled it will be easier to take a more level headed approach to see if it's worth going any further?

By the way Luke no one has said this yet but very little of the 2+2 will be any good to you.

The corrosion on the bulkhead would actually be quite an easy fix compared to some of it.

Mike B
 

gazc130

Active Forum User
Guys aren't forums about having fun, Albrecht my comments were meant as a joke! Luke has been given a Z and is enthusiastic about it, as he said he's big enough and ugly enough to assess what he's bought. Without being judgmental, he's not mentioned what his plans are or to what standard he wants the car restored or repaired to.

If he wants a tidy, fun car, well with his friends help I'm sure that is very achievable, if the cars beyond repair his welder friend will think twice before taking it on. So good luck to him, give it a good going over, have a good prod around and then when you know what you've got, you can then make a decision about which direction to go in....

So once again.... Go for it Luke, if you can save another crusty old Z from the scrapy and get some fun out of it, why not that's what old cars are all about... there speaks the voice of the lowest common denominator.... and once again that was a joke :)
 
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jaydeescuba

Well-Known Forum User
Imho Luke said he's a mechanic and mot tester, so he probably knows the difference between a spanner and and a ratchet(no offense Luke) and given that he's got it free, plus a donor car for whatever parts he can salvage, I'd imagine(knowing a Damn good welder myself lol) the guy doing the welding is a fabricator/panel beater and or engineer, so although Albrecht raises some relevant points,I think Luke, you know what you gotta do, so do it, and just take Albrecht as devils advocate(no offense Albrecht)
He knows his stuff, as do quite a few others on here, so you'll ALWAYS get both sides of any coin. Hope to see the z in more detail soon man

jaydeescuba
 

Albrecht

Well-Known Forum User
....just take Albrecht as devils advocate(no offense Albrecht)

I'm not even trying to be devil's advocaat. I'm trying to shoot straight and be objective.

The car is what it is. The full extent of what it is will be revealed when it is dismantled and taken back to bare metal, so the car will speak for itself in that respect. What I can't understand - and this is the main thing that triggered my response - is people commenting that the car "looks good". Even the Z Club's Insurance Valuations Officer commented that it "...does not look too bad." If that's the case then I think we need to re-define the scales on which these cars are judged and re-calibrate the judgment criteria for insurance valuations, let alone any other criteria.

But of course, we should not have to do that. All we need to do is be realistic, and tell it like it is. The car IS in bad condition. In fact, it looks terribly bad. Once they get to this state they are very difficult to restore properly and ideally you'd probably want to have it on a professional level body jig for a lot of the work. That firewall rot is - in my opinion - very hard to repair properly as it is centred around the join between the floor of the wiper box / cowl / scuttle and the firewall sheetmetal. It points to long-term blockage of cowl drains with the cowl effectively sitting long-term with wet debris inside, and once the rust takes hold in that joint it spreads along the whole length of the firewall on the inside of the cowl. To repair this properly you have to take the closing panel off the top of the cowl, drilling out many many spotwelds and effectively removing one of the main strengtheners for the whole top of the 'shell. I've seen it done and it takes tens of hours to do it properly. That means hundreds of Pounds ( into four figures for sure where I live... ) and that's just on one aspect of the project.

This kind of work and effort is easily justifiable for a super rare model ( like a 432 or 432R for example ) or a Works rally car / Works circuit racer. Perhaps a very early production model of historic interest and a higher intrinsic value. No offence, but this particular car doesn't seem to be anything like the above and I doubt any of us here - including the OP - would have bought it as a viable resto project had it been up for sale at more than a couple of hundred Pounds.

Getting a freebie is all well and good, but the OP is not really ahead of the game in the long run and may actually be further from getting a decent running and driving Z on the road now than he would had he bought something in better condition. I think the fact that it has cost nothing to acquire is effectively little more than a nice anecdote. In fact it could arguably be seen as a hindrance if there is any kind of implied obligation to restore it from its 'gift' status.

Anyway, time will tell.
 

Mrs HollowPoint

Well-Known Forum User
Amazing, some can tell the true condition from a photo and short description...

Opinion of what is fixable or not differs between us all though I think.

I think it's certainly work a good looking at, but yeah, make a bee line for structural areas. What is the other one youve been told you can mutilate for parts like?
 

Dale

Club Member
If it does get given a new life, there's some inspiration for the paint job in the licence plate! :D
 

Albrecht

Well-Known Forum User
Amazing, some can tell the true condition from a photo and short description...

Yes. Although it's more than one photo in this case. A few of us know - sometimes from bitter experience - what we are talking about.

Of course, only *negative" opinions will elicit sarcastic responses like the above. All the "looks good" type *positive* responses get a free pass, as that's what everyone wants to hear in our new 'Everyone Wins' 21st Century Britain.
 

Rob Gaskin

Treasurer
Staff member
Site Administrator
I don't know about Moggy240 but I definitely only saw the first two pictures so from those gave my comment ' I've seen worse'. I was away in London and using a very low spec Netbook.

Anyway Luke as you know the first stage is to strip it down and find what the shell looks like with the filler and rust removed. Any comments on here are genuinely meant to be helpful and constructive even if they are saying 'be careful'.

These cars are hard and expensive to repair mainly because of their rarity and lack of availability of panels. Less rare cars e.g. MGB, TR6, E Type have a tremendous network of companies producing and selling almost everything you would need.
 

Mrs HollowPoint

Well-Known Forum User
Yes. Although it's more than one photo in this case. A few of us know - sometimes from bitter experience - what we are talking about.

Of course, only *negative" opinions will elicit sarcastic responses like the above. All the "looks good" type *positive* responses get a free pass, as that's what everyone wants to hear in our new 'Everyone Wins' 21st Century Britain.

I agree it shouldnt be sugar coated. You dont KNOW until you get stuck in. I am quite aware that youve had Bitter experiences, that shows very clearly. Gaining experience is a personal journey and I don't believe anyone else can do that for you. I will not be told to discard all hope though, as much as that may grate your teeth. :bow:
 

Albrecht

Well-Known Forum User
'Ignore User' function working selectively now then Mrs H? Have you tried turning your computer off and then back on again?

Looks like there's no escape for me. If I have experience in these matters I'm "bitter" ( so that's why I'm pointing the finger, eh? ) and if I don't have experience then I don't know what I'm talking about and others know better. Even from just a photo or two.

Like I said, party on....
 

gazc130

Active Forum User
I'll be very interested to see how Luke gets on, I bet he's glad he joined the forum... Good Luck to you! :)
 

morbias

Well-Known Forum User
My car was pretty far gone, had I known how bad it was I wouldn't have taken it on. That said, I am so glad to have done it as the amount of experience I have gained is worth more than the car. Would I do it again? Hell no, once is enough. I agree with Albrecht that even though this one was free, it would cost less time and money overall to source a car in better condition, with a better result in the end.

But good luck to Luke, sense of achievement of getting this one back on the road should be monumental.
 

Mrs HollowPoint

Well-Known Forum User
'Ignore User' function working selectively now then Mrs H? Have you tried turning your computer off and then back on again?

Looks like there's no escape for me. If I have experience in these matters I'm "bitter" ( so that's why I'm pointing the finger, eh? ) and if I don't have experience then I don't know what I'm talking about and others know better. Even from just a photo or two.

Like I said, party on....


I'm not argueing with you, so sent you a PM. Hopefully no issues there. :)

Luke,
I have just gone and looked at your rust photos so far and tbh, a lot of it looks like mine, only blue. Hopefully, you wont find anything unrepairable and it may depend on how much money youre prepared to sink into it.
 

samuri-240

Well-Known Forum User
'Ignore User' function working selectively now then Mrs H? Have you tried turning your computer off and then back on again?

Looks like there's no escape for me. If I have experience in these matters I'm "bitter" ( so that's why I'm pointing the finger, eh? ) and if I don't have experience then I don't know what I'm talking about and others know better. Even from just a photo or two.

Like I said, party on....

I totally agree with every word Albrecht has said & with my 26 years experience of S30's I can tell from the photo's that this car is a donor/breaker. Do not fall in love with a reck like I did in 1987 when most panels where available (even then prices where huge) I spent 1000's on that car & ended up scrapping it. I dread to think how much it would cost to restore the above Z to a reasonable state in this day & age even if all the labour involved was free ! ( I'm only trying to stop you falling into a trap ) If you really want a Z get an import & use this as a donor. I still cannot get my head around the condition of dry state cars no shearing bolts etc & the body shells are amazing. P.S my good friend Will Galliers has been importing quite a few in recent times so you are able see what you are getting before buying & he sells them at amazing prices.

Sorry for Albrecht & myself putting a damper on it, we are only trying to stop you making a huge mistake.
 
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