newbie with some 260 zx questions

M

michael1703

Forum User
hi there, i've took on a daft project to repair a 1976 260 zx

i would like to know if any repair panels are available? i'm guessing no (apart from the sills which are on order) but i would like some door skins if available

if not it means ive got more bits to make

the damage is as follows:

the o/s/r corner of the car has rotted out just above the rear lights,
a 3 inch strip of tailgate rear edge has disintegrated,
the fuel filler is err... odd to say the least, you can see the fuel filler hose as there is big holes above and below the filler flap.
theres holes around the o/s rear quarter light, the base of the o/s screen pillar and o/s/f headlamp cowl is bubbling so needs seperating from the wing, repairing and reattaching with some silkoflex in the seam.
o/s sills are rotted all along and the bottom of the rear wing is missing, the drivers floor is full of holes, the drivers door has rotted through about 3 inches up from the bottom edge

on the nearside

nearside bumper is hiding a 4 inch by two inch void of nothingness, the passengers door has rotted through about 3 inches up from the bottom edge, some light rusting around the rear quarter light, sill is scrap, front wing flaps in the breeze as its lower rear edge has fell off, the rear wings front edge is rotten.....

this is the superficial stuff, theres about 8 inches of chassis rail missing on the drivers side and thats only the bits i havent poked with a screwdriver!

the rear quarters are going to give me trouble as they are lead loaded :banghead:

i'll attach some piccies soon
 
If it's a 1976 260 then it's a Z not a ZX bud. Right. Sounds like the dreaded tin worm has taken a firm hold of this car and even if you do manage to do anything with it you're always just gonna be chasing rust all over the car. If the chassis and motor are reasonably sound then it's a great 'project' but you'll need replacement bits as repairing that level of corrosion won't do anything other than clean out your wallet and make your hair leave town. Unfortunately unless it's stopped before it starts, that Jap iron will go the way of all flesh. But... get some pics up anyway!
 
I've got one spare brand new door skin sitting in my garage at the moment, I haven't unwrapped it yet but I think it's the passenger side.




Rob
 
Ah... just checked, it is definitely a 260 z,

the Z had a line through it which made me think it was a Z on an X

and just found that its a 77 model, first registered 10/08/1977

heres some pics, more to follow as work continues, ive only spent about an hour on it so far

the good thing is that the paint is so thin i can strip it back to bare metal quickly and easily, the bad thing is that rust lurks under even the shiniest bits of paint



thames077.jpg


thames080.jpg


thames081.jpg
 
michael1703 said:
new old stock or new as in they reproduced them ?
Click to expand...

New old stock I believe, It had been sitting around at the back of a workshop for years.

like I said I've not even unwrapped it yet as I bought just as a spare, I've already fitted two new old stock skins to my doors last year, I was lucky enough to find this one as well.



Rob
 
How is your welding? If you're gonna strip back to bare metal you wanna be covering it in a zinc paint or something that'll stop the rapid oxidising action of 70s Jap metal. Then you can get some tin snips, a panel hammer, block and get building. To be honest, I'm not sure this car could be saved if it was stripped and dipped but then the devil makes work for idle thumbs and a working Z is a thing of beauty. Good luck bud, whatever you do.
 
vpulsar : how much would you want for the skin?

Jak: ive been a welder/fabricator for 13 years and ive restored lots of cars, so i knew what i was taking on, the only thing different with this car is the jap metal seems very poor quality
 
michael1703 said:
...i've been a welder/fabricator for 13 years and i've restored lots of cars, so i knew what i was taking on, the only thing different with this car is the Jap metal seems very poor quality
Click to expand...

Cool beans! Then good luck matey. This will make a wicked story if you can get it back to anywhere near half decent. Whereabouts in Suffolk by the way? I used to work with a guy who's had a red 260 sat in his old man's garage for the last many moons.
 
This is where you will now think i'm nuts...... its not my car and i'm repairing it for nothing :eek:

well, sort of,i'm repairing the car because i want a car the owner owns and by repairing this son of dat, i get that car for free

i'm near mendlesham in sarfalk, the owner lives in norwich and the car has spent all its life in norwich

theres a lot of history and bills with the car including tuning work from 12 years ago where the 280 engine was tuned at a cost of £4k and it has a dyno chart for 250bhp as well as uprated front discs and calipers etc

Sadly, it seems to have spent ten years parked under tree's and was probably parked on grass judging by the chassis

The interior is in good condition apart from the carpets which the owner will replace, the seats are in great condition

It needs a windscreen rubber and top hose, theres no choke for its triple webbers, so i am going to fabricate a bracket with a cable adjuster so it can be connected up to the original choke lever

Its an odd car, the inner wings and struts are in great condition as is the boot floor

its rusted in every place most other cars would'nt!
 
The blunt truth is, Michael, that you are looking at a minimum of a few hundred hours work on that Bodyshell, and if anyone says otherwise then they have'nt had the 'pleasure' of having to do the work !

As you so rightly say, there is just so much corrosion on that Vehicle, that it will be difficult to find a starting point of sound metal. Restoration starts with cutting ouit all the corroded steel & letting in new.

The front wings, the bonnet and headlight cowlings are no problem ( apart from the cost - over £1,000 in total ), as they bolt on. The big work is the sills, floorpans, chassis rails, etc, which is particularly tricky even for a skilled man with a decent Workshop of tools.

Plus, those rear corners cannot be satisfactorly lead loaded as the basic structure has gone, so it needs two complete rear quarters which are unobtainable nowadays, and cost another £1,000 orr so when you could get them. If you have the skills to do a good job for your friend, then your work should be valued at at least £25 per hour, as that is the minimum that anyone else will charge.

I hate to be a "Jonah" about your project, but I have seen ( many, many times ), the results of unrealistic ideas about what is Restorable and what is not. You may not like the information I am giving you, but do you really want to give your mate several thousand pounds work of work for nothing ?

This is why Z enthusiasts import them LHD form from the States and convert them. It is cheaper, quicker, has a much better end result, and makes the effort worthwhile.
 
The work i am doing is free up until the work ive completed reaches £550 (the value of the car i bought) from there onwards the car will start accrueing its hourly rate, the owner is happy with this as ive already said it would take a lot of work

The sills and floorpans dont bother me, its just the rear corner above the light and the fuel filler area

The fuel cap sits in a recess so i will have to recreate the recess which unfortunately is very close to the shaped waistline so this will be tricky to make as will the rear corner, not to mention the removal of the fuel tank and lines as well as headlining removal for the gutter repairs

As theres so few parts available, removal of trim is slow, as i found yesterday removing the gutter trims

With reference to lead loading, i meant that the car had lots of lead loading when manufactured and that my welding would melt that and i would have to reinstate it


More questions: Are the engine bay access panels (water/battery) available? who sells door skin lower repairs? where can i get a top hose?
 
Michael, I agree with RallymanDP this is not a realistic project. You need to be an expert in Z restoration (like RallymanDP) to be able to assess this task, take his advice. It would be cheaper to buy a good one - look at the classified adverts.

The parts are either unobtainable or too expensive and at the end of the day it is a Datsun not a Ferrari Daytona.

If you have the skill, time and facilities to restore this car it would make more sense to work on another project and charge for it, then buy yourself the car you want off your mate.

Sorry, but I'm sure you would regret starting this.
 
rob, see above

also... it has a chrome rear bumper which has a pod with two numberplate lamps, but... it has a plastic trim above the numberplate with two downward facing lamps

should it have 4 lamps or two up/two down?
 
michael1703

With the greatest of respect, the £550 threshold will go in a heartbeat, your time and parts for the sills alone will take care of that.....and from the look of the pictures there is likely be a considerable amount of hidden heartache elsewhere when the underseal/trim is stripped back, be prepared for the eventual bill to be in the several thousands as many of the parts required are no longer available (inner wings, rear quarters etc) and will have to be prised from the fingers of known horders;) or replica panels used where the fit is less than optimal incuring additional work.

Advise the owner not to get too fixated with the dyno sheet "saying" 250Bhp and £4K spent on tuning. Its highly unlikely to be meaningfull 10 years on and after sitting for a decade it is going to need considerable money to get running at anywhere near peak power again (triples that havent run for a decade ouch)

Please dont take this as negative, I just want to set some expectations.

BTW setups with triples rarely use any choke system, there is normally no need as a couple of pumps of the throttle is usually enough (pump jets) not that you should be even considering work on the engine at this stage.
 
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Wow, that's a big job...we took on a massive job on a 240 which almost turned to dust during sandblasting. It has taken absolutely ages and will cost thousands in the end...but once it rolls out of the workshop it will have been worth it.

hole3.jpg


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hole1.jpg


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and as if that wasn't punishment enough, once it is finished we'll start work on the 260!!!
 
Is the 260 as bad as the 240? Holy smokes. Amazing what people will do to keep an s30 on the road. Even stripped like that though, that shape is car porn. The curves are fab!
 
Nah, the 260 is pretty solid, not much welding at all. Just some bad repairs to make right on the rear arches etc.
 
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