Project 240z gunship

[Jake RAH]

Like a curvy Delorean

Yep Looks real nice, I was tempted

What colour are you going for ? I take it you have picked one just looking for the shade based on your comment above, are you staying white?

For the last 12 months I've been trying to decide pure white, old English white, orange or gunmetal. I ruled out orange when I decided not to add ZG arches, the metal round the arches is in great shape so it seemed wrong to cut them up(maybe orange with ZG arches for my next Z ). In the end I've decided to go with white. So now I just need to decide which white, pure white or an old English (ivory/creamy) white. I've gotta make my mind up
I like that colour you've gone with, I googled a few Lambo pics and it looks very nice. Should look great on your car

 

[big rex 2]

Paint choice

The lamborghini colour was slightly too dark for the z so I had it lightened slightly.
The paint shop made up twice the amount so if the car ever gets pranged I have a spot on colour match with enough paint to do the car again. I also got all the part numbers and suppliers for the two paints just incase....

 

[big rex 2]

All looks god Rex ... looking forward to more pics then the big reveal! It IS done and together I take it? Or still being put back together?

She is all back together now, I took it for it's first proper blast up in the Brecon Becons two weeks ago , turned some heads mind

 

[big rex 2]

Rear quarter seals

The rear quarter seals needed re-freshing as they were really really crusty, the California sun is great for preserving rusty Datsuns but terrible for anything rubber, anyone thinking of importing one should seriously consider buying a weather strip kit.

 

[big rex 2]

Primer mad max look

Still waiting for the guy for the body shop to fire over some more pics of the body prep , so i'll put some more up of it in primer, I quite liked the mad max look. The spook air dam has now gone and I've gone for a deeper front spolier, hope the speed bumps in Cardiff are sympathetic.

 

[big rex 2]

More primer

More pics from the body shop

 

[big rex 2]

Seats and interior

Whilst the car was being painted I started work on the interior.
1.) Seats were ripped.
2.) Dash was cracked.
3.) Centre console was half 240z and half 260z .
4.) Gear shift gaiter was missing.
5.) Gearnob was a grenade.
6.) One door card was ripped.
7.) Interior was full of dust.
8.) Nardi wheel was missing its center.
9.) Heater motor had been removed.
10.) No radio.
11.) Inner sill vinyl in poor condition


On the plus side the mats were in great shape, the seat belts are in great shape and the Nardi wheel is in good condition just needs a clean. The rest of the diamond vinyl was in good condition and 90% of the trim was there.

 

[big rex 2]

Seats

Beefing up the bolsters

 

[big rex 2]

lurking underneath

old 71 seat covers

 

[big rex 2]

Center console

I managed to source a leather handbrake gaiter and gear shift gaiter whilst in the states,
The new console came from Pmac, you can see the state of the old one !

cheers Pete

 

[big rex 2]

Parts

I also managed to source the heater motor from Pmac and some bits of corner chrome that were missing from the front and rear screens.
The dash was cracked like most US imports, when I was in MSA i bought a dash cap, I kind of wish I'd gone with the full dash now. It still looks 100 times better than the cracked look though, at the time I was still planning on converting to RHD drive so I wasn't too bothered.

 

[big rex 2]

Painted

Looks dark in the booth but is actually a bit brighter in day light.

 

[big rex 2]

nice lines

The matt green basically did its job by camouflaging the lines of the car, now the silver shows off the bonnet bulge a treat.

On another note I've just gone and made it the same color as winter in Cardiff !,

really happy with job, bit of over spray on the grill, but I have a new one to go in satin black .

This was December 2015

 

[big rex 2]

Going home

Weather still mild and dry at this point, I have now got some garage space locally to protect the z from the elements.

 

[big rex 2]

Rebuilding

Told the gf the car would only take a couple of weeks to put back together !! took me almost 2 months of weekends and a couple of evenings a week.

One thing that had pissed me off about this car when I drove it in California and when I drove it for its MOT is it rattled , mostly from the doors (all seals perished inside and out). I'm used to having more modern cars but have been driving a 1969 mgb gt for the last few months and even that doesn't rattle as much as the z, so I ordered £160 worth of silent coat to do the floor pan back and front / doors/ wheel arches and inner hatch. Also some normal carpet type sound proofing to go under the new carpet set , hopefully that will do the trick

 

[big rex 2]

Re-build continued

Arches back on, used wing beading from Wollies Trim, documented quite well on the old web so just followed a thread on hybrid z. Very happy it does give it a more finished look.

 

[big rex 2]

Long weekend

Took a few days off from work and brought the car back to the house so I could spend some more time on it. A lot of the parts are just mocked up at the moment and lots of things need adjustment but seeing like this is made me smile , finally getting somewhere.

 

[Jake RAH]

Lookin' good

 

[datsfun]

Super work. I like the colour choice

 

[big rex 2]

door seals

Replaced the crusty window channel with some new ones, the difference is like amazing, no more window rattling . Also got some new bullet style wing mirrors,I read some good reviews on these, decent chrome plating and made in the UK .