Project Candy Begins (rb25det 240z)

Wally

Club Member
Well it's been a slow week for me due to work. I got the car back from the blasters last Friday. Plenty of fun surprises as expected. Lots of horrendous repairs of dents but no patches thankfully. For some reason they've drilled holes over some dents then just filled them with plaster. Nothing detrimental though just requires lots of panel beating and welding of tiny holes. That will be a new skill I'll have to learn. Overall the shells not in too bad a shape and now sat in primer.

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Next step is the car is going away for the following:

1. Cut bulkhead out and replace with rhd one.
2. New slam panel.
3. New floor pans.
4. New floor rails and extend them to the rear subframe.
5. New lower radiator cross member.
6. Both rear section of the sills replacing.

Once it's back I'm going to start dry fitting all the suspension, brake lines, fuel lines, electrics and test fit the engine.

I'm not looking forward to building a new engine loom and body loom from scratch but I want it all new and add relays for some circuits. I had looked at the prebuilt electricals but I think I'll have a go myself. All the apex gear is on route and shoukd be here in the next few weeks. Unfortunately I'm going to be away with work for the next month so no time to work on the car. Plenty of time to plan out the electrics and order parts though.
 

Rushingphil

Club Member
On the whole looks pretty sound but I think the guy who used the stud weld puller didn't know what he was doing!

I'd also be looking deeper into where those perforations are - especially the dogleg .

Keep up the good work :thumbs:
 

Wally

Club Member
On the whole looks pretty sound but I think the guy who used the stud weld puller didn't know what he was doing!

I'd also be looking deeper into where those perforations are - especially the dogleg .

Keep up the good work :thumbs:

Oh tell me about it. The guy clearly had no idea what he's doing and thought "sod it, I'll plough ahead anyway". They've butchered places of the shell.

All the perforations are either on the wings or the rh door, so fairly easy repairs. Both dog legs are getting cut out. Treating whatever is wrong beneath and new panels going back on.

I'm just frustrated I can't get straight onto it. I think I'm going to leave the panel beating and final body work until after I've dry built it and stripped it apart again.
 

Turn & Burn

Club Member
On the whole looks pretty sound but I think the guy who used the stud weld puller didn't know what he was doing!

I'd also be looking deeper into where those perforations are - especially the dogleg .

Keep up the good work :thumbs:
Prior to stud pullers it was common to use a self tapper in a slide hammer, if u were filling anyway a few extra holes makes little difference and gives the filler more to key to. I know it looks rough but that’s a really common way to make a ‘cheaper’ repair, esp prior to everyone having a mig to patch the drilled hole up in an instant!
 

Rushingphil

Club Member
Prior to stud pullers it was common to use a self tapper in a slide hammer, if u were filling anyway a few extra holes makes little difference and gives the filler more to key to. I know it looks rough but that’s a really common way to make a ‘cheaper’ repair, esp prior to everyone having a mig to patch the drilled hole up in an instant!

Fair enough! I remember in the '70's when Plastic Padding with their aluminium mesh was considered a good diy repair :EXTRAeek:
 

johnymd

Club Member
I think we all get a bit hung up on how pretty the repair is below the skim of filler and paint. If its structurally sound then does it really matter?
 
I think we all get a bit hung up on how pretty the repair is below the skim of filler and paint. If its structurally sound then does it really matter?
would you prefer a car thats got lots of crappy repairs under perfect filler or a car with nice tidy repairs and the minimum amount of filler/shaping needed?
 

johnymd

Club Member
I don’t really like crappy repairs and it generally points towards inadequate skills or lack of interest to do a good job so I would not trust crappy repairs as structurally sound. Most of the time, if the quality of the welding is good then I’m happy.
 

Wally

Club Member
I think knowing what's under the paint will bug me so I'll be doing to the best of my ability and using as little filler as possible. Will be a lot of time with a hammer and dolly though.
 

Garaculas

Club Member
Great work so far and bet you’re relieved that your shell didn’t hide anything too nasty, i’m convinced mine will be!

If you’re looking at rewiring the car take a look at the 12 circuit universal loom sold by Speedway Motors in the USA. Friend of mine fully rewired his LS swapped Z with one and said it was great. I’ve got one myself and will be doing mine over the next month or so.
 

Wally

Club Member
Week off work because everyone is flapping about the virus but can't complain. Unfortunately the shell is away getting work on so I can't start on that. Hopefully I'll be going to visiting it in the next few days.

Nice big box from Apex Engineered arrived today. I'll have to entertain with that for now.
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Wally

Club Member
Before I treat myself and start digging into the Apex Engineered box I told myself I must tidy up this mess from the strip down:
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Definitely requires organising and tidying up better. As part of the tidy up I'll be selling off the parts I definitely won't be using, engine, gearbox, diff and rear suspension, front crossmember, fuel tank plus a load of other stuff. If anyone needs anything hit me up.

Once I'm tidied I'll get the Apex kit all laid out.
 

Wally

Club Member
Tidy up now complete and I've started unboxing the massive load of apex parts. Workmanship looks amazing although I'm a little annoyed they didn't include a parts list in the box. I would have preferred to tick items off as I pulled them out.
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Rear hub carriers for 300zx hubs. I'm hoping the handbrake etc will bolt straight on.

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Tubular cross member. Also comes with bars to triangulate back to the compression strut mount.

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Welds look really good and I'm a massive fan of the wrinkle powder coat.

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Part of the rear control arm.

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Nifty little rubber cover for the rose joints. Should prevent the thick of the crap getting in. Looks like they cable tie into place.

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Part of the front LCA.

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I decided in the end not to unwrap everything to stop anything getting accidently damaged or scratched.
 

yellowz

Club Member
Before I treat myself and start digging into the Apex Engineered box I told myself I must tidy up this mess from the strip down:

your seats don't match - what happened :rofl:

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