My RB26 260Z Project

[KeithRobinson]

Love this! Looking forward to seeing the work they do on the shell

 

[EF Ian]

fantastic work so far!! going to be amazing when finished!!!

Thanks, I hope so

You have far too much time on your hands, lol Good work!

Well, thats true, actually unemployed at the moment, looking for work but its bad time of the year for yacht jobs. So might as well do jobs I can do well myself instead of paying others to do them. I was actually considering doing some small parts restoration on the side along with metal polishing.

Be careful with the radiator, looks like you painted it? That will reduce its efficiency.

I painted the top and bottom but the fins just got one very light coat so I'd hope it won't be affected too much.

Love this! Looking forward to seeing the work they do on the shell

Me too, getting impatient, just want it to start.

 

[EF Ian]

Well, progress is slow, but at least there is progress.

There is both good and bad news. Bad news is that there is going to be more work and cost than planned due to us finding lots of badly done previous repairs all of which will need fixed and I expect some more will be revealed during blasting. Good news is at least it proved my approach of going fully bare metal has been justified and my view that most places do a crap job of metal work has been proved correct. Good that all issues will be found and addressed and my choice of using Resto shack to ensure the work is done as best as possible is a good one.

Badly repaired rear panel, inner rear arches were also not properly repaired and had a lot of sealer sealing them up.

Gone, right side bumper mount was bent, its now been sorted.

Rotisserie mounts made:

Scraping time, 12 man hours worth.

Steam cleaned

Unwanted brackets and holes in the bay welded up

 

[ChrisL]

Outstanding to see this progress properly

 

[EF Ian]

Outstanding to see this progress properly

Its great to see progress but to be honest I can't wait until its back on the road. Hopefully the costs don't get too out of control with the extra work thats likely to be revealed with the blasting given what we have seen so far.

 

[TalkToFrank]

Bitter sweet!

Right choice, you'll be glad of the quality!

But as you say, not glad of the extra price!

Still, be well worth it though !

 

[EF Ian]

Right choice, you'll be glad of the quality!

I will, just hope I can afford it.

Still, be well worth it though !

It will in the end, which is still a while away, even once its back with me I have a wiring to re do and a new oil sump to get made as well as trying to remember how everything fitted.

 

[EF Ian]

So. I'm considering scrapping this project. Its back from blasting and its uncovered terrible repair jobs everywhere, its a disgrace. While I have seen far worse S30's repaired this is well beyond what I was expecting and is likely to add at least £10k onto the total, not sure I can afford it.



All this will need done:

Wheel arches
Outer wheel tubs
Rear lower panel
Quarter panels
Fuel filler area
Both areas where the rear quarters meet the boot
Both sills badly fitted and welded the length rather than spot welded in
Badly joined A and B pillars
Bulkhead where steering rack is attached
Floor pans
Doors
Windscreen and lower a pillars
Even the engine bay needs some work and I was thinking this would be perfect there because I've had it blasted there already.





I'll post some photos soon.

 

[ChrisL]

What an absolute shame

Dare I say, put engine in a mustang like Fast and Furious Tokyo Drift

 

[S2K-Aaron]

So. I'm considering scrapping this project. Its back from blasting and its uncovered terrible repair jobs everywhere, its a disgrace. While I have seen far worse S30's repaired this is well beyond what I was expecting and is likely to add at least £10k onto the total, not sure I can afford it.



All this will need done:

Wheel arches
Outer wheel tubs
Rear lower panel
Quarter panels
Fuel filler area
Both areas where the rear quarters meet the boot
Both sills badly fitted and welded the length rather than spot welded in
Badly joined A and B pillars
Bulkhead where steering rack is attached
Floor pans
Doors
Windscreen and lower a pillars
Even the engine bay needs some work and I was thinking this would be perfect there, admittedly its not much but still a surprise





I'll post some photos soon.

Aww man not good. Hopefully whatever you decide you'll be happy with down the line.

 

[IL]

@EF Ian was it not blasted the 1st time? truly the only way to find out what you have.

What are the options tho? find a better shell or repair your own? Or just break it?

 

[acsmyth]

That's awful news. Hope you find a solution.

 

[EF Ian]

Nothing is settled yet, just got some things to work out.

@EF Ian was it not blasted the 1st time? truly the only way to find out what you have.

Only the front end from the cowel forward was blasted. I guess I've just learnt from my mistake, I thought the car was mostly good. Doing it again I'd dry fit everything mechanical, get it running, mark up any changes I want and then I'd take it all out and strip the shell back to bare metal.

Dare I say, put engine in a mustang like Fast and Furious Tokyo Drift

As cool as that is, I want a car that actually handles well.

What are the options tho? find a better shell or repair your own? Or just break it?

A better shell right away would cost £40k, best way to get a good shell would be to import a US S30 shell but it can't be an early 240 shell or my late 260 parts won't fit, dash, some interior parts, fuel tank, diff, radiator, intercooler and probably more would be useless. I guess a US 280 shell might be closest I could get. Any imported shell would still need body work, but not as much and would need to be RHD converted.

Options are: Repair it, find a decent US 280Z shell or scrap it and sell all the parts.







So here it goes, how it stands at the moment.

Some general photos.

Now a lot of closeups of areas needing work:

 

[svensktoppen]

Is there not some acceptable middle road here?

It's one thing going for everything gold plated. It's another going for something which will be safe, working around some "issues" rather than "fixing" them, and end up with something which you can enjoy without issues and within budget?

At the end of the day, it is an old car, with its own history. If the issues are safety related then that is one thing obviously. But if not then they are just part of the history of the car. Fix what you can within your budget and leave the rest, then enjoy the car.

Otherwise you'll end up spending an absolute fortune on essentially building a new car from scratch. And probably won't enjoy it as much either as you would just be too worried about anything happening.

 

[EF Ian]

Look at all those rippples

 

[EF Ian]

Is there not some acceptable middle road here?

It's one thing going for everything gold plated. It's another going for something which will be safe, working around some "issues" rather than "fixing" them, and end up with something which you can enjoy without issues and within budget?

At the end of the day, it is an old car, with its own history. If the issues are safety related then that is one thing obviously. But if not then they are just part of the history of the car. Fix what you can within your budget and leave the rest, then enjoy the car.

Otherwise you'll end up spending an absolute fortune on essentially building a new car from scratch. And probably won't enjoy it as much either as you would just be too worried about anything happening.

You are right of course. A lot of the issues could be worked around to leave it looking good without fixing it the absolutely proper way. There is not really anything dangerous, its pretty much just aesthetics.

Its just that I had really wanted this car to be left as nice as possible, even under the skin and I really hate dong a job and not doing it to be best standards that are possible.


I'll just need to work out what to do 100% and what area to leave acceptable but not quite 100%.

 

[acsmyth]

Jeepers, you never truly know how many repairs a car has had until it's been completely stripped back.

 

[Woodcutter]

Wow that is brutal, a complete kick in the stones for sure. I guess that's always the risk of stripping a 40 year old car back to the tin, you never know what you're going to unearth.

Hope you find a way to sort it that works out.

 

[Ged]

Think im with sven on this, ive chased perfection and just ended up ruining the joy of building things, Get the first 20% thats 80% of the function done and leave the last 20% to the shops in america on tv.

Its only metal at the end of the day it can be worked.

 

[Eager]

I’d be inclined to do a acceptable re-finish when your this deep.
Although possibly it’s ruined the feeling you have or should have for the car. You may find you finish it then enjoy it a year and sell it.

 

[bigsigh]

Yea that would infuriate me , I couldn’t be happy with the level of effort that went into everything else and bolt it into that shell.

HOWEVER I think it’s come to far no to bail.

IMO gather the funds over time, Leave the metal work perfect , then build it back up

 

[ChrisL]

This may sound daft or whatever as im not sure how readily available it would be but could you import a shell or complete car from Japan and then start with that?

Obviously still costs money but its such a shame to see this project die off.

 

[EF Ian]

Jeepers, you never truly know how many repairs a car has had until it's been completely stripped back.

Amazing how well hidden it all was, no sign at all on the surface, which is of course because it was at least rust free underneath.

Wow that is brutal, a complete kick in the stones for sure. I guess that's always the risk of stripping a 40 year old car back to the tin, you never know what you're going to unearth.

Theres cars which have been restored and supposedly mint selling for £40k+. I could have bought one of those way at the start, but then you still have the problem of not knowing how well the restoration has been done, you should only ever buy a restored car if it has hundreds of photos of the work carried out, like mine has so far of any work done.

I’d be inclined to do a acceptable re-finish when your this deep.
Although possibly it’s ruined the feeling you have or should have for the car. You may find you finish it then enjoy it a year and sell it.

Well, if I got it back on the road it will drive at least as good and with the changes I'm making it should even drive better than it did so I know I'll love driving it, which for me is the main reason for having a 'fun' car.

I doubt I'd sell as it wouldn't make financial sense, if I repair it properly it and get it back running it will have cost me over £100k by then so it depends what I could sell it for.

Yea that would infuriate me , I couldn’t be happy with the level of effort that went into everything else and bolt it into that shell.

I could be happy, but only if most of those dodgy areas are repaired properly. I certainly wouldn't be happy just repairing the holes and skimming filler over the rest.

This may sound daft or whatever as im not sure how readily available it would be but could you import a shell or complete car from Japan and then start with that?

Obviously still costs money but its such a shame to see this project die off.

I mentioned that up in my first or second update today so it is something I'm thinking about. It would be a US import, LHD and then convert it to RHD and repair the rust, it will have rust but should be minor compared to a UK car.

I'll be talking to Dave tomorrow and will work out what to do. If he thinks it could be cheaper to start with a different shell then I may go that way. It will be £6-7k for a shell (can perhaps sell about £1200 of parts from one) but then to get it blasted and at the same stage as my shell will again take around £5500 and the RHD conversion will add about £1000 on top of that plus at least £2k for the strut tower and strengthening work carried out on my shell. Although If I could sell my shell for about £4k that would fund some of that.

 

[svensktoppen]

Sounds like a new shell really isn't a feasible option. Those numbers are just the man maths part, you know it will be more once all the unknowns play out.

Theres cars which have been restored and supposedly mint selling for £40k+. I could have bought one of those way at the start, but then you still have the problem of not knowing how well the restoration has been done, you should only ever buy a restored car if it has hundreds of photos of the work carried out, like mine has so far of any work done.

Very good advice that. A "restored" car without documentation and rock solid references really is worth nil and zero.

Well, if I got it back on the road it will drive at least as good and with the changes I'm making it should even drive better than it did so I know I'll love driving it, which for me is the main reason for having a 'fun' car.

I doubt I'd sell as it wouldn't make financial sense, if I repair it properly it and get it back running it will have cost me over £100k by then so it depends what I could sell it for.

Sounds like you just answered the problem right there

Plough in as much as you can spend to get it to looking good once it's all painted and finished and put back together, last a bit of weather and use, and driving better still.

Don't worry about the gold plating nobody will see anyway.

Better to spend money on a nice paint finish, interior finish, exterior details, etc., than blowing the budget on stuff nobody can see anyway. Assuming it is safe obviously.

It's all just part of the car's history.

 

[pablo]

given you intend to drive the car, and drive it hard Id put the bare minimum in that makes it structurally sound and ready for paint. Chasing perfection for a showroom car investment is one thing but as a drivers car there has to be a middle ground.

Resto shack must feel like disappointment shack at times, Ill bet this happens a lot.