Project: track 240z

[Dave]

Took a few pictures today of the car as a refresher:








And then I went to work on it:





The PO must have gotten a great deal on some sound deadening and decided to use it all on the Z. It was all over the car...


That's OK, I got it all out with my chisel and mallet :-)






Who needs a bumper?


All told, I removed the following things today:
-all components of the AC (engine bay and cabin), as shown in the first two pics of today's progress. Opened up the pass. side of the engine bay considerably, dropped a bunch of weight, and overall a good idea since a track car doesn't need AC and the lines were disconnected anyways. The part connected to the blower motor sucked...
-removed washer resevoir, spray nozzles, and windshield wipers. I will be using rain-x to repel water and the car won't be driven in many conditions where the washers would ever be used. The wipers are known to cause a considerable amount of drag on the car's aerodynamics b/c they don't tuck down close to the cowl like modern cars.
-removed engine bay light, didn't work and don't plan on needing it
-pulled the battery and cables. Opened up the area a little and I'm considering getting a lightweight battery and installing in the box behind the seats in the cabin
-removed both seats; this was actually a lot tougher than it is on modern cars b/c of the positioning of the bolts, i was also surprised that they only used 14mm bolts to hold them in...
-removed all carpeting in the car however I did leave some of the weaved paneling that gives it a little cleaner feeling than bare metal
-by uncovering the carpet, I exposed a lot of sound deadening. Took a couple hours to get it all up, but it came up pretty cleanly. Still needs some more work...
-removed seat belts b/c I'll have harnesses and I don't trust 35 year old fabric
-removed the center console covering the transmission tunnel. This will probably be re-installed later, I just wanted it out to make it a little easier to work and not risk slamming down on it and breaking it.


I am extremely excited to say that the car doesn't show any major signs of rust/rot to cause me to look for another body. There are only a couple small holes that shouldn't be there and the metal for the most part feels intact and solid. The few areas that need attention should be repaired fairly easily using some sheet metal. Pretty much the entire car will be getting POR-15 to inhibit rust from spreading or starting.
I'm not sure if you can see it clearly in any of the pics, but the car also was apparently originally orange. The paint shop did a good job covering up the orange almost everywhere, I only uncovered a little today in my extensive endeavours.

Still a long way to go, but today was a huge step forward in progress, if no other reason than confirming that the chassis is relatively rust-free.