Project: track 240z

[Dave]

I've considered the VQ, but ultimately it's a crapton of work and I suspect that the power levels will put me in a Time Trial class that I'm trying to avoid once I factor in the other mods I want to do. V8 and 1J are also pretty much out of the question in that line of thought as well...

[.RJ]

I'm just going to leave this here -

[Dave]

Wow, that's pretty sweet. Looks like he's got virtually every panel attached with dzus fasteners - I bet that comes in handy. Wish I knew more about that particular specimen...

[Kaan]

ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ porn... oh lawd!

[Evan]

need updates

[Dave]

need updates

Haha, yeah this thread has died off a little I guess, since I haven't made any real updates in a year. First and foremost, I have to say the primary reason for a lack of progress would be this:



Now, that's not to say that having kids kills the car hobby, but I've put her as a priority because it's really cool to see her developing so incredibly fast and I feel like these early years are so important and I just don't see her as much as I'd like to.
With regards to cars, I'm fortunate enough to still hit virtually every NASA track event to work in tech, and have been autocrossing more this year than I have in the past 3 or 4. However, garage time at home has been the sacrifice made for all of the above, and progress on the Z obviously suffered since maintenance on our normal vehicles takes the priority when I'm in the garage. I haven't been completely complacent though, and in the past year I have done the following for the Z:

Had my later 280zx brake master cylinder (280zx BMC has a larger bore than S30 z) reman'd and installed it (not the early ZX one that I was f'ing around with in my last update). Refreshed the steering rack with fresh grease and new boots, then reinstalled with fresh bushings:





Prepped for paint and test-installed the whale tail (more permanent install after paint) and stripped the paint/bondo from the roof, PS quarter, PS fender/headlight bucket, and most of the PS door. This has been done primarily with Aircraft stripper + a metal spatula (really effective combo - gets off most of it), then a wire brush to get it clean. I've still got a lot to do before it's ready for paint though...







Maybe, just maybe, I'll do another update in 6 months instead of waiting another year .

[Dave]

Huzzah! Only 5 months this time, but not really a ton to report.

Gave the roof and driver rear quarter a good sanding and primed it. Still will have to do a little bondo work here, but going to wait until the rest of the car is stripped before I start playing with filler so I can do it all at once.





Stripped the driver's door and removed the window/regulator.





Removed the hatch and took the glass out. Stripping this is the next step I'll be tackling. Planning to replace the glass with Lexan (the original glass weighs almost as much the entire metal frame!).







Maybe more progress will be made as the weather warms up this spring...

[CaptainHenreh]

Dave, this is beautiful, man.

[ScottyB]

good stuff man! progress is progress regardless of time

[Steve85]

Nice to see progress no matter the pace. I'd hate to see it get lost. You're doing great work.

[D_Eclipse9916]

Seriously great work. Attention to detail!

[Dave]

Huzzah, six more months!!
SOOO, I took a few panels to have them sand-blasted (hood, hatch). The aircraft stripper is better than manually grinding off all the paint, but DAMN!!, sand-blasting is the way to go if you're working with a timeline. I worked with Kevin @ Tidewater Soda Blasting and highly recommend him!




Then I primered some more:



Then I repaired a pair of large cracks in my dashboard. I used a dremel to make them smoother and easier to work with, then applied a Bondo flexible bumper repair kit to build the area back up. After sanding it smooth to the dash contour, I used a tiny bit of body filler to fill some air pinholes uncovered during sanding. Works in process:



Once that was done, I flocked the dashboard with a kit from Donjer. The process is quick and easy: get a roller and spread a good coating of the colored adhesive on the item, and then immediately cover the wet area with the fibers. When you think you've covered it pretty well, throw on some more fibers just to be sure. Let it cure 48 hours and you're all done.
I also installed a MOMO steering wheel to get rid of my old stock wheel after I got the dash reinstalled:



I didn't have my mind together and forgot to install the defroster ducting before I installed the dash - that would have been a lot easier to do while it was out of the car... I'm sure the dash will come out again when I'm ready to do the guages, but frankly it's not a time-consuming job and at this point I can probably have it out in about a half hour when I get to that point.

Finally, I've made some more body progress... Both of my fenders and my cowl were pretty thoroughly chewed up with rust, so I bought some used ones and had them sandblasted as well (all in the tidewater area of VA, so it was pretty convenient). The passenger fender actually had to have a chunk cut out of it just to get it off the car years ago, and when it became apparent how much time it would take to repair the cowl and driver fender as well, the choice seemed pretty obvious compared to the cost. Contrary to how this thread may appear, I don't enjoy body work and there was going to be a ton of work in these three panels if I stuck with the old ones. Since he knew I wasn't going to get to paint them immediately, Kevin even put a quick coat of etching primer on them when he was done blasting to at least give a little guard against the elements in the meantime.




So, I'm a little behind in some of my annual goals for this project, but we'll see where the rest of this year takes me; there's still a few months left...

[navin]

Love it.

[Jeff]

Full on restoration! Pics take me back to working on the Challenger. Looks like it is coming along great!

[Goodspeed]

Dave, we're talking about you in the H&B'ed thread. And its been another ~6 months. UPDATES!

[JustinG]

I told him on Saturday you guys were talking about him.

[Dave]

Glad I'm being thought of .
At the risk of counting chickens before they hatch, it's looking like this year could see some serious progress on the car, despite making another mini-me 2 months ago and trying again to sell my house/move. I'll try to get an update on here sometime soon...

[Goodspeed]

Maybe, just maybe, I'll do another update in 6 months

Huzzah, six more months!!

6 months since the last update.

[Schaidhammer]

Interested to see how this is coming along, I love 240zs. One of my dad's first cars was a '72. He stored it in a barn for over 20 years while we were overseas and when we got back we trailed it from California to Virginia and got it running, but it's been sitting in the garage since. Hopefully this summer we'll get around to working on it. Here's a video of it when we first got it back:

[youtube]SrlNec1-ukI[/youtube]

Hope you're still working on it, great color! :thumbup: I'll be making a build thread of ours when we start on it.

[Senor_Taylor]

Hopefully your post inspires him.