My Swiss 1972 S30 240Z rebuild project

[JDMjunkies.ch]

It's finally done :)

 

well today i did some really dangerous stuff, i lifted up the whole car (first front then rear) using the engine lifter and put it into the rotisserie-stands.. Was quite unafe and my advice is to never do it on your own! But anyway, it worked and now it's done :) oh and i added a second screw at the rear hinges for some extra safety.. (sorry, no picture)

 

 

well i have to say the masueres arn't really the best possible, so it has really some bottom-overweight and it's kinda hard to rotate it but it's possible. and alltough it feels kinda safe when it's secured in the rear (by that stopper-screw). Anyway i try to keep it as short as possible on that rotisserie. The plan is to put it in the vertical position (need a second person to get it there) and then do the sub floor as fast as possible, and when it's done get it back on the jackstands and do the rest of the stuff.. we'll see..

 

next step is to pick up some primer so i can prepare the parts i removed the paint from before it starts to rust / oxidate..

[bonvo]

sweeeeeeeeeet

[Rob W.]

Right on now you're finally ready to get it ready. Lookin good keep at it.

[sinner720st]

i think the rottiserie could be more safe and sturdy just by adding triangle everywhere, gussets make it very strong

[JDMjunkies.ch]

Well, maybe it was the rainy day, but somehow i wasn't sure any more if this project was the right desicion anymore. after the rotisserie was done i had now idea how to contiune. i felt kind of "lost in a project" and having no idea how to get it completed.. im pretty sure many of you guys know what im talking about. and from several old projects of mine i know, if you stop at these points you'll never get it done.. so i called Mr. Petitjean from zcar racing team in switzerland. he's the ultimate Z-guru over here with some pretty hardcore z-builds and some beautiful restorations. i asked him for some help and well. he told me i should give the car to a specialist who would do all the bodywork and painting and stuff so it's done properly. but well after some thinking i decided i will do as much as i can first and then give it away, this would probably save me some money and time, i get a lot of stuff done on my own and so on. also mr petitjean told me he has a construction to move cars without any suspension and wheels in. and he would be willing to give it to me to get my car moved to a bodyshop once im done.. also he'll be definitly the guy who will bild the engine! this guy even knew my car when i told him it's the white one where they mounted som other taillights.. he just knows all about the Z-cars - a genius :)

 

well.. back to the project:

1) added a few extra screws at the rotisserie and it now feels really safe. no need for extra triangles, as i added them wherever it makes sense already.. (no pics sorry..)

2) figured out that i forgot to take out the rainwater-piping when i stripped the car so i did that:

 

both removed

 

checked for some rust around the rainwater-piping.. hell the metal looks like new under the paint :)

[JDMjunkies.ch]

Today i got my first delivery from japan..

Lucky me got a brand new (out of production) Trust TR-NA 6-2 Exhaust mainfold straight from the Trust (Greddy) warehouse in Japan - always good to have good connections over there. Yeah i know. totally useless part for this stage of the project. but i had to buy it before they don't do any custom-orders on this stuff anymore :)

 

that's the way we like it: :-D

 

and of course it never makes sense to ship a huge box from japan with only one part inside, so i decided to buy a HKB Steering boss adaptor kit, so i'll be able to add a nice Nardi classic once the car is ready :)

 

well that's it for the moment. will definitly get more of this JDM-stuff soon.. you'll see :D

[JDMjunkies.ch]

time for another short update: Wen't to my painter-guy's workshop today (where they where preparing a pretty cool Golf MK1 racecar and an oldschool alfa-Romeo i think) and picked up some Paint-primer, activator and a bit of silicone-cleaner to clean it up after sanding off the paint...

 

Hopefolly i'll be able to start tomorrow with the bottom end, and wonder if i'm able to handle this two-component stuff :)

[Hoosier77]

nice header!!!!

[Topher88]

i like

[JDMjunkies.ch]

thanks guys :)

 

So today, i thought it would be time to start with the body & paint restoration..

 

1) took my rotisserie and turned the body into right position for the work:

 

2) Removed old paint and sub-floor sealing. used a small spatula first to chip off bigger pieces and then took the CSD-disks, worked pretty well :)

 

3) Cleaned up the metal with silicone-remover, Mixed some epoxy primer and painted the bare metal parts with a small paint-roller :)

 

- done :) Rest of the rear wheel housing and the strut tunnel will be done next time. or maybe i'll continue with something else.. anyway. this is how i'll do with the whole body.. rusty parts well be left blank so the bodyshop knows where rusty bits are :D

[JDMjunkies.ch]

contiued with the work on the front right wheel housing:

paint and rust removed, cleaned up with silicone cleaner:

 

and epoxy primer added:

[JDMjunkies.ch]

Well, im at one of these pionts again:

 

started off with the small triangle that was left in the rear:

 

 

i spent about the same time amount to this small triangle then to the other two pieces.. why? It seems like i missed to remove some rust from the other parts, because it seems like those small spots that whern't removable by the csd disks where more then just a few darker spots. they actually where rust.. so i thought it might be better to give the chassis a sandblanst. im not sure yet, i have to think about it and talk to a few people, but i think if it's sandblasted and done by a proper bodyshop the result will be worth the money. i wanted to do a high-end build on this car and not just a cheap garage build. but i also wanted to do as lot as possible on my own. no im pretty unsure.. there are rust spots everywhere even if they're not as big as on other project cars seen in here, i think if i want to keep the car for a few years rust free i just have to do it that way. well im still unsure. but i think the way im doing it now will not gain the results i was looking for.. there are just too many small problems i can't handle on a professional level on my own... spending thousands on expensive bits and legalisation just seems wrong when you know the chassis will have a lot of rust and damage in two years again.. we'll see..

[bonvo]

have it blasted dude or pick a blaster and do it yourself

[JDMjunkies.ch]

thanks for the input.

well i think if i'll blast it on my own i can do a lot of damage. easiest way would definitly be to give it to a professsional bodyshop with blasting-cabin, so they can do all on their own.

well have to think a bout it a little more. but im happy about every useful input :)

[skooby_doo]

Very nice build!!! I love how it is such a thorough thread! Just do as much as you can on your own...the more headaches you run into, the easier it will be for you to come up with a faster solution for that issue. Then, with all those headaches in the past, you will be more knowledgeable, and be able to share your "shortcuts" with everyone else that may run into the same problem! MOAR oics of the EK9!!!!

[JDMjunkies.ch]

here you go:

 

the EK9 project is alittle on hold now due to the Z-project, but you can read the full story about it here: CLICK HERE i still have a lot uf rare JDM stuff laying around here so i hope i'll be able to do a bigger update on the EK9 for the summer season :)

[JDMjunkies.ch]

While im still not sure how the chassis-work will continue i had to keep the project alive..

 

1) a couple of guys where asking me to measure and shoot the bushings and tie rod links. so here we go:

 

Tierod endlink from Stev's Laurel C30 (black) compared to those from my 240Z (brown) - seems to be the same part and dimensions!

 

240Z inner tierod-link threads are 14mm i think, was quite hard to measure with me cheap tools... but i think should be the same as in the laurel C30

 

240Z upper tierod-link threads are 12 mm i think, think should be the same as in the laurel C30

 

Laurel C30 bushings (top) compared to mine from the 240Z, not exactly the same dimensions, but im not sure if mine (lower) are genuine, so i think 240Z bushings should work fine in a Laurel C30:

 

more comparison:

 

now the places on the tie-rod where the bushings are mounted:

the round one has 34mm or 35mm diameter:

 

the elliptic one has 60mm at the widest point:

 

2) then i had to get some stuff done, and removed some headlight brakets from the inside of the fender.. not sure but theese looked kind of selfmade (where billet aluminum) if someone knows if this looks genuine or not, please let me know.

 

and removed:

 

and at the end had to clean ot the garage from all the paint and primer i removed the last few days:

 

currently im talking to a few specialists how to contiune with the chassis, but theres still a lot of stuff i can do with other parts while im working on a decision so no problem - project will contiune for sure :)

[jalen]

What's the website where you got your headers?

[JDMjunkies.ch]

no website, special order directly at trust japan ;)

[JDMjunkies.ch]

Well, sorry for the lack of updates during the last days. im quite busy with a lot of other stuff, getting my EK9 ready for the summer and pushing a lot of other things in my life. Currently im planning a lot of stuff in the background and im waiting for the body-shop for coming here and check out the car so we'll be able to get the chassis and body restored.. actually this probably will take another month or so. currently im also saving money for a big part from japan (secret :D) so i don't want to waste a lot of money on sourcing smaller parts yet.. you'll see. as soon as i have some news you'll be the first to know :)

 

 

 

 

[JDMjunkies.ch]

It has been a while since i've been working on my car last. i've worked a bit on my other projects and had a lot of other stuff to do...

 

But yesterday it al started off again. called mr. Petitjean to get the number from the bodyshop because they haven't called me yet, so i will call them myself next week.

Then i decided to get a few things done today - Started of with the disassambly of the hatch:

first removed the damper and the chrome stuff:

 

the i removed the hatch glass:

 

finally out:

 

 

and last but not least the locking mechanism:

 

second big project for today was to remove the broken driver side window.. or what's left of it :)

 

removed window with bracket. or what at least once was a window:

 

complete window mechanism removed:

 

and door without anything :)

 

now next big step will be to do the same stuff on the passenger side window, so it's ready for a bit new paint..

also i'll call th e bodyshop to have them take a look on the car and make a cost estimate, and probably pick up the shell so it can be restored.

Currently im planning a lot uf stuff and im in the state of ordering those "secret parts" from japan once again :)

and last but not least im working on the idea of a new blog project that will inclode all my three projects and blogs into one site. but still needs a lot of work.

 

and finally i'll go and pick up my EK9 from it's winter home today and bring it back on the streets, will get a bit JDM stuff soon too :)

 

have a nice weekend - Nils

[JDMjunkies.ch]

Wow, i know progress has really slowed down alot, but i still have progress:

1) the car related stuff:

- Found time today and called up the guy from the body shop. sadly they're very busy at the moment, but he'll get back to me soon again to check the car and pick it up for the bodywork and painting.

Need to talk a lot about the do's and don'ts first but im acutally happy i found someone who is experienced with the olde Z's and will do the work in some oldschool metal artwork :D

 

2) the blog related stuff:

- As i didn't really know i have followers on this blog i didn't really check for comments and followers, but as i found out today - i have a lot of followers, this and my EK9 blog are in the blogroll of some really cool sites i didn't know until i checked (and allowed) all the comments today - THANKS A LOT GUYS! :D

- as a little thank you i will allow you a little preview to my upcoming blog-project im working on. this one will include my two old blogs and some other stuff, so in a few weeks or so my old blogs are discontiuned. Of course i'll update the blogroll with the cool guys who made some comments in this blog here and i'll have to take a few shots from my car to incolde in the header. still needs a lot of work, but here you can get a little glimpse of how it will look:

http://www.jdmjunkies.ch/wordpress/

This new blog will soon be avialeble under my old company's name www.JDMjunkies.ch but i'll give you a notice here as soon as it's done :D

 

thanks a lot to all the followers and for the nice comments, and i'll give my best to get some work done again soon :)

 

 

 

[Wide14u]

you done a lot of stuff sense i have been on here keep it going

[JDMjunkies.ch]

Thought it's time to do some work on the ol' lady again, but as there isn't really much to do at the moment i decided to give the engine a quick cleanup :)

 

1) that's how it started off, complete with 15 year old greasy dust and dirt..

 

2) Removed the water-hoses first which where really crappy...

 

that's how it looked inside the adaptor piece - really nasty...

 

3) Then i removed the drain plug and got some old oil out the block:

 

4) decided to remove a few brackets and cables from the head - Before:

 

and removed:

 

5) Now i felt it's time to give it a cleanup:

sprayed the whole engine with "engine cleaner":

 

6) Scratched of some old gasket leftover :)

 

7) Removed the oil filter:

 

8) And that's how i ended up today:

 

looks really shiny now - but that red and blue color will be removed anyway in near future..

 

btw: my Project blog has moved to http://www.JDMjunkies.ch now, get all the pictures and information of my 240Z, EK9 and EJ9 project there :)

[JDMjunkies.ch]

Wanted to do something different, but ended up spending a few minutes removing the alternator. nothing big, just another thing on the 2do list done :)

 

Before:

 

removed:

 

after: