Project THESEUS: A '74 260z

[Noll]

11 minutes ago, Lockleaf said:

If you don't plan on using expensive harness tape, just normal electrical tape, then i suggest you do a two layer wrap.

 

Wrap the first layer inside out (sticky side out).  Then wrap the second layer normal, sticky to sticky.  It comes out super clean looking, pretty durable, wires can move inside it, and if you have to work on the harness, the wires arent covered in goo.

 

And this technique works great even with the cheapest electrical tape.

That's a handy tip for sure, will keep in mind for the future.

 

In this case I'll be buying something like this:

 

https://www.amazon.ca/gp/aw/d/B07P6LFH7N/ref=ox_sc_act_image_5?smid=A1T9L47SOSLRWE&psc=1

 

[Noll]

No sense wasting time while waiting on parts, so back to welding stuff together.

Forgot about this bit, not too bad of a fix though. @Skib your car had it a whole lot worse, I'm counting myself lucky.










Threw on the chrome trim to make sure fitment was good:




Ok, back to the main goal of getting the bolt-on panels done. Leading edge of the hood needed a little work, and I cleaned up the factory fold in the middle while I was at it.








The rear had some pinholing, so pulled a chunk off to see how bad it was:






This side is pretty bad:






The other side not so much thankfully, easy fix:






Thankfully I have the other hood to use for cutoffs (as the front is crumpled on that one), so it shouldn't be huge deal to fix everything.

[Skib]

yeah mine was pretty nasty right there.... ooof on that hood rust lol

[Noll]

On 4/25/2021 at 12:25 AM, Skib said:

yeah mine was pretty nasty right there.... ooof on that hood rust lol

 

Yeah, the hood rust is no fun but at least I shouldn't have to make any bits, can cut everything I need off the other hood. Nothing is ever easy with this car lol.

 

I would like to get a seibon carbon hood eventually, but not in the budget for now.
 

---------------------------

 

Dropped off my gas tank at the radiator shop to be looked at and cleaned/sealed. Amusingly enough there was another Z tank (I want to say 75-76 280z?) there already; not too many datsun enthusiasts in the ottawa area so the odds of 2 of us dropping tanks off at the same place (and on the same morning) must be pretty darn low.



They'll gave me a call on wednesday with exact pricing, the quote I got was about 300$ (~240usd) if they end up having to deal with the pinholes too (which is likely). That's for sandblasting, acid dipping, tank liner coating, and (I think?) painting the outside.
Worth it IMO to end up with a known good tank and not have to either gamble on another used tank or spend a boatload on a new one from the company that makes repro ones (usd/cad exchange rate won't be kind I'm sure).

Edited April 26, 2021 by Noll

[Skib]

Little bit of coin in the budget... but its well worth it.
You'll spend it once and you can put the tank in and ideally never have to touch it again.

[Noll]

1 minute ago, Skib said:

Little bit of coin in the budget... but its well worth it.
You'll spend it once and you can put the tank in and ideally never have to touch it again.

 

That's the hope! Only downside to doing it this way instead of cutting the tank in half/fixing/welding back up myself is that I could put some additional baffling in if I had done that, but if I run a surge tank when I go efi it should be a non-issue.

 

It will be nice to just pay them and have a ready-to-go tank instead of having to deal with all the rust, crud, and sludge, well worth it IMO.

 

 

[Skib]

The 75-76 tanks fit and are already baffled for EFI lol just take that other tank home instead 😂

[Noll]

More hood repair today, nearly done it now.

Wasn't able to get the driver's side repair quite as seamless as I'd have liked, but it turned out pretty well. Easy job to add a little filler to the low spots, and I spent a bunch of time eliminating oil canning from the welding heat, so all good on that front.




Cut the top layer off the other side:




And after a bunch of work I got the cutoff from the other hood all welded in in the right spot and the brace bit welded back on.





There's still some pitting etc visible, but I'd have to basically reskin the whole hood and a lot of the underlying structure to eradicate everything. Down that road madness lies, I just want the hood to be structurally good and not full of holes. I also want to go to a carbon hood eventually, so ehh.

Next up I'll be doing weld cleanup and then welding the outer skin sections back on.
 

[Noll]

Bushings finally showed up, so started throwing stuff together. Front end all done (well, finger tight as I'll need to drop it all for painting the engine bay):





With everything being poly or solid (in the case of the control arm bushing, it's a camber-adjustable solid piece) it was a bit of a pain to get everything together, but I managed by unbolting the t/c rods to get the control arms in and then bolting them back up. When I drop the front end again I'll be replacing 1/2 the T/C rod bushings with rubber ones to avoid the possible snapping I've heard about, but I've misplaced those at the moment.

The steering rack bushings didn't seem to fit right - as you can see below there was a gap on either side, and even with the rack mounts torqued all the way down the rack could still rotate more than I'd like. Anyone else ran into this? For now I had bought some OEM rubber bushings a while back so I slapped them in there instead.






I then went and made a 2-hour round trip to get all this. Was very nicely given to me for free (I'll be picking up the rear suspension too at some point but it's stored elsewhere). All I really needed was the front hubs (correct offset for my 300zx rotor spacers up front, saves me buying new spacers or 240z hubs), but I'm sure the rest will be handy as spares or to sell to fund other Z parts eventually if needed. I'll measure the rack to see if there's any differences between it and my 260z one that could cause the bushing issue outlined above.

 

EDIT: Bit of googling tells me that there's different bushings for the 240z rack vs 260/280. They're like 20 bucks so I guess I'll just order the right ones when I next make a parts order.




the rest of the suspension assembly will have to wait a couple days as my volvo locked up a brake caliper on the way home from collecting the suspension bits, fun times. New ones are cheap at least, and I already had some new pads in a box so just going to hit up Napa, swap pads/caliper, and scuff the rotor and ignore the fact that it's probably warped. I'll redo both sides pads/rotors properly in a month or 2, just need a drivable daily for now. I hate the climate/rust here, that's 2 siezed calipers in a year 😞 .

Edited April 29, 2021 by Noll

[Noll]

So, instead of going to sleep at a sane hour, I spent last night getting the rear diff and all the rear suspension assembled and torqued to spec. Pretty happy with the outcome:






Don't mind the handbrake cables, they're next on the list. Brake lines hooked up too. @grannyknot can you confirm if this was the way you had these setup when they were in your car? Looks like all should clear but never hurts to see how it was done before.





With all that done, I had to throw on a wheel/tire to see how it would look. Full droop:




As far as it goes before the spring makes the jack start lifting the car (even with it loosened all the way up). Even here there's no rubbing I can see, and I can dial the camber back a ton and have room still (dunno what it's set to atm, just whatever I threw the camberplates in at)









And at a more reasonable rideheight. This thing is going to look awesome when it's on the ground for real. it's so nice to see how everything actually sits finally; I built the coilovers etc off of old forum threads and photos without being able to see how the possible ridehright range would end up on my car. I couldn't be more happy, and there is zero rubbing at any point in the suspension travel 🙂 .










Once I get my volvo fixed It'll be on to front hubs and handbrake cables I guess, then just need to get the tank back to drop the car on the ground.

 

[EDM620]

This is looking really good Noll, all coming together as it should 👍 

[grannyknot]

On 4/30/2021 at 8:02 PM, Noll said:

Don't mind the handbrake cables, they're next on the list. Brake lines hooked up too. @grannyknot can you confirm if this was the way you had these setup when they were in your car? Looks like all should clear but never hurts to see how it was done before.

HAHA, I saw the hand brake cable and was just about to leave you a post about how dirty it looked compared to everything else, The flex brake hose looks right I think but to be sure take your wheels from full droop to full bump while looking at the hose.  It's coming along well, are going to paint the car as well?

[Noll]

On 4/30/2021 at 10:58 PM, EDM620 said:

This is looking really good Noll, all coming together as it should 👍 

 

Thanks! It's exciting to see it all coming together 🙂 .

 

5 hours ago, grannyknot said:

HAHA, I saw the hand brake cable and was just about to leave you a post about how dirty it looked compared to everything else, The flex brake hose looks right I think but to be sure take your wheels from full droop to full bump while looking at the hose.  It's coming along well, are going to paint the car as well?

 

Yeah, some soapy water should solve that nicely. Good to hear, and I'll definitely run it through its travel to be 100% sure.

 

I had pondered just rocking it as-is for this season (lets me drive it faster which is a win), but for a number of reasons I think painting it now makes more sense. Pulling out all the glass again and removing all the panels (or at least the doors) to do jambs seems like a pain (the front/rear glass especially, door seals too as they'll be glued in), and there's enough imperfections that need a little filler work before paint that it would bug me a bit to have them visible for a while.

 

I suppose I could paint the jambs and glass channels now, but at that point why not put in the work to prep the rest of the car too? Regardless I need to paint the engine bay before the engine/trans go back in, and if I'm going that far it seems like I might as well keep on getting everything prepped for paint on the exterior. It's going to be an inexpensive at-home-paintjob as I don't have the money for anything else, but I think I can make it fairly decent (I hope anyway).

 

That said, if you or anyone else has any good suggestions to let me get the annoying paint prepwork done now (or rather the stuff that would be annoying if I have to start pulling things back apart) while allowing me to drive it as-is and save time and money for this summer, I am all ears. I don't mind the ratrod look at all, just want it to be halfway presentable.

 

 

------------------------------------------------------

 

Nothing major today, but I got the wiring harness (engine harness, rear harness, and the visible bits of the harness that goes under the dash area) all re-wrapped nicely, and ran the rear harness through the quarter as I'm pretty sure the wiring needs to be in place for the sender/fuel pump before the tank goes in. No pics of that, it's a black harness in a black cavity so not worth taking one lol. That tape was good stuff, will be getting more for when I run the speaker wires.



Also got the 240z hubs removed from the struts, will get those cleaned up, painted, and new lug studs on over the next few days so they can go on the front. Need to call the rad shop about my tank tomorrow, hopefully they are able to do it (they mentioned more pinholes when they sandblasted it) and I can get it back soon and get the car onto the concrete.

 

 

Edited May 3, 2021 by Noll

[Noll]

Just heard back from the rad shop - apparently the inside of the tank cleaned up pretty nicely, but there's enough pinholes that they'd want to coat both the inside and outside of the tank, which would get pretty pricey (over the 300$ estimate from previous). 

 

They say that I should be able to get it decent with some welding though, so I'm going to pick it up from them (they're only charging 80$ for the dipping/cleaning done so far which is nice), do a bunch of repairs myself now it's a clean and safe thing to weld on, and possibly drop it back off to be coated although they say that after I do the repairs it should be fine as-is if I didn't want to get it coated (in terms of corrosion that is). Will depend if there's any small leaks I can't eradicate after welding I guess. 

 

Seems reasonable overall, more work to do but I'll save a bunch of money that can go into paint and stuff I need soon.

[Lockleaf]

After you do your repairs, is there a reason you don't just do an inner tank coating yourself?

[Crashtd420]

https://www.ebay.com/itm/274783543614

 

This stuff is great, I just used it to recoat my 521 gas tank after a couple modifications... 

Toughest part was getting any excess out but it was a pretty easy process.... I just kept slowly repositioning the tank to let the remainder flow around... 

[grannyknot]

21 hours ago, Noll said:

That said, if you or anyone else has any good suggestions to let me get the annoying paint prepwork done now (or rather the stuff that would be annoying if I have to start pulling things back apart) while allowing me to drive it as-is and save time and money for this summer, I am all ears.

Well at a minimum you should get a couple of coats or 2k epoxy primer on all the bare metal, once that is done the car is sealed and you could drive it all summer and next winter scuff it up and start with the filler and paint. Your rust removal has been an inspiration but there is enough hiding that you really want to protect all that clean metal, 2k epoxy primer will do that.  I can even loan you my old primer spray gun if you're in need of one.

[EDM620]

23 hours ago, Noll said:

That said, if you or anyone else has any good suggestions to let me get the annoying paint prepwork done now

I'm of the opinion that it's best (though terribly tempting otherwise) to get the bulk of the bodywork done earlier rather than having to take stuff apart again, also 'cause once you're driving it the getting around to painting will likely get pushed further and further back. At least get the primer on. This is my planned approach on my build more or less, with the intent of taking the cab (with doors, fenders & hood) to my body guy for finish work + painting before I finalize mounting up to the chassis. Getting the box done will be pushed back as I haven't even begun working on that yet but heck it's a truck so totally fine afterwards...

[Noll]

6 hours ago, Lockleaf said:

After you do your repairs, is there a reason you don't just do an inner tank coating yourself?

 

Not really, I may very well do so. I hadn't looked at prices for DIY kits yet, figured if they were somewhat close I might was well have the shop do it and have a warranty on the work. Seems like DIY should be a lot cheaper though which is nice.

 

 

5 hours ago, Crashtd420 said:

https://www.ebay.com/itm/274783543614

 

This stuff is great, I just used it to recoat my 521 gas tank after a couple modifications... 

Toughest part was getting any excess out but it was a pretty easy process.... I just kept slowly repositioning the tank to let the remainder flow around... 

 

 

Thanks for the link! Might be a task to find that stuff here in canada, but I'll have a look. If not, POR15 and KBS make tank sealer kits too, dunno which I'd use.

 

1 hour ago, grannyknot said:

Well at a minimum you should get a couple of coats or 2k epoxy primer on all the bare metal, once that is done the car is sealed and you could drive it all summer and next winter scuff it up and start with the filler and paint. Your rust removal has been an inspiration but there is enough hiding that you really want to protect all that clean metal, 2k epoxy primer will do that.  I can even loan you my old primer spray gun if you're in need of one.

 

Oh yeah, 2k epoxy is definitely the plan. I think I might as well paint it now before it hits the road, I've come this far, no reason not to go the extra little bit. Stripping all the temporary primer won't be too much work, then epoxy primer, filler, more primer, filler primer if needed, and paint.

Much appreciated, I may very well take you up on that - the owner of the company I work for here has a good compressor and a paint gun he's happy to lend me, not sure if he has a primer-specific gun though.

 

Otherwise, my plan for at least the engine bay (as I'd like to get moving on that relatively quickly) is this stuff, shouldn't need many cans to get good coverage of the entire area, and it's a true 2k epoxy in a can which is awesome: https://linercoatings.ca/2k-epoxy-primer-filler-400ml/

 

Depending on how far a can covers I might give it a go for the shell, if the price ratio works out favorably against standard mix/spraygun 2k epoxy It seems like it would be a nice way to go about it and eliminates the cleanup stage.

 

 

  

1 minute ago, EDM620 said:

I'm of the opinion that it's best (though terribly tempting otherwise) to get the bulk of the bodywork done earlier rather than having to take stuff apart again, also 'cause once you're driving it the getting around to painting will likely get pushed further and further back. At least get the primer on. This is my planned approach on my build more or less, with the intent of taking the cab (with doors, fenders & hood) to my body guy for finish work + painting before I finalize mounting up to the chassis. Getting the box done will be pushed back as I haven't even begun working on that yet but heck it's a truck so totally fine afterwards...

 

Yep, that's the way I'm leaning. Get it done now and it's done forever. Just need to scrounge up the money, but I'll make it work.

 

 

[grannyknot]

22 hours ago, Noll said:

not sure if he has a primer-specific gun though.

Once you have sprayed epoxy primer through your good gun a couple times having a second dedicated gun just for epoxy  is nice in that the damn stuff is so sticky and difficult to clean off.  Helps keep the good (expensive) gun just for paint and clear coat.

22 hours ago, Noll said:

Otherwise, my plan for at least the engine bay (as I'd like to get moving on that relatively quickly) is this stuff, shouldn't need many cans to get good coverage of the entire area, and it's a true 2k epoxy in a can which is awesome: https://linercoatings.ca/2k-epoxy-primer-filler-400ml/

It is a pretty good product and it is certainly convenient but for the amount you get it is very expensive primer.  3 cans would be enough to give you 2 good coats for the engine bay, but for that same $100 for the spray can stuff you could get a full gallon primer that you mix up.

[Noll]

18 minutes ago, grannyknot said:

Once you have sprayed epoxy primer through your good gun a couple times having a second dedicated gun just for epoxy  is nice in that the damn stuff is so sticky and difficult to clean off.  Helps keep the good (expensive) gun just for paint and clear coat.

 

It is a pretty good product and it is certainly convenient but for the amount you get it is very expensive primer.  3 cans would be enough to give you 2 good coats for the engine bay, but for that same $100 for the spray can stuff you could get a full gallon primer that you mix up.

 

Oh I bet, will take care not to shoot epoxy through the nice gun 🙂 . Yeah, it seems a bit pricey (although fair enough for what it is), the lack of prep or cleanup is pretty enticing though (as well as being handy for tight spaces without worrying about dragging the air hose across fresh paint). If nothing else I'll probably get some for after-filler touchups etc.

 

--------------------------------------

 

Got the fuel tank back today, and the rad shop only charged me 60$ which was nice. First, the good. The inside came out great, most of the black flecks of stuff will come out when I shake it around a bit. Zero pitting on the inside that I can see (even on the tank 'roof' that would get condensation etc).






The outside though, well, lets just say the rad shop wasn't exaggerating about the pinholes.









The really annoying part is that these were all from the outside in from moisture getting stuck between that rubber coating and the tank skin itself. If they had just painted it as normal, this tank would be basically perfect.

It's all fixable though, need to start practicing my soldering and brazing skills, and will also probably just cut out some of the bigger pinholed sections and weld in new metal.

The bottom of the tank is pretty much perfect happily enough, one corner might need minor attention but the rest is rock solid.
 

[slowlearner]

Don't bother brazing. Just get some of this stuff...

 

https://www.caswellplating.com.au/store/store.php/products/epoxy-fuel-tank-sealer

 

Much better than  POR15.

[Noll]

1 hour ago, slowlearner said:

Don't bother brazing. Just get some of this stuff...

 

https://www.caswellplating.com.au/store/store.php/products/epoxy-fuel-tank-sealer

 

Much better than  POR15.

 

That seems like it would be nice, but their kit that's big enough for car tank is 365$ , which is pretty darn pricey. If I could get at the inside of the tank to tape the holes up and then brush it on outside I could get away with a lot less I'm sure, but that isn't really an option.

 

https://www.caswellcanada.ca/epoxy-gas-tank-sealer-gts1.html

 

 

As of now I'm thinking of the POR-15 tank sealer kit for the inside after using some PC-7 2-part epoxy on the exterior (says that it's suitable for gasoline, but shouldn't matter as the tank sealer will go over it on the inside so it wouldn't be exposed directly to gas/ethanol regardless).

EDIT: I am dumb and did the conversion wrong, their 112$ kit should do the whole tank which is pretty comparable to POR prices.

EDIT2: Ok, I've ordered the caswell kit and submitted a cancellation request to amazon for the POR-15 kit I'd already ordered (but hasn't shipped), hopefully that's not too much of a hassle. I saw caswell mentioned as good stuff in my research about fuel tank repair but hadn't realized it was available in canada.

Edited May 6, 2021 by Noll

[Noll]

Got the front hubs and brakes (the latter temporarily, to test fitment) all on today:

 

 

Unfortunately the bumpsteer spacers cause the tie rod end to foul on the wheel, but only barely. I spaced it out with some 1.5mm washers to see if that sorted it, and it did  indeed create enough clearance. I've ordered some 3mm spacers (smallest I could find), but if those for some reason cause fender rubbing issues I can probably just grind down the offending area of the tierod end. Just wouldn't want to grind through into the interior grease cavity, not sure how thick the walls are.

Anyone done this before?

 

 

 

 

And wheel on. This thing is looking more and more like a car again 🙂 .

 

 

 

Also dropped and reinstalled the rear d/s suspension after fixing the bushing that had popped out. That should be about it for suspension stuff for now, still need to hook up the handbrake cables and slap in the steering column so it's easier to move it while it's a roller.

 

 

 

[Racer X 69]

On 5/6/2021 at 5:37 PM, Noll said:

Got the front hubs and brakes (the latter temporarily, to test fitment) all on today:

 

 

 

Unfortunately the bumpsteer spacers cause the tie rod end to foul on the wheel, but only barely. I spaced it out with some 1.5mm washers to see if that sorted it, and it did  indeed create enough clearance. I've ordered some 3mm spacers (smallest I could find), but if those for some reason cause fender rubbing issues I can probably just grind down the offending area of the tierod end. Just wouldn't want to grind through into the interior grease cavity, not sure how thick the walls are.

Anyone done this before?

 

 

 

 

🙂

 

 

 

Get a pair of the shorter steering arms.