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Project THESEUS: A '74 260z


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A friend of mine used to have a 260z and i always hated those inspection panels.  I always thought if i had a Z i would want those welded to the hood and smoothed out.  Then the hood would just have little wings.  

 

Car is a car again.  Awesome.

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18 hours ago, Lockleaf said:

I always thought if i had a Z i would want those welded to the hood and smoothed out.  Then the hood would just have little wings.  

That's a really interesting idea, I think I'm taking apart my Z this winter for paint and those inspection panels have always been a pain, I may play around with that idea, thanks.

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On to door repair. To say that the drivers side is rough is beyond an understatement. There was one heck of a bondo job hiding all this. Some examples:

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I'm sure I COULD fix everything back to looking factory, but I don't think it's worth the effort vs sourcing a new door. I still need a door for now that at least opens/shuts/doesn't break in half, so on to some really half-assed welding to just give it some amount of structural integrity.

Turns out you can get a lot done quickly when precision, looks, and 'doing things the right way' aren't factors. Behold some REALLY hackjob work that will do the job long enough for me to get a new door.

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Will get the bottom done tomorrow - need to add the U bend for where the door seal sits so the door will actually shut properly then build down from there. The front area will get bondo'd to hell, I welded in some bits to make sure it doesn't flex so the goal is just to fill in the holes to keep water out. Taking a lot of very bad practice shortcuts here obviously but as mentioned this door is only really worth that, I just need to have a driver's door in SOME condition for now.

Happily I may have a lead on a nice passenger-side door - would be a probably 8 hour round trip to go get it but honestly I'd be spending that much time if not more to do that door properly (it's bad but not AS bad as the driver's side), so just getting a known-good door I can just bolt on and be done with would be nice.

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Ok, hackery on the door is complete. As before, precision and final finish weren't really big priorities given that the door is not really worth it, just made sure it was strong enough to use till I find a better door. pretty much all 16ga steel, so probably overbuilt, but that's what I had lying around so ah well.

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Will stick it on the car tomorrow when stuff has dried, then need to add the window stuff, door latch mechanism stuff, and suchlike.

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On 9/20/2021 at 5:10 PM, Lockleaf said:

Behold, Noll's hackery appears to be nearly on par with my "precision" work 😄.

 

lol! I dunno that I'd call what I did to that door good in any way though - lots of overlapping welds over rust and seam sealer to fill rust holes etc.

 

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Door on, and front end all adjusted, plus bumper, sidemarkers, grille, etc all on. Got the driver's door opening and locking perfectly, latches/sits nicely enough.

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I managed to source a clean passenger door, so tomorrow I get to drive 6 or 7 hours roundtrip to go get that. I also need to get some 240z window regulators (a driver's side at least), as the 260z ones are apparently different and the window hits the crash bar. I have a friend looking through his parts for a pair he should have, and if not I know someone with a parts horde that likely has one and another person that definitely has a pair but is 8-9h round trip in the other direction from this door I'm going to get so would like to source some closer ones if possible.

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13 hours ago, Noll said:

 

lol! I dunno that I'd call what I did to that door good in any way though - lots of overlapping welds over rust and seam sealer to fill rust holes etc.

 

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Door on, and front end all adjusted, plus bumper, sidemarkers, grille, etc all on. Got the driver's door opening and locking perfectly, latches/sits nicely enough.

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I managed to source a clean passenger door, so tomorrow I get to drive 6 or 7 hours roundtrip to go get that. I also need to get some 240z window regulators (a driver's side at least), as the 260z ones are apparently different and the window hits the crash bar. I have a friend looking through his parts for a pair he should have, and if not I know someone with a parts horde that likely has one and another person that definitely has a pair but is 8-9h round trip in the other direction from this door I'm going to get so would like to source some closer ones if possible.

At this point it’s all about the details.

 

So close, yet still a ways to go, eh?

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12 hours ago, Racer X 69 said:

At this point it’s all about the details.

 

So close, yet still a ways to go, eh?

 

 

Indeed! I'm still aiming to have it on the road next week some point, even if that means next friday at 11:59pm lol. brake bleeding, coolant bleeding, make sure engine is playing nice (mostly making sure the rear carb float is set right), set toe, and finish assembling the doors and she'll be ready.

 

 

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8 hours of driving in a torrential downpour later (seriously, there was insane rain the whole day/evening), I have a passenger door in really solid shape.

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The only actual rust that will need to be dealt with eventually is that front corner spot, anything else it just bits of surface rust. The 'bad' corner I'll probably just clean, seam seal, and get some paint on for now to keep it from getting worse, but It's not bad enough that I feel the need to do anything about it just yet.

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11 hours ago, Noll said:

 

 

Indeed! I'm still aiming to have it on the road next week some point, even if that means next friday at 11:59pm lol. brake bleeding, coolant bleeding, make sure engine is playing nice (mostly making sure the rear carb float is set right), set toe, and finish assembling the doors and she'll be ready.

 

 

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8 hours of driving in a torrential downpour later (seriously, there was insane rain the whole day/evening), I have a passenger door in really solid shape.

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The only actual rust that will need to be dealt with eventually is that front corner spot, anything else it just bits of surface rust. The 'bad' corner I'll probably just clean, seam seal, and get some paint on for now to keep it from getting worse, but It's not bad enough that I feel the need to do anything about it just yet.

 

That's pretty much how I feel about most of the rust in mine. 

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13 hours ago, slowlearner said:

 

That's pretty much how I feel about most of the rust in mine. 

 

I sure am glad to get to this point instead of "uber mega structural rust" lol

 

10 hours ago, Lockleaf said:

Is that a repainted door? I'm surprised how shiny the paint is on the outside.

 

Very happy to see you getting this close to driving it Noll.  Doesn't matter that it isn't "done". 

 

 

Surprisingly, no , original paint as far as I can tell. A pleasant surprise, no bondo or anything hiding. It's been a long 4.5 years, that's for sure. Yeah, there's always stuff I can add/fix/improve as I go, but it has the bones to be enjoyed as-is now. I'm honestly getting a little burnt out with the whole "10-20h a week on the car for idk how many months at this point" so just being able to drive it instead of having to do a ton of paint prep is the right choice IMO.

 

 

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Got the glass put in today. All went well, it does seem like the Precision seals fit a bit loose at the top corners of the windscreen though. Anyone run into this? Probably will tape it off carefully and build up the gap with some windscreen adhesive, not a huge deal (and it's just the outer layer, won't let water into the car).

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Sun visors and rear mirror in now, and got the cowl panel bolted in properly now that the glass is in.

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had rolled the car outside to get some pics for my insurance company, and decided to recreate a pic of the car from about 3 years ago before i started on thew rust repair:

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Got the new door on too. Yes the hinges are set too low at the front and the door could go forward a bit, no I won't be fixing it just yet, bigger fish to fry and it latches ok as-is.

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Took a few hours and lot of creative swearing (and cut up hands), but I got the glass, winder mechanism, and chrome frame all in and working. Getting all the rollers in their tracks while keeping the window from falling down diagonally off of the guides and simultaneously bolting up the window regulator is not enjoyable.

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5 hours ago, Noll said:

 

 

Got the glass put in today. All went well, it does seem like the Precision seals fit a bit loose at the top corners of the windscreen though. Anyone run into this? Probably will tape it off carefully and build up the gap with some windscreen adhesive, not a huge deal (and it's just the outer layer, won't let water into the car).

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Try putting the stainless steel trim back into the channel on the windshield rubber. That should get the rubber to lay down at the corners.

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12 hours ago, Racer X 69 said:

Try putting the stainless steel trim back into the channel on the windshield rubber. That should get the rubber to lay down at the corners.

 

Sadly I don't have the front chrome trim, but I don't think that's the issue here - it sits flat against the A-pillar/roof at the corner, just doesn't have enough rubber there to fill that gap.

 

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Today was a really good day.  Got the rear carb float issue sorted (filled it up and tapped it with a socket extension till it popped up to where it should be; was just stuck at the bottom when I put the float bowl lid on).

Finally got the car running properly under its own fuel system - took a while for it to run  on all 6 (was only running off the rear 3 cyls initially till the front carb kicked in), but it runs like a dream now other then some minor occasional backfiring at idle. Most likely need to richen the mixture a little, will look into it.
 



This pic may just look like another pic of the car outside, but it marks the first time it's moved under its own power in probably 20 years. No brakes yet, but reversed to the end of the driveway and came back in 1st.

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Oil pressure seems good at idle too, car was just coming up to temp here so I shut it off as I probably need to top off the coolant after its probably replaced a bunch of air in the heater box with coolant.

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Bleed brakes, set toe, finish driver's door assembly, and, well, that's it.

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4 minutes ago, Tank. said:

What a journey…nice job! That sense of accomplishment when everything works is priceless.

 

Thanks! Still some kinks to iron out (low-beams don't work for example, I must have mis-wired something in the headlight relay setup), but overall I am super happy. It's a big milestone to hit.

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Bunch of misc. jobs today; topped up the coolant now it circulated and got the air out, cleaned out and vacuumed the interior, got the broken bolts out of the chrome door frame for the driver's side ready for when it goes in, and spent a bunch of time troubleshooting the headlight issue.

Turned out there are/were two problems - #1 the headlight relay setup I got for cheap off amazon was miswired from factory and I never noticed (one circuit went from 12v from the headlight harness to 12v from the battery instead of to ground like it should), and secondly there's something up with the car's wiring and it wasn't doing anything when the headlight switch was set to low beams.

Try as I might I couldn't figure out was wrong with the headlight switch (even took it apart, all looked as it should inside), so I decided to just tee a wire off of one of the front marker lights as they're on in both lo and hi positions, and use that to actuate the low-beam relay. Worked a charm, and I now have fully working headlights.

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All running lights are working nicely too 🙂

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4 hours ago, Aaron Datsun said:

Dude well done. I felt like my 510 was a project, yours is on a whole nother level.

 

Thanks! Your car was rather rough too, props for saving it. I am really glad to be done with the rust repair now I must admit haha.

 

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On the final stretch now.

New wiper blades, had to get a bit creative with the mounting situation as I couldn't find anything that had an adapter to the bayonet-style arms or the plastic bit that was still on them but I made it work lol:

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hatch trim panel on too after it got some paint:

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And got the brakes fully bled and working great!. There were a couple leaks I had to deal with (thankfully solved by cranking the heck out of the fittings to make them seat nicely), but overall it went pretty smoothly.

Had bought a cheap vacuum pump recently, and used that to get fluid to all 4 corners without having to get someone to pump forever given that the lines were completely empty. Worked a treat, would highly recommend.

Got fluid to all 4 corners, then bled the master (thanks Wilwood for including bleeder screws on the MC itself, made it way easier than bench-bleeding), then back to the wheels. Did the final bleed conventionally with the help of a family member although honestly the vacuum bleeder did such a good job that there wasn't any more air coming out I could see.

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So yeah, it runs, drives, stops, and the clutch works now! Tomorrow I'll try to get the driver's door all assembled, and whatever other misc. I may need to do, then if time allows it'll go off to get a safety inspection done on tuesday. Got the headlights aligned tonight after dusk too, then drove the car into the garage under its own power which was a nice feeling.

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Edited by Noll
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Final day of getting stuff done today; bunch of misc. (pass. door lock, adjust carbs, loctite license plate bolts, and suchlike), as well as the last big job - make the 260z window regulator that I have work in the 240z door. No luck sourcing a 240z regulator on short notice, so door modification it is.


It went pretty well IMO, could have gone to more effort to clean the welds, but not worth it for this specific door and a door card would hide it anyway.

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All painted and all door bits assembled. Door winder works a treat now.

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And with that, it's done. Well obviously not "done done", a project car is never done and there are of course things I want to modify/improve/change/add as time goes on, but it is 100% ready to go get a safety inspection tomorrow and hit the road. 4.5 years and I don't even want to think about how many thousands of hours and it is done.

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Well, she's at the garage waiting to get the toe set and a safety inspection done 🙂 . I need to raise the rear 10-15mm as it was rubbing under right turns, but no other issues to report.

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Edited by Noll
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18 hours ago, Skib said:

Looks like I'm a hair late..... but I have all the 240z door guts..... 

 

Much appreciated! Went looking for one pretty last-minute and shipping to Canadaland would have taken a while but I very much appreciate it all the same. Amusingly the driver's door window is smoother than the non-modified passenger one lol.

 

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All road legal as of this afternoon! Went and got poutine to celebrate 🙂 .

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Someone at the garage messed up pulling off the dealer plate and somehow broke a small chunk out of the right taillight surround, but they were able to find the piece so I've since glued it back in good as new. Stuff happens, could be worse.

Turn signals weren't really playing ball on the way home so need to pull the switch apart in the next day or two and clean/refresh everything. That, raise the rear ~15mm, and adjust the wiper arms, and that's about it for things that need to change right now.

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4 hours ago, Noll said:

 

Much appreciated! Went looking for one pretty last-minute and shipping to Canadaland would have taken a while but I very much appreciate it all the same. Amusingly the driver's door window is smoother than the non-modified passenger one lol.

 

 

If you wind up needing any random stuff in the future let me know.

I dont have quite the stash I used to, but I do still have a some usefull extra bits here and there.

 

Iv got a pair of complete doors with everything

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