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Last week i got a blurry photo from my Panelbeater, asking me to visit them again, since they had revamped work in my Car. I thought the probably had done a few welds and wanted to discuss the next steps. I couldn't have been more wrong. When i turned up, i quickly realized they had been quitely working on the car for the last few weeks and made huge progress! The car even got it's own dedicated workspace now in another building, which they set up only to finish the project without having to move stuff around all the time. They have increased the manpower and got a new teamleader and they seem to push things a bit now. Which i'm more than happy to see. So today i realized they had completely replaced the outer and inner side steps on the RH side. The previous Bodyshop already did this once, but he made all the panels himself since no good replacements were available back then. Since the new green KVF panels are much closer to the original ones (and strangely fit much better on this side than they did on the other side), they replaced it all again and improvad a few areas. On the RH side, the floorpans were finished and the seat rails installed back. They also installed the Japanese Footrest, which is designed for RHD cars, but also fits nice on LHD ones. On my input they also installed the OEM-style "reinforcement-cups" (thanks for showing me these, guys!), on the opposing side of the floorpan. The marked area got fixed later. The previous bodyshop had cut it for whatever reason (probably to install the floorpans) and never fnished it properly. The original battery tray was not too bad, but a bit messed up to be fair, so they replaced this one too. (picture still shows the old one): They also realized that the previous panelbeater has done a bad job around the Fuel filler area, so they reconstructed everything from scratch. You can tell quite a bit of work went into this. (and they also re-did the whole inner part from scratch!). The cas filler door now closes very flush: Aside from a dozen of small areas (which are super time consuming), they also prepared my replacement NOS rear quarter panel, as the original one had a ton of bondo and filler on it from pevious rust repairs. They fixed a transport-damage dent, closed the US-spec rear side-marker hole and modified the C-pillar Vent / logo area from "Series 1" to the newer version. Here is the C-pillar air vent outlet which they removed from the original rear quarter (see hole and bondo on the original rear quarter in the background) and installed on the new quarter panel: The new taillight cover clips and mounts got installed: Then the big work began: The roof skin transplantation. Since the original frame was quite good, they just sanded it down and painted it with rust protection and went for a skin-only replacement, which makes sense. I think one should only cut down the original structure if absolutely necessary. Then they went to work at the rear quarter. It was in quite good shape underneath, so they just cleaned it, removed some surface rust and painted it with rust-protection as well. The Outer wheel arch however was a different story. You can see how many repairs happened here in the history of the car. Almost like the rings on a tree... This is the master at Work when i just arrived. you can see the roof is ready to get welded back in, and the rear quarter subframe has also been prepared. Next up is the replacement of the wheel arch before the quarter panel goes back in. After that it looks "finished" but then the Rollcage needs to go in and all the small cosmetic details and gaps need to be aligned and fixed so it will take some time Also the original bodylines, which a previous owner "cleaned" need to be hammered back in. All these little details require a lot of work and skilled masters of their craft. but will be well worth the result. Maybe not financially. but the fact i am "saving" a messed up car and bring it back to original glory is worth more to me. I'm super excited about the progress and really looking forward to my next visit mid march after they return back from their well deserved skiing-holidays. Oh and i have some exciting news from my side too. so stay tuned for another nice update this week.

The single one on my 240z is now 53 years old and isn't it unbelievable.. is still working correct! Yup.. old is better! 🙂

That's the entrance to the meth lab. Boy oh boy there's a lot to take in on that pic.

Great photo. One of the best I've seen to demonstrate what happens to cars like ours over the years as they're victimized by PO's and bodyshops.

That's code for "Made in China"

Thats a great idea. I saw the two wires taped to the harness tonight when I was installing the LED flashers. It would be nice to have some light in the footwells. I have plenty of JDM style connectors I bought when I was rebuilding the harness. It would be easy to rig them up. Here is my flasher relay installed (note the proper connector for the ground). I used some 3M emblem tape and left the OEM flasher in place. I like being able to adjust the speed of the flasher. Now if I would have ordered the correct color 1157 bulbs, I would be all set.

Getting ready to weld the compression rod boxes back on to the new front rails. Even though I have the factory dimensions I deliberately waited to have the Apex Engineered K frame in hand to "cheat" and help line everything up... Funny thing about letting a project sit ... I decided I didn't like how I had done the compression box supports so ... more surgery .... Also... the Apex rear subframe interferes with the spare tire well... so I notched it and roughed in the patch as well ... and finally...rebuilt the floor supports from 14 Gauge sheet metal...belt and suspenders 😉 Just about out of Clecos so going to have to crack out the welder and then loop back and finish up the remaining patches...

I mounted a fire extinguisher! Oh, and I also replaced the *ancient* spare tire.

Indeed. Nowadays they're sought after cars, but back then they were just cheap and fun sports cars. So most youngsters who got one of those secondhand didn't invest much for repairs and had it done cheaply. If you look closesly at the rear quarter in the background on this photo, you also see the approx 2cm thick layer of Bondo that was applied on the outside of the rear quarter after a repair:

I recall talking to Matsuo-san at the Memphis ZCON in 2015 about design elements of the 240Z. He recalled that the inspiration for the struts was the elegant but simple canopy mechanism for the French Mirage aircraft. He lobbied for a twin-strut configuration but the yen-counters decreed they would have to make do with only one. We can find his desire for two in the stamping of the inside panel of the hatch. The OE strut on my car surrendered some years ago but I rescued one from a salvage car that still works perfectly.

Love the flasher labeling Apparently only works when flying over Dodge vehicles several times. No problem.

An AC Delco should be the go to premium replacement starter, I guess not. There are still little one man shops that rebuild starter/alternators although they are getting harder to find. The the bulk of their work comes from transport semi trucks, might be worth checking out the transport trucks shops in your area.

Thanks Granny !

Pretty good money? Far to much for a fake Ferrari.. It's a chassis of something, (In this case a 280z) and a "dress" stolen/copied in fibreglass of a bloody Ferrari! 30 grand AT THE MOST !! (It's one big pile of FAKE!! and btw, i would appreciate a original 280z in good condition more!)

Found it... (20+) tracy kopp - Search Results | Facebook

I have been using the wiring for the courtesy light (look for the blue tape) to install under dash (or footwell lights if you prefer), in every Z or 510 for some time now. Great addition and always appreciated by customers. Give the cars a nice easy modern touch. That silly dome light look pretty pathetic without them. I use some little round LED’s I got from Princess Auto (harbor freight to you US of A’ers). Pic below. About 3/4”, just zip tie it or glue it something under the dash. Couple of matching vintageconnection bullet connectors and viola.

I would be calling them "auto-body shapers" or artist of their trade. Wifebeaters is a little harsh and cars are our wives right? We wish. Congratulations on the progress.

Id say that's really good money!

The Tom Cruise Alpha 1 GTO sold. Pretty good money for a 1976 280Z! https://bringatrailer.com/listing/vanilla-sky-ferrari-250-gto-replica/

For me? I need people to stop me from buying stuff, not enablers...