St.stephen

actually they had style as an aftermarket item for the early Z cars. I have always liked the look of those!

of the "dukes of hazzard" rims on the early cars. I have been hunting for a set and cannot find them,.

I ordered mine from victoria british and mine was extremely easy to do with an air chisel. The rear dogleg infront of the passenger wheel well was rotted out of my 260 so I ordered a new one of those. The rear of the rocker fits inside of there so it was easy once I cut out the dogleg. My A-pillar up front was easy to break loose at the original spot weld with the chisel. I ground down all the welds flush and clamped in the new rocker. I then mounted the fender to ensure that everything matched up there as the bottom of the fenter bolts to the rocker. Also, I mounted the door to ensure all went smooth there. Then I made reference marks, unclamped the rocker, used POR-15 on the inside of the panel and then tacked in the new panel ensuring to line up my reference marks.

is that the place selling the molds for the fiberglass panels?

You know it;s not fair. A guy I work with just bought a 48 willys and is in need of restoration. I was helping him check out some online sites for parts and body panels, and for the jeeps you can buy an ENTIRE new body ready to prime and bolt to the frame for around 2200 bucks depending on the model. If that was only so for the Z. The one thing that I can say is that the Z car is what taught me how to weld.

hmmmmm, carbon fiber.....imagine a carbon fiber chassis that never rusts and is stronger and lighter than steel!!! I'd be all over that

The only other cars I would even be remotely interested in are an Austin Healy 3000, lancia aurelia, Jag 120 or 140 series, or a Volvo P1800. If I had the loot, I'd be all over a 71 Miura, 246 Dino, or GTB 250. Actually in the 18,000 range you could be sitting pretty in a 308 GTI. You will never catch me dead in some farty exhausted 4 cylindar with ground effects and so low to the ground that running over an ant could cause a flat tire! Sorry if I offended the farty exhaust community.

2manyz's... Now you're talking! That would be sooo much easier. I have no problem welding the cars back together, but sometimes I feel like I am part of the A-team having to fabricate much of what has rotted away in those areas. I got lucky on my 260 only needing floors, small patch on the lower corner of the rad support, inner fender wells, battery tray, behind the dash on the left corner of where the wiper motor sits and toe boards. The 280 I jsut acquired is another story. I have to repatch everything that the previous owner patched and then he let it sit outside for 7 years because he refused to listen to me and replace the harness. He just painted over the patched areas and never rust proofed them. so the floors are now mere dust particles on my driveway.

I really wish someone made a weld in replacement battery box already. I am so tired of having to repair underneath the battery tray on every Z car i have owned by fabricating something out of sheet metal. It would be nice to just be able to buy a replacement. Also, a replacement set of frame rail cradles (directly in front of the toe boards) would be wonderful too!!

JC Whitney carries an entire fiberglass nose that tilts forward for racing. I hope that this is for racing purposes. Fiberglass should stay where it belongs, on Avanti's and vettes :classic:

I hate hitting buttons that I did not mean to. anyway, with metal clean and fresh, all areas trued and nice, sit down, have a beer and hunt for some cardboard. You're going to use the cardboard as a template for creating your patch. You need one piece to fill in the area where the inner fender well meets on the toe board, and another to fill in on the front of the toe board. Let me edit your photo and make some notes. I'll be back rusty area3.bmp

We in the rust bucket club of america call that baby a cream puff!! Okay, some advice. First one being....It's time to park it and have a TOTAL on your back, on your knees, body contourted in a myriad of positions, look at the car with a screwdriver, small center punch and a strong shoplight. It's assessment time. Financial, time and space assessment. You have problem areas in the almost first to come rust spots. Rust loves those corners like you wouldn't beleive. From the pictures you have a rather cheap and less time consuming resto project though. Get all under the car and start from the rusted area poking with your screwdriver and punch.....and work outwards towards the "good" metal. You may put some other holes in the car however you need to assess how much the metal has rotted underneath the undercoating. The undercoating really holds rusted metal together well and can be deceiving underneath a smooth coat of undercoating. Once you determine what you have to work with, it's time to get out the scraper to get rid of all paint and undercoating in the area and leave yourself a generous amount of room to work with. In other words, make a big even square around your work area clean and free of all paint/undercoat. I prefer to sandblast all metal of rust and primer and have a nice clean metal worksurface. Wire wheels can work also. Now get out the cutting wheel and cut out that rusted metal!!!!! Try to make all your cuts with nice clean and straight lines. This makes the patching easier. Last time I looked I do not own a metal bender so those complex curves can be challenging. WIth all rotted metal cut out, true your edges with a grinder Using POR 15 degreaser, clean the area and allow to dry

Zcarguy, Nice ride!! Now peel that carpet back and lets see the floors and maybe a shot of battery tray you said needed repair! Oh and if you are interested, I have a his and her sunroof out of a 78 that I may be parting with. I'll need to take some measurements.

Zcars, last time I looked the cable was about 80 -110 bucks at motorsport and victoria british (depending on model). If you were to replace the entire assembly brand new it would total probably run about 350 bucks. If I remember you have a 240 so: Handbrake control assembly (lever inside of car) 169.95 Front handbrake rod (connects lever to center handbrake assembly ): 8.95 Center handbrake assembly 34.95 Center handbrake clevis & pin: 3.65 & .60 trunnion pin 3.95 e brake cable: 109.95 assorted clevises, pins, bolts and washers about 15 bucks. Now this is not including the handbrake lever on the back of the drum and perhaps the condition of your wheel cylindars in the back. The ebrake assembly tends to be like the clock, just a mere decoration. The center handbrake assembly usually gets seized and then the handbrake rod will break when you get manly yanking the leveer up

I have to clarify that most of the cars I encounter here are cars that have been owned by people that fell in love with the car because of it's looks and performance however are not "car" people. That meaning they have zero clue how to fix them. They buy the car, drive it for a while and it develops a problem that they themselves cannot fix. They bring it to a mechanic that has no clue about Z cars, wrongly and expensively tries to find the solution by trial and error and the owners end up with a car that still will not run right and no-one can figure out why. I get this alot with 75-78 cars. Many cannot seem to correct a bad running car when it comes to the injection. Needless to say the cars sit outside for years upon years until it;s time to finally get rid of it. by that time, I end up with it rather than see it go to the boneyard and sort it out myself.

Zcarguy, I'm not sure what your resources are, what you can do yourself and what you can afford...However frame rail, and floors are can be an easy task. Honestly. What scares most people is cutting out the rotted metal, seeing what;s left and the welding. Many people cannot weld so someone has to do it for them. That usually means big bucks to them. Not necessarily so. if you take the time to do most of the leg work, many shops will work with you on putting in the replacement kit parts. SOme may do it after hours, some may not warranty their work if it isn't their kit parts. Some may be great and ahve it done in a day if all the leg work is done. If you have a garage, that really helps. Can you disassemble the car? Is this a daily driver? How much time do you have to complete the project. what is your budget? These are all questions I have to ask as they really play an important role. Vehicle disasemebly is kind of vital. It;s very hard to detect all the problem areas located on the car while it is fully assembled and there is nothing worse than chasing the rot. SOmething I learned a long time ago with these cars. You fix one problem area of rust and another starts. I am not kidding, every Z I have had has needed floors, battery tray and inner fender well patches. Only one needed frame rails. I got lucky with the 260. It was beginning to show signs, however I was pro-active and caught it. I would much better able to give you a hand if you have some pictures. I can then target what you need to repair. DO you have any available?

How about just purchasing a new one rather than "rigging" it to stay on?

Honestly, the only thing that I would do differantly is not repair every Z car I obtain. Floors, frame rails, rockers and wheel arches are like everyday repairs to me now :classic:

Time for you to sell your car as you own if for the wrong reasons. Spend some time with a revoked license and you will see how important it is to get a chirp out of 2nd. Maybe I seemt to forget the line of ladies and recognition I got when I was 18 and could candy cane my 280 2+2.

Personally I say stick with what you have and build on it. There are a myriad of engine, head, trans and rear combinations up until 1983 to keep you entertained without ever having to drill a hole. Everything basically bolts up. While many people are stuck on having to put an 8 in the car, I say go to town on what nissan provided.

For future reference please see either victoria british or MSA in CA. I ordered all factory nissan brake lines from Victoria british for my early 74 260Z

dash removal is really rather simple. You will have to remove the metal finisher that is at the back of the dash where it meets the firewall. this is held in with phillips screws. Once that is removed you can locate the top bolts (I remember there being 5 or six and they are either 10 or 12 mm). you need to take apart the heater plenum and remove the center console to get to the others that hold the dash to the trans tunnel. the steering column needs to be dropped also. Really once all the bolts are out and the dash is free, you can see what else needs to be disconnected such as the electrical plugs for all the guages, speedometer cable, vent hoses for the heaters etc. I find it easiest to lift the dash straight up and pull it back towards the seats and lay it across them. if you need more detailed instructions, feel free to drop me an email.

M240....theoretically you can weld these items in while the car is on jackstands, Honestly I wouldn't recomend it..... however I would have the car as high as you can safely get it. I have never welded floors on a car that wasn't completely disassembled. I would be sure to remove anything that could catch fire. carpet, fuel lines, wiring, etc. Be sure to cut out ALL the rotted metal so you have some solid metal to weld the patches to. Honestly most of the kits are the same design so the one you have wil work. Just remember that these are not direct "weld in" replacements and will require some fiddling and fitting to get them to work but you can achieve good results. As far as structural rigidty, just be sure to have good solid welds and you should be fine. I have been told that a half inch bead every inch or so is fine and welding them in solidly is overkill. Call me overkill. I like to make sure they are strong and in there. Be sure when you are all done welding you seal all the seams inside and underneath the car and coat with a good resut preventitive such as POR-15 to ensure you only have to do this repair once.

I never condoned it, however Johnny law would not know where on the chassis to even think to look for the vin.

who's altering a VIN number of any kind? simply swap dashes with a 240 Dash you have a title for. REgister the car as a 240 and despite badging who the hell would know the differance. Not that I condone it, however it is a possibility. Johnny law only cares that the VIN is trouble free, and matches the what is on the reg.