Rust repair/shaving

Dash... again

Found a great remedy for my cracked dash using SEM bumper filler, trim black, and some expanding insulating foam. It worked really well, and if it had been executed properly it would have held up. This method called for cutting out and leveling the cracked areas, filling with expanding foam, covering with the SEM bumper epoxy, sanding, wiping with a plastic cleaner, and finally painting with a trim black. My mistake occurred in the sanding part. i sanded the bumper filler all the way to the edge of the cut out cracked area where I should have left plenty of overlap and blended the filler. looked great initially but after a couple hours in the sun it began to separate.... so i pulled averything out and will redo it correctly. Otherwise this is a great fix!!

More dash

Dash

More suspension bits

Cleaned/painted front hubs. New set of refurb toyota 4X4 calipers fro up front to go with my MSA cross drilled/slotted rotors. 280Z half shafts all cleaned up and painted. JCI LS1 install kit arrived (AWESOME)!!!!! R200 cleaned up and painted. All suspension parts painted and ready for install with poly bushing set (except R200 mustache bar). Yeah, funny story there! Spent a large amount of time cutting out the bushing sleeves on the mustache bar only to find out that they are required for the poly bushings! Tried making my own sleeves out of exhaust pipe but I wasn't happy with the results. New/used mustache bar on the way! Not the first or last Duh moment!

Stripping/painting suspension bits

Notice the different hubs? One (cloverleaf) from the 240 and one apparent "repair" with a 280 version (requires a different rotor!). Broke open the R200 from my donor. Looks clean with no noticeable wear/play.

No turning back!

Starting to make the necessary cuts to install the LS1. Trans "ears" cut out. You can see the time frame io've been working on here. That's my "new" helper you can see a photo of from earlier posts. He's two now! No need for the fuel filler door/compartment. Fuel cell going in!

Pulled the rear end

I pulled the rear end and got the car safely suspended. Also did a bit more cutting to the hatch area in prep for the fuel cell. The teal fender in the engine bay is a practice piece for the Hobart MIG welder I just got on loan from a neigbor. He had recently had a pacemaker put in and could no longer use it. I had asked to buy it from him and he insisted that I just take it and use it like it was my own. Can't find nicer folks than down here in SW Virginia!! Also, notice those nice new shelves behind the car!! I was quickly running out of room! Nice and organized again!

Winter's over... Back to stripping... again

I went ahead and cut out the spare tire well in preparation for my fuel cell install. I drilled out the spot welds with a special bit that I got from Harbor Freight. Cost me only a couple of bucks but was well worth the money. Got the doors off and dismantled as well. Interior is nearly completely stripped.

Pressure washing and scrubbing

I spent a day pressure washing the underside of the car and scrubbing the engine bay to get everything as clean as possible.

Still stripping the 240

I grew VERY tired of stripping cars. This must be the most aggravating process of rebuilding a car! Deconstruction. It seems like no matter what you do you are still so far away from the end! I was really looking forward to rebuilding things at this point. My initial plans had never included completely strippiong the car. I was seriously bit my the "might as well do this" bug! Also, a severe lack of funds and an incredible drive to get some work done on this thing was not a good combination. No money and an urge to work on the car = deconstruction. As you can see, I had a complete lack of funds!!!

Still stripping... both the Z's!!

I stripped the 280 completely, selling what I didn't need. I made around $700 by selling parts and the stripped body to a wrecker ($200). I don't thikn i'll do this again though. Between stripping, listing, and shipping the parts it was a considerable amount of time. Good way to make a bit of extra cash if you have no other way to fund your project though.