Day one:

-Circled all the areas that needed repair in sharpie.
-Took out most interior panels.
-Made a game plan.

Day two:
-Cut out some metal.
-Grinded and grinded some more.
-Took off rear bumper.
-Took out both taillights.
-Cut off P.O.'s makeshift attempt at rocker panel repairs.
-Took out cowl.
-Cut metal for left fender.
-Cut metal for right rear quarter.
-Cut metal for pass door.


And since I know how much everyone likes pictures, here is what the car looked like at the end of day 2:

Whole car:

Under windshield was rusted, but no longer:

Above windshield was also rusted:

Someone took a blunt object to this area, so there's a big dent there:

Rear bumper off, and surrounding area wire wheeled:

My awesome metalworking skills:

Rocker panel rust:

Left rear quarter needs some patching:

Drivers fender rust cut out:

Replacement panel:

 

Door replacement metal:

Directions what to do next scrawled on hood:

P.O.'s attempt again at bodywork:

The "metal" (read: rust) that I cut off of the body:



I'll keep you guys updated. As well, if any of you are wondering why I have electrical tape on my hands, it is because I burnt it and the band-aid kept falling off.

As usual, all comments and criticism are welcomed.

-Derek

 

ick! Rust repair... been there, done that, never wanna do it again. I replaced both quarters, rockers (inner and outer), roof, fenders, frame rails, floor boards, etc etc etc....

 

I guess mine looks pretty solid then eh? Lol.

 

Day 3:

-Got some metal welded in on the doors and fenders
-Spread some putty over it to prevent it from rusting overnight.
-Called it a day.

 

haha, i know all about that! tape is great for keeping blood and other stuff where it belongs.

 

Day 4:
On Sunday, after doing quite the amount of work on the Z, my father informed me that I would have to move the Z down the street so that a few yards of gravel and about 900 dollars worth of lumber could get delivered to the back of my driveway.(We are building a new fence) I took this opportunity to go for a little spin around the street. As soon as I started it up, I realized that I had left my muffler off while I was doing bodywork on it, so it was basically as loud as hell. Regardless, I drove down the street, turned onto the adjoining street and "accidentally" popped the clutch a little bit to aggressively, and steered hard to lock. This caused me to pull a nice and fast U-turn. I then proceeded to drive down and park the car on the street a few doors down from my house.

As soon as I got out of the car, two kids (12 years old maybe?) ran up to me and said, "AWESOME CAR, what is it?

So I told them it was a Datsun 280zx, and he mentioned that his dad had a 240z in his garage. I told him to send his dad down and talk to me someday. So we might have another Z'er around here in the next little while.

The fact that the kid thought the car was awesome, even in its mismatched paint/primer/rust/missing panels and rusty glory, really made my heart feel warm, and reminded me why the hell I chose such a rusty car to start with.

And here are the pictures of what it looked like sitting on the street:

No fenders:

Can't see any rust from this angle:

Metal courtesy of my dads 4Runner:

My rust prevention solution for behind the bumper:

Rust free?

Again, no fender:

Straight ahead:

My new rocker:


I still have a TON of work ahead of me, but overall I am very pleased with my progress.

Ladies and Gents, this is how my car sits as of right now (except its in my driveway now). Sorry I didn't really update "on the fly" the first few days, but my priorities were with actually doing the work, instead of just documenting it. I will update you from now on when I do work on it again.

Again, comments and criticism are very welcome.

-Derek

 

thats some good work, i wish i had a welder. also, you can use super glue (CA glue cyanacrilate) it bonds skin instantly, squeeze the cut together, apply thin layer, vwuala, no more bleedege.

ps, air is free, so fill up em tires, lol. jk, you got some more important stuff to deal with

edit: nvm i see you did fill em up before going onto the street. touchey

 

nice work, its nice to have a welder, and what looks to be a nice coupla days to work on it. its getting too cold here, and really, really raining hard here, so any outside activities are a no go.

 

It's not actually MY welder, but my next door neighbour bought a new one so he basically told me I could have it. It's not super great or anything, just and old gasless MIG, but it does the trick for what I need it for.

Thanks for the input.

 

It was actually pretty freaking cold out when I was working on it most of the time. It was around the 5 degree mark. I am not looking forward to winter.

 

well at least its not wet yet. were having 45mm+ a day rainfall. or if ya wanna get fancy, precipitation!

 

Are all Canuk's this whiney?

 

shut up weak american dollar resident!

 

GST! Brian Mulroney! BAM!!!!

 

all i know is that i'm in sunny florida hangin out in the 80 degree weather, it's great

ha ha

 

you're about 3 weeks away from a hurricane

 

This is great weather for the beach, and being in the gulf.....no hurricanes to really worry about.