Wheels..

The magic of photoshop, car will be lowered 2 inches

Dash repair Part 2

Sanded down all of the epoxy resin, you can see all of the cracks filled in.  I never took a picture but i sanded down all of the excess epoxy, it looks like a gray line in the end.

 Lots and lots of sanding... almost 4 hours worth all of the dash.

 Put down the primer coat, the epoxy still shows through but it won't matter when i put the final texture coat on it.

did a wetsand after this part to smooth it out as much as possible, again i forgot to take a picture..

 Texture is on, theres a little bit of a run near the 3 gauge pods, i'll be fixing that as soon as this drys

Realized after taking this picture i left the vents in... Oh well, rubbing alcohol will take the over spray off no problem







All done, you can still see where the cracks where, unfortunately thats because the edges warped from the head of all those years being uncovered in a driveway. When looking directly at the dash you can't see them, it's good enough for me.

I used 1 sheet of 200 grit paper, 1 sheet of 1000 grit paper, Duplicolor black sandable primer, and of all things truck bedliner, i cannot find SURETEX anywhere, and SEM texture paints are 35$ after shipping for 1 can.

Al together, it came to about 19$ to fix my dash board myself.  Next stop, center console

Here is the before image, pretty huge improvement.

 These are what my gauges will look like when they're re-installed

Dash repair Part 1

Started to repair the dash, here's the damage,  3 big cracks (one not pictured) and many little spider cracks all throughout, lucky for me its not warped in any way.

Took a dremel tool with a ceramic cutting wheel and deepened the cracks so the epoxy had something to grab onto the long cracks now look like this \_/



Took the dremel to the smaller spider cracks and roughed them up for more surface area for the epoxy to grab on to.




Now before i do any kind of repair i'm taking my gauges out just in case, i DO NOT want any epoxy on the lenses.

Using a Phillips screw driver, unscrew this screw in the dash.

Next take out this screw that i'm pointing out in the back, Un hook the wiring harness connectors and the gauge slides out the front of the dash, pretty simple stuff.


Tach and speedo are the same.

Center gauges are even easier, unscrew one screw on each, and pull the little rubber coated metal piece up, the gauge comes out the back with ease.

Small note: The wiring harness pulls up from its little holder, i suggest doing that first before pulling the gauge out. You might break the harness on accident.

Pudding, watching..

Mixed up the epoxy, in extremely small batches, working time says 6 minutes, but in all honestly its 3 at best.

This is about a pennys worth of 2 part epoxy, mixed

Fill the holes with a little overlap, it'll be sanded down later anyways so it doesn't really matter about the excess, just don't make it messy.


I usually work 3-4 inches at a time, and then make a new batch of epoxy when the first runs out.

All done, gonna let this dry for an hour or so, after that i'm gonna sand it down and fill any pinholes or small areas i missed.

As i am writing this its been about 30 minutes since the epoxy was applied, i'm gonna go check on it. Hopefully i will have some sanding done by the end of the night.

Day 2

 Tore the diff Open today, it is indeed a 3.7 Clutch type LSD.

Took the door apart today because the glass wasn't sliding up properly, its probably bent.

The seller included another window regulator, but it isn't the same one as this.. im thinking its for a 280zx..

 Oh well, at least i was able to figure out how the damn thing works, and found some rust hiding in the process, gonna POR-15 it for now.

Everything was greased up and put back together, started messing with the interior too.

Looks pretty good for being 35~ years old, gonna need to fix that fake chrome though.. but thats wayy down the line.

I just realized i didn't take any pictures of all the shit back in the car, FML

I cleaned up alot of the surface rust on the passenger side too, covered it with POR-15 after.

Here is a pic right after i took the dash out, as you can see the passenger side is pretty trashy looking. I promise its really not that bad anymore, i would go take pictures but the cars at my dads house 15 miles away.

Looks pretty solid, floors need replacing but otherwise the car is okay.

Took out the JDM TYTE Euro tails, i don't like them personally. I put my reds back in. I also don't want to mess with the wiring harness to make these work.

They are on EBAY for 150$ buy it now, 100$ reserve.

If you'd like to buy them from me outside of ebay send me an Email

My girlfriend came over and snapped a picture of me installing the tails, i look like such a gook, it's been a long day.














Pulled off all of the fender flares.. The fronts aren't to bad underneath, both rears look like this the previous owner never sealed the welds.. idiot.


POR 15 to the rescue again :/





Fixed some surface rust on the hatch, it's just temporary stuff until i start the body work.

Last but not least, my dads cat his name is butch.

hes been my buddy during this whole process, climbing in and out of the doors / hatch / front end all day.

 Forgot to mention, i took the fenders off and found this little surprise, nothing to bad thank jebus.



Passenger side

Again, Passenger side wheel well

4chan saves me some work

A guy from 4chan helped me identify my differential, its an r200 CLSD Finned cover with 3.7 gears.

 

You can follow his Z build Here

Day 1

This is the last picture of the Z with all of the exterior pieces attached.

This car was a pain to get home, the rear drums were seized from sitting!

Decided to pressure wash all the shit out of it, tar all over the places is peeling up near the rusted floor boards.

 Difficult to get started, the damn handle valve was messed up had to unclog it after it was sitting all winter.

In this picture you can see me cleaning up the extra transmission & diff that was given to me with the car, The transmission is a FS5W71C, the "2nd best" of transmissions available. It bolts up to all of the L series engines, mine in particular came off a 280zx NA,

I will probably sell this transmissions as it is sought after by Z enthusiasts, also because the bell housing doesn't match the L6.. and it has the added benefit of having all the same internals as the 240SX.

                                                                                                                                                                                                             

The Diff is an R200 CLSD i haven't cracked it open yet, but i'm assuming its a 3.9 or a 3.7 I will probably keep this one because its and LSD

All cleaned out, trying to dry the car out. 
















Propped the car up on stands to help the standing water  drain out of the floor board rust holes. (lol)

Driver side

Passenger side

 

All clean, my girlfriend in the background doing the myspace pose for the camera. 

If everything goes as planned a 383 Stroker is going to be put inside here.

Attempted to sew these two pictures together, and failed epic. Anyways these "Euro" tails are for sale, personally i don't like the orange amber on the bottom, They are in perfect condition.

                         

That's about it for today

Day Zero, Home 4/8/11

After an hour long drive, the Z is finally home Tear down starts tomorrow.