Datsun 240Z - 1971 Blue Metallic 903 - Resto

Restores, Revamps and Repairs
Post Reply
datsunbat
Posts: 16
Location: Portugal

Datsun 240Z - 1971 Blue Metallic 903 - Resto

Post by datsunbat » Mon Feb 05, 2018 8:55 am

Hi, I'll try to update today all the work that is done to the car...tomorrow I'll have some news again...

"Here I go again" like the Whitesnake song says...but this time with a 71 240Z.

Some of you remember me for the LB110 restoration in Mr.Vitorino shop here in Portugal, well, he had a dicease and return to work a month ago the reason for this restoration project is starting now.

I will put some pictures and insert some comments.

The Z, it's a beautiful lady but the previous owner ruined it if we talk about what's original according the year and what's not. This will be a difficult task but I'm prepared for the challenge. My Z is a 71 and it's like a 73...

Yesterday I left the Z with Mr.vitorino and next week the resto will begin.

We've inspected the car and found the usual rust on the model, it's not bad and has excellent mechanic, good for me...Let's see how far I can go returning this Z.

Hope you enjoy the topic.

Now the first pictures...

Regards,
Mário



Image

Z in Mr.Vitorino shop, last photo before the work...




Image


Image


Image


Image


Image

The last run...

Image


Image


Image


Image

We were making some marks in the panel that should be covered. Perhaps relays and some stuff...lot's of holes...


[img(1000px,749px)]https://s3.postimg.org/vi8fyrd9f/IMG_20 ... 154521.jpg[/img]

Mr.Vitorino leading the operation...


Image

The rubbers are completely wasted, I will put new ones. The scutcheons will return to it and the same will happen to the center bumper.
All the 73 details will disappear...


Image


Image

The spolier and rear is in the wrong colour, I guess it's charcoal...


Image

Some rust, not really important...


Image

On this side of the car I was expecting more rust..,but seems fine for now!!!


Image

I will change the colour to the original one too, charcoal, the same as the rear and rear spoiler

Soon I'll have more pictures...
Last edited by datsunbat on Mon Feb 05, 2018 11:01 pm, edited 1 time in total.

datsunbat
Posts: 16
Location: Portugal

Post by datsunbat » Mon Feb 05, 2018 8:56 am

Hi everybody!
Thanks a lot for yor feed-back. I’ve got some news and that’s why I’m here again.
Last Tuesday I went to Mr.vitorino shop and started do dismantle the Z…honestly I thought it was a dificult task, but it wasn’t…well, only in some little details.
The ca ris in excellent shape as photos will show…I guess this car was restored or deep painted some years ago.
Next week We’ll have at least one door rebuilt, below the doors and inside need some intervention.
Here are some photos…

Rear window acquisition…the car has the horizontal defrost lines and aren’t the correct…I found one vertical and job done…a few years ago I bought one in the USA and came broken…never bought or find anoter one..they are getting rare this days!!!

Image

Image

The beggining…

Image

Door parts ready for the treatment…Nickel plating

Image

Rear floor…not bad!!! I got scared, but fortunately the brown zone is glue…no rust…

Image

Door ready for Mr.Vitorino!

Image

Original floor carpet…but has to be removed!!!

Image

Rear luggage accomodation in excelente shape

Image


Image

And now the surprise…the original blue…It can only be seen on some detailed parts..this is one!

Image

Replacemente tyre floor…not bad…no rust…

Image

Image

The seats will be rédone, but I will only take care of the parts that are completely off…

Image

No plastic cover…but I have 2 here…offered by a mate!!!

Image

Passenger side floor…the usual…46 years and some bad treatment…the reason…the jack tool…but Mr.vitorino said that’s a part to be redone…

Image

Image

Image

Image

Drivers side floor…the usual again…but this one has no concerns…ist’s 75% good…a little intevention. By the end we will apply some Soundproofing board to avoid rust and noise.

Image

Image

Image

My helper keeping all the bolts in place!

Image

Under the plate no surprises!!!!
Image

Image

Datsun logo temporarily off…

Image

In my opinion this s the exact moment to restore the car…it has some details that need intervention, and now that he has no rust holes and unrestorable parts the process will be much easier.


Hope you like it…next week some more news!!!
Regards
Mário

datsunbat
Posts: 16
Location: Portugal

Post by datsunbat » Mon Feb 05, 2018 8:57 am

Hi again.

On the last two weeks Mr.Vitorino worked on other projects and on the last days he worked in the Z.

He started with the doors, and at first they seem in pretty nice shape...but then he found some clues on bad reparations years ago. With this he decided to separate the door panel from the structure and he was right, they need some intervetion. Tons of rust and event the protetion layer was completely cracked.

This week I hope he finishes at least one door, because on Thursday I'm going to the shop.

Meanwhile, the electric system was rebuilt and is now tunned for 1971, I'm talking about the rear plate lights.

Let's see the pictures,,,and like I said...this was the correct moment for this Z...

Image

Image

Image

The interior as Mr. Vitorino suspected...passenger door.

Image

Image

Image

Image

Drivers door with the same aspect...

Image

Image

Image

Image

Image


And based in this suspections we have decided to make a full reparation of the doors. Next photos are from the passenger door. Door panel and interior panel removed.
I believe these were the worst parts of this car, and I'm aware of the rust on the front and rear arches and I think I'll be lucky.


Image

Image

Image

Image

Image

Image

Image

Image

Image

Pista 510 - You bet...according to this pictures this is the time to save her!!!


Hope you are enjoying this resto...next week some more news!

Regards
Mário

datsunbat
Posts: 16
Location: Portugal

Post by datsunbat » Mon Feb 05, 2018 8:58 am

Hi again!
Here I am with some fresh news and photos.
The metal work is on a great speed and this week the doors were finished.
This week I think the rear and cowl grill will be finished too.
The doors gave us some trouble and we had to send them to sandblast to clean the metal, not the panel, but the interior. By the end a new panel was used. The drivers door was in bad shape, worst than the passenger side.
On Saturday we remove the symbols, rear spoiler and rear lights. Only the bumper remain.
I hope the rear and front are better than the doors…
Let’s see the photos!

Doors and interior separated…
Image

Image

Doors ready. The green painting is a spray to protect the metal for the rust.

Image

Image

Image

Image

Image

Image



Mr.Vitorino looking for some rust…ahahahah

Image



This was a corner of one door…tons of rust…

Image


Image


Under the cowl grill the scenery is good. I was a little bit worried about it…true..but Mr.Vitorino said that’s ok…the surprise is next…

Image

Image


Under the grill…

Image

Image


The grill had to high pointson both sides, like a screw, but…it wasn’t what we thought…
Somebody before had covered the rust on the panel with iron mass and hammered the rust point down. With time the mass began to crack…and the result was this…

Image

Image

Image

Image

Image

Image


Mr.Vitorino immediatly started to work and found tons of rust!


Image

Image

All this marerial, like a spounge, hide the rust!

Image

Image


Again the original blue!

Image

Image

Image

Image



The spoiler removed and a cracked srew…

Image


Image


The bumper is not for my serie, I’ll remove it…only the enter is needed!
Image

I’ll use charcoal colour to paint the structures…

Image



Again the original blue and the rear door in excellent shape!!! No intervention needed!

Image

Image

Image


My homework is now recover the symbols and clean some parts.

Image

Image



Mr. Vitorino trying to get the rear lights…not an easy task!

Image



Hope you enjoyed the photos.
Next weekend I’ll try to get some more!



Regards
Mário

datsunbat
Posts: 16
Location: Portugal

Post by datsunbat » Mon Feb 05, 2018 8:59 am

Hi folks,
I’ve got some more news!
Yesterday I’ve been in Mr.Vitorino garage, and I found my Z with another 2 parts finished. The cowl rill and the rear.
This means that soon he will be repairing the floors and front, I believe in one month for the metal work and then painting.
Soon I’ll take out the engine and gear-box to make the treatment and finish the metal work.
I’ve already started to separate some parts for the chrome and some to recover at home.
The cowl grill had to be redone in the extremities but now the part is new. And the rear was our big problem!!! The rear lights have never been removed and all the bolts were in bad shape, some we had to waste because were corroded.

Let’s see the photos for you to see all the advances!


This was redone because of the rust on the rear. The worst part was above the lights.
Image

Image

This part was severe…but now rédone!

Image

Image


The cowl grill is redone now…

Image

Image

Image

Image

Image


And again the original blue in two separated parts of the car.

Image

Image

My Homework…

Image


Hope you have enjoyed the photos and the work until now!
Next week more news!

Regards
Mário

datsunbat
Posts: 16
Location: Portugal

Post by datsunbat » Mon Feb 05, 2018 9:00 am

Hi everybody,
After one month break, the works have returned.
Today we have been dismantling the sidewings, grill, lights, bumpers and soo n. All went well, but srews are evil…I hate them a lot…some broke and were in hard position to took.
Until now I was on the Z book searching just for the srews. I want them new!!!1
I thought the Z was na easy car do disassemble, but it isn’t!!! Too many tricks.
This week the works go to the sides of the car as you’ll see on the pictures!
Hope you still like them!

A ViZit…eheheh

Image

Hood, bumper and grill…no difficulties…

Image

The grill

Image

Image

Image

Image

Then surprises…

The original paint showed up again…
Image

The super horns…I don’t even know what model they belog…not Datsun for shure!
Image

And it looked like this…

Image

Side wings and lights..major problems with the screws…horrible!!! All went rust and some broke!!!

The surprise…

Image

Image

Image

What a big hole…

Image

Image

Image

The battery corner is rusty too…

Image

All stripped…
Image


Right side in good shape…needs a cleaning…but srews are evil…more than an hour…

Image

Image

Superficial rust…some luck here!!!

Image

Image

Image

Image

Down the door is possible the worst part of the right side.

Image

Some appointments to do…nothing special!

Image

Image

We took the car to the lifter to check all the issues we discovered…well…need deep metal work on the left side!
Image

Image


Left side…

Image

Image

Image

Image

Image

Image

Image

Right side…

Image

Image~

These wings just need cleaning work!

Image

Image

Image

Image

Image

Image


And this last photo for today…bolts with story…46 precisely…but very stubborns

Hope you enjoyed the work so far…

Regards
Mário

datsunbat
Posts: 16
Location: Portugal

Post by datsunbat » Mon Feb 05, 2018 9:00 am

Hi everybody...



another week and some more work to show...some surprises, the usual I think and some really bad news...hey after all she's 47...



Today I went Mr.Vitorino shop only to check the work and see what parts and pieces are in need for the next couple of weeks.

During the week we talked each other on the phone...always bad news...welll...ain't that bad...I think...



The good news are the fenders, they are now ready to fix the car...they were in good conditionsm only where the bolts screw were interventionated. Then all the passenger floor was re-done, the exception is in the back, small rust to clean, notheing to worry.



The bad news, the passenger floor completely ruined...I was really impressed, never thought of it!!! And it looks like someone had done some previous work too. Now I've to buy the entyre part. The water channel was started too and a hand-made part will substitute it,



We took the engine and gearbox and nothing to worry, even the fireguard is in excellent condition...amazing but it is...Now we've to recover the colours for the air filter and engine. I'll make some work on it this week...let's see what happens.



Let's check the photos...



Arriving the shop...



Image



Passenger side...done...the exception is in the place where Mr.Vitorino has his hands.



Image



Image



Image



Image



Driver's side...ruined...but behind the seat rails is excellent...really odd...



Image



Image



Image



Image



Image



Image





This is in excellent shape

Image





Fenders ready fot the painting...



Image



Image



Image



Image



Image



Chanel on work...

Image



The front needs some attention...nothing serious...I think!



Image



Image



Now another discovery...the original blue again...

[/img]https://s10.postimg.org/494bkznt5/IMG_2 ... 120030.jpg[/img]



Image



Image



Engine and gearbox...nothing to worry...luckily,,,



Image



Image



Image



Image





And that's it for now!!!



Image





This week I'll have some more news...



Hope you enjoy it!!!



Regards

Mário

datsunbat
Posts: 16
Location: Portugal

Post by datsunbat » Mon Feb 05, 2018 9:02 am

Post up to date!!!

Now it's in real time!

Tomorrow I'll get some more photos from the resto...

Hope you enjoy it...the car looked fabulous...but it wasn't!!!

BRONZEE
Z Club Member
Posts: 7200
Location: Auckland

Post by BRONZEE » Mon Feb 05, 2018 6:43 pm

Good to see you're making a thorough job of the restoration. 8)
Next - Z Club events:
= Check out events page here or our Z Club NZ Facebook page.

User avatar
nustad
Z Club Member
Posts: 551
Location: Auckland

Post by nustad » Mon Feb 05, 2018 7:58 pm

Thanks for sharing - as you say a good time to restore given what you have found. Liking those rare Datsun wheels!
72 240z plus bits

merlin
Posts: 189
Location: Auckland

Post by merlin » Mon Feb 05, 2018 9:44 pm

Good progress. It looks like a really good car already so it will not take too much $$$ to restore

User avatar
240znz
Posts: 254
Location: Christchurch

Post by 240znz » Tue Feb 06, 2018 8:57 am

Some good work being done.

The white foam mat like pad you peeled off the underside of the cowl is there to stop it vibrating when you drive at speed. Ensure you put a closed cell foam back there.

Looking at the state of the floors, I’m surprised the outer sill hasn’t been removed yet as rust often works from behind just like what you see on the inside of the doors. The rear doglegs have three layers of steel in there and with minimal rust proofing done, are very good areas for rust to develop.
You can buy most of these replacement panels out of the US and this could save you time and money. You panel guy may need to trim to fit but new steel for what you are doing is perhaps a good idea?

Looking forward to the next update.

Love the 2door 1200. Quite rare.
Zed NOT Zee

12/70 HS30-00352
1973 240Z rust car

Post Reply