It’s about time we get this thing all sewn up! It’s been a metal working adventure to get to this stage, but now it’s on to the key part of the process to get this Porsche looking as good as new, if not better! If you haven’t seen them yet, go ahead and feast your eyes on Part 1 and Part 2 of this build blog.
There’s still lots left to do! Once the body work is finished, the car will need to be reassembled and polished, and a few tweaks to get this thing on the road, and we’re off. Let’s get stuck in!
We’re back here with Part 2 of our 912 build blog! In Part 1 we showed how this project looked when it got to the shop and got started on metal work. If you haven’t checked that one out yet, go have a look!
On this episode of Fixing Rotten Old Cars we’ll be focusing entirely on the metal work, of which there was quite a bit! Lots of holes to fill and patches to make to get this vehicle back into one piece of solid steel. Not much to say about it, so let’s get to the pictures!
Having the rear seat pans and parcel shelf replaced should add structural rigidity
As the great poet DMX once said: “Here we go again”. Yep, we’re bringing another derelict back to the land of the living. This one even came to us with flat tires, what a gem!
Though this car already had 911 badges on it, it most certainly did not start its life as one. That being said, the previous owner had installed the correct 911 dashboard, so at least that’s something! This build needed a new (old) drivetrain and fresh interior, but most importantly there’s a whole lot of rotten metal that needs to be dealt with. Without further ado, feast your eyes on this one!
Welcome to Part 3 of this build blog! If you haven’t read Part Two or Part One, you should definitely give those a look first. There’s lots of stuff to see in this build process, and is worth looking at! This part of the blog will have a particular focus on body work. As with any custom build, getting the body perfectly straight and everything gapped nicely can be one of the more painstaking jobs. It’s not what one would call a ‘sexy’ job by any stretch, but it can make or break the end result of a build like this.
With that said, there are still a few loose ends in the mechanical and fabrication department to tie up, so you may see some images showing that sprinkled into the gallery here and there. Without further ado, let’s get to the good stuff!
We’re back with part two! If you haven’t read it yet, you should definitely go back and check out part one first! In part two we continue with fabrication work, stitch welding, exhaust fab, and we’ll get started on finalizing the engine!
This tank will need to be modifiied for fuel injection……and it needs a bit of TLC as well
There’s no shortage of work to do on this one! There are always unique challenges when it comes to adding modern technology to a classic car, and this 240Z is no different. Some things can be chalked up to experience, but every now and then you’ll find a surprise that needs to be dealt with! Let’s have a look!
This one has been a long time coming! COVID lockdowns feel like a whole lifetime ago, and yet that is where this build got its start! Of course, the state of the world at the time made building a custom car a little more challenging; whether it was delays on parts, some vendors being locked down, and others that never reopened. Thankfully, we were able to keep pushing, continue making progress, and now it’s complete!
Let’s roll the clock back a bit though, and see how this all got started. This Z was actually originally purchased in 2018 as a parts donor for another Z that we were building at the time. We were in need of a clean, original gas tank among other things, and this car fit the bill. It wasn’t the cleanest 240, by any stretch, but the parts that we needed were in tip-top shape.
As much as this car started as a parts donor with us, it was still clean enough that it absolutely had a future build waiting for it. Fast forward to 2021, and we were ready to start digging away at this thing! Obviously we’d need to do some bodywork. The car may not have been completely rotten, but the Southern US sun had literally baked some of the paint right off the car, which had caused some surface rust to form in various areas. And of course, like many Datsun 240Zs out there that are still alive, this one had been in a minor collision or two.
So, what was the plan with this one? Put simply: we wanted to build the ultimate driver’s 240Z, while maintaining street drivability, and a pinch of custom comfort. Sounds easy, right? This build would be anything but. When all was said and done however, we feel that we accomplished our goal! Let’s not get ahead of ourselves here though, the first thing was to strip the car, and get rid of anything that we didn’t need (which was a lot). Once that’s done, it was onto some metal work! Let’s dig in!
In case you were getting really used to us restoring rusty old things, we can quote Monty Python and say ‘Now for something completely different’. This is a unique project in that this 1957 Chevrolet Bel Air has already been resto-modded. Quite thoroughly, in fact!
Definitely not what you’ll usually see as a base for us to work with here! Not only has it already been modified, but this thing hardly even has any miles on it!
Not a speck of rust on it! Not only that, but the underside is fully painted and pinstriped. Somebody really went to town on this thing! As nice as this ’57 is there were a few questionable decisions, and some parts of it that left our client wanting a little bit more. We’ll be swapping in a LS3 crate motor, as well as updating the interior. Without further ado, let’s get to it!
Clamping the hose to the hardline installed this way is not ideal
The good ole master under the floor. Would be fine if it wasn’t leaking.
Everybody has their ‘Top Ten’ list of favourite nostalgic Japanese cars, usually filled with gems like Toyota Supras, Nissan Skylines, and Datsun 240Zs. Another likely member of that list is the Mazda FD RX-7, and with good reason! The Mazda RX-7 of the 90s has an iconic shape, an iconic engine, and pop-up headlights. Maybe also worth mentioning is that the FD RX-7 was practically new when Gran Turismo 1 was released, ushering in a new generation of young car enthusiasts who would want these silly things 30 years later.
Thing is, it seems that the folks who owned them 30 years ago didn’t realize that anybody would want them in the future. So many of these JDM icons wound up in a barn, or in a field somewhere, or just in somebody’s garage collecting dust. We’ll never know how many get brought back to life, or at least have their lives extended, but we do know that this particular RX-7 won the lottery when it comes to getting its life saved!
It may not be the most rotten car in the world, but she’s pretty rough. This is another of those that was finished out-of-house, so unfortunately we don’t have any completed photos of this build! Nonetheless, we thought it’d be good to share some of the process of fixing what was once a very rusty RX-7! Let’s get dug in!
Imagine you bought yourself a new Porsche 911, but you couldn’t get it from the factory with the exact spec you wanted. What then? The answer is obvious of course: just remodel it yourself!
The majority of the parts that make a Dakar 911 unique are actually available to purchase from Porsche themselves. That being said, there is still a fair bit of custom fabrication required to get the job done, and we added a bit of our own custom flair to this one as well.
Rather than going with the full off-road suspension, we opted to design our own lift kit. That, along with a custom skid plate and custom “brush bar” makes for a good little bit of metal fabrication work! Without any further ado, let’s get to the build gallery!
Our colleagues over at Uptown Autosport reached out with a fun project that needed doing. They had a Jaguar XJS that they had done a lovely LS swap to, but the body needed some help. We couldn’t pass up the opportunity for a unique project, so we brought it down to see what we could do. They weren’t kidding, this body really needed some help. Serious help.
We couldn’t tell if the molded in body kit was made at a shop, or in someone’s home garage, but it was extremely rough. It really seemed like someone had put a tremendous amount of time and effort into it, but their end result was less than desirable.
That’s where we come in! The job is to fix the previous bodywork as much as possible, as well as finish the areas that are incomplete. When all is said and done, we’ll spray on a charming coat of Glasurit paint and send it packin’! Without further ado, let’s get to it!
Cardboard may work in this situation, but probably isn’t the best choice.
