Took my Zed over to a mates garage on Tuesday to start on (possibly!) the final set of body mods before the respray. His dad, Mike, has always been into restoring cars and as he’s just taken early retirement he’s looking for projects to keep him occupied. So, I decided to forget using a bodyshop for the remaining bits and instead work with him and kill two birds with one stone!

 

After removing the spoiler on Tuesday and sussing out what stuff we needed, we got to work in earnest yesterday. We’d decided to chuck caution to the wind and go completely DIY on the tailgate, choosing to forgoe the normal routes of the Perspex panel or tailgate skin (which leaves a “lip” to the backend that isn’t quite to my liking). Sheet steel was cut out and tack welded over the central hole while steel rods were fixed to the lower boot edge to lessen the gap (the first rod that was welded in left too much of a gap so another was put in).

 

None of the aftermarket bumpers I’d seen had really caught my eye so I decided to have a go at modifying my existing one. The concept for the entire car has always been to keep it as “factory fit” and as smooth as possible so with this in mind we went about making the bumper look as if it was meant to house a single exit exhaust. Steel rods were again used to form a basic frame and sheet steel tack welded in.

 

After that we removed the rear wiper and the aerial, plated over the latter, then used an angle grinder to pair down all the welds.

 

The final job of the day was to put a layer of fibreglass matting over all the holes and some of the plate ready for the filler that will start to go on Monday.

 

Although I like Zeds with spoilers, now it’s off I much prefer mine without. Still in that scary “oh sh1t what am I doing stage” but hopefully by the end of next week it should start to look a bit more like! Should also say that all the welding was done by Mike as I'm cr@p at it! :D Will keep updating this thread with progress pics.

 

Cheers,

 

Leigh.

A few more photos...

Last one ;)

Looking good Leigh. How long do you recon it'll take before, this current stage of modding ;) , is finished?

And did you decide on what colour you was going for?

Looking good Leigh. How long do you recon it'll take before, this current stage of modding ;) , is finished?

And did you decide on what colour you was going for?

Cheers Dave :) All being well, (including smoothing over the headlight panel where the badge was) it should be done by the end of next week. Then it's a case of prepping her for the respray.

 

Sadly, it looks like I might have to leave off chopping and fitting the non 300zx kit I had for it as the money I'd get from selling it is needed for parts for the VH45DE engine swap. But it's not the end of the world as she should still look pretty damn good. :)

 

I've definately got a colour in mind! Going to post tonight to see what people think! ;)

 

Leigh.

...I've definately got a colour in mind! Going to post tonight to see what people think! ;)

 

Leigh.

PINK with YELLOW stripes???? ;) :rofl: :rofl: :rofl:

PINK with YELLOW stripes???? ;) :rofl: :rofl: :rofl:

See? Now you've spoilt it for everyone! :mad: ;) :D :rofl:

how's about using the journal for this? PS looks good so far!

:bow: Keep us all informed Leigh!!

 

Looking good mate

how's about using the journal for this? PS looks good so far!

That's a very good point! I'd completely forgotten about the journal! Will have a looksee...Cheers guys :)

Got the first rough skim of filler on today. Still lots more to do but it's starting to take shape :)

 

Leigh.

Been working on the car over the weekend and here are a couple of photos of the progress so far. After the coat of high build primer that you can see in the attachments I put a final skim over the remaining areas that need attention. The numberplate is on crooked so it's throwing the balance off but that will be sorted ;) Quite pleased with how it's coming along so far. Tomorrow should see the final dry flatting then it's onto the wet and dry...:)

nice job mate , looks good.

Looking good Leigh, keep up the good work, and keep us informed :D :bow: