Zodiac

On another note :)
The 2 zephyrs I recently bought have now been joined by a Zodiac after a phonecall from a freind saying this car is going over the bridge now!! buy it I said so he did :)
With help from a freind we went and collected it last weekend and have since had a little poke about to see what we had.

turns out to be a very solid car :)


Some surface rust from being stood for a few years in a barn

biggest immediate problem was the seized rear axle :(
Turns out the PO had repainted the axle off the car but never refilled the oil in the diff, after being stood for so long it rusted up and the nose bearing disintergrated. So out with the old diff and in with one from the other cars so we could get the old girl off the trailer :)
At least this old girl comes with a sound system :)
Got her running for a few second by filling the float bowl with juice, will need some attention to the fuel pump :)

The original battery wasn't holding much charge though :/

front done

Bit forgetful on the camera front and when I do remember it the batteries die :/
but not everytime :)
Got the spanners out and replaced the steering idler bushes :)

All welds now painted and sealed ready for second coat

In replacing the front crossmember I lost the rad mount that was there as i couldn't get my drill in with the engine in situ :/
I decided it was easier to fab another bracket, a couple of pieces of the sills came in very handy :)
Front end reassembled now, fuel tank repaired and refitted so next attack plan is the rear valence and MOT :)

currently nearly naked :)

Had to undo a few bolts to sort the front crossmember :/

Found this in the inner wing under the battery tray :(

Front end

Sills now all welded, just a little trimming to do before paint and seal so took a look around for other problems.

Rear valence could do with replacement as it looks rough, not MOT item but it won't get better.

The front is a different matter. The front crossmember below the rad looked a little crusty so I had a dig and found lots of weevils :(
Didn't have my camera with me tonight so I brought a piece home :)

This is the underside of the crossmember where the suspension bolts too :(

And the inside was worse, the plate with the thread in is supposed to be right angle bracket for reinforcement!


After a bit of measuring I cut the back and bottom off so will start reassembly wednesday as I have a Scooby in tomorrow :)

Another toy

I bought a 65 Zephyr a bit back and soon after went to look at another for spares, he wanted too much as it was incomplete so I left it.
Then out of the blue he contacted me, he had sold to another guy but the courier company arrived and refused to take it as the passenger side strut was not attached so they couldn't drag it on the trailer.
So still having it sometime later and knowing I had seen it and knew what to expect he offered it at a lower price, I offered less again which he accepted so plans made we set off with a lot of kit including a strut from mine :)






Safely loaded and now nestling in my care :)

Not all stripping this weekend

Did manage a little welding to Datsfun :)

Inner sill drilled for plugs to outer sill..
Edge will be straightened after outer sill is in place.
Outer sill tacked in place with wide spaces getting closer until....



I could join em all up.
Outer sill is now in place with just the rear end lip to finish :)

strippers ahoy :)

We spent some time on the yellow Datsun today and got it ready for the yard :)

Plasma cutter was invaluable..


Chopped out several useful panels as well as the mechanicals..


does my bum look big.. oh wait :/
Both inner wing tops were in fair condition so we kept them..


The roof was also wanted so off it came, we managed to keep the glass intact which surprised us. We chopped the B and C pillars and cut as far as we could through the A's then lifted the back of the roof to break the bonded seal at the base of the screen, when it was part way off we could get a knife in and finish it off then lift the roof clear :)


Now ready to go to the fraggers in the morning :/ might be enough to cover the diesel :)