g8jka - 2.8 Roadster Progress Journal

[g8jka]

After owning my 99 2.0 for over 6 years I always keep an eye on what the prices are doing, especially the 3.0 litres as one day I would maybe be looking to upgrade. This day would be a while a way as I was never planning to sell the 2.0 and the prices of 3.0 litres only seem to be increasing. Anyway I stumbled across a cheap 2.8 with a starting bid of just £1550, which was a facelift on a W plate with less miles than my current 2.0 and also in titanium silver. I mentioned it to my dad and he told me to go and have a look and maybe it would go fairly cheap and be a decent upgrade. So I went to see it with a view to putting a silly bid in of around £2300 before the auction ended, with no realistic hope of it going that cheap. It was under a cover, absolutely filthy and the owner hadn't really driven it due to health reasons but it all looked straight and he took me out for a spin in it. He opened it with the key and didn't want me to drive it as I wouldn't be covered with fully comprehensive insurance. The roof was mouldy and sealed closed with some horrid rubber patches to stop leaks so he didn't want to open it. It sounded good, ran and pulled well despite the temperature gauge staying pretty low. It had just been through an MOT with 2 advisories on pitted front discs (probably through lack of use), so I thought it's worth a punt and I was going to offer him £2000 as I was there and I had nothing to lose, until he said he would take £1700 for it so I snapped his hand off. Bonus was it's got a hardtop fitting kit which I don't need so that will be sold closer to the winter.

The specs are very basic, standard leather seats (not heated) 16" wheels (4 new tyres), orange lenses etc but almost the same as what my 2.0 started off as. As I hadn't tried the roof it wasn't long into the drive home before it was down and it was fully functional as it should be. Finally arriving back it was straight out with the pressure washer which took most of the mould off the roof and cleaned up the bodywork plus a new battery was fitted into the key, allowing the central locking to work.

A couple of pics next to my 2.0

Mouldy roof

Much better

The whole car needed a really good clean as it looked like it hadn't been done in a long time, so it good a good wash, clay and then I hit it with the DA polisher. This was able to show me if and what defects were on each panel. It polished up quite well.

More to follow, I've had quite a busy couple of weeks already!

 

[t-tony]

Looking forward to following your progress mate. Wish I could find a car like that locally.

Tony.

 

[Eddie Zedder]

Looks like you have got a good buy there

 

[Low Rider]

She looks lovely now and what a difference in the roof.

 

[Grumps]

I'll shall be reading with interest.

 

[DavidM]

I'm looking forward to seeing how you progress with this one - good purchase - good luck!

 

[BMBabe]

Awesome what a great price looking forward to seeing what you do

 

[Shelly]

What a bargain you got @g8jka
Intresting thread
Can't wait to see what your Z looks like when your finished
The roof has come up a treat
Well done

 

[Lee]

Do a full body swap

Looks like a solid car to start from the ground up.

 

[g8jka]

Do a full body swap

Funny you should say that actually...

 

[Davyhoogy]

It just amazes me how people don't really feel the need to care for their cars! Just on those pictures alone I bet had he spent 2 hours cleaning it, you would of been thinking £2500, £1700 is a steal!

 

[g8jka]

So after polishing the car to see what the defects were I decided that I wasn't happy with most of the panels on the car as almost all had some sort of defect. Just looking at the car it is perfectly fine and respectable, despite the passenger door having a dent a few inches long. The rear bumper was coming off anyway to swap it over for the aero one and front one was easier to swap the whole thing over rather than taking off my rieger lip and refit it to the standard bumper. I removed the spare wheel carrier whilst I was there as the wheel was useless and I never carry a spare.

But, I got a bit carried away after that

This gave me a good look underneath the panels for corrosion and I was quite surprised really at how little there was. I cleaned it all up and ground down the rusty parts (front of sills as usual and a little under the filler cap) and treated them with kurust. The bracket at the rear of the car to hold the exhaust in place was also loose so I reattached it with new nuts and bolts.

Then the whole thing was treated with underseal to stop it from rusting in the future. I did underneath every panel that was off and underneath where the front and rear arch liners sit.

I decided I wasn't 100% happy with most of the defects on the car and the panels from the 2.0 were better, even though they are not perfect, so the decision was made to swap the lot. That way I also knew that the colour match would be spot on with both cars

Almost a naked zed, before swapping over the bonnet and doors (the ones that needed 2 pairs of hands!)

I sprayed the arch liners in satin black as a couple of them had some silver overspray on them from a previous repair and also the bumper mesh, number plate holder and fog light blanks plus the front under tray whilst they were off. All the panels are back on now and its finally driveable after a few weeks off the road.

Wheels have been swapped over and next up is the suspension and front brakes (300mm ones off my 2.0 and standard ones will go back on that). Also all of the interior like the seats, steering wheel, roll hoops, centre console, speakers etc. Its going to be a busy week to get it ready for zedfest next Sunday!

 

[Lee]

That's a mammoth task. Keep the pictures coming

 

[Grumps]

Blimey! Interesting thread this. I bet it's going to look exactly the same as the 2.0 when it's done and vice versa! Is it a game of swappsies!

 

[g8jka]

To be fair swapping over all the panels has been straight forward as they all bolt on and off. The boot lock swap was straight forward, putting the wiring back in is a little tricky but probably only took me 10 minutes. The interior is going to be pretty simple its the wiring of the ///M gauges, speakers and cameras that will take the time but as I've done it before it shouldn't be too hard. I've swapped over the rear lights to the clear units and have the headlights to do but again that's straight forward. The door lock looks like its going to be a bit harder but luckily its only the drivers door that needs doing.

It will look exactly the same as the 2.0 did as I don't have the funds to do further upgrades but then I don't want to change anything, as I had that one looking exactly how I wanted to. The only difference will be the bigger lump under the bonnet and that will get the manifold upgrade eventually.

I just had the new stainless steel back box fitted not long ago and from what I have read they use the same system so hopefully this can be swapped over to save cutting and welding the pipes again on both cars.

 

[Grumps]

And with your plate on you could well be fooling a few people!

 

[DavidM]

A very thorough job - great work, in particular the undersealing! Is this Z a keeper?

 

[g8jka]

Yes it's a keeper, didn't think I'd ever sell the other one though.

 

[GazHyde]

Definitely the right call switching all the body panels over. Really interesting progress thread for sure!

 

[g8jka]

There isn't really a lot wrong with the panels that came of the 2.8 just a couple of poor touch ups and a dent in the door. I just wanted to make sure the colour match was good on both cars save mixing and matching.

It probably would have been easier to swap the engines over but then there is the hassle of informing the dvla about both cars having an engine change and the vin numbers wouldn't match etc. And it's more fun doing it this way!