Hi everyone, unfortunately i have recently written off my car. I am currently undecided about what i want to do. The chassis of my car has been twisted & the left side suspension has been rooted.. I have found a rolling shell for a 300zx i can buy for $800 and i am thinking about buying it and moving everything from my car into the shell (all of the internals are fine). I was wondering if anyone has done this before, and if anyone knows a rough estimate for the cost. I will be able to all the work myself, i will just have to get my hands on an engine crane. I will then also have to get a blue slip & rego. Are there any other costs i need to think about? as money is a big issue in my situation. My other option is to part out my car, i recently completed a manual conversion so i have all the parts required for someone else to do the conversion if they desired to do so ( i know these parts are quite often sort after on the forums) I was curious as to what amount of money i could possibly make from parting out my car, its the last thing i want to do but it might be the best option considering i will be losing my licence at some stage. I would appreciate any advise from anyone who has been in a similar situation. Please let me know your thoughts.
I think its not a bad idea. If you have done a lot of work to your Z there is nothing worse than thinking you have to start all over again...I've been there before! Buying a rolling shell would be a cool rebuild idea because if you have the time and skill to do it yourself, you can take you time and really clean up the shell in and out as good as you can make it and start slowly transfer the parts from your's cleaning, restoring or replacing as you go....You can potentially build a better Z than before. It's risky parting out a Z...Depending on the parts/condition you have in it, you may only bring $2500 if your lucky and be left with odds and ends that'll just get thrown away...Only parts that bring you money would be the complete subframe, motor and gearbox. So what will you buy with $2500? not much....unless you got your insurance back? Oh... but re-registration would be annoying....but at the same time most Z's are sold without rego anyway so same same
depends how much aftermarket gear is on the car as to how much money wrecking the car will return. eg. stock na gauge cluster worth about $25-40 - if it had a aftermarket 300kph cluster its worth between $80-100 eg2 stock wheels with rubber $50-200 - aftermarket 17 or 18's with rubber $500 -$1200 depending on style etc. lots of stuff like that makes a big difference to the overall part out value.....
Thanks for all the responses, i will definitely have a deeper look in the rebuild. The last thing i want to do is get rid of my zed
I've decided to do the re-build, my mate is a mechanic and he reckons he get use the workshop over a weekend, that way instead of taking the gearbox and engine out, we can just lift the chassis off everything. I'm looking for some advise now with the re-build, things to look out for, any problems i might come across. I have been informed that the rolling shell has all the wiring behind the dash in tact. When i go and have a look at the shell what should i be looking out for? I will most likely have my mate there with me to check it out, but a more specialised opinion from someone whose knows 300s would be appreciated. Thanks/
Could you please explain what you mean by this? The Z isn't siting on rails like an old 57 chevy if thats what you think I suppose the rolling shell is just minus the engine and gearbox? possibly interior? Need more info on the rolling shell, some just require an engine and gearbox...job done. When you look at the rolling shell, treat it like any vehicle inspection. Obviously you don't want another crashed Z so lift up the boot carpet and check there is not ripples in the sheet metal, if applicable look behind plastic trim with a torch as you'll be able to spot side impacts if the dint was just filled with bog and painted. Check in the engine bay and make sure everything is straight and agin, ripple free/signs of poor repairs (mix-matched paint/signs of overspray).
Lift it up on a hoist... ...and drop the engine and gearbox. Easiest way to do an engine swap. The way he said it is confusing.
He's not... ...dropping his motor, gearbox and running gear into a shell? Well dip me in honey and throw me to the lesbians, I must be going mad.
What the heck man....now you're confusing me! He's wanting to transfer all his stuff out of his wreck to a rolling shell....He wanted to know what things to look for on the shell which is what I outlined.... I also said we need more info on the rolling shell as "some just require an engine and gearbox...job done." What did you find confusing about what I said?
Having tried both lifting the car off the engine and gb, and engine and gb out the engine bay, I will never again bother lifting the car off the engine and gb. Not worth the effort.
Nah no way! Its like those "big" jobs that have an alternate (faster) way of doing it. You go the alternate way of course but it ALWAYS ends up taking longer than the usual procedure. Tried the alternate way too many times and don't even think about it twice these days. When these cars were assembled in plant all the powertrain components would of been assembled onto a jig with locator dowels so as to line the body up as it is lower over the top. Not a hope in hell trying that otherwise
Yep - Undoing it is one thing, doing it up is a completely different thing....... Edzx If you have the time, is what it will all come down to! Consider running a invite day where you can get a few friends over to help with the bulk of it, this can help a lot, with the stress of it all. Where in NSW are you? JC
Hey mate, well from the sounds of things i'm not going to have much luck lifting the chassis off my gb and engine... I'm located in Pymble, any help would be greatly appreciated its a big job and some experienced hands would be great. I still havent bought the rolling shell as of yet, but im hoping i will have the project started in around a month. Time is one thing im not short of! i will lose my licence at some stage so i will have time to put everything together, i'm thinking about buying a few performance parts seeing as we will have the engine out. Thank you everyone for your responses so far, much appreciated.
