DTMAce's Z26 project - DD usage for the time being - 6-8-12

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DTMAce
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DTMAce's Z26 project - DD usage for the time being - 6-8-12

Post by DTMAce »

Intro:

Today I decided to revamp my thread. There are several glitches from past forum changes, plus I wanted to freshen and update many of the original photos since I no longer have dial up speed to deal with these days. SO. With that in mind, feel free to peruse the thread in its new entirety. I will be also including many never-seen-before pictures throughout the various posts! Now, on with the original content of this thread!




Just wanted to introduce myself, some of you know me from bstuff...

Anyways, my ride is a 94' z26 3100... :D  Going through restoration right now in fact, I hit a deer three weeks ago, it was totaled, but thanks to MI and State Farm I get to keep it and use the money to not only repair the damage, but will have enough to redo most of the car!

I have been putting up progress pics on bstuff, so may continue here with some of my work in the meantime.

These are the original pics of the damage from day 1, and I will list some of the follow ups as well: (Keep in mind, I count these days as the days I actually took pictures on!)

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Here are day 2 pictures!


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OK, those are the first 2 days of pictures that were taken of the Z after the deer impact! Enjoy the updates!
Last edited by DTMAce on Tue May 08, 2012 2:34 pm, edited 18 times in total.


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Post by DTMAce »

The car most of the parts came from.

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After I got back to the shop with my parts!

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Finally, at this point in time it is in the garage, I have torn down the rest of the front, removed the radiator, cleaned the engine compartment, removed the tailights, spoiler and in the process of removing the rest of the GEs and side trim, rear bumper.  Going to repaint the entire car and all of the pastics.  Then later pull the interior, fix any leak or rust areas, reseal and put in new carpet.

Oh, just a tally.  The parts I robbed from the base cost me 200 bucks.  A front bumper assembly from a 95 purple Z cost me 125. That was immaculate btw.  The paint and materials cost me 330 bucks.  I still have money left over as of yet even.  So far so good!

I only wish I had the money to pull the ALREADY MODIFIED 3400 SFI out of the purple Z that I got the bumper from.  Someone had put a 3400 IN IT!!  ARRGGG!  All the mounts and everything were already done.

OH WELL.

Enjoy!
Last edited by DTMAce on Tue Feb 14, 2012 2:14 am, edited 1 time in total.


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Post by Money pit Beretta »

Hate to see that happen to such a nice car. Glad that you are not giving up. Your parts car looks like it's in better shape than mine in some places.


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Post by DTMAce »

The part car was in a yard in WI.  I drove there last Sun and spent half of Monday tearing the parts off of it, and a few things off of a couple others in the yard.

Oh, the car would have to be way more damaged than this to set me back.  And if it was, I would have just gone out and bought me another one.  Found a Z in PA for 700 that ran, but needed work.

And yeah, it made me rather sick too.  Still is a nice car, but it will be even nicer when I get done.


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Post by Money pit Beretta »

Great! Can't wait to see it when it's done.


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Post by DTMAce »

No problem.  Will be tackling it all this week.  Will update as I go.


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Post by Money pit Beretta »

I'll be watching for updates. I know you have enough work to do, but are you going to do any mods? Man, that sucks on the 3400! This would be a great time to do it.


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Post by DTMAce »

I may make a visual modification, thinking about not putting back the Z26 decals, instead putting custom backlit logo right into the ground effects.

Just have to create a way to make it easy to do, yet OEM looking.  Going to a darker gray carpet for the interior when I redo that.

As for the motor, I know!  I just don't have the time or funds right now, though if I could have at least bought it and stored it for a spring/summer project that would have been fine.

The 3100 has been a strong engine so far, so will wait for now.


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Post by cramez »


(DTMAce @ Oct. 13 2008,20:26)QUOTEThe part car was in a yard in WI.  I drove there last Sun and spent half of Monday tearing the parts off of it, and a few things off of a couple others in the yard.
What yard in WI?  I'm still looking for more yards around here.  What were their prices like?


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Post by DTMAce »

They are out of Neenah...  Gibson's Salvage.  Nice place, huge!  They had when I was there around 15 Beretta's, including 3 Zs...

However parts on most of those are already gone.  Prices... EXCELLENT, if you get the parts yourself.

All the parts you see in the 3 pics below the base were from that yard.  All that for 200 plus tax.


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Post by Kyle Anderson »

Looking forward to updates as well

You bought this car new, right?


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Post by DTMAce »


(Kyle Anderson @ Oct. 13 2008,23:00)QUOTELooking forward to updates as well

You bought this car new, right?
Yep.  Purchased mid-April in 94', the manufacturer sticker states March 94' for its completion date, so less than a month old and only had 12 miles on it.    If I am not mistaken, I believe the 94' year models were not actually released until March of 94, correct?  When I bought this one, I never seen one before, and nor had anyone else.  Was a popular cruise car during the first year I owned it!

Now of course it has 212500 miles.  lol   Has been registered in 3 different states, and for about 4 years of that time it has sat doing nothing, mostly the last 3 years after I moved to Michigan.  It was in storage for most of that time though, not outside thank goodness.  I put it back on the road a month ago, then smacked a deer.  Figures.  At least it gave me the opportunity to fix her up nice.  Not to mention the funds.  lol

Start masking and sanding this week, hope to have her ready to paint very soon.


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Post by DTMAce »

Just a few updates for all of you...

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These were pics taken after I had removed the radiator and condenser.  I was mortified to find that I had a nasty oil leak, apparently from the tranny lines.  I had no idea it was this bad.  It had even caused half of the radiator to be plugged full of dirt, due to it.  Could never tell though till it was torn apart.

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A rear shot after removing all of the rear plastics and bumper this morning.  Again, annoyed that I had rust this bad on the rear end, but at least it is fairly easy to fix.

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I cleaned this just this past sat actually, but this is what it should have looked liked when I removed the radiator!  LOL

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Front and rear bumpers, ground effects and the replacement purple front bumper.  Just need to remove the covers, prep and paint.  The original front bumper is really trashed, apparently some of that oil leak also has been causing the inside parts and inner support to warp and come apart!  Good thing I am replacing it.

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Anyways, I have taken more pictures than this, but don't want to over do it.  Some time later I will assemble a full album and share it, when I get all this done.

That some time was today!

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Stay tuned!
Last edited by DTMAce on Tue Feb 14, 2012 2:39 am, edited 1 time in total.


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Post by Money pit Beretta »

It's just the radiator support that's bent, right? Doors open and close ok? Just checking to make sure that you don't need to have the body pulled out. I would hate to hear that you had it all back together and then you find that that it's not straight. Sounds good on the mods. Too bad there is not a Beretta Bank where we could get short term loans for needed work and upgrades.  My rear upper spring mounts had alot of shale rust. How are yours?
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Post by DTMAce »

Basically, the top of the core from the seam just before the driver's side corner all the way to the seam behind the passenger side corner, then down to the bumper shock absorber frame horn.  I have way more than that core cut from the base above that will take care of it.  You can see the core portion I cut in the pictures above.

Fortunately, I have contacts.  My father actually has 25 years in framework, not to mention more than that in body work, and various other things.  Some of it had rubbed off on me, but not all.  He is helping a bit, but I am doing the dirty work, or trying to.  We actually had to fix the rear end of this car less than a month after I first bought it.  I got smacked in the rear by an old lady that didn't see me and the 5 cars in front of me stopped.  Had to pull it a bit, put in a new rear cover and paint.  I was mad cause the insurance wouldn't replace the brand new car with another.  lol  Oh well.

We examined the framing and stuff, the doghouse is still square, the doors are just fine, and when I limped it to the gas station after the impact it still tracked the same.  Everything measures fine, we have to pull the driver's side fender in yet, it got pushed out by the hood we think (the hinge shoved the top out, or at least it looks that way) but that should be simple to pull back in.  Just sticks out about 1/4 of an inch past the lip of the door at the top and less at the bottom.  No biggie.

Basically I was lucky with the framing.  Sure bent the hell out of the hood and the passenger fender though.  As for rust, yeah the rear end has plenty of it.  Really bad on the muffler side, as if that thing contributed or something, though having a hole in the muffler doesn't help.  

Have that hole above that area in the rear trunk wall, you can see it in the pictures above, and plenty of shale rust in places, though not too bad.  Going to try to knock some of that down in the critical areas though.  Have to replace the gas tank, it has a leak somewhere above, if you fill it more than halfway.  But it seems to get gas to the engine fine, so I don't think it is a hose.

Any chance one of you have a front valence for a Z that is in excellent shape?  The part with the chevy logo for above the front bumper?  Let me know.


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