Project Planning Basics

[DatsunDave]

Hey everyone,

In light of the fact that many projects start with an unorganized, unplanned and frenzied tear down followed by an ebay sale entitled "No time to finish...project car for sale", I'd like to lay out a plan for my project before touching a single tool in the toolbox. I don't want this to be me!

I am looking for some basic universal information on the steps / stages that every 510 project should include. Obviously if one project includes an engine swap and another keeps the original then the steps are different but we can categorize both into an engine category. With me so far?

I also know that some things will need to be done on some cars and not on others, e.g., rust repair (okay bad example...its a Datsun)

Anyway, I don't really know what order to tackle things and I am looking for some guidance.

Help.

[510ER]

well everything is going to be different for everyone... but what are you starting with and maybe we can point you in a direction... might not be the right one. Include what you have, what you want to do with the car, what your mechanical experience is, what your budget is, and every other detail that you can imagine. leave nothing out and pics speak 1000 words...

[thisismatt]

My advice is to do things in small steps that can be completed in say...one week or less. Don't have the car off the road for extended periods. Don't start that engine swap until you have all the pieces bought, paid for, and in your possession. Don't start a full restoration, paint job, or large body work job if you can't honestly say you'll be able to finish it by such and such a day. Once you pull the windows out you're really not going to want to reinstall them until paint and bodywork is complete.

[DatsunDave]

Thanks for the info so far guys. Very much appreciated.

I'll preface my question with I want to do a complete teardown and that if I do go with an engine swap I know that I will have to do the fabrication part of it before any paint goes on.

I guess what I am after is not specific advice on my project per se, although I do have a project. What I am after is a general outline of the right sequence of teardown, repair, and rebuild. I do know that depending on what customization I decide on will affect the project so I will take that into consideration and adjust once I understand the correct sequence.

Maybe this will help you help me:

I think I just pull the hood first, then the engine and transmission. I think I should then put the engine aside and work on the engine (assuming same engine going back in) while the car is out for paint (I won't be painting it).

From there I think I should turn my attention to removing the interior and then anything left in the engine bay to interior, e.g., wires, hoses, pedals, etc. I guess wires to the rear of the car would come out at the same time?

I think at this point the doors, trunk, and fenders would be removed.

Glass now?

Any remaining mechanical bits under the car? Brake lines, parking brake, etc.?

Now remove things like grills, emblems, windows, lights?

At this point I think I have a bare shell sitting on the suspension and wheels. Remove at this stage?

So...did I get that sequence right?

Now do I just reverse the process after each of the components removed are refurbished, replaced?
I am wondering when to paint what?

[thisismatt]

What does it matter what order the parts come off if you're going to take them all off? You'll be left with a bunch of parts and everything has a "this will be done right after I do this" clause attached to it, and nothing will ever get done. If you're going to take that approach, then I challenge you to take one part off at a time, bring that part up to finished product, THEN set it aside and go to the next part, working from non-essentials towards most essential. I speak from experience when I say I wish I hadn't started with a full teardown.

[510ER]

I second the above post from Matt... I started my full tear down planning on not doing anything major and putting it back together in a about a month.... Now im sitting at nearly 5 months and havent even started putting it back together yet

[DatsunDave]

Consider a complete tear apart in 2 or 3 days so I am not talking about slowly removing a part and refurbishing it, then another part and refurbishing that, etc. In a complete tear down, obviously all of it has to come off but there likely are things that make sense to be done before others, no?

I'm just looking for some advise on a logical order for tear down AND build up.

When actual restoration shops do this they must have some sort of general process that they follow rather than just jumping here and there.

For example, do I paint just the engine bay then install the engine then paint the rest of the car or do I just paint everything and then start assembly. I've see a variety of different things painted at different stages of build. I've seen cars painted assembled (obviously without things like windows, lights, etc.) and I've seen them painted in pieces, bla, bla, bla.

[defdes]

Motor first out, glass last in. Everything else is pretty much up to the builder's time space and thought process. I painted my engine bay 1st (after entirely stripping the car), installed the motor, then painted everything else, but that was because I pushed the car sans doors glass and all bolt ons to a body shop down the street for final paint. He gave it all back to me finished, which I pushed back to my place for final assembly.

[qwik510]

Since I have just started on an engine swap in one of my 2 doors, I will chime in.

I have been planning my swap for about 3+ years. While the car was stock, I took note of the things that needed repair and got everything up to proper working condition. Brakes, cooling system, shocks, etc. Then I enjoyed the car while doing the research for the swap and collecting parts. My plan was not a full teardown and rebuild. I only planned to pull the stock motor and trans, clean up the engine compartment and install the VG30 and 5 speed, new cooling and fuel delivery systems and 280zx brake upgrades.

Well, plans change. After pulling the motor, I decided that I can't do a nice engine swap with a shabby looking engine compartment. So now I plan to paint the engine compartment. That means pulling everything out. Steering column, brake lines, brake master cyl, etc. And why not relocate the battery at the same time. I promised that I would not get hung up on the "while I'm at it syndrome" but here I am, 3 weeks later, doing just that.

Getting back to your questions, if you plan a complete teardown and rebuild, the order should be like this:

1. Set out your goals for the project. Will this be a street car only or will it see time on the autocross or racetrack or will this be a dedicated track car. Once you determine your intended uses for the car, plan out the upgrades you want to do. Do you plan for a big brake swap, suspension upgrades, rear diff swap, cooling system upgrade, etc.

2. Figure out a budget. Once you have done this, double it. Seriously, even if you are very realistic about it, it will come in about double.

3. Research - What suspension, brakes, cooling system, etc. will you use? Where can you source it? How much will it cost? Will it work with the other components you plan to use?

4. Make a list of all of the parts and components you will need.

5. Collect all the parts - Gaskets and seals, replacements for damaged parts, etc.

6. Draw up a time line - I will pull the motor and strip the car by_____________. I will get the engine rebuilts by _____________. While the engine is being rebuilt, I will clean and paint the engine bay by________________. etc, etc.

7. Make a list of the many small projects. The overall will seem very overwhelming but if you can work on smalll projects and start checking them off, it will keep you going for the next one.

As for the exact steps for a complete teardown, no one can list all of these for you and even if they do, things will come up to throw off the order. I tried to do this for my swap and it was useless.



Just make sure you are very organized and you label and box or bag all of the parts you remove as you remove them. If you leave things unlabled for more then a week or two, you tend to forget what they belong to. I use a sharpie, gallon and quart sized ziplock freezer bags and masking tape to lable everything. I bought several clear plastic storage boxes to put all the stuff in.

Take your time, stick to your plan and your budget and take a break when you get tired of working on it. Come back to this website and look through the projects section to keep you motivated.

Good Luck,

[hang_510]

I have been planning my swap for about 3+ years. While the car was stock, I took note of the things that needed repair and got everything up to proper working condition.

Well, plans change. After ....
I promised that I would not get hung up on the "while I'm at it syndrome" but here I am, 3 weeks later, doing just that.

not only do plans(life) change, but ive moved twice as well.
also had bought and sold 2 510's inbetween cant kick the habit

its been hard to stick to some of the decisions ive chosen, but once the $$ spent its harder to go back.

also, choose who you get to do the work your not going to VERY carefully. this has been the biggest PITA for me. friends (nobody on here )


"while im at it" has taken me 3 years...
plan accordingly

what was a blown head gasket has turned into a full restore, w/upgrades (courtesy of well placed crowbar shots)

[510rob]

I'm going on 15 years with my project. A lot has chanced in that time. I've had to keep my plan somewhat flexible.

[510-Trevor]

The order you do things is not really important unless you have structural problems with your car, those always come first. From there, I would go to the suspesion, steering, and then brakes. Followed by the drivetrain, then any paint/bodywork and finish with the interior.

Plan as many small projects as you can with the goal to have the car drivable after each small step is complete. This will take more to finish as a whole, but will help keep the car on the road and your mind on the task at hand. Small steps also cost less to complete which usually helps to keep the project rolling. Stick to your plan.

I too am an example of how not do things. In 1998 I rented a garage to replace the shocks and strut inserts on my 510. While I was removing the shocks I noticed how bad the exhaust was, so it came off as well. If I'm doing the exhasut I might as well drop the crossmember and enlarge the opening for a big exhaust ..... in 2002 after many new parts zx struts/brakes, rabbit rad etc and still not complete I sold the car to friend. It took him another 2 years to get the car back on the road, then it took me 2 years to convince him to sell it back to me. From now on, its all baby steps.

Last bit of advice, if you already have the money in the bank to perform your mods, its always cheaper to buy than to build.