1967 Boomerang Resto-Mod - Utah

[UTBirdMan]

A day or two after getting the body off, I was able to get the rear end off without much drama. I also ordered a new wiring harness kit, it looks solid. All that was left was the engine, and as there was no body, it looked pretty straightforward. I had a stand, but no hoist. A quick search in online classifieds found one near me for $20 a day. Turns out the owner of it has a '72 Datsun 510 that he is putting in a red-top SR20DET, we connected, he didn't charge. Life is good.

This morning I had two of my sons help with the engine removal. There were no hoist brackets on the engine, so we carefully wrapped a ratchet strap cable around areas where there was plenty of leverage. The leveling tool that came with the jack was helpful. After removing the bolts holding the engine mounts and suspension mount, the engine lifted right off. The suspension was able to be removed without much drama, and with a quick internet search, I found a hack that made quick work of the flywheel. The flywheel does have a fair amount of rust, I'll have to address that before putting it all back. The engine mounted on the stand, again without any drama.

I am now at the point where I can start to clean things up and put things back. There isn't much left to tear down anymore. Photos below.

Rear End Almost Off.jpg

Rear End Off.jpg

New Wiring.jpg

Engine on Hoist.jpg

Rusty Flywheel.jpg

On Stand.jpg

[Stick]

Lookin Good!

[UTBirdMan]

Four month update

Summer has arrived, and where before it was too cold to work on the car, I’ve had a good number of too hot days. During the hot days, I did manage to repaint my calipers and drums. I’m now pleased with how they turned out.

Brakes.jpg

On Rack Outside.jpg

On Rack Outside 2.jpg

In June I had a surprise visit from Albuquerque who went on to be the 2024 Mt. Shasta Best in Show winner. He encouraged me to go to Mt. Shasta. It took about thirty seconds of convincing and I was already planning my ride out.

Visitor.jpg

I chose a motorcycle as my means of transportation there, which made the trip that much more fun. I camped one night each way there along Highway 50, affectionately known as the Loneliest Highway in America.


The Shasta trip was very beneficial for me. I met up with a lot of awesome people and was able to get some additional ideas for my car. One big win was the Miata seats. I went from “I’m not sure what I’m going to do about seats”, to “Must have NA Miata Seats”. The ability to recline along with overall comfort sealed the deal.

Shasta.jpg

Fresh from Shasta, I found some NA Miata seats in reasonable condition.

Miata Seats.jpg

I also found a body shop in California that would offload the body work from me. The next two months was general prepping for hauling the body to California, as well as getting ready to clean up and prep the frame.

Prepping Rack.jpg

Small Rack.jpg

Prepping Body.jpg

I had created a tall rack for the body, I cut that down to a smaller rack that would fit in a flat bed trailer. I also had to put all the body panels back on for the trip down. A friend’s 14’ flatbed trailer was secured and on August 9th, a Friday, I hauled it to California with our van. I ended up sleeping in the van, then after delivery, turned around and headed home. It made for an exhausting weekend, but now I have a few months to get the frame ready.

On Trailer.jpg

At Night.jpg

At Painter.jpg

[UTBirdMan]

Time for an update. Rather than bore you with a lot of words, photos will do the talking. Due to the size and number of photos, this will be split into two posts.

Frame 1.jpg

Frame was sanded, cleaned, metal prepped and then POR15'ed. Added another protective layer on top of the POR15.

Leaf Springs 1.jpg

Old leaf springs were nasty, the original fabric-ish buttons were shot.

Leaf Springs 2.jpg

Had to wear a mask to clean these up. My garage may never be the same.

Rear End 1.jpg

Rear end scrubbed and ready for paint

Rear End 2.jpg

Working on the rear hub / brake

Rear End 3.jpg

Rear end installed with the refreshed leaf springs

Rear End 4.jpg

Rear wheels are now installed

Rear End 5.jpg

Stainless 2" exhaust installed

Rear End 6.jpg

Working on the rear brake lines

Rear End 7.jpg

A lot of satisfaction in this photo.

Parking Brake Springs.jpg

Parking brake return springs were shot, after some digging, ended up sourcing some very close to size replacement from China via eBay.

Front Brakes.jpg

Front brakes painted and mostly prepped for installation. Note the new calipers and the various bolts for the 300ZX conversion.

Suspension Steering 1.jpg

Getting the steering and suspension components ready for painting.

Suspension Steering 2.jpg

Getting the steering and suspension components ready for painting.

[UTBirdMan]

Part two of my November 2024 update

Suspension Steering 3.jpg

Starting with the double wishbone. This took a lot of trial and error the first time around, by the time I got to the other side, it went quick.

Suspension Steering 4.jpg

Knuckle, spring and shock installed.

Suspension Steering 5.jpg

Caliper and rotors mounted.

Suspension Steering 6.jpg

Right side done.

Suspension Steering 7.jpg

Working on the left side

Suspension Steering 8.jpg

Another working shot

Rolling Chassis 1.jpg

Rolled out the garage on four wheels!

Rolling Chassis 2.jpg

Fred Flintstone here I come!

Retro 1-2001.JPG

Same frame, 23 years earlier

Retro 1-2024.jpg

Similar angle, but not on stands

Retro 2-2001.JPG

Same frame, 23 years earlier

Retro 2-2024.jpg

Not on stands, and my knees don't work as before. Front tie rod is backwards in the photo as the zerk fittings are facing back, already have fixed that and a few other things.

[spriso]

Excellent progress-- keep going!

[TobyMan]

NICE!

[notoptoy]

Looking great love the 23 year before and after pictures! Congratulations on your progress!!

[UTBirdMan]

I need to do a few more of these.

[S Allen]

Very nice progress. Looking good.

Steve

[GoldHawg]

Love it. You are almost just in the same spot as me. Hope we'll both be driving by summertime.

[UTBirdMan]

A few more updates. The engine is mounted on the frame, exhaust is all buttoned up. Intake side is still a work in progress, but should have the engine ready to be started again by the end of the month. I hope to let it run for an extended period of time to check for leaks and full test out my gauges. (Ok, not the speedometer, but everything else)

I'm using Classic Instruments Hot-Rod gauges, even went for their larger clock to replace the mechanical clock. I had to bore out the speedometer, tachometer and clock holes on the dash. I used a rounded file to do it. Took a fair amount of elbow grease, and the bores are not perfectly round, but no one will see that. I figured it was safer to slowly file them out, than mess up one time with a large hole saw. I think I made the right choice.

The body should be ready in March. I'm doing what I can to get as much in order as possible before then.

Photos and video below

Transmission.jpg

Transmission 2.jpg

Oil Pressure Sensor.jpg

Exhaust.jpg

Engine on Frame.jpg

dash.jpg

[notoptoy]

You are continuing with some really nice work!

[UTBirdMan]

Time for some more updates. This is more of a free-flow update, not much structure in the text. Things are starting to move fast now.

• The body should be ready within the next few weeks, so I'm doing what I can to make sure I am completely ready.
• Trim and bumpers from Vietnam have arrived, pleased with them.
• A new windshield is on order, vinyl for the soft top and boot has also been ordered.
• Mr.Mike's seat covers finally made it and I installed them, along with 3rd Millennium speakers and heated seat panels.
• After fighting a battle with my alternator, I had it tested at a local AutoZone, it was bad. A rebuilt one arrived last week and is now properly charging the battery. My alternator woes likely damaged my ECU and it stoped sending a negative signal to the harness relay, I have both a work around for that and another ECU on the way.
• The heater core has been tested and does not leak. Will need to reduce the coolant hoses for the heater, no biggie, will wait for the body.
• My Holley lidar fuel level sender blew up on me, they sent me another one, but if I were do it again, might just go for a simple $20 Dorman unit.
• Tachometer from Classic Instruments not registering yet, I've tried a few things, still have some more ways to test.
• Speedometer hasn't been tested yet for obvious reasons. Likely will need to get creative with that as with the tachometer.
• I'm running 6 gauge wire from the battery to the starter and frame, 8 gauge wire to the engine (ground) and alternator. My battery will be in the engine bay, so the 2 foot wires have plenty of overhead to handle the load.
• For coolant, as I will be doing a lot of work on the system, I have stuck to distilled water. Disposing of anti-freeze is a pain, I'll wait until the car is running before I put any in. I did pour in some coolant system cleaner, which is more like a soap. I figure that after who knows how many years, some cleaning of the lines won't hurt. My garage, even in the coldest days of winter, stays above freezing.
• I'm also polishing up as many of the old bits and pieces as I can. The front grill has been polished with the back plate cleaned and re-painted. Almost as good as new. Mirrors, light housings, etc are all in the process of being made shiny.

Photos and video below:

Fenders and Trim.jpg

Front Grill.jpg

Seats-1.jpg

Seats-2.jpg

Seats-3.jpg

[notoptoy]

Looking great, though I believe your front alignment is a bit off!
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