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very nice. Though I'm not there yet, i was thinking when I put my floor in, to let it run up inside the trans tunnel, use a few cleco's to hold it, then make my final cut just below them through the tunnel and new floor at the same time so I get a nice tight fit. My problem was how to hold it in place after that, looks like i'm making a bunch of little brackets for the cleco's like you did  :2thumbs:

 

I've also been re-watching one of my favorite youtube series, "project Binky" to get myself hyped up. It also makes my 240 look like an easy fix....

 

 

Edited by kevbo82
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Beautiful work as always, would mind mentioning what you Mig set up is, wire size, settings and that sort of thing?

Thanks

Not a problem. 

When I am using MIG welding on sheet metal, I use the the wire and size wire as pictured below.

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For gas, I use Argon Carbon Dioxide mix, as pictured below. I usually have my gas flow set around 20.

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My MIG welder is a lower quality inexpensive one that wont allow for fine adjustment, but gets the job done.  Id like to upgrade, but as of now there isnt a need. Depending on what gauge sheet metal I am welding, for instance if I am welding like my floor pans (the plug welds) 20g sheet metal to 16g sheet metal (floor frame), I had it set on dial 3 with wire speed of about 38-40. If I am welding a plug weld of 20g to 20g sheet metal, then I have it set to dial 2 with about same wire speed, maybe slightly less speed.  I dont know off the top of my head right now what each dial number is rated at, id have to look at the machines specs.  Depending on how many layers of sheet metal there are for a plug weld, I will max out the dial with a speed of about 45 or so, like when I welded the front frames to the engine bay, there were 3 layers, 16g, 18g, and 20g. 

IMG 2071

 
As of right now, I only use the MIG welder for plug welds to mimic spot welds, since I dont have a spot welder. Might be cleaner to weld the plug welds with a TIG welder, but I dont have the patience on a car like this.  Now for the welds like the floor pans to the tranny tunnel as pictured on the previous page , the long butt joint going the whole length on the tunnel, that was done using TIG Welding, pictured below is my TIG welder.  I need to stock up on gas nozzles for my 1/16 gas lens, dropped my last one and it cracked on me, so as of now I have to resort using a regular collet body, but I managed to weld alright with it.

IMG 2075

 

The important thing is to Practice Practice Practice before you actually weld in whatever panel your welding.  I did some practicing before I welded in the floor. Also you absolutely need to pay attention to the weld puddle, It will tell you what is going on.

 

Visit this site for great welding tips, dude is a master when it comes to welding.

http://www.weldingtipsandtricks.com/

very nice. Though I'm not there yet, i was thinking when I put my floor in, to let it run up inside the trans tunnel, use a few cleco's to hold it, then make my final cut just below them through the tunnel and new floor at the same time so I get a nice tight fit. My problem was how to hold it in place after that, looks like i'm making a bunch of little brackets for the cleco's like you did  :2thumbs:

 

I've also been re-watching one of my favorite youtube series, "project Binky" to get myself hyped up. It also makes my 240 look like an easy fix....

 

 

You couldnt had said it better with the Binky Project. I just love how all these videos of restorations is made to look so easy and effortless. 

 

Right on, glad I was able to help with your problem. Though the credit should be given to Lazze, im glad to pass this knowledge to others. That is a Ferrari 250 GTO one side of the car he is building just for art. Should check out his other videos too, they helped me out so much.

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Decided not to reuse the rear seat brackets, would of been to much trouble to try and salvage them. Not worth it to me, so I made my own and copied the design of the front brackets. The rear I made also kind of matches the original rear cross brace thats attached to both rear brackets.

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template made and fitted.

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Decided to cut off the length of the rear brackets here as pictured.

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Brackets loosely fitted in place to give you an idea of what they will look like.

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Close up side by side comparison of front and rear seat brackets.

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Holes drilled for welding.

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Figured this would be a good time to install the tie in plates that go underneath the rear floor near the tunnel side.

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Holes drilled for the plates in the floor.

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Everything primed before welding.

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All welded in.

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Seats test fitted

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Passenger seat slightly touches the ebrake.

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However when someone is seated, the cushion collapses in a way that the end of it distances is self away from the ebrake.

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Me testing out the seats wishing my car was done and driving, hehe.

IMG 2140

 

Thats all for now, time I actually get to work on those parts I blasted.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Thanks OPTaiva

 

Starting to get lazy with documenting things, hehe.

 

Filled in any rusted holes and sanded down on these parts pictured below.  Coated those parts I sandblasted for the seat belt mechanisms.

IMG 2314

Parts welded on. Gonna hold off on welding the tie in plates for the seat belt mechanism housing (not sure what their called) because I have plans to make some jack support braces later on.  The rear jack stand points will be in this area somewhere. Havent planned it out yet in details but will. Besides the tie in plates dont fit that great for some reason, most likely since everything I made wasnt an exact OE fit in order for the seat belt mechanism housing tie plates to fit perfectly. Also welded in the holes I drilled from removing the spot welds to the original transmission tunnel mounts.

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Well thats it for the interior, at least for now anyways.

Rear Tabco quater panel replacements.

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Though before I work on that, I want to get the front camber plates installed. Took me forever to figure out where I had placed them in this mess.

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Found them..

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Get alignments made for when its time to weld the camber plates.  Wanted to make sure first that the fire wall was same distance on each side, I just choose two points on the front end of the car.

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Marks measured and scribed.

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Rough mock up to see how it looks.

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Started with cutting out the bulge in the strut tower top plate using my plasma cutter.

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Another look at the camber plates I had bought from ZCCJDM.com on the strut tower.

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Discovered that they dont fit my Stance Coilovers.  Reason I think is because these are probably for the Megan coilovers. 

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Comparison picture of the camber plate to the stance camber plate. As you can see the bolt holes dont align, and the main center hole is to big on the ZCCJDM camber plate.

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The forth bolt wont go in, I can force it, but shouldnt ever have to force a bolt in

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So I decided to ditch them as I didnt like the fitment, too tight and loose in areas. Also bothered me that the preferred method of welding these plates on is to weld them on top of the sheet metal of the tower wall/cover and not directly onto the stock upper plate as this is thicker and more structurally sound.  But I guess that method was proven buy numerous of Datsuns to work. Plus I wanted a factory look for some reason.

Here is how I did it. Keep in mind that I will later on be adding in strut bar mounts. Havent thought about how I will do it, will need my LS1 engine in place to see how much room to work with, but hopefully after I get the strut bar mounts welded in, the camber plates will much stronger and more connected with its surroundings.

Played around with the idea of trying to make the stock top strut tower plate to work with out having to do a lot of work. Bad Idea, haha. ended up just welding a plate in to close up the holes and start with a fresh canvas.  Got to do things right otherwise you will get a crappy result.

Holes closed up with tig welding plates in of similar thickness as the stock plate. Made damn sure I got penetration all the way through, purposely gave my welds loads of filler rod.

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Sanded down.

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Made a template from the Stance coilover camber plate.

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Comparison to the ZCCJDM plate.

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Template test fitted on coilover.

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Though for full adjustment locked all the way positive and negative, added some tape on and cut it out, this will make sure I dont place the template too far in/forward on the tower considering the limited room to work with underneath the strut tower.

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Lines marked.

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Since I dont have the proper bits/tungsten carbide bits or whatever to make life easier in making an elongated straight hole, I opted for the drilling of multiple holes and then used a cut off wheel on my air dremel tool to blended in the holes.

Centers punched in for drilling.

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Checking the alignment one last time, always good to check constantly.

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Started with drilling the bolt holes first.

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Holes blended in.  Probably would of been cleaner with a thinner/smaller cut off wheel. Oh well, it works.

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Then off to work on the middle hole. Used a 1 1/2' hole saw.

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used my air belt sander (one of my favorite most used air tools) to blend them together.

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Coilovers test fitted.

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Finally coated with paint (for temporary purposes) and hammered down the lip of the tower wall cover or whatever you call it. Will need to spot/plug weld the lips later on, but will wait till I get the struct brace mounts figured out.

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Doesnt look like much of a noticeable change from stock...

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Thats it for now, stay tuned!!

Edited by disepyon
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  • 6 months later...

My Bad guys for the late responses and not updating. 

That was a brilliant writeup on camber plate installation.   Looks great too!

Thanks, however by all means, the camber plate will still need some reinforcing. Just a little thin for my liking even though the thickness is like that stock.

 

Bump.

Right on!

 

Some serious work put in here, good job!

Thanks

 

 

Since my last post, not much has been worked on. Been extremely busy with Work, though I probably shouldnt use that as an excuse. Just like saying, hey I dont have 30min to an hour each day for 3-4 days a week to exercise and workout. I did get the quarter panels cut out and welded in replacements. Some other small miscellaneous stuff too.

 

I try to get some pictures going and post them up soon.

 

Here are a couple of pictures of where the car is at now.

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IMG 0035

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