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I have rot on the same spot in my passenger fender that I didn't get a chance to fix before leaving home. Driver side was perfect strangely. I tried fabing my own patch panel, but with the way the bottom side requires extra work to get it to bolt to the rocker I think I'm just gonna give up and send a tabco panel back home and have my dad swap it.It'd be much easier too. One cut and a straight line weld. Definitely easier than any of the work I already did on the rockers, rocker ends, and rear lower quarters. 

 

tl;dr: buy a tabco panel for the fender, unless you're really good, or plan on just covering it up (rust always comes back)

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I can't see a picture of the exact threaded insert your looking for, but hit up grainger, fastenal or mcmaster-carr and look for nut inserts, rivet-nuts , j-nuts or panel fasenters. They'll have any thread you could want.   I think Harbor freight might even have a cheap threaded insert kit with the tool, yep here's a link; down side to this kit isit is for standard and not metric threads so you'll have to change hardware.

 

Nut inserts in my experience tend to spin in their mounting holes if you try to tighten them down to much, so if it's something that requires a little muscle I would use weld nuts (little flat threaded tabs you can spot weld on the back side) or tack a regular nut to the back of what ever you are installing.

I'm using nuts much like the first ones you mentioned for my flares, but I think weld nuts are really close to what I'm searching for. There are some these square inserts that you put in slots that can be opened up and closed and that's what the bolt goes into, it's like sliding those weld nuts into a square groove that hold it in place? ring any bells? if not, the weld nuts may be the second best option!

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I have rot on the same spot in my passenger fender that I didn't get a chance to fix before leaving home. Driver side was perfect strangely. I tried fabing my own patch panel, but with the way the bottom side requires extra work to get it to bolt to the rocker I think I'm just gonna give up and send a tabco panel back home and have my dad swap it.It'd be much easier too. One cut and a straight line weld. Definitely easier than any of the work I already did on the rockers, rocker ends, and rear lower quarters. 

 

tl;dr: buy a tabco panel for the fender, unless you're really good, or plan on just covering it up (rust always comes back)

yeah weird how that happens. I think the bondo on mine held the water in that was normally channeled through the grooves at the bottom right under the rust spot. they were both blocked off so rust was what I got haha.

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I can't see a picture of the exact threaded insert your looking for, but hit up grainger, fastenal or mcmaster-carr and look for nut inserts, rivet-nuts , j-nuts or panel fasenters. They'll have any thread you could want.   I think Harbor freight might even have a cheap threaded insert kit with the tool, yep here's a link; down side to this kit isit is for standard and not metric threads so you'll have to change hardware.

 

Nut inserts in my experience tend to spin in their mounting holes if you try to tighten them down to much, so if it's something that requires a little muscle I would use weld nuts (little flat threaded tabs you can spot weld on the back side) or tack a regular nut to the back of what ever you are installing.

 actually, buckeye fasteners does have these things called retainer weld nuts! that's exactly what I'm looking for, you're the man!

 

here's a link for everyone

http://www.buckeyefasteners.com/nuts/floating%20nut.aspx

Edited by Jboogsthethug
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Glad you figured it out man!

yeah definitely glad to get that problem figured out! thanks for the help!

 

 

so today, I had a friend of mine who also has a 71 240z bring his over. He has a v6 swap in it and it is mean! I'm a purist in the sense that I could never bring myself to put a v8/v6/american engine into it, but as far as japanese swaps I am completely fine with. Maybe I'm just contradicting myself. anyways, off the purist rant, it was fun to get in a z again and ride around. We compared z's and I showed him the hole where the water came into my passenger side from the firewall. I've always just figured it was a rust spot, but after closer inspection we realized it was some sort of bullet hole from inside the car haha. I can only imagine what happened! I'll have to take a picture to show how the metal protrudes into the wheel well.

 

here are a few pics of his V6 swap! it was originally yellow but he rattle canned it black after the yellow started cracking apart. He wants to get it repainted, he's thinking about yellow or black, I tried to convince him black because I am not a yellow person.

 

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Later on, I borrowed a hoist from a friend's friend in Salt lake. Traffic was absolutely dreadful so it took me 2 hours and 45 minutes to go get it (normally a 30 min commute each way), but it was awesome of this dude to let me borrow it. I sent him a picture to show him it was put to good use. but my engine is out! now just the rear Diff to go and I'm going to get it blasted! I'm leaning more towards dustless so I'll review it afterwards.

 

here are the pics! I figured I had to post a picture of my brother, thanks for the help! it's always nice to have someone there even as moral support!

 

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anyways, more to come. I am so stoked for my z to get painted!!

 

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  • 4 weeks later...

Man I have been really terrible at updating this. I apologize! The past few weeks have been busy! I've completely torn the ole' Z down for blasting. I went with dustless thinking it would be less cleanup but sadly, it is probably the same if not more. The hard part was that basically it had the same amount of leftover material as sandblasting dry, but it was all wet and I had to wait for it to dry to take it out with a vacuum. I still haven't finished cleaning but that's how it goes! It tured out well enough though!!

here are some pics of the teardown and such!

 

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This is my friend's harley, he had his fender cut and got this trim stuff from a local oreillys I think, but I plan on  putting some onto my fenders so nobody loses a finger reaching up under there haha.

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Here is what the bottom corner of my rear fender looks like witha  little patch welded in, it was pretty much a gaping hole previously.

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this is what my cleaned and vacuumed interior looks like, figured I wanted to see before the blast and after (although the blaster literally never touched the inside, he also missed the complete underside of my driver's side, but he was paid by the hour and I got my moneys worth in other areas.)

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I also started taking apart the little things so I can get them each sanded and painted while my car is in the paint shop! It's the little things that count, right? ;) I also scrubbed my lights in the sink and they look much better now!

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Here are some pics of the blasting

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Afterwards, I decided to try out this rubberized undercoating from the sherwin williams auto store, it looks decent. I'm not completely convinced it's super strong but the guy there said it was good so I'm hoping. Anyone had any experience with this?

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Anyways. Yesterday I put in about 8 hours of work doing body filler stuff, no wonder they charge so much for it! it is a lot of work, and being as this is my first time I figure I put too much on but I will sand it down and get better as I go!

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On a  side note, I'm getting married on december 1st, yesterday she came and helped me sand the interior, what a babe!!

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today is a rainy day, so my z is all tarped up and I am going to spend my time today working on the little bits! I plan on getting the dash done this week, maybe even today. Wish me luck! and I'm sorry for the drought in posts as well as the primitive write up. I've been taking pictures but never had the time to post them, so now with the backlog I didn't feel like writing a ton. if anyone has any questions feel free to ask!

J.

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Any plans to get inside the windshield wiper cowl? Don't know how much rust you have hiding there - just pulled mine apart and it was full of rust around the heater vent. Just my ¢2. :)

I actually had the dude blast it out so it's pretty rust free, I'm going in with a hand brush to paint in there. I'm thinking a rubberized undercoating possibly as so much water will pass through it.

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Someone on here with a 280z recently did the coating thing under the cowl panel. Can't remember the build name. Car was painted some sort of Lambo orange/red. I'll find it later tonight if you haven't seen it so you can get an idea. I saved the pic at my home computer for reference because I liked the idea.

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Someone on here with a 280z recently did the coating thing under the cowl panel. Can't remember the build name. Car was painted some sort of Lambo orange/red. I'll find it later tonight if you haven't seen it so you can get an idea. I saved the pic at my home computer for reference because I liked the idea.

yeah dude let me know!! THat's kind of what I'm thinking, just reach in with a brush! I'll see if I can find it as well.

 

 

Looks nice! Congrats on getting hitched in a month!

thanks dude! we are stoked, I'm hoping to drive away in this, we will see!

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alright, so the past little bit on the crap weather days (there seems to be more and more with it getting closer to winter), I've been working on little pieces (as I stated in the above post). I finally got around to painting some. I tested the durability of the undercoating I bought with a wire wheel and I was happy with he results, definitely seemed durable enough! so, I used that to paint it!

 

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I also have gotten a bit more done with my car, and I'm getting better with spot welds!

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I also came across this dash repair thread

http://www.classiczcars.com/topic/22325-dash-repair-processpictures/page-1

thanks to my friend Terry's info, and I've been testing a few ideas off of it. I changed up the main repair material they used to somer evercoat stuff (also from the SW store) that is supposed to be good for plastic.

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used the great stuff to fill the gaps after grinding it with an 80 grit disk.

 

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after that I stole a guitar string off one of my old guitars and cut the extra foam off.
 

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sanded that down by hand..

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and spread on a mess of goo!

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I'll update more when I'm ready. the weather looks crap for the next few days so it's perfect for the small stuff. I'm going to coat it with bedliner for the texture, I've heard of a guy doing that and he was happy with the outcome, we will see!

J.

 

Edited by Jboogsthethug
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Yesterday I figured out block sanding a bit more, was doing it wrong, of course, but now this method should be easier. I'm a self employed filmer/photographer, so I have a lot of free time when I'm not working and I use every ounce of it on my car. I probably sanded 8 or 09 hours, but I had caked it on from the get go and didn't sand as I went which is where I messed up haha. I bought a harbor freight air block sander and that hopefully will help! Harbor freight can be really cool haha.

I finished the dashboard! I am pretty stoked with the outcome! You can see through the pictures the evolution. In all, I re surfaced the low spots 3 times with the body filler and then did 3 coats of bedliner (after the 2nd I sanded down just a bit to get rid of the slop).

 

partly sanded

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fully sanded

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wet paint

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a couple of sexy shots

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The detail, I liked the outcome

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this is the bedliner I used, anybody used it before? I've been told (after the fact) that it's not good?

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turned out pretty nicely! also, almost finished sanding down my doors, they are looking mighty fine and straight! I think I'm getting the hang of the body filler stuff!

as far as the body itself, I haven't had a chance to work on it for the past 2 days. It keeps saying it's going to snow then it doesn't. but tomorrow I'm going to crank out some work on it. I hope I am able to get a ton done! I also was able to paint the front wheel wells (after masking everything off) and I started on the top of the cowl. I keep running out of paint haha. I also had to grind down a bunch of body filler then start over so I could actually manage it haha.

 

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More to come! I've got 25 days to get her painted and put together! Wish me luck!

J



 

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  • 4 weeks later...
Sorry all for the lack of updates. I was working furiously in prep for my wedding so it would get done on time. I was definitely on time with everything, but while using a hand grinder to smooth out some welds, it popped back into my face and went through my lip. I then totaled my car on the way to instacare and got a ticket, it was terrible haha. anyways, after all that the doctor said i was no longer able to work on the babe until my face healed, and with the approaching deadline I decided to pay some friends to finish the body work and paint. things were still good and this is what it looked like when I dropped it off.
 

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I also dropped off my windows to the tint shop. all limo tint and 35% on the windshield, since it's a show car ;) Speaking of which, the rubber piece that divides the glass from the metal on these windows, what is that rubber piece called? I need a new one and haven't quite figured out the name of said piece.

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Speaking of windshield, I bought a new one from a place in layton, utah called precision glass, they do z's often and they will install my glass.
 
anyways, fast forward two weeks to when they said they'd be getting it done and they didn't touch it. they also left it outside, and told me it was covered when it was not at all covered and it was also snowing/raining here, so it naturally rusted. I found out and took my car back, and they had been nice enough to remove said rust. I've been friends with them for a long time so I'm not going to name names or anything, they do a good job with their work but it was upsetting. and since I took it there instead of somewhere else, there is no way to finish it in time for my wedding which is the day after tomorrow. it was a giant bummer because I've been working so much and have been fully committed to it since I bought it, and to have it not work out because somebody decided it wasn't important enough is not cool.

anyways, I'll have more time to figure everything out now. I'll continue to post updates as I plan to spend an hour or so each night after I get home from my honeymoon. it will take another month or so but hopefully will be done and back on the road soon. I really miss she feeling of driving it.
 
for good news, My tint came out great!! this is all of my windows neatly organized in my basement and what the tint looks like. I had a few tiny pocks in a few of the windows because I didn't think through things and welded next to them but I learn as I go.

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updates soon!

Justice.
 
also, check out this photo I shot of my brother's mazdaspeed3, I know this isn't a speed community but I thought it turned out rad!

15 10 KimmyK

 

 

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  • 3 months later...

It's been a bit, after my face mishap it got really cold, I lost motivation to go out in the cold and work on it and it was too cold for paint to dry or the body filler to settle anyways haha. Luckily, this week things have started to turn around and I'm stoked!! I went and bought my own engine hoist and I used it yesterday to paint under my car! I did the whole underbody with rubberized undercoating, adn I'm stoked with how it turned out. super rad stuff, this week I'm going to put the brake cables and fuel lines and the rear diff back in, it's getting closer and closer! I still have yet to paint the actual car due to everything but it will be painted soon hopefully! I also started assembly my window pieces, and I finally brought my engine up from my previous residence haha. I'll be able to clean it off and paint the block! more soon.

 

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  • 2 weeks later...

I forgot to post these, a day or two after painting I got under there, installed the fuel lines and brake lines and the rear diff (after trying to clean it off as best as I can, although I plan on changing out the diff and a arms, etc. so I didn't worry about painting them or anything.) I'm going to need to go back in and replace the rubber around the lines but for now the old rubber will do the job just fine! I hope to finish body work this week, wish me luck because I've been saying that forever now hahaha.

 

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Also, I took a strip of rubber and made a gasket at the bottom of the window, the last one was pretty old and broke during the removal!

 

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damn dude! your freaking lip. holy crap. Those grinders are nasty. I've seen a bunch of injuries with those things. I've been using them for over ten years and they still scare me. Well I'm sure you'll heal up and the little scar will make for a good story. Great work on the Z!

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damn dude! your freaking lip. holy crap. Those grinders are nasty. I've seen a bunch of injuries with those things. I've been using them for over ten years and they still scare me. Well I'm sure you'll heal up and the little scar will make for a good story. Great work on the Z!

 

Haha they can be pretty gnarly, I just used one for the first time since the accident a few weeks ago, it was pretty nerve-wracking haha. Thanks for the encouraging words, I can't wait to drive it again!

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I am so over sanding, it's not even funny. I still have so much to do, it just never ends. I need to pick up some sanding material as well, I'll have to do that today sometime. My wife got some pictures of me modeling ;). I should probably get an actual dust mask, but so far the rad has done pretty good actually.

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ANybody who wants to hire me for any modeling shoot can get ahold of me here...

I've also been finishing up the body work on the passenger rear panel, I Think I'll be 100% done with that today, so then I'll need to finish the bumper and I'm done with the shell's work and just need to finish the pieces after that, which I'm pretty stoked about! 

I also finally got around to deep cleaning the inside of my cowl. After the Dustless blasting there was still a bunch of material that had gotten stuck to the walls inside the cowl, I went in with a toothbrush (My wife's Idea, I couldn't find a wire brush) and I scrubbed the walls and corners on the inside, as well as behind the air duct, and I'm goning to try and paint in there today too.

 

 

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gotta love the toothbrush & vacuum combo, makes you wonder why we don't have our own mini vacs for our teeth when we brush them  :mellow: what a cruel world.
 
 
more later!
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