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HybridZ

'77 280z resoration. KA in '07/ ls2 in '08


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Hey Hybrid Z!

 

I've been working on tiny project for the past 2 months, alot has been done this far, so I'll copy/paste everything over, and continue to add I go along. Questions or comments can go in my intro thread ~> http://forums.hybridz.org/showthread.php?p=745662#post745662

 

 

Hope you guys enjoy the progress and pictures!!

 

 

I shall call her... "Blinky" lol

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Took these before I started working on the front end today, of which is most torn apart at this point.. I'll take more pics tomorrow afternoon before I continue with more of the teardown

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Plans:

* Rotissarie restoration (Building the rotissarie at Mahany welding, then bringing it to the shop)

* Paint it blue, not decided on actual kind of blue

* Staggared, deep dish 18" wheels, maybe 17's in the front if I can get them that way

* just a subtle widebody

* shaved bumpers

* Black cloth interior, new rugs, seats etc etc. Havent decided if i want to do any fiberglass work on the inside of the car, but I'll probably end up making use of carbon fiber in some areas

* Engine wise,this year is all body, in the winter of 07 it will go back undet the knife for a gto engine.

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Spent some time at the shop yesterday tearing more apart. Used my girlfriends camera which didn't play well with the lighting ( if anyone wants to brighten these up that would be GREAT)

 

But first, in it's former glory, here is how she say the day I bought her..

 

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Driving it around the shop.... kinda

 

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Vroom!

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Yay for parts!

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Got a few new hands at the shop tonight and got ALOT of work done in such a short amount of time. (You guys rocked!!)

 

 

Z-Crew, part 1, Signing in.....

 

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Wh00p, clean metal!!

 

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Before we took the dash out, we noticed the air vents had duct tape on them. WTF. We found out why. There must have been rodents living in there at one point, EVERY air duct was absolutley packed with various leaves, dirt, etc etc. EWWWW

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'nother view

 

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Took the windshield out. I was really uneasy about the idea, and I said I wasn't going to, but it came out with out a hitch!

 

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Ah, a break

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Touch the Datsun if you like girls!! ( Hey Jordan, why are your hands in your pocket??)

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New frame rails, coming to a Dastun near you .. (they're actually pretty solid, haven't even started "honeycomb"ing, but, plans are to build a chassi

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They see me rollin', the hatin' ..

 

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And now a word from our sponsors.....

 

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...

 

 

 

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Z-Crew, Part 1, Signing out!!

 

From left to right ( jettaX7,88si, and hurleyint) Thanks again guys!!!!

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1/13/2007

 

Whelp, got more done at the shop today, this time with my own pair of hands (which worked out great, had to do some sandblasting on a pair or rims, so I was back and forth)

 

 

First thing on the agenda, the front suspension goes bye bye!

 

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Look ma, a new toy!!

 

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On stands and good to go! Front end near complete (got the front grill and the wires in the engine bay to yank out)

 

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Rollin wit da homies......

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I went to put the rear end on stands with the rollers, but couldnt set them on the rear end because that needed to come out, so the stands went as far back on the frame rails, and if you look closely, ya might realize that when I lowered the car on to the rear stands, I placed them in the EXACT balance point (on accident) of the car. The front stands aren't touching the car at ALL, it's perfectly balanced on the two rear stands lol

 

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So, to alleviate this problem, I first went for the gas tank . . . .

 

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Then the rear tires....

 

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Put all the tires on the front to weight it down more..

 

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. And there you have it! A day's work well done

 

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irst things first, get the gas tank out. PITA #1. Dropping it from the car was a piece of cake. Getting 30 year old gas lines disconnected, Hell.

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But we managed...

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Took the exaust out without a hitch

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Next on the list, the transmission. Didnt have much of a problem with this aside from deciding how to safely lower, or in this case, fall out of the car

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After yanking on my shaft for a little bit, it went a little limp...

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Went then started to tackle the rear end, aside from a little more tugging on some old bolts, things were going pretty smooth

 

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Untill we hit the brake lines, which I couldnt get disconnected for the life of me. If Matt weren't there I probably would have kicked a hole through car, but after an hour of frustration, we just left it hanging and called it a day. I figured I'd come back to it in a better mood, and it'll probably slide right off then

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Got a bunch of pics/updates from the work I did last night (Sat) Enjoy!

 

Finally got the suspension out, after I tore through the brake lines with an angle grinder, the rest was cake. I probably wont keep much of anything here,the swing arms will be replaced with a tubed 4130 or stronger, the Diff will be replaced with an LSD, probably from a late 80's Z, and shocks are goin in the trash or ebay.

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Relocated the jacks further back to evenly balance out the support for the car.

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Watchout!! The driver side jack tilted a little, just made a small adjustment and it evened it out. As this point I can tuck under the car and sit straight up again

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Plently of grime and surface rust

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A view from the back

 

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.. the front

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... and the side. Back is all done!

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Now went for what was left in the cab of the car. Got the steering colum out of the way.

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Wiring... sucks... balls. I probably could haave just cut through everything, but I decided to fish it out the right way, not 1 wire cut.

 

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The center console.

 

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Somehing had to be living in here at one point

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The blower

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THIS is why you don't turn on the heater/AC from a 30 year old car. Man I'm glad I didn't think to try.

 

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Hrmm, to die of cold, or die of suffocation

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The last one, i swear

 

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I think the car used to be white!!

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Who want's to go for a ride, I call shotgun!!

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This is the only major rust I have to work with, as it has to be completley replaced with new metal.

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Got ALOT done, spent about 4 or 5 hours on the days work, not too shabby.

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From the very first picture in this thread to the one below, took about 20 hours worth of labor. Between the rest of the lines running under the car, and the rear interior panels, I have about 2 more hours ahead of me. The easy part is just about over. What's next? The most tedious and time consuming of them all. Phase II: The Restoration-TBA

 

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Well, I got the car completley stripped down to it's frame and bare metal... wink.gif

 

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Lol ok enough fun

 

 

 

OK, so I've slacked for about a month on the project because the next step was bodywork, figured I couldnt do anything till the welder came in.banghead.gif So I'm going to be spending the next two weeks sanding and if I can vent it, aircraft stripper.

 

So here's what I just started on yesterday. The owner(s) before me decided to put fiberglass fenders over the quarter panel to "hide" any rust or damage. Friggin slackers. The quarters weren't even that bad!! Nearly the whole lip was intact and rust free, though where there was rust, it was pretty bad.

 

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The fenders. I was thinking about selling them on the Z forums, still might, but may turn these in to a widebody gotme.gif That's later down the line, I'll keep them around just in case.

 

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There are about 20 rivet holes on each fender. LUCKILY none of them had the slightest sign of rust, that would have been a pain. The less curved pieces I have the cut and reweld the better.

 

BUT, as my luck would have it, I ran out of argon/co2. Guess I played with it a but too much this week since I got. I'll put some more time in to sanding/stripping tonight, can't make it to a welding shop till Sat.

 

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Till next time......

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  • 3 weeks later...

Just a small update. I've only put about another 10-15 hours in to the car since the last update. Been doing all the paint stripping/body filler removal.

 

There's not too many pictures that can be taken as a result, but I just picked up a bunch of 18 and 16 ga sheet metal that I've started fab'ing up new parts with (just got around to making a new rocker panel, got to the shop pretty late tonight). The old stuff must've been as thin as 20-22 ga, was pretty surprised, no wonder why these things twist out of shape.

 

Anywho, just a few pics of what I did tonight. I need to pick up a press, I did these bends with a clamp, edge of a table, and a hammer. Old-school beyotch

 

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I'm planning to spend the day there tomorrow (Sunday) if anyone's handy with metal shaping. For me, this is the fun part, I finally get to see some moving forward in the project. More pics to follow for tomorrow night.

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  • 1 month later...

Haven't got much done, nowadays when i have the extra time, been trying to get my fat ass to the gym, but making progress.

 

Fuzzy Pic. Rail welded in, smoothed, then the tack welds you see are little pin holes left over from grinding.

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The seam was right on the bend, smoothed and shiny

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Not sure what this piece was called, but it was rusted

 

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Made a cardboard paper template and tack welded the pieces for fitting

 

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Ran out of gas, Next week I'll weld it in, shape it up, and smooth it out.

 

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Had my neighbors come with me to the shop tonight to use the last of the argon before I refill it tomorrow:

 

I've decided to leave the rear of the car alone for a bit as I'm going to scrap the two rear quarter panels and but new replacements, so,on to the front of the car.

 

Started cutting out all the rust spots. Make cardboard templates, welded in new 18ga metal. Tacked everything in then ran out of gas,but I'll have it refilled tomorrow morning.

 

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(opposite view from above)

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The top of the car was brought to bare metal, painted with etching primer. Quarter was brought down to bare metal, then decided to scrap it, new ones cost $70ish, not worth the fabbing time.

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Trial fit

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Neighbor Eric at the grinding wheel

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Neighbor Greg exposing any potential rust (good so far on the driver side!) he also did all the cutting of the body

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Passanger side rust tacked in

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Driver side tacked in

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Ran out of gas at this point. The following days I'll grind down the welds and finish them up. The next thing to tackle is the lower rocker panels. During this I'm going to start taking measurements and planning for completely cutting out the frame rails and welding in nice,thick square tubing. I'm going to be pretty cautious about this part, because if I can screw up badly, this is where it can happen. Stay tuned!

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Had the neighbors come over today to help on the Z. Today's focus was on the passenger floor. Yesterday I finished the corner on the rear of the car,but forgot the camera, so here's a snapshot. Not much more to complete it.

 

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And here's what was on today's menu. The flap of metal hanging down was actually RIVETED over the rust metal, then slapped with undercoating. Tards.

 

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This is about the only picture you'll ever see of me doing work gear_tounge.gif

 

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Cutting out the floor pan. Lots of rust.

 

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We pushed cardboard paper in to the floorboard and made a template to trace on 16 ga metal.

 

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Roughly shaped to be put in (no not by the hammer this time!)

 

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Trial fitting.

 

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Test fit, few adjustments made

 

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Got the top part and bottom corners tacked in. The bottom center needs to be bowled in to line up correctly, and the metal the will be welding to the right edge needs to be replaced before the floor is completely in. this was about 3-4 hours of work, and we all headed home. More to follow tomorrow night icon_smile.gif

 

 

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5-4-06 update

 

 

Got a little more done at the shop. Shaving the rear bumper, repair inside door jam, starting on frame rails.

 

 

I WISH I took pictures of what this looked like before I got the new metal in place. There was a 4 inch wide strip of RUST across the entire bumper. It didnt look like it was even worth keeping. The areas around the bumper give you and idea, but yea, it was BAD.

 

Tacked in to place:

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Rear Shot:

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Shitty picture, but welds were grinded down and polished smooth. Looks f'in awesome, can't wait to get to the other areas. The reason I didn't do it all is because I still may need those bumper mounts if/when it gets on the rotissarie. Once it's back down, the shock will be recessed and a steel bar will be bolted to them behind the bumper.

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Just a snapshot, all the bluish metal was where I worked on, the entire area was one big rust hole. Cut and shaped, still gotta polish it up. Damn, I gotta remember to take before pictures, these don't do it justice smile.gif

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Now, on to the frame rail, I measured/cut the steel tubing I'll be using for this, now I had to work on the joint piece to tie them together. I <3 cardboard and painters tape biggrin.gif

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Finally, at 1am, I decided to go home. All this was about 5 hours of work. The template was laid down, few pieces cut, my ass was TIRED.

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This weekend I'll have both rails made and ready to go. I've decided to cut the floorpans, weld these in, then put brand new floors in with 16 ga metal. Gotta get a rotissarie and bead roller, so chances are I'll prepare as much as possible then wait till I can get both to finish the job.

 

In the mean time, stay tuned for dollying up the driver's rear quarter, a full sheet metal replacement quarter (on order now) and two new 18ga rocker panels biggrin.gif

__________________

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5-6-07 update:

 

 

 

Got a teensy bit done tonight, busy day.

 

 

Here we are at the driver's side rear quarter. As mentioned, I have a full passenger side replacement on order from Tabco, and this is the side that was worth keeping ( I can fix this in less time vs what I would have to work to order a new one) This seriously took me all of 15 min to do.

 

 

Anywho, I cut out the cancer;

 

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It's hammer time. Pounded the piece flat and traced on to 18ga sheet metal:

 

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Getting the fitting right. Since there were no lines to go from on the bottom half, I gave it a rouch shaped and trimmed as needed.

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Used VERY light hammer taps to get the shape absolutely perfect. Then tack'd in place.

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Badda bing badda boom. I'll come back to this when I have less to do and pretty it up. As mentioned, the goal is to use as little body filler as humanly possible. Here you can clearly see the cancer on the bottom of the wheel arch. Even though it has completely rusted away, the rest of the panel is almost perfect. Since there is no existing metal left, I don't have any reference to where the lines will end up, so when the passenger side comes in, I'll make a reverse teplate and fabb up a replacement for this side.

 

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On to the frame rails. Got a few pieces welded together. It'snice to finally play with thicker steel so I can ramp up the voltage and actually make some nice penny welds instead of "tack here, tack there, tack here again" with the sheet metal

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Lay'd up

 

 

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Whoop. Almost done!!! I ran out of gas, again ( anyone else think I need a bigger tank;) ) but the night was over anyway. I may be sol for a while till I get my argon refilled, the earliest I can get it is NEXT Saturday due to my work hours.

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Mother's Day Update!!!

 

Whip out your razorblade folks, it's time for a shave smile.gif

 

 

So, originally I was going to put the car on a rotissarie to replace the frame rails. But because I'm cutting the the rails AND floors out now, there was no need to flip it over, so I decided to go ahead and finish up shaving the bumper today.

 

Damn glad I didn't use the bumper mounts to hold the weight. Theses things were rusted to ♥♥♥♥!

 

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Left side. Pulled the bumper mounts out and tossed 'em. Then made a template. This is where I ended up making a TON more work for myself. Pics below.....

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Cut out.

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Welded in. See those tiger scratches. Yeah. I had to friggin mangle the piece to shape it right because I gave it a rough shape before putting it in. Right after I spent 2 hours doing this I finally discovered why it was such a pita to fit right. At the very bottom of the bumper, it curves inward at about a 35 degree angle, like a reverse lip. I put that lip in the new piece before I welded anything in. Bad idea. It prevented me from bending the metal along the bottom in the other direction. Lesson learned. The right side took about 1/4 of the time to complete, and even came out better.

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Right side ready to go. Forgot to take a pic of it cut out, but you get the idea.

 

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Left side done , after grinding, grinding, and more grinding. Blah!

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Right side done. Piece of friggin cake smile.gif

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Pure beauty. I Love it! I have a rinky dink hole left that i'll patch up in 15 min, but after spending 4 hours just on that left side, and under an hour on the right, I was done for the day

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