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seattlejester's 1971 240Z


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Thank ye sir,

 

I usually wire bowl the area I am going to weld, the car just started getting spot rust from rain drops falling off the garage door, so it gets sprayed with rust killer periodically. Before the panels went in most everything was shiny, and a lot of the brown stuff is grinding dust.

 

Is there a difference between sealer and primer? I hear them used interchangeably sometimes and it confuses me.

 

I'm using a hobart handler 135 setup for mig, The ugly welds are in part due to some blow thru on my part and in part from me letting my friend weld. He's been learning how to do more structural welding so I've had to kind of give him instruction and let him try out cosmetic filling on the sheet metal. I think I'll try and finish the rest of the car, he goes faster than me, but his welds tend to need some finishing afterwords.

Edited by seattlejester
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Yeah, I'm not real sure about Sealer and primer myself. Though the Seam sealer I was talking about is a caulk like stuff you can put over your seams just to ensure they're water tight. Particularly under the chassis. You do that, then prime paint and undercoat. Though depending on the undercoat you may not have to paint. I'm not a body guy so I don't know for sure. I only know what I've seen guys do and what came out looking really nice. Perhaps someone can chime in here with the proper methods and answers.

 

Phar

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  • 2 months later...

Finally fired up my PC so I have pics to share with ya'll

 

P1030127.jpg

Just a generic ebay seat, they're replacing the quite horrid camaro seats I had before. Based on measurements, the factory mounts can be used. You need one hole inbetween the rear mounts, and you need to widen the holes a little bit.

P1030116.jpg

My 6'2 friend trying out the seats, plenty of room for my 5'9 head with a helmet.

P1030117.jpg

Just a shot to show fitment

 

P1030128.jpg

The trial wheels I picket up (2 wheels 4 tires for 200!), xxr 522 16x8 0 offset. The tire is quite small, but it gives a bit of an idea, the final set will be gold.

 

P1030119.jpg

Roll bar mount mock up

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Possible rear setup?

 

P1030124.jpg

Engine pay almost ready for paint, just need to decide if I will sand blast, or just apply paint stripper.

 

P1030130.jpg

Repair to the dog legs, contemplated buying the replacement pieces, but decided I'd give it a try first.

 

P1030126.jpg

Matte white is just beautiful!

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  • 2 months later...

So...probably time for a bit of an update I s'pose :P

 

P1030136.jpg

Spent quite a bit of time trying to patch up the floor ~1 month or so just on the driver side.

P1030143.jpg

Everytime I thought I was done, I'd find a little pin hole that would turn into ^

 

Eventually got sick of patching and decided I would play with the engine bay for a while

P1030152-1.jpg

Tried Tal-Strip II on the engine bay, that stuff does wonders, but the warning label and ingredients mandate respirators and high ventilation.

 

Turned out that the roll bar interfered with the sliding action of the seat, and the steering wheel was about an 1-2 inches closer than ideal (past the wrist when seated fully back), and the head space was surprisingly bad, only to be worse if I used the sliders or wore a helmet. So...I drew up some specs for my own seat mounts.

seatmount.jpg

 

While I was grinding out the stock seat mounts, the accidental bumps with the sawzall would tear holes where the seat mounts were mounted. So using the trusty "integrity testing hammer" we found the weak spots...bloody everywhere.

P1030160.jpg

 

So after 8 months of trying to save the seat mounts and the floors, I decided to start over and do it right.

floor.jpg

 

Managed to accomplish all this in a grand total of....1 day. Being stubborn sucks...

P1030158.jpg

 

I decided that safety is a bloody large concern, and with the brake lines that crumbled, I really did not trust the rest of the system.

So full over haul starting with fresh calipers all around

P1030161.jpg

 

And since MSA was having a sale, and the stock suspension wasn't going to do...

P1030162.jpg

And this is how much it grew in one day, no joke

P1030163.jpg

There is an equally large pile of tools at the garage waiting to be unpacked.

 

After finally fitting the last portion of the floor

P1030166.jpg

I decided to celebrate by trying out some stitch welding

P1030164.jpg

Close up

P1030165.jpg

Definitely need to work on my spacing, but I was running near the end of the gas and the ground was apparently inadequate as it turned out much better when I moved the ground.

 

Not sure what to call him, I guess an alumni (although I still have a year to go)? Anyways he wanted to try blasting his wheels, and I said that I would be happy to supply the apparatus if he could manage to get it running reliably. After about an hour he had all the little tricks figured out. So before he came back for his next visit, my friend and I pulled the rear suspension.

P1030167.jpg

The driver side brake fluid line crumbled, and the passenger side didn't even have a parking brake cable. I continually count my blessings for not having just painted the car and driving around as the PO suggested. Not sure how or if I'll be tackling the spindle pin and stub axle. The parts alone look to cost 300 (new spindles, lock pins, nuts, inner and outer bearings, seals, etc) and it's been a point of great distress in some builds I've read, so for now I'll be blasting it in one piece and use the stock bearings.

 

Also finally fully stripped the engine bay

P1030175.jpg

My warnings and tips for front suspension removal:

*Remove the brake line before strut removal, if using new lines just cut the flexible portion.

To remove the steering tie rod, undo the castle nut and gingerly pull the pin, if the pin does not want to budge, persuade it with a small blunt nail. After the pin is removed and nut is off, use a pickle fork (tie rod separator if you want to be technical), wedge it in as far as it can go, hammer it in, and put your weight on it (do this only after making 100% sure the car is stable). If this does not help, use a block of wood or a brass bar and tap the threaded top and sides to break the grime and try again.

*When removing the tension rod, be very aware that it has...tension (surprise!) so tie something very heavy to the rod or have a friend put weight on it. Even with crumbling bushings the rod still managed to pop up right as the bolt was released.

*The stock end link has 3 nuts, 1 on top and 2 on bottom, you can remove all of them by cleverly employing a vice grip.

*The steering knuckle can be removed fairly easily. A few light taps will separate it from the strut.

*To remove the ball joint from the steering knuckle, remove the castle nut and pin, then brace the knuckle and give the joint a good whack with a 2lb sledge hammer. If it starts mushrooming use brass or wood in between, I held it in my hands and tapped it with the sledge and the ball joint plopped right out.

*The strut is surprisingly weighty, be prepared when your friend takes out the last nut.

 

 

The following week my alumni friend stopped by and I got around to trying out the sand blaster.

P1030177.jpg

Started with the cross member, but started running a little low on sand, so I switched to some smaller pieces

P1030172.jpg

The blasted knuckle was actually the one that was worse off and look at how great that turned out!

P1030171.jpg

Then a slightly more complex LCA, missed a few spots but turned out amazing.

 

So tomorrow I will be returning to blast the rest of the suspension and differential components as well as maybe apply some paint stripping to the larger body panels (suppose to be hot tomorrow and we found that the heat and sun make the reaction occur faster and strip more vigorously).

I thought about making a collector for the sand, but at 4$/50# it really didn't seem like it would be worth it.

P1030178.jpg

The caulking gun has something called fire sealant, it's supposedly used to seal areas around pipes and can be painted over, so after the engine bay is finished welding I'll be applying this in the seams and seal everything up prior to paint.

 

Now for some contemplation...the driveline. I have a smoking L28 and a blown L24 (piston came up all the way, enough to mash the spark plug). So since either block will need to be taken apart, I figured I'll start with the L24 to learn a little more about what to do and not to do using the how to rebuild your nissan ohc book as a guide. After that I'll take stock of the condition of the head and the rods...then...

 

My potential build.

N42 L28 Block bored out to 89mm

E31 L24 Head with L28 valves

L28 Crank

L24 Rods <- assuming they are in decent condition

KA24DE dished pistons

Fed by an SU carb using SM needles <-I'm not really sure where to get just the needles.

 

Should net me a solid 9:1 compression, plenty for the possible boost it will see and low enough not to worry about emissions

 

My friend works at an engine shop, so I'll hopefully be putting the motor together there. But they don't do machine work, so if anyone has recommendations in greater seattle I'd be more than happy to take a look.

Edited by seattlejester
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Great work!

 

One tip: I would do the spindle pins while you're there already. Even though it can be a significant undertaking, I've found that a solid day (5-7 hours) is usually enough to get both out, less if you're lucky, maybe more if unlucky. Time flies when you're having fun...

 

I would recommend getting a spindle pin puller from jtburf on this site. Make sure to heat the living hell out of the strut casting and then turn the nut slowly. Make sure that the pin is actually budging by looking at the hole for the lock pin and seeing if the flat on the pin is moving. I cleaned up and reused my lock pin, and there is no need to do wheel bearings unless there's a problem, maybe just repack then. I did not mess with bearings, but new spindle pins (with anti-seize all over them) and poly bushings are well worth it!

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^The question I have is was it really worth it? Did the spindle pin need to be serviced?

 

I mean I have the kit, and I'm game for some work, but is it necessary?

 

The strut and control arm pieces seem to move freely and the bushings for the control arm all look quite fresh. The spindle pins look more than beefy enough and I haven't seen any of them crack. So anyone know if there is an actual need?

Edited by seattlejester
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There is no advantage in NOT doing the spindle pins. While they may not require service should you ever need to take apart the rear suspension (which you probably will since project cars are never done :) ) you will once again be looking at having to pull them out. Youre really not saving yourself any time and since the car is apart now you might as well do it and save yourself the hassle in the future. If you ordered all new urethane bushings with your big lot of suspension parts these will feel a lot better than the stock bushings. Getting those in there may be a good idea and, of course, you will need to pull the spindle pin to do that.

Instead of using the stock spindle pins I replaced them with a long 5/8" grade 8 bolt. It seems to fit perfect and has stood up to a lot of abuse. Its also extremely easy to remove in the future.

Edited by h4nsm0l3m4n
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As h4nsm013m4n said, this really about the bushings. The pin is not likley to need service in and of itself. The pin is only an issue due to being difficult to remove with or without damaging it.

 

If the current bushings are new and the type you want there is no reason to go through the process. The only reason to bother is for the purpose of replacing worn bushings or to "upgrade" to poly bushings, spherical bearings, or whatever else strikes your fancy.

 

As for getting the pins out, I found it easy once the strut/arm assembly is out of the car. I tried to remove the pin while the strut was still in the car. That did not work due to the parts moving on the bushings. Once I remove the assembly (as you already have) it became faily easy. My problem was simply that I ruined the pins before figuring out how to get them out.

 

Since you already have the strut assembly out you should be able to press the pins out with a hydraulidc press. If you have to, pay a shop to do it. Otherwise, place the stut assembly such that the pin is verticle and support the whole assembly by the bushings and lower arm near the bushings, leaving the pin a free path of travel. As long as the support you use is rigid enough (concrete floor) it will be easy to drive the pin through with a big hammer ( 8 pound splitting maul). If you protect the end of the pin you should be able to get it out without damaging the threads. This will require an assistant, patience, and a large vocabulary of foul language.

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Your might get lucky and it will slide right out. The first one of my pins required the use of a air hammer and took about about 4 hours of cursing and throwing things before it finally gave up. Thinking to myself "The second would surely require the same amount of force." I positioned the hammer and used my other hand to steady the part. When I pulled the trigger and the pin shot out the bottom of the hole causing me to loose balance and fall into the work pinning my finger between the pin the the concrete floor with the hammer going full tilt. Sometimes they almost fall out.

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Yes. I'm gonna try spraying some matte white from the hardware store, if that fails I'm planning on ordering a gallon from hot rod flatz. Still trying to differentiate between matte and satin.

 

Color Scheme:

Matte White

Matte Black accent (all the chrome trim, window sills, door handles, etc)

Metallic Gold accent (knuckles, LCA, cross member, control arms, etc)

Polished xxr 513 with gold in 16x8

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So turns out it is a horrible, horrible idea to use a sandblaster inside the garage :rolleyes: .

Took about 1/2 an hour to strip part of the firewall and the harder to reach areas on the car, and took 7 hours to clean up the mess afterwards.

Probably one more day and the floor and engine bay can be sealed.

 

After staring at my fuel tank, I've decided to contemplate using a fuel cell.

As far as I know the car was sitting for 6 months with old gas before I drained it, during that time the gas cap wasn't on, while I don't see any rust spots, I can only imagine what fell in, what's rusted etc. Also took a look at the straps and they are fairly gone.

The newer fuel cells have sumps built in so if I end up going turbo in the future, I won't have to source another tank, and I wouldn't be risking putting lord knows what into the engine if it overloads the filter. The downfall will be having to cut out the spare tire well which also holds my rear roll bar mount, and also think of a way to get the fuel into the fuel cell, and figuring out a fuel gauge.

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To inspect the inside of the fuel tank you can remove the sending unit for the fuel level gauge. The opening is large enough to see the bottom of the tank on the deep side. If the rust has not caused (or nearly caused) pin-holes the tank can be cleaned and reused. We have our tank cleaned at a radiator shop. They had to drill a hole or two to let the cleaning solution flow through and drain out. The holes were soldered or welded closed. It has worked OK. The only issue we had was the pick-up tube seems to have developed a leak and would only pull fuel when the tank was full. Naturally it occurred on Sunday at the race track. We had to install an new pick-up tube.

 

There are round fuel cells available that fit in the tire well if that helps your roll-bar issue any.

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