Here comes trouble

1. fiberglass inner fenders... Cut and Opened the rear fender wells as far as possible for the severly reversed 8 inch wide X 15 Dayton cross lace knock-off wire wheels with and welded the cuts in. I should have opted for 10 inch wide rear wheels with 3/12 inch offset. The Stable Works supplied inner fenders were obviously not made with my 1978 in mind most likely due to some subtle changes over the years...I am glad I installed both front and rear inner fenders at this stage without the rear tub permanently in place or the front bolted on since the front and rear were constantly removed during the fit.many times. With substantial trimming the driver's side fit flush up against the top of the Datsun fender well but the passenger side had at least a half inch or better gap on top and still required persuasion from the Porta-power to overcome the "warped " set to fit flush against the upper fender well after considerable trimming. The inner fenders will require substantial fiberglass work to fit and seal properly to the front and rear fenders. I reduced the rear inner fenders by half just to get them to fit. The rear fender cuts are welded up. ................................................................................. 2.The welding stage ($38.00 to fill the argon mix bottle) is fairly complete with the addition of welding in a 2 inch wide steel strap over the front portion of the stainless steel trim on the 1/4 windows which will allow bonding of the fiberglass sail panel of the rear tub. I sandblasted the outside of the 1/4 windows and painted them black. The inside 1/4 window glass blends with the black interior plastic panels..... I welded in straps on the door insets for a better bond and contour for the fiberglass door skins. The driver's door has a gap at the top that will need more attention............................. 3.The eBay Corvette passenger side hood hinge arrived in sad shape with the spring retainer for the pivot pin collapsed.. I was able to resurect the retainer with channel locks and the hinge now has no slack or wobble. I sand blasted off it's "multiple" colors and rust.............................................. 4.. Installed hidden rear license plate light and and a chrome trimed/smoked plexiglass license plate purchased at a garage sale @ 3 for a $1.00 ................................................ 5. I almost have enough to do front and rear coilovers and new polyurethane rear end bushings. The diff is an R180 which I will probably replace with an extra R200 out of one of the parts cars.. (I am not admitting to an automatic in the 1978 Z). Do not have a spindle pin remover anymore . With the rear fender wheel wells totally opened up I may not have to remove the spindle pin and do the 2 inch sectioning on the vehicle with the wheels off and strut cartridge removed.. ................................................................ 6. I have a piss ant web camera that I will attempt to tke some pictures with since I now getting far into the project.

Do as the instructions imply (and send the 2 extra washers to me).. The washers are used as a flat bushing on top of the coil overs when the steering wheel is moved and/or the axle spindles turn.

LOL Chap..!!!! .you are not going to risk the speed bumps with fiberglass spoiler or worry about the occasional logging road excursion in the Z...

Bump stops are a good insurance depending on your pounds to the inch compression weight of coilovers and length of coilovers..ie 160# , 10 inch coilovers could use a bumpstop. Use one washer on each side of front and send the 2 extra to me.

very interesting parts http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=6187&item=4558915466&rd=1

Go for it , Charlie !!!!!!!!

Go to eBay, triuck and auto parts... then "Weber".. I noticed a manual (s) on Webers for auction about the best suspension and handling that I have came across for a Z is posts on this site.. Some of these members are in a class all by themselves in setting up these Z s to handle.

Jon ... hopefully Ernie will join with a few pointers..............cut it all out and stitch it back in.. Try to get the car as high as you can.where you will be in a comfortable position to weld and compliment your manual dexterity...... because vertical welding is not that easy... I am a great flat welder and that is far as it goes......Expose as much bare metal around your welding as possible because primer, paint caulk and bondo burn black nasty smoke. .....I made a flange tool out of a pair of vice grips using a similatr tool thet was in the Eastwood catalog. You can flange about a 3/8 inch path around the entire perimeter of the cutout area and then set the patch panel in the recessed flange. secure the patch with screws and then alternate stitch. You can also use a partially fastened screw for a grounding clamp point for the welding work. Disconnect your battery because I heard that the mig welder can do major damage to the ignition system....Do not weld in any spot long..In the last two days I have been welding on my GTO project in areas which will never be seen. I patched over the rear side markers and then madly welded the entire patch in one sweep..The patch and fender contracted and sunk in about a half inch due to excess heat (Glad that spot will be covered up but no dust will get thru.)...... I also removed the gas tank... I am also welding outside and every little breeze blows away the shielding argon/CO2 mix leaving a pimply weld. Also a good ground is important. My Craftsman Mig welder with only 2 heat settings welds better on high range if I can get the ground at a distance from the welding work...... a high quality welder also is a must for good welding and the Crapsman is not that kind requiring a fair amount of grinding every once in awhile to smooth out the bead back to bedrock......................

Good looking car.... why not keep it.. You will not get out of it what you have in it and then if you re-place it some day. you will pay a lot more. $4000.00

Tim ...is there anything on a Z you have not tackled for an improvement?

Congratulations !!!!! With 3 in the house, you may want to start pacing yourself since you are seriously out numbered

Red...outstanding instructions and photos.

Ernie...good point on the stainless steel and work hardening... .Bill I have a 14 inch Rockwell bandsaw with extension.... it has something like over 100 inches of blade.. I could get a small blade for turning tight radius. My Rigid horizontal metal bandsaw has a small work table that I fabricated for use in the vertical position but due to the small 2 inch square work table there is little cutting accuracy. The air nibbler will cut 16 guage and I have some 17 or 18 guage flat SS to experiment with....... Right now I am trying to find a contour guage (for copying radius shapes and curves) to make the patterns for some of the trim.. My contour guage also developed legs and feet and walked away during my 2 + year absence. Now I can't remember where I bought the first one (LOL)

Hopefully someone else can answer the rest of your questions and correct my answer if needed .........1987-89 Turbo 300ZX has LSD with finned rear cover that may interfere with standard R200 moustache bar..front driveshaft flange needs to be switched due to different size bolt pattern for driveshaft.. 1988 white SE has a viscous LSD but the r 200 drive shafts don't fit....cheapest way is obtain a R200 moustache bar and halfshafts. you will need adapters for cv joints from Modern Motorsprts http://www.modern-motorsports.com/catalog/product_info.php?products_id=5&PHPSESSID=8cf14df1cfc8a68b82a29049484fd6a5

V8 roadster http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=6187&item=4558772678&rd=1

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=6187&item=4558772678&rd=1 http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=6187&item=4559206839&rd=1

I got to Harbor Freight and bought the air nibbler plus an air body saw and and an air grinder.. The nibbler appears to do what I want. I have not used the air grinder and bought it for $10.00 because of the $3.00 a package for 10 grinding discs that fit the grinders 3/8 arbor (somehow I developed the logic for that purchase and I will save enough money to pay for the argon mix for the mig welding LOL) .....Get the air saw after the fiberglass "cutouts" in the GTO body and cut this great straight line for approximately 3 inches in the fiberglass. The air saw quits on the end of the "out-stroke". I finally Convince it to start again for another inch and it quits on the "in-stroke". Go back and get another body saw. The second one is no improvement over the first and actually worse. I have a third one now and will apply some scientific technology., I am going to name this saw "willie". Since the blade operates on a basic in and out stroke and I have tried everything to encourage it's operation; I will obtain some viagra to use as a lubrication inducement to persuade this saw to perform. I am hoping for about a full 3 hours of non-stop work from "willie". Is this asking too much for a 2 1/2 inch blade.... at least I am keeping all the blades that come with the saw(s) and have 18 now.

Do not let the insurance company bull doze you on this when it is totally 100% their insureds fault.They will want to set some really low price like $100.00 salvage value. A fellow ran a stop sign and nailed my 79 Datsun King Cab. pickup. They called it mutual fault and sent it to arbitration putting the Datsun at $100.00 and me paying the tow bill and $150.00 of the deductible plus taking the pickup for total salvage. At what place and where I was hit I proved, Iwas in the intersection first. I recieved a new rental car for one month. I started collecting ads and car lots with running Datsun pick-uos, which resulted in documented proof that it would require $2100 to replace the pick-up.. Also they came up with two similar pick-ups for sale..... I checked both of their replacement pick-ups out...One did not run and the other had no title which I reported back to them..Everything I did was documented and sent to them. After 2 months they threw in the towel and forked over $2100.00 minus 100.00 for the wrecked pickup which I kept without getting stuck with a salvage title. Battle Pope just gave you info on one running replacement Z for $4800.00 You will find a good running repalcement Z is hard to find less than $1500.00 in Oregon or Washington

Amazing find.....looks like the wheel chocks have the original clear packaging.

Yeah. the General Lee was the fastest car ever. The public does not know that NASA and NASCAR secretly aquired the original General Lee and shot it into outer space substituting corn mash as a fuel. Just set it vertical and pushed the pedal to the metal... and lift off... when all the oil is gone, we will be flying around in replicas of General Lee propelled by corn mash.

I really do not care for POOR 15. I had silver that turned "lime yellar" for a better description. I could not spray without runs and it did not last long... You can buy "Hammerite" at Home Depot which will cover about twice the area of the same amount of Poor 15 and thinned, it goes on flat without the hammered effect and can be painted over.. As far as I am concerned it is the chemical solution you treat the rusted area with that is the key to stopping the rust..you can buy the chemical treatment in bulk and any quality paint will probably seal the air from the trated metal... I have found that the undercoated (tar ?) zs are fairly rust free on the undercarriage (but I live on the west coast)...The undercarriage of my silver Z is rust free but there is surface rust at one corner of the hatch flange, the frontof the radiator support and in the inside creases of the front fenders.................................

I am not sure if the 79 zx has a 3.54 or 3.90 differential ......but 81-83 non turbo ZXs had a 3.90 differential which is a plus for off the line acceleration and the diff I would like to put in my 1978 250 GTO project. What I should do is obtain a ZX parts car to upgrade my 78's performance. Some simple inexpensive parts changing can increase a Zs performance.

Charlie... go with your instincts and make a temporay connection with an aligator clip (for fast removal) to see what happens. Your car looks great and that new re-built engine will be something else...You will be surprised how fast the transmission will shift thru the gears for such a light car. Drive it ..like you stole it !!!!!!!

I heard it was a pick-up truck with a still operational dump bed

Datsun Lover and Redneck offer sound advice...... What bears repeating....obtain the replacement 5 speed's throwout bearing if not also pressure plate (dowel hole difference) and (larger) clutch and flywheel if from a 2+2 model.. You should avoid the (T5) Borg Warner 5 speeds in the turbo zx s since it is a different length.