seattlejester

I think SCCA is the most this car may ever see. Got the thickness of 3/16th which in retrospect makes perfect sense (what the local race shop uses to make seat brackets). Thank you sir!

Hey folks, Summer's coming round, which means time to do car work! I've come to the point where I'm contemplating my roll cage mounting points. I'm pretty set on location for the main hoop, but I'm not quite sure what thickness metal to use to make the points. I pick up metal from onlinemetals.com so anything they carry I can get. I found I need an angled piece, a 4x4 meeting a 5x4 piece at a 90* angle. The problem is thickness. The main hoop is a bolt on style, so it needs to be strong enough to not sheer when it is held in with 1 fairly large bolt on each side with 8 bolts in the middle. (the two main points for the center hoop on either side) I have some 16 gauge, but I feel I may need thicker, or should I just make triangle braces to increase strength? I'm tempted to buy one of the large 5x5 angle pieces, but it seems quite thick. Link to 5x5 Help is appreciated!

ah i was afraid to put anything with wings wider than the bolsters in the car. well, for anyone wondering, the cipher auto, nrg type-r, recaro srd knock off type seat fits pretty well. i have pictures, but my mac seems to gate me right now. my 6"2 friend fit in the seat's mocked up position on top of the stock mounting brackets with the seat raisers and slider and had a little head room to spare. i could sit in the seat with a helmet with no problem. i picked mine up for 160$ for the set, i figure for that much i can play around with the seat, and get them reupholstered and bolstered or toss them when the time comes to upgrade.

just ordered a similar set today, give me a few days eh?

I would vote for media blasting, or sand blasting if you want to save a bit. It really does reveal a lot of problem areas that you may not have noticed, and if you are set on doing it right, it is really something you need to take care of. I took a rust hammer (the ones with a pointed tip) to the floor, and determined it was pretty solid and only replaced a corner, while removing the underlining toward the rear quite a bit of the floor came with it.

Just saw the mustang one last night. The premise of the all stars was a bit strange, it seems their stance is change the inherent design of the car so much that they get credit with originality. I wish it would be to bring out what made the car an icon, if not to them then to the people that love them. And I agree the engine limitations is a bit strange, I understand that time is an issue if it is enforced, but still, it would be interesting if they found similar hp engines of different makes or something. Still nice to see a car show where work gets done.

Ah like caulking? I'm planning on using devcon steel putty to seal the accessible welds, still haven't decided for inaccessible spots.

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.

Passenger floor in. Fender in. Driver side floor frame rail in. Engine bay frame rail in. Fire wall in.

Decided I would do one cosmetic thing along with 1 welding thing minimum a day. I was a little overzealous in my spraying so it will have to be wet sanded, but boy does it look pretty Today I made the complicated bends for the floor, just one edge left to do. Hopefully will be welding that in on thursday

Feels like I was a bear in a past life, as the cold weather has it's final hurrah, I find myself sleeping when I really should be welding. Bought myself a sheet metal bender and some clamps so I can make the general shape of the floor. Hopefully I get a chance to play with that tomorrow, as the weather people have predicted snow for the 5th day in a row. Is there any other job where you can be right 1/5th of the time and not get fired? I see the cities sending out trucks and spraying the roads and dispensing salt, every day, but no snow...feels like they're pissing away money...

Fire wall is pretty much in. The bottom needs to be trimmed to meet with the new floor section Compare picture to one on first page to see how much better the damaged portion looks! Really crude mockup of the new metal, the engine bay rail will be cut out and replaced with the 2.5 square tube, only keeping the bottom portion with the control arm mount. Fender will be a shelf like design, as seen in the Project Hugo vids, and will be composed of 2 pieces with possible support pieces underneath. After this will be welding the floor to the frame rail. Grinding down all the welds, jacking the car up. Finishing up the frame rail mount. Finishing up the rear with the needed patch and lead soldering all the welds. Driver side will go in soon after. Followed shortly by the roll cage and braces. After this the surface rust spots will be attacked with a wire brush. All seams will be welded/soldered/or sealed. Then the reassembly begins

Ah, so you were the other guy! I had to scramble like mad to the atm since the bank was closed and I may have broken a few guidelines to get there ahead of ya. Thanks for the kind words!

Got my new charger in and found my camera so picture time! Why you should wear sleeves when you weld One part that's ready for paint Didn't get to take the gratuitous flinstone shot but Driver side frame rail, still not sure if I want to put it in, we'll decide after the passenger side is done For those curious where it mounts in the back How much it sticks out below the floor Sometimes it's just a good day I'll have to go back and cap the rear and weld the underside, but so far everything is looking good. The floor pan and a portion of the firewall are next, along with the rail in the engine bay, followed by some patching in the rear then the decision to do the driver side or not. And last but not least will be making brackets for the roll cage, and making some home made strut braces/harness bar. I decided that I will be rebuilding the short block myself and will probably send the head to be done by z-specialties as I have yet to find a shop that does rebuilds. The front brakes will be kept stock as well as the rear drums, as I don't think I'll be needing a big brake upgrade at the moment, instead the money will be spent on new shocks, springs, brake lines, and fuel lines. Just another week or so and the reassembly begins!

I hear ya, and I enjoyed reading your build! Seems like I may have to shoot a few questions your way once mine starts wrapping up. I'd love to take a look sometime, I've been curious as to the eibach spring height and clearance with the 16x8's (I have xxr 522, still contemplating the 513's or just drop the money for rota's)

Progress report: A friend came over last weekend and decided he really wanted to do some welding, so he and I fabricated a insert for the frame rail. The rear portion is slid in to sit on the square tube that runs in front of the rear wheels, and the front piece is hammered onto the insert in the front then slid back to make a perfect match. The driver side is in very good condition so it will only be getting the rear treatment with a cap on the front. Spent the whole workday today making caps for the frame rail so no water or debris find their way inside. Picked up a 4.11 R200 just need to find the cog and sleeve so I can tell how fast I'm going lol. Really hoping to start the roll cage this week or weekend, then I have to go searching for seats and harnesses. Then fix the floors. Then start sealing the car up

Blebs is what the doctor called it, can't believe something that sounds so silly can cause such serious problems. The inside was hammered flat, and the floor pan is going to be replaced on the right side (just the upper portion), as hammering in the door sill revealed a bent floor (gaps visible between spot welds along door sill from front to seat mount). I think I'll have the frame rail sticking up into the cabin, and just level it with the stuff that comes in afterwards like sound proofing, carpet, etc etc. Since I won't be sitting in the passenger seat, and in the driver seat my feet will be forward of the beam. But only time will tell how big of a problem that may be. Still trying to figure out the outside. I'd like to do a more permanent fix than shims, but that is always my backup plan. I suppose if I can't reshape it correctly I can always weld up a little bracket to push the bolt holes out or weld in a shim plate. It really is surprising the naivety the engineers had in making "drainage holes" in random places. Proving to be a real exercise in controlling myself from pulling every potential spot for rust. Hopefully I'll be finishing up the passenger frame rail and start with the floor/firewall/battery tray area. Then I get to repeat on the other side!

So my laptop charger died, which means no regular updates but lots and lots of progress underway. It's amazing what you can do with a sledgehammer and a welder.

Perhaps it's gotten thinner with age, I'll try practicing on some 22 before I try fender work. I keep telling myself the same thing to ditch the car and look for another one, but I'm in a unique situation where I have another 3-6 months before I lose project car space, and it will probably be a year or so before I can negotiate another one. Plus I can't bring myself to kill a Z, not yet at least.

Apparently tonight means next week in my world... Status update: *Sister is out of the hospital , albeit sans part of lung *Halfway done with patching up the rear bumper mounts for the shaved bumper look *Pulled transmission and fuel tank *Starting from the rear moving forward *Hoing to go with a 2x3 rectangular tube frame rail, as there's a local metal supplier, and I'd like to not have to worry about denting or scraping the bottom *Decided I needed something a tad more useable so I dropped the money for a hobart handler 140, I do have to say it makes some nice welds. Haven't finished both sides but you get the idea. Still having some problems making holes in the rear, anyone know what gauge the sheet metal in the rear is? Closeups of the damaged pillar in question It is cracked partway up, hard to notice with the black and rust, I'll take a sander to it to highlight some of the damage at a later date. Going to head back and finish the bumper tomorrow, close some gaps in the rear, and start making my way forward. Next tool to purchase: Fire extinguisher

Got a very annoyed phone call from work asking why I wasn't in on Saturday so I had to head in. Halfway through my shift I got a call from my mom saying my sister was rushed to the ER. Switched off with a co-worker and rushed to the hospital, and that was my weekend. Decided I needed to think about something else so I decided I'd work on the car. I decided I wanted the shaved bumper look as the previous owner had already started. Cut out a very nice square only to realize there is a very thick bracket that connects to the sub-frame , didn't have enough protection to try and cut it out from the inside of the car, so I'm heading back tonight armed with many more layers. Took a bunch of pictures so I'll load those tonight as well!

Thanks for the heads up! There used to be one up here, almost wrecked as I drove by because I was so distracted, probably 50+ Z-cars. Hoping to get quite a few hours in tomorrow and remove everything and start patching and replacing metal. Have a fully charged camera to keep me company

I got scared of what I may need and what I may not so I took everything that unbolted from the donor car. I wanted to go back for more but unfortunately it looks like someone bought the car O.o Still not 100% sure on how it will go, but I have everything minus the 280z 27 spine stub axles, which were impossible to remove with hand tools. And sadly no 3.9 for this car, but I got a free turbo and a T-5 in parts Edit: Might as well post what i have and hope someone stops in and informs me what I lack, and what combo will work. I've done a bit of reading, but in the end I'd like to hear it from a forum member. L28E from a '79ZX, I have a complete L24E with flattop carbs and all the accessories. Planning on upgrading the fuel pump to an electric 4-8 psi, the alternator from the zx, the starter from the zx, the crank pulley from the L24, and use an electric standalone fan system for the radiator. <-I've seen people use some kind of plate to replace where their old clutch fans were mounted, any info? 5 speed transmission from a '79ZX with the engine to tranny side supports, ZX transmission mount, and zx drive shaft. <-do I need to use the 240 drive shaft or the zx drive shaft? R200 differential from a 280Z 2x2 with half shafts, mustache bar, and quite a few of the mounting parts. <-what parts should I be cleaning up for the mounting other than the mustache bar?

Will do good sir, I've been looking for a good day to work on the car, and it's been cold and rainy all week what a surprise lol. Picked up my little welder and more tools, hopefully i'll be able to remove the transmission and take more pictures of the problem areas. Going to meet a gent today about picking up a 300zx 3.9 r200 differential and perhaps halfshafts. He said it would fit a 280zx so I'm hoping that it has turbo cv axles , that puts my differential count at 4, 1x 3.345 r180, 1x 3.545 r200, 1x mystery r200, and 1x 3.9 r200.

loving it! anyone know how common snapper achieved the shaved door handles? edit:nvm door popper lol