seattlejester

Gotcha, thanks for the answers! I wish I had taken a picture of the fender and door before I removed them, the damage doesn't bother me much other than the fact the fender and door don't line up, as it is now the top of the door (where it meets the front fender) is about an inch under where the fender is. I still haven't quite figured out why since that is where the front windshield is, and the front windshield seats fine. But I'll be taking another trip to the hardware store so we'll see what I walk out with

what are people using as their welder? wondering if i can do this with my little 90 amp. and harbor freight will be having a sale in a week or so for engine stands at 35$ a pop!

Small update is in order I suppose. Instead of working on the car over break I decided to work my two jobs to build up funds so I can work through the quarter. My schedule is thankfully light and the weather is getting warmer so hopefully much more progress will occur. I just received a "new" camera that has been unused for a few years so hopefully pics will be pack up soon. During break I went through a rough period where I wasn't sure what i was going to do. It felt like I chewed off more than I could afford and the problems just kept adding up. After a good honest talk with myself I realized right now as a student (albeit an old one) I shouldn't be aiming for a full blown restoration. Instead I should be putting the car back together repairing what is necessary and getting another z on the road. I got back in touch with a few friends and associates who offered much needed help, but as I am amazingly anal I decided the chassis is something I need to take care of my self. Since the last update I picked up a sand blaster and soda blaster and a second compressor to help compensate for the flow. But I've found a die grinder with a poly rust removing bit is much easier to use albeit time consuming. Anyone have suggestions on what to use to remove large portions of paint? Sometime this week I will be picking up a little 90 amp flux welder for some heavier tack welding i.e. the frame rails and the replacement panels. Hopefully after tacking I will be able to borrow a mig and complete the panel installations. My question that I have yet to answer is what replacement should I use for the frame rails? I've seen people use rectangular steel tubing which I feel very partial to but am unsure on thickness or size. 18 gauge is what I believe I will be using for the replacement floors which I am beginning to believe will be flat panels. I pulled the entire wiring harness from the car in one piece and removed the tar coating from the interior. (Air chisel was a blessing for this ) Started to remove the headliner and wind shield. Started stripping the engine bay. Currently stopped at the steel lines that go around the car. Do people save these? Or do they just replace them? Picked up a test set of the wheels that will get the car around town 16x8 +0 xxr 522 and they look great! Hopefully I'm not boring you folk and look for some welding next week

Got ya, I'll run some numbers and see what I have. Would it be better to take this to PM's? Not sure what the rules are regarding dealing in threads here. What suspension are you running? You're car looks amazingly neutral through the corners!

I see. Any chance you are willing to go lower to get rid of it Yes I would like to pick it up, I just really don't have that kind of money right now. But after the welder, sand blaster, and frame rail, I think I can put my budget towards the engine and components (maybe a month or two?). My current exhaust is pretty bad, it is an after market 2.5, but the entire exhaust was welded together so one piece from the engine, we had to cut it off to remove the engine. This is the one that comes with the bolt on exhaust right? Not a slip on?

Notice the right side, and use the left side as a comparison. Weird part is, the outside looks really square. And I guess I can't edit my first post so here's the other progress shots. Pulled engine the "new" head, turns out the rust just comes off with some very light rubbing Almost gutted! New tools, compressor, some bulk co2 tanks, soda blaster, and more! Giving one of the bulk co2 tanks in exchange for use of some finer tools, like a mig welder for the body panels. Still have to buy a flux welder for the bigger frame rails, and a sand blaster for the rust.

Man you are just throwing that car around! I shall have to think about it, 200 for the headers alone would be a very good deal, but that's one of those things that are down the road I'll upload pics in a little bit.

Well, I decided to take some pictures of the progress, and decided while I'm there to start taking a hammer to the spots I suspected of rust, I was give a very good hint by a rebuilder, that if I hit somewhere I suspect of rust the under liner or paint just starts flying off, i'm looking at a heavily rust infested spot. So I went at it. Under the battery tray (yup), the rusted passenger frame rail (duh), left rocker panel (yup), right rocker panel (yup), right door jam (yup), passenger seat mounts (yup), and then it hit me, most of the rust was on the right side of the car! So I started frantically searching for signs of damage, and I remembered the right and door didn't line up quite right. Low and behold, the actual passenger side frame of the car (the beam that runs along the bottom of the door with the holes in it) had been pushed in about and inch in the middle and about 3 inches up in the front, probably years ago, cracking the protective coatings and exposing the right side components to water far before the left side. Not sure what to do at this point. Welding in new panels and the frame rail seems like it would be easy enough, but the actual unibody? Where would I even source a beam like that? I shall upload pics when I stop moping around.

Yup good old craigslist. For that price I couldn't pass it up! He said he didn't get any offers, and when he reposted it, he got 10 inquiries. I see I have some local craigslist competition, haha. N42 because my block came with an N47 with round ports and an injection manifold without injectors or any of the electronics. The gentleman I spoke with said I could have it for free and it will take both the SU carbs and square port aftermarket headers that came on the Blown L24. And if I read correctly the N42 requires no modifications? Where as adapting an E31 head would require notching the pistons? I'd really love to just hear her breathe. I'm tempted to jump the gun and throw an engine in just so I can drive her around the block! That's good news to hear about the frame rails, I'll have to get in touch with John about the replacements soon.

Hey folks, I realized posting in the member's build section wouldn't allow me to really ask questions, so I've posted my build here as well. I'm currently building a 1971 240Z. My plan is to get rid of all the rust, renew the suspension (get the car low, and stiff), add some zg flares (still in consideration), find some nice gap fitting wheels, and put on a new coat of paint or perhaps wrap it in vinyl. This car will hopefully become my daily driver, but until I can get it running reliably, it will be taking on grocery runs, and the occasional track days to shake out all the bugs. I have a time limit of about 4-5 months left to get the car prepped for the weather and moving on it's own power. Stage 1: Strip Stage 2: Restore Stage 3: Mock-up Stage 4: Primer, Underliner, Paint Stage 5: Reinstall The day I bought the car I bought the car about 3-4 weeks ago, and only been working on it over the weekends. Right now I'm in the process of Stage 1. These are some previous pics, we've now stripped out most of the interior, taken off the doors, taken off the hatch, and pulled the blown engine Of course things don't always go according to plan, as good deals pop up here and there, I start amassing the parts for Stage 3, far ahead of time. The L28E out of a '79ZX, the bandaid engine to get the car rolling before a more serious engine is thrown in. Picking up an N42 head this weekend, and recycling my SU carbs from the blown L24. And on the sadder part of things, some things really don't go according to plan, including a fully rusted through frame rail (Pics to come). The jack stand started bending right into it! I've been looking at baddog replacement frame rails, but the site hasn't been updated in 4 years. Hopefully the guy is still up and running? The next stage will be to buy or borrow a media blaster setup (to get rid of rust and the primer) and a flux/mig welder (to cut out and replace the frame rail and repair any non salvageable areas). Surprisingly, the car has solid floor pans, and almost no rust through spots, other than the entire frame rail and a pin hole in the floor pan, despite having lived the last few years of it's life in the rainy city. If anyone has any advice I'd love to hear it! And if anyone has Z parts in the seattle area I am going to have to get in touch with you for some replacements

thank ya! you're getting my engine off the floor, lol.

Sorry to be raising a thread from the dead, but I have the exact same question. So the size is 10mm, what is the pitch and length required? I have the harbor freight I type engine stand, and will be getting a motor tomorrow that I would like to keep off the floor.

I believe they have the system on the market. The only real problem i for see would be that a 108hp car may not be built to take sudden spikes in hp. They have the "sneaky pete" system (as i have heard them called, a small bottle stored in glove box or somewhere discrete good for 10hp or so) available from some companies that you could use. We played around with a zex system with the 50 and 75hp jet setups. Since a 10lb bottle gives roughly 15 or so passes on a fill with a 75 shot you could use a smaller 1-2lb bottle and probably get 2-6 passes out of it with a smaller shot. And if your fuel pump can pump enough fuel you won't have to mess with your injectors if you use a wet shot (by passes injectors and adds the mix right in front of your manifold). The only problem i can imagine is that such a small bottle could be difficult to find since nitrous is stored at such high pressures, and possibly running the bottle dry. We've never really ran a bottle dry, but i believe the solenoids compensate and if not you would just end up running rich. When we installed it in a friends car we used black wire covering to cover the lines and unless someone was actively looking for it you wouldn't be able to spot the system. and if you make your own mounts for the solenoid you could remove the parts in the engine bay with just a few screws. The other thing we did was ground the WOT switch to another factory item. In our case we had a switch to "arm" the system, the WOT switch, and that was grounded to the headlight or wipers (i don't remember which exactly) so unless all three switches were armed the spray wouldn't go. So you could leave the system unarmed and drive around and arm it before using it, or you could leave the system armed and right before you used it turn your headlights or wipers on. If you could find a small enough bottle you could probably get away with the basic kit with the smaller jets. If you knew what you were looking for you could probably get away with: the nitrous and fuel solenoids, lines, fittings (from the bottle to the solenoid from the solenoids to the y fitting), correct jets, bottle, switches, and wiring.