Danno74Z

If that differential you have is in good shape - most are from my experience you can swap out the open carrier and put the Power Brute LOM59-12 in its place and have a good CLSD. Not very difficult to do and IMO better off then trying to find a CLSD on Ebay or a wreaking yard. The conversion has been well documented here on HybridZ and is a good alternative. IF you can find an OEM CLSD and want to rebuild it the clutch disks and spacers are extremely difficult to source. This is what I have read over the years. The CLSD's are extremely rare and the internals are rarer. Danno74Z http://www.precisiongear.com/powerbrute.htm

Hi, That my friend is an open R200 diff and it probably has a 3.9 gear ratio. If you rotate the carrier you will see some numbers stamped into the ring gear this will tell you the ratio. You can either put a powerbrute clutch pack in for about $600 or a Quaife in for about $1200 to turn it into a limited slip. Or you can go the route a lot of folks do and use an Infiniti (I think) differential. I believe most R200 clutch type differentials have a ratio of 37:10 = 3.7 Danno74Z

Going to start fabing up the sub frame connectors tonight. Going to make my own as the ones online are too expensive and I don't think they are much stronger then the orginal units. Danno74Z

Hi, You know that is a great question! I don't know what their function is in the first place other then to drain water out of the car should it get flooded. One would have to remove the carpet anyway to get to them. Mine were also covered over with sound deadening material from the factory so go figure. I would say weld them closed. I probably should do that too. Perhaps someone else will tell us what their function is for. I noticed I said fabricating the frame rail. Meant to say sub-frame connectors. Danno74Z

Just finished up welding in the new passenger floor pan. I have 92 spot welds in that pan. It is amazing how nice new steel helps these old girls. The pan is flanged along the perimeter and sits into the hole I cut. Fits real tight! I used sheet metal screws in every other hole from the top and then I used a jack and a couple of blocks of wood from below and force the new steel with the existing steel tight between the screws. This removed all unevenness and gaps between the panels and then I started welding. (On top of the wood blocks I used some scrap copper as a backer as weld will not stick to copper.) From below all the screw holes are plug welded closed. New floor is ready for primer and seam sealer. Now onto fabricating the frame rails Danno74Z

Hi Robbs70Z, Thanks! Not many folks over in these parts. There is no doubt one can save money on making your own floors. I bought mine from the guy in Canada many years ago and got them for ~$200 with shipping. It use to be great buying things from Canada but with the devalue of the Dollar not anymore. Danno74Z

For the past month I have moved from putting in the passenger floor pan (which is done and ready to go) but decided to pull the old engine and repair the the battery area. As Chris Farley said "Holy Schnike" that was a ton of work! I cut out the rusted areas and hand fabricated new panels both for the firewall and below the battery tray. I first had to determine how much steel to remove and remove the battery tray. I decided to invest in a Blair spot weld removal tool. This tool was a HUGH help and I highly recommend it. Once I removed the battery tray the fun began. Rust area and to be cut out. Firewall and lower battery area cut out. I never have done this before and was a little uneasy to say the least. Steel (rust) removed as one piece. Looks better then it really is. New firewall patch panel. This one was not too bad to duplicate but welding it in was difficult as one has to be a contortionist. And here is the Holy Schnike piece welded in. This was very difficult to form but it is done from one piece of sheet metal. A lot of compound curves and all going in different directions! This needs a little more finish grinding and then a small amount of body filler to make it look perty. An English Wheel sure would have helped forming this piece but it can be done by hand and a lot of sweat! The steel adjacent to the patch has some pitting but did not warrant removal. I am using Eastwood rust converter on it(used it before and is good stuff IMO). Then will prime the area with some etching primer and move on the the floors - AGAIN.

I agree...Your Z is coming out great and thanks for the tips on the dash removal. More rust repair for me Danno74z

Sunny Z, When you did your dash restoration did you remove the AC/blower system? I'm asuming you removed the steering wheel too. I'm just curious on the steps necessary to get the dash out with the least amount of issues. Thanks

On my tank conversion I added this: I know I will be draining my tank several times too! Danno74Z

Sunny Z, I agree with the others - AWESOME work! Don't be too discourage about the hole as I'm sure the fab shop will fix it. One would have thought they would either pressure test or place the tank in solvent to search for pinholes. With that much welding a small hole had to exist somewhere on the tank. I almost forgot. I like where your speakers are Danno74Z

I think I'm going with a Vintage Air Compact system. I really would like AC (I'm old) and having that Antique AC/Heater OEM system and trying to retro it to the LS1 is a road I don't want to travel. Big meats on that Z of yours - now I know why you need the flairs! I'm home today working on fixing the main valve to the sprinkler system. I'm in a hole 6' deep, boy talk about being creepy down there. Danno74Z

Looking good! I haven't tackled the dash yet but there is a lot of stuff jammed under there. Are you using the original car wire harness? The harness is close to 40 years old and in areas the insulation is hard and brittle but mostly in the engine compartment. I'm not worried about the engine harness as that is relatively new wire that I redid. But all the other stuff such as the horn, lights, starter alt. etc. As I said old and brittle. They all have to carry loads again and splicing in new wire on top of old is not very wise. What size rims/tires are you using on the front and rear? Danno74Z

Thanks sq_creations and emeraldlion. The paint scheme is really SHARP! Danno74Z

I had a little bit of a slowdown on the floor pans as I shifted my work schedule from nights back to days - rough on the sleep pattern! I decided to pull the old Datsun engine from the Z to remove all the weight off the front end. I don't know if I needed to do that but why take a chance when welding back in all new metal. As mentioned above one could save about $200 on the floors by buying a sheet of sheet metal and fabing up your own floors. Since I bought these from a vendor up in Canada years ago I wanted to used them up. They do fit pretty good but not perfect and require shaping. I have to say I'm feeling a lot more comfortable cutting on the car and putting in new steel but I take my hat off on folks who do body work for a living. IT TAKES A LOT OF SKILL! New pan cut to fit and the edges flanged. frame rail cut out that was smashed beyond repair. New pan set in place to be welded. The bottom side of the pan (facing the road) has been primed and painted with chassis black from Eastwood. Since I don't have a rotisserie I better do the painting now. The old floor and most of the rusty pieces I removed from the old girl. Danno74Z

sq_creations, Is your front airdam a custom fabricated piece? If it isn't who makes it? Very Cool. Danno74Z

I took a small detour from the rust repair and pulled the Datsun motor. So I guess I'm officially starting my build even though I've been at it for years. Before I weld in subframe connectors I wanted all the weight off the unibody. Does it matter who knowns for sure. At the point of no return now but I still have to cut the transmission crossmember ears. Engine Out Framerails in good shape "TG" Smashed passenger side rail. Cut out and will weld in new steel to box the rail. I'm still in the proto stage of sub-frame design. New floor pan ready to go. The underside has been primed and painted now - tough to paint on ones back Danno74Z

Hi Guys, Thanks.... I was contemplating just cutting the rust out of each floor but when I dug deeper the rails and floor had to go. That rust is like termites. Poke around with a awl and there is nothing solid but a thin coating. I have the pans already and will build my own frame rails. I have the steel for the rails and they will be totally boxed in pieces. I don't want to spend the money to buy the BD units. As I complete the floor I will post some more pictures. Danno74Z

Tackled the passenger side floor today. WOW! Removing the seat brackets without destroying them was a lot of work. here are some pictures of my progress. Trashed frame rail. Looks like the car was used 4x4ing - NOT ME. Has been this way for 25 years The rail is pancaked to about 1/2 its normal size in that area. Will be cut out and reformed with new steel. Rotted out frame rail. A LS1 engine would destroy the chassis. The red tape (inside) is the cut line Floor is gone! Holy S*** batman I have a Fred Flintstone car.

Hi RB26powered74zcar, It is amazing as I thought I had very little rust as this car has been in CO for over 25years with me! The undercoating hides a lot of the rust. I just found some more by the battery area and that will all have to be cut out too. Here is the battery area and that is all surface rust and easily grinds off with a 3M pad. But I then dug deeper and found this. In order to repair this, I will have to remove the battery tray and do some surgery. I have an new unwanted hole in the firewall (If you look close you can see the junt fiber stuff) The steel around the rust is OK but this has to be fixed. I haven't even got to the floorpans and rails yet! I'm putting in an LS1 so I need subframe connectors which I'm making too. But first things first. Danno74Z

A very long term project and just finished my new fuel tank and now starting the floor replacement. After taking off the front fenders I found some rust and decided to repair that before starting the floors. Here are some pictures. painted with Eastwood Rust Encapsulator Black

Yes, I saw Cheesepocket exhaust system and pictures. Very Nice...Thanks Dan

WOW rough crowd! Since I'm going to build the exhaust system myself, I needed to get a mental image on how to route the pipes and the placement of the mufflers. A custom exhaust system costs a lot of money and excluding my time I have $50 invested in materials. Knowing my design is going to work is invaluable and that is why I’m sharing it with you all. Yes it was a lot of work but if someone else is thinking about doing this the design is done. Dan Juday, That is the first time I saw that car – pretty cool for sure! Just proves there is nothing really new under the sun. I would be interested in hearing what that car sounds like. Thanks for the compliment I appreciate it. Dan

About a week ago I posted a write-up and pictures of the fuel tank I'm using and why I chose this tank and setup. Here are some picture of the exhaust setup I'm seriously contemplating. The mock-up was made from wood, thin chip board, and 2" PVC pipe. The 2" pipe is with 1/8" of 2.5" steel exhaust pipe. It may look a little hokey but it allows me to visualize what I'm trying to achieve without spending a lot of money. The mufflers are an exact duplicate of the Flowmasters I want to use. With real mandrel bends the piping will be a lot smoother and the transitions will also be better. Not wanting to spend a ton of time mounting the fake system the mufflers are touching surfaces and the tank but there is room to hang the real mufflers away from everything. I might have to use shields on top of the mufflers but those can be had or made and will not be seen. Side view Rear/Side view Rear view Driver side view Looking rearward