Zetsaz

Here's the last picture I took before putting it back in my garage. Not really put back together but tons of progress was made in the last year. The engine feels pretty good, huge portions of the metal have been fixed, seats reupholstered, nice fbody fuel tank properly installed, internal racetronix fuel pump running beautifully, carpet kit cut, door interior all there except the driver door panel not being installed. Excited to get back at the end of the school year (I'm teaching Music at a high school here in Washington)

Sad/happy news: I've accepted a job in Mount Vernon, Washington and won't be able to work on the car for a while as it's back in Utah. The good news is I'll finally be making money and sending parts back home for when I get back. I'm hoping to do floors and rails then sandblast or at least rattle can the car all black when I get back. If there's anyone in the Skagit/Seattle area that knows of any meets going on I'd be happy to go check stuff out and learn from people with more experience! Already found a lot full of old Datsun 620s here in MV. There won't be many build updates for a while, but when I get back and really work in the summer I'll have boxes of parts waiting for me. It'll feel like Christmas!

The stock throttle body is bigger than the AFM. Might just work. I'll check measurements later tonight.

Eh... I'll just measure it If you've happen to know though, it'd be nice. I never quite trust myself on purchasing stuff unless it's built for it or I've tried it in person

Awesome, thanks! Do you know if it would work well with a stock throttle body from a '76? Or is the 240sx throttle body too different in size?

Where did you get that AFM boot? I've been looking for something to replace my stock one with, since it's all torn up.

This is so good....

Couple more randoms of the full rockers in the middle of alignment, some rust, a couple of welding shots, and the passenger door rust I'll have to patch.

Pictures as promised. Wasn't done with a regular mig, no gas, so the welds still need some more grinding down and cleaning up, but I sprayed it with a thin coat of black primer for now while I get a chance to clean them up more down the road when I'm actually prepping for paint. Note I have way more pictures of rust but for the sake of comparisons and seeing a few in between shots this is all I'll upload. Cut up Passenger side Driver side

Rocker panels and other bits have been done for almost two weeks now, just haven't had a chance to upload pictures. I'll have them uploaded sometime tonight once I've sorted through them for before/after deals. Still have some more bits to weld including some floor patching and the frame rails, plus the holes from the old bumpers in the back but for now it's really coming along and starting to take shape. It's far from any sort of ground up restoration but a lot of major issues will be taken care of. The passenger door aligns quite well and closes, but the driver side door (unfortunately) closes just as poorly as before and I haven't quite figured out why. It's no different from before swapping the rockers, so I know it's not that, but it's still bugging me that it's harder to close and almost needs to be slammed to shut completely.

Looks like plug welds are gonna be the way to go. Haven't been able to find anyone with a spot welder, and even the cheapest Harbor Freight ones are like $170. And I was really hoping not to have to drill or cut any of my shiny new panels :/ Updates to come with pics: Both rocker panels are fitted and ready for welding right now. Just need to fit the passenger dogleg. Once that's done I'll be working on the rear lower quarters.

Rockers are completely removed. And I definitely haven't been driving it, it's on jack stands and will stay there until the rockers and rocker ends are welded on

Latin American dad. Working on his own to support family from the time he was a teenager when his dad passed away. It's not like it's a surprise, but it's definitely frustrating a lot of the time haha. I need to look into getting a spot welder or borrowing one then. If not, I may weld it up whichever way we do it for now and spot weld it a bit down the road before painting. It's not like I'm driving it much and it definitely doesn't have enough power to start affecting the frame. I could be totally wrong of course. I know the rockers are structural, but I assume anything that has them welded pretty firmly to the rest of the car will work well enough for now on a car that makes maybe 120hp as is, and is barely going to be driven until another several months or even a year down the road.

Second question: Is there a legitimate reason NOT to just weld a long seam along the edges where the new rocker meets the old metal? The reason I ask if my father is the most infuriatingly stubborn man and he seems to think that would be better than spot welding it.

Awesome, thanks for the response!

SUPER IMPORTANT QUESTION: When putting on new rocker panels, do people generally just spot weld them on like the originals, or do they make a seam like on butt joints? I've been searching for hours and most of the pictures I've found are sparse to say the least and there's not much detail in the descriptions on how to get the whole job done. I'm almost done completely removing the driver side, but I'm still slightly confused by a couple things.

No pictures right now, but I've taken everything apart to prepare for metal work and hopefully sandblast this thing. There was way more bondo in some areas than I thought and it turned out to be more rust than I was hoping for, but the worst is in areas I already bought replacement panels for so I'm not too bummed. I'm gonna have to buy the lower panel for the passenger fender though because I had no idea it was pretty much just rust and bondo. Live and learn I guess. The project keeps getting to be more and more work than I expected just go the the shell in decent condition, but my fuel setup will be solid for pretty much any engine I choose to swap down the road (especially an LS engine), and the interior with few exceptions is pretty much done. Just gotta patch up this metal which is gonna be a pita.

Haven't been posting much lately. Been trying to apply for full time jobs and I was in Oregon for a few days just recently checking out a job offer. Finally made a cover for the tank. Made from aluminum my dad got at the scrapyard. It's bolted around the sides so I can access anything I want on the tank or the rear end down the road. Welded the fancy little things you see around the circle so I could bolt the plate down. It works well enough for now Dad cutting the cover and a mockup Fancy schtuff Gives you an idea of placement pre-welded Aaaand, painted and bolted on (mostly, you get the idea) It's not perfect but it'll do for now.

Been raining a lot here the last few days. Haven't done too much last weekend, but earlier I got the chance to clean up the glass, particularly the nasty tint that was left on the driver side window. Took a couple hours of scraping even after using a window film adhesive remover. Before (note that this is just a couple minutes after I had started. don't have a true "before" pic): After:

Frankenstein lives: Obviously I haven't put everything back on yet. Threw the taillights back on super fast just so i didn't feel too ratty, but she moves! Still finishing the back piece for carpet. Not sure if I'll have that totally done tonight, but pics will come as soon as it's done and I've thrown them on for a test fit.

Didn't get a chance to get some pics or video of the car moving today because we've been getting some pretty good rain. I'll get something once it's sunny again. In the meantime I started cutting up the carpet that I bought over a year ago. It's all laid out and ready to go. center piece at the rear of the console was finished earlier. I'll have pics up in the morning when I finish the rest.

Thanks a lot! It's been a lot of hard work, but I'm excited to actually do something with it that'll make me money now haha

Major milestone in both life and in the Z car. I graduated from my university this weekend, but more importantly... I bled the clutch properly and the car shifts quite well right now. Pumped up the lousy tires for a test drive and it actually feels quite good! I'll have a video when I take another short spin around the neighborhood tomorrow. Time for metal work and paint stripping

I thought I had figured out the clutch, I was wrong. I think there's just not enough throw in the new clutch master cylinder. I realized that a lot of people actually have this problem so I swapped out the push rod from my old on into the new master cylinder. It's installed right now, but I haven't had a chance to bleed it. Only things left to get it moving is clutch bleeding and new tires. I got a battery for it this week so I don't have to jump start it. I'll have to replace the air flow meter boot soon. I have a plugged up one from a 78 on there right now, but it's torn up and the engine is running super rich. If anyone has alternatives for the AFM boot on a '76 I would greatly appreciate some suggestions... $50 for the one from MSA is money I could spend other places :/

Used some test leads yesterday to check the Racetronix pump that came in the Camaro tank. It's working beautifully, the guy that last did the job did a terrible splicing job. I'm redoing wiring later today and seeing if the stock connectors on the pump assy aren't busted as well. If not, I removed the evap sensor and ran the wires through the hole. I'll do some more custom stuff to make that work with some quick disconnect cables. It's satisfying knowing that pump is working though, shouldn't have any pump issues for a long time even with an engine swap. Will update post with my final wiring when I get to it later tonight. Update: Pins on the pump assembly were busted or at least bent enough that the original connection wasn't making proper contact. Fed the wires through the hole where the evap pressure sensor used to be (since I can't use it anyway), and respliced them to some quick disconnect ends. Cut the hoses down to a more appropriate size too now that I know I'm using the internal pump and put the interior trim back over the filler. Looks much more complete than before, just need to make a cover for the spare wheel hole. With that, the fuel delivery is pretty much done. Will be wiring the sending unit next before I put the cover on. Won't be accurate until down the road when I get new gauges, but this will work for now.