grannyknot

There were some wrinkles in the metal in that area from the form press, from the factory, you should be able to see them on the other side. If you feel you have to get rid of them just make sure that with all panels assembled the car sits properly and the gaps between panels are good before you start cutting and welding. If it were me I would cut out the whole area with the folds and replace it with a custom smooth patch.

It's coming along well, are going to use the throttle by wire pedal?

Looks like you have done most of the hard work already, you know your going to kick yourself in a few years. Wish you luck on the sale.

What @ISPKI says, I'm going to bet the bottom of both those rails are pretty far gone. You can replace the bottom with 14-16ga sheet metal and add a bit of strength.

If you are mounting your Z on a rotisserie to do major cutting and replacement metal then a few strategic braces can help but mostly not necessary if you do one rocker at a time then one floor pan at a time before moving to the other side. Definitely remove the glass, the rubber seals will need replacing anyway.

All the more reason to wait a year or two until the bugs have been worked out.

Oh I get it, the concerned look was because I had no drive shaft on at the time so when I put it in gear and let off the clutch it didn't feel like anything happened but it was just because it was free spinning with no load. I backed it out of the garage yesterday to go on my first drive, checked everything over one more time and noticed the other oil cooler line had a fast leak But it's my fault, am using compression fittings to join up the stock cooler aluminum tubes to AN fittings and hose and the compression ring was little too close to a bend in the pipe. So I've ordered a new length of hose so I can make a connection farther up the tube, it's all the little stuff now that's stopping me. The friggn Castrol 10w60 is so expensive I don't want to loose another drop.

Hanging, what do you mean?

It's all working now, here's the clutch test with no exhaust system.

Looks good.

I have never used one but there is a tool designed specifically for removing a door skin, pretty sure it is just a hand tool.

In that case I would drill holes along the bottom of the inside piece and plug weld the skin and inside piece together, with some careful grinding you could save it.

If you unfold it and it doesn't break from the rust then it should be strong enough to be hammered back after removing the rust, just be very careful not to open it more than needed to get it off the inside piece. You don't want to see the results of the bend on the out side of the door.

I did, I was using a 3/4" Nissan clutch MC with the S38 engine and G280 trans with no problems so I thought it would work for the G420 trans, but now I have installed the 7/8" MC and I still can get it into gear. That's a good idea, I'll drop the slave tomorrow and do some measuring of the stroke. @RTz, thanks Ron, I appreciate it.

Welcome to the forum! Nice looking Z, great potential. Having done some dark years myself I can relate, some people think spending time working on cars is a waste but it is a lot better than self destruction. New Zed is right, KYB's are a great shock for the price.

From the outside the BMW MC and slave are almost identical shape and size and if anything the 7/8" Tilton MC that I put in today should be way more than enough but my foot is still going to the floor with no more resistance than the return spring. I have bled almost a litre of fluid through it in both directions, normally and with a big syringe from the bottom, the slave is in good working order but I have ordered a new one just in case. At this point I can only think that maybe the clutch fork got misaligned during installation although I was very careful at the time to make sure that didn't happen. If that is the case then I'll have to drop the trans which is something I really don't want to get into. At least the variable valve timing oil pressure is right where it should be.

Thanks guys, appreciate it, yes it was a shock when it fired up, I stood there like an idiot then started checking for leaks. I fixed the oil cooler line today and started it up again to let the engine get hot enough to test the electric fan programing then one of the coolant hoses I had forgot to tighten fully blew open. 1/2 gallon of coolant on the floor naturally, fixed that and jumped in to take it for a spin but the Datsun clutch M/C is just shy of enough displacement for the BMW slave cylinder so need to dig through the shelves to see if I have a 7/8" M/C kicking around.

Well, I got the engine started with the first turn of the key, that's a first for me. I still have to repair an oil cooler line I screwed up but it sounds pretty good.

It should be as simple as cutting power to the running light side of the blinker bulb, there should be a bullet connector on each of the wires going to the bulb.

It's still there, https://www.classiczcars.com/forums/topic/2954-original-boobs-thread/?&page=216#comments

I think it's worth it.

Hey, thanks. I will check that out.

Thanks, that is the coolant return to the pressure tank that sits where the battery use to be, BMW makes a plastic piece that inserts there but it is known to crack easily so I turned one out of aluminum on the lathe and screwed a brass elbow in so no more fear of cracking. The temp sensors are hidden behind the oil filter canister.

Thanks guys, I'm a bit of an engine slut and it does make pulling the engine fairly quick and painless.