supershanesta

Here is the Dimensions if someone is interested.

Thanks I will definitely take a look!

Shit but effective means that the welds dont look pretty but it effectively shields from water and rust. It is non structural and hidden. If the weld is solid, grinded flat, and painted you would never tell the difference. It can be done properly with patience. Which I have. I will post pictures after. Thanks, Shane

Well I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but I bought the cheapest welder that HF has to offer! lol. I have seen others use this on a datsun and weld in panels without too much issue. I know it burns hot, I know it uses flux but I plan to do small beads and move around to get it done right. I am practicing with sheet metal now. If you think this is a very bad idea let me know, but after doing testing I think it can be done. Might not be the cleanest, but It can be done. My dad always tells me "SBE" Shitty but Effective. That's my goal.

Your right. At the end of the day it will be worth it for me to learn. I can use it on other parts of the car later down the road. Also a good point as it is not visible and structural. If it doesn't look great who cares. I really appreciate your guy's responses. I think I will be going the diy route and buying welder. It will come in handy for sure! I will be posting my progress here later in the weekend and hopefully get it done in the next couple weeks after I feel comfortable welding. Thanks, Shane

Well I got a quote.... $600. This is from Craigslist. At that price I feel like I should just buy a Vulcan 140 welder from Harbor Freight for $400 and make this a DIY. Practice for a week and go for it. Anyone here weld? Do you think it would be too ambitious of me to try to do it myself with little to no experience?

Interesting. Did he do the same repair or something else?

lol I need to find a buddy to weld. Well I guess I will start looking into it. Better sooner than later.

To me, it just depends on how much worse. If its not going to change much in 3 years then i would rather wait. But it does suck to stare at it.

Hey Guys, I just finished doing vinyl work on my car and forgot about a major rust area at the back hatch sill. My question is.. can I wait? I plan to get the car sandblasted, rust corrected and painted in 3 to 4 years and would like to hold off but I can tell its bad. I bought a replacement top sill but I know damage is done underneath. If I paid someone to do the bottom piece (fab and welding) would it be expensive? Say over $500. I am not comfortable welding. I am in California and owned the car for 2 years and never touched the rust knowing I need to asap before the rear tail light area gets worse. Would the rust get much worst in that time or would it be similar and I should just wait. Thanks for your help, Shane

Here is a video of the process that I did. Just a quick edit if you want to check it out.

Yes. You tuck it under with the vinyl wrapping tool and I used like a tint square or interior trim tool. I used vinyl wrapping knifeless tape to cut it very close to the rubber and just tuck maybe an 1/8 to a 1/4 MAX of an inch under the rubber. I practiced before and I would used knifeless tape. I did the rear hatch by hand and messed up although you can't notice unless up close. The spots with damaged paint... I sanded. primed and painted. and sanded 1000 grit wet. It needs to be smooth like original paint to stick properly. I would do a good job painting because I had issue with paint peeling when I lifted the vinyl to pull, which ruined vinyl and finish. My first post talks about that. I would sand with 400 or 320 then prime, then sand, then paint, then sand. It needs to be hardened and stick well to the original paint. It needs to fully cure before applying vinyl. I would wait a couple days before applying as the gas from paint curing can ruin the vinyl. I had issue around the rear hatch with 1. Bad paint and 2. Bad gasket. So I paid to have the glass removed and reinstalled with new gasket. As he was working on the new gasket I sanded the area and applied paint. It would be really hard to wrap around dry, crusty rubber. If its in half decent shape and the paint just has chipping just sand it smooth and your good to go. The only time you need to apply new paint is if you sand through to metal. Normally you can fix chips with just light sanding.

Hmm idk. You could ask a vinyl guy. Might need paint over it first.

Thanks for the responses guys. I appreciate it! My car did look like shit for sure, but turned out okay. Wrapping the z is doable with patience's. If you paint it in good shape this is a good option for sure. I actually was just speaking with a guy who finished a 240z and he only charged 1500 which included the vinyl. I was thinking next time I would have them do it. It turned out great. Anyways here the final results!!! The hard part was taking off all the locks, windows, door handles, and finding the same bolts to put it back together.

Thanks!