BlackBeaut

Damn!! I thought I saw some dirt in that engine bay but it was just a dead pixel on my laptop Cheers, Rob And now back to the thread...

I tend to ask myself "just wtf do you think you're doing now you bleedin' idiot!!" I certainly wouldn't want to make myself feel even worse by worrying about what someone with a clue would think about my work Cheers, Rob

Anybody have any experience with this type of stuff: http://www.frost.co.uk/item_Detail.asp?productID=8822 If it does work I can probably see it being more beneficial when oxy/acetylene welding and that warps the hell out of thin metal. Cheers, Rob

Ooo that site's great, pretty much exactly what I'll be doing, thanks for the link! Cheers, Rob

Good pics John! Ever thought about a nice vacation to Sunny England?!! Cheers, Rob

Cool, all good stuff guys. Plasma cutter would be sweet but they're a silly price even for the weedy ones over here, I can't quite justify it, so I'll have to pass on that. I'm faily handy with the angle grinder and cut off wheels mind, just some places are too out of reach, one patch I need to replace is just underneath the entrance to the air tube, right next to the rad support panel - good grief! I suspect I'll have to work some places by hand with a hacksaw blade - all good fun!! I'll start coming up with a decent plan of attack this weekend. Need to get my head around how to remove the front frame rails without messing up the bottom of the inner wing. Will definitely just do one side at a time! I wonder what other horrors I'll find when I remove them?!! Cheers, Rob

Hi All, Well my project has taken a depressing turn in to the land of rust repair, I'll be doing floors, frame rails, bonnet hinge plates and replacing a few badly done patchs, so I was wondering what's the best tool to be cutting up the shell with that won't make a complete mess of things. I've got a 4.5" angle grinder, sawsall type thing and tin snips at my disposal, oh and nibbler drill attachment thing but that's a bit clumsy, is there any other tool worth getting? There are two or three really bad patch repairs to the inner wings with 'orrible weld beads left undressed (unpainted in one case so that's just rusted again), so I'll need to cut those completely out and rework the sheet there but joggle the edges of the replacement patches so I can get a nicer weld down. One of the big jobs is replacing the front frame rails, that'll no doubt be plenty of fun. Once I've got the front end solid again I can get the car up on a rotisserie and tackle the floors, rails and sub-frame connectors then. I'm planning on liberal use of weld thru primer followed by top coating with POR15 All going to be a lot of fun I'm sure Cheers, Rob

Alas not a Zed - you'd end up having to sit in the boot, sorry trunk http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?p=1&f=23&t=245424&h=0 Think 27l Rolls Royce Meteor engine in a road legal car, gotta love the madness!! Cheers, Rob

These guys in Oz have one listed: http://www.zspares.com/catalog/product_info.php?cPath=59_229_64&products_id=39'>http://www.zspares.com/catalog/product_info.php?cPath=59_229_64&products_id=39 God knows if they'd ship anywhere though, and there's a typical straight talking OZ statement on the home page which is quite funny: http://www.zspares.com/catalog/ Cheers, Rob

Looks mighty good!! Are those the worlds longest studs?!! Do you have to use open ended lug nuts with them? Cheers, Rob

Hey Clint, Good to see you back! How goes your little project? I have to agree that things have got a little mad getting over the last hurdle. It's something I'll live with but at some point in the future I think I'll revisit - when the car gets stripped down and is on a rotisserie I think, so I can fab things up in place. Still it's done now so I can put it to one side and get on with other fun things like my Z32 hub/strut and front lca/rod reworkings. One day I may even get the gearbox back in so I can turn the engine over, I hear miracles do happen occasionally Cheers, Rob

Blimey, it's pretty much finished! I got the top bars linked and bodged in some hangers. Alas my cunning plan of the big fat bushing was a no go as I ended up having to reduce the height of the front mounts, but I think what I've come up with will do the trick. I'm going to put in some big fat poly washers top and bottom of the diff ears to hopefully take a bit of the loading shock. Pics show it with the pinion way to high, once I've got the poly washers I'll be able to adjust on the bench to get the right clearance there. So I just need to chop a few of the sharp corners of the front mounts and it's job done, should all be finished by this time next year Cheers, Rob

Hi Jamie, Top work, car looks great. Have you got any pics of the metal work inside the rear arch without the flare on to maybe give wannabee fabricators like me a clue? No probs if it's top secret stuff though! Cheers, Rob

Blimey, I really haven't a clue! Given how few Zeds there are in the UK anyway, I suspect you wouldn't need to borrow another hand to help count the GTO reps. I also doubt that any will have anything other than stock/2.8 engines in, naturally I can't guarantee that statement but it just seems unlikely to me. Chelle, I look forward to seeing the new pics and feeling even more inadequate Cheers, Rob

Great pics David! Was that a recon booster unit, if not, how frickin' clean?!! One of these years I'll be sticking a ZX master on mine so it's good to know eactly what I'll be looking for. Cheers, Rob

I'd ignore Sean's obsession with wheelbase if I were you The 240Z wheel base is closer to the GTO even if it is a little shorter. Plus the panels would not fit without major mods to the backside of the 2+2. Or you could check out Chelle's posts, she actually lengthened her 240Z to get the correct wheelbase. Hell of a lot of work but awesome result! Cheers, Rob

Have you been to http://www.zclub.net yet? Not only are there V8s in the UK there are gto replicas in production. Speak to Moggy who is making one now and also has a set of panels for sale. There are also folks who can help out with importing a rust free Zed. Cheers, Rob

It would be awesome to see pics of the booster apart and that damn reaction disk. I'd say it would make a thread worthy of FAQ status! Cheers, Rob

Bit more progress, got the top bars made up and they seem to work OK. Had to make a minor mod to that exhaust hanger bracket admittedly I'm going to reassemble on the car and tack a bit of scrap on as a cross piece to the two bars to make sure they're lined up exactly right. Arranging things correctly on the bench is rather tricky! Cheers, Rob

The 18mm for the front face was dictated by taking measurements of a Z32 hub knuckle thing, granted they're aluminium, but for me to mount the parts I got of that on to my version I thought it easier to just replicate it. The 18mm leg will have a section channelled out of it, to fit the 2" dia tube for the strut, to a depth of 10mm, so actually it will only be 8mm for part of it's thickness. Erm, I can't think of a decent reason why I chose 12mm for the other leg, sounded good to me There's definitely room for some weight reduction holes to be added in, but I'll look in to that at a later date. Ideally it would be made in aluminium with a bolt on strut tube. But I can't TIG weld so costs would escalate if I'd've gone that route. With good ol'mild steel at least I can screw up a few times without going in to bankruptcy (At least you didn't say it was stupid! Yet ) Cheers, Rob

Feel free to comment on the design John, nothing's set in stone - or rather metal! I have slightly tweaked the smaller leg profile so that it has more meat at the top edge to help welding. In theory it shouldn't be too hard to clamp it all up good and solid. I have this idea about running 2 M6 bolts through from the front in to each of the legs, basically to allow it to be held together whilst welding. I was thinking that I'd bolt it up, tack up then remove the bolts, cut their heads off, thread back in and weld the cut ends u on the front face, so they'd be basically acting as dowels at that point. For the tube I was just going to spot drill the two legs a few millimeters deep to create a socket that the tube would fit in, then I could run a bolt through the legs and tube to clamp that all up tight. Mike's idea for running the tube completely through the legs and welding both sides definitely has it's merits though. If it's not screamingly obvious, the idea is for the hub to accept Z32 hub and brakes (caliper and handbrake mechanism). Cheers, Rob

Cool, thanks Mike, makes life a bit easier. I'll be using 0.8mm wire with gas so should get a decent enough weld with a couple of passes to fill out the ground areas. Cheers, Rob

GASP! And reveal my plans for world domination?!!!! Well OK, 'cos you asked Kinda gives the game away! cheers, Rob