bjhines

This V8 race car project is the most extensive metalwork I have ever done on one project... most of my experience has been with aluminum and polyester/epoxy... sheet steel is relatively new to me... I like it though... steel MIG welding equipment is MUCH CHEAPER than the TIG equipment I have used in other people's shops. I have not been able to justify the expense of a proper TIG rig with my wife... I have had my hands in kit cars, kit planes, and restorations of everything from gas pumps to turbojets... I was lucky to work for a small shop owned by a retired aircraft fabrication genius.. for several years while I was in college...

The repairs were going to get the lead treatment.. but I think I can better prep the repairs and get rust treatment into all the nooks and crannies better with modern chemicals.. I have a few quarts of metal prep and POR15 (light grey)... that should provide a good amount of rust protection... everything will get seamsealer.. with attention given to not trapping water.. I will final fill with bondo where repairs are visible... this will require minimal bondo work as I was very carefull to keep things as flush as possible... I always leave a slight depression around repairs.. but in many cases it is only a few thousandths below grade.. and the areas are relatively small... The large repairs such as the rear rocker lip replacement are DEAD FLUSH.. only slight filling near the weld seams is required...

This is the tricky stuff here... Right rear rocker lip fix : Hole prepped for repair... outer patch cut and flanged... inner patch cut and formed... outer patch fitment... inner patch fitment... initial welding inner and outer... flushing outer patch with rest of rocker... ground down as well... outer lip capped and ground smooth... ...

First off.. the easy repairs... Windshield area.. I can't find pics of the hole cutting, picking, and patch... patch welded in a ground out roughly.. patch sanded and blasted... Left Dogleg Area: Patch cut and shaped to fit... patch fitted in place.. I picked a lfange for it to fit into flush... patch welded.... ground out roughly... blasted and prepped for bodywork... Rear Deck Lid : This was done on both sides.. This is one section of metal I added to back up the thinned out rusty stuff.. patches welded in and blasted from bottom... completed deck lid patch ground and blasted with a hole for a camera cable... ...

These are some pretty good pics of rust repair on a "rust free" 240Z... This stuff was minimal and most of it was not visible yet... There were 2 places that had a surprising amount of damage caused by a leaky rear deck gasket/lid... 1. right hand toolbox... 2 right rear wheelwell/ rocker lip... anyway here are some shots of the damage... somwhat cleaned up to find the extent of the damage... right rear rocker lip... I got a bunch of bondo out of this area... rear hatch lip... both sides actually.. middle was fine windshield lip on drivers side only... never showed drivers side dogleg... I got a big plug of bondo out of here too... I have actually been picking the edges to form a lip.. right and left rockers were pretty clean... right... left... repairs contiued....

They GM built my current tow vehicle... loaded 1999 Z71 half ton... it is a flying piece of crap... the parts I pay exorbitant amounts of money for are SUBSTANDARD... The original fuel pump that went out after 60,000 miles was replaced by a GM dealer where it failed a long way from home(florida)... it got me home and quit the next week... I took it into a GM dealership near my home(North Carolina) and they replaced it under warranty...grudgingly under warranty... I got 3 months out of that pump... I took it back and complained.. they tried to blame it on another system or that I did not keep the tank full all the time.... I told them to not only fix it but provide me with a loaner vehicle that time.. they grudgingly obliged.. the service manager then confessed that they had been having problems with replacement parts from Mexico(fuel pumps included).... It failed again and the dealership said they could not fix it until they had new replacement pumps(unknown possibly months)... I "accidentally" broke their doorframe on the way out... I ordered a Walbro or Holley(can't remember now) in tank replacement pump and it has worked fine for over 2 years now. Things have failed on that truck that I have never seen fail on other cars... taillight sockets corroded then melted, headlights fogged up lock actuator fell into the window mech, Windshield wipers failed ($450 to fix), antifreeze leak near intake manifold, alternator died, drivers door hinges sag, "stainless" exhaust rusted out entire front end had to be rebuilt after 70,000 miles 4x4 engaging mech froze in 4x4 mode for weeks, tranny fails to get in gear every time (adjustment) brakes are the worst I have ever driven(I checked this on another GFM truck) constant brake maintenance and rotor warpage, engine emissions have been a nightmare to keep functioning( every time I need to get it inspected the check engine light comes on and needs parts), front tires still wear like **** even after front end rebuild and numerous alignments by different shops, The list goes on.. I got nearly 300,000 miles out of my Toyota FJ80 Landcruiser.. only minor issues the entire time.. most of the car was still original after more than a quarter million miles!!!! I still got $4000 for it when I sold it. I got 250,000 out of our last Mercedes.. a few things here and there failed.. mostly interior stuff I love working on the Datsuns My last BMW was a bear to keep interior accessories working.. but the driveline was art in motion... I only sold it because my wife would not let me have 2 track cars. come to think of it.. the Chevy had problems at 40,000 miles that other cars I have owned did not need fixing until 150,000 miles... Face it... Chevy is junk.. I am just waiting for my Nissan Titan in the near future... American car companies have no bussiness in the bussiness

I have to say... When I goto Nissan, Honda, Toyota, Mercedes, BMW dealerships.. I have confidence that what I buy is best quality..there is a monetary price to pay for confidence... My experience with General Motors dealerships is moronic idiocy, laced with incompetance, with a boquet of overconfidence and lack of respect for the customer. Working with GM dealerships and owning one of their trucks has been the worst of my automotive experiences...

I am usually a tough customer.... I don't get along well with idiots... The fact is that when I wan't a part now... I do what it takes to get that part NOW... even if I have to bite my tounge and smile broadly the whole time.. even while imagining wrenching his neck to snuff out his miserable existance. I live in downtown Cary NC... there are half a dozen parts stores within a mile of my house. Napa, Carquest, Autozone, Advance, Parts+, etc... some of them have 2 stores within 5 miles...I have made the rounds on the phone and at their counters... The fact is... If I am buying important parts I use Nissan... or I check what brand and sources are THE BEST QUALITY and mail order them by part number.. any major job I am performing I pre order everything I need... I use Autozone the most... NAPA screwed up my local independent dealer.. but they were not that great to begin with. Autozone has huge stock and spread it out over several local stores... they carry a lot of odd "fixit" parts and display them for me to oogle over. They have a variety of hot rod parts displayed with prices... Autozone has crappy friction materials... but who buys clutches from brands they don't know from ANYBODY... live and learn neophytes.. When I am looking for parts I always let a counter guy know.. ""I have this antique Datsun... it has been turned into a race car and it has parts from all kinds of different vehicles on it""... ""I need to look up such and such year.. and then I need to compare it with such and such"... If I can't get it worked out in the store then I buy several different parts and head home with a variety to work with... take back the unused parts and wash up...

What model are those?

I was shot with salt when I was a kid... and I was just tresspassing... not vandalizing... I made me remember what had happened..

The first gen system used the original PCV valve system... no flow control valve... and a pop filter/breather on the top vent... The top vent leaked a decent quantity of oil during track use.. I would come into pits and always smell raw hot oil.. first on the headers.. then I moved the top breather to another location... it still made a mess wherever it was located... obviously I was not achieving vacuum during full throttle.. to make it worse I was dealing with the mess the oil vapors would leave wherever the breather was located... I was also not pulling enough vac to properly vent the fuel tank vapors... The second gen system used an oil recovery tank.. but I could not locate it to allow drainback into the crankcase(nasty looking stuff too)... it still did not ever really pull a vacuum on the crankcase... just barely a little flow at idle or part throttle... The third and fourth gen systems were an attempt to actually develop a slight vacuum to vent the fuel tank and make use of the original flow control valve... The fourth gen(current) system vents all fuel vapors from the tank and dumps them right into the PCV valve... the exhaust venturi pulls the most air when the PCV system pulls the least amount of air... the entire system maintains a very steady slight vac on the crankcase under ALL CONDITIONS.... and the messy oil vapors are dumped into the exhaust.. and keep my engine bay clean enough to eat off of...

I am using the exhaust evac tube... It does really generate a lot of flow volume... it does not create a lot of vacuum.. I run the top breather to the exhaust... I used a 12" rubber hose to connect to the check valve... then I used a metal tube(water heater gas line) to run down to the final header collector... The PCV system comes from the bottom breather tube into a oil separator.. and on to a PCV manifold I made for the TWM intake.... I almost forgot.... I am using the original "flow control valve" as a vacuum break... it normally draws vapors from the tank... but if it pulls a slight vacuum on the tank it begins to draw air through a tiny filter from the port that used to connect to the air cleaner. ....

rear quarter panel damage can end up leaving a gap between the inner fender and the out rear quarter panel... it can also cause gaps in the little panel that has the filler neck gromet... Nissan used a thick bead of tar-like substance to seal the inner and outer fenders... check that this is still in place and actually touching the outer quarters.

WOW!!!! that car is a KNOCKOUT!!!! There are only a few pics of S-30s I have ever run across that look that good.... You have a show winner there... Don't even take it to local shows.. you will just mop up everything... DAMN!!!! thats NICE!!!

Nice Porsche.... JT1.. I can't believe you are selling the V8Z... I still need an Engine, tranny, and brakes... depending what you want.. I might buy it.

I have recieved several items from people who did stupid things like that... The all time winner was an E-31 head that was wrapped in a flap of cardboard and tied with twine... then sent through UPS fully assembled.. partially assembled and thouroghly ruined when arrived... What a friggin MORON!!!... He got bad feedback for that one I assure you... I actually got the money back.. but he would not pay shipping which was almost $100... again.. what a moron....

I warped the passenger side firewall slightly stiching with MIG... There is soo much going on there that it just got too hot, too many times, in too many different areas... before it got out of hand I stiched 2 u channels to the passenger side firewall to hold its overall shape... The drivers side already has a doubler plate to mount the pedal box... other wise I have not ahd any trouble.. I have tried a combination of spot welds and stich welding... they are both getting similar results... never go right along in a line.. I tack a few places along the length of a panel... then I fill in by skipping around... and I tend to stop after a few stiches on one panel and move on to another area while that cools down... notice the warpage has concentrated at the hole for the wire harness... frackin blowouts in the thin stuff are what's pissing me off.. they make it ugly as hell... I really had a hard time working in this area...

I have searched and searched for information I have read within the past year... It also seems to come up empty for info in message bodies...

LOL... I knew this would happen... but the name will pull a lot of searches in...lol.... These 2 threads are about to hit the top 2nd and 3rd spots in posts and views....

hmmm... most of the cooler sandwich plate adaptors I have seen up close have a bimetal spring to divert flow when cold...

JM.... that is exactly what was going through my mind.... X bracing made of cheap light tubing that bolts in... with no heavy duty mounting plates.. just some welded tabs for bolt holes...

I did a little reinforcment to the firewall with some u-channel in 12g.... rocker rail to TC bucket brace tube.... ....

they did plenty of drilling in structural components.. they made the comment the anything fore and aft of the strut towers was drilled full of holes... Here are some pics of the Opera S200 build.. found it on the S2K forums... http://www.s2ki.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=126013 BEFORE... after... look carefully at the front lower frame rails.. they are chock full of 2.5" holes... they were covered with tape and then coated with primer... you can still see the holes though.. the magazine pics had a view of the rails without tape over them... shot full of holes I tell you... bigguunnns

kid managed to keep his teeth... never had to get his jaw wired.... nose was pretty bad though... the kid I never hit in the face was the worst injured.. he broke his ribs on the edge of a concrete gutter we landed in... 2500$ to fix the car... I severely sprained both hands.. one in the tackle and the other..well... my dog completely bit through her tounge and suffered a concussion... she was a bloody mess from the kick in the face...

My dog and I caught 2 kids vandalizing my car once.... I am a night owl myself and I heard them laughing outside... I let my 90lb lab out the door with encouraging words... the kids never saw her comming until she had one by the glutes.... I tackled the other one and landed on him as hard as I could... I broke 3 of his ribs and then turned to the other kid.... I saw him kick my dog in the face after he got his ass free... and that was all I needed to grab him and pound his face to a pulp... The parents tried to sue me after the cops told them I was well within my rights.... the only one who might have had a case was the kid who's face I ruined... I broke his jaw, knocked out 2 teeth and completly sheared the cartilage off in his nose... The trick was.. he kicked my dog while on my property.. I had full rights to kill him if I wanted to.. for a few seconds I really was trying to kill him... luckily the fountains of blood made me back off... the condition of those 2 kids was enough to deterr ANYONE FROM FU**ING WITH MY ****... EVER AGAIN.... beleive me that got around the neighborhood.... that was almost 12 years ago.. I am a little more reserved now.. and I live in a nice area of town now....