luseboy Posted September 28, 2011 Share Posted September 28, 2011 (edited) Well, I got the Z bug. I picked up a '73 rolling chassis in pretty good shape for fairly cheap. I've got an L28 that I'm rebuilding, and I'm building this car up mainly for fun. I happened to pick up the car on my 18th birthday, with my own money. It's a pretty clean chassis, with only minor rust in places besides the floor pans(which luckily only need some patching). I've got huge plans for the car, here's a kind of general outline: -Fully custom interior and sound system (nothing crazy) -Nicely built NA L28 -5 speed tranny -s13 coils and plenty of suspension mods -nice rims and exterior stuff (including paint) -A whole lot of work Anyways just wanted to start my build thread. I'll have a heap of questions I'm sure... I always like this view... you can see how clean it is back here Driver's side floor pan. Has all the tar off now. garage, with the L28 sitting waiting to be pulled apart Sorry for the crappy pictures. I'll have some much better ones soon enough. Anyways as it is, I have stripped the interior and gotten all the tar off the drivers side, stil need to do the passenger side. Next I'm going to get the car into the garage (doesn't roll due to the worn out tires. Does anyone have any tricks for this? I was going to buy wheel dollies, but they cost a lot. Now I'm thinking I'll just go get some cheap tires put on these rims.). Then it's time for cutting out rust and welding in new sheet metal. Got a lot of work ahead of me... I'm excited. Anyways let me know what you think and any tips you have for me. -Austin Please Resize Images to: 1024 x 579 pixels or close. If you upload them at http://www.picresize.com/ or http://bluefive.pair.com/pixresizer.htm there is an option to resize them right on the website. Edited September 28, 2011 by RB26powered74zcar Images WAY to large Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Edward Posted September 28, 2011 Share Posted September 28, 2011 Nice man get those pics fixed so we can check the car out Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
luseboy Posted September 28, 2011 Author Share Posted September 28, 2011 haha ya I will. My laptop has photoshop and everything. But the charger broke... so I can't use it right now. I should be able to next week. Still trying to figure out a trick for getting the car into the garage... I'm contemplating pushing it in with my other car haha. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pharaohabq Posted September 28, 2011 Share Posted September 28, 2011 You might not want to waste the $ on cheap tires. At least not too much. For temporary you can go to the junkyard and buy some tires off wrecked cars in the size you need, sometimes you can get them for 5-10 bucks each. otherwise the tire shop might have some cheap. But aside from all that, rather than spend the $ on something you're going to replace, Maybe consider buying your actual tires you're going to use. Get like 215r16's and some decent rims that you'd be able to sell later. 215's are the widest you'll fit on an S30 w/o any fender issues. Can't wait to see your picts. These cars are awesome, but they're more picky than your girlfriend. They'll drain your wallet faster, but once you're in one, you'll be glad for all the work and trouble you went through to get there. Just make sure you have a plan and watch out for the "while I'm at it" bug. Also avoid buying parts for later on, like new mirrors and interior and airdam and and and... At least till you've got her running and safe to drive (tires, brakes insurance etc etc.) Try to stick to one project at a time and you'll get through things quickly. If you do too much, then the projects get bogged down waiting on other projects to finish and it's easy to get discouraged at that point. Are the existing tires so bad that they won't hold air even temporarilly? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
luseboy Posted September 30, 2011 Author Share Posted September 30, 2011 You might not want to waste the $ on cheap tires. At least not too much. For temporary you can go to the junkyard and buy some tires off wrecked cars in the size you need, sometimes you can get them for 5-10 bucks each. otherwise the tire shop might have some cheap. But aside from all that, rather than spend the $ on something you're going to replace, Maybe consider buying your actual tires you're going to use. Get like 215r16's and some decent rims that you'd be able to sell later. 215's are the widest you'll fit on an S30 w/o any fender issues. Can't wait to see your picts. These cars are awesome, but they're more picky than your girlfriend. They'll drain your wallet faster, but once you're in one, you'll be glad for all the work and trouble you went through to get there. Just make sure you have a plan and watch out for the "while I'm at it" bug. Also avoid buying parts for later on, like new mirrors and interior and airdam and and and... At least till you've got her running and safe to drive (tires, brakes insurance etc etc.) Try to stick to one project at a time and you'll get through things quickly. If you do too much, then the projects get bogged down waiting on other projects to finish and it's easy to get discouraged at that point. Are the existing tires so bad that they won't hold air even temporarilly? Ya well I called around... Apparently, cheap tires are $400 for 4 of them mounted. So lame. I then happily proceeded to spend 4 times less and buy wheel dollies from harbor freight. They should work fine. I'e been told of the JY tires... But I don't know where any of the JY's are around here and I don't have the time to go searching really. Well the plan with rims/tires is to get a nice set of rims (not decided yet) which will probably be 14 or 15 x 8. That means a 215 will fit nicely. But I have 2 of the nice aluminum solid rims in the front which I am going to get cheapies for as a spare set for various uses, possibly including drifting at some point. What offset would be best? I was thinking 0 or a slight negative offset. Am I on the right track? haha so far. my girlfriend is definitley more picky lol. Well I'm used to my MINI so this car is simple! And I'm definitely holding off from buying parts for later... I haven't bought any parts yet. Anyways, this car is going to be awesome when its done, I can't wait! the tires are completely dead and cracked and mostly off the bead. they also lack valves. So they won't even pump up Anyways a little update for today: FINALLY got all the tar off the floor pans and tranny tube!. didn't find too many hidden rust spots, but under the front passenger seat rail, there is a huge amount of rust which was hiding from me. That spot is the worst of the rust though and shouldn't be too hard to fix. Also, I got the little side door bumpers off, really cleaned up the lines. I still need to do some body work on the fenders and doors to make it look right, but it should clean up nicely. Anyways, I'm super happy with the progress I've made. Had the car exactly one week. Huge improvement since then. Tomorrow I will start cutting out the rust spots. What gauge metal are the floor pans? I'm going to buy some sheet metal this week so I can start welding in some new floor material. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rturbo 930 Posted September 30, 2011 Share Posted September 30, 2011 The whole car, with just a few exceptions, should be 20 gauge. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
luseboy Posted September 30, 2011 Author Share Posted September 30, 2011 The whole car, with just a few exceptions, should be 20 gauge. that's what I thought! Well thanks. I'll fix the pics tonight since I will have a charger to use. I might just take some new ones since these were crappy anyways. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
luseboy Posted October 17, 2011 Author Share Posted October 17, 2011 Well Here's an update+me being less lazy. I painted my valve cover and cam sprocket timing cover (or whatever it's called) today. Really happy with how they look. I'm still not done with the valve cover, I'm going to sand the paint off of the "Nissan . OHC" and the lines that run the length of the top, I think that will look really good. I'll do that tomorrow or later tonight and post some pictars of it . Anyways I've got the pictures resized. I tried to put them in the first post... but for some reason I can't edit the post anymore... really strange (mods, if you want to move the pictures besides the valve cover pictures to the original post, I'd appreciate it! You can delete what resides in these parentheses as well ). Anyways tomorrow I have no school so I'm gonna spend the day welding in new floor pan patches, hopefully I'll finish the front of the driver's side pan, that'd be awesome! I'll also grind down my ugly welds and clean everything up too. I'll have to pick up some por 15 or maybe just some plain old spray paint that matches (or sorta matches) the paint that's already there. Also the whole engine is totaly dismantled right now, and luckily, no machining will be needed. The only thing it needs is new gaskets, which are coming tomorrow. Even the bearings look fine. So happy with that. I paid $100 for a engine with no issues! So awesome. I'm going to paint the block metallic gold this week probably. I know it sounds dumb, but I'm confident that it will look good. At least it will be original . Anyways this car is gonna be so awesome, I can't wait to drive it. Pics! here's the cam timing cover: Valve cover: Super cool from close-up: Here's how the driver's floor pan looked: How it is currently: Look at the lack of rust under the fenders ) The rear hatch area cleaned up nicely, I did this while I had the hatch off to weld the hinge back onto the pass. side: Really like this view for some reason... Anyways I've also been thinking a lot about what route I'm going to go with, figuring out all the parts I want to use and what not. I've pretty much got it all figured out. The next thing I'm going to buy is a tranny. I had been planning on a zx 5 speed... But a local guy here offered me a 240sx 5 speed with L-series bellhousing for a fairly good price... It may be the route I go, still undecided. Does anyone have a 240sx tranny? I haven't searched that hard but I have yet to see a detailed install of one... all I know is that I need to get my driveshaft shortened 2 inches. Any ideas on pricing for that? Anyways sorry I've been so lazy... I guess I've just been really busy with a lot of stuff lately and whenever I have free time, I spend it welding. One of the patches has taken me about 6 hours so far and I'm not even done... It's the big one in the center. But I probably only have another 20 minutes of welding to finish it. I just have to decide what I'm gonna do about the piece I have to weld to because it's really thin before more rusted through metal starts, which is right at the seam of the firewall and the floor pan... Anyways I'll finish it up tomorrow! Its funny how much work this takes, but its so enjoyable for me, I can't explain why, I just love it! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
robbs70z Posted October 17, 2011 Share Posted October 17, 2011 Looking good keep it up Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
luseboy Posted October 17, 2011 Author Share Posted October 17, 2011 Looking good keep it up Thanks man! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
calpoly-z Posted October 18, 2011 Share Posted October 18, 2011 I did the 240sx trans swap recently. It's pretty straight forward for the most part. Trans mount has to be modifyed because the mounting point is a couple inches further back. Not terribly difficult though since you obviously have a welder. I would wait until you get the trans mounted then measure to see what length you need your driveshaft to be. I assumed the 2 inches shorter and went and had a custom shaft made and it ended up being too long. Now full disclosure, the place I took it to said they couldnt shorten the oem shaft due to the non removable u joints so they made me a "new" one. What I didn't realize is that they were going to hack up my old one for parts. So I can't actually compare the length of the new one. Cost me about $300 to get the driveshaft made but now I have replaceable u joints. I have heard there are places out there that will shorten the oem shafts though. Probably for much cheaper than what I paid. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pharaohabq Posted October 18, 2011 Share Posted October 18, 2011 Hey man, Thinkgs are looking good. Nice job on your welding. It doesn't look like it's going to leak. Did you also weld the bottom?? You'll need to at the very least seal the bottom and paint the top since fresh welds rust pretty easilly. A couple other comments: Your engine painting, I'm hoping you're using high temperature paint? Standard paint might be okay, but usually with any heat, especially on metallics, they have a tendency to discolor. Not to mention high temp paint holds up to oil a little better. Good deal, on the engine. While you have it apart, you might consider replacing the valve seals with the better Viton seals. As for your tires, well $400 bucks or your life? Good tires are a necessity. Old dry cracked ones could blowout and cause real trouble especially at speed. I'd recommend, 215-55-R16's on 16" rims, 0 offset. You should still fit in the tirewells with no rubbing, and not rub your springs either. There's a whole discussion on here about tires and rims in the wheel area. I wouldn't be upset about spending even $800 on a good set of tires. Replacing all your 30+ year old bushings will also make a huge handling difference. The Energy suspension kit is pretty good If you hold off on that SX tranny, and get an 82-83 S130 "ZX" tranny, then you won't have to worry about getting your driveshaft modified. A ZX tranny shouldn't be that hard to find. there are a lot still out there. Just call around. The ZX tranny will just bolt up, where I don't know if the SX tranny would require body/bracket mods to make it fit. All in all it's great that you enjoy working on your Z, that's the same reason most of us do it, but at least you're keeping the positive attitude and the work is flying by. Oh, Harbor frieght, Yeah most of their stuff is pretty good, but Don't trust their floor jacks to hold for a long time, Always use jackstands. Harbor frieght jackstands work fine. it's a safety thing... at the very least put the tires you take off the car underneath, so that if the car falls it'll hit the tires before making you into a pancake. Work smart. Keep having fun and keep us posted. it's awesome to see what you're doing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rturbo 930 Posted October 18, 2011 Share Posted October 18, 2011 As for your tires, well $400 bucks or your life? Good tires are a necessity. Old dry cracked ones could blowout and cause real trouble especially at speed. I'd recommend, 215-55-R16's on 16" rims, 0 offset. You should still fit in the tirewells with no rubbing, and not rub your springs either. There's a whole discussion on here about tires and rims in the wheel area. I wouldn't be upset about spending even $800 on a good set of tires. $800 for a set of street tires? That sounds like a bit much. That's $200 a tire! http://www.tirerack.com/tires/TireSearchResults.jsp?skipOver=true&width=215%2F&ratio=55&diameter=16 There are a LOT of tires there going for around $400 a set. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
beermanpete Posted October 18, 2011 Share Posted October 18, 2011 I did the 240sx trans swap recently. It's pretty straight forward for the most part. Trans mount has to be modifyed because the mounting point is a couple inches further back. Not terribly difficult though since you obviously have a welder. I would wait until you get the trans mounted then measure to see what length you need your driveshaft to be. I assumed the 2 inches shorter and went and had a custom shaft made and it ended up being too long. Now full disclosure, the place I took it to said they couldnt shorten the oem shaft due to the non removable u joints so they made me a "new" one. What I didn't realize is that they were going to hack up my old one for parts. So I can't actually compare the length of the new one. Cost me about $300 to get the driveshaft made but now I have replaceable u joints. I have heard there are places out there that will shorten the oem shafts though. Probably for much cheaper than what I paid. The U-joints are replaceable. The non-replaceable belief is a myth derived from Datsun saying so in the service manual. Replacement joints are available from the usual third party companies. They get installed the same way as any other typical u-joint. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
calpoly-z Posted October 18, 2011 Share Posted October 18, 2011 Factory drive shaft U-joints for 280z are staked in place. I'm sure it is possible to remove them, but not a particularly easy job. Then trying to find a u joint that fits and doesn't use the standard clip (won't fit without machining a groove in place to hold the clip) to hold it in place adds to the difficulty. The drivetrain specialty shop said they couldn't remove them so I took their word for it. Now I can go to any parts house and find u-joints as well as easily replace them in my garage. Win-win for me. To the OP 280zx trans is fine as long as your power levels stay fairly conservative. That is what I just upgraded from, but when my second one started crapping out again I decided to try something new. Finding a low mileage 280zx trans can prove difficult, at least in my neck of the woods. 240sx trans are a dime a dozen. If you have the chance to get one that has already been modified with an L28 bellhousing (the most difficult part of the swap) then I would go for it. Just my $0.02 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
beermanpete Posted October 18, 2011 Share Posted October 18, 2011 Factory drive shaft U-joints for 280z are staked in place. I'm sure it is possible to remove them, but not a particularly easy job. Then trying to find a u joint that fits and doesn't use the standard clip (won't fit without machining a groove in place to hold the clip) to hold it in place adds to the difficulty. The drivetrain specialty shop said they couldn't remove them so I took their word for it. Now I can go to any parts house and find u-joints as well as easily replace them in my garage. Win-win for me. To the OP 280zx trans is fine as long as your power levels stay fairly conservative. That is what I just upgraded from, but when my second one started crapping out again I decided to try something new. Finding a low mileage 280zx trans can prove difficult, at least in my neck of the woods. 240sx trans are a dime a dozen. If you have the chance to get one that has already been modified with an L28 bellhousing (the most difficult part of the swap) then I would go for it. Just my $0.02 Yes, if the u-joints are staked in then it would be difficult to replace them. Our Z is a 73, as is the car the OP has. O'Reilly does not list a prop. shaft u-joint for the 280Z but they do for the 240Z. It depends on the year model in question it seems. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
luseboy Posted October 19, 2011 Author Share Posted October 19, 2011 I did the 240sx trans swap recently. It's pretty straight forward for the most part. Trans mount has to be modifyed because the mounting point is a couple inches further back. Not terribly difficult though since you obviously have a welder. I would wait until you get the trans mounted then measure to see what length you need your driveshaft to be. I assumed the 2 inches shorter and went and had a custom shaft made and it ended up being too long. Now full disclosure, the place I took it to said they couldnt shorten the oem shaft due to the non removable u joints so they made me a "new" one. What I didn't realize is that they were going to hack up my old one for parts. So I can't actually compare the length of the new one. Cost me about $300 to get the driveshaft made but now I have replaceable u joints. I have heard there are places out there that will shorten the oem shafts though. Probably for much cheaper than what I paid. This is starting to get complicated! lol. I'll have to look into getting the shaft shortened around here, maybe I can find it for cheaper! Hey man, Thinkgs are looking good. Nice job on your welding. It doesn't look like it's going to leak. Did you also weld the bottom?? You'll need to at the very least seal the bottom and paint the top since fresh welds rust pretty easilly. A couple other comments: Your engine painting, I'm hoping you're using high temperature paint? Standard paint might be okay, but usually with any heat, especially on metallics, they have a tendency to discolor. Not to mention high temp paint holds up to oil a little better. Good deal, on the engine. While you have it apart, you might consider replacing the valve seals with the better Viton seals. As for your tires, well $400 bucks or your life? Good tires are a necessity. Old dry cracked ones could blowout and cause real trouble especially at speed. I'd recommend, 215-55-R16's on 16" rims, 0 offset. You should still fit in the tirewells with no rubbing, and not rub your springs either. There's a whole discussion on here about tires and rims in the wheel area. I wouldn't be upset about spending even $800 on a good set of tires. Replacing all your 30+ year old bushings will also make a huge handling difference. The Energy suspension kit is pretty good If you hold off on that SX tranny, and get an 82-83 S130 "ZX" tranny, then you won't have to worry about getting your driveshaft modified. A ZX tranny shouldn't be that hard to find. there are a lot still out there. Just call around. The ZX tranny will just bolt up, where I don't know if the SX tranny would require body/bracket mods to make it fit. All in all it's great that you enjoy working on your Z, that's the same reason most of us do it, but at least you're keeping the positive attitude and the work is flying by. Oh, Harbor frieght, Yeah most of their stuff is pretty good, but Don't trust their floor jacks to hold for a long time, Always use jackstands. Harbor frieght jackstands work fine. it's a safety thing... at the very least put the tires you take off the car underneath, so that if the car falls it'll hit the tires before making you into a pancake. Work smart. Keep having fun and keep us posted. it's awesome to see what you're doing. Thanks for the support on the welding! I've been welding for about 2 weeks now lol. I'm acctually getting it down! I did weld the bottom for most of them. I still need to do some mo0re welding underneath. I will also put some sealant underneath before undercoating it. On top, after I finish grinding everything down, I will paint over everything to make sure no more rust starts. I'm not really worried about how it will look because I'll probably put down some dyna-mat or similar underneath the carpets. yes, I am using engine enamel. The red on the valve cover was done with dupli-color and the block will be done with VHT. I've got the viton seals, but I think the ones in the head are still good, so I'll probably change them out at a later date. I wasn't looking into tires for driving on. Just looking for ones to move it in and out of the garage. I will buy new rims and some nice summer tires before I even think of driving the car, don't worry! I think I'm gonna go 15x7.5, et0 rims with 215 55r's. Bushings will all be replaced with poly bushings. I will also put in s13 coils, msa sway bars (or something better if someone has any reccomendations?), TTT LCA's, RCA's and TC rods (maybe). Those are the basic suspension mods. After I get a tranny and my floor pans all patched up, I will start focusing on suspension and brakes. I've been mostly looking for a ZX tranny (does anyone have one they'd give up?), but I was interested in the sx tranny. I'm thinking now that I will hold off on it till a later date, just like I decided with the diff. For now I think I'll go with a ZX tranny. Or maybe even just a 240z 4 speed tranny if I can find a sweet deal on one. What are the thoughts for that? To the OP 280zx trans is fine as long as your power levels stay fairly conservative. That is what I just upgraded from, but when my second one started crapping out again I decided to try something new. Finding a low mileage 280zx trans can prove difficult, at least in my neck of the woods. 240sx trans are a dime a dozen. If you have the chance to get one that has already been modified with an L28 bellhousing (the most difficult part of the swap) then I would go for it. Just my $0.02 My power is going to be conservative for now. The engine is going back together fully stock (as much as I hate to do it). Unfortunatley, I just don't have the income to make big power and have a nice car, so I'll have to put the engine back together stock, as I'd rather blow money on suspension (the stuff I really car about). The only things that will add/free up power are going to be bolt-ons: AZC 4bbl mani/edelbrock 500 carb, pacesetter(or another better one, if you have any reccomendations) headers, AZC 12 lb flywheel, 2.25 or 2.5" free flowing exhaust (might do side exit if I can figure out how to do it right . So I should only be putting around 175 to the wheels (I assume...). This is why I'm thinking of just going for a 240z tranny, which can be had for very cheap. Does anyone know if I can use a 240mm pressure plate with one? Anyways updates for today: Put my oil pump back together with a new gasket, was glad I looked in my "how to rebuild your datsun/nissan OHC engine" book, because of the direction of the pieces. Man that book is handy. Also put another patch in my floor. It's crazy how much my welding has improved. I also got my hood latch and hinges to work a little better, mainly just using oil, but it made quite a difference. Also got sad because hours are gonna start being cut at work since no one likes to buy bikes in the winter time, so I'm not gonna have a fun time affording everything. It's nice that I live at home still though, so I don't have to pay for any rent or food or anything. And since I'm in high-school, I also don't have horrendous amounts of homework, so I have enough free time to work on the car! oh well, I'm still holding on to some semi-valuable bike parts that I can sell, and maybe I'll try and find a second job or something. And having divorced parents means 2 presents for christmas haha, so hopefully I can knock out some well-needed things then, that'd be good. Anyways I really can't wait to drive this car. I'm so tired of my MINI, its such a piece of crap. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
luseboy Posted October 22, 2011 Author Share Posted October 22, 2011 (edited) progress for tonight, I took the foam off the dash "chassis", peeled off all the vinyl covering (heat gun makes great work of this), and then accidently broke the foam piece into two foam pieces . I redeemed myself, a little epoxy and 5 minutes as a human clamp never hurt nobody. Then I filled a bunch of the cracks and other imperfections in with some caulking. Next step is to sand down and re-shape the foam where I caulked it, then I think I'll plasti-dip it, I think that would look nice. I've seen it done with bed-liner before.. but that seems kinda tacky to me. The other thing I was considering was glueing down some alacantra or something... but that'd really be tacky so I decided on plasti-dip. does that sound like a good idea to anyone who might know more about it? Is there a different product you'd recommend that I can spray on the dash? Anyways I'm happy with how it's looking so far. I originally planned on making an aluminum dash... but that's just fan-boi-ish and unsafe. Plus the stock dash looks really good when it's not all cracked! And a few decisions I decided upon: -Going to use an ez-wiring universal 21 circuit wiring harness, which will work well, allow the addition of things like the e-fans, electric fuel pump, etc. Plus it will use modern fuses, and it costs less than $200 shipped -figured out that i need a pertronix coil to use with my pertronix electronic converted distributor (the kid who had the engine before me did good getting this! -Found out that my school has a shop press so I can definitely do the s13 coils! Some things on my mind I still cant decide about: -side exit exhaust... haven't figured out if it's legal, not sure I'd have good ground clearance then, worried about bubbling paint on the dog legs, plus I've only seen it on one s30 and i think it was on a japanese sight -color! green, orange, yellow-green!!! can't figure out the best color for it (anyone got any inspiration?) -If I want to acctually weld the headlight buckets to the fenders when I shave that joint, and how I'll be able to change headlight bulbs if I need to (anyone know of a cheap h4-type headlight for the s30s?) -brakes... can't decide if I want to do toyota 4 piston or the 4 piston vented set up... the vented set up adds a lot to the cost unfortunately... but would be cool. I guess I'm not racing so I won't need it. -how to wire in a fuel pump... I assume it's constant when the ignition is at "on"? -stiffer motor mounts.. can't figure out if the stiffer motor mounts are even available or worth it... -and lastly, if I have a full ignition switch... it seems to be missing some things... and I don't have a steering column cover, so idk if that would have anything important for the switch or not... Anyways I'm still loving this project. Too bad I won't be making enough money to do much to it in the next few weeks... I'm gonna hopefully have enough money for s13 coils in that time period though, so I should be getting going on that. Still haven't figured out transmissions... Edited October 22, 2011 by luseboy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
luseboy Posted October 26, 2011 Author Share Posted October 26, 2011 oops... I just realized that there's a separate forum for projects... if any mods want to move it there, that would be great! anyways updates, updates, updates. just got done welding the strut housings to the wheel wells, I decided not to mess around with stich welding and went ahead and just welded them solid to the well. I was really just trying to kill time while I don't have any money lol. What other places should I weld together more in order to stiffen the chassis? While I have the car all apart I'd love to get some free stiffening. Also I started masking off the engine for the gold high-temp paint . I know it sounds gang-banger... But I think it will look really good when I'm done with it. I also decided against going with the wider, vented toyota 4 piston front brakes since I can buy aftermarket vented 240z rotors and use them with the less expensive, thinner 4 piston set-up. This will save me over $400, and will likely work just as well. Also been doing a lot of work to my dash... But I'm not super happy with how it's turning out so far... I think I just need to keep moving forward really, the best fix is to do more work to it and shape it more. Also I got a great deal (one I couldn't pass up) on a 240z 4 speed tranny (it's well under $100), so I think I'm just going to run that for now, then do an s13 transmission, aluminum driveshaft, and r200 lsd at a later date. But I will get a datsun truck shifter and cut it down for a cheap short shifter for use on the 4 speed. Anyways, she's starting to come together. I've only got one more hole in the front half of the driver's floor pan... But it is going to be a tough one. It rusted through the floor pan and part of the frame rail right in front of the front seat mount... So It'll take me a lot of work to fix it. No problem, I love working on the car . A couple questions: What are the two solid lines in the engine compartment on the passenger side running up like they are supposed to be attached to the engine? They look like they go where the mechanical fuel pump would go... I assume that's what they're for? Does anyone know a good way of getting the rear main seal out and replaced without removing the crank? I don't want to pull the crank... But I'd like to change the seal out if possible... I have one rust hole in my driver's side rocker panel... When I cut that piece out, do I have to be careful of the car buckling? I've heard that if you cut the rocker panels, the whole car will buckle. would this happen if I cut out a small section off the top? Or are the rocker panels tough enough that I should just put some of my rust-converting primer on it and seal it up? Anyways I'm still just as in love with the car as ever still can't wait to drive it Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rturbo 930 Posted October 26, 2011 Share Posted October 26, 2011 Regarding the stitch welding... Someone more knowledgeable can correct me where I'm wrong, but you shouldn't have welded the strut towers solid to the wheel wells. The reason you stitch weld is so that the metal has some room to flex. Either it flexes... or it cracks. You don't want it to crack. From what I'm gathering you want to use the car for, I wouldn't bother with stitch welding. Just get some bad dog subframe connectors, weld those in, and call it a day. As for the rust on the rocker, got any pics? Sounds like it's a small spot. If it is, you should be able to cut it out and weld it up and be fine. Keep in mind, there are cars around that were once missing a huge portion of the rocker before it was replaced. Mine, for example, was (still is) missing pretty much the entire top of the rocker from rust. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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