toolman Posted January 1, 2019 Author Share Posted January 1, 2019 Now that the underside of the 240z is painted with single stage polyurethane paint. the car could be removed from the rotisserie. I decided to construct a wooden dolly so the car could be move around the garage easily. used 2"x 6" planks and 3/4" plywood sheets to construct the dolly. The four metal 3" casters that were tack welded to the frame rails were reused and bolts to the 2" x 6" planks. Two 1"x 3" wood strips were screwed to the top of the dolly to prevent the car from slipping off the dolly. They run parallel outside of the frame rails. The car was removed from the rotisserie and place on the dolly. There were a few small parts that missed being epoxy primed so I started to work on them. The two front bumper panels were inspected. Only the right side had corrosion problems. Right panel had two rusted out sections. A paper template is created to the replacement section. Another template was made to repair the other section of the bumper panel. The template was traced on to make a sheet metal patch. Inside view of the mig welds expoxied to prevent corrosion. Outside view of bumper panel epoxied and will smooth over with body filler after epoxy primed. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jhm Posted January 1, 2019 Share Posted January 1, 2019 (edited) That shell is probably nicer than the day it rolled off the production line....very nice work! (Actually WAY nicer, with all the additional rust protection you've incorporated.) Edited January 1, 2019 by jhm Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
toolman Posted January 9, 2019 Author Share Posted January 9, 2019 (edited) View of the front lower bumper panels primed by poly primer. The bigger job was turned out to be the amber turn signal lens. Some of those tiny phillip screws(about 3mm) were rusted and had to be drilled out. Pic of broken lens mounting screws. At first, I used gray JB WELD expoxy to repair those lens mounting plastic studs. Then upon putting the lens cover on the housing, the gray epoxy created dark shallows in the lens. So I removed the gray epoxy and used JB WELD Clear Epoxy was utilized to eliminate this problem. The epoxy was dry to touch in a hour but waited till next day to drill and tap them. Those amber studs were recreated by using plastic straws and masking tape to make a mold for the epoxy. The straws were slit to go around the existing studs. Masking tape was applied tightly to seal and hold the mold while curing. Phillips 4-40 screws was found to be close enough to replace the rusted ones. The finished product Edited January 9, 2019 by toolman text correction Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Exposed Posted January 10, 2019 Share Posted January 10, 2019 just went through the build, great job!👍 I just started plugging away at removing some rust on my Z this winter and it already looks like my front rails need to be removed. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
toolman Posted January 17, 2019 Author Share Posted January 17, 2019 (edited) While I was waiting for some parts to come in, I decided to work on the two front headlight buckets. A view of the back of the buckets. The right bucket is the "before cleaning" and the left is "after the cleaning". The right bucket shows the "Before cleaning" an On 1/8/2019 at 7:41 PM, toolman said: View of the front lower bumper panels primed by poly primer. The bigger job was turned out to be the amber turn signal lens. Some of those tiny phillip screws(about 3mm) were rusted and had to be drilled out. Pic of broken lens mounting screws. At first, I used gray JB WELD expoxy to repair those lens mounting plastic studs. Then upon putting the lens cover on the housing, the gray epoxy created dark shallows in the lens. So I removed the gray epoxy and used JB WELD Clear Epoxy was utilized to eliminate this problem. The epoxy was dry to touch in a hour but waited till next day to drill and tap them. Those amber studs were recreated by using plastic straws and masking tape to make a mold for the epoxy. The straws were slit to go around the existing studs. Masking tape was applied tightly to seal and hold the mold while curing. Phillips 4-40 screws was found to be close enough to replace the rusted ones. The finished product Edited January 17, 2019 by toolman correction text Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
toolman Posted January 17, 2019 Author Share Posted January 17, 2019 (edited) While awaiting some parts to come in, I decided to work on the two front headlight buckets. Right bucket is "before cleaning" and left is "after cleaning" The right bucket is "before cleaning" and left one is "after cleaning". This pic shows both head light buckets with light mounting cups. I was thinking of restoring these buckets with zinc chromate( yellowish gold plating) But found the zinc chromate is very toxic and hard to dispose of. So I am thinking of trying using metallic gold powder coating to recreate the coating. Checking to see if I can match the color. I ordered an Eastwood Powder Coating kit but it is on back order till February. So I went to work on the disassembly of the rear suspension. Of coarse, the most difficult part is the removal of the spindle pins. In our tropical climate here, I knew those pins would not slide easily. As I didn't want to spend $100 for the puller + freight, I decided to fabricate one. Went to Home Depot to gather all the parts. First, I migwelded a used wheel lug nut (12mm X1.25) to my 5/8" NC X14" threaded rod for the pulling screw. total view of 14" pulling screw Used a 1" ID steel fence post about 12" with 5/8" steel washer welded to one end of the pipe. aaa Note: the spindle pin shaft is on the top then the threaded pulling shaft then the pipe housing on the bottom. The threaded rod was screwed securely to the threaded end of the spindle pin. The round housing was installed over the tjhreaded screw. Then two additional 5/8" flat washers with grease between them was added to provide slippage under tension( a small bearing can be used too). Then the pulling nut is added. A 1/2 ratchet or 15/16" box wrench can used to turn down the pulling nut. For additional torque, a wrench extender or a long pipe can be utilized. Also, heating with a torch the cast iron area around the spindle locking pin will loose the corrosion if it is really stuck. Another important thing to make removal easier is the use of penetrating oil. After removing the two nuts and washers on both ends of the spindle pin, Place the suspension assembly so the pin is vertical as possible. Soak the top and between all cracks to get the penetrating oil in as possible. I seen mechanics make a cup around the top of spindle to create a reservoir to hold the oil. Leave the oil on as long as possible( even a week if necessary). The more oil that gets in, the easier the job will be. It will take a long time to turn that nut to pull out that 11" spindle pin considering one rotation of the nut probably moves the pin about 1/16" to 1/8" out. It will seem that way. The cost of the parts was about $20. Edited January 17, 2019 by toolman text correction Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
240zJJR Posted January 17, 2019 Share Posted January 17, 2019 Looking awesome, I am building a street car..... almost ready to level the car out to start the front frames. Still want to finish the drivers dog leg this week, should be done tonight. You sound like your having back problems like me..... I am working through the pain. was doing therapy 3 times a week. Took 5 weeks off. Jeff Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
toolman Posted February 5, 2019 Author Share Posted February 5, 2019 (edited) My dashboard was in bad shape as most of its early life( 71 to 83) it was parked outside all the time. This picture shows the dashboard broke into eight pieces when it fell on the work bench. Note-Huge cracks through out the dash board So first thing to do was to sandblast the small amount of corrosion of the frame of the dash. My Speed Blaster does a good blasting job on objects too big to fit in my sandblasting cabinet. Motorsport supplied the replacement dash cap for $120 but the old dash foam was so bad it would just crumble in your hands. So I decide to replace the dash foam. I decided to use the Motorsport dash cap and the existing dash frame as a mold. Then new foam would poured or injected into this mold. So now I had to seal off the metal part of the dash to be a part of the mold. Black shipping sheeting was utilized to wrap the dash. 3M General Spray Adhesive would sprayed on the frame to hold the sheeting in place. The biggest problem was the Motorsport replacement dash cap did not cover the lower section of the dash board. Four major molds would have to be created to fill in these areas. Using card board and duct tape were used to make the molds. The inside of the card board would be covered with the black sheeting to provide easy removal from the mold. There were some of the original dash sections that could be reused for this purpose View of the Right lower section of dash This corner section was sectioned off the original dash then epoxied to the replacement cap. The other part of this patch . Center panel mold outside view Note=Black sheeting inside of the mold The outside view of the mold A lot of Duct Tape created a sturdy mold. The left side mold was constructed the same way Note -Bottom of the mold was open otherwise the foam pressure would distort or damage it. This view shows the mold attached to the replacement dash cap with duct tape. This pic of the Right side lower section of the dash Edited February 5, 2019 by toolman add text Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
toolman Posted February 5, 2019 Author Share Posted February 5, 2019 (edited) My dashboard was in bad shape as most of its early life( 71 to 83) it was parked outside all the time. This picture shows the dashboard broke into eight pieces when it fell off the work bench. Note-Huge cracks through out the dash board So first thing to do was to sandblast the small amount of corrosion of the frame of the dash. My Speed Blaster does a good blasting job on objects to bigger to fit in my sandblasting cabinet. Motorsport supplied the replacement dash cap for $120 as the old dash foam was so bad it would just crumble in your hands. So I decide to replace the dash foam with new stuff. So I decide to use the Motorsport dash cap and the existing dash frame as a mold. Then new foam would poured or injected into this mold. So now I had to seal off the metal part of the dash to be a part of the mold. Black shipping sheeting was utilized to wrap the dash. 3M General Spray Adhesive would sprayed on the hold the sheeting in place. The biggest problems was the Motorsport replacement dash cap did not cover the lower section of the dash board. Four major molds would have to be created to fill in these areas. Using card board and duct tape were used in this process. The inside of the card board would be covered with the black sheeting to provide easy removal from the mold. There were some of the original dash sections that could be reused. View of the Right lower section of dash This corner section was sectioned off the original dash then epoxied to the replacement cap. The other part of this patch . Center panel mold outside view Note=Black sheeting inside of the mold The outside view of the mold A lot of Duct Tape created a sturdy mold. The left side mold was constructed the same way Note -Bottom of the mold was left open otherwise the foam pressure would distort or damage it. This view shows the mold attached to the replacement dash cap with duct tape. This pic of the Right side lower section of the dash Edited February 6, 2019 by toolman Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
toolman Posted February 5, 2019 Author Share Posted February 5, 2019 (edited) Four 1/4" holes were drilled in the dash to provide inspection ports in areas to check on foam movement. The lower hole shows the foam coming through the dash. The foam temperature was also monitored with a Infrared thermometer. Inside section being epoxied together using vise grips. Locktite Tite Foam is a foam which expands a lot and should work perfectly for this project. Make sure to wear gloves and safety googles. This stuff is really sticky!! So keep lacquer thinner or acetone nearby to clean up with. The flexible nozzle helps to get into confined areas. Purchased from Home Depot for about $5 a can. There are several places to check dash cap alignment before foaming. Check gap and height alignment here. Another point of alignment is the glove compartment lock hole. Crumbled paper wrapped with black plastic sheeting was used to plugged gauges, speedometer and tach openings. Now the foaming can begin. I started with the top area of the dash as it is the most visible and the most likely to deform. Note-Allow time for foam to expand before spraying more. It will expand more than you expect especially this Locktite Tite Foam. Looks like a snow blizzard. Top view of dash Have to wait 24 hours for the foam to fully cure before cutting away. Probably be using a Dremel, utility knife and razor blades to cut excess foam all. . Edited February 6, 2019 by toolman corrections Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kbhead Posted February 11, 2019 Share Posted February 11, 2019 Wow, that's creative. Cool idea, look forward to the end result. Keep the pictures coming! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LLave Posted February 12, 2019 Share Posted February 12, 2019 You're a monster. Love it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
toolman Posted February 13, 2019 Author Share Posted February 13, 2019 (edited) Thanks for the kind words. I found that an old hacksaw blade with fine teeth worked well at cutting the excess foam away. Note-The smooth cut of the foam. This is my Rubbish Box for just this dash board project, After trimming the excess foam from the front edge of the dash, the molding is installed to check the alignment. The bottom mold on the glove box was not strong enough to hold the foam so I made a stronger design. The wooden block added the extra support to the mold, Vise grips were used to hold the mold to the dash while welding. The Center dash panel was test fitted into the dash, Mold #5 was created to replace the foam section below the glove compartment. After removal from mold and trimmed. Note-Its thinness and dfferent thickness of both longsides. Bottom view of the glove compartment side of dash. Center bottom view of the dash. Bottom view of the Speedometer side of the dash. Front view of Speedometer side of dash While waiting for the form to cure, I constructed a replacement glove compartment box out .060 aluminum sheet; side view front view The replacement Glove Box was not replicated as I felt aluminum would better suited than a cardboard one. The sides of the box have not been installed as I am planning to line a gray Velour material on the inside of the box. Putting the fabric first without the sides on will make the job easier. All of the exterior foam sections will probably be coated with Fiberglass Finishing Resin to give them more strength. Then, the dash will painted with a textured Dash Black paint so the glove compartment door will match the rest of the dash board. Edited February 21, 2019 by toolman corrections Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
toolman Posted February 21, 2019 Author Share Posted February 21, 2019 (edited) I was going to use Fiberglass Resin over the foam but decided to use Epoxy Resin instead. The reason being fiberglass resin would not adhere the dash plastic material. Also, Epoxy Resin is much stronger than Fiberglass resin View of Left side of dash with Epoxy Resin applied on foam. Same section after Body Filler finish sanded. Bottom view of dash after finish filler sanding. Note-Blending areas between replacement foam section and original dash are smooth. Center view of dash bottom after finish filler sanding. Bottom view of Right side of dash. All of the repaired areas were next epoxy primed. Black Trim/Bumper paint and Sem Products Texture Coatings were both used to finish paint the dash. The entire dashboard were painted with the Black Trim paint to create a even color base. Then the Texture Coating was utilized to create a textured surface for the repaired areas. This texture can be controlled by adjusting spraying distance and speed of spraying. After allowing the paint to cure overnight. I sanded the whole dash with 3M Fine Grit Gray Fiber pads, The texture is also controlled by the amount of material sanded off to match the original texture as possible. This is a picture of the original dash cover for those of you who came to this post late. The whole dashboard was in about 10 separate pieces. View of the repaired dashboard after a month of work. Top View of Finished Dash Board. Left Front View Cnter View with Center Section and Glove Compartment installed Right Front View Closeup View of Glove Compartment Emblem I decided the Emblem needed more "POP" so I brushed painted the Emblem with 3 colors-Red, Blue and Silver. Note-The instrument Gauges(Speedometer, Tach and cluster gauges were not installed. I have not decided on what brand of gauges to use yet. Am thinking about Speed Hut but still not sure. I left a lot of space around the gauges in case I decide on larger diameter gauges. The total cost of materials is Motorsport Full Dash Cap-$120, 5 can 0f Loctite Foam-$25, one pint of Rigid Foam/Harder-$30, Black Trim Paint-$12 and Sem Texture Coating-$35=$222.00. How is the Replacement Dash Covers from Vantage Dash? If their price is still about $800 and quality is decent, it is worth the price. I still have to finish the glove compartment box then off to the next challenge-Powder Coating. . Edited February 21, 2019 by toolman Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
trackzpeed Posted February 21, 2019 Share Posted February 21, 2019 Mad skills. Very nice. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rossman Posted February 22, 2019 Share Posted February 22, 2019 It's impressive the dedication you have to this build and the effort you have poured into it. I've enjoyed watching it from the beginning. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kbhead Posted February 24, 2019 Share Posted February 24, 2019 Very impressive, I wasn't sure how it would all come together, looks great! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
toolman Posted March 4, 2019 Author Share Posted March 4, 2019 (edited) Finished the replacement aluminum glove compartment box. Rear side of box Now I went to something that I always wanted to do--Powder Coating. So I ordered a Eastwood Powder Coating kit for $100. A cardboard box was used for the powder spraying booth. Note there is metal rod in the box to hold parts to be coated and act as the grounding for the unit. The system is low maintenance. Just blow air to clean the gun and bottle. The booth can be vacuumed after every color coating. Spraying the powder has a low learning curve. I would recommend this book before actual powder coating as it has many helpful tips. Pic of the before and after powder coating of the head light buckets. Note-the plastic headlight adjusting screw inserts must be removed otherwise the oven will melt them. The headlight bucket in my Toaster Oven for 20 minutes at 400 degrees. After baking, the bucket was moved back to the spray booth to cool off. Note-The is only the Base Coating and must be followed with a Top Coat to provide the right color. Pic of the headlight assemblies after Base Coating. Picture of hood hinge before spray blasting and powder coating. Hood hinges after Base Powder Coating. Note- The original hinge were zinc plated then yellow chromate dipped. Chromate is a very toxic chemical and hard to dispose of. The exact color will be impossible to duplicate with powder coating because it does not allow mixing of powders. However, powder coating of the headlight retaining rings closely resembles chrome plating. Now. I have to wait till the TOP COAT Powders to arrive from the Mainland so I can try to match the Chromate process. Wish me Luck! Edited March 5, 2019 by toolman Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
toolman Posted March 14, 2019 Author Share Posted March 14, 2019 (edited) I found that turning my Toaster Oven on its side provided easier parts mounting. Also, Lining the rear wall of the oven with aluminum foil raised the curing temperature slightly. I used a long cardboard box with the 2500watt infared light to cure long parts. Also, lining the box with aluminum foil help keeping the heat from escaping. The top and side of the box was also covered with Foil. The Hood Torsion Spring Rods were slightly longer than my Infrared oven. So the rods were cured on one side then flipped over to cure the other side. The most difficult part of this powder coating job was trying to match the Chromate plating. To achieve this. I used Super Chrome as the base powder coating. Translucent Gold powder would be used as the Top Coat. But there are about twenty different variants of the Gold color. There are also many variables in the application of the Top Coat powder. The number of Top Coats applied over the base Super Chrome will make the color darker with more coats. Preheating the part being coating aids in adhesion but changes the color slightly. The speed of powder spraying affects the color shade. The spraying distance from part affects color especially with metallic colors. I made dozens of metal strips to test the various powder coatings. A new Rear spindle rod was used for matching purposes. If you used the wrong color, you can strip the powder coating off with Kwik Strip New Paint Remover. This is not the old Aircraft Paint Remover with the toxic fumes and really messy. Use paint brush to apply Thick Coats of stripper. Let the stripper work for 15 minutes and then scrape off when coating wrinkles. Then, scrape off using a plastic spreader. Wear gloves and safety googles when stripping. I took my gloves to take this photo. A small particle of stripper landed just above my glove and it burned like Hell!! The stripping process was faster than the old Aircraft Remover. Less Fumes and a more "Dry" method. After Top Coat Powder Coating, the hand Brake bracket looked that this: Note-The Light Gold coloring The Head Light Housing and Buckets come out like this: Note-Gas Filler Cap housing Hood Hinges Note-The color seems to vary depending on the lighting. This effect was purposely done to match the Chromate plating as possible. The cost of this Powder Coating of these parts: Eastwood Powder Coating Gun and accessories was$150 , SuperChrome powder was $25, Translucent Gold Powder was $27. Kwik Stripper was $12.00, 2500watt Infared light(used) costs $50 =$264 Total I intend on power coating a lot more parts( like crossmember,lower control arms, coil springs, etc. I would recommend powder coating for any restoration project. Edited March 14, 2019 by toolman Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HuD 91gt Posted March 14, 2019 Share Posted March 14, 2019 That looks amazing. Top notch stuff! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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