Athena 77 280z ls swap

[walkerbk]

I have always read through other people's posts and learned from their successes and failures but have yet to make a build documentary of my own... 

I first saw the Z cars when I was younger and knew that I had to eventually buy one. It wasn't until I was in college working multiple jobs that I was able to buy one and start working on it. I found a maroon 77 280z 2+2 in Dallas Texas for $3000 (not running at the time) and received every document on the car (to include the window sticker). His dad was the original owner of the car and then he purchased the car so I was now the 3rd owner. When I got started I knew nothing about cars other than the basics. I had a firm understanding rebuilding small engines growing up and having a background in industrial engineering but had never worked on a car to such extent. As most do, I swapped out the bushings, springs, and struts and got her back on the road. As it turns out the reason it did not run was there was a leak in the windshield gasket over the ECU which fried it. After replacing the windshield gasket and the ECU she ran pretty good for a 40+ year old car. During the following few years I worked on her, fixing the brakes and doing small upgrades here and there. 

After graduating and moving to Fort Hood, she died on me several times for various reasons (alternator, battery, rusty fuel/ clogged filter...) and I decided that I needed to make her a more reliable car if I was going to keep her. With that decision I convinced the wife to let me swap a 5.3L/4L60E into her. I knew nothing about swapping engines or wiring but I figured with enough time and preparation I would be able to get her completed and back on the road. The engine and transmission was bought from a wrecking yard for around $1300. Wanting to add a little show to the engine I decided that I wanted to use long tube headers which gave me very few choices on installation kits. After comparing all the prices and options I decided on the CXRacing kit. The kit is meant for the LS engine with T56 transmission so I knew that I would have to do some modification to make everything work but I figured it wouldn't be that hard. Additionally, the transmission mount that came with the kit would not fit the 4L60e so that was scrapped. Over all, I shouldn't have gone with the kit since it was never meant for my body (2+2) or transmission. Some of the other materials that went with the swap was the shallow LS oil pan, speed hut gauges, the wiring harness on which I custom made, the drive shaft from JTR, typhoon intake to clear the hood, fuel system (Camaro tank, 6an lines, corvette filter), and other odds and end. I quickly had the old engine out and the new engine and transmission in over the weekend and then it took another about 6 months to figure out the wiring and get it all connected. I had to make the LS engine wiring harness which in it self is not that hard, I then had to mate it to the 280z stock harness with the engine in the car which became a nightmare trying to get to places. I then also had to rewire the dash which caused more problems. And it is important to note that I knew nothing of wiring prior to starting. After the wiring was completed, I had to work on the exhaust, and fuel system. 

At the time I did not have a welder and had minimal welding skills (stick welding) so I decided to take it to an exhaust shop to have them reconfigure the exhaust. For those who don't know, the CXRacing headers come down and point directly at the 4L60E pan so most exhaust shops wouldn't touch it. I finally found a guy that would "fix it" for a few hundred. When I came back, I saw the ugliest exhaust work I had ever seen. I still cant believe that this guy was in business. So I sadly payed him and took the car home. After asking around again I found one more person that said they could redo the exhaust so I dropped it off for the week. When I came to pick her up there was nothing that had been done to the exhaust. After talking to the owner of the shop, he informed me that there was no way that he could get the exhaust to fit and that I would have to swap the headers. I thanked him for his advise and went home to learn how to weld. After buying a small 120v welder, 2 bottles of gas and 3" exhaust pipe, I went to work cutting, fitting and bending until everything lined up the way I wanted. It took about one month working nights and weekends just to get the exhaust welded in.

After the exhaust was welded in, it was time to finish the fuel system. I had decided to go with the Camaro fuel tank and the Corvette regulator filter combo. Of note, the Camaro fuel pump has a built in regulator which put in line with the Corvette regulator creates problems. I decided to cut out the spare tire well and weld in 1x1 tubing to support the tank and then use cheap metal strapping to hold it in place. Overall the idea was solid but the design was flawed. The Datsun 280z is designed to crush and the square tubing that I had welded in went north to south (front to back). This meant that if I was ever rear ended the force would have done 2 things 1) it would have pushed the gas tank forward into the cabin 2) it would have carried the force of the collision forward past the rear axle which would become dangerous for the driver. Knowing this I kept it the way it was since it was finally complete and it ran.

After taking her for the first spin around the block I knew that I had much more than a reliable daily driver, I had a stupid fast daily driver. So over the next few months I started getting into drag racing on which I was able to get into the low 12s on "grand touring" tires. I kept her this way for about 2 years as I was quite satisfied with my work. I took her to car shows and although she never won, she always drew a crowd. Very few people have Datsun 280zs even less have them with a LS Swap and of those I don't know of another 2+2 model. I also upgraded small things as I found parts and time. This included swapping to leather seats from a 2008 Mazda Miata, fiber glassing/custom making interior parts as needed, swapping to the Honda wiper motor, and redoing paint.

It was then time to move to Missouri where I would spend only a year conducting training. While I wanted to work on the car, I also wanted to save money so we rented a very small apartment without a garage. That however didn't keep me from taking care of the small stuff. Knowing that I needed to improve my stopping power, I decided to swap brakes. In the front I went with the Toyota 12s+8 and the vented 300z rotor. This caliper rotor combo is the best. It is vented providing better cooling capabilities but the pistons in the caliper are still the one large one small piston reducing brake bias. In the back I decided to swap to the Nissan maxima caliper and the 300z rotor. The maxima caliper has the biggest volume capacity reducing brake bias. After doing calculations, I have determined that the brake bias is (I believe) 59% front 41% rear. To go along with upgrading the brakes I added the larger 280zx master and rebuilt the brake switch in the engine compartment. The brake switch in the engine compartment was a pain to get apart. As it had seized up long ago pushed to one side resulting in less fluid flow to the rear brakes. I had to use a grease zerk bought at Napa and heat to force the piston out. Knowing I wanted to go faster I decided to add in a LSD and CV axles. Seeing as im not a rich man I decided to go with the OBX with 300zx turbo axles and do the rebuild myself. I ordered the upgraded spring washer kit and had it all put back in the differential over the weekend. After one lap around the block I knew I had screwed up... I had the LSD to tight causing wheel hop. Taking everything back out I corrected the issue and we were back on the road. The axles were a different story. I bought the adapters and welded them it in (in a parking lot under a blanket as my wife stood there) and test fit everything in the car... the axles were too long. After a lot of searching of what to do without spending any more money I found someone else that had ran into the same issue and solved it. When looking at the 300zx axle splines you have about and additional 1/2 in of spline after the retaining ring grove. If you remove everything and cut a new grove closer to the back of the splines you can gain this extra 1/2 in on each end giving you an extra inch of travel. The down side of this is you loose contact area on the splines where the old grove is inside the carrier. My thought is, the axle will break before the carrier at which point I replace with shorter axles, if it doesn't break then I saved $400. So far, there have been no issues with this theory.

Nearing the end of my time in Missouri I found out that I would be moving across county to Washington state. To do so with 3 cars and a 32ft trailer was not possible so I decided to have my brother in law come drive the Datsun back to Texas and then when available drive her up to Washington. 5 minutes after he leaves I get a call informing me that he had a tire blow out. Being at work I cant really do much about it so my wife goes and takes him and the tire to the local shop. When he went to put the tire back on the car, I guess he didn't tighten the lug nuts properly because 20 min later I get another call and he is in the ditch with only 3 wheels. Over all the damage wasn't to bad. The rear control arm was beat up but still serviceable, a dent in the hood, rear valance was bent, gas tank was hanging on by a thread (poor design as stated above), and the exhaust was scattered along the highway. 

Now I start going through the emotional trauma and determine the best place to hid the body as my brother in law has just demolished the last 4 years of work. The insurance company came and towed her back to their lot and started doing their evaluations to determine whether or not she was a total loss. After working with the adjuster we settled on keeping her, but since I had been the only person working on the car for the past 4 years and didn't want anyone else to work on her they just gave me a check for the damages. Now I only had about 1 month left in Missouri prior to moving to Washington, I had no garage to work in and had to pack up everything. I quickly broke out the tools and started cutting off all the old, and working on the fuel system and the exhaust. I could care less at this point about the cosmetics, I had to just get her back on the road. I decided this time to replace all the 1x1 with 1x2 to make it stronger and I went with support bars running side to side to make the car overall safer. The tank was then framed in using 1x2 and then straps underneath. Over all, the new design I believe is bullet proof. The exhaust was too easy to fix as I still had left over exhaust tubing from building the exhaust the first time. I finished the car the week prior to leaving Missouri and had her moved to Washington via car transport. 

Now that she is in Washington I have started driving her again. One of the things I realized that a) I needed heat and air which was removed at the time of the engine swap, and b) she need the body work done as I skipped that due to lack of time. With the thought of doing body work I wanted to make her look as good as possible and one of the things that has always bothered me is the amount of wiring under the hood that looks like a spider web. Knowing that I couldn't just fix one thing I have decided to start from scratch. I have already removed the engine, transmission, under the hood brake system, under the hood wiring, most of the interior, front suspension and I'm sure there is more. My current build plans are to pull everything apart and do the needed body work. I have already built most of the removable core support which still needs supports running vertically to tie everything together. At this time I am rebuilding the frame with 1x3x.125 in order to support the larger motor. Once complete I will move into building a cage which will still allow the use of the rear seat (yes I have fit 4 grown adults in there). Once that is complete I will start the body work. At this time I plan on building a carbon signal body to add the needed width to the rear and painting her blue. Once body work is complete, I will move into rewiring the body and engine. This time I am going to use milconnecter types at the firewall for 2 reasons, 1) it will assist in the cleaning up of the wiring harness, 2) it will make the motor very easy to pull with the wiring still attached (on plug and one grounding strap). Once wiring is complete, I will install the engine and move into rebuilding the interior. I am going to make her as nice as possible this time, vintage AC, carbon fiber door cards, new dash, keep the speed hut gauges. I'm sure there is more that I'm missing.

The only speed bump in the road is I leave for a year vacation to the beach with no water (Afghanistan) in July. The good thing is that I will be saving money during the year to help fund the build, the bad thing is it's a year away from the car right in the middle of the build. My current plan is to get the frame complete, the engine bay and interior cleaned up and painted and then ensure bare metal is protected to ensure that she is ready to start body work when I return. If able I will start body work and get her in epoxy primer but I don't believe that is realistic.

[walkerbk]

How she currently sits.

 

I am about 1/3 way complete with the driver side frame rail.

[walkerbk]

I got the driver side frame rail complete and ready to install. I should be working on that tomorrow afternoon evening. They go the full length of the car and are made out of 1x3x.125 dom. They attach to the t/c rod at both the top and bottom and will then have a piece of sheet metal covering up the gap.

 

I'm at this point debating on removing the seat mounts or keeping the originals. I currently have 2012 Mazda Miata leather seats in there right now on which I like but with my goals, I want to put seats in that can except a harness. 

[walkerbk]

I got the driver side up and welded in for the most part. I stitch welded it running 1-1/2 in weldeds every 6 in or so on each side. Is that enough or should I just run a continuous weld down each side? I'll try and get photos tonight. 

[walkerbk]

Here are some photos of the frame rails. I had discussed earlier on in another thread about how to go about mounting them on healthy 280z floor pans since they are not "flat". The outcome was to mount them up with jacks/stands and beat the floor flat. There were a few areas on which I had to cut out the floor or make relief cuts but over all pleased with how it turned out. Now for the second one.

[walkerbk]

Well I got the passenger side frame rail completed and welded in place. this side was different from the driver side for the fact that the floor has a large dip that goes the entire length of the car. In order to cope with this problem, i placed my laser level under the car prior to removing the old frame rails and made some marks on the ground to ensure everything stayed square. I then cut out a 3" wide gap the entire length of the car and welded the frame rail in place. with this side being mounted 3/4" higher, i wanted to make sure that if i placed a jack stand under the frame rails they would sit level so I added a spacer in both the front and rear for a jack mounting point.

 

As i just got orders for a year long vacation in the desert, it will be some time before a post any progress on her (maybe the wife will suprize  me and work on her some). with that being said, once completed with the frame rails, i sat Athena down on some movers dollies and moved her over so the wife could fit her car into the garage. 

 

One of the other things i have been sparingly working on is cleaning up the engine bay. I have decided to use a product known as Master coat. It is like POR 15 but is UV stable (not a big deal for the engine bay. the other nice thing is their metal prep has a high zinc coPhotos (6).zipntent to stop rusting. it is supposed to be ok to just wipe the stuff on and leave it for a year (lucky me). well i only got through cleaning the driver side and didnt get any of the patches welded into the firewall but it will have to do for now. Overall i love the metal prep and have not used the rust sealer enough yet to have an opinion, i will update when i get back. 

[walkerbk]

Some more photos covering the frame rail and engine bay

[walkerbk]

Currently home on R&R leave seeing the family for the first time in 7 months. While I was gone, the wife had another kid making it two kids, one boy who is a hell monkey and a girl who will not sleep.

 

Being the great wife that she is, I have been able to put some work in in the car. I have been focused on working my way front to back continuing to strip everything off the car. I was able to completely strip the engine bay down to bare metal and get the front wheel wells stripped. Best thing I found to strip the old sound deadening material was an air needler. It made quick work of the material and just requires a quick touch up with a wire wheel to finish off any remaining bits.

 

I also removed the dash, mounted the front fender flairs, finished removing the wiring harness, picked up an LQ4 and tore it down to the bare block. I am going to be replacing the wiring harness with an EZ harness but will be also building the harness for the LQ4. The only stock wiring that will be retained will be the windshield wiper wiring as the system is complex stock and I have already upgraded mine to the Honda motor. As such there is one wire that goes to 12v pos (I believe acc) and two ground wires (one at the relay and one at the motor). I might in the end pull that wiring as well and replace the “wires” but keep the setup.

 

I also got everything that was sanded wiped down with metal prep from master coat. It is a rust killer and it has a zinc phosphate in it to prevent future rust. This will go in the engine bay, interior and under body as it is supposed to be covered with their rust encapsulater primer. The rest of the car will have to wait to be sanded.

My eventual goal is to paint the underside and inside black with the master coat paint and then coat the underside with a truck bed liner. The topside and engine bay will be primed and painted with a base coat clear coat system. Current plan for paint is to sand until I expose all the rust and the majority of the bare metal, fix any rust issues (both rear wheel wells, battery tray, both rear corners, weld over the fresh air intake, and anything else I find), epoxy prime, poly prime, block sand, sealer coat, base coat, clear coat. After I get the epoxy laid on, I will mount the engine and work on the electrical prior to paint so I don’t have a lot of nicks in the paint from doing all that.

 

Let me know what yall think.

[walkerbk]

Wow, it has been a long time. I got back from deployment to a new kid crawling while COVID was all just getting started. Even with everything being shut down across the country we Army folks are still hard at work leaving little time for play.

 

I decided to build a rotisserie and put the car up in the air in order to remove the underbody coating, weld and paint. I had contemplated on building a rotisserie or making a roll over jig for a while and eventually decided that it was best to put it in a rotisserie as I could quickly turn the car both ways. I had 2x engine stands and was able to heighten then to mount the Datsun on them. I will say… getting the car up on the rotisserie was the scariest thing I have done in a while. I was using cinder blocks, pallets, jack stands and other material to get the car high enough to mount on the rotisserie and the car even fell one time from about 3ft up. The reinforced steel frame rails just bounced on the floor and then I started lifting it back up (luckily no damage)

 

I was able to complete the underbody for the most part in primer and still have to do the paint.  The best way I found to remove the old underbody coating was with an air needler for the majority and then a heat gun and scrapper for some of the harder to clean areas. Once scrapped clean, the remaining was wiped clean with mineral spirits to get clean paint in most areas. The hidden areas were coated with the Eastwood internal frame coating (green for first coat, black for second coat), and then the visible areas were coated with the water cure Mastercoat. I have never used POR-15 or rust bullet but I really like the Mastercoat paint. It is a little more costly but if it stays and does its job, its money well spent.

 

I then turned my attention to the rust on the body. I repainted the car about 7 years ago an found the rear corners by the bumpers, lower rear quarter panels, and the lower dog legs to be rusted out. Being the great paint and body guy that I am, I shoved fiberglass bondo in the rust and painted over it all. Well, this time around I am doing it right (or at least better). I have been able to patch the fresh air vent along with repairing one of the lower dog legs, the battery tray (I did end up lowering it) and the rear corners. While welding, I utilized the Eastwood inner fender coating system to coat behind the welds as it is high in zinc. The dog leg was simple being an almost flat piece of metal with a slight bend but the rear corners were a pain. The rear passenger corner had rusted through both layers of steel which took a little extra time to repair. I utilized the tabco repair panels which at times I felt were made for a different car. They took a lot of beating and work to get them to fit. On top of the rear corners being a pain, the lower valance (below the tail lights) was bent up pretty bad as my brother-in-law wrecked the car and the rear end hit the ground hard. It took a lot of bending and hammering but I think I got it close enough to work with. I do feel like the lower valance is made of super thin metal and is flimsy as tin foil but I don’t know how to reinforce it.

 

I still have a few rust spots to repair at which time I am going to finish the underbody paint and then move to sanding the body for primer.

[walkerbk]

Battery Tray

 

I don’t think I ever uploaded the photos of the battery tray. I squared up the tray to fit the stock battery about 5in lower than stock. The battery will be secured front to back by the firewall and the new metal and I will just have to secure it from sliding into the engine compartment. They are not the prettiest welds but the outside will be covered up and the inside will be covered up by a battery.

 

Patch Panels

 

I had to weld a patch on the rear passenger side right behind the tire. The metal had rusted about a 6x10 patch in the outer skin and a 3x5 hole in the inner skin. I used the Tebco patch panel for this as well and again had problems with the fitment. It was about a 70% solution and took a lot of forming at the top to get it to match up. I am still not happy with the fitment but it can be covered with about 1/8” of bondo.

 

I also while on the rear passenger side filled in the side marker light. I currently plan on utilizing some ¾” lights from Amazon to replace them while keeping a low-profile hidden look.

 

I have two patches that had to be made for the dog leg. One very small one towards the very back by the rear tire and one larger one forward that goes forward to the union. I thought about cutting out this entire section to gain access to the metal behind for better prep but ended up not needing to as I used the Eastwood internal frame coating which allowed me to get very good penetration into the area along with the use of the rotisserie and compressed air to help direct the paint. I was able to complete the small patch and still have the larger patch to finish either later tonight or tomorrow.

 

I still have to finish the other side marker and am going to weld up the antenna hole which should conclude my welding on the main body. I still have to repair the hood (large dent in the nose) and the hatch (small dent in the rear) plus some other things I find along the way. I plan on using Southern Polyurethane Coatings epoxy primer.

[walkerbk]

Well I completed the welding on the car for the most part. I finished welding all the rust on the main body along with patching the rear side markers and the antenna hole. there might be some minor welding on the front but I dont expect it to be much as most of it will be cut off for the fender flairs.

Since I was complete with the welding, I sealed the seams up on the outside with my make shift 3d printed duel tube extruder and some 3/8in dowels. It is a simple model that allowed me to use a cheap caulk gun with the duel tube 3m seam sealer. If anyone wants the STL file I attached it below.

 

I set up my make shift spray booth out of painters tarps and sprayed the underbody with Raptor Liner. I bought the 6 qt set as I figured I would rather have more than not enough and I figured I could use it on the interior if there was left overs. I am very pleased with the results. I used 4 qts covering the underbody with 2 coats and it is rock solid. I figured I would use the other 2 qts to cover the inner front fenders once they were complete and to finish the rear fenders once I cut and welded for the rear fenders.

 

I am waiting on my rims to drop the car back on the ground so I can install the rear fender flares. I have purchased a set of rims from Felgen Werks 10.5x15 in the rear and 9x15 in the front. I went with them because of the price along with the ability to get wide rims that were not custom. I ordered them however almost a year ago and am still waiting. Every time I call and talk to the owner he tells me that its set backs due to covid... I am almost at the point where I can no longer wait. Below is the link to the rims.

 

https://www.felgenwerks.com/fw-001-satin-black-15x105

 

While I am waiting on the rims, since I have to have the suspension to put the rims on, I have been working on another project (my wife hates it)... A Powder coating oven. I bought a powder coating gun a while ago with the intent on using it but have not wired my garage for 220v yet so I have not got a oven or anything to cure the parts. I found a food warmer near by that was free and I have been converting it to a 120v powder coating oven. I have been using steel studs, rockwool insulation and 26g galvanized sheet metal (lining) in the construction. I was just able to finish off the door to night and still have one side left before its completed. the inside is 24"x17"x55" which should allow me to coat the majority of everything I need while keeping the inside around 11c.f. which should allow me to heat it with a 1500w heating element from a smoker (again 120v).

 

I will be working on the suspension and other small projects for now as the weather up here in Washington is far to cold to spray epoxy. When I sprayed the Raptor Liner I had my propane heater on for almost two days just to make sure it cured.

duel caulk base v1.stl duel caulk plunger v1.stl

[walkerbk]

My main goal for this weekend was to get the car back on the ground and the powder coating oven close enough to finished to push it into its location.

 

Based on everything I have read on powder coating ovens, I needed 100-150 watts per c.f. My oven is 17" x 24" x 54" which results in 12.2 c.f..  meaning I needed between 1300w - 1800w heating element. I could have used a 1500w smoker element but was able to find a 1800 watt element which should allow me to get to temp quicker. After a quick test, I went from 45* to 400* in about 18 min and hit 550* in 30 min (longest I ran it). Now that I know it will work, I ordered a PID controller and will be building the control box. PID should be here tomorrow so I should be able to start coating soon.

 

Based on the size of my oven, it should allow me to coat all suspension parts, along with all those small parts through out the car. The only thing I might not be able to coat is going to be the torsion control arm.

 

Getting the car off the rotisserie and back on the ground was the 2nd scariest thing i have ever done (putting it up there was number 1). As every safe and responsible adult should, I used a series of cinder blocks, scrap wood, jack stands and whatever else I had laying around the garage. With the help of my engine hoist I was able to safely set her back on a set of movers dollies.  

 

If anyone wants a rotisserie in central Washington area, I will trade for a regular engine stand.

Edited February 6, 2021 by walkerbk
Add Photos

[walkerbk]

Well since I got the powder coating oven done I have started coating stuff. My plan is use black, chrome, and red metallic powder. 

 

Going to hide stuff with the black like the cross member, drop mounts differential. 

 

Planning on coating the control arms, brakes, mustache bar, and some other parts with the red metallic to make them pop.

 

Then coat some of the smaller parts with the chrome/ clear.

Edited February 16, 2021 by walkerbk

[Whitley_280z_2+2]

That’s awesome powdercoating results! How much $’s would you say you have in the total setup? 

[Jboogsthethug]

Man this makes me want my own powder coating setup! One day. I just want to coat a bunch of the tiny details.

[walkerbk]

It cost about $450 for the entire set up. I did this because I asked a local shop how much they would charge for just the 4x control arms (After I cleaned and sand blasted them) and they were going to charge me $300 for black.

 

I got a broken food warmer for free off Market place. This was the best way to go as it came with extra wiring (high temp), blower motor and some extras

The metal studs and rockwool came from lowes for about $100

internal metal is 26 gauge from a local AC company for $100

The heating element (1800w) and PID cost $100

 

And the most expensive part of the set up was the duel volt powder coating gun from Eastwood for $120.

 

Overall very happy with the setup as it takes 20 minutes to get to 400* and I have gotten it up to 550* in 30 min. 

 

I am currently planning on going on a powder coating spree as I plan on chrome powder coating a lot of the small parts and red metal flake powder coat the control arms this weekend.

[walkerbk]

I finally got all four strut towers powder coated and most of the big parts are sand blasted and ready to be coated. I got tired of swapping powders back and forth so I decided to focus on just sandblasting the parts over this past weekend and will coat all the parts next weekend. I was having problems figuring out the best way to seal the larger holes (rear bearing area, steering rack) while sandblasting and powder coating. I figured out the best way was to 3d print some plugs about .002 undersize and then wrap them with some high temp tape. Since they do not have to stand the heat for that long (only while coating) they hold up just fine.

 

As I am in Washington, it is still cold up here but current body metal temp is 62* in the day. I plan on ordering some SPI epoxy primer and here in the next month strip the body and get her in epoxy.

[walkerbk]

I finally got all four strut towers powder coated and most of the big parts are sand blasted and ready to be coated. I got tired of swapping powders back and forth so I decided to focus on just sandblasting the parts over this past weekend and will coat all the parts next weekend. I was having problems figuring out the best way to seal the larger holes (rear bearing area, steering rack) while sandblasting and powder coating. I figured out the best way was to 3d print some plugs about .002 undersize and then wrap them with some high temp tape. Since they do not have to stand the heat for that long (only while coating) they hold up just fine.

 

As I am in Washington, it is still cold up here but current body metal temp is 62* in the day. I plan on ordering some SPI epoxy primer and here in the next month strip the body and get her in epoxy.

[walkerbk]

And just when you think you are done with the rust and the welding... she rears her head and strikes. 

 

I was only planning on patching the holes in the rear valence in hopes of going for the smother back end but after taking off the paint I found some pitting and rust pin holes. after debating what to do I went ahead and cut a small hole out covering the larger of the pin holes in hopes to seal from the inside out and then through some tiger hair (fiberglass body filler) on the outside. 

 

As I cut away I found that it was unlikely the small hole would work and I would need to take all the rust out so I cut a long 2" strip out of the rear... Once done I looked back at the rear valence and could not resist just cutting the rest out. Since my car had been in a wreck, the rear valence was bent up badly. no mater how hard I had tried, it still was not straight so I figured I would just go ahead and replace it all.

 

I dont know what everyone elses rear valence looks like, but based off the design of the 280z rear I do not know how it didn't rust out sooner. The boxed in area behind the valence dips in the middle and it is sealed all the way across preventing any moister from escaping. They should have left a little opening for moister to drain.

 

BTW, what does everyone else do for rear valence replacements? it bends both around the rear (sideways) and top to bottom (vertically) making it a tricky part to get just right. 

 

Well I should have the rear bearing seals in today and I'm going to finish rebuilding the steering rack and put it back so everything is coming along nicely in preparation for epoxy coating as soon as the weather permits.

[walkerbk]

Slowly but surely getting her done. I have the rear entirely welded in, just have to make some minor adjustments and trim the bottom.

 

Everything is done being Powdercoated and the rear suspension will be going on so I can get the rims on (when they come in). Once everything is mounted I should be getting the fender flares mounted.