240Z Turbo Posted March 16, 2022 Author Share Posted March 16, 2022 For some reason the upper mounting point for the fender just below the window pillar had been torn out leaving a big gaping hole. It looks as if the metal was punctured from the outside with a hammer and the nut that is welded on the backside was gone. When I removed the rocker panel the nut fell out so I saved it and cleaned it up with a wire wheel and chased the threads with a tap. I repaired the metal surrounding the hole with a hammer and dolly and will TIG weld the ripped metal and TIG weld back the nut. Below is a pic of everything prepped for welding. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
240Z Turbo Posted March 16, 2022 Author Share Posted March 16, 2022 Man this work is tedious and it doesn't feel like your making any progress after putting so many hours into it. Below is the fender nut that was recovered and the welded back to the backside of the hinge cover. I also had to repair the big gaping gash in the panel, which turned out well. So much fun to weld in these washers where I removed the spot weld! It looked like the car had been hit on the bottom edge of the rocker as you can see some creases at the bottom, which I welded and flattened. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ironhead Posted March 17, 2022 Share Posted March 17, 2022 Looks like great work on a very "needy" shell. I was just trying to imagine, think how different our "hobby" would be if cars didn't rust. By different, I mean better. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
240Z Turbo Posted March 17, 2022 Author Share Posted March 17, 2022 15 hours ago, Ironhead said: Looks like great work on a very "needy" shell. I was just trying to imagine, think how different our "hobby" would be if cars didn't rust. By different, I mean better. Needy is an understatement as I just ordered another $1800 in parts from KF Vintage. My fabrication skills are adequate for this car, but I picked one of the more challenging 240's as a first time restoration. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
240Z Turbo Posted March 23, 2022 Author Share Posted March 23, 2022 Fixing the areas where the spot weld tool was used is a tedious process. I have to TIG weld in each area and then slowly grind it to look as though it was never damaged. What I thought would take 4-5hrs will likely take about 8hrs. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dat73z Posted March 24, 2022 Share Posted March 24, 2022 That is a lot of work! but I'm sure the end result will be worth it. What amps and wire diameter did you use when tig silicon bronze brazing the seams? I did the same last summer to fill some rust pinholes in my windshield section and I found it really difficult to find the correct balance balance between melting the filler and base material. I think maybe my filler was too thick at 1/16" and I should've been using 0.045" or smaller. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
240Z Turbo Posted March 24, 2022 Author Share Posted March 24, 2022 (edited) 8 hours ago, Dat73z said: That is a lot of work! but I'm sure the end result will be worth it. What amps and wire diameter did you use when tig silicon bronze brazing the seams? I did the same last summer to fill some rust pinholes in my windshield section and I found it really difficult to find the correct balance balance between melting the filler and base material. I think maybe my filler was too thick at 1/16" and I should've been using 0.045" or smaller. That was 0.065" filler rod so I don't think you need to go smaller, but you can. Amps are probably set to around 30-40 (not sure how many amps actually used) depending on the thickness of the metal and the surrounding mass, but as you know you're not melting the base metal when brazing. What I found best was to just practice on some flat metal to get the hang of it because when you TIG you naturally want to melt the base metal. With only a few practice passes I TIG brazed a custom oil pan for my EVO. The EVO pan is two super thin layers of metal pressed together and have a zinc coating between them. If you simply TIG weld it blows out when it hits the zinc so you have to TIG braze the joints where it connects to the stock oil pan. Edited March 24, 2022 by 240Z Turbo Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
240Z Turbo Posted March 25, 2022 Author Share Posted March 25, 2022 Finally got the hinge cover back on the car! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
240Z Turbo Posted March 27, 2022 Author Share Posted March 27, 2022 I was able to remove both rockers, but this time I left the floor pan in place. I'll have to see how the door gas look, but I don't think the car moved any like it did when the pans were removed. There was a substantial amount of runs on the inner rocker, which made its way to the inner fender, but only at the very bottom. However, I had to completely remove about 4" of the flange for attaching the outer rocker. The next step was to build it back up starting with the small patch on the inner fender and then replacing that 4" mounting strip. I getting pretty good at this patch panel work I might add. I wish KF Vintage made all of the parts need, but unfortunately I was force to buy some parts from Tabco. Seeing the quality and fit of the KF stuff, the tabco parts are junk. I had to make three relief cuts in the outer fender to get it to fit properly, which where then welded back up after I got the contour I wanted. I'm now ready to tie in the lower dog leg and patch the front rocker and I'm then ready to install the inner rocker. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AydinZ71 Posted March 27, 2022 Share Posted March 27, 2022 Yeah the KF vintage stuff is spot-on. I wish it was around when I purchased my floor pans and rockers. Got it all to work somehow though 🥳. Your welds look great Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
240Z Turbo Posted March 27, 2022 Author Share Posted March 27, 2022 If you want to upset your wife then work on your Z as much as I've been doing. I mounted the door today to see how much sag there was from removing the rocker and to my surprise the door gap looked good. I guess leaving the pan in place is key to keep things alinged. Started with patching in the lower dog leg. Not too concerned with grinding to perfection since it won't be seen. In the front I had to cut out some rust and also replace a piece on the side flange of the firewall where it connects to the inner rocker. Next step will be to patch in the new forward rocker. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
240Z Turbo Posted March 29, 2022 Author Share Posted March 29, 2022 Front rocker has been grafted in and I decided to keep as much of the original good metal as possible. I now need to prep the metal with the POR rust neutralizer and then coat with POR15 prior to putting on the inner rocker. This is the inner rocker mocked up for alignment, but prior to welding in place I cleco both the inner and outer rockers in place and hang the door again along with front fender to confirm gaps and alignment. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
240Z Turbo Posted April 11, 2022 Author Share Posted April 11, 2022 I've been making progress slowly but, surely. Got the inner rocker installed on the driver's side. Next order of business was to fit the floor pan. I left ~1" of overlap on the trans tunnel and then ground to bare metal, treated with a rust neutralizer, and painted with a weld through primer. I did have a portion of rust that had to be removed at a seam on the trans tunnel towards the firewall. Removed an ~3" section and replaced with fresh metal. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
240Z Turbo Posted April 12, 2022 Author Share Posted April 12, 2022 And just like that, driver side pan installed. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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