ZT-R Posted May 24, 2006 Share Posted May 24, 2006 i was took my car that had very light front end damage to a good body shop here in town to have the frame checked for alignment. they came back and said they are afraid to pull it as far as it needs to go because they dont wanna pull the car in half. he is advising new frame rails. my main question is how am i supposed to get the car where it needs to be in order to weld in the frame rails in the right location? i printed the 240z dimensions sticky will that be the same on my 280z? its going to be a rb26 once i get the frame taken care of. my main consern is the engine rails i can easly make subframe connectors out of 1x3 steel. any thoughts? should i tell them to pull the bastard to where it needs to be? the rest of the car has no rust at all. floor pans and all are awsome shape.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mark Posted May 24, 2006 Share Posted May 24, 2006 If it has slight front end damage and no rust, have them pull it. THen do subfame connectors. If the car is sound, why are they worried about pulling it? got pics Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ZT-R Posted May 25, 2006 Author Share Posted May 25, 2006 not really, its got some surface rust on the engine frame rails...nothing that looks real canserous to me... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ZT-R Posted May 26, 2006 Author Share Posted May 26, 2006 will these front rails from datsunstore support the 400ft pounds of torque? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bjhines Posted May 26, 2006 Share Posted May 26, 2006 You should use the same guage sheet metal to repair the floors and such... If you want stiffness then you will need to add a cage... In the process of installing a cage... It might be wise to strip and seam weld the entire chassis... Buying and installing the engine is only a small part of the task of building a high performance hot rod. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
78zlt1 Posted May 26, 2006 Share Posted May 26, 2006 If you want to stiffen up the car put subframe connectors in , (see Petes Site) www.alteredz,com I used .093 wall 2X3 rectangular tubing , afterwards I put the car up on jackstands and accidently had one stand a notch to low , the car didnt touch it , Before it would have flexed and sat down on the stand. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ZT-R Posted May 26, 2006 Author Share Posted May 26, 2006 well my main concern is the frame is bent and they are afraid to pull it... i told them to pull it anyway... i was thinking about getting some frame rails and then welding in some square tubing inside of the rails... just ad more support for a high tq. motor. what u think?? and yes i will do sub frame connectors at the same time Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
78zlt1 Posted May 27, 2006 Share Posted May 27, 2006 My opinion is to make your own front frame rails , that is what I did out of 2 inch square tube. they are very strong, I also built a jig to put the car on so I could get acurate measurements, I made cad drawings of my frame rails they are available in this post as a PDF file, http://forums.hybridz.org/showthread.php?t=94710 This is how I boxed them together, I cant even guess how much stronger it is than the Sheet metal frame datsun used. My car is a 1978 280Z. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ZT-R Posted May 27, 2006 Author Share Posted May 27, 2006 what do i need to know to build a jig? im not really a body man but im not a retard and i can weld good Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
78zlt1 Posted May 27, 2006 Share Posted May 27, 2006 Well nothing really , Im a design engineer by trade so im sorta picky with measurements , and I want a common datum to measure from , my garage floor is not level so that was no good , I made a table out of lumber so that it was level and plumb in all directions, then I used my 2x3 rect tube ( that would later be my subframe connectors) on top of that with angle steel to box it, the same width as the seam at the bottom of the rockers , so the cars' rockers sat on the 2x3's and the seam was touching the inside of the tubes. this I called level and square. Look at the pictures in the post I linked above and it should become clear. Oh and I glad your not "Handy Capable" Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ZT-R Posted May 28, 2006 Author Share Posted May 28, 2006 do u have more pics of what u did with the TC mounts... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
78zlt1 Posted May 28, 2006 Share Posted May 28, 2006 I looked thru my photos and Those are the best i have of the T/C connectors, I did find these they may help a bit. Just take alot of measurements and record them before you cut anything apart. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ZT-R Posted May 28, 2006 Author Share Posted May 28, 2006 wouldnt happen to have a spare good crossmember for the 280? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fear_me Posted May 29, 2006 Share Posted May 29, 2006 do you have any dwg files/measurments on the frame rails that you made??? Thanks, Andrew Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ZT-R Posted May 29, 2006 Author Share Posted May 29, 2006 email me the cad drawing if u still have it... leenash23@hotmail.com thanks Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Z-Dreamer Posted May 30, 2006 Share Posted May 30, 2006 Me too! machristensen@sbcglobal.net Mark Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
78zlt1 Posted June 1, 2006 Share Posted June 1, 2006 wouldnt happen to have a spare good crossmember for the 280? Nope Sorry look on Ebay I've seen them on there before. Unfortunatly I lost the CAD file when my hard drive crashed all I have is the PDF file I uploaded. I didnt do the Subframe connectors on CAD ,I just looked at Pete's info and modified it a bit as I built it. I did use some SQ tube clamped to the rocker panel seam to make sure the subframe was parallel with each other and the front frame, , a good angle gauge helps too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ZT-R Posted June 5, 2006 Author Share Posted June 5, 2006 what did u do the the front of the engine frame rails to make them change size? purpose?? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
78zlt1 Posted June 5, 2006 Share Posted June 5, 2006 what did u do the the front of the engine frame rails to make them change size? purpose?? Thats the way the Stock rails are on the 280 I just copied it, It's basically like that to give more room for the radiator. I just cut it and trimmed the part I cut off and welded it back on. This picture may help. And here are the other parts.......... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ZT-R Posted June 6, 2006 Author Share Posted June 6, 2006 thats what i was thinking. cool thanks, great pics Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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