auxilary Posted January 23, 2007 Share Posted January 23, 2007 Cut out cancer out of the support rail a while back, it was pretty bad... baddog rails are coming shortly. It's not all the way through, just the lower section of the floorpan rail. Do you guys think after this, my frame is more tweaked, or will it be safe to weld in the rails on jack stands as support? or is a frame rack preferred? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alexideways Posted January 23, 2007 Share Posted January 23, 2007 If you still have the doors on the car, put a piece of masking tape over the door/rear quarter gap and trace a straight line on it, perpendicular to the door gap then, use a blade to cut the tape along the gap. Lift the car from one of the points you wish to use and check if the line's halves are still or, not far from lined up. This way you can precisely mesure how much the chassis is twisting. Hope it helped. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JMortensen Posted January 23, 2007 Share Posted January 23, 2007 I would not imagine that what you did is going to really twist much of anything. You can use Alex's suggestion to check, but that doesn't really tell you how far anything moved, it tells you more about how flexible the chassis is. I know this isn't totally the same situation, but I was watching that Muscle Car show on Spike a couple weekends ago and the guy was saying he liked to weld in subframe connectors with the car on jackstands because it sagged the car the opposite direction. On mine when I used to set the front end down on jack stands (with the jackstands on the TC buckets) you could watch the front frame rails sag down. This guy basically said that when the car is on it's wheels it is sagging the other way, so by welding them in with the car on jackstands you would eliminate most of that. He also showed how the door gap improved and how the front clip needed readjustment after installation. I think the important thing is to eliminate the flexing. If the chassis is sagged 1/4" one way or the other I doubt you'd notice until you started some hardcore autoxing or road racing, if you even noticed at all. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BillZ260 Posted January 23, 2007 Share Posted January 23, 2007 I'm thinking your ok. When I put floors and rails in mine I did it on jack stands placed on the front and rear subframes when the shell was completely stripped and my doors still like up as well as they did before I cut the car up. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
G.I.jonas Posted January 23, 2007 Share Posted January 23, 2007 You really will be fine.Dont put your jackstands under the front and rear bumpers is all.These cars really hold there form quite well even with missing supports and panels and whatnot.Not to mention that by the looks of your pics there isnt much rust elsewhere weakening the structure,but as said by alex you can easily keep an eye on any movement,even if it does move it will probably spring back when released anyway. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
johnc Posted January 23, 2007 Share Posted January 23, 2007 There's the whole rest of the unibody supporting the chassis so I wouldn't worry about the small section you've removed. The rockers provide more longitudinal support to the chassis then the frame rails. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
auxilary Posted January 23, 2007 Author Share Posted January 23, 2007 right now the car is sitting on jackstands. 2 are on the rear upper crossmember where the MSA rear sway bar normally mounts, 2 are in the front frame rails close to radiator support Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JMortensen Posted January 23, 2007 Share Posted January 23, 2007 Move the front jackstands to the TC rod boxes and that will let the weight of the engine flex the front of the car, if you're so inclined. You might check your door gaps with the jackstands in both places and see if it makes a difference, and then choose that way... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
auxilary Posted January 23, 2007 Author Share Posted January 23, 2007 will do. The reason jackstands were in the front is because I needed tc area space to work Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bry593 Posted January 23, 2007 Share Posted January 23, 2007 trust me, your car is FAR from rusty..... i doubt it has much sag if any. if the doors close easily and the body lines match up with weight on the wheels, there is probably no twist or sag. if no twist is found, all ya gotta do is raise the car by placing ramps or blocks under the TIRES. i don't recommend putting jackstands on the subframe before welding, this will certainly bow the body out of its factory dimensions. If you weld while in this position, it may impart additional stresses into the body when the car is back on its wheels..... might cause problems, might not.... but why take the chance? just my 2% of a buck btw, this is what a typical rusty Z looks like: http://forums.hybridz.org/showthread.php?t=117777 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
datsunlover Posted January 23, 2007 Share Posted January 23, 2007 Heh.. you say that one's 'typical' rusty Z car?!? Wow.. wonder what you would have said about mine! (yes, it was much worse!) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dimsum Posted January 24, 2007 Share Posted January 24, 2007 btw, this is what a typical rusty Z looks like: http://forums.hybridz.org/showthread.php?t=117777 I clicked on the thread to see how my car compares with the "typical rusty Z." It turns out my car IS the "typical rusty Z." Hahaha Sigh... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Careless Posted January 24, 2007 Share Posted January 24, 2007 I clicked on the thread to see how my car compares with the "typical rusty Z." It turns out my car IS the "typical rusty Z." Hahaha Sigh... lol yours and mine, both. There There <3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
auxilary Posted January 25, 2007 Author Share Posted January 25, 2007 mine has some surface rust, and the real bad part was the frame rail support under the floorpan. I had to cut it out because I could literally poke holes in it with my finger Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dj paul Posted January 29, 2007 Share Posted January 29, 2007 yours was rusty? look at mine!!! i almost had to replace the entire car! taking me 2 years. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bry593 Posted January 30, 2007 Share Posted January 30, 2007 yours was rusty? look at mine!!! i almost had to replace the entire car! taking me 2 years. yup, that's a ton of work right there! good looking work, nice welds! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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