Welding Headlight Bucket to Fender - Any lighting ramificati

[Guest Willieboy240z]

I have all but decided to fill in the gap separating the headlight buckets to the fenders. My inspiration comes from the "Black Goddess" displayed on zparts.com.

 

I am wondering if this will complicate replacing the headlights at some future date. Any other ramifications other than the obvious?

[Guest Big Phil]

Will,

The headlights mount from the rear under the fender so you wont have any problem changing them.I don't think it will be that hard but removing the entire fender assembly may be more difficult with the two pieces bonded together.

Phil

[Guest Willieboy240z]

Thanks, Phil. Pretty much done with the shaving, except I am waiting on the Honda gas tank/cap. The bucket thing was an afterthought.

[pparaska]

FWIW, I've removed the fender and bucket as an assembly - not much harder than separate.

 

The only issue I see is that if the bucket get's tweaked in a minor accident (seems to happen often) you'd have to grind the weld to replace the bucket. Not a huge deal, just something to consider.

 

I do like the seamless look though!

[Owen]

How about glassing over the seam before painting? If one or the other does get tweaked, the paint and glass are gone anyway. But at least you can separate them if necessary.

 

I take off the fender with the bucket attached to it too. It's less work.

 

Owen

[fl327]

a fender bender could be a major hassle, but if you are not going to drive the car a whole lot, not a big deal.

[BLKMGK]

Umm, make sure th eexisting buckets are both metal - I've seen quite a few plastic ones. I've even got a few spare plastic and metal ones here (don't ask - I was E-Bay crazed).

[Guest Anonymous]

Yeah, the ones on my silver Z are fiberglass, but on my new '77 Z they're metal.

[Owen]

BLKMGK,

Wanna sell those fiberglass buckets?

Owen

[Guest Anonymous]

the headlight bucket cannot be welded to the fender. They are not steel ( iron product ) as the fender is. This cannot be done. I would suggest trying to find a fiberglass one to attach to a fiberglass fender.

[RPMS]

quote:

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Originally posted by PetesPonies:

the headlight bucket cannot be welded to the fender. They are not steel ( iron product ) as the fender is.

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Why do you say this? They sure rust like steel does!

[Mikelly]

Yup, seems that some of them were made of F'glass and some of steel. You CAN weld the steel units or braze them and fill 'em in.

 

Mike

[Guest Perry]

I welded mine up with a MIG. I experimented with brazing but had trouble with warpage, the MIG worked great though. I welded one inch beads every 6 inches or so and plan to fill in the remaining seam with something, my current options are lead, fiberglass, or plastic filler.

Perry

neverending 77Z project

Z pics

[Dan Juday]

Not meaning to pic a nit here, but... Yes, some were metal, some were plastic. My car came with one of each. Not from the factory I'm sure. Probably replaced one from an accident.

 

The plactic ones are that, not fiberglass. Kind of a strange fiberous composite like material. It was probably going to be a big advance in material science back in the early '70's. Then someone discovered it really wasn't any better and scraped the whole idea. Making them out of metal I'm sure proved cheeper.

 

I'll be filling in my seams as well. But I have fiberglass fenders. My bodyman told me to get another plastic one. He's not sure what it is either, but believes it will bond better to fiberglass than metal would. Hope he's right. I'll let you know.