Frame Rail Questions

[chip0325]

I have a ’71 240, VIN 20523, that was given to me and I am considering restoring it. The body has a few small dents but is for the most part pretty straight. Unfortunately, someone cut a hole in the roof and put in a moonroof. The interior is in good shape with the exception of the center console. The carpets are new. The engine needs to be rebuilt. It smokes quite a bit. Most engine parts are stock with the exception of the air cleaners and an electronic ignition has been installed. The car has the original slot mags with some new Nitto radials. I can deal with all of the above. The part that concerns me is the frame rails and floor pans. The driver side is not too bad but is still a candidate for replacement. The passenger side is in bad shape, especially under the battery. The front floor member and the compression rod bracket are completely separated from the frame rail. I know that I can get new frame rails and floor pans from Zedd, but from their site, it does not appear that the compression rod bracket and the front floor member are offered.

My questions are:

Is this in too bad of shape to repair?

If not, how much can I expect to pay someone to do it if I pull the engine and tranny, gas lines, etc. and provide the parts, where basically all the person fixing it has to do is weld in the new parts?

Where can I get a compression rod bracket?

Is the front floor member part of the Zedd system? (According to my Nissan Service Manual, the front floor member attaches to the rear of the compression rod bracket and below the front frame rail)

Does anyone know of a person in So Cal that can do the work.

[Ed]

First off let me welcome you to the club. I hope you keep in touch with us as from what it sounds like you have a pretty nice car.

Now to your questions:

Even though you have what appears to be quite alot of damage it is repairable. Most of the rust appears to be the frame rail. I would suggest (since you live in Southern California) to find a donor car. Go to the junk yard and find a Z that has that part of the frame intact. If you specify where you live, someone will be able to point you in the right direction. Zedd findings offers only the floor and the frame rail which only extends to where the floor meets the firewall. A donor car would offer the T/C bracket.

If you pull the motor and all the other stuff that's in the way it should save you some money.

My question is if the rust in this part is this bad how do the other parts of the car look? Like the drivers side? Or the rear hatch area?

Oh yea, any body shop should have someone qualified to weld in the replacement body parts.

Keep us informed.

[2ManyZs]

All I can say is "Ouch"........:tapemouth

What you will need under the battery and forward of that is not available as patch panels or reproduction pieces. It will have to be fabricated and welded in. Or, find yourself a fairly decent parts car that can "donate" what you need, which in the long run, might be your best option.

It's gonna take a lot of time, patience, work and money, but it can and has been done successfully.

The main things I see that you will need is a patch panel under the battery all the way down to the frame rail, and a patch panel will need to be fabricate at the bottom of the inner fender where it meets the frame rail in the engine bay.

One of our members recently had nearly the same problem and if you look in his gallery, you'll see some pics of his car before and after the repairs were done.

http://www.classiczcars.com/photopost/showgallery.php?cat=500&si=&page=2&sort=7&perpage=12&password=&ppuser=3648&stype=

How much? Hard to tell, but it's gonna be in the 1K-2K depending on what the shop that does the repairs charges by the hour for labor.

:cross-eye

[chip0325]

Thanks for the quick responses. Sounds like some good advice. I think a donor car is the way to go. I live in the San Fernando Valley in Los Angeles, so if anyone knows of a good candidate, I'm interested.

Regarding the rust on the rest of the car, as I mentioned, the driver side has some holes along the frame rails and floor pan. The rest of the car is rust free as far as I can tell. I have added several pictures to the gallery.

[Ed]

I checked out your gallery and you have a pretty nice car. Definately worth the work. Luckily for you, you live in Southern Cal. you should be able to find a donor no problem. Keep an eye out in the autotrader for someone parting out a 240. Or you can visit a junkyard. I used to live in San Diego and there used to be dozens of old Z's sitting there. I would suggest to start stripping the front end first to get a good idea of how much rust there is and what you have to replace.

Good luck.

BTW is that dash crack free?

[chip0325]

I thought the dash was crack free, but today I was looking by the VIN # plate and noticed a couple half inch cracks on the front edge. The rest of it is in good shape. The glove box door is a little bit bowed so it doesn't have an even gap.

[beandip]

I also want to welcome you to this Z infected bunch of us. Your statement in the beginning stated that you want to restore this car. Restoration of this car would be a extremly costly process. If you ment that you want a daily driver and not a show car , this is another matter. With the availability of Zs in your area I would think you could find a car with far less problems. I just replaced the floor pan on one side of my Z and did all the prep and removed the old damaged one .I fitted in the new one and got a good price for the tig welding. There was some small repair to the driver side floor and a little on the battery area. I am into just this repair for almost $1000. I have no other rust that is in need of repairs only prevention. The one thing that you show in the picture will require you to most likely buy another car for parts, and then you will need to remove a major part of the frame and on both cars then have some one fit and weld in the parts . This will likely run 3K. or close to it. What does the doglegs look like and the other frame rail . We havent addressed the rear hatch . For a restoration the roof must be brought back to stock. Or replaced . $$$ The car will need to be painted , another grand do you see where were going here. I am just being the devel's advocate here . But these are the facts you may have a parts car and be money ahead to find rust free car to work with. If you can do the welding your self and have plenty of space and time this is a different matter or if you have vary deep pockets . There is no doubt it can be done . Be careful you can end up with ten thousand it a five thousand dollar car.

[Ed]

Good point, another option is to find a shell in better condition but that has a trashed interior. Then swap your interior into the new shell.

[gramercyjam]

Originally posted by 2ManyZs

All I can say is "Ouch"........:tapemouth

One of our members recently had nearly the same problem and if you look in his gallery, you'll see some pics of his car before and after the repairs were done.

http://www.classiczcars.com/photopost/showgallery.php?cat=500&si=&page=2&sort=7&perpage=12&password=&ppuser=3648&stype=

How much? Hard to tell, but it's gonna be in the 1K-2K depending on what the shop that does the repairs charges by the hour for labor.

:cross-eye

Thats me. I finished this project up a week ago, basically the day before I took it to an DE/TT event. The car performed wonderfully. Chassis was rock solid and cornered like - well, like nothing I've ever driven before.

Anyway, I crashed it but good that day. The chassis refurb held up well as did the fuel cell/battery tray structure. Passenger side sheet metal is torn up, bent the wheels, slight tweak to the front frame rails now. But it should be good as new in a few days.

P.S. I wouldn't even think of starting that job for $1K-$2K. It took me roughly 11 weeks, or about 500 hours to refurb the chassis (cockpit, floors, tranny tunnel, firewall, inner fender wells, radiator support, frame rails. Nothing behind the cockpit. Not including the exterior skins). Don't forget to count the expense of things like all newly fabricated brake lines, various other new parts that went in, fasteners, 3 quarts of two part epoxy primer (and thats just two coats), 30 4.5 inch cutting disks, 3 grinding disks, 244 cu. ft of argon, 20 lbs of welding wire, 750 lbs of blasting media, an even dozen blasting hood windows, 5 face shields, an unknown volume of compressed air, broken drill bits, 3 alternators, 4 voltage regulators, a voltage gauge, and lots of other incidentals. Stuff happens - I never thought it would go this far, but as long as your in up to your neck, a little bit more couldn't hurt.

Oh, and my problem wasn't even close to his .... My car was more like the rust free kind. I prefered not to know for years and called it "surface rust" like so many of us do. But I hunted it down, discovered the truth and took care of it.