resto questions

[71datsunZ]

Im totally stipping my z for sandblasting and bodywork and I have a few questions...

On the transmission tunnel there is a plastic thing glued to it underneath the vynal and horse hair material. What is that and should I bother taking it off. should I worry about rust? I peeled back a corner and its bare metal underneath which was rust free. And should I reglue the area I peeled back?

Do I have to keep that horse hair material to put if back on or could I use dynomatting?

Should I bother taking the padding material off on the interior side of the firewall? My dad said there wont be rust under there and I would just mess up the padding by taking it off. Also is there a replacement for that piece?

Are there replacement rain drip rails and should I take mine off for sandblasting and paint.

Thanks for help

[Ed]

On the transmission tunnel there is a plastic thing glued to it underneath the vynal and horse hair material. What is that and should I bother taking it off. should I worry about rust? I peeled back a corner and its bare metal underneath which was rust free. And should I reglue the area I peeled back?

Do I have to keep that horse hair material to put if back on or could I use dynomatting?

Should I bother taking the padding material off on the interior side of the firewall? My dad said there wont be rust under there and I would just mess up the padding by taking it off. Also is there a replacement for that piece?

Are there replacement rain drip rails and should I take mine off for sandblasting and paint.

Thanks for help

The "plastic" material is actually a tar like matt that was installed for sound proofing. If your car is in good shape I would leave it alone on the transmission tunnel. However I would remove it from the floors regardless. The matts are notorious for trapping moisture. The floors are where you will find rust if any.

You can reuse the "horse hair" if you wish or use a dynomatt type of material, up to you.

The padding on the firewall is very fragile and will break. If there is no sign of rust around the battery tray or up on the front section of the floor boards then leave them alone. Replacements are near impossible to find. You might find one off a parts car.

Are you talking about the stainless steel drip rails? They clean up real easy with some fine steel wool. I have seen replacements pop up on e-bay every now and again. And yes remove them before blasting and paint.

If you haven't purchased one yet I would suggest getting Wick Humbles "How to restore your Z" book. It has massive amounts of information that will help you in your restoration. He even shows how to properly remove the drip rails.

Good luck and enjoy.

[26th-Z]

The "plastic thing" is probably the sound matt / tar matt, like dyno-mat, and have fun getting it off. It should be on the floors and rear deck also. There are several methods discussed in different threads in the archives. I would not blast the inside of the car because you will never get the dust out no matter how hard you try. If you insist on blasting, then the sound matt and the firewall insulation will have to come off. Replacement firewall insulation is available for around $125. The tar matt insulation is about $75 a yard. The horse hair material is padding and also acts as insulation. The tunnel was originally padded vinyl...you can do whatever you want.

I have nothing against the idea of media blasting the exterior of the car. A friend had good luck with soda blasting. Make sure you wipe the metal down right away with a rust inhibitor like OSPHO to avoid flash rusting. I think that's why soda blasting has become so popular, because it doesn't send the steel molecules into rusting frenzy like sand blasting does. I'm no expert on blasting.

I'm also on a campaign to promote seam sealer. I firmly believe that the primary reason these cars rust so badly is because they aren't sealed up. Clean those seams out and seal them back up! I'm using 3M-08300 Ultra-Pro.

[mdbrandy]

The padding on the firewall is very fragile and will break. If there is no sign of rust around the battery tray or up on the front section of the floor boards then leave them alone. Replacements are near impossible to find. You might find one off a parts car.

I bought a repro firewall insulator from Classic Datsun Motorsports. Not Nissan original, but after the car is back together, I suspect no one will be able to tell.

[beandip]

Im totally stipping my z for sandblasting and bodywork and I have a few questions...

On the transmission tunnel there is a plastic thing glued to it underneath the vynal and horse hair material. What is that and should I bother taking it off. should I worry about rust? I peeled back a corner and its bare metal underneath which was rust free. And should I reglue the area I peeled back?

Do I have to keep that horse hair material to put if back on or could I use dynomatting?

Should I bother taking the padding material off on the interior side of the firewall? My dad said there wont be rust under there and I would just mess up the padding by taking it off. Also is there a replacement for that piece?

Are there replacement rain drip rails and should I take mine off for sandblasting and paint.

Thanks for help

The Horse hair and dnomat work completly different . The horse hair absorbs sound the matt helps stop resonance , the drum effect . I used both but brown bread insted of dynomat. I sandblasted the floors on my 240 and cleaned sand out of every cranny and space you could think of and more. the sand will get into everything . When you repaint you will see what I mean. Think about it first. I did treat all bare metal with POR and it sealed it vary well . Just go exactly by the directions if you use there paint . If you dont then dont bother with it because it will just peal off .

[71datsunZ]

right after sandblasting its going to body and they are shooting it with a primer that stops rust as soon as they get it. Will the sand or media be a problem?

[Rick Bolus]

We wipe down and seal with Glazurit sealer, it is a green colored spary, see some of my resto pictures to see it. You can see it on my XKE pictures too. It holds down everything. When we do our work over that then reseal again, pretty simply put it is creating a "sandwhich" below the final promers and surfasers then paint. The minimal dust and media stuff cleans out and with multiple visits to our spray booth it is all held down anyway with oversprays. I suggest NEVER putting any of the moisture trapping evil horsehair down unless you show the car and want to win a point, then take it out immediately..

[EScanlon]

Poor Horsehair, everyone vilifies it yet it's basic nature is misunderstood.

The "horsehair" drinks water when it is FORCED to do so.

Only when you SOAK or pressure wash the horsehair does it absorb water.

If you allow water to remain standing in your car long enough for the horsehair to become saturated, or even just moistened, it's because YOU didn't do preventive or regular maintenance. If you spill a drink...does it evaporate or do you clean it up? If the windshield leaks, do you just glob a bunch of silicone on the window seal and let the water that made it in evaporate on it's own? If so, then that is when the horsehair fails.

Horsehair insulation gets it's name in that the original Horse Hair matting was in fact made from Actual Horse Hair. The hair was then coated with a glue or latex and allowed to fall into piles to let the binding agent cure. The result was a springy, lightweight material that could be overlaid with a weight, and upon removal of the weight, it would return to it's original shape. It was also found that thicker mats of the stuff could be used for seat cushions, and other areas where a padding was required. One additional feature of this, was it's heat insulating properties.

Due to the binding agent, and the spaces between the hairs, water doesn't readily absorb into the hair. It takes a long time for the water to creep past the surface tension of the hair. This property does fade over time, so the hair you have now will soak it up if you don't clean it up.

It's use on the transmission tunnel is not only for it's heat insulation, but also for the "bump" factor. It pads the metal of the transmission tunnel, and in so doing, it fills out the vinyl overlay. If you don't replace the horsehair, be prepared to having to alter the vinyl. The difference in dimensions can be as much as 3/4" in RADIUS of the curve of the tunnel.

The "bump" factor is readily noticeable on long trips where you will be resting your leg, knee ... on the tunnel.

FWIW

Enrique

[LanceM]

I'm also on a campaign to promote seam sealer. I firmly believe that the primary reason these cars rust so badly is because they aren't sealed up. Clean those seams out and seal them back up! I'm using 3M-08300 Ultra-Pro.

It wasn't untill you mentioned it that I realised that was what was missing! I sure think that some of the problems I'm finding wouldn't have happened if sealer would have been used. Picked up a tube of 3M today, things will be sealed before painting this time! Thanks for the word!