Help identifying mystery holes.

[shamus1980]

Hi Guys,

I'm cutting off my nose this afternoon... not to spite my face, but to get rid of a rusty crumpled mess. I'm going to make new nose sections from scratch so I'll post some pics of the work once I've made some progress. I'm thinking I'll make a reversible steel template so I can flip it to make the other side. And I'll make a die to press the reinforcing rail that goes on the back. If it goes well and it's not too much work I might make so more if there's a need for them.

I bought this car in pieces so there are a couple of holes in the nose I'm not sure what they are for. I've circled the mystery holes in the third attached photo. Two are up against the rad support and the third is in behind the bonnet hinge when it is mounted. If anyone could tell me what they are for I'd be grateful. If they aren't used I'll leave them out.

I am sure which are the bonnet hinge holes and I'm guessing the other two are bumper bracket holes because of the reinforcement behind them. If I've got it wrong please let me know.

Thanks in advance!

[warcmalla]

Those holes are for bolts that go to the fender. Fender has nuts attached.

[Nissanman]

The two holes by the radiator support panel are mounting holes for the front guards.

There is a short vertical flange on the guard that bolts to these holes.

Not sure about the other hole, it is underneath the hood hinge mechanism though:ermm:

[DatsunDave09]

yup, fender bolts, mine busted off upon removal. too much rust.

Edited May 24, 2009 by DatsunDave09

[shamus1980]

Thanks guys, much appreciated.

I guess I would have figured out when I went to put the gaurds back on. I'll make sure to put the holes in my new piece.

[DatsunDave09]

On the 260z, I'm going to use 240Z front bumper brackets, and the 260Z frame has the 240Z mounting holes. So I welded a plate on the outside of the holes and welded the nuts in place. I just copied the 240Z stuff onto the 260Z, but had to cut some of the reinforcing out to allow the 240Z brackets to bolt up.

[shamus1980]

Well I've cut off the old nose and rusty section behind it. I had to remove the tow point support to get all of the nose section off and found it to be rusty behind it so I cut out the rust behind it too. When I plated it back up I forgot to weld in a support and two nuts on the back of the piece I welded in until it was too late! so there won't be a tow point at least on this side of the car. I'll probably weld something on later.

I have got the new nose and repair section behind it welded on today. I had to cut the folded piece off the radiator support because it was rusted (see picture) and I also ended up having to put a patch on the back of it to get it to weld nicely to the new nose section. This isn't as tidy as I'd have liked to do it but the rad support was too thin to but weld in a piece and I have ended up burning holes in it or the weld cracking down the track. The patch is stronger and I'll probably hide it with seam sealer. Welding the nose section and the engine bay patch in seperately meant I could weld the nose to the rad support from the rear and grind it up neatly before putting in the engine bay section.

I still have a little bit of steel to weld on and a couple of holes to fix up and all the welds need grinding and smoothing. I think this will probably take me all day tomorrow but I hope to have it finnished and primed by the end of the day.

In my case my nose was so badly crumpled and rusted that I didn't have much choice but I guess it's probably taken me 4 full days to do this job (including tomorrow) so it's not one I'd recommend unless your's is in a similar state to mine.