260Z rear bumper shock compression

[g9m3c]

Well, I was off today and got bored, so I decided to work on my rear bumper. I have some long term plans for it that include a lot of cutting and fab work, but this will satisfy me in the mean time.

This is what it looked like before.

This is what it looked like when I took the old cracked and aged rubber pieces off. Notice the gap measurement.

Old rubber pieces and tie down hooks.

Everything removed.

So here's what I did. I took the screw out of the end of the shocks to let the gas out. If you're doing this mod, you can see them once you take your bumper off. I also drilled a hole in the bottom of the shock body to drain the fluid to compress them enough. Just a few drops of fluid came out of each one, though, but it aloowed me to move them in enough. Again, if you're doing this mod, the main body of the shocks tapers outwards about an inch or so from the end (rear) of the shocks. This is where you want to drill the hole. If you're creative with a drill, you can drill the hole with the shocks still moutned to the car like I did. I compressed the shocks to move the bumper much closer to the body. When I had them where I wanted them, I welded the inner part of the shock to the outer sleeve.

Here's one of them welded and painted.

That got me to this.

I also had to shorten my exhaust tip, as it stuck out a good bit after the bumper was moved in.

I also painted it black. I was going to paint the muffler too, but ran out of time.

Finished pics of the bumper.

It'll eventually be painted once I cut it down and make my own brackets in the future so I don't really mind the aged chrome on there for now. I definitely like the new look MUCH better than the old one.

[kenz240z]

Nice work. Man, I need to work on my welding skilz...

[g9m3c]

Nice work. Man, I need to work on my welding skilz...

Thanks! It would have been a lot easier to weld if I would have took the brackets off. Kinda hard to get the gun in there at some angles.

[Zs-ondabrain]

That's what I planned for the 260Z before I ended up tearing out the shocks, filling the holes and smoothing out the whole back end.

So I went to the local Pull A Part and found a Porche 924 with decent front bumper rubber on it. So I pulled the rubber and plan to shave the small 90* lip off each and mount them on the rear.

And this...

Should look like this......

needs a little work, gimmy time, I'll get it.

[g9m3c]

That's an interesting project, Dave. The last time I was at the Pull-A-Part here in Birmingham, they had a Porsche 924 as well. I guessthat should tell us something...........

[Zs-ondabrain]

I got real lucky yesterday. There was a 78' 280Z and a 79' 280ZX. So I also grabbed the 280Z Ebrake handle, some headlight plugs (made of unobtainium) and some clips and things. Then I went to the 280ZX and grabbed the rear calipers to finish up my rear disc brake conversion. I also grabbed the Honda wiper motor and blower for the heater.

All that and the Porche bumpers only came to $55. The rear calipers were only $6.50 each, the ebrake handle was $3.50 and the fan and wiper motors were only $5 ? each.

Lucky day at the P. A. P.

Dave