As you consider your options, carefully evaluate the rest of the unibody also. In my experience, a unibody with the kind of rust yours shows in the photos you provided typically has rust in many other hidden areas. Have you removed the cowl panel? How does the rear deck below the hatch look? How about the floors, rockers, battery area, master cylinder area, etc, etc? But, again, even if these other areas are perfect I would lean toward finding another unibody.

Maybe shoot for just fixing the sway bar section and see how that works out.

If you want to learn how to do this stuff, then get the tools and go to town.

You can't make that small area much worse then it is.

Get a good 115 mig welder and a good grinder and sawzall and do it.

If you plan on paying someone to do all your work plan on $$$$

Then it might be time to consider a better chassis.

Exactly why I did it myself, the only places that would touch m 71' wanted well over $1000 to replace the front clip. And most places wither laughed at me or just flat out said "we don't work on cars that old". Im not a body man nor a professional welder. I could of found a new shell or even another 240Z all together but I liked this one so I chose to save it.

I've worked on a very rotten 73 before the car was 3/4 gone, everything can be done with motivation !

Look:

http://www.classiczcars.com/forums/your-zcar-stories/29248-240z-long-way-new-again-3.html

I didn't finish it, because I made a few mistakes on the floor part.

But what's important is you need to know how to weld, if not things will be dangerous ! This rust now is also dangerous, a car with rust like that wouldn't be allowed on the road here.

If you get a few sheets of 1 mm sheet metal, you can cut out all the pieces you need and weld it in, you will need to do one part first, and then move to another part. But get all the old tar of first.

Edited June 13, 201311 yr by bartsscooterservice

Mark,

I understand your position and will soon be starting major rust repair on my 240Z. I bought the car knowing it would require a lot of work to restore, but I also intend to learn everything I can about about the restoration process, including rust repair and body work. I have the benefit of a friend who will be helping me with the process, otherwise I wouldn't attempt this large undertaking. While it's true that starting with a clean body is best, don't let that discourage you from saving your Z. If it were up to me, I'd like to see every early Z saved from the crusher! Let us know how it works out for you.

Robert S.

I would never send my Z to the boneyard. I'm seriously motivated to save this car, I'd love to learn how to weld myself and fix it in the driveway. I just don't know if I can patch this sort of thing, there's a lot of people telling me not to. I don't want to tweak the frame and screw everything up by cutting stuff out. but the rust has to come out someway or another. I just need to figure out what my first step is, and where to go from here.

Well, it will cost you nothing to start. Pick a spot and get on it. Remember to bolt in some support if you start removing cross members / cutting junk out. The supports will help keep the geometry of the car intact while repairs are done.

Will I be able to weld on the frame rails though? I figure they'd be way too thin to be able to cut material out and weld a patch into it.

Yes, you can weld the frame. BUT, when welding you have be careful with the amps so you don't burn a hole in the material. You probably already knew that.