Datsun 240Z 1972 Restomod from Germany

[rdefabri]

Look at that - I go away for a year and a whole new group of folks have popped in!  Great work so far on the 240Z, keep it going and good luck!  I MISS MINE!!!

[Radeon]

12 hours ago, rdefabri said:

Look at that - I go away for a year and a whole new group of folks have popped in!  Great work so far on the 240Z, keep it going and good luck!  I MISS MINE!!!

Thank you!:)

Well you seem to have at least an interesting fleet going on to soften the pain!;)

[rdefabri]

5 hours ago, Radeon said:

Thank you!:)

Well you seem to have at least an interesting fleet going on to soften the pain!;)

Yes, I'm very lucky to have the cars I have.  As they say, however, absence makes the heart grow fonder!!!

I have 2 children that will be nearing college soon, so the cars may not be with me forever.  But I'll always be a car guy, so while I may not have a Ferrari or Jaguar, maybe something different (another Z car or maybe a Corvette?...not sure).

Glad to see that Z's are getting love in Europe!!!

[Radeon]

Some news! I started with some more body work and welded the first time on the body!

At first I was really intimidated as a welding beginner to weld on thin sheet metal, hearing all those stories about warpage and burning through! Of course they do happen if you’re not careful, but after some practice on scrap metal I got the hang of it! I’m by no means a professional welder, but pretty much all of my welds will be grounded down, so they only have to be strong, not look good! Even though every now an then some pretty once even came along!:)

First task was the rusty metal under the hatch sheet metal. Sadly I did not take pictures in between, but this was what i begun with:

And what I ended up with, already grounded down!

The next task was the battery tray! Even though mine was in quite good shape, minus one rust spot, it had to go anyway since I’m relocating the battery under the passenger seat in my quest to clean up the engine bay and make it oh so pretty!:) Still “in”:

And out it goes!

So if anyone’s interested, the battery tray’s for sale as is (Europe!)! Maybe I’ll restore it later down the line, really come to like welding, and make some more profit out of it.

To still be able to work inside the garage, where it was at most one or two degrees above freezing, I planned to weld in this new piece. But since my zinc spray decided to not work, albeit being completely full and unused had to postponed it. Definitely want something between metals when I put two on top of each other. Either zinc spray, or this red weld through primer. Haven’t had much luck finding some in Germany though yet.

Today I beared the cold outside for some hours, shove the body out of the garage and further CSD-stripped the left rear where some body damage was fixed before with filler, and also some unrepaired damages. Got rid of almost all of the fillered areas, so I can see the damaged area, and try my best with hammer and dolly soon!

I also stripped all the areas where I needed to weld, being the chrome trim holes, as well as around the side marker holes to delete them!

And plug welded them shut! Actually pretty easy with a short rotating motion.

To delete the side marker holes I purchased the delete plates from Skillard over Zcardepot, after a friend recommended them. To be utterly honest I’m not impressed by them at all! The gap around is huge(!) for being a CNC cut item and one corner even had quite the indent. The picture beyond doesn’t even do it justice, it looks even worse in reality:/. A lot of bridging the gap will be involved. I hope they already fixed it! And am curious how the delete plates will perform on the front fenders!

Anyways, “butt welded” the plate in, again, not pretty but sufficient strong! Have to grind it down to properly weld the last gaps shut, as I wasn’t able to get in between the buildup properly. But that’s a task for the future, I got dark and more importantly utterly cold to keep on working!

Once again, let’s see how fast I get the bodywork done!:)

One last question though: I will be keeping the original frame rails, since they are in well enough shape still (minus some wrong jack up action, but not structurally critical), but I would like to extend them, maybe even connect them all the way back! What’s the best way without purchasing prefabbed frame rails, and not having a metal brake?

Have a happy holiday all you guys!:)

[wheee!]

Www.Baddogparts.com

He has what your looking for...!

[Radeon]

Just now, wheee! said:

Www.Baddogparts.com

He has what your looking for...!

Hey Mark!

Thank you! I know them already though, that's why I wrote "without purchasing prefabbed frame rails".

I might however consider just buying the rear ones from them and connect them to my existing ones, maybe they are even already long enough to reach up to the 240Z original frame rails!

Just purchasing in the States from Germany is a pain in the arse every time, since shipping is pricey!

[wheee!]

4 minutes ago, Radeon said:

Hey Mark!

Thank you! I know them already though, that's why I wrote "without purchasing prefabbed frame rails".

I might however consider just buying the rear ones from them and connect them to my existing ones, maybe they are even already long enough to reach up to the 240Z original frame rails!

Just purchasing in the States from Germany is a pain in the arse every time, since shipping is pricey!

Bad Dog make the connector part you are talking about. Not just the frame rail caps. It is the easiest option but does require a pre fab purchase...

If you checked out my thread recently, (post 967) Grannyknot gave me some advice on building my own connecting plates between the front frame rails and the floor pain rails.... This might work for you too!

Edited December 22, 2016 by wheee!

[Radeon]

10 minutes ago, wheee! said:

Bad Dog make the connector part you are talking about. Not just the frame rail caps. It is the easiest option but does require a pre fab purchase...

If you checked out my thread recently, (post 967) Grannyknot gave me some advice on building my own connecting plates between the front frame rails and the floor pain rails.... This might work for you too!

I just wrote John how far the rear ones actually extend, I might just go with them!

The method described in you post is pretty good though! If i won't use it in this matter i will keep it in mind for future projects to bend thicker metal easier, thank you!:)

[Patcon]

The gaps in marker delete patches are a little large but not awful. If you hold a piece of copper behind the gaps where they are too large the copper backer will help prevent blowing through but not stick to the welds. Also your feed looks a little fast or your heat looks a little low. You are getting a lot of pretty ridgy looking welds without some of the flow they should have...

[grannyknot]

Agree with Patcon, also, now you have those tall weld beads to grind off on the marker plate, try not to be too aggressive with your grinding, like don't do it too quickly. Sometimes if you really go at the grinding hard you can create almost as much heat in the panel as when you were welding it. I have screwed up a perfectly good door by grinding  the weld beads until they were glowing red and warped the metal around itthen the four letter words start flying. Try for cool grinding, thin sheet metal heats up very quickly.

Bad Dog's rear connector pieces are pretty much a perfect fit, very little trimming, a great product.

 

[Patcon]

Ditto on the grinding! Been there done that... If the metal starts blueing too much you are grinding too much or with too much pressure. Your cold temperatures are probably helping you right now

[Radeon]

12 hours ago, Patcon said:

The gaps in marker delete patches are a little large but not awful. If you hold a piece of copper behind the gaps where they are too large the copper backer will help prevent blowing through but not stick to the welds. Also your feed looks a little fast or your heat looks a little low. You are getting a lot of pretty ridgy looking welds without some of the flow they should have...

Hey Charles! Those are valuable tips!:) Thank you! I actually struggled with the voltage knob, since stage 1 felt a little too less, and stage 2 was too much, blowing through pretty easily! But going down on the wire feed, staying on stage 1 and maybe stay a tad bit longer should work better! Will try that out next time, thank you!:) Regarding the gaps: in reality they were 3-4mm wide the most way around, I honestly can't mark that as a quality product. But maybe it's only the German quality prejudice and am only seeing black or white!Oh, and I have to get me one of those copper backers, that sounds great! Even though I still really struggle to weld with only one hand! I like to use the second one to guide the torch!:)

10 hours ago, grannyknot said:

Agree with Patcon, also, now you have those tall weld beads to grind off on the marker plate, try not to be too aggressive with your grinding, like don't do it too quickly. Sometimes if you really go at the grinding hard you can create almost as much heat in the panel as when you were welding it. I have screwed up a perfectly good door by grinding  the weld beads until they were glowing red and warped the metal around itthen the four letter words start flying. Try for cool grinding, thin sheet metal heats up very quickly.

Bad Dog's rear connector pieces are pretty much a perfect fit, very little trimming, a great product.

 

Very, very valuable information here for everyone to read! I luckily got that information some months ago, but only because I read it because someone put it out there! Anything regarding thin sheet metal without structural bends doesn't like big heat! That's why I only use the CSD Discs to strip paint off of the sheet metal, and in tight areas a soft wire brush on a drill! ALSO sandblasting can generate way to much heat an warp all your precious panels! Only use plastic media on big panels, preferably the hole car and glasbeads for rusty areas! Just thought adding that so people will read it and don't make mistakes!:)

Did you use them with original 240Z (front) Framerails? So where they long enough? Didn't get an answer from John yet!:)

7 hours ago, Patcon said:

Ditto on the grinding! Been there done that... If the metal starts blueing too much you are grinding too much or with too much pressure. Your cold temperatures are probably helping you right now

They most certainly do! As well as for welding as for grinding! But definitely not for my fingers and feet!:D

Edited December 23, 2016 by Radeon
Forgot something!:)