5 hours ago, gotham22 said:

Thanks for all the advice.  I really appreciate it.  I know what I am going through is no different than others, I just wish I could do the work myself.  And I agree with you esmit208, if it is going to be done it needs to be done right (i.e. remove all undercoating). 

 keep in mind that "I just wish I could do the work myself" was the first step for all of us. If you have the space and time, go for it. Many of the Zs here have been rescued from becoming a parts car, most by owners who started off not knowing how to do the work and learning as the job progressed. Take it one step at a time and ask questions. You can do it.

12 hours ago, gotham22 said:

Thanks  grannyknot.   Sounds pretty bad and expensive.  Do you think it is worth saving?   I love the car but I don’t want to play 10+ grand to fix it.  

Absolutely it's worth saving, I agree with the others, if you have it done by someone else it could get expensive but if you are willing to get filthy dirty you can learn to do it yourself and save lots of money, in the end you will have a solid car that you saved and I can tell you that first drive after putting it back on the road is a pretty wonderful feeling. Have a look through the archives, there are dozens of threads where someone just like yourself repaired extensive rust and brought their Z back to life, the peanut gallery here on this forum will talk you through the whole procedure.

Peanut 1 reporting for duty!

Gotham, any reason you don't or cannot fix it yourself? learning how to use a mig is easy, they can be had for cheap, sheet metal is cheap and besides that...all you need is a hammer and an angle grinder. 

Start by exposing good metal with a flapper or a fiber disc, next draw a pattern to cut and chop it using a metal cutting blade. trim cardboard to the size of your cut, transfer it to sheet metal. if it needs to be curved...that is where the hammer comes in, once you trim/form the sheet to the hole ...line it up and tack it in place, continue stitching it 1 inch at a time to minimise distortion, work on one side then switch to the other. finish cleaning the welds with a flap wheel to perfection..apply seam sealer where needed.

Even a novice welder (that cares) will do a better job then any commercial body shop (that don't). I'll bet you can get it all done for an total expense of about $500...including buying the mig (ok, using shielded wire, no gas) grinder, assorted wheels and sheet metal...unless you score a killer deal on a used mig setup.

It's really easy once you get the hang of it....it doesn't take long to get to "getting the hang of it".

 

Edited June 13, 20186 yr by tzagi1

I really would like to do it myself. My concern is I don’t have a garage (car is always covered in the driveway).  Not sure what fire precautions I need to take welding in my driveway next to my house. I don’t have a ton of room  

I actually love love trying to do new things and I have been reading up on mig welding. Plus thI satisfaction of doing something yourself is amazing. 

 

 

I took some pictures from inside the engine bay.  It doesnt look as bad as I thought it would.  

Also, does the steering cross member need to be replaced?  Or can it be reinforced?

OMG.... that is bad... the front frame rails are done along with that front cross member.... Get new parts/metal in there soon.

 

Start reading here: 

 

You're not still driving that are you?  The first and second picture are concerning.  It doesn't look like there is any structure left for the tension rod.  I gotta be honest with you, I'd pass.  I think you'd be better off trying to find a shell from California or Arizona and using the parts from your car to make something road worthy.    

How does the rest of the car look?  Might be more important.  There are other rust prone areas.  Looks salty.

Weird that the one side would be that bad, but the other side looks fine. And I don't see a lot of rust on your floors. I agree that the whole car needs to be evaluated before you continue, if the damage is limited to the driver's frame rail, then I would consider fixing it to be worthwhile. Wonder if the car was in an accident, or if someone was really sloppy when topping up the brake fluid. But that wouldn't really explain the condition of the crossmember.

5 hours ago, gotham22 said:

Also, does the steering cross member need to be replaced?  Or can it be reinforced?

I have an extra crossmember. I will even sandblast and seal it for you before shipping. No hurry $50 you pay shipping. Shipping is maybe $10. Reinforcing it will work if you use the proper gage of metal. Once again it has to be welded into place. Did you ever think about moving away from places that salt or sand the roads? My goodness don't think I have ever seen a crossmember rotted through.