240z - fabbing new front rails

[wheee!]

Looking good Kent!

[Patcon]

Excellent progress!

[Namerow]

10 hours ago, ConVerTT said:

Got the Franken - Fender backing plate welded up

Out of curiosity, are those butt welds throughout, or do I see a few plug welds in certain places?  If you did use plug welds for this repair, what's the rationale?

[ConVerTT]

11 hours ago, Namerow said:

Out of curiosity, are those butt welds throughout, or do I see a few plug welds in certain places?  If you did use plug welds for this repair, what's the rationale?

So ... there are a lot of opinions on butts, versus laps/flanges and plugs versus stitches.  I use all of them depending on the circumstance.  For example: I will almost always lap, plug stitch when attaching “Important” old metal to new metal (like floors to transmission tunnel, or frame rails to the inner fender patch).  

I used almost every type on the Franken Fender ....

 

 

[Namerow]

Thanks for taking the time to do this.  A very nice tutorial.

[ConVerTT]

Been a busy (non-240z) week.  Finally got some fun time at the shop ....

 

You can guess where this is going ...basically with all the work I’ve put in on this chassis, the following patch job was not going to be acceptable:

 

Yeah I know no one will see it, but I’ll know....

@disperyon recently covered how to fab these so Just the highlights:

 Laying them out on 18 ga ...

 

 

Drilled out with the Blair hole cutter (Amazon)...

 

 

A new cryptocurrency?

 

Dimple dies and the press ....

 

 

 

 

 

Rolling the beads with Big Bertha ....

 

And voila !

 

I made a mistake marking the lower edge so it is a bit messed up.  Hopefully I can clean it up and finish the passenger side tomorrow.  

For those with a keen eye, yes they are deliberately a little different than factory.  I left the rear section boxed so I can run it straight off the edge of the floor kit (Zeddfindings)  to the rear wheel arch.  And at the front I left it a little longer so that it follows the edge of the Zeddfindings floors and left an unfinished piece to tie in to the firewall. 

Should look a lot better than the patch (even though no one will see it LOL)

 

 

 

 

 

Edited March 16, 2019 by ConVerTT
Typo

[ConVerTT]

PS ...

Sometimes I hear people ask if the bead is really necessary?  (Probably because it isn’t that easy to roll a bead in 18 ga...)

Well, dimples but no bead ...

 

Versus dimples with a bead ...

 

Notice how much stiffer the panel is?  It can basically support its own weight while balancing on Bertha.  So, yes, the bead is important !

[Captain Obvious]

Very nice work. I do very little sheet metal work, and the stuff you do highlights how amateur my efforts are. Looks great.

[ConVerTT]

Thanks Captain.  I am fairly new to this but I’m stubborn....

[Patcon]

25 minutes ago, ConVerTT said:

Thanks Captain.  I am fairly new to this but I’m stubborn....

I've determined, that's half the battle with metal work

[ConVerTT]

52 minutes ago, Patcon said:

I've determined, that's half the battle with metal work

True, and time.  If I had to get paid for this I would starve to death

Edited March 16, 2019 by ConVerTT
Typo

[ConVerTT]

Passenger side came out fine ... practice practice ?

 

 

now back to work to (hopefully) clean up the driver’s side ....