240z - fabbing new front rails

[ConVerTT]

Managed to sneak in a few hours on the rotisserie mini-project this afternoon.  Got most of my metal cut, and welded / assembled the rotator heads ...

 

also improved the mechanical lock - basically hand tighten the nuts on both sides so the 12 mm bolt is rigid and Voila - shaft is locked .... 

 

To unlock, simply remove the inboard nut and remove the bolt ?

[240260280]

An idea:

 

[ConVerTT]

Good upgrade Thanks!

[240260280]

Better design. Everyone wants a longer rod:

 

[ConVerTT]

So thanks for the ideas but I figured out that the spring lock won't really work...

The idea will be to rotate the shaft (and the mounted car) using the worm gear.  So if the lock is spring loaded, it will automatically lock at each notch and have to be reset.  

In theory the worm gear will hold the car in place indefinitely and certainly long enough to manually set the locks at each end.

Now that I think about it, one would encounter the same problem with the spring loaded locks even if rotating the car by hand ...

 

 

[ConVerTT]

Progress ...

One more full day of welding should do it!

Edited April 19, 2020 by ConVerTT

[240260280]

13 hours ago, ConVerTT said:

So thanks for the ideas but I figured out that the spring lock won't really work...

The idea will be to rotate the shaft (and the mounted car) using the worm gear.  So if the lock is spring loaded, it will automatically lock at each notch and have to be reset.  

In theory the worm gear will hold the car in place indefinitely and certainly long enough to manually set the locks at each end.

Now that I think about it, one would encounter the same problem with the spring loaded locks even if rotating the car by hand ...

 

 

The rods and springs are meant to easily and quickly  pull out and re-seat. You can forget the springs. Saves you having to use wrenches.

[ConVerTT]

Made good progress on the rotisserie today!  Tried to power through and finish it but ran out of gas ...oh well ...

Worm drive up and running ...

 And one of the crossbars welded in ...

 

Gotta weld up the other crossbar and then start laying out the attachment brackets ....

 

 

[ConVerTT]

Well ...it was way too nice to be inside welding but managed to make a bit of progress ....

 

 

 

[ConVerTT]

So I ran out of mig wire during my least favorite welding activity ...welding jam nuts ...

 

So that sucked ... I had set the day aside to weld up brackets and finish the rotisserie .. oh well ?

So I moved on to dropping the gas tank and inspecting the rear bumper brackets ...

It was disappointingly easy ...

It looks the tank has been modded slightly - the circled ports have been crimped and welded shut.  Is this some kind of venting bypass?

Off to get some mig wire before they close hopefully ....

 

Edited April 23, 2020 by ConVerTT

[Persimmon240]

Yes, those ports originally connected to hoses that lead up to the vapour recovery/expansion tank behind the passenger side c pillar. The following article shows the way the original system was "plumbed" along with an alternative solution - which appears to be what a previous owner was attempting on your tank.

http://zhome.com/Racing/FuelTankVaporLineMod/FuelTankVaporMod.htm

Hope this helps... and you were able to get yourself "wired".

[ConVerTT]

29 minutes ago, Persimmon240 said:

Yes, those ports originally connected to hoses that lead up to the vapour recovery/expansion tank behind the passenger side c pillar. The following article shows the way the original system was "plumbed" along with an alternative solution - which appears to be what a previous owner was attempting on your tank.

http://zhome.com/Racing/FuelTankVaporLineMod/FuelTankVaporMod.htm

Hope this helps... and you were able to get yourself "wired".

Thanks Persimmon...

That looks like what the PO must have attempted.  But he used the small 10 mm port as a vent, and routed it back to the filler neck without any additional T.  The vent tank has been removed ... hmmm - not the best ....

Thanks for the link.