Tension rod mounts worn out - please help!

[camaro-guy]

Everyone,

                 My 17 year old picked out a 1976 Datsun 280z 2+2 as his first car. It's a father son project and we are going through the car to replace the worn parts and make it his daily driver. The clutch needs to be changed, and while we are in there and have a lot of stuff out of the car, we are replacing/cleaning up/fixing anything else we see. Immediately, we noticed all the bushings are really worn and nee replaced. When we pulled the tension arms, we found the mounts to be quite worn out. We cannot be the first people to run into this, but after many seacrches we have not located any advice on how to fix these mounts or what the original hole size should be. Mt instinct is to break out the welder and fix it that way, but we are looking for some advice. I have include some pictures so you can see what we are dealing with.

 

camaro-guy

[Patcon]

You are missing some metal there. There are some metal cups that are welded to each side of that mount that the bushings fit into

Edited July 7, 2019 by Patcon

[camaro-guy]

Any idea how I am going to fix this, or where to go to get something to fix it with? Is that a 76 Datsun 280z in your picture?

 

 

Camaro-guy

 

Edited July 7, 2019 by camaro-guy

[Patcon]

These should be the same on all S30 chassis's

A donor is the best bet

[grannyknot]

Mine weren't as bad as yours so I just removed the old bushing cups and made new ones.  If you want to save that mount you're going to have to cut out that rusty hole and weld in some new plate then re drill the hole, I think it is about 8-9 gauge on that tension rod mount.

 

[heyitsrama]

@grannyknot did you machine that die yourself? looks great

[camaro-guy]

On 7/7/2019 at 6:29 PM, grannyknot said:

Mine weren't as bad as yours so I just removed the old bushing cups and made new ones.  If you want to save that mount you're going to have to cut out that rusty hole and weld in some new plate then re drill the hole, I think it is about 8-9 gauge on that tension rod mount.

 

I do not mind welding in a new section. What size is the hole in the center? Is it just large enough for the end of the tension rod to pass through it?

 

Camaro-guy

 

[camaro-guy]

Just now, camaro-guy said:

I do not mind welding in a new section. What size is the hole in the center? Is it just large enough for the end of the tension rod to pass through it? I did not have any bushing cups where do they go?

 

Camaro-guy

 

 

[camaro-guy]

33 minutes ago, camaro-guy said:

I do not mind welding in a new section. What size is the hole in the center? Is it just large enough for the end of the tension rod to pass through it?

 

Camaro-guy

 

So, should there be a "Cup" on each side of the bracket the compression/tension rod passes through?

 

[Zed Head]

On 7/7/2019 at 1:39 PM, Patcon said:

You are missing some metal there. There are some metal cups that are welded to each side of that mount that the bushings fit into

 

No offense intended camaro-guy, but Patcon answered your question exactly and even supplied a picture.  Gotta read the responses.  Good luck.

[camaro-guy]

1 hour ago, Zed Head said:

 

No offense intended camaro-guy, but Patcon answered your question exactly and even supplied a picture.  Gotta read the responses.  Good luck.

No offense taken...The image looks so different from what I actually have left, that I guess it was hard to believe...

camaro-guy

[Patcon]

Yes, there are cups on boths sides. Four in all. I dont know the id on the bracket hole. I am sure its somewhat oversized