280ZX Frame Rails - Any Volunteers?

[gnosez]

Bad Dog Parts has gotten our hands on a set of 280 ZX2+2 NLA set of frame rails and we are in the process of making replacement rails that could be put over existing rails or as a complete replacement. A 2 + 2 ZX rail is only a few inches longer than ones for a coupe so we will be able to make coupe rails as well. Production rails will be made from 13 gauge steel while our prototypes will be made of 16 or 18 gauge to allow for easier trimming during rough fitment.

If you are interested in helping us we would be happy to provide you with a free set of "production" rails. We ask that you test fit our prototype rails and report back to us any modifications or changes that would allow them to fit correctly.

Note that like our 240 and 280 rails the ZX rails are made for owners who have added more HP, drive their cars hard like me, AX or race so if you are looking for a set of rails that are more stock like we always recommend Zeddfindings.

Please PM me if interested.

Thanks

 

Edited January 23, 2020 by gnosez

[dutchzcarguy]

8 hours ago, gnosez said:

Production rails will be made from 13 gauge steel while our prototypes will be made of 16 or 18 gauge

My question is to also mention the thickness in mm or inches..  Gauge is a strange thing the higher the number the lower the thickness??? what? are we still living the stone - age ??  It's like the english.. what's your weight? 10 stone  ? WTF!!!  (Around 130 kg..? !!!)   I know… SI has failed (started oct 11 1960!!!!) but can we use some understandable units, that people over the world can understand, why make it complicated..  kg - pounds oké ..  feet and meters, maybe a yard?  but gauges and stones… i might as well take out my el Or thump?  ?  ?   (EL= armlength and a thump is a "duim".. around 2,5 cm .. no not as big as an inch , to make things even worse..)  What you say Temperature? It's Celcius… don't have a big problem with Fahrenheit.. lets all go to Kelvin!!  to day it's 279K over here  ? !!   ( yeah 6 C.)

[gnosez]

Well, not quite the reply I was expecting as the interweb seems to provide an instant reply to the question of thickness for those who either remember this stuff or have a chart pinned to the garage wall.

That said 13 = 0.072inches or 1.83mm

Many of the body parts in our Zs are made from varying thickness and many are very thin. A bit unsettling when you doing 138mph up the hill at Watkins Glen and you remember your car's body overall thickness is no more than 1.5mm. I have fiberglass parts thicker than that.

16 gauge = 0.052/1.29

18 gauge = 0.040/1.02

20 gauge = 0.032/0.81

[Mark Maras]

 Could be worse. We could be using the Cubit. 

[Captain Obvious]

Riiiiiiight.

What's a cubit?

 

* Truly sorry for the non-topical response to the thread, but some things are just mandatory.

[Zed Head]

What kind of "steel"?  https://www.worldsteel.org/about-steel.html

"Steel is not a single product. There are more than 3,500 different grades of steel with many different physical, chemical, and environmental properties."

Kidding, kind of.  How did you "get your hands on" a set of ZX body reinforcements?  Where do they go?

[gnosez]

Frame rails....

[siteunseen]

Sorry gnosez, I don't know squat about frame rails.  I thought they were unibody cars without a frame.

[Zed Head]

Just having some fun and trying to get an idea of what the new the new product looks like.  It might just be a piece of straight channel that you could buy at Home Depot.  Who knows...

[gnosez]

So I take it from all of your posts that none of you actually own a 280ZX. As to a product you could buy at Home Despot perhaps you should go to our website. We've been making frame rails for over 15 years for 240/260/280Zs along with 240 seat brackets, jack plates and sway bar plates.

Besides the ZX rails we have seven more parts in various stages of development including rails for Tacoma standard cabs. Until we have final fitment issues completed and have obtained our Design Patents there will be no pictures available. We have already had three parts copied by another Z parts vendor and we don't intend on that happening again.

We tried to make a serious offer of free ZX frame rails (a heck of lot more complex than the straight forward 240-280 rails) in exchange for help getting the fitment right. Perhaps we should have made the offer on another Z related website.

Edited January 24, 2020 by gnosez

[Captain Obvious]

Sheesh! Let me try... The ZX is similar construction underneath to the first gen Z.

So you know those frame rails on the Z that run from the engine compartment to under the seats? The ones that rust out and get all pushed up and mangled by jack stands? Well the ZX has pretty much the same thing.

Who knew it would be so hard to help the Z community.   

[Zed Head]

Never mind, not worth the time.  Insults beget insults.

Edited January 24, 2020 by Zed Head