Parts Wanted: Door hood hinge area

[Hallow_Z]

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Door hood hinge area

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Looking a replacement for both driver side and passenger side for the metal area of where the hood hinge goes.

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• Advertiser
  Hallow_Z
• Date
  07/13/2021
• Price
• Category
  Parts Wanted
• Year
  1976
• Model
  280z

 

[dutchzcarguy]

When you hear the price of that part... you better take a drill and drill the welds and replace the inner and outer parts, one after the other.. you will need a metall shaping hammer and a leather bag with sand.. and some practice.. but after that you can say you made it yourself!  Just try and have some patience ( some need a lot..) and tell us what you did!  People who say: i can't do that!  are never gonna learn it... 🙂 

Edited July 14, 2021 by dutchzcarguy

[dutchzcarguy]

You can also form the part with a oak-wooden template  like i did here..  The special hammer and dolly pay for itself in no time. (needed no dolly with this job.)  sorry, one day i get the pics in the right order! 😉 

Front fender repair.. 280zx.

Edited July 14, 2021 by dutchzcarguy

[Namerow]

Question 1:  How did you secure the oak template?  It looks like it's sitting on top of a bench vise, but it's not clear whether it's actually being clamped by the bench vise.  Perhaps the oak template actually has two levels, where the top level (forming section) is full-width while the bottom level has a reduced width so that it can fit inside the span of the jaws of the bench vise? If this is the case, how are the top and bottom levels joined together?  Glue?  Wood screws?  Or were both levels carved from a solid wood block?

Question 2:  It looks like there's a sheet of copper sitting on top of one of the jaws of the bench vise.  What is its purpose in this set-up?

Question 3: What 'gauge' of sheet metal did you use here? 

p.s. It's nice to see these 'old world' panel-forming techniques being practiced.  Your results look just as good as anything our friends at Tabco have been turning out.  Probably better.

[Namerow]

14 hours ago, Hallow_Z said:

View Advert

Door hood hinge area

---

Looking a replacement for both driver side and passenger side for the metal area of where the hood hinge goes.

---

• Advertiser
  Hallow_Z
• Date
  07/13/2021
• Price
   
• Category
  Parts Wanted
• Year
  1976
• Model
  280z

 

The only source that I know of for ready-made sheet metal for this area is UK-based Automotive Panel Solutions (no website, but can be found on Facebook).  The proprietor does beautiful work but -- as noted above -- it ain't cheap.  A third solution will be to find a donor car, cut out the required sections, and then graft them into your car.

I can't see the rest of your car from the photo you've offered.  However, if this level of rust is typical of the entire vehicle, you may want to consider acquiring a better vehicle to start your project with. 

[dutchzcarguy]

2 minutes ago, Namerow said:

but it's not clear whether it's actually being clamped by the bench vise. 

I screwed a small piece of oak under the template to put in the vise. 

4 minutes ago, Namerow said:

sheet of copper sitting on top of one of the jaws of the bench vise

This was done for other work, the copper protects your thread on a bolt or so.. normally i use 2 copper protectors if needed (now that was not the case.. it was just stil there.) 

Q3 :  As you might know we euro's don't use "gauge" we do sheetmetall in mm.  It was 1 mm i do have some .8 or .7 and 1,2 mm sheet metall used also.. (other spots..)

10 minutes ago, Namerow said:

p.s. It's nice to see these 'old world' panel-forming techniques being practiced.  Your results look just as good as anything our friends at Tabco have been turning out.  Probably better.

Well, THANK YOU for the compliment!  I had to make 4 pieces for my both front fenders and people sometimes question if i made them myself but i did..  (It was like the steering wheel in my pic of the topic here all over again haha i made that also myself and was a lot of work.. mahogany-made wheel!

[dutchzcarguy]

6 minutes ago, Namerow said:

I can't see the rest of your car from the photo you've offered.  However, if this level of rust is typical of the entire vehicle, you may want to consider acquiring a better vehicle to start your project with. 

Yes!  Agree, i have had a car here in the Netherlands that had that.. and it was not salvagable/beyond repair..  BUT.. it made a great parts car!  It was a euro version and lots of parts were very good..

I never seen a californian car that bad.. may be because it was not there all it's life.,. (for sure..) 

[dutchzcarguy]

8 minutes ago, dutchzcarguy said:

Your results look just as good as anything

Here some endresults..

Sanding it..

rear part fender also the lower part is new..  (To make this i used a small english wheel.)

English wheel.. (rubber on the top for not curving it in the length.. just only curving on the left-right..)

the end result,

[Hallow_Z]

On 7/14/2021 at 5:06 AM, Namerow said:

The only source that I know of for ready-made sheet metal for this area is UK-based Automotive Panel Solutions (no website, but can be found on Facebook).  The proprietor does beautiful work but -- as noted above -- it ain't cheap.  A third solution will be to find a donor car, cut out the required sections, and then graft them into your car.

I can't see the rest of your car from the photo you've offered.  However, if this level of rust is typical of the entire vehicle, you may want to consider acquiring a better vehicle to start your project with. 

Well I don't plan on getting a different vehicle. I actually think the one I have is not bad. Every rusted area that is currently semi-rusted or completely rusted I have bought the replacement for... L+R Inner/outer rocker panels,  L+R lower door panel, L+R rocker panel ends, and countless others. I honestly don't even mind the budget either, but to be honest that is the only area that is that bad. When I got it I checked everything else and that part was the worst. Everything else was easily replaceable. 

 

Thank you I appreciate the opinion/advice because I need all that I need going into this.  

[Terrapin Z]

I might have a donor set, still need to pull the fenders to check condition.

Or did you get the ones from APS already?

[Hallow_Z]

On 8/20/2021 at 4:18 AM, Terrapin Z said:

I might have a donor set, still need to pull the fenders to check condition.

Or did you get the ones from APS already?

I got it from APS already thank you. I appreciate all of your for the speedy response.