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4/75 Datsun 280Z; Leaf Green, CA market, 250K miles, Long Term Project 03/2023-


HusseinHolland

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Weather moved around - didn't rain all day as predicted - so, I was able to get started on fitting and welding in the first repair section of the inner rocker

Cut out back to solid metal on th car- made Initial cut of filler piecePXL_20240712_162408660.jpg

Test fit. The drop in sill to rocker lip is perplexing - I don't see a stagger like this at the front of the driver's sidePXL_20240712_171805316.jpg

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after some back & forth - I left a section of the floor lip that coincides with the area I had to removePXL_20240712_175630469.jpg

mostly welded - rain is coming back so I primed it all with weld-thru zinc primer. Lip alignment seems OK now. Just a slight step at the frontPXL_20240712_193444393.jpg

Just tacked on the underside where the floor pan had to be weldedPXL_20240712_193503643.jpg

The remaining rearward inner section should be possible with just plain "L" or possibly a dogleg sectionPXL_20240712_193602426.jpg

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I bent a range of options on my friends metal brake. Lower piece will be the rear rocker sectionPXL_20240712_202615856.jpg

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repair section I have that was cut from a parts car only goes as far as the pillarPXL_20240712_194544314.MP.jpg

The rear section is a little hairy towards the jack point & behind were the  tie-in to wheel arch happens. Once all this is addressed, the rocker skin can go back.PXL_20240712_203946351.jpg

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Acid soaking a spare set of 280Z front control arms to remove excess rust. I need to modify these to fit the Apex Engineered front subframe. Didn't want to cut up the originals which are far too nice a condition to modifyPXL_20240712_175734198.jpg

TUS-11a UJoints finally came - hopefully tomorrow I'll have time to install one.

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Posted (edited)

My Mum has been feeling poorly the past couple days, so this morning I gave her a COVID test & it was positive. two of my sisters had visited several days ago, and one of them had tested positive for COVID. I took her to a Doc-in-a-box to get further evaluation  - they confirmed she has COVID & given her overall health, quarantine & rest is about all there is to say about it. Thankfully I didn't get it this time around. Got her home, and then my Volvo C30 wouldn't start 😞 . I couldn't leave it, as it was blocking her driveway. I thought perhaps it was the clutch position switch, as there was 0 action when turning the key to start. I bypassed the pedal switch (PITA), no change. Got the Mrs. to operate the key while I tried an alternate length of battery cable, and then I tested the wiring by hooking up a spare starter motor from an older T5. That engaged & cranked, so my starter is dead. I pout that starter in just so I could get the car home. Bosch reman is on order. Glad it happened after the morning errands & not while I was transporting my mum in the heat.

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VO 31268035

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Edited by HusseinHolland
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6 hours ago, EuroDat said:

Do you have the Apex-Engineered front subframe or have I missed it? With the subframe you could reverse engineer it to work out what you need.

I have their subframe designed to accept the VQ35DE motor - it's not installed in the car. That will be a couple years out, I need to do the LS conversion in my Volvo pickup truck first.

They couldn't tell me what would need modifying - I set one in the subframe today, and basically it the inside radii that needs trimming to allow for adjustment in the subframe. There are 4 'keyed' slots - 2nd from the top is the only one that has no interference. I don't know which of the 4 equates to stock offset for the control arm. I'll have to ask them. Hopefully that they have an answer for.

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Back on the Volvo rust repair . Tomorrow I need to make the B pillar tie plates that rotted out, then I can do the rocker skin

Cut out the rot on the rear half

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cut matching section to fit. Lower lip will be trimmed later

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stripped & applied weld-thru primer to butt join area

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added dogleg at left end to make up layers at wheel arch lip

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Started tacking the rear section in - I first added a bridging lip between this & the repair section from Friday (under clamp)

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rear section overlaps mid section, as with original construction

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Made the small end cap for the wheel arch base that the rocker skin ties to

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Not going to grind down the MIG welds - I'll just apply seam sealer to that

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spot welded the lower step to the floor and center crossmember  junction

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and forward repair section to floor lip 

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Still have to finish the mig welds where the floor joins the vertical repair to the right of spot welded section

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Moving along, although the day was cut a little short by a storm coming in

Started by making the rear cap for the rocker

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A little forming work to get the fold & profile right

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tested the seam sealer compatibility with the spot welder - looks good, so I used it on all the spot weld seams

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seam welded the upper junction with the MIG after this 

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To deal with the drainage channels, I just drilled holes in the sill and tapped the edges with a ballpein hammer to contour them slightly concave

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proceeded with fabricating the rear half of the outer rocker skin

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step in forward edge to tuck under forward rocker repair panel

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cut the square holes needed to retain the sill covers - those are from later 960 series, which is what the forward rocker repair piece was cut from. That way, I had guide holes to follow in terms of spacing, offset & specific dimension

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Prepped the outer sill lip & the backside of the sill so I can spot weld thru. Had to add another clamp - this one clamp wasn't providing sufficient conductivity for the spot welder to operate

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Only got as far as spot welding the sill lip, and the rearward overlap -by then the storm was moving in pretty quick, so I packed up for the day. Should be able to finish the outer skin work tomorrow.

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Lightening was coming through that darker cloud bank - I had about 5mins to pack up before the downpour

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20 minutes ago, Namerow said:

That same storm dropped over 4" of rain in Toronto.

Presumably you got it first? It wasn't as bad as they were predicting in my area, although rain & lightening  did continue sporadically throughout the night. Drying up now, so I can get back to welding 🙂

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Posted (edited)

Got the rest of the rocker welded, and sealed the various seams, then drilled the 7 8mm holes in sill lip for the rocker panel cover. Primed & painted those. 

Top edge of rear half

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forward section done. No process pics, it was all the same steps as the rear half. seam sealer on the sill lip, spot weld that, then MIG weld the vertical junctions, and then the top seam. I made more work for myself there, as I didn't leave a slight flat lip below the ridge line, which meant I was welding at the ridge line & had to make sure that stayed defined.

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7 of these

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Panel retainer clips in place. rocker cover clips to those, then the plastic rivets go in along the sill. Forgot to take a pic of that

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Edited by HusseinHolland
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