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You can have your OEM aluminum drums relined for not much more than the cost of cast iron plus powder coat. Contact: Don Booker J&G Drum Relining McHenry, IL. USA 815-276-2578

NOTE: Home Depot is getting into the gas cylinder exchange business through a partnership with Airgas. Expect to pay more, but at least it's convenient, even Sundays. Now to get back on Thread, every garage/shop should have a small Oxy-Acetylene setup if for nothing else to HEAT things. Heating a press fit bearing/bushing red hot is one thing I don't know how to do using a TIG/MIG/ARC. Also, if you can "master the flame", there were plenty of old school hot rods built before the advent of TIG/MIG by "hammer welding", so it can definitely be done with only a torch. The "heat affected zone" is very high on Oxy-Acetylene and requires a lot of preparation and patience which makes the MIG much more attractive for sheet metal repairs, but you only need a small amperage gas MIG to get by. A 110V unit is sufficient, but a 220V machine is more desirable, the Millermatic 175 vs. Millermatic 130 for example. The 220V machines will also give you a "duty-cycle" advantage. If you plan on doing long, continuous welds without breaks to allow the machine to cool down, then get a beefier unit. Arc welding is still cost effective for welding thick steel plate. You can pick up good used arc welders on Craigslist for cheap (because everyone wants MIGs these days). I run across Miller Thunderbolt AC/DC welders for between $250-$400. You will want the flexibility of an AC/DC output machine. These are still good for general purpose utility welding of frames/jigs/etc. Combine a lightly used Millermatic 130 for about $350 (including gas cylinder!) with a used AC/DC arc welder and you can have capability from 24 gauge sheet metal to 1/2" plate steel for under $800. Add a small, used Oxy-Acet rig with torch set and cutting head for another $300 and you'll have a pretty complete setup for less than the price of a "good" MIG machine (Millermatic 211). The advantage of the MM211 is that you can add a Spoolgun for a couple hundred bucks and economically get an aluminum capability (requires another gas cylinder too). The decision on what equipment to buy depends on what you intend to do on your car yourself. Structural welding (especially that which shows!) is best left to experts, so pay them to do it and make that up by doing the remainder yourself. Good luck!

A little trick an old timer taught me ages ago was to simply replace half your oil with kerosene and run it awhile. It will accomplish the same task for a lot less money. Most of these "oil flush" chemicals are "petroleum distillates," which turn out to smell a lot like kerosene.

Sorry, I meant of course that you paint it after you give it a good Epoxy base. No way do you ever depend on primer alone.

If you use a good Epoxy Primer on the bare metal, such as PPG DP-40, you'll never have a problem with rust, ever, unless it gets a scratch, which is unlikely under the cowl. I agree with using Closed Cell Neoprene Foam as the best material. I've used that on another project and appreciate its characteristics. Local foam companies are the best places to buy it, however you can also find it at McMaster-Carr, and in all shapes and sizes on eBay too.

You might want to follow the action in this thread. We now have a company who does high quality relining of original aluminum drums. He can do fin repair as well. http://www.classiczcars.com/forums/showthread.php?37396-Anyone-interested-in-relined-Aluminum-drums&highlight=brake+drums

Anything's possible on a Jay Leno style budget. There's a reason 240Z's are cheap in your neck of the woods, and it's spelled R-U-S-T. A big part of your budget will be spent on bringing the sheet metal back to cherry before you can begin to think about adapting a drive-train, electrical system, etc. First thing to check is the wheelbase and front-rear track. If that doesn't match perfectly, forget it. I doubt if they do, which leaves you with a tremendous amount of customization to do narrowing, widening, etc. Hardly worth it. If you like the 240Z, buy a 240Z, and appreciate it for what it is, then go buy a 370Z and get all that the 240Z could only hope to become. In the long run, you'll be money ahead with a better equity position in both cars as a bonus.

The 2 that I've "rescued" from salvage yards have always been totally "rust colored", leading me to believe they'd at best a brush coat of poor quality finish paint, such as what was brushed onto the front of the radiator support. Considering the abuse it gets where it's located, I'll get mine powder coated "chassis black" finish, regardless.

Right you are, AJM, sorry I missed that last night. In this economy it'll be interesting to see if this pans out, or if it still comes in at that estimated price. For now, J&G is a "bird in hand" and for $150 each he will deliver an immediate solution. Side note: I have no financial interest in this venture. I'm just trying to help the Z community, as well as a vendor looking to expand his business. Dan has told me his prices might come down in the future with enough volume and some tweaking of his processes, but for now it appears his prices are pretty competitive with new.

With all due respect that's a Roadster place and I couldn't find any mention of a Z drum. I'm pretty sure the drums are different between the Z and Roadster. Also, I wouldn't be surprised if any new manufactured aluminum drums don't come in at twice the price of cast iron. The process for casting aluminum on a steel band and then machining it all on a low production basis can't be cheap, even when done overseas. Thanks for the heads up though.

The service has finally arrived! The establishment with whom I've been working has finished the Datsun Z relining process and is now taking orders. Attached are the pictures of my own drums, which I offered up for prototyping, and they look fantastic! He's going to keep them a little while longer for demonstration purposes, so if you live in his neck of the woods, please drop by and take a look at them, then report back what you think. The final cost for a pair of drums will run $300.00, plus shipping. Here's the contact information: Don Booker at: J&G Drum Relining Aluminum Brake Drum Repairs McHenry, IL. (815) 276-2578 And here's their web-site: http://www.jgrelining.com/ Don will reline your drums with a turn time of approximately 25 days. Unfortunately, right now he doesn't have any "cores" he could use to develop an exchange pool. He's interested in buying any rebuildable cores we might have for between $15 to $25 each, depending on condition, in order to build up a small supply to help with urgent requests. When we consider that cast iron drums cost $200 a pair, bumping up to $300 for a pair of high quality, relined, original aluminum drums really isn't that bad, considering you will still have many turnings to go before they need relining again. Also, many who've bought the cast iron drums find they must get them turned if the factory didn't allow the green castings to fully cure before machining them. They then warp on the boat coming over. That adds another $40-$50 to the $200, so you're almost there by that point. I want to thank Don for his willingness to help out every Z enthusiast by offering his time and money to develop this process. I wish we could find more suppliers like him. Preston

Mike, You don't need to replace the desiccant when it turns pink. Just sprinkle it out on a cookie sheet and put it in the oven at 350 degrees for 30 minutes and let it bake the water moisture out. It's good as new after that.

Go over the car from nose to tail making a list of everything it (A) must have, ( should have, and © would be nice to have in those 3 columns in a spreadsheet along with columns for source(s) and price(s). Next, research the parts costs. Break projects up into sections and by cost so that you have "bite-sized chunks" you can (A) do in a reasonable time, and ( have the money to afford so the car isn't down waiting for the next paycheck, or two, or three. If, after summing up all the totals, you feel you can't afford it, either (A) sell the car, or ( drive it till it drops.

Zed2, thanks for taking the time to research this issue for everyone. To be honest, for some time I've been contemplating doing exactly what you proposed. During my thought process, however, I realized that remanufacturing them in plastic was only putting the same problem back on, plus, a more expensive plastic chrome process is required for exterior pieces than for interior ones. The ideal solution would be to make these parts out of metal, but cutting them out of solid stock using a CNC machine would be pretty costly. Low cost casting using aluminum, or pot metal would be a nice compromise, but chrome doesn't always adhere well to those materials either and they can become affected by exhaust gases and corrode too. Here's my latest evolution on this. The goal is to replace the lost metalization from the plastic substrate in the most cost effective and durable manner. I believe it would be much easier to use a press to stamp a metal "appliqué" between two dies to replicate the surface and textures of the strip. This appliqué would then be adhesively affixed to the tail lamp strips still mounted on the car. In this way no disassembly of the lens is required and the cosmetic issue is addressed, permanently. The appliqués can be stamped out of thin stainless steel stock to resist corrosion and shipped in pairs to owners along with adhesive and installation instructions. Criticisms are welcome.

We seriously looked at getting one, and drove a few, auto and manual. It's a fun car and really moves well. The automatic transmission is a CVT type and wasn't well done. I noticed a tranny problem with the used Mini I was driving almost immediately. According to everything I could find on the subject, the dealer won't even attempt to repair it, as it's a "sealed" unit. They just make you buy a new one, which can cost upwards of $5k. Unfortunately, the 6 speed manual apparently isn't much better for reliability or repairability. This might have changed in the last couple of years, so research well. Also, they supposedly had some problems with their complex electrical system. Again, check recent surveys. My rule of thumb is to always check the prices of common replacement parts for a car, such as windshield, muffler, radiator, alternator, etc., and especially find out if there is a good source of aftermarket parts available. Since BMW likes to be the only game in town, these parts are very pricey. Some people don't care about maintenance cost, but if you're buying a new one, get the best extended warranty you can. By the way, we didn't end up getting one.