Namerow

The bolts that hold the timing cover in place respond nicely to a small, handheld impact driver. Be patient. Do not give in to the temptation to just put a wrench on it to see whether you can make them pop loose. Use of a power impact driver is at your own peril. Getting the nuts on the front-most and rear-most exhaust manifold studs is, in my experience, a crapshoot. If you snap off the stud, do not give in to the temptation of trying an 'EZ-out' remover. Better to weld a nut onto the end of the stud. Lots of videos available online to explain this procedure.

When replacing a Z's front frame rail, the T/C rod bracket needs to be separated from the rail so that it can later be welded to the replacement rail. The T/C rod bracket is secured to the OE rail by a combination of spot welds and a long seam weld. I'm looking for some guidance on the steps and tools that work best for separating the bracket from rail and whether this should be done before vs after the rail is separated from the rest of the vehicle structure. The brackets, BTW, used to be available as service parts (74830/78301-E4100) but are now shown as NLA on the Courtesy Nissan website.

Why did you add salt?

No such kit exists. You'll need to make your own. I posted a set of downloadable templates on this site several years ago, along with a written guide outlining procedures and materials. You'll need to use the search tool to find them. The work is very finnicky. You not only need to cut along the inner and outer perimeters of each gasket, but in many cases also punch out holes for the fasteners.

Just thinking out loud here... You could, perhaps, approximate the shape of the lipped doubler plates by finding an appropriately-sized metal bottle and sawing off the bottom (leaving a lip). The only donor item made from steel that I can think of would be a small propane bottle -- empty, of course! Not sure about the metal gauge used for these pressurized bottles. Too thick? The usual metal drinking bottles (as used by joggers, cyclists, etc) would perhaps be closer to the correct thickness but I think they're made from aluminum, so not easy to weld to the floor pan. You might be able to make your own by hammer-forming 0.7mm sheet steel over a piece of shaped and contoured hardwood. The lip could be finished to a uniform height afterwards with a grinder.

I've only tracked back one page in these comments, so perhaps someone else has already mentioned this: Before you go any further, buy or borrow another meter and repeat a few of your measurements. It's not impossible that your meter is the culprit. Best to confirm or eliminate that possibility now.

Beware. Normal assumptions don't work. My 70 Z's wiring demonstrated significant damage to the existing wiring close* to the headlight connectors (* up to 2" of contaminated/burned/almost smoked wire). That damage means increased resistance.

Two super-spreaders that I am surprised continue to operate herein Ontario under current circumstances: wedding banquet halls and gyms.

I fear that the next step (in both Canada and the US) may be the implosion of the healthcare system due to a combination of worker fatigue, fear, resentment and (sadly) illness. And, by 'worker', I include doctors and nurses. There is a useful article in today's Toronto Globe and Mail that discusses the measures taken by local and state governments in and around Melbourne, Australia back in the late summer to address the emergence of a post-first-wave spike that they feared would get out of control. Three months later, they look like geniuses. Melbourne, by the way, is similar in population and geographic size to a typical medium-size US city. Worth a read.

Very cool (in a hot sort of way, that is). NHRA top-fuel class beckons

As a possible measure, consider making a shallow slice (say, 25% depth) along the inside length of the 90. That would preserve the integrity and appearance of the outer, visible surface and retain the broad gluing surface, while weakening the 90 enough to make the flap more inclined to lie flat. It won't be an easy cut to make, though. Maybe use a steel straight-edge clamped in place, along with one of those roller-type fabric cutters (mine has an adjustable depth limiter).

I agree. The seal is accomplished with the lip. The hollow bulb section just provides some compliance and its compression help to force the lip against the hatch shut surfaces. The orientation in the 3rd pic will also be consistent with that used along the side and top strips. It'll be hard to get clamping force on the flattened-out section while the glue is setting. I wonder if it would make sense to trim off the outer leg of the '90' section along this run so that the glue doesn't have to resist the rubber trying to regain its molded shape.

It seems to me that the challenge of modifying the front of the replacement rail is about 10% of the challenge of removing the old rail and installing a new one. It depends on your goals for your car. If preserving visible originality is important to you, then you'll need to do some work on the replacement rail before you weld it into the car. Not that hard. If you'd sooner install a non-stock rad than modify the rail, then your path forward is clear.

In which direction did you push in order to make the stubs 'pop right out' - from the outside, pushing toward the inside? or from the inside, pushing to the outside?

That slight bow controls the widthwise clearance for the radiator. IIRC, this is definitely an issue requiring mods if you're fitting a 280Z rad, but I'm not sure that it's the case for the 240Z rad. Perhaps someone else can confirm.

(Stating the obvious) A structure won't deflect unless it's subjected to a load. If the centre and rear sections of the unibody are supported (axle stands under the pinch welds at the front), then everything from the firewall forward will 'droop' because of its weight (i.e. load = force of gravity). However, there's not much weight left up front after you remove the engine/transmission, the hood and fenders, the bumper, the front suspension/steering and the front crossmember. As a start-off guess, I'd say maybe 150 lbs, tops. In vertical bending, each side of the front part of the unibody gets its strength from a ~ vertical panel (the inner fender) that's reinforced by an upper and a lower boxed section. The upper box section is sometimes called the 'horn' and it's made from very thick (0.050" steel). The lower box section (aka the 'frame rail') is also made from 0.050" steel. The inner fender panel is the usual 0.032" (20 gauge). Both box sections are pretty deep vertically (which is what you want for vertical stiffness). The inner fender isn't really a 'vertical' panel, but it serves the purpose and it ties the upper and lower box sections together. The center part of the unibody is boxed by the firewall (which is, in turn, helped out by the transmission mount frame that helps to reinforce the open trans tunnel area). The front frame rails aren't needed to box the center section of the unibody (as I think you would intuitively expect), so cutting one out isn't going to cause the centre section of the unibody to twist. Ahead of the firewall, when you cut out the frame rail on one side you weaken that side of the front unibody structure somewhat, but the upper boxed section and the inner fender panel are still intact. I expect they're plenty strong (see next paragraph) to support their respective shares of the weight of the front section of the unibody (150 lb?) without any any droop, remembering too that the 'cantilever' effect of the structural weight steadily diminishes the closer you get to the firewall. The boxing of the front unibody structure at the front by the rad support frame will further serve to resist any differential droop (i.e. twist). Let's break it down... I have one of ZeddFinding's replacement frame rails in my shop. It's made from 0.062" steel and weighs 8 lb. Let's say the upper frame rail weighs 10 lb. Then let's say the inner fender panel adds another 10 lb. Add 2 lb for the T/C Rod bracket. Add 5 lb for the shock tower blister. Add another 5 lb for the upper ledge panel. We're up to 40 lb per side, 80 lb total. Let's add another 15 lb for the front rad support bulkhead. That's 95 lb. Add another 5 lb for miscellaneous. Hard to make the whole front structure as being much over 100 lb. That's just 50 lb per side. And it's distributed over a length of about 4 feet (from firewall to front of structure), so it's not like a 50-lb point load hanging off each front bumper bracket. When you cut out the lower frame rail on one side, the 50 lb on that side reduces by 10 lb. So 50 lb on the intact side, 40 lb on the cut side. 10 lb difference. Same as two 5-lb bags of sugar. Not much of a twisting load. If you're still worried, put an axle stand under the corner of the rad support bulkhead and shim it up to take out all the clearance. If you're still feeling uncertain, put a dial indicator on the underside of the rad support on the cut side before you cut out the rail and measure the droop after the rail comes out. If you don't like what you see, use the axle stand and shims to push things back up into a zero-droop state before you weld in the new rail. If you do this, I'll be curious to learn what you measure. My guess is 4 or 5 thousandths of an inch (but I'm ready to be shown wrong). Maybe someone else has already made this measurement? Everything I've said depends on your car having good structural integrity where the front unibody elements join the firewall (and, to a lesser extent, where the rad bulkhead joins the inner fenders). You may find the attached article, 'Analysis of Early Z Chassis' informative. Credit to the author, James Lux. It appeared in an old edition of a unknown club publication called 'NewZletter'. Analysis of Early Z Chassis - NewZletter - James Lux - 19xx.pdf

ZeddFindings (Kingston, Ontario, Canada) has been the traditional go-to supplier for Z frame rails. Parts are well-constructed, credibly priced, and I've never heard anyone complain about fit. Looks like your passenger-side rail is kinked... www.datsunzparts.com

I think you're probably right...

Those rubber seals ('6 out of 10') respond very nicely to Krazy Glue, provided that they're just torn and all of the rubber is still there. You can even graft in filler pieces cut from a thin sheet of rubber (arts-and-crafts store item). That said, you really have to take the handle apart to do a good repair (it's not that difficult). I'm not aware of anyone selling replacements for these seals. As for a gasket material, I like the idea of cutting one from a thin sheet of clear acrylic plastic. About the same thickness and hardness as that used in a lot of retail goods packaging. The packaging from a windshield wiper refill might give you what you need. If not, just cruise the aisles of a WalMart until you spot something suitable.

Check out Wheee's build thread. He provides a nicely illustrated, step-by-step guide of how to fab this doubler plate (along with replacement of the entire frame rail, from front to rear).

Call Zkars 'House of Z'

I'd forgotten about Wolf Steel. If the quality and fit are there, their S30 rear quarter looks like tremendous value. Cdn$300 = US$225. Looking forward to your report on the 510 quarter panels after you take delivery.

Zedd Findings has always been a quality source of repro parts. Now we have KF Vintage JDM (and I can personally vouch for both their product and their customer service). The (important) surprise is Auto Panel Solutions from Britain. These are previously unobtanium panels that are being delivered a hi-fi by a previously-unknown supplier. RIP, Tabco.

No kidding! I'd love to see a picture of the 'factory-authorized tool' that was used for the purpose.