theczechone

I put together a jig to hold the new frame rails in place.

Just a quick update, Friend from work donated an industrial heater he had laying around, which made working on the car so much easier during these freezing months: After much cutting and spot weld separation I was finally able to test fit the Zed Findings front rails, here is a quick before and after. Before the new rails go in I had to make some repairs to heavily corroded areas.

I have the Lincoln 135 plus. It's a 110V unit that can weld anywhere between 24 gauge up to 1/4" metal, which covers just about all on the Z car. The 135 plus is superior to the standard 135 in that it has infinitely variable heat and speed settings. You want the adjustability to dial in the exact heat that doesn't cause burn through, but penetrates the metal well. I bought mine used for $360 of ebay shipped to my door. But I had to buy some consumables (wire, tip, nozzle), protective equipment (helmet, gloves), and gas bottle and regulator, overall I spent close to $750, but it's well worth it. Don't skimp on the safety equipment either, you have only 1 set of eyes!

And yeah there is no turning back now.... Staying motivated is definitely a challange

I haven't been able to accomplish much as the average temperature in my shop over the past two months has been below 0 deg C. But I have managed to cut out the passenger front frame rail. Of course this uncovered more rust that has to be repaired... but what else is new. I've got the Zedd finding front rails and they are really high quality and stretch all the way under the core support. Also Charlie is a great guy to deal with and even though we had a slight issue with the customs we were able to work it out to a point where everyone was happy. Also I will be buying my floors from him when I get to it. Currently I've been working on a jig to make sure that when I weld in my new rails they will be square and true. I'm still not 100% sure on what to use for a point of reference for centerline of the car but most likely it will be the rear cross memeber. I did get some air horns for the carbs and repaired the throttle linkage so just for sake of some pictures in this reply:

Great progress on the car! Seems that once the metal work is done it's just smooth sailing to the finish!

They are 4mm thick. There is a fabrication shop here close so I might see if he'd make them for me and how much he'd charge. I will make a proper engineering drawing for the part and most likely redesign the whole thing, because the original part is stamped metal.

Hi guys, I am working on replacing my frame rails from the firewall forward. Since the tension rod buckets are mounted to these I will have to either reuse my old ones or get new ones. Does anyone offer these? I'd rather not reuse my old ones as one was from a 280 and the other from a 240...they are different. Not to mention I have caused significant damage to the 240 one when i was trying to remove it without destroying the fenderwell. If you have any ideas or a spare set laying around somewhere I'd be interested to hear about it. Most likely I'll end up fabricating a new set thou. Thanks

My favorite was when I had my Z32 at a car wash and an elderly gentleman complimented me on my new mustang.

Went to look at a $900 240z and it had these on it. The car wasn't worth the trouble, but it had these on it. And for the deal I got, I couldn't pass them up. HRE 505s I picked up some 40 DCOE tripples of a parts car I bought, cleaned them lemony fresh and rebuilt them using rebuild kits from pierce manifolds

Hi, First a little history on the car. I found the car in Double Springs Alabama. Drove 3 hours to look at it...it didn't run or drive, but the paint look good and it had floor plans replaced and I was extremely excited to get into a Z again. Long story short, I missed many things: rear wheel arches made of bondo, floor pan rails not connected to the engine bay rails, front fenders welded to what remained of the rockers, and maybe worst of all the drivers frame rail was spliced (butt welded together) with a 280z one. So yes it was a train wreck. Never the less I am going to try to repair it. Here for some pictures: When I first got it I moved to Michigan, so i had my best friend trailer it up here for me. Now in the shop. The tear down begins and it uncovers all the rust Rear Suspension's out Driver's side Rocker Panel (or what's left of) Passenger side Rocker How the floor pans are installed Rust around the fuel filler neck Halfway stripped Pulled the engine Frame rail splice :dead: I have ordered front frame rails from Zedd Findings and Bad dog rails to connect the front of the car to the rear. And started cutting out frame rails. Spot weld cutters are handy! New firewall is taking shape

Nice work! Have you bought the inner fender as a replacement panel or did you fabricate one?

Just checked out their site, looks like I'm in for the right side wheel arch, both rocker panels and maybe something else. Thanks for the encouragement, I am taking pictures as I go along, maybe I'll start a build thread at some point.

Hello, I saw this thread for the first time today, and I love the work that you are doing. I am currently a little behind (replacing firewall, sheet metal under battery tray, and engine bay rails, amongst other things)but basically trying to do the same. I am not a proffesional so it's nice to see it done the right way and try to mimick. Where did you get your fender arches from? I know that some companies only sell fiberglass versions and that's not what I am looking for.

Not on my car yet, but I'd like to run these once I get the car finished

http://i.ebayimg.com/t/Datsun-Datsun-240Z-240Z-Bumper-Bracket-/00/s/NDgwWDY0MA==/$(KGrHqZ,!rQE-ZKL,-eGBPtHtR!rUw~~60_35.JPG One I found on a quick google search, while the 73 brackets got beefier the bumpers themselves got thinner... just an observation

The last picture is of the Arizona Z car rear arm (old style) I just bought a set of those from a local guy. I really like the quality of the welds and I can appreciate the triangular layout of the design compared to the t3 rear arms that have to use gussets to add stability. However I can imagine that the t3 are lighter, also the spindle bolt has to be taken out to adjust camber on the AZC old style arms whereas the T3 is adjustable without removing the pin. The billet arms seem to be a bit ridiculous, but I'm sure they offer you a lot of adjustability, I also would not be surprised if they were lighter compared to the others.

I see pictures of this thing everywhere, it's gorgeous, I read through your thread on JDMchicago(not sure of the name now), and I was impressed with the work that's been done. Could you post more info on the stance coilovers you used? My car won't be that low to the pavement, but I wonder how these compare to the other brands out there.

Ouch! Tough to see, hope nothing serious happened to you. If i was closer i'd be all over it!

Rebuild the carbs this weekend, the lemon juice works great on corrosion, but not so much on dirt, still ended up using carb cleaner and engine degreaser to remove the grime. Overall I am very happy with the results thou. The "choke" cold start assemblies were frozen up on two of these carburators, one of the brass gears is also badly bent and one completely broken off... does anyone have replacement parts for these? I can't find a US based supplier that offers these. Thanks

Ok, thanks. I will attempt the "boiling lemon juice" cleaning technique this evening after work, just hoping for the best.

Hi guys, I got a set of webers of a parts car, and these need quite a bit of attention. I bought 3 rebuild kits from Pierce Manifolds. I looked through the kit to figure out where each component goes, but these two washer type gaskets got me a little confused. I took a picture and attached it. The only place I could think of was at the ends of the butterfly shaft to create a seal, but that's just a guess. Input is appreciated.

Beautiful Z, may I ask where did you source the tails? They seem to be pure unobtainium!

I am working on some neglected webers, and this would be very nice. I have one almost completely disassembled and cleaning with carb cleaner is a pain. This could work if I just dipped the carb into the pot... I read somewhere that the lemon juice leaves the aluminum surface dull and rough looking, it did not seem the case with this write up, is that what the warm water and scrubber was used for? Thanks

Yeah I figured as much, well perhaps we'll have more info after I take these down and compare to my 240 assemblies. Thanks