One Way

Thanks for the responses. The u bolt simply is tightened to the rack so that the little rubber bumper, the piece that is bad on my project, hits up against the crossmember. There is actually a clean spot on my crossmember where that rubber bumper touched. The rest of the crossmember has it's fair share of grease and road grime. I am still waiting on a reply from 240ZRUBBERPARTS on obtaining one of their u bolt saddles with the attached rubber. Hope you all have a good day, John, Lugoff, SC.

Thanks for the info. I will be checking into that part for pricing and shipping costs. Exactly what I am looking for even though I am not sure of how important it may be for the steering rack, but apparently the Z engineers considered it necessary. Thanks again, John-Lugoff, SC.

Thanks for the replies. The actual rack bushings I already have. In fact I have all the poly bushings for the whole resurrection project already purchased from ENERGY SUSPENSION, ready for reassembly. PATCON shows the exact piece I am searching for, or maybe modifying the one we have with a new rubber bumper. I will check out the link he provided, though it was labeled out of stock. Thanks again, John-Lugoff, SC.

The rubber stopper on the u bolt saddle is deteriorated and falling off. Any suggestions on a modification? Thinking about a rubber stopper threaded into the saddle or some time of adhesive to attach it. Thanks for any help. Also just got the steering shaft u joints in the mail and have prepped the bottom yokes for paint and installing new joints. The 4 stake marks on each ear came out nicely with a Dremel tool. Waiting for a bit warmer weather to do the painting. Thanks, John.

Just like the "non serviceable" joints in the driveshaft, we will be replacing the staked in joints on the steering shaft. As previous posts have correctly noted, they are 15x39 mm, and staked in. I have located and ordered some u joints from DRIVESHAFTPARTS.COM at a great price and very reasonable shipping. They are specifically made for staked in assemblies. Part #UJ1540SD. I ordered 4 of them with shipping for $28.52, just in case I damage one during installation. They also offer a very nice staking tool kit, but I passed on that. $375 is really not bad if you are doing these type of joints frequently, but budget says a center punch or chisel will do the trick to keep them seated. The driveshaft joints I got from ROCKFORD DRIVELINE used internal clips to secure them into the yokes instead of the staking method. Hope this may be helpful to others restoring the steering shafts on a limited budget. Thanks, John-Lugoff, SC.

Managed to locate the 15x35x12 bearings at 123BEARING. They are actually the NSK brand which is marked on the originals. I just hate to take apart the whole rack and pinion and not replace the bearings and seals. Hard to believe this 280z is quickly approaching 50 years old and it was left sitting for the past almost 20 years. Registration tag on the car had a 1996 date. The bearings and seal are NLA through Nissan. Both are rather odd sizes. Just about finished up on the floor pans, battery tray,other rusted out structures, and will begin the reassembly process as time permits. Have a good day, John-Lugoff, SC.

It has been a while since we have posted anything under Oneway but finally getting back on our resurrection project. The pinion bearings are marked 6202 which is a standard bearing, 15x35x11, but the ones being removed measure 15x35x12. Not sure if such a bearing is still available or will we have to shim the bearings? The grease was a bit old in the rack and just want to do a complete cleaning and relube. Also that top seal may be an issue as well, but have not done any research on that one yet. The other dilemna seems to be the u joints in the steering shaft from what I have read. They move freely but the seals are beginning to crack and am sure the joints should be upgraded. Any helpful suggestions will be appreciated. Thanks, John-Lugoff SC.

Thanks for all the replies. I guess I am still old school and would prefer working the old tank but there is a point when the old has to go and a new piece must be used. I will do some more research as time permits on these options. Several years ago I sent the tank from our 69 Datsun 2000 to be renewed. If memory serves me correctly it was $50-$60 to ship it out and later got a call that it could not be done due to the internal baffles and rust condition. I passed on spending another $50-$60 to have it returned and put that money towards a small plastic tank from Summit Racing. There is quite a bit more involved with the 280Z tank as far as plumbing and mounting is concerned. Thanks again and Merry CHRISTmas-John-Lugoff SC.

My time is in short supply with work, church, family, but I am thoroughly enjoying the slow resurrection project. I am up to trying the different DIY recoating options, or sending the tank to professional tank renewers, but not 100% sure either of those methods will produce good results. The BLASTER continues to seep down the tubes, but still not seeing anything coming into the tank although the center portion is mostly unvisible even with a good light shining into the tank. Success or failure experiences gladly welcome. Thanks again, on my way to work-John-Lugoff, SC.

Merry CHRISTmas! Slowly moving on our resurrection project which currently has us tackling the fuel tank. I knew we would be in trouble 5-6 years ago when we purchased this project and attempted to drain the tank of a car that had been off the road for about 20 years. The drain plug came out with some slight persuasion but had to get a small phillips screwdriver to poke through and allow the old fuel to drain. The drained tank was removed and set aside in our shop and now we have recently begun to evaluate the tank. The exterior is in excellent condition, factory stampings still visible, lock ring removed quite easily, fuel sender unit intact but rusted solid, and have removed rust by the pound just blowing some compressed air into the tank and knocking it a bit. My big concern is the integrity of the feed and return lines which are now visible-previously hidden under the pounds of rust. The top vent pipes are free and clear to air flow but the bottom feed and return lines don't seem to allow air to flow through into the tank. I have some BLASTER sprayed into the lines and have let that sit a few days. Not sure at this time if that has accomplished anything-extremely busy work schedule lately. Experienced advice gladly welcomed. Thanks, John-Lugoff, SC Merry CHRISTmas and a blessed New Year.

Working safely seems to increase along with our age. Looking back over more years than seem possible, I thank the LORD for my continued health and safety. I will be giving the lacquer thinner a try next week. The project is in an open sided car port so that is always helpful with the resulting fumes, dust, debris, etc in this type of project. Good safety reminder. Thanks, John-Lugoff, SC.

A little GOOGLE search tells me lacquer thinner is much better for removing hardened paint than acetone. Acetone has more practical uses and is better for removing grease and wax and evaporates much faster. I will pick up some lacquer thinner today at work and do a comparison test if I get some time next week on the project. Thanks, John-Lugoff,SC.

Thanks for the tip. I do use acetone for some cleaning before painting the parts. Not sure if that would work well on the undercoat residue. Scuff pads, wire wheels, etc are really tough to use on this type of removal. I have been transferred to another store location and the new hours are not allowing me as much time as before to give to the project. I will not have a good opportunity to try the acetone or lacquer thinner until next week some time. Thanks again, John-Lugoff, SC

Slow progress continues, emphasis on SLOW, with this resurrection project. The small propane torch works much better than the heat gun for removing the undercoating from the frame rails and the large portions of solid original floor. Still working on best solution to remove that final residue of the coating as I am covering all the portions with rust converter and then top coating with a rust cover paint. Some portions under the removed undercoating look like new with that tannish primer and other areas have surface rust. Just looking to get to the bare metal so the rust converter and rust cover can do their job. Thanks for any input, John-Lugoff, SC.

Thanks for the response. I think we can put SLOW in capital letters. I am interested in what they originally used to do such a good job protecting some areas of the car. It is kind of mysterious to me to have portions of this fender rusted away and much larger portions revealing the original tannish primer coat with absolutely zero corrosion underneath the removed undercoat. Thanks again, John-Lugoff, SC.

Slow progress continues on the resurrection Z. I have the LF fender removed, ready to install lower patch panel for the rusted out section. A few small pinholes on the top near the headlight bucket will also be handled with a home made patch. The assumed factory undercoat is in great shape on about 70-80% of the fender. The other 20-30% either had no undercoating or what was there has been scaling off the fender surface. Heat gun and scraper is doing a slow but decent job. Under the good undercoat is near perfect factory tannish color primer. I will be coating the fender with some good rust converter and follow up with a rust cover satin black after the converter cures 48 hours. Any better tips for removing the undercoating or should I just leave the good stuff intact on the other sections of the car as I proceed along? Whatever they installed on these fenders was some pretty good stuff. The textured stuff comes off with some heat and scraping but some of the gray colored adhesive seems to remain in some spots over the tannish primer base. Thanks for any advice, John-Lugoff, SC.

The resurrection project continues to creep forward. I have just begun cleaning up the firewall and installing a couple of small patch pieces for minor rust through areas. I have all new grommets but noticed what appears to be some type of soft sealant around the firewall holes. Was there originally some type of adhesive/sealant around the grommets, cylinder mount areas? If so ,would the 3M product # 3602-black super weatherstrip adhesive-be good choice. I have used that messy stuff with good success on other areas with weatherstripping, etc. Or, should we just install the grommets as is and call it good? Thanks again for any input, John-Lugoff, SC.

Thanks for the tip for KFVINTAGEJDM. Looks like top quality products with the protective coating. The hatch panel is listed only under the 240Z catalog but all of the other suppliers list the same repair panel for 240-260-280. Am I safe to assume that repair panel will fit my 280Z? I may start tackling the RR hatch corner repair before going to work today. Thanks again, John-Lugoff,SC

The copper heat sink bar is an absolute must have tool for sheet metal work. I recently purchased the magnetic adjustable copper heat sink bar from TP TOOLS and it is well worth it. My best success with the sheet metal welding has been to punch or drill holes into one of the patch pieces and just weld it closed with the heat sink behind the other patch. If you are a real good welder there is just a little bit of grinding needed to smooth everything out. I seem to have to do quite a bit of grinding, so that kind of rates my MIG welding capabilities, especially with my flux core welder I currently have. I just finished up the LR lower level hatch panel repair and it came out pretty good and very solid. I will have a good base to attach the new panel to. Just have to flip my template over, cut another piece of 22 GA sheet metal, and repeat the procedure for the RR hatch panel corner. I never realized how much of a contour that rear hatch has and apparently the hatch panel repair piece is also contoured, although the photos do not appear to have much of a contour. Just have to convince my good looking financial advisor to purchase that new panel. Thanks for the valuable input, John-Lugoff, SC

Thanks for the quick response. TABCO PRODUCTS has the best price I have located. The little bit of searching I have done finds that they may be the one company doing the stampings for some of the better known Z supply parts houses. Does the panel bond need to be applied to bare metal only or would it work on metal that has been primed or painted? I have been using SEYMOUR self etch weld through primer on all of my patch repair pieces which seems to work very well on the welds. Just seems to be a good idea to have some protection on the metal repair pieces before joining together. Thanks again for the input. Looking forward to any other recommendations from the great group of Z experts here. John-Lugoff, SC

There was not much left of the top layer of the rear hatch sheet metal above the tail light panel. I have fabricated some patch panel pieces for the bottom layer which was not too badly rusted out. The only decent section of the top layer was the actual latch area in the center. I have seen the repair panels offered by several suppliers and it would seem to be a fairly straight forward process of fitting, clamping, and welding. With the exception of the cosmetics of the panel, has any one fabricated the piece with just straight sheet metal and cutting out the center latch hole area using the original latch area as the template? I would rather spend the sheet metal money on the more visible exterior areas-bottom fender patch panels, etc. My main concern on the rear hatch area is the correct positioning of the rubber seal around the hatch lip. Helpful input welcome, even if that advice says spend the $150 for the repair panel. Also suggestions about welding the new piece in versus the panel bond adhesive method? Personally I lean toward the welding, but I am very much old school, more comfortable with what I know works through personal experience. Thanks again, John-Lugoff, SC.

You may be able to find an allen head bolt with the correct length and M6 thread or use either one of the above solutions as suggested. It is the little details like these that make a restoration so interesting or challenging. Enjoy the project, John-Lugoff, SC.

Despite the rough last year and a half or almost two now we have all been through, we can always give thanks to the LORD for HE is good even when we are not or when circumstances are not the best. Happy Thanksgiving from ONEWAY-John-Lugoff, SC.

I am not at all familiar with the plating process, but being in a tumbler I guess it would get mostly covered. The lower rubber block function seems to be cleaner appearance since the compression spring is captured in the nylon slider and the base has a tiny knob to keep the bottom of the spring positioned. It appears that the slider was placed into position and then the backing plate was spot welded? to the front slider bracket at time of assembly. I enjoy these little projects because I can sometimes squeeze them in to my odd work schedule, family and church responsibilities. Thanks again, John-Lugoff, SC.

Thanks for the responses. I just might reconsider and purchase a new set. CHRISTmas is coming soon. I really enjoy refurbishing the old original pieces rather than purchasing new replacements. A bit more of a challenge and this project has never been intended to be show quality so a nicely refurbished part works just fine for me. Thanks for the illustration on the soft rubber piece to keep the spring protected. My question is how the parts are plated or painted withe the nylon sliders still captured in the grooves? I have not had much time to evaluate my parts since the first post. Thanks again, John-Lugoff, SC