a7dz

Enrique; Stephen's car should not have an accessory relay. It is a real eary 70.

Okay as I thought you were talking about new floor pans. I treat them with Metal ready to stop the rust and then paint them with enamel paint. When you are ready to install them sand the paint off and have a go of it.

Adam The biggest reason you bought a 73 is right here it was a fair price. Your number seven. If you could of bought a very early serial number car in excellent condition at a fair price you would have. The only reason I do not own a second 240z. Would of been a 73 flat top carb vapor locking night mare my lawyer owned, was money. Could of bought it for a song.

The interference fit is what makes them seal. Common installation.

WELCOME; There are a lot of Z heads around you. Mostly in the Portland Vancouver area. Most of the guys I know are 240 owners but, good to see another member in Oregon.

There are several differences between the early series I cars and the 72. Some deemed better some not. The fact the early cars were not prone to vapor lock is what really made them more desirable in the late 70's and early 80's. If you watch the build dates on these early cars you will see there are a lot of subtle changes. Most of them are to deal with safety or rust issues. Some examples are that the smaller ball joints and steering knuckles are only found in the first 6500 cars. Rear brake cylinders are different on the early series I cars as well. The list goes on and on. that is why it is important to get the parts CD so, you can look up the changes by build date. It answers a lot of frustration when you have a new part that will not fit in your car. FWIW

The reason I said to not use POR 15 is because I assumed he was talking about new panels. Only because he talks about putting them in the basement. Several of us up here in the northwest are using por 15 and we are all having great results. I have only had it bubble up in a pool state. And then it had to do with moisture. One of those things that make you go HUMM.

One more thing to check is the alignment of the alternator bracket. Is the belt running in a straight line or has some one taken the bracket off and not realigned it when they put it back or is the bracket loose where it bolts to the block? I had one of the bolts come loose on mine and it did what you are describbing. Cocked the bracket just enough to cause this. Just my 2c.

Kip; Welcome bought my z in Spokane. Yes, there is a third one running around the Seattle area. It passed me on the freeway this after noon.

There are a few of us that have repaired the battery area. As Beandip stated it is easier to do with the engine out of the way. Do take pictures of the battery tray area and post them. We can give you a better idea of our experences repairing them.

I am with Jim. I just cut and patched mine as well. The repair came out really nice. I did buy the top piece and welded it in solid.

Do not coat them with POR 15 before you install them. POR 15 is real hard to sand or grind back off. How long are you going to store them? Might want to just use the marine clean and metal ready on them the two steps that pickel the metal prior to coating with POR. for short term. If you are going to store them long term clean them up and paint them with a rattle can enamal paint that is easily sanded off again when you are ready to install them.

Never mind

Tony; Beandip has one beautiful car. Yes, you can paint it for alot less. The 700.00 dollar cost includes a lot of paint and rust preventive body work supplies. Remember that we are only trying to keep you from having to do it over. You can paint a z with a gallon of paint. I have used a quart of self etching primer to seal mine up. I will have a lot of money in mine but, I have taken it down to the basic unibody and removed all the rust that could be reasonably. Pickeled the parts I could not replace and coated it all with POR 15.

Paints like every thing else you only get what you pay for. I don't know how you got to Rustoleum from what was said but, to each their own. I don't under stand your thought pattern if I screw up it will be cheaper?? How can it be cheaper to do it twice? Using cheaper products only makes the process that much harder? What have you got if you use a lesser product and do a great job?? A cheap job!! By the way one of our farm trucks was painted with rustoleum seven years ago and has never been covered once again it has to be done right. I did not use a rattle can either.

To lessen the chance of distortion always buff in strait lines 90 degrees to each other. Never in circles. Start with an up and down motion then go across then 45 degrees in both directions then back to up and down. Biggest thing is don't be in a hurry and mix the compound to close to tooth paste. Buff the complete surface not just the damaged spots. Bob is right also keep the water near by as was stated above to keep the buffed surface just damp. Works well just takes time and energy.

With the hatch showing that kind of rust and it being a Mass car I would steer clear unless like you said there is someone there that could eyeball it.

Carol; Great user name. Love it. As Enrique said there are too many different ideas to post here. I started to do a simple repair the rust in the right rear wheel well and replace the right front fender. It would be easier to tell you what parts are still together then what I have apart. So, my ideas change daily.

The engine bay is just short of paint. All other work has been done and I just finished painting the POR 15 over the bay. So, that is the latest picture.

Here's what I did with my stock one. I was not going to weld the trap back under the battery tray. Now I can unbolt it and clean under it. I did weld nuts to the fender well when I was reworking the sheet metal there. I got the idea from some one who has bolts and nuts holding theirs.

I would use what you have to get started. Get use to the feel of stitch or skip welding on these panels. Some of the problems you will have is burn through and warp age. It is hard to keep at a pace that lets the metal cool enough before you go on. All of this takes practice. The other part of welding on these cars is the different panels and sub structures are different gauges. I took an old front fender and cut it into pieces and welded them back together. I used a crimped seam. Where one panel lays on top of the other. It is a lot easier to weld and hold in place while you weld it. Here are a couple of pictures showing my quarter panel repair panel screwed into place before I welded it on to the car. The first picture shows that the cut line and the panel line are five eighths of an inch different. That is where the crimp goes. The second one shows the patch panel screwed in place. Took a couple of hours to get this right. Third one shows it welded in place before I ground the welds smooth. Another time you must be patient is while you are grinding these smooth. Do your self a favor and go to welding supply store and get "easy grind wire" it is a softer wire that makes this whole process much, much easier.

I have a new set here in boxes. Right hand has the fitting left does not. Will see if I can exchange the left to match the right.

Arne; Too bad you are not running a stock manifold. I would just bend two of those up to match the one out of mine. The pipes are all good but, the mufflers are marginal at best.

Mike; Good to see there is a good set of floor pans out there. I was beginning to wonder. Any way great job. Glad to see you took the time to fix this so early. I have used both the flat and the shiny black POR15 and prefer the shiny as it has a smoother surface. Will be easier to keep clean.

Mike; You must just live right. I say you made out alright on that one. Normally the plate strips out first. Good to hear that you just had to replace the bolt.