S30 Frame Construction

[Jughead]

Greeting fellow Zed heads.  Can anyone tell me how S30 frames were attached to the unibody in the factory?  Were they integrated inside of the unibody pieces, or simply welded on after the fact?  I've looked at a ton of pictures and search the forums, and I can't find any info.  Does anyone know?

[rturbo 930]

What do you mean? I'm not really sure exactly what you're asking, but I think you kind of answered your own question there - the S30 is a unibody. No frame.

[grannyknot]

There are several sub frame pieces that are spot welded under the bottom pan of the car, mostly toward the back but they would not have been added after, they were integrated as the unibody was constructed.  Hope that helps.

[Namerow]

Further to Grannyknot's comment, I suppose you could be tricked by certain diagrams into thinking there's a separate frame...

... but there really isn't.  It's just a collection of panels, ribs and rails, all spot-welded together. 

[Jughead]

Thanks guys and thanks for the great diagram.  This picture is worth a million words. 

i guess i'm shocked that the engine bay frame rails are not more integrated since they carry all that weight. How can that be?  Am I alone in pondering this?!

I'm obviously spending way too much time under my 240!

[grannyknot]

4 hours ago, Jughead said:

Thanks guys and thanks for the great diagram.  This picture is worth a million words. 

i guess i'm shocked that the engine bay frame rails are not more integrated since they carry all that weight. How can that be?  Am I alone in pondering this?!

I'm obviously spending way too much time under my 240!

Well those rails don't carry the weight of the engine as much as they transfer it to the shock towers that are directly inline, the engines weight is taken by the springs and tires for the most part. With a triangulated shock tower brace on the top you have a very ridgid box.

Can someone spend too much time under a Z? ?=

Edited May 23, 2018 by grannyknot

[Jughead]

I'm curious about where the diagram came from.  Is the whole document available on line anywhere?

[240260280]

6 hours ago, Jughead said:

I'm curious about where the diagram came from.  Is the whole document available on line anywhere?

Enjoy these http://atlanticz.ca/zclub/techtips/explodedviews/280z/index.html

[gnosez]

Factory replacement rails were sold as a one piece item, starting at the radiator support and ending behind the seat mounts.

I have one side which was used to develop our 240 rails.

[Namerow]

On 5/18/2018 at 7:25 AM, Namerow said:

Further to Grannyknot's comment, I suppose you could be tricked by certain diagrams into thinking there's a separate frame...

... but there really isn't.  It's just a collection of panels, ribs and rails, all spot-welded together. 

Here`s a more complete illustration of the set of panels that make up a typical unibody structure (not a 240Z, but remarkably close)...

[Jughead]

GNOSEZ:  Can you provide me more info regarding rails and other repair panels you offer?

[grannyknot]

http://www.baddogparts.com/