Restoration of BringaTrailer 240z - HLS30-35883

[Patcon]

The connecting tubes could probably be as small as 1"x1"...

[inline6]

Today, I fabricated the front rolling frame assembly.  The cross beam is thicker wall that the rear one - it is heavy.  I didn't measure it, but the wall is about 3/16" - definitely thicker than the rear one which looks to be about 1/8" wall.  When welding the square post to it, I had my little Miller Mig 90 maxed out.  While welding, I would sit the end of the nozzle on top of the cross beam and wait and wait, and then kiss the edge of the square tubing and then back over the cross beam... and wait and wait, and then kiss the upright square tubing again.  Easily spent 4 to 5 times as long trying to put heat into the cross beam to get penetration.  The plates that mount to the car are nearly 3/16" thick.  Though the welds could be prettier, I am confident they have good strength.  

    

 

    

 

It will be an exciting time when I get to use these as the car will be really close to being ready for paint.  😍

 

 

[CanTechZ]

Nice work on the rolling frame components. While I'm waiting for my body guy to pickup my shell, I have been considering doing something similar. I might use a combination of fabricated parts plus unistrut channel, fittings and hardware. I've used unistrut in the past for jig and fixturing and equipment frames and found it to be very useful for allowing adjustability and minimizing welding. It would make very easy to add braces and front to rear long members. Also when the time comes, it can be disassembled easily for storage or use in other projects. Here is an image of a past project and a link to a unistrut page showing some hardware examples. Their channel nuts and brackets make very rigid connections.

https://www.unistrutohio.com/general-unistrut-fittings

 

Edited December 20, 2021 by CanTechZ

[DC871F]

On 12/19/2021 at 9:13 AM, inline6 said:

Hmmm.  Maybe I should do that.  I'm not ready to use these, won't be for a while longer.  I'll have to look for suitable "drops" at my local metal store.  Those are the leftover bits that they sell for a single rate by weight. 

Texas Precision Plating got my two shipments ok.  Hope they turn my parts around in the early part of January.  Once I get them back, I can bolt on inner fender supports, the fenders, and the inspection lids for the last time.  Then, I can proceed with the last of the primer coats and final sanding on the fenders.  There are still a few other areas to address with further bodywork, such as an area on the passenger door, and the rear tail panel.  Getting closer to paint! 

While the car is at the paint shop, I plan to Black Diamond blast all of the black parts and prime and paint them.  It would be easier to drop them all off at a powder coater.  But, I figure epoxy primer and paint will be much more durable than the factory's original attempt, but look more authentic. 

I wish all of my efforts, all of this, was for an early VIN car for value reasons, but hey, 240z's in this good of a starting condition are somewhat hard to find.    

I think at this point you will be rewarded with value even though it's not an early car. 

[inline6]

On 12/20/2021 at 7:23 AM, CanTechZ said:

Here is an image of a past project and a link to a unistrut page showing some hardware examples. Their channel nuts and brackets make very rigid connections.

https://www.unistrutohio.com/general-unistrut-fittings

 

I looked around a bit on their site.  Looks like the ultimate erector set.  There are so many pieces!  It would take me hours to look at what all is available and then figure out what I'd need.  

[CanTechZ]

14 hours ago, inline6 said:

I looked around a bit on their site.  Looks like the ultimate erector set.  There are so many pieces!  It would take me hours to look at what all is available and then figure out what I'd need.  

Over the holiday break I plan to layout and model supports using ideas from your pictures and @ConVerTT's jig pictures.

While looking for framing ideas I found this vintage unistrut video, and couldn't resist sharing. Lol

 

[jfa.series1]

Pretty cool video but I absolutely shuddered when I saw people around sawing and cutting machinery without safety glasses - a sign of the times. Thanks for sharing.

Edited December 22, 2021 by jfa.series1

[CanTechZ]

On 12/21/2021 at 3:25 PM, inline6 said:

I looked around a bit on their site.  Looks like the ultimate erector set.  There are so many pieces!  It would take me hours to look at what all is available and then figure out what I'd need.  

In case you might be interested, here is how I plan to make a rolling support frame for my shell using Unistrut. I'm using the same mounting points as you did. Hopefully I will be assembling it in a couple of weeks. Thanks for the inspiration, I will be posting the end result in my own resto thread.

[inline6]

How do you get drawings like that?  Is it some type of CAD software?

 

[inline6]

While waiting for fasteners to be re-plated, I find myself looking for little projects to complete.  I went about restoring the front turn signal assemblies yesterday and today. These front lenses get a lot of abuse... essentially, they get sand blasted over time.  These are likely original to the car.  They look ok at 10 feet, but get up close and you can see they are quite dull.  And, they have taken some impacts from rocks and road debris.  The close ups were taken at 5X magnification.

    

 

I used several grits of sandpaper and performed a wet sanding process.  I started with 320 grit, then moved on to 600, 1000, 1500, 2000 and 2500.  For the first two grits, I left tape in place to protect the lettering.  After wet sanding, I buff with Meguiar's compounds and foam buffing pads.  #83 first, then #7 "Show Glaze", using different buffing pads to keep from mixing.  While I didn't achieve perfection, the results are pretty good.  

    

 

    

 

    

 

Next up will be the rear tail light lenses.  They will be easy in comparison because they don't take the sandblasting impacts like the front lenses.

Edited January 1, 2022 by inline6

[DC871F]

1 hour ago, inline6 said:

While waiting for fasteners to be re-plated, I find myself looking for little projects to complete.  I went about restoring the front turn signal assemblies yesterday and today. These front lenses get a lot of abuse... essentially, they get sand blasted over time.  These are likely original to the car.  They look ok at 10 feet, but get up close and you can see they are quite dull.  And, they have taken some impacts from rocks and road debris.  The close ups were taken at 5X magnification.

    

 

I used several grits of sandpaper and performed a wet sanding process.  I started with 320 grit, then moved on to 600, 1000, 1500, 2000 and 2500.  For the first two grits, I left tape in place to protect the lettering.  After wet sanding, I buff with Meguiar's compounds and foam buffing pads.  #83 first, then #7 "Show Glaze", using different buffing pads to keep from mixing.  While I didn't achieve perfection, the results are pretty good.  

    

 

    

 

    

 

Next up will be the rear tail light lenses.  They will be easy in comparison because they don't take the sandblasting impacts like the front lenses.

Very nice. I did this on a set of JDM chromed bezel headlight lenses. I used MicroMesh system.

Edited January 1, 2022 by DC871F

[CanTechZ]

12 hours ago, inline6 said:

While waiting for fasteners to be re-plated, I find myself looking for little projects to complete.  I went about restoring the front turn signal assemblies yesterday and today. These front lenses get a lot of abuse... essentially, they get sand blasted over time.  These are likely original to the car.  They look ok at 10 feet, but get up close and you can see they are quite dull.  And, they have taken some impacts from rocks and road debris.  The close ups were taken at 5X magnification.

    

 

I used several grits of sandpaper and performed a wet sanding process.  I started with 320 grit, then moved on to 600, 1000, 1500, 2000 and 2500.  For the first two grits, I left tape in place to protect the lettering.  After wet sanding, I buff with Meguiar's compounds and foam buffing pads.  #83 first, then #7 "Show Glaze", using different buffing pads to keep from mixing.  While I didn't achieve perfection, the results are pretty good.  

    

 

    

 

    

 

Next up will be the rear tail light lenses.  They will be easy in comparison because they don't take the sandblasting impacts like the front lenses.

Great job, I did similar work to my fronts a few years ago but not quite to this level. It's very satisfying to see the end result after all of the effort it takes. So much nicer to use original parts and not just replace with reproductions.