Restoration of BringaTrailer 240z - HLS30-35883

[siteunseen]

4 hours ago, wheee! said:

I say just clearcoat it as is. Doesn’t get much better than that.

 

3 hours ago, Captain Obvious said:

[wheee!]

3 hours ago, Captain Obvious said:

Haha!! I'm not quite to that level.

How about a fanny pack with a handful of Canadian Tire gift cards and some ibuprofen topping out at 88 km/h? 

I'm in!

[inline6]

On 11/22/2019 at 8:52 AM, Patcon said:

That's a nice rotisserie!

Thanks.  Many people make their own and I looked at a bunch of videos on Youtube of their modded engine stand, as well as custom creations.  I looked on craigslist on and off for about 8 months without luck before finally taking the plunge, spending what many would call a lot of money on this one.  I justified it by telling myself I have three cars that will go on it, and I can sell it for a good bit when I am done.  In case anyone is curious about the model, it is an Autotwirler Pro.

 

On 11/22/2019 at 9:05 AM, wheee! said:

I say just clearcoat it as is. Doesn’t get much better than that.

I am very happy with the condition of the body as I found it under the paint.  There were many small dents and the minor damage to the rear end, but thankfully, nothing surprising.  I am at that stage of body work where I am epoxy priming, applying and sanding plastic filler, and will be appying high build primer shortly.  Not much bondo is going on the car.  Mainly, it is taking a small amount along the belt line... just below the body line that runs down the sides of the car.  It received lots of door ding hits along the side of the car over the years it was on the road.  

[Patcon]

The Auto Twirler is a nice unit!

I really believe if we had a brand new Datsun right off the factory line, it would still have a decent amount of filler on it. I don't believe these cars were that perfect rolling off the line. I think they are much straighter and flatter after a quality repaint than they ever were factory fresh

[inline6]

Speaking of the cars not being perfect off the assembly line, I have a bit of a dilemma.  It seems that as it came from the factory, this car has a less than perfect fit where the right rear quarter panel over laps the rocker.  I'm kind of inclined to go at this corner and make it right, which would entail dissecting at the spot welds and some miner reshaping.  

 Here are some pictures of how it looks from the factory:

    

Note the middle picture here, where the floor panel is supposed to meet up with the panel that makes the tool door compartment. The attempted spot weld couldn't pinch the parts together because the tool door compartment panel was misaligned at the bottom edge.  In the third picture here, you can see that a factory worker appears to have used a MIG welder to fill in a bead in the crevasse. 

    

 

Note gap caused by poor fitment.  From the factory there was a bunch of seem sealer in the hole (first pic).  Middle pic shows the jack point of the rocker.  It is not flat as it should be for proper jack fitment.  

    

Seems a shame to leave it like this, but I will have to drill out spot welds and it won't look factory any more.  

Edited November 23, 2019 by inline6

[Patcon]

I think I would rework work that so the rocker line was straight all the way down. Loss of spots welds or no

[inline6]

On 11/23/2019 at 6:16 PM, Patcon said:

I think I would rework work that so the rocker line was straight all the way down. Loss of spots welds or no

Yeah, I am trying to do a high quality restoration (as best I can) and leaving that the way it is would bug me.  Going to be a bit of a project.  Maybe I will consider buying a spot welder like the Quick Spot II!

[inline6]

Next up to share is a repair to the A pillar where it attaches to the unibody.  Evidently there was some flexing going on here at some point.  Looking at the unwelded seam (inside edge of the corner), it seems obvious why this happened.  Pics show that aligns with the crack in the lead body filler:

    

Also, note the indentation/impression made by the back edge of the fender.  Is that how it came from the factory, or is that unusual.  The driver side fender did have slight accident damage just behind the wheel well opening, above the body line.  Maybe a slight side impact there caused the back edge of the fender to bump the lead?

I used a propane torch to heat the old lead and watch it run off onto the floor.  Then I used a blue stripping wheel to clean up the surface of the metal, followed by liberal use of the torch and compressed air to blow the old lead out of the crevices... followed by use of a stainless wire brush.   

    

    

Given the lack of welds here, I strategically set a couple of tacks and a bead with my MIG welder for good measure and ground the ones in the inside corner down flush:

    

 

Next came the tinning.  I watched a Youtube video to get a reminder of how to tin.  An Eastwood lead kit from my restoration of my other Z back in 1993 was put back into action.  The tinning "butter" did pretty well considering it was 26 years old.  At least, I think it did...

    

 

I neutralized the acid with some water and baking soda mixed together.  Then went over the area with a wire brush.  Next came the lead filler.  Again, I used a standard propane torch:

    

 

I think it came out pretty well.  Next, I started shaping with a file as well as a die grinder:

    

More filing and some sanding with a DA and 80 grit.  Looking closely at the passenger side (3rd pic), I see that the body line is altered before it meets the back edge of the fender.  I will replicate for the driver's side.

    

 

 

  

Edited November 28, 2019 by inline6

[inline6]

Bought a couple of toys to use on the restoration... and other car projects!

 Tig welder:

Spot welder:

 

usaweld.com is running a promo right now.  The spot welder counted as qualifying products for discount ($300 off), and I got free shipping.  The tig welder that I got is the 220 volt version and not water cooled.  Should be a lot of fun to learn how to use it well.  I've got an aluminum radiator for my other Z (highly modified) that needs some brackets welded onto it and some other welding jobs in line for that car as well.  

I'm also interested to see how well the spot welder does on the rocker panel repair for the restoration Z.

 

Edited December 6, 2019 by inline6

[grannyknot]

The Invertig is suppose to be a great machine, I was on the verge of buying that same model when a deal came up on a Miller 280dx. Usaweld are great to deal with.

[Namerow]

12 hours ago, inline6 said:

I'm also interested to see how well the spot welder does on the rocker panel repair for the restoration Z.

A lot of us are also interested whether this type of 'non-industrial' grade spot welder can deliver a decent result for joining a pair of light-gauge panels.  Perhaps when you take delivery, you can take it for a test run with some 20 and 18-gauge scrap and post some pix of your results.

[inline6]

On 12/4/2019 at 8:13 AM, Namerow said:

A lot of us are also interested whether this type of 'non-industrial' grade spot welder can deliver a decent result for joining a pair of light-gauge panels.  Perhaps when you take delivery, you can take it for a test run with some 20 and 18-gauge scrap and post some pix of your results.

Sure.  I've got to sort out the electrical hook up for it and the Tig welder in the garage, so it may take a week or so.  I will do a separate thread when I do the testing.  I will cover the job in detail in the build thread later as well.