240ZBUILTBYME 1971 240z HS-001063 Project Sheena

[Racer X]

14 hours ago, Patcon said:

I have never used a low noise type. But if it's anything like the low-noise type air ratchet I have; it wont be very quiet. Maybe the low-noise type are intended to be hearing safe

I was wrong...

I have more than 6 or 7 . This isn't even all of them.

Sorry about the rotation. It displays properly on my computer and in an editor...

This is my tool of choice for spot welds. You can tell it's been hot. It's done hundreds of welds. I find a straight one is easier to use than the angle grinder because of the better leverage

This is also really nice for dressing welds. A 1" Rolok

The biggest problem with it is the pads go very quickly!! They are also hard to source and about $0.35 each. I normally dress welds mostly down with the 3" cut off wheel. Then fine tune with the 1" and 2" Roloks

At The Big Shed they buy that stuff by the truckload.

[240ZBUILTBYME]

Didn’t get a great deal of time this break, only managed a few precious hours with Sheena. I’ve lost a tonne of sleep lately, tossing and turning in bed scheming and stressing about how I’m going to do this job! Anyone else do that? I’m sure I’m not the only one...

I ground down all the proud spot welds and gave the front face and what I could reach a good wire wheeling. 

I bolted the repair panel in, marked the cut line and made the finaL cut. All the while shitting myself...

cut was good 

with more room for access I went to work cleaning the box section as best I could. Came up ok and revealed many new holes where rust had eaten through. 

Question. Can I just fill any small holes with the mig? Given I use a rust converter and ensure the welding surface is free of any rust? 

I was keen to get a coating on the box section but with the rust that needs repairing I figured I would save it for once those were done. 

I was thinking of trying a spot blaster to further tidy up the unreachable areas in the box section. Has anyone used something like these? I know they’re generally crap but  are they good enough to do some small areas? 

next time I plan to:

- repair rusted through areas on the box section (I think I’ll be lucky to get through this as will be my first time welding in patch panels....wish me luck....) 

- hopefully get some kbs rustseal in there

[Mark Maras]

 You can try filling the holes with weld but you'll have to clean the rust from around them first. After removing the rust, you'll probably find you've enlarged the hole out to solid steel and have a dime or quarter size hole to patch. I can assure you that inserting a piece of sheet metal into a clean hole is much easier and satisfying than chasing a hole in rusty sheet metal with a Mig.

[Patcon]

Also some copper to back the hole Helps close them up too. Mind that the copper gets hot very quickly!!

Do you not have a metal shop that can brake a section like that for you?

I would consider replacing that or at least the worst sections. By the time its clean there wont be much metal left.

Several years ago I would have chased those holes. I have come around to the idea that it's overall just easier to get rid of that rotten metal and the chassis is stiffer for it

 

[dutchzcarguy]

19 hours ago, 240ZBUILTBYME said:

I’ve lost a tonne of sleep lately,

Yeah...  to answer your question.. no i did'nt let it get to me. (when i was restoring my 280zx slick roof..) even when someone broke the 3th !!!! windscreen i kept relative calm..  The first one had a pit in it it broke later on when in storage.. so my own fault. the next was 400 euro and the girlfriend of my 1st painter broke it while cleaning the house.. but till this day she does not confess.. never seen the screen.. yeah whatever! the third was a co-worker of my 2nd painter.. then i had to order a 4th screen pff.. so don't let it get to you..  Restoring a car is ALWAYS more work than you think..  Patience is my biggest trump..  what's yours? 😉 

Edited July 27, 2021 by dutchzcarguy

[240ZBUILTBYME]

On 7/27/2021 at 6:12 PM, dutchzcarguy said:

what's yours? 😉

Ignorance.... lol

out of interest, did you remove the chrome windscreen trim on your 280zx yourself? Is it possible to remove it without breaking the retaining clips? From my research it seems impossible. 

I recently bought a 280zx and it has a small bubble of rust on the bottom of the windscreen. I want to remove the lower trim to see if I can clean up the rust without removing the windscreen. 

[dutchzcarguy]

1 hour ago, 240ZBUILTBYME said:

it has a small bubble of rust on the bottom of the windscreen.

Yeah.. thats how they all start to desintegrate...

1 hour ago, 240ZBUILTBYME said:

did you remove the chrome windscreen trim on your 280zx yourself?

YES!  I did, but it was a bit of a pain in the ****.. haha..  My original windscreen was put in by CAR GLASS ..  The people that claim to do the windscreen for any car in no time..  Yeah they made a mess of it. Normally the chrome trim is installed with clips, they were used but also some windshield adhesive.. i had to restore the clips and get rid of the old adhesive.

I ended up with al the clips but 2..  so i think that went well. (especially when you consider that i needed to install it twice due to a broken 3th screen!) 

You first have to take the sides off? (and that means the part above the door.. that connects to the rubber-rail IN the top of the door (I had a nont-bar remember..) )   I don't remember correctly, look in the s130 serv .man. you can find it on this website.

Btw.. i did the same in 1990.. (only in the opp. order..) haha.. bought a 280zx (ready to drive)  and weeks later a 240z to restore.. but that 240z went noware.. i still have parts of it in store!

Edited August 16, 2021 by dutchzcarguy

[240ZBUILTBYME]

18 minutes ago, dutchzcarguy said:

look in the s130 serv .man. you can find it on this website.

 

I had a look in the fsm but it didn’t give much usable info, doesn’t mention anything about the side trims. Though I know you have to take them off first

[dutchzcarguy]

34 minutes ago, 240ZBUILTBYME said:

Though I know you have to take them off first

Yes, And they are in between the chassis and the steel rail for the door rubber. i believe you can take out the doorrubber there and take out the big phillips screws (they are JIS* screws but phillips gets it done) and then you can take the side stainless of the screen.. pop back the rubber in the rail and you can close the doors ..  Use some plastic sort of screwdriver stick to do the stainless off the upper stainless strip. (that way you don't mess up the stainless they are hard to find in a perfect condition.) Take your time.

I think it's the same on a t-bar car but i had a non t-bar car. On a non t-bar car there is a piece of rainrail attached to the rubber rail that also has to be removed before you can remove the side stainless of the screen pfff... complicated but.. made/engineered very well!

Then you can .. again use a plastic flat screwdriver of some sort to pull the upper or lower strip of the screen. IF there isn't used a lot of adhesive.  Use a stanley knife to cut through the old adhesive, again taking your time, you don't want the stainless to get a kink in it!  (On the rear window i used stainless off of 3-4 rearwindows! to get it good)

If you ever want to polish those stainless parts.. do it on the car before you disassemble, why? you will end op with spagetti stainless when you even try to polish it on a machine. It WILL fly out your hands at some point.. (NO i didn't do this myself, there where people here who done this and ended up with a mess.. there are pic's on here of it!)

If you want to polish them later, cover the rubber with plastic sort of tape like the electrician uses so you don't "polish"the rubber the stainless is in!

(Make a new topic for your 280zx on here! please!! 🙂 )

*  JIS =  Japanese Industrial Standard.     (a screw that looks like a Phillips but is not, it's a JIS.

Edited August 16, 2021 by dutchzcarguy

[dutchzcarguy]

On 8/16/2021 at 2:04 PM, dutchzcarguy said:

(Make a new topic for your 280zx on here! please!! 🙂 )

Hey !!  Ryan... How are you? something done to the 240z or 280zx lately?  We all know it's not a easy job so let us know, when we / where we, can help!  

 

[240ZBUILTBYME]

So it’s been a long time since I have worked on the car. 2021 proved to be a the worst year I’ve experienced so far in my short life. 

My dear mum suffered complications during surgery in January 2021, she fought the good fight but ultimately we had to let her go last year in September. I have never suffered such pain. 6 months on though I’m in a much better place.

During her stay in hospital I was still working on the car and it was a welcome distraction for me and a stress release, or maybe more of a stress replacement?  I’m not sure.

So I will be dedicating this project to my dear mum and will change it to Project Georgia In loving memory of her.

then in February we bought a new house and have been flat out preparing the old place for sale and moving into the new place. Bonus is the new place has an awesome man cave two car garage!

have made small progress on stripping the dash in preparation for reskinning. 

It’s a very rough dash so I’m letting the pros deal with it.

hopefully get back to working on the car once all this house business is sorted. 

[SteveE]

Sorry for your loss, much to young.  Remember the good times.

Best of luck with the new home and with the Zcar.  Just keep at it.