Dave W 1971/240Z rebuild

[Patcon]

Looks good. Those are nice tools to have. The floor pans look to have an excellent fit!

[HusseinHolland]

Those floor panels look like a really good fit! 

I bought one of those flanger/hole punch tools - it was essential for the roof junction on my Volvo pickup truck conversion. I used Lord Fusor & a spot welder through the sunroof opening to join it though, no panel distortion that way.

Edited December 5, 2023 by HusseinHolland

[grannyknot]

Most if not all welds in these pics aren't completed yet, I'm just trying to get the bulk of the metal work done before Xmas. Filling them in and finishing will be in the next stage.

The front triangular sections of the rails were pretty banged up so I hammered them back into the best shape I could and now I'm adding 2.5mm plate on the bottom to add some strength and make them into jacking points.

Dave stopped by with the rebuilt brake booster, they did a beautiful job.

Two full days to figure out the deck lid supports and add the new deck lid.  The KFV parts in this area are not all that accurate so lots of massaging was needed.

Here is a little addition I wish Nissan had added back in the day, the original channels dump the water right into the corner of the deck lid and then it just sits there, rotting the metal.  This extra 4" of channel has the water clear the deck lid before draining on to the ground.  Made from the off cuts of the KFV panels.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[grannyknot]

I'm working for the best customer you can imagine, Dave just dropped off the best Xmas present I have ever received.  An ESAB Thermal Dynamics Cutmaster 30+ plasma cutter!  This thing is such a sweet toy, I used it today to cut out the last reinforcement plate for the D/S rail.  I have wanted one of these for years so it is going to get a lot of use.

Repairs on the wheel well lip can be a real bugger, the quarter panel and inner wheel well liner are so close there is very little room to work with. Fortunately, the off cuts of the KFV dog leg panels came in handy as they are a good match for the lip.

Both floor pans are in now, if you install the rail first you can end up with a gap under the front seat mount even though it is at the correct height.

 

So on the D/S I installed the seat mount first but found the rail to have a big gap, had to slice the end of the rail so I could get everything to line up and then weld it back together.

[grannyknot]

I wasn't sure if I was going to be able to save the battery tray or the inner fender supporting it.

The tray I threw in a bucket of citric acid for a few days, some big pits but nothing broke through the surface so it is still usable.

I used a air scaler on the inner fender but couldn't begin to get the rust in the pinch weld so out of desperation I pulled out a phosphoric acid product I purchased years ago. I've never had much success with phosphoric acid but this stuff was really good, thick gel like consistency, it took several applications with scraping in between but I'm pretty happy with the results.

[grannyknot]

I think I have most if not all of the metal working done now, at least the cutting and welding.  I picked the supplies for the new paint job today, still have to go back p/u the paint and clearcoat as the guy at the autobody supply shop couldn't find a modern code for 920 Safari Gold. I'll ask that question in a separate thread.

 

We knew there was something funky going on with D/S quarter panel, I got all the filler dug out yesterday.  Time is money in collision shops, so much so that an extra 10 min with a hammer and dolly is asking too much.😄

[Patcon]

I bet they were really good with playdoh in middle school!!

[heyitsrama]

It looks like the outer edge of the fender was made out of body filler. 😬

How has your experience been with KFVintage been? I assume the dogleg was also repaired with those parts? I didn't see any images on page 10 or 11 of the thread...

[grannyknot]

2 hours ago, heyitsrama said:

It looks like the outer edge of the fender was made out of body filler. 😬

How has your experience been with KFVintage been? I assume the dogleg was also repaired with those parts? I didn't see any images on page 10 or 11 of the thread...

Well, they are miles better than the Tabco panels but some of the KFV panels fit better than others.  The floor pans are just about drop in and weld, the other panels all seem to be too big, which is better than too small. At least with the panel being bigger you can cut it up into 2-3 separate pieces so you can make each edge match the way it should then mark it, cut it and then weld it all back into one piece.

Here is the first D/S dog leg I installed, I didn't realize at that time that the panel was too big so I still have to go back and cut the bottom where the marker line is to get rid of that droop.

On the P/S I saved myself that work by cutting the dog leg up and using it as a patch, the marker line is where both panels were cut and welded.

The bottom of the fenders and deck lid supports were the same, I had to cut out as much as a 1/4" in places, then reweld them together.  I hope I don't sound like I'm complaining because I'm not, nip/tuck and massaging is all part cutting out rust and putting fresh metal back in.

After I scrape as much paint off as I can with a heat gun, I usually start blocking with 80 grit, but this time I thought I would give these a try, Norton Blaze rapid strip disc.  I've tried the 3M version and it wore out so fast it was waste of $.  These aren't cheap at $27.00 CDN a piece but I've done a little more than a 1/4 of the car and you can see how little has worn away.  I'll probably go through 3 discs for this project and save probably a 100 hrs and a lot of wear and tear on the back.  The only down side is they dump everything into the air, even with a fan on sucking the dust out of the shop there is still a layer of leaded red oxide dust on everything.

Edited December 29, 2023 by grannyknot

[heyitsrama]

Thanks for sharing the photos.

I don't see it as complaining at all, its def. part of the repair process. Hopefully going with pre-fabbed parts will save a bunch of time, could only imagine how much more labor it would be having to make each of these from scratch...

Does that rapid strip disk not create heat in the panel?

[grannyknot]

4 hours ago, heyitsrama said:

 

Does that rapid strip disk not create heat in the panel?

Not if you keep it moving. If you want these discs will easily cut through a 1/2" of paint and filler, I just prefer to heat and scrape so I can put all of the shavings in a bag instead of having a thick layer dust everywhere. If you are grinding out rust then yes the heat would ramp up quickly so just keep moving to a new area.

[grannyknot]

I started on the hood today, I dread doing the inside of the hood, all the little curves and angles make it the hardest panel.  Nobody even notices it unless it is done badly.

I'll strip the outside of the hood tomorrow, looks like I have a surprise waiting for me.