im working on my 280z project car and tackling lighting currently. I went to remove and check the wiring for the headlights and one of the previous owners in the 80s decided to WELD the buckets to the fender... He did alot of body work to make the car have very minimal body panel lines and used bondo to smooth everything out. i thought that was just it until i took it off and its stich wedled... poorly at that. ill get them off but not right now.

Can i replace without removing the bucket?

8 hours ago, Toiletduck34 said:

Can i replace without removing the bucket?

The headlights are removed from behind. Inside the wheel well. So yes... You can remove the headlights without removing the bucket. In fact, there is no "maintenance" reason to ever remove a bucket. Only ever removed when doing bodywork on the car.

It is my theory that the only reason the buckets exist in the first place (instead of making the fender and the bucket all one piece) is that Datsun could not manufacture the fender that way. The metal is not able stretch and shrink enough to make that possible. I think that if it were possible, they would have made it all one piece from the factory.

Last thought... I think that welding the buckets to the fenders and removing that seam line is a great improvement to the looks of the car.

When done right, of course.

Thank you for that information that's great. I personally like the body lines but if done well it looks great. This one was done in the '80s and I'm sure it looked great then but it's had a hard life since.