I'm preparing to repaint my '74 260z had have a few rust issues to attend to. A few months back I went to Pete's Custom Coachbuilding near Chagrin Falls, OH for their Octoberfest. They specialize in full restoration of Porsches. I asked them why they always grind off all the old paint when they restore a car and was told "you never know what you'll find under the paint."

Well here's proof. I have what I thought was a complete repair record for my car that had no mention of rust repair or painting except for back in 1982. The bottom of the right dog leg came loose from the pinch weld and when I moved the bottom around, all this rust poured out. I started grinding off the old paint and found body filler. Then I found the patch. I cut out the old patch and found a rusted cavity.

I'm picking up a new dog leg from a local supplier but I could use some input on if I need to address the rusted mess behind the new patch other than to cut out and paint with rust inhibitor. (note the drilled holes are me trying to drill out spot welds) Is there anything that needs reconstruction?

Yes, probably!

Can't really tell but there is a middle reinforcing plate theat should be there. It looks mostly gone.

The end of the rocker appears to be gone too. The inner rocker may also need patchwork.

You really need to cut back to good metal and see where that is. I think the outer rocker is gonna need to come off too

By middle reinforcing plate do you mean part 5 on this diagram I think its find. I've cleared away some of the heavily corroded metal and took another photo for a better look at the damage. There is a recent patch and blind rivets on the back and side wall I did 3 years ago to fix a hole that developed. I sprayed some rust sealing paint at that time.

The sheet metal directly in front of part 5 is gone below the large nut but I'm not sure of its function and I cannot locate it on the CarPartsManual.com site.

I found this photo in a Nov. 2018 post. Other than the outer dog leg portion that I plan on buying, where can I get the other parts shown in the photo or do I need to fabricate them?

Try KF Vintage.

https://kfvintagejdm.com/product-category/datsun/

The large nut is the seat belt, I believe.

I was going to suggest KF Vintage

https://kfvintagejdm.com/shop/datsun/inner-rocker-seat-belt-reinforcement-right-side-datsun-240z/

I believe this is the other part but you may have to contact them

https://kfvintagejdm.com/shop/datsun/dogleg-lower-inner-repair-panel-right-side-12in/

I might be using the wrong terminology here so bear with me here.

I didn't see the right seat belt reinforcement suggested by Patcon, on my Z. Is this part to be used if part 5 in the CarPartsManual.com is damaged? If so, I think that anchor point for the seat belt looks fine so unless I'm missing something, I'm assuming I don't need it. Please correct me if I'm wrong.

I was going to order the inner dogleg but I'm confused as to what purpose it serves. It will be a bit of a pain to remove because it has a wire threaded through the large hole and it appears to be spot welded in several locations. Does it add support?

KFvintage shows a part (pictured) that I'm assuming was mostly destroyed by rust:

https://kfvintagejdm.com/shop/datsun/datsun-240z-rear-rigth-side-outer-rocker-repair-section/

Does this part go inside the rocker panel? A few responses up where I provided an image from a Nov. 2018 posting, there's what looks like this part but it has a hole in it that I'm assuming aligns with the seat belt bolt. I'm assuming that I need this part to reinforce the outer rocker panel.

Edited April 17Apr 17 by Jeff Berk

Here is a good image from the JDM service manual

The highlighted part in the image above is the seat belt mount/reinforcement that @Patcon sent.

Here is a link to item 8 in the JDM image above you might want get too, as the seat belt mount/reinforcement welds to it. The front part of these commonly rust out as well.

https://kfvintagejdm.com/shop/datsun/inner-rocker-left-side-datsun-240z/

You can see that part in your rusty picture. It has the large nut welded to it and the perimeter flange is turned towards the outside. Yours appears to have a hole rusted through it. So I would assume most of it is toast...

MyMechanics dog leg repair

You all have probably seen this by now...

DrFeelGood,

Love that video!

Jeff