Namerow

Patcon is correct. The 'inner fender' (which you might see as being the engine compartment side wall) forms the fourth side of the box. Thar inner fender panel has a horizontal flange along its bottom edge. For its part, the 'frame rail' has a vertical flange along its top surface. The frame rail is joined to the inner fender by two rows of spot welds: the first along the horizontal flange and the second along the vertical flange. I agree that it can be a head-scratcher until you stop and stare at the details.

There is no such thing as 'a good impact socket to fit the transmission bolt'. In fact, there is no such thing as 'a good socket to fit the transmission bolt' -- unless you buy the special 'double-square' socket that I recommended in my earlier post. A regular 6-point or 12-point socket is guaranteed to ruin a square bolt head. You'll be better off using a big pipe wrench. Also: When you're using the heat gun, you need to focus on the aluminum casing around the bolt, rather than on the bolt itself. The idea is to make the casing expand. It's not the same as when you're trying to break a bolt free where the threads are corroded. In this case, you're simply dealing with a big bolt that's been over-torqued into a giant, thin-wall aluminum casting.

Don't consider heat as a 'last resort' strategy. Instead, make it part of your basic strategy. As mentioned by someone else earlier, don't use a flame source (i.e. don't use a torch). Instead, use an electric heat gun (inexpensive, easy to find, easy and fairly safe to use). I would suggest that you heat the area around the plug for about 2 minutes. Then you can go with whatever wrench strategy you decide to use. The square-head type of plug (whether male or female) isn't designed for high-torque, so it's not too hard to round off the corners if you get sloppy. Make sure that you choose a wrench that fits as closely as possible. In fact, a pipe wrench (a big one) may prove to be the most suitable because these are designed to self-tighten (if you use them properly, that is). Another option is an 8-point ('double-square'), 1/2"-drive 17mm socket fitted to a 24" breaker bar. The type of socket that I'm talking won't be available at your local tool store. You can order one from Toolpan.com ($7.50), but it may be a few weeks before they can ship. No matter what wrench you choose, one of the challenges can be positioning. With a four-sided plug head, a pipe wrench can only be installed in four positions -- i.e. stepping around the plug head at 90-degree intervals. An open-end wrench is much the same, although they're designed so that the wrench end is about 10 degrees off centre, meaning that if the plug head is oriented at 12 o'clock / 3 o'clock / 6 o'clock / 9 o'clock then the wrench end will be at (for the 3 o'clock example), either 2:45 or 3:15, achieved by flipping the wrench over. The double-square socket on a non-ratcheting breaker bar will let you adjust the breaker bar position at 45-degree increments.

I like your wheel/tire choice and I like the stance as is (picture 2). Also the amount of wheel/tire 'fill' within the fender openings. The problem, however, is that your tire to top-of-wheel arch gap appears bigger the front than at the rear. I think it's a bit too big at the front and a bit too small at the rear. But maybe the shadows make it difficult to tell. If I'm right, though, perhaps the best starting strategy would be a half coil off the front and a bit more spacer at the rear. The visual part is subjective. Messing around with the suspension too much can have undesired consequences.

Mike at Whitehead is an honest, but busy, guy and not famous for replying to emails. I suggest you go old school and call him by telephone.

Was the OE bush split?

@zKars Are the OE bushings split, like this one appears to be? If so, it adds some interesting wrinkles to how the ID and OD specs should be interpreted.

I've never been very enthusiastic about poly bushings. I know they appeal to the 'go fast' group, but they punish the car's occupants on roads that are anything other than perfect. Here in the salt belt region, perfect roads are hard to find. With wide, low-profile tires, poly bushings in the steering will amplify every seam and step in the pavement and feed the result right back into your wrists. You may end up 'communicating with the road' a lot more than you really wanted to. That said, I see you live in North Carolina, so winter-damaged road surfaces may not be a concern. And if you're only going to use the car for occasional fun blasts, you probably won't be behind the wheel long enough to notice. Back in the day, a lot of 'enthusiast' owners decided that the original Z's steering system was too mushy. Before poly bushings arrived on the scene, the solution was to: 1) substitute a hockey puck for the shaft coupler bush, and; 2) shim the mounting faces of the rack bushings. While I don't recommend the hockey puck, you might consider the shimming strategy so that you can retain the rubber rack bushings. It's a low-cost (and reversible) strategy for reducing compliance in the rack mounting. A suggested shimming material: 1mm polyethylene sheet stock (no worries about rust).

My 5/70 also has this plastic clamshell motor cover. I wonder if Nissan switched to the soft-vinyl bag because it made the wiper system installation a little easier during the vehicle assembly process.

Such lists have been created by at least three CZCC members in the past -- in varying degrees of completeness. In fact, I think somebody just posted another one a couple of weeks ago. Here's my favourite (because it includes photos). It dates from 2019 and, IIRC, was posted by either @CanTechZ or @240dkw. Whoever it was, I hope they spot this re-post and claim credit. It's very nicely done. s30_Hardware_pictures.pdf

Remarkable quality for this price.

It is a special group of true believers (perhaps slightly mad) that decide to do their own parts prep and plating. If I had it to do over again, I think I would build a Shinto shrine next to the garage so that I could visit it and ask for the gods' blessing before committing my parts to the plating bath .

Thanks for taking the time to photo-document. These pix will be a great reference for others. They also give us interesting insights into the design and assembly strategies that Nissan was using fifty years ago when the Z was launched.

How did you get your Z up on the elevator pads?

Very nice. The word, 'hooligan' comes to mind. Make sure you read up on the new revisions to the Ontario stunt driving laws .

Does your wife know that you're using her bath towels in the garage?

I wonder if it's just a programmed-in emissions thing specific to manual transmissions. My car (2006 GM product with a manual transmission) does the same thing. The hang period is similar -- a few seconds. Really annoying.

And I'll add to that: Which die grinder type do you find works best for spot-weld work: straight? right-angle? Or does it depend on the weld location and accessibility? Do you see any merit in a variable-speed feature for this type of work? Have you tried the 'low-noise' designs and, if so, do they live up to their billing?

Are the Nissan OE bushings NLA?

The only source that I know of for ready-made sheet metal for this area is UK-based Automotive Panel Solutions (no website, but can be found on Facebook). The proprietor does beautiful work but -- as noted above -- it ain't cheap. A third solution will be to find a donor car, cut out the required sections, and then graft them into your car. I can't see the rest of your car from the photo you've offered. However, if this level of rust is typical of the entire vehicle, you may want to consider acquiring a better vehicle to start your project with.

Question 1: How did you secure the oak template? It looks like it's sitting on top of a bench vise, but it's not clear whether it's actually being clamped by the bench vise. Perhaps the oak template actually has two levels, where the top level (forming section) is full-width while the bottom level has a reduced width so that it can fit inside the span of the jaws of the bench vise? If this is the case, how are the top and bottom levels joined together? Glue? Wood screws? Or were both levels carved from a solid wood block? Question 2: It looks like there's a sheet of copper sitting on top of one of the jaws of the bench vise. What is its purpose in this set-up? Question 3: What 'gauge' of sheet metal did you use here? p.s. It's nice to see these 'old world' panel-forming techniques being practiced. Your results look just as good as anything our friends at Tabco have been turning out. Probably better.

I have exactly the same issue with an approach slope to my garage... although the frequency of my new-project arrivals pales in comparison with GK's. I bought a hand-crank winch and bolted it to my workbench (which is bolted to the back wall of my garage). Motorized would have been better, but it was certainly an improvement over a come-along

Going back to the engine removal for a moment, I noticed two things you did that I'd like the hear more about: At the front hoist point, you bypassed the lift bracket installed on the hoist chain and used, instead, a clevis and a bolt. Was the clevis a part of the hoist kit, or did you source it separately? At the rear hoist point, you appear to have removed the header stud and used a bolt instead. Please explain.

That's impressive work. Nice attention to planning and details. Not a great deal of ceiling clearance in your garage workspace, either. I don't think I've ever heard anyone talk about pulling a Z engine without removing to hood. I don't think I've seen anyone bring the hoist in from the side, either.

More of your most.