Namerow

Nice photo essay. Well done. If you or anyone else has the opportunity, a similar presentation for the rocker panel area would be a great assist for other restorers.

Good question. Perhaps they're used to secure the special finisher plate used on cars with the automatic transmission? The cutback in the tunnel sheet metal was a common solution for those who installed 5-speeds. As it stands, you may find that your knuckles come close to colliding with the dash trim when you select 1st, 3rd, or 5th gear. One solution is to fabricate a modified shift lever with a 'S' bend down low so that the upper part of the lever is moved about an inch to the rear. This will also allow the sift lever to better align with the outer shift boot. The 'extra' plate is, I believe, just a doubler sheet, used to provide a little extra stiffness for this region of the transmission tunnel (otherwise weakened by the cutout for the shift lever).

I did. The originals, although intact, were stiff and discoloured. I found some clear vinyl sheet of suitable thickness and made new ones, using the old protectors as templates.

Correct. And just confirmed c/o Parts Manual, which shows distinct PN's for the LH and RH 'slide assembly with lever'. These are mirror images of one another, such that the lever's shaft runs along the inboard length of each seat and the lever arm points outboard on both (makes it convenient to operate for right-handed drivers of LHD cars, but not so good for left-handers like me).

A dry-cleaner's bag works nicely. Just slip it over the entire seat back and trim to length. Makes it much easier to install the new seat cover. A bit of talc powder can also be used to assist.

Nice job. I used Distinctive Industries' covers when re-doing the seats for my 70 Z. I did not purchase new foam b/c the OE foam still seemed in good shape. Long story short, I found the fit of the new covers to be a bit baggy. Things improved a lot with the addition of 1/2" and 1/4" foam sheet in strategic locations (esp. the front and side bolsters), along with pushed-into-place 'basting' material (bought at a dressmaker's shop) that helped to remove/reduce wrinkles in certain locations. I was pretty happy with the end result, esp. considering the fact that this was my first-ever venture into the world of automotive upholstery. FWIW, hot rod and boat shops can provide a lot of guidance for this type of work.

Excellent photos. Thanks for posting. It is, indeed, a complicated joint. I'm always impressed by the skills of the manufacturing engineers and designers who (with little credit) develop such schemes and make them ready for mass-production. I've often wished for 'exploded view' explanations of how the contributing panels come together at complex joints such as this one (another good example is the 'dogleg' behind the lower-rear door area). Unfortunately, it would require either: a) an informed industrial artist (similar to the person who created the drawings in the parts manual), or; b) a photographer in possession of all of the individual panels/stampings. Alas, the chances of either happening is remote.

Does anyone have a picture of how the roof and rear quarter panels come together when the latter is replaced. Failing that, maybe just a detail shot of the relevant area of the rear quarter panel. There has to be a weld somewhere!

That makes sense.

And yet... Hard for me to believe that a broad-surface soldered joint like this one would offer structural flexibility sufficient to absorb the amount of distortion that would cause the windshield to pop out of its frame (which, we should remember, is lined with a compliant rubber seal). Not disputing Mr. Matsuo's claim, but I wonder whether the flexibility that he spoke of had more to do with positioning flexibility (compared to spot welding) for the two parts during and just after the joining process*, rather than after the car hit the road. Put another way, just how much would that joint need to 'give' in order to prevent the amount of windshield frame distortion needed to make the windshield pop out: 1/16"? Is that soldered joint really capable of absorbing 1/16" of relative shear without breaking?

Nicely done. We should all have milling machines and lathes in our workshops!

Counter-thought: You say that you have a mill. Cut off the end of the housing at a point just past the deepest part of the gouge. Now mill out the ID of the remaining housing wall to half the original thickness. Make the milled-out area as deep as you can. Find some aluminum pipe with about the right ID and OD. Machine outside and inside surfaces to get the correct final ID and OD. Now cut a stepped-down length of OD to match the ID of the undercut that you created in the housing. Aim for an interference fit, where your new piece would be chilled and the housing heated before assembly. Maybe add a few drop of the appropriate type of Loctite for extra security. It's hard to see from your photos whether the stub of good housing that sits below the gouged out section would be deep enough to make this sleeve approach work reliably. I would think that a drop-in length of 1/2" would be adequate.

Just placed my order!

The rollers on my guides were fairly wobbly, so I decided that the flexible washers were providing not just a preload but also a self-steering effect for the rollers... The tarp grommets definitely take up the clearance slop, but they're not flexible... I decided to take a different approach. A search through my 'this may come in handy some day' box of materials produced a small sheet of nice, shiny, thin-and-flexible vinyl. I already had a sheet of closed-cell neoprene foam, ~ 3/32" thick, that I'd used earlier as a gasket material when restring my Z's heater. Using weatherstrip adhesive, I glued up a composite sheet with the vinyl on both faces and the neoprene as the core, ending up with something that was both stretchy and slippery... From there, I used a hole punch and scissors to create a set of washers... The new washers were stretchy enough that they could be pulled over the nylon roller... Once in place, they gave me what I was looking for...

My sense is that the cone shape is less important (perhaps unimportant) than the ID of the delivery tube. I suspect that the cone shape is provided to help prevent material from building up at the orifice exit. A thin-wall brass tube sleeve (see GK's message, above) will certainly give more strength to a solder repair, but it may prove to be a matter of winning the battle while losing the war. My 2 cents: Buy a new gun ($50). Annoying, but pragmatic.

Can't you just solder the two pieces together?

IIRC, it requires reaching up from underneath the car with exactly the right long-reach/thin/inflexible tool capable of snagging the release lever and budging it enough to pop the hood. Others, I'm sure, will be able to offer more details.

I like that description. One of the audible trademarks of a Z is the noise the doors make (clang!) when they're slammed shut. Some others that come to mind: Engine cooling fan that imitates a hovercraft Wheezy 'seatbelt not fastened' buzzer Sound made by hood release cable when it finally snaps

The Z uses 150 Hp to propel a 2500-lb vehicle. If you were to put that same engine in a contemporary mid-size SUV, you'd now be asking the same powerplant to propel a 5000-lb vehicle. The acceleration times would be cut in half. Also, you'd be dealing with a less flexible engine b/c of the absence of things like computer-controlled electronic fuel injection and cam timing. There's also the not-inconsiderable difference between having only 4 transmission ratios vs more contemporary units with 8 or more ratios and computer-controlled shifting. Doubling the vehicle weight certainly wouldn't be kind to the Z's clutch and gearbox (or engine). However, I have no doubt that they'd function ok... for a while. The Z's powertrain was a conservative design built with excellent materials. I think you'd be accelerating the physical wear on critical components by maybe 25% - 50% -- but not by 100%. Give it a try and let us know how things work out 😄

Maybe I've forgotten something about this procedure, but wouldn't it be easier to just remove the chrome retaining ring and pull the headlamp unit out from the front? Or perhaps you're referring to the procedure for a car whose headlights use replaceable bulbs rather than sealed-beams?

I wonder if this was intended as an alternate routing for the front wiring harness in cases where the car was equipped with an A/C condenser?

I didn't even know that those holes were wiring passthroughs, let alone the fact that they're supposed to be fitted with grommets 😶. My 240-Z learning experience continues.

Car looks great. Nice work, Chris.

Agree.

Condolences to his family.