Patcon

Jai, When the car cuts off or won't start you need to be checking the pressure gauge under the hood. If your area is as safe as it looks, you can just leave the hood popped so its easy to open and look. The car will run fine on the road with the hood popped.

I agree with Mike. The other thing 2 things I suspect are a bound up spindle pin or one of the new strut cartridges is wrong or damaged. Sometimes even brand new parts are bad or miss labeled. Cbuckzesk's comment #87 on the spacer in the bottom of the strut tube is another possibility. If you pull the struts down and the springs off, remove the gland nuts, pull the strut cartridges out. Measure everything including how deep the hole is in the strut tube. Check part numbers on all the struts. I don't believe this is a chassis issue...if the rear strut cartridges are correct, match and everything looks ok, install them on opposite sides. See if the problem moves. If it does that will narrow it down.

Thanks 240dkw, the respirator is a good idea. I hadn't thought about the lead issue. If the sheet metal is that thick it might be easier to weld a tab to the outside and pull the dents out, but separating the halves gives great access for inspection, cleaning and repair.

If the low gas problem persists that would make it easier to diagnose. There are only a few possibilities, but I will wait to bring them up. If you confirm the diagnosis we will cross that bridge then.

If I were gonna try it I would get the tank cleaned real well and take a cutoff wheel around just inside the resistance weld seam. That should give you a good way to weld it back together.

240dkw When you cut your tank, it looks like you cut up high enough to cut into the air of the tank with a blade? Is there enough room on the flat to take a die grinder and grind through the shell following a line just inside the resistance weld? That way when you reassemble the tank you can basically weld it backed up by the other half of the shell. Butt welding all around the tank seems like the harder option. My concern for me would be making 8' or so of weld with no pin holes or blowing bigger holes

Yes but it sounds like an easy fix. It can be frustrating especially when people get careless...

He's close, it's right next door like 3500Km or so...

In this video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i3D7PuyXXp0 What is the machine at 3:31 and how does it work? Is it welding with the 2 wheels, friction welding or crimping or what, looks like there is power to the heads and some kind of vent drawing off smoke...

Can you catch them with your finger nail? If they don't feel real deep they can probably be buffed out. The paint looks like single stage but hard to know from a picture. You could experiment with some paste wax and see if you can polish out a little section of a scratch. If you can make it look right by hand a body shop will have no problem making them right. As for costs I don't know, a phone call would be in order.

I will do some more research on the tank construction. There is no weld that I know of around the perimeter of the tank flanges. I can't think of a fabrication technique that Nissan would have used 40 years ago that would have left those kind of marks... anyone have any ideas?

Only 60 tons? You got 40 more... That's crazy how it deformed the nuts. Might want to make some short sections of solid rod to use as arbors instead, just make sure they are small enough to not get stuck...

You can still separate it. I don't think it will change much. I routinely separate seams that have tighter contours than that. Lightly dress the seam with a flapper wheel or a 2" rolock and all the spot welds will show up. Drill through halfway, all the way or use a plasma cutter to blow the weld out. Use a panel knife, 5 way or a thin stiff chisel and split the seams. When you get close to the damage you will still be able to work your way around the damaged seam. then dolly and flatten. Clean the halves and reassemble..

It could be worse. It would be interesting to see pictures of the floor boards but under the battery looked surprisingly good. The front frame rails could be a problem though...

Mark That is a great tip on the dry ice. Simple, I love it

With the car level like that, get a jack stand as a safety or some wooden blocks so the car can't fall on you and measure from the large bolt head on the rear side of the control arm to the floor. the bolt threads in to the tube that has the rear bushing on it. the measurements aught to be pretty close if the floor is flat. If they are roughly the same the problem is in the struts. Springs, strut, tube or the way its mounted. Maybe one of the struts is wrong or bad. I don't think my question about strut cartridges earlier has been answered post #58

240dkw Why did you not try to drill out the spot welds and separate the halves that way? Seems like reassembly would be easier and sealing the inside would take care of the rest...

Chuck, How much compression are you running on them?

Way to go Jim! That will save me from trying to find someone to reinvent the wheel or hours translating Japanese ebay pages looking for them

CO I am not that techy when it comes to this stuff. More seat of the pants sketch with a pencil kind of stuff. You know architectural degree versus engineering degree and all. I just sort of looked at the internal threads and thought those come really close to the exterior threads... That's when you expect to hear someone say " Hey y'all watch dis..."

Wheee I wonder if a paintless dent guy could get the dent out for you. Either with some suction cups or some long curve picks . My second choice would be a stud welder and puller but make sure the take is well cleaned first. Blowing yourself up doesn't sound like much fun, met someone who did that once...

Zed, In reality neither the all thread or the outer tube should rotate when pulling the pin. There is a bearing between 2 washers on the other end that allows the nut to tighten without implying torque to the all thread. I believe Captain is right. Not enough meat left in the all thread for what is being asked of it.

If a strut was in the wrong location front to back would that affect the stance like this? Just thinking out loud...I am also assuming that the front and rear struts are different. Are the gland nuts threaded in the same depth all the way around?

When you dolly a seam like that it typically works best to use a fairly flat dolly on the exterior of the door. With the door inside facing up use a round face or square face body hammer to roll the edge down. Lots of light strikes working up and down the edge. Try to roll the entire length at the same time. Once it's rolled down fairly close use a body hammer with a chisel face and roll the area close to the door up good and closed. When you hold the dolly on the exterior try to hold it under the area where the inner skin meets the out skin to reduce damage to the outside of the new patch. Part of the problem I have run into with this is the new Tabco panels are fairly thick especially when compared to some areas on these cars, so sometimes this is easier said than done...

I think I may have a set of those dual mirrors from my first Z...Hhhhhmmmmm