Patcon

"Very minimal rust" is not how I would describe that! If you look close you can tell there is rust everywhere: spare tire well, dog legs, frame rails. The front rails look all gooped up with fiberglass or something. If you look close at the front fender the front edge is all gone, covered with electrical tape. I would like to see it saved but I think 10k is a little high.

They do beautiful paint work!! It's a shame they are so far away from me. It is always nice to have someone paint a Datsun that knows Datsun's!

Check your profile settings and make your actual address private. No reason to share that with the world @STeeleMarine

That would be a good find if you could get it out

Can't wait to see how this progresses

transmissions in your area appear to be $300-400 from salvage yards

I am assuming that the 280 location is the same or close to the 240 location

Start here https://www.classiczcars.com/files/category/15-300zx/ There are a few options for a FSM download. They are easier to use on a computer as opposed to a phone. There should be full tear down and rebuild instructions in there. If you shift too aggressively and flog these transmission they won't last. My2cents

Of course I am! The triangle magnets are much weaker. That's good to know!

Mathew is going to be selling his soon. See if it can be broken down and shipped. PM him and make him an offer. I think you will find as I did that buying the steel stcok costs almost as much as buying a fabricated rotisserie. Although, you're in Texas and steel is cheaper there.

I don't know. It just seemed to splatter everywhere

I have several triangle magnets that help you square up pieces to each other and hold them. I use them when I make structural brackets for work or steel posts and such. I have never noticed an issue before. I will pay closer attention now.

If people knew your motivation or goal, they might be more inclined to help or even search for it with you. The random ask doesn't always work.

There's a lot of work waiting for you in your car! Good luck with it!

What are you actually trying to figure out?

So I started to work on these panels. I tried to lay down the first bead and I was like "What the heck!" I know I am becoming senile but I thought I turned the gas on. Yeah went through that a couple times. Righty tighty-lefty loosy. All good... Maybe I bumped the regulator. I turned it way up. I can hear and feel the gas coming out the tip. Plenty of pressure in the bottle. Maybe it's a contaminant? I had a new piece of copper as a back up behind the hole. You can see it in one of the pictures. I took it out and it welded fine. Here is the catch. I had the "bright" idea to use a magnet to hold the copper piece in place. The magnet I have is a very strong rare earth magnet. You just about can't pull them off a surface with your fingers. So I held the copper back under there without the magnet and the welds were still fine. The magnetic field was doing that to the weld puddle. So it makes me wonder if my other magnetic holders affect the weld puddle too. I will have to keep an eye on that.

Yes, this is true!! My big buffer stand is two speed 2600/2800 rpm. The lower speed works great on plastic, but I am also finding, it is much easier and safer to buff delicate unobtanium at the lower speeds too. It takes a little longer, but better than getting hurt or "losing it" over crimping a beautiful piece of stainless

I still have the one on the car. We're all good!

I think you did excellent!!!! It is very challenging to paint in your garage where you are also sanding. You are making dust in the one space you don't want dust, the spray booth. I have shot plenty of panels and they look perfect. I come back in 15 minutes and there is all kinds of trash in them. Really frustrating!! I agree with Grannyknot, there are plenty of professional paint jobs out there that don't look half this good! You did really well and the next attempt at paint will turn out twice as good. In some of this, there is no replacement for hands on experience. You get a feel for what a smooth panel looks like and feels like and you get a feel for how much paint you are really laying on. Also a respray is far less work, just don't use any waxes in the mean time with silicone in them! Scuff the panels with guide coat. Fix the misc, tape and shoot. Man, I make that sound easy! ?

I blacked out my wheel wells because the car is yellow. The factory had them body color, but I figured they would show wear less if they were black. I ran rubberized undercoater. It worked ok, but I had some areas that didn't adhere. I think that was due to a cheap product. I would do it again. I shot lizard skin sound and heat on the inside of the roof panel. No problem adhering the headliner. BTW it is much easier to install the headline with the car on the rotisserie and upside down. The shop maybe be right about the panel gaps. It wouldn't surprise me at all if the chassis flexes significantly on the rotisserie

Pretty car!

Did some work on the rear end panels I want to close up the holes so I don't have the big puddle welds again. So I ma going to weld some of them smaller and some I am going to patch entirely then drill a new hole Here is the latest episode on ugly welds? It's not a gas issue and not a contamination issue. I figured it out, but anyone have any guesses? I took a grinding die and rounded out the holes and started making small metal patches. I would have finished today but I didn't do anything productive today. Cody had a great idea on how to make the patches. I took some light card stock and traced the hole onto. I cut that out then I cut a scrap of metal that is a little larger. Then I take a set of small nose welding clamps and clamp them together with the pattern on top. A 2" grinder with a 36 grit roloc and I trim them to shape. I made like nine of them late on Saturday. I have like 25 total to make!

Stripped two of the three finishers on Saturday This is the rust I am trying to deal with Especially under the trim Worked on the finisher trim Stripped the paint off of them first Then did some polishing with a hand held wheel and the buffing stand. It turned out really nice so far I was going to double check that the trim is stainless but my adult kids brought me some illness over Xmas, so I didn't spend any time in the shop today. ?

Here are some of the clips. Two halves and a whole. the whole one is cracked on top. They are difficult to get off. You have to bend the tab up some to get them off. I will prime them good before they go back on the car. Then readjust the welded tabs

Evidently this is difficult to source in the US. We would have to get it directly out of Japan. I did some looking and even some of the sources available from other countries are being drop shipped out of Japan.