Patcon

Be sure and make note of the roof joint thread I started, and follow John's advise on high to install the rails properly. More weld is not always better!

We have a new project on the table. We wanted to have a 5 speed in his car before Zcon but we ran out of time. So we have sourced a transmission. It was pretty cheap but the input and output shafts have some rust on them from sitting in the salvage yard This car didn't have a motor in it. So it was exposed. I plan on trying to clean this up. We'll see The tranny goes through all the gears and turns smoothly but had very little fluid in it. It may have leaked out the rear because there was no drive shaft under the car. The plan it to open up the case and look it over and try to clean up the input shaft. The output is pretty greasy and looks a lot better than this end. I am working on figuring out how to disassemble the two cases. We also had to convince the fill plug to come out. What a pain! It was already chewed up where some one else had tried to get it out. So we started with some specialty vise grips, nope Then we moved on to a large set of channel locks, nope Then we tried a pipe wrench with a cheater. Can get the right access for the wrench, nope. Then I reground the flats onto the plug. tried a 15mm with a cheater pipe, nope. So we moved onto the welder. I took a large nut and welded it to the end of the plug. The welds didn't penetrate and the nut turned right off. So I got a large bolt. Turned up the heat and tried again Then we got out the impact I win!!! Now I will probably have to source a new fill plug. If I can't get the input shaft splines clean. The input shaft available new?

The engine aught to turn fairly smoothly with the plugs out. If it has been a while since it ran, there might be some rust scale in the bores. It is easier to turn from the crank bolt.

That car has been up for a few months now. It would need to be a lot cheaper for me to give a second look.

Passenger side too

Also I believe when they sprayed the egine compartment the tab near the fuel filter was down and the paint didn't hit there. It also appears the drivers side spindle is missing a nut

Post up some pictures to make it clearer where you are working

I have used "After blast" from Eastwood on clean metal. It has acid in it so it converts the rust and seems to keep it away unless it gets wet with condensation. Ospho would work too

Yes, get the shield gas if you can. Should be an Argon / CO2 blend I believe. Much cleaner welds

Thanks for the feed back.

Very carefully! I thought the same thing!

You might want to pretreat the few little rust spots with phosphoric. I would do some research first though. I have seen some info that suggest some epoxies don't like to go over acid treated panels very well. I haven't had any issues with adhesion but some people have evidently had the epoxy come off in big pieces. If you do acid treat the rust spots, which is what I would do, especially after the paint failures on Cody's goon. I would go back after converting and sand the panel really well and shoot epoxy right afterwards. That would remove any excess acid residue and get you down to good metal and good iron phosphate

That's a good thought. I will look at the lock set. I am not sure there is enough metal there to make the slot wider. That's a good idea though. No, on the bottle jack, but I own a porta-power. I have a small puck jack that might go into the space in the hatch. I am not sure the inner frame is strong enough to use as a backstop though. That is also an idea worth pursuing. I didn't spend a lot of time trying to get the lock into the hatch Saturday because the contortions were killing me. I hope to look at it closer this coming weekend

Dude! How did you end up with my old chevy??? Mine looked about like that with one shock replaced with baling wire. When we brought it home I coated my wifes windshield with oil blow by Apologies for the side track Jeff Jeff can you source a truck like that in Aussie land? They are getting more expensive here, much less there

If you do the lap seams at the back of the pan and the original pan is on the bottom, you will need to be sure and seam seal it really well or that joint will pick up water. I like to butt weld the tunnel side and I would probably butt weld the front too. I believe there was originally a lap weld some where near the rear of the pan but I am not positive on that. I like to make my repairs as invisible as possible. I believe the less the car looks like a patch work quilt the better value it will have.

Those are big moves so early in the auction. Will be fascinating to see where it finishes

My first thought was cut and fill, but then I thought about it. Do you really have to cut it out first. Maybe you could just strip the area of paint and filler. Treat the rust, then weld a panel in flush with the quarter. If it ever became necessary to reverse the procedure, most of the metal would still be in place. Plus the edges of the relief will help prevent warping.

I think in the later cars maybe the 280zx had orange lettering. I am not sure a 280zx speedo has that shape to the housing. IIRC, In the states the 280zx cars did not have high speeds listed on the speedos because at the time the government didn't want to have them read very high. I think they read to 85mph. The rest of the world might have gotten 160mph units in the 280zx. My other guess would be it has been re-lettered with orange. I sort of doubt that though.

No on the 260 dash, yes it's sacrilege. I would think you could source the correct glove box door and heater controls from Aus or maybe Yahoo auctions out of Japan Don't have a clue on the orange instrument markings. What does the orange numerated speedo read up to? Also the tachs are different year to year and have different operating methods.

Ok, I need some ideas from you guys: I have been working on blocking out the car and checking panels. So a few years ago I did all the filling, primer and blocking on the rear hatch and then I shot yellow on the underside and edges.There are several areas on the lower flat of the hatch that have more than a skim coat of filler. Around the latch is one of these areas. I finally found the lock sets last weekend and put the lock in the hatch hole. I am not sure I can get the retainer on the back of the latch because of the overall thickness of the metal and the filler. There is very little of the slot showing on the lock cylinder. This spot is about an 1/8" overall in thickness. I don't know how thick the panel metal is. I suspect the panel is a little caved in from being closed over and over. So here is the problem. I like the idea of making the filler thinner, especially around the lock set. I am not sure I can pull the panel to make the filler thinner around the lock set. I wasn't sure shrinking the metal would work. I have concerns that if I try shrinking the panel that it won't be the correct shape. The hatch has a curve left to right. I do not know if the panel has a curve top to bottom. If it's supposed to be flat top to bottom, then shrinking my help. Also do anyone have ideas on how lift the center of the panel. I think the stud welder would just make a mess. I might be able to run a long flat block on the inside of the panel, tie a wire to it and use some light pulling to lift the dented area. If I go the shrinking route I will have to strip the hatch and start over. Thoughts?

Some things are traditionally clear zinc and some are yellow zinc. I have always liked the look of the correct color parts, but it is not always possible to get them done in the right color.

Did they offer yellow zinc?

Aircraft stripper works really good! It will burn you if you splash yourself. It is dangerous stuff so work in a ventilated area. It can be difficult to purchase in some areas. I have used a lot of it over the years and it is my go to method for stripping old paint. Respirator is highly recommended!!

Did you do everything silver (clear) zinc or is some of it yellow zinc?

You're getting there. Keep it up