gramercyjam

Yes. This was a bummer. But I just need to _shift_ into a higher gear and take care of it. It is just steel, putty in my hands. I AM the master of steel (As well as Jim Beam right now). Actually, I was at 1889 lbs before I started fixin this rust crapola! Now I think I will be overweight, but not by too much. Thats OK too ... I have a 280Z crank and rods ready to go into the 240 block, so that might not be a bad thing either, I could turn out to be underweight. <> You gotta use your judgement about what is the truth and what is not. Everything is not black or white. As my mentors used to say, perception is reality (or course this is bullshit). Yes, my wife is a woman, so she gives me all the crap she can about my unproductive, expensive, manly car, etc. activities. But I love her, shes a good woman and the mother of my children. I give it right back to her and everything is cool (eventually). Hey, did I ever tell you guys about the time the Visa bill came in and there was a mysterious $1000 charge (according to her, I still say it was closer to $100), so she gets the number of the business on the bill and it turns out to be a "mens cabaret"? I camped out in the back yard for a week. That was OK. I deserved it.

The good frame rail steel measures .054" and I just happen to have a full sheet of steel in that thickness sitting in the shop. At least I could honestly answer my wife that this will cost $0 when she asked me how much this will cost. <>

Oh man. Just cut into the frame rails in front of the firewall - they are rusted from the inside out and thin as paper. Now this looks like battery acid caused it, not water. More fab work than I had bargained for but it has to be done.

Probably not sweating. This is the only place in the car with anything like this. This happened under previous stewardship and I suspect the root cause was a chronically leaky drain tube/hose from the cowl. If you haven't pulled a dashboard, you might not know it was there. I didn't and discovered the leaky tube after pulling the dash. The cowl collects water and drains into the inside of the car and then is passed out the side of the car by this tube. It looked like years of rubbing on the heater blower housing made a small hole in it. The water collected in the frame rail and didn't drain due to the drainage hole plugged up with mud, etc.

Agree. Interior was already stripped down to the paint. I took these pics last night just to document what was there. Then I took the sawzall, spot weld breaker, cutting wheel and pneumatic nibbler to the passenger side and removed the offending metal starting from just behind the T/C bracket all the way back to behind the pass seat so there is no going back now! Next I'll be fitting in a 3X2 steel girder, I mean tube as an upgraded frame rail. The drivers side is good, but I'll need to do both sides so the car doesn't sit lopsided! Most of the floor will be replaced, whether it needs it or not, as I find I can fit sheet metal to the structure easier than I can fit the structure to the sheet metal. I'll post some more pics this weekend if anybody wants to see what I am doing.

Any kind of roadhouse blues for me. I'm out for blood when I'm in the Z. Except I play the music in my head. No radio, tape or CD player in my car. Don't mean to offend but I have never been able to figure out the attraction with U-2 except that somehow lousy song writing, playing and singing somehow make them popular. I need to change the station when one of their tunes comes on (except for that BBKing blues tune they do, I like that one).

From the inside of my car, there wasn't even a hint of the rust that was under the undercoating. Not until the interior sound deadener was completely removed so you could see the telltale pinholes of light. Note that the rust is concentrated at the seams where the frame rail was welded onto the floor and nowhere else. You can see where that other car had it's floor pans replaced before. Hard to imagine.

Here's what is (was) under mine after I chipped it off. This is what is estentially a rust free South Texas car. I hacked this all out last night. So now I am putting in new 3X2X11 Gauge tubing "subframe connectors" to replace the frame rails and a new floor. Lots of welding ahead. Rust at the frame rail seams .. And cracked frame rail at the passenger side firewall. This didn't start happening until I started autocrossing my car.

What the others said, plus it seems to be missing the whole center console.

If you can convince the wife, I'll take it.

One of my favorite Z cars. I wonder if they will take payments?

Got one. Thanks.

Deal pending.

Non turbo - 80 to 83. Let me know what you have.