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Ben's Fugu Zed


benv

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Bought a rust free white 240z in Sydney about 8 weeks ago  (paid far too much) and had it transported to Brisbane.

 

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Then spend the next 8 weeks fixing & removing rust!

 

I really cannot complain to much if I look at the size of the repairs others had to endure in the past.

 

The goal is to build a similar car to the Fugu Zed built a few years ago in California.

 

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Both Floors needed replacing so I ordered floors and rails from Z-Findings.

 

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Floors are bonded with Fusior panel adhesive. The screws you see are stainless m4 flanged button heads used for clamping. and are now seam sealed. New rails were attached with Mig welded plug welds.

 

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Main reason being I have seen very few neat butt welds on new floors on the thin and fragile centre tunnel steel. 

 

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I was going to re-use the original seat brackets but the exact place where strength is needed, the bottom seat of the brackets were very thin from rust. So I had to order a set from Bad dog in the US.

 

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Edited by benv
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ZF Flares, bought mine from RHD Japan and they fit perfectly. This is not for the faint hearted and a difficult task.

 

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Marking and cutting is ok, but folding the inner fender back to create a lip again to the outer fender is not simple. Then doing a good weld to restore the integrity and strength of the body on thin stretched steel is tough.

 

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at least I could rust treat the entire inner fender area.

 

I still need to epoxy prime and seam seal the new fender lip.

 

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These cars seem to all rust in different places?

 

My battery holder and radiator cross bar is perfect. Both floors rusted out, horisontal plate between rear quarter below fuel filler rusted out. Rust below sound deadening inside. Rhs outer rocker front rusted out. Cowl Panel rusted in side. Toolbox/storage area rust holes in bottom.

Edited by benv
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:)  I was contemplating beforehand whether I should post on this forum as I expected some reaction.

 

Floors are bonded with Fusor panel adhesive. The screws you see are stainless m4 flanged button heads used for clamping. and are now seam sealed. New rails were attached with Mig  plug welds.

 

Hi Jeff

 

I have been following your build with interest, good work.  At the moment I actually work in Canberra in the week and commute back to Brisbane weekends.

 

Guys

 

Its 2017 and technology has moved on. 3M and Fusor Panel adhesives are used to bond roofs, floors, quarter panels etc in most new production vehicles. Often stronger than welds in tests.

 

I build this car last year.

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Build thread here: https://www.facebook.com/K1AttackTaketwo/

 

In this case the entire floor (a carbon fibre composite sandwich) is bonded to the space frame with structural epoxy.  The frame and floor was then subjected to a beam and torsion test as required by the ADR's for compliance and passed with ease.

Edited by benv
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This is great to see, innovation and alternative ways of doing things, keep us up to date on this benv. I have a couple of targa roof openings to fill in on the Z31, present plan is to make composite panels off the targa glass panels and then bond them into place. Problem with those adhesives you mention is that they require expensive applicators, I'm wondering if the adhesive used to lock bolts into concrete floors could be used, an ordinary caulking gun is all that is required with them.

 

And Lurch, be helpful and show us how you would fit a floor using the technology benv has used.

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:)  I was contemplating beforehand whether I should post on this forum as I expected some reaction.

 

Don't let that stop you - everyone has differing opinions, but the discussions created around these opinions help educate people, like me, who have no clue about the ideas being discussed. 

 

Anyway, I'm not a huge fan of the floors, simply because it looks a bit messy and I can't imagine the finished product (i.e. after the seam sealer and whatever else you'll be using on it). My Z doesn't even have floors at the moment, so I probably shouldn't even be commenting!

Good luck on your build!

 

-Rick

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Lets move on to Frame Rails and other cavities rusting from the inside out.

 

I think these structural elements are often overlooked, even with all the bare metal restores I look at,  If rockers or frame rails are not replaced they still may  have rust inside. 

 

My attempt/approach is as follows:

 

Clean all the loose material through the frame rail access/drain holes with bottle type brush (if possible), compressed air, thin tube vacuum. Very time consuming.

 

Then I spray with the following product which comes with a nifty nozzle which can be pushed right up into the front  and rear rails, rockers, doglegs etc.

 

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dat240z

 

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The car is a K1 Attack from Prague , they were initially  produced in limited quantities with V6 Ford engines and revived again in 2012 as a space frame and body part kit.

 

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Factory and pricing here:  http://www.b-racing.cz/en/

 

My build here:  https://www.facebook.com/K1AttackTaketwo/

 

Most  Attacks are build with Honda engines today, mine is a 2grfe Toyota V6, strangely I have never heard of Nissan powered one, it would be perfect for an SR,RB or VQ build.

 

Judging by the skills of the guys on this forum, most zed owners will be able to build one.

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Further thoughts on bonding new floors in, would it be possible/practical to form the edges to fit without cutting tabs all around?  That would make it stronger still and improve the aesthetics. And maybe use less obvious pop rivets to hold it all in place until the bond sets, then grind off the bottom parts of the rivets that stick out afterwards. Just throwing ideas around.

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Hi 

 

The floors come with some tabs cut  already, they are far from a good fit on the tunnel side and requires a lot of work.

 

In retrospect I would have welded my tabs up before bonding the floor in place.

 

There are no rivets in the floor panels, what you see is  short m4 button head stainless screws with washers and nuts. I could remove them if I wanted too.

 

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Hi Jeff

 

I have been following your build with interest, good work.  At the moment I actually work in Canberra in the week and commute back to Brisbane weekends.

 

 

Its a cold time of the year to be doing they commute Ben. How are you enjoying the cold mornings?

Ill drop you a PM next week we might be able to catch up for a beer?

 

Jeff

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Hi Ben

Nice work if it comes out like the Fugu it will be pretty crazy .

Thanks for sharing the build

AK

 

Both Floors needed replacing so I ordered floors and rails from Z-Findings.

 

attachicon.gifIMG_3683.JPG

 

Floors are bonded with Fusior panel adhesive. The screws you see are stainless m4 flanged button heads used for clamping. and are now seam sealed. New rails were attached with Mig welded plug welds.

 

attachicon.gifIMG_3690.JPG

attachicon.gifIMG_3685.JPG

Main reason being I have seen very few neat butt welds on new floors on the thin and fragile centre tunnel steel. 

 

attachicon.gifp1.jpg

 

I was going to re-use the original seat brackets but the exact place where strength is needed, the bottom seat of the brackets were very thin from rust. So I had to order a set from Bad dog in the US.

 

attachicon.gifIMG_3724.JPG

 

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  • 2 weeks later...

Engine bay - what a job at least 3 days stripping, wire brushing, dremel etc. So hard to get in underneath battery tray.

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Epoxy primed

 

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and then 2K single stage 904 Datsun White.

 

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In the oven for baking.

 

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All the tabs holding wire harness was rusted underneath the factory rubber coating. Had to remove all the rubber bits.

 

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Got some good advice from Jeff on recreating protective rubber coating on tabs using heat-shrink. Will try the double wall type, maybe two layers.

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New floors epoxy primed underneath and then sprayed with Lizard skin. This creates a very similar under body textured look compared to  the original coating.

 

(Lizard skin is quite easy to spray)

 

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Then will be coated with POR which I am using on my entire chassis. Its the first time I am using POR and the jury is still out....

 

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New floors epoxy primed underneath and then sprayed with Lizard skin. This creates a very similar under body textured look compared to  the original coating.

 

(Lizard skin is quite easy to spray)

 

attachicon.gifIMG_3847.JPG

 

attachicon.gifIMG_3852.JPG

 

Then will be coated with POR which I am using on my entire chassis. Its the first time I am using POR and the jury is still out....

 

Ben

do I read this correctly? You are planning on using the POR product over the lizard skin?

Are you going to use the bed liner?

 

And. You do get some work done in a short time!

 

Jeff

Edited by CBR Jeff
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Hi Jeff

 

Long story short. I bought quite a bit of POR for the project. I did my inner front fenders with POR15.

 

3 step process as you do after stripping to bare metal ,I washed, metal prep and POR. 

 

During my work on stripping the engine bay I managed to bump/chip 3 areas where the POR  was painted. All three these areas was clean fresh metal,wit  no previous rust.

 

So I lost confidence. From then on I rather used my DeBeer epoxy primer (very tuff) and then 2K on stripped chassis areas, interior and my engine bay which I am very happy with.

 

The Lizard skin is exactly like a bed liner and sits on 2 coats of Epoxy primer, it is hard to keep clean though and needs a top coat. So I am using a very expensive topcoat called POR15. :)

 

It is clear that POR is excellent on rusty metal but I have no way to tell after metal prep that the POR will bond well enough.

 

Apologies for the lengthy explanation.

 

 

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