aircobra Posted May 9, 2017 Share Posted May 9, 2017 Hello, To cut a long story short, I tried fitting one of these to my door frame and in the process discovered that the skin is actually not quite right by about 5 mm. I followed Lurch;s tutorial and it was all good till i realised that the skin is not quite the exact shape There are plenty of stories as to how crap these are and I must have gotten the worst of them. From what I can tell, the problem is that the crimping around the edged is just slightly off. So the crimp needs to be straightened, and rebent so that the frame slides in with the correct offsets. This is beyond my level of skill and tools Can anyone do this for some $s or know a panel beater who can do this ? the one i use is not up to this task Rob at the zfactory, has confirmed that they're crap skins and he doesn't use them for that reason much appreciated Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Administrators gav240z Posted May 10, 2017 Administrators Share Posted May 10, 2017 Hmmm Lurch's thread was actually about removing the skin and repairing it, my part of the same thread was about fitting a rare spares skin. I have to admit it wasn't as straight forward as you'd think but at the same time I don't recall having issues getting the lip over the edge of the door frame. Rather the biggest issue is the top edge where it meets the fender the gap is larger than I'd like. Should be an easy fix by simply mig welding on the edge to increase the height in that area. Got any photos of where you're stuck? If I do this again I'd rather try repair existing skins where possible, although my drivers door had rust up the top where the chrome trim sits so I decided to bin it. (I still have the old drivers door skin, but the lip was cut off when I removed it). Tabco in the US do the lower half of the door skin section so you could repair the old skin (if you still have it?). If I was in Melbourne I'd come around to have a look (my folks are near you I believe). I might come down in a week or 2, looking at a property for sale. But no promises. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Administrators gav240z Posted May 10, 2017 Administrators Share Posted May 10, 2017 Assume you were referring to this thread? http://www.viczcar.com/forum/topic/3202-tutorial-door-skin-removal-for-dummies/ All aftermarket panels need fettling to get right... there's a reason OEM is best. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aircobra Posted May 10, 2017 Author Share Posted May 10, 2017 yes will upload phots tonite. i have kept the original skin ( lucky), but the bottom section is in poor condition. the rarespares skin looks to be made of much thicker metal, which is why i didn;t want to MIG them together Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Administrators gav240z Posted May 10, 2017 Administrators Share Posted May 10, 2017 I wouldn't mig them together anyway, much better to Oxy weld them together (or TIG if that's an option). Mig welding is a hard weld and cannot be easily manipulated after you weld the 2 pieces together. Oxy however can be beat into shape. It's not unusual that aftermarket steel is thicker than the standard Nissan pressings. https://tabcoparts.com/cars/datsun/240z-260z-280z-1970-1978/16730.html If you can save the original skin it might be less work.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Retro Z Posted May 10, 2017 Share Posted May 10, 2017 (edited) Yeah the rare spares skin are not the best. But they work. The first time i did one i didnt hammer and dolly the lips over hard enough and resulted in a rounded edge rather than a sharp edge and made the door gaps appear larger. 2nd and 3rd car i done i had a better technique by clamping everything together, heating the lips and using a bigger faced hammer with a flat dolly pressed up hard on the back side of the panel and just taking my time before welding the top corner to lock it all in place. In the end the door gaps were still abit large with a uneven gap at the top corner so i welded a bead along the edge all around and bodyworked it to close the door gaps substantially for a modern car door gap of around 6mm. P.s all of the rare spare skins have a slight depression/bow where they stamped the door handle and the bodyline isnt as crisp. Also the top edge lip is too thick and tall to accept the chrome trim and the door handle and lock holes need abit of opening up..so these skins require abit of work to get perfect Edited May 10, 2017 by Retro Z gilltech, Rickers, krizza and 1 other 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aircobra Posted July 14, 2017 Author Share Posted July 14, 2017 the drama ended when i paid a professional panelbeater to rip off the skin again, unbend the original edges ( since they were off by about 5mm) and put it all back together cost me plenty, but then again, what's a complete and 100% rust free door worth? its gotta to be a grand Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aircobra Posted July 14, 2017 Author Share Posted July 14, 2017 and still no one is making copies. one day, all the z panels will be as plentiful as for the mustangs Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Administrators gav240z Posted July 14, 2017 Administrators Share Posted July 14, 2017 1 can only hope, but far less S30Z's survive than old Mustang's I'm afraid. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gilltech Posted July 14, 2017 Share Posted July 14, 2017 (edited) That's one awesome car RetroZed. I like the body-coloured flares in particular, more restrained than the usual black. It's a credit to you. Well we can only hope that Dynacorn start making panels and body shell components (and perhaps complete body shells) for S30s like they do for early Mustangs and others. However, the problem is supply and demand, there were far more Mustangs produced in the first place than S30s and the Mustang hobby in the USA and worldwide is huge. Movies like the 2000 re-make of 'Gone in 60 Seconds' with Cage and Jolie and its other star the '67 Shelby-like 'Eleanor' movie car creation did a lot to exacerbate demand for replicas and the re-manufacture of OEM parts not just for the '67/68 fastback but other early models. To complicate things for the S30 hobby there are numerous variations of the body shell, but if they did just the main loose panels it would help no end. Trouble is, a manufacturer would need an order for many hundreds of any one item just for it to be economic. PS. if you enjoy car chase movies then get hold of the original 1973 Halicki movie 'Gone in 60 Seconds', which used just one 'Eleanor', a '71 Mustang fastback. Old school movie filmed long before computer generated special effects, with a very long entertaining car chase, and car jump near the end shown in slow motion. Surprisingly, the car survives today with the film-maker's widow - he was killed while making another movie. Halicki had bought the car new, pulled it all apart and strengthened the body shell for the intended stunt work. The 2000 re-make has the same theme of 'boosting' (stealing to order) cars, but they used and abused some 11 cars during production of which only some survived. Edited July 14, 2017 by gilltech Retro Z 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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