Rudolfs 2+2: The gleaming emerald......

[gav240z]

Good work mate, I need to take on my doglegs also.

 

Did you have a peak into the rest of the sills to see if there was more surface rust in other parts?

[CroS13]

UPDATE: 8.11.14- Drivers Dogleg finished

 

Firstly a big thanks to Locky for making me the dog leg panels, and fast turn around too!

 

 

so i got to hacking away at them and welded in my patch:

 

 

however, before i had welded in that patch, i had noticed where the quater panel folds over into the door jamb, there looked to be abit of rust on the top section, which is understandable, as water would pool there off the door: so i got to cutting:

 

 

and this was what i needed to make:

 

 

which looked abit like this when done:

 

 

 

welded in and hit with some primer:

 

 

 

then formed a new outer lip and plug welded that in place onto the door sil:

 

 

And the finished product!!!!

 

 

 

PHEW! it turned out better than i expected!!!!

 

Now all thats left is the passenger side dog leg, and ill probably drop all the suspension, put it on the rotissarie thats rusting away in the back yard, and send the car off to be sandblasted.

 

 

Did you have a peak into the rest of the sills to see if there was more surface rust in other parts?

 

yeah i did and it all looked pretty immaculate. I thought these cars were bare metal under all the panels, but mine seems to have atleast some undercoating on all the panels, inside the sil, everywhere.

 

Rudolf.

 

 

[PB260Z]

Nice work there.

[andyk_79]

Great stuff Rudi!

[CroS13]

UPDATE: 8.2.15- More Rust fixed, more to come!

 

So quite alot has happened in the last 3 months, and really not much zed stuff.... firstly, continuing with the house extension, i spent a majority of time sanding.... sanding walls and filler....

 

 

I also took on a new project of making a new hand rail for the back landing... its a work in progress, i still need to add more support to the rail on the stairs:

 

 

but progress on the zed carried on....  firstly i had some rust in the top of the drivers quater window, and to be honest it wasn't that bad, just surface and some pitting, i honestly could have just spot welded the holes and ground it back, but i decided to disturb the sleeping dog as they say.... and well a big headache later, i had melted away lead filler, next had a blowtorch burning it all out, but i got it fixed in the end:

 

 

 

 

After that headache, the next project was to attack the passenger side dog leg, a repeat process of the drivers side:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

So i thought that was the major rust done, but then i uncovered some behind the rear wheel arch at the bottom part of the quater, most of it is in the inner skin, so thats the next project....

 

Rudolf.

 

 

[gav240z]

Thanks for making me look lazy, home renovations + car restoration. I honestly don't know how you do it. Anyway it's far too hot today for me to be in the garage. It's like an oven with a tin roof.

 

However thanks for providing some inspiration though. I really should just go and tackle a few more spots on my car rather than waiting for the tafe course to start again.

[George]

That rail looks great. Is it your design?

[CroS13]

Don't forget im getting married in 4 months, so there is ALOT of wedding crap to try and plan too! Trust me, once all this crap is over, The work on the dato will be full steam ahead, im sick of it, just want it in paint already!

 

That rail looks great. Is it your design?

 

Yeah, i just winged it, pretty happy with how it came out, i want to carry on a similar pattern on the rail for the stairs too.

 

Rudolf.

[Scoota G]

Nice work again. Just as a reference for anyone replacing doglegs it's much easier to cut the dog leg along the top line and grind back the weld there. With not \much effort you can reduce the amount of body filler you'll need to use.

[CroS13]

yeah i hear you Scoota! you can see the mad divot that will need to be bogged up. Locky made me the panels, and they were made big enough to reach the top line, i got scared of cutting the panel out that high because id need to cut out the edge into the door jamb. I wasn't confident on being able to re make that edge and lip and have a consistant door gap, so i left the original metal there.

 

If i were to do it again, id give it a go how it really should be done! Maybe on my 240z which will come after the wedding, the double garage and when this heap is finished  ;D

 

Rudolf.

[CroS13]

UPDATE 12.5.15 --EXTENSION DONE, WEDDING DONE.... ROLL ON DATSUN!

 

wow i cant believe its been 3 months since my last update! the car had to be put on the back burner for awhile, as my now wife and i had to organize everything for our wedding!

 

Firstly big thank you to both Sydney Mike and Ferris for helping out on the day with cars! so this happened!

 

 

But now all the major stuff had been done, it was time to get back into the garage, and boy was there some dust i had to blow out of the shed.

 

First area to tackle was the drivers side rear quater, it had a previous repair done, the wheel arch was abit crap so id need to redo that bottom edge. Thanks to Locky for making me up the panel, he made it around 2 months ago, but it had been sitting up opened on my work bench since then because i was flat out doing wedding stuff, its actually still sitting there unopened! ill get to it soon enough.

 

 

The inner skin however was quite abit worse though:

 

 

due to not  being able to see it once done, i decided to tackle this myself, as it would not matter how bad it looked. i started by making a rough area/ shape:

 

 

as you can see by the ball point hammer marks, i tried to beat the hell out of the panel to stretch it into the divot for the fuel filler neck, but it wasn't happening, so i ended up making some relief cuts, then hammering  it into shape:

 

 

then making some filler pieces, i welded them in:

 

 

 

and once cleaned up this is how it looked:

 

 

and after a trial fit, it was pretty darn good!:

 

 

pretty happy with the fitment, so i slapped on some KBS rust seal:

 

 

I also cut out the old rusted inner skin, but i can see there is quite abit of surface rust that goes even further back, because that outer patch wraps all the way around the corner, and no one rust proofed it after they welded it in, it has started rusting already,  so i might have to cut out more of the inner skin where it is spot welded up to the rear panel, buff it all down and hit it with some KBS rust seal. Then ill re make the corner part and re fit it.

 

After that  ill trim locky's outer quarter and cut and weld that in place. I also want to fill the holes in the rear bar that have the big rubber patch/grommet in them. Im sure there is a good reason they are there, im sure i needed that reason when i stripped the rear end, but i cant for the life of me remember what the point of them is, either way, they are going, and im thinking of welding up the seam where the quarter meets that rear panel too, above the holes.

 

Rudi.

 

 

 

[C.A.R.]

I also want to fill the holes in the rear bar that have the big rubber patch/grommet in them. Im sure there is a good reason they are there, im sure i needed that reason when i stripped the rear end, but i cant for the life of me remember what the point of them is, either way, they are going, and im thinking of welding up the seam where the quarter meets that rear panel too, above the holes.

 

They are for the US 5mph impact bumpers - you can fill them in

[gav240z]

Nice fabrication work, have you got a small metal folder there?

[CroS13]

Nice fabrication work, have you got a small metal folder there?

 

no i don't Gav, i wanted to get one, but cant really justify the $300-500 needed for it when most likely, after i finish the body work i wont really use it.

 

What i have, which is a PITA and takes a long time, is i have various thicknesses of scrap flat bar, they are all 30-40mm wide, from 2 to 10mm thick and about 400mm long.

 

Ill clamp my sheet in my vice between 2 pieces of the flat bar, usually the thickest ones. and use a 3rd piece to help fold the corner over with G clamps, or i just hammer it flat against my thickest 10mm piece of flat bar while its still clamped in the vice.

 

I do have a huge sheet metal brake at work, but don't really use it as i don't really have the time to.  I did however use that for the more complex folds on my driver side inner sil panel when i made that.

 

Rudi.

[Brabham]

Where did you get the KBS paint from Rudi? Good work on the repairs.

 

Cheers

[CroS13]

UPDATE 7.7.15 - Driver quarter panel repaired, holes shaved!

 

Been a busy beaver in the garage the last month in spite of the frigid weather, i just close the roller door, put on the heater and hammer away!

 

So first i cut out all this crap! You can see there was a previous repair made to the lower quarter, which actually wasn't half bad, but it wasn't rust treated.... so guess what happened.....

 

 

Got Locky's panel, and with a bit of fettling and hammering i welded it in, you can see the wheel arch was abit wonky, my doing, but i have since fixed it:

 

 

Then i moved to the rear corner where i had more rust, and made a patch, this was version 1.0 which was a failure due to not having the correct tools to form the corner.

 

I wasn't happy with it, so i ended up cutting it out, going and buying a hammer and dolly kit for $70 and making a even bigger patch which actually turned out pretty good.

 

I also welded up the seam and made a start on making a plate for the 5mph impact bar holes, thanks to Locky for aiding me to identify what the hell they were!:

 

 

then some post production magic and this is what it looked like!

 

 

From the back it looks like a patch work quilt HA! but i never claimed to be a panel beater or fabricator! Either way im happy with the repair, a bit of KBS rust seal for good measure was used:

 

 

Then to weld in the inner skin which i had made previously:

 

 

I now had to make a flat end cap for the 2 panels where the wheel arch goes, so here it is!:

 

 

and again, welded and plug welded into place:

 

 

 

This was the biggest f**K around for me so far, having to re make the corner from scratch, having to make the inner skin from scratch, it has taken over 3 months in total with a hour every night after work.... but im happy with the turnout.

 

In hindsight........ i should have drilled a few holes in the bottom lip of the inner skin for more drainage, something like a 20mm hole right on the edge in a few places, but there is a hole in the bottom corner, and i really cnbf mucking around with this corner again.

 

Oh and i found rust where most have them, fuel filler flap.... but next i want to just plug some holes in the doors where mirrors were, and fill the rear antenna hole and the passenger side bumper hole and seam.

 

Rudolf.

 

 

[gav240z]

Good work mate, I'm currently messing around with the rear hatch slam panel trying to figure out how to fabricate that section. It can be a lot of messing about.

[C.A.R.]

Looking good Rudi

[CBR Jeff]

Good job. Some nice work there.

I love the colour of the copper weld through primer. Would make an interesting top coat.

Jeff

[PB260Z]

The Z is looking good - You have been busy, hope you are not ignoring the missus 

 

[CroS13]

UPDATE 10.10.15 - Rear quarter done, suspension painted

 

Ive been quiet lately on here, but rest assured progress hasn't halted, quite a bit has been achieved!

I started by shaving the antenna hole in the back, and while i was at it, i also filled the holes drilled into the door to mount the original mirrors. They had been filled with expanding foam and bogged over, and had cracked through the paint.

 

 

 

 

next step was to drop all the suspension so i could tackle the rust repair in the rear end. so that was accomplished:

 

 

Then was the task to tackle the rust in the passenger rear end, it was pretty much the same story as before, id need to fix the bottom edge, the inner skin was rusted and would need to be re made, and the hole for the 5mph impact bar would need to be filled:

 

 

 

and once again some post production editing later, it was complete!!

 

once again making the inner skin was a pain i don't want to re experience! note this time round i added some more drainage to the bottom:

 

 

 

I really need to invest in a sand blasting cabinet, because this was  a long, painful day. To be honest i wish i just paid someone to do it, what a pain cleaning all the components with a wire wheel

 

 

 

Took the bits and pieces from the rear end to work and had the painter hit them with some 2k black.

Some people might ask why no powder coating? to be honest, Im not a fan of it, we have our BT Forklifts powder coated from factory, sure its a more durable paint process, but once you get a single chip in it, water gets in, surface rusts the metal from under the paint, and the powder coating just peels off with you fingers in big strips. Hell look at what happened to the TVR's after a few years, the space frame chassis in them just rusted from the inside out. There was a great wheeler dealers episode showing it!

 

Also note the Stewart Wilkins front diff mount:

 

 

more bits and pieces trickling in, it feels great to be buying refurb parts, feels like im making progress!

 

Oh and if you didn't notice already i also got it on the rotisserie!

 

 

And don't worry Pete, not ignoring the missus, i usually attack it before she gets home from work, or early mornings on a weekend when she is still asleep ha!

Rudi

 

 

[CBR Jeff]

Looking good Rudi.

Lots happening at your house.

Jeff

Edited October 10, 2015 by CBR Jeff

[AK]

Hi Rudi

Very inspirational build - I have the same car - pretty much the same condition but had a sliding sunroof fitted to it which I hope to delete with slump molded 8mm Acrylic panel that will be silicone and bolted permanently in place , I have started a full pull down rebuild resto as well. Thanks for taking the time to share you build really appreciated!!! 

I like the stock blue colour and the longer you have it the more you like I find, I think I will be keeping mine blue and I would stay with blue engine bay as well over the grey - grey reminds me of old holden for some reason - just my 10 cents . You have done the hard miles with this one whatever colour you want I am sure it will look pretty good . Anyway just shout out to ya - and thank you for sharing your build - Awesome work!

Cheers AK

[CroS13]

Hi Rudi

Very inspirational build - I have the same car - pretty much the same condition but had a sliding sunroof fitted to it which I hope to delete with slump molded 8mm Acrylic panel that will be silicone and bolted permanently in place.

 

I like the stock blue colour and the longer you have it the more you like I find, I think I will be keeping mine blue and I would stay with blue engine bay as well over the grey - grey reminds me of old holden for some reason - just my 10 cents . You have done the hard miles with this one whatever colour you want I am sure it will look pretty good . Anyway just shout out to ya - and thank you for sharing your build - Awesome work!

Cheers AK

 

Hey thanks man, its everyone else that keeps ME motivated to keep at it, everyone's builds that give me inspiration to get off the computer, get out their and get on with it!

 

Not sure if i can picture this acrylic panel roof, Do you still want a sunroof? or is this idea just the "easier way out" of replacing a whole turret, or welding a new sheet into the roof hole, because to me, silicone in the roof just sounds like a recipe for disaster, and a great place to trap water and encourage rust. Before i bought my car, i looked at another zed, it was listed without a sunroof, when i get there, it had been shut, all the wiring and motors removed, they had simply run sikaflex around the gap and filled it in, and bogged over that, then sprayed the roof. It was done ages ago and the whole roof around the edges of the sunroof was rusting and bubbling up.

 

Another idea that Ben from Otomoto did, was he cut out the roof and made a carbon fiber roof skin that he glued in i believe. Looked really good. I think if you are going to the effort of a full rebuild, bite the bullet and do it right the first time, even if you have to pay for it.

 

And don't worry im painting the engine bay body colour, not sure of colour yet, but it wont be blue!

 

Rudi

 

[red76z]

Nice work mate. It may look like the never ending project but it will be all worth it in the end. Keep up with the good work and enjoy the build.