Jeff43's Hs30-00134 Restoration

[jeff43]

MmmmmmBEER! My car was an 1800 can car, not that I was counting, what's yours going to be? Looking good Jeff, the hatch is not so easy is it because the metal stretches when you weld it causing the skin to bow requiring shrinking and you can't get to the back easily. You make it look easy but I reckon you would have had to stuff around a bit to get it back into shape after welding the patches in. Keep up the pace mate and you'll have it done before those ankle biters start Saturday sport. Ahhhhhh!

 

Howdy - Howdy, I am not sure I will be able to give an accurate can count on this car as I drink homebrew on Tap. I tend not to keep track of the numbers, also makes it hard for the missus to know how many I have had as well. Your 1800 cans is a fair effort though. I am sure by the time I am finished I will be right up there with that count.You are absolutely right with regards to the hatch it is not easy to keep it in shape with the heat from the welding. It didn't help that it was not particularly straight to start with as a row of 6 holes across the rear edge had previously been welded up. This would have been the mounting points for the previously fitted vinyl roof. I took great care to only weld in short burst and allowed plenty of cooling time in between welds. I did do a little bit of hammer and dollying and some shrinking to get it to where it is now. It will require some filler to get it straight but at least it isn't oil canning.

 

As for the ankle biters, I agree, I am trying to get as much done now before the honeymoon period is over.

 

Thanks for the comments.

 

Cheers Jeff

[Howdy]

HOMEBREWmmmmmmmm! Used to make that, now it's hard to find the long necks, used to be only a 50m walk down the street on bin day. Your lucky about the "oil canning", mine played a great tune, similar to the drums in the movie KING KONG. Blow torch and a cold rag fixed that.

[Brabham]

A good idea is to keep an air gun handy and blast each spot with air after welding. Cools it down a lot quicker and minimises warpage. Still have to space the welds out as you go and cool it regularly, even doing this you will still get a bit of distortion.

 

Cheers

[jeff43]

Hi All, haven't been getting much done on the Zed of late. Did manage to get the steering rack/front cross member and LCA assembly degreased ready for disassembly. Still dirty but a far cry from what it was - 45 years+ of road grime takes a bit of degreasing. I will complete the degreasing after disassembly.

 

My old fella had to have surgery to remove a very large lump from his chest - the vet bill sure hurt the Zed restoration fund.

 

So while I have been playing nurse to him, I got on with a smaller shed task and gave my Honda 250GP race bike a bit of a clean as it has been getting covered in Zed restoration dust etc. She is now parked so as to avoid her getting dirty again. We shall see how the wife likes that!

 

 

[Sirpent]

A man with many toys and pets, seriously nice bike Jeff.

[gav240z]

Poor pup, hope he's ok? They are part of the family.

[CBR Jeff]

We all hope the golden is feeling better. Looks like it was a big job!

Jeff

[jeff43]

Thanks All, "Champ" is slowly getting better. Yes it was a big job! for sure. His stitches did not completely hold as the skin was pulled very tight. So he ended a with a rather large gaping hole in his chest that is being treated as an open wound. He has got a bit a a spring in his step and generally doing pretty well, however he will still need to limit his movement for 2-3 weeks yet. 

 

I have not been doing much on the car as a result. He wants to be with me all the time and I want him to just rest - catch 22.

 

I have been researching and the like instead and have locked in my engine choice. This car has it's original L24, which will be a shed queen and will just sit on an engine stand for the forseeable future. I have chosen to go with a L28ET as in my opinion it will give me the best bang/go for buck. Probably will be pretty much I start out with it standard with intercooling and an aftermarket ECU tuned with a bit more boost. I do not want to make to much power and torque as I do not have the money to spend on changing the drivetrain to cope. If money is available in years to come the L28ET has plenty of scope to get more power as I see fit.

 

Hopefully I can get on with some rust repairs to my bonnet in the next couple of weeks.

 

Cheers Jeff

[jeff43]

Small update, finally got a bit of time in the shed today. For all that love there pets, "Champ" is doing really well, almost back to normal. So I finally finished painting the hatch inside and out. I cutout some rust from the bonnet and treated the area's underneath with some KBS rustseal. I have been working on suspension components as well - degreasing, sand blasting and painting with KBS rustseal. Front LCA got there first coat today as well. I will let the pics do the rest of the talking.

 

[CBR Jeff]

Glad to here that the pup is getting better.

all progress is good progress.

Jeff.

[jeff43]

So got a few hours in the shed on Sunday. Working on rust in the bonnet. I have cut out 2 sections and wire wheeled the area underneath before treating with KBS rustseal.

 

 

Then made up some new metal and welded them in.

 

 

Just need to finish up the welds and grind back then finish stripping the bonnet and get it in undercoat. Hopefully I can get that done this weekend. Then I will be away with work for a couple of weeks. I should be well motivated when I get back.

 

Cheers Jeff

[gav240z]

Weird spot for rust, usually it's the leading edge. I've already unpicked the frame and skin on mine and plan to paint the inside edge with KBS rust seal. I'm a fan, it's really thick and durable. I hope after all this work our cars last forever! .

[jeff43]

Hi Gav,

 

Yes it is a weird spot for rust, having said that I have seen a few rust done the sides in that spot. So far the rest of the bonnet looks to be really good. This bonnet is off a 2+2 and the rust in that area had just been bogged over so that probably hadn't helped. I would love to just get a Carbon fibre bonnet but can't afford that. 

 

 

I hope after all this work our cars last forever! .

 

That's the plan Gav. If it lasts my lifetime I will be a happy man. Glad you like the KBS rust seal.

 

Cheers Jeff

[Brabham]

Good work Jeff,

 

my 2+2 bonnet had rusted all along the edges in a similar spot, although one side was a lot worse than the other for some unknown reason. After I use up my supply of POR-15 I will be switching to the KBS, since it is Australian made, I imagine they are both a similar composition though.

 

Cheers.

[CBR Jeff]

How is the pup Jeff? Hope he is feeling better.

Progress looks good. Shame work continues to get in the way of the enjoyable things in life.

 

Jeff

[jeff43]

The pup is doing well thanks Jeff. My L28ET arrived this weekend thanks to a mate that picked it up from Melbourne for me - I owe him some beers. I gave it a quick degrease and check over as It was an ebay sight unseen deal. Looks to be a in reasonable condition. Other than giving it a detail I will run it as is mechanically. As always I will let the pics do the talking.

 

 

 

 

[Sirpent]

Should provide some fun, whats the longer term plan Jeff?

[jeff43]

Should provide some fun, whats the longer term plan Jeff?

 

Hi John, This is a bugdet build so initially I will run this engine as is with a decent intercooler, rb30 cas distributor, microtech lt-8 ecu, 3" exhaust, probably stock everything else. Tune it and see what we get. The motor is a bit of a bitsa n42 block (dished pistons), p90 head with an "E" cam. Has a modified larger capacity sump (looks like a winged keel - very fast). Doesn't look to have done a lot of work since a previous rebuild, I don't believe it has run for quite a while.

 

In the future if it runs alright I will look to upgrade the turbo, injectors, throttle body and maybe add some compresion to gain some performance under the curve. Looking to do some hill climbing and super sprint type motorsport. So looking for response and torque more than outright power and must be reliable. I don't expect to have the money to upgrade the drivetrain initially so trying to keep power down around the 150-175 rwkw at the most and hope not to brake anything. Hopefully my mature driving style will help.

 

Cheers Jeff

[Cozza]

That sounds like a sensible approach Jeff. Safe and affordable for the short term but providing options for down the track.

I like it.

Keep up the good work Mate

Mick

[jeff43]

Hi All, It has been a while. I got some hours in the shed yeasterday afternoon and the weather was nice in Adelaide for a change. Finished up grinding some welds back on repairs to the bonnet and finished stripping all the paint from the top of the bonnet. still got some work to do shrinking an area where I got a bit of warping during the welding process. Not looking forward to stripping the underside of the bonnet at, could be time to bring out the paint stripper. On an interesting side note, this is not the original bonnet of this car but the original colour of this bonnet is 907 green the same as the original colour of the car - just a bit ironic. Cheers Jeff

[CBR Jeff]

Welcome back Jeff.

Underside of the bonet is not going to be one of the most enjoyable jobs considering you won't see it very often the work for reward doesn't balance. On the other hand you see the top of the bonet every time you look at the car.

Hope your car work life balance gets back more to the car side again soon.

Jeff.

[jeff43]

Thanks Jeff, definetely trying to get the balance back thats for sure. The underside of the bonnet is not very rewarding for the effort but it must be done. I wish I had have bought a brand new bonnet back when Nissan still had some available, looking back now they were an absolute steel (no pun intended)

 

A carbon fibre bonnet is very enticing right about now, but even if I did lash out on one I know I would still like a steel bonnet as well so best just get on with it.

[gav240z]

I split the bonnet and frame on HS30 00150, but it had some minor damage on the leading edge from a light front end nudge. Still trying to decide if I should look for another bonnet or repair existing 1. I think I'll try find a straight bonnet first, if that doesn't work out I'll repair the 1 I have. Either way I'll hang onto it as it's getting harder and harder to find a good bonnet.

[jeff43]

So not much to show from the weekends efforts. Got the big easy section of the inside of the bonnet striped of paint, going to farm the hard bit (frame section) out to a sand blaster to save some time. I want to get this bonnet locked up in primer in the next few weeks. Other than this I spent some time working on the inside floor area getting it ready for paint but nothing photo worthy just yet.

[jeff43]

So I had my bonnet underside frame sand blasted, saved me a heap of time, well worth it for $50.

 

 

Then I painted the underside in KBS rustseal. Now ready for some undercoat top and bottom. I hope to get that done over the weekend, stay tuned.

 

 

Cheers Jeff (J2)