240ZBUILTBYME - Project Georgia

[240ZBUILTBYME]

42 minutes ago, ND240Z said:

How nice are NOS things! Did you manage to get a pair or just a drivers side? I have a NOS Passenger side, no idea how i'm gonna find a drivers side!

So nice! But unfortunately super rare in perth. I got a pair!

Yeah finding a single drivers side will be difficult. I follow a lot of middle eastern based Datsun parts pages on Instagram, I see a lot of NOS items come up on there but they’re very expensive and majority 280zx parts not S30 parts. But worth keeping an eye on. 

[240ZBUILTBYME]

Back in business.

my shitty cigweld 135 would not weld properly anymore, after several sessions of trying to get it to work I bit the bullet and upgraded to a unimig 185. I think for my budget it seemed the most sound choice, online reviews were all very positive.

Every single component of the unimig is far higher quality than the cigweld and it welds amazingly in comparison. Runs much hotter welds than the 135.

got a few hours in today and finished up the base of the rear rotisserie stand. still getting used to the welder, some welds were good some were shit. I’m keen to use up the last of this gasless wire….

 

 

[240ZBUILTBYME]

I have a blaster coming to look at the car this week that was recommended by a restoration shop. He’s going to assess the undercoating and if he can remove it with blasting, otherwise I will have to strip it. 
he has said he can blast the car while it’s on the chassis frame which is awesome. He can lift the whole thing with chain blocks to access underneath. Downside is he’s booked till march next year…..

 This whole time I have just been trying to work towards just getting this damn thing blasted and in epoxy! and with the severity of the rust and lack of structural integrity  I wasn’t confident putting it on a rotisserie until some of the more structural rust was repaired. 

I have decided to pull all the panels off to expose all the interior sections that I know will be rusty as hell. I’ll remove the entire rear valance, rear quarter panels, roof skin. I have a few other panels I’m considering too like the front panel of the tool compartment and top wiper cowl panel. There’s a lot of rust in both those sections. 

I started experimenting with a few mechanical ways of removing undercoating 

used a oscillating multi tool with a scraper attachment as recommended by @CBR Jeff, on my undercoating it was not overly effective.  First photo was just the tool and second was tool followed by a knotted wire wheel.

 

most effective way proved to be a strip it disc, makes quick work of it.

the oscillating multi too and scraper worked well on some of the sound proofing sections.

but not so well on other parts

yay more rust….

while I had the strip disc out I wanted to see what was under the paint on the rear quarters……there were lots of layers and much bog, I dared not do more….

 

started stripping the rear slam panel as I will need to unpick it, some quality repairs from previous owners. Just a couple of tacks and she’ll be right….

Also managed to knock off the rest of the second rotisserie frame. Now just need to finish the rear mounting assembly and the rotisserie will be done and ready to use when the time comes…

[Mike_F]

Hey mate, check this vid out - he's attempting to get the undercoating off his US 280z using a variety of techniques. Its entertaining...

 

[240ZBUILTBYME]

27 minutes ago, Mike_F said:

Hey mate, check this vid out - he's attempting to get the undercoating off his US 280z using a variety of techniques. Its entertaining.

Yes watched this one, I like his videos.

[Mike_F]

4 hours ago, 240ZBUILTBYME said:

Yes watched this one, I like his videos.

Another couple of channels I have been watching are Silvester Customs

https://www.youtube.com/c/SYLVESTERSCUSTOMS

and Wray Schelin's pro shaper

https://www.youtube.com/c/proshaper

These guys do next level body work. Both are dead against sandblasting, which is interesting. Wray talks about the micro-pitting and warpage, as does Silvesters. I wonder if there are rogue sandblasters in the US that smash the cars with ball bearing sized pellets of sand or something, because the C.A.R results look pretty solid in the photos and he seems to sandblast.

Edited June 30, 2022 by Mike_F

[C.A.R.]

2 hours ago, Mike_F said:

Another coupe of channels I have been watching are Silvester Customs

https://www.youtube.com/c/SYLVESTERSCUSTOMS

I watched a few of there videos with my guys just now at lunch.
He had some very strange idea's on panel beating and panel shrinking...

Media blasting is fine if the blaster knows what he is doing.
Both of those guys have obviously had operators that didn't know what whey were doing.

My recommendations:
1. Use an media blaster that does car body's a LOT & look at his work.
If you don't like what you see, find someone else.
2. Don't blast sections of bodywork that are large and open, and away from body/swage lines.
Mechanically strip or chemically strip that areas instead.

Chemical dipping is far more risky and costly IMHO.
There has been more than one car destroyed because the acid wasn't neutralized correctly...

2 hours ago, Mike_F said:

and Wray Schelin's pro shaper

https://www.youtube.com/c/proshaper

These guys do next level body work. Both are dead against sandblasting, which is interesting. Wray talks about the micro-pitting and warpage, as does Silvesters. I wonder if there are rogue sandblasters in the US that smash the cars with ball bearing sized pellets of sand or something, because the C.A.R results look pretty solid in the photos and he seems to sandblast.

Wray does lovely work, but his idea's on pattern making are not my cup of tea - we just use brown paper.
 

[240ZBUILTBYME]

19 minutes ago, C.A.R. said:

My recommendations:
1. Use an media blaster that does car body's a LOT & look at his work.
If you don't like what you see, find someone else.
2. Don't blast sections of bodywork that are large and open, and away from body/swage lines.
Mechanically strip or chemically strip that areas instead.

Yeah this is what I have read in various sources, the guy I’m looking at using does purely car bodies and he does all the work for one of the classic car Resto outfits here in perth. I’m removing all the flat large surfaces prior to blasting so that should be ok. 

[240ZBUILTBYME]

Meeting with the blaster went well, he can take care of the undercoating for me. I just have to remove the sound proofing from the trans tunnel and rear cargo space. 

he only blasts cars and is a huge car enthusiast himself so this pleases me. He’s booked out till march which is a bummer…. But has mentioned if I get the car ready to go if someone else isn’t ready he can slot me in early. So now I have to get the car ready to go. She’s waited long enough….if I wait any longer there won’t be a car left to restore….

I want to remove the rear quarter panels, remaining rear valance and roof skin and a portion of the outer rockers so the internals can be blasted. So first I’m going to add some bracing so that A) movement is restricted as I remove body panels and B) when the car is lifted up for the underbody to be blasted there’s a bit more structural rigidity to prevent any bending of the chassis. This thing is rusty AF and I just don’t trust it. I’m probably being over cautious. 

First I decided to ditch the gasless wire and start learning with gas. I wanted to practice on 1mm first and then practice welding my 25x25x3mm shs bracing onto 1mm sheet. Was very happy with the results for my first time. Turns out watching all those YouTube videos may have helped…

first tacks

My unimig for some reason has no setting guide for 0.6mm solid wire so I had to guess the settings. I ended up finding 14 volts and 4.5 m/min worked well. Does this seem about right? And can anyone tell me what the brown discoloration is?

 

all stitched up

rear of the join, seem to be getting penetration, does this look right? 

 

and after some dressing. I got warpage as I wasn’t trying to manage heat, but not too bad for a first go me thinks…

Next welding 25x25x 3mm thick shs to 1mm sheet. no blow throughs, great success…

I felt ready to weld in some bracing. Decided to go from the rear strut towers to the dash. 

the welds weren’t pretty, they were awkward spots though, didn’t want to do full welds as I wasn’t confident I could remove the bracing later without damaging something so I went with decent sized tacks. Seems to be enough strength in the tacks as the bracing feels solid. 

any feed back and thoughts on what I’ve done are welcomed. I really have no clue what I’m doing lol 

I’m planning to tie in the roof to the bracing and I think that should be enough?

[C.A.R.]

The brown is the gas burning - not worth worrying about.
Welds look good. Just manage your heat & warpage.

Add more stich welds to your bracing to body.

[240ZBUILTBYME]

4 hours ago, C.A.R. said:

The brown is the gas burning - not worth worrying about.
Welds look good. Just manage your heat & warpage.

Cheers @C.A.R.

4 hours ago, C.A.R. said:

Add more stich welds to your bracing to body.

Will do

[240ZBUILTBYME]

This week I removed the sound deadening/tar mat from the car as preparation for blasting. To be honest I was really dreading this job but in the end it was actually not that bad! 

I ordered 5kg of dry ice for the occasion.

This worked an absolute charm for the boot area. Leave the ice on the matting for a couple of minutes and you can start to hear it cracking. Then use a scraper and it comes off in big slabs.

the transmission tunnel area is much more difficult, dry ice can be used on the top flat surfaces but doesn’t work on the sides, I tried hanging plastic bags with dry ice in them but it just doesn’t get as cold…

for the sides of the transmission tunnel a heat gun and scraper worked great for me, trick was to get it hot enough to lift off the metal but not so hot that it melts completely.

and end results…

still finishing up the bracing, only managed to add a cross brace for the rear of the car as I’m going to remove the entire rear valance. 

 

[gav240z]

And when you want new sound deadening...

This guy sells it. Cut like OEM.

https://www.stuffharrydoes.com/online-store

[240ZBUILTBYME]

17 minutes ago, gav240z said:

And when you want new sound deadening...

This guy sells it. Cut like OEM.

https://www.stuffharrydoes.com/online-store

That’s awesome. Have you or anyone used the kit already? I haven’t seen his site before, some cool stuff on there

[gav240z]

I have only bought his radio facias. They seem quite good.

[scotta]

On 8/14/2022 at 8:39 PM, 240ZBUILTBYME said:

That’s awesome. Have you or anyone used the kit already? I haven’t seen his site before, some cool stuff on there

Harold is based out of Massachusetts, he helped me with a few parts as well when I was getting my z on the road there.

He is a good guy, straight up operator. The site is pretty new and he is adding more repo stuff and custom engineered bits progressively.

He is now a mate and I'm happy to recommend him / his parts.

[C.A.R.]

Yep - I've bought the OEM style sound deadening kits from Harold. His service was a bit slow though...
I'll update once I've fitted them.

[240ZBUILTBYME]

I’ve been on a bit of a roll lately working on the car. It feels really good to actually be making some progress. 2/3 more days and the car will be ready for the blaster.

today I wrapped up the bracing. I added reinforcements to the rocker panel and tied that into the main brace, then tied the roof corners to the main brace. It might be overkill but I already paid for the steel a long time ago so figured I might as well use it….

the blaster is gonna hate me though… i hope he’s a skinny fellow…

also had a bit of extra time so started unpicking the dodgy bros repairs on the rear slam panel. Mmmm crunchy….

[ND240Z]

Great progress mate. Might be worth your while to get a whole rear beaver panel from resurrected classics - especially if you're doing slam panel/rear valence repairs! 

Also if you haven't bought one of those sound deadening kits yet from the states, i'd be keen to hop on if you wanted to split postage? 

[240ZBUILTBYME]

58 minutes ago, ND240Z said:

Great progress mate. Might be worth your while to get a whole rear beaver panel from resurrected classics - especially if you're doing slam panel/rear valence repairs! 

Also if you haven't bought one of those sound deadening kits yet from the states, i'd be keen to hop on if you wanted to split postage? 

Might be keen for a sound deadening kit. I’ll dm you.  

One step ahead….

 

I will be selling my auto panel solution panel if anyone is interested. 

[240ZBUILTBYME]

Progress has been steady lately, but the deeper I get into this the more I feel like throwing in the towel… you will see why shortly…

unpicked the beaver panel today, all went well with no surprises. Now I will have good access to repair the box section behind it.

couldn’t resist putting the replacement piece on to see

moved onto the roof skin next. As I began I felt a sense of impending doom…

wire wheeled the rain rail to reveal the spot welds.

before 

after 

ah no, Your eyes do not deceive you, that is a giant frickin hole over the A pillar. Gazing into the darkness of this chasm I felt like my soul was being pulled from my body along with all my motivation for this project….

it was like gazing into the eye of Sauron himself….

Where the roof skin joins the rear quarter was also a huge hole. I’m yet to perform the archeological dig to extract the bog artifact from its resting place 

 

I didn’t even bother trying to unpick the spot welds, I just cut what little metal was left. Then I did a lot of swearing, bird flipping and inanimate object abusing. 

 

then I unpicked the rear of the roof skin. I used a 25mm scraper blade to help check if the panels were separated and to separate the last bits that were holding on, this allowed me to do minimal damage to either panel. I found it incredibly useful.

I found the roof skin was tacked the roof structure in the corners where they couldn’t get the spot welder, I believe this is from factory if anyone can confirm. 

so halfway to having the roof off now, should knock it off next session, then start tackling the rear quarter panels. 

I feel like Captain America, I keep getting beat to the ground by this car, but somehow I manage to pick myself up and utter “I can do this all day….” But lately I’ve been getting ever so close to throwing in the towel. 

[daretobedifferent]

I would recommend getting it blasted. Even though your car is full of rust (all Datsuns are anyway), it'll actually be easier to work off once its been blasted and the car being a single primer colour instead of a mix of bad rust, surface rust, primer, and paint.

[240ZBUILTBYME]

7 hours ago, daretobedifferent said:

I would recommend getting it blasted. Even though your car is full of rust (all Datsuns are anyway), it'll actually be easier to work off once its been blasted and the car being a single primer colour instead of a mix of bad rust, surface rust, primer, and paint.

That’s the plan, remove exterior panels, get it blasted then start replacing panels. 

[JDM-TOY]

Be like water my friend 

[gilltech]

Or is it time to build a convertible Z...