240ZBUILTBYME 49 Posted February 21 Share Posted February 21 Hi all wondering if I can get some opinions on my plan going forward with the bodywork for Sheena. Will be knocking off the chassis jig and looking at starting Some rust repair. my plan going forward is: -replace floors, chassis rails and frame rails while the car is on the chassis jig holding everything together. I know it would be so much easier doing this work on a rotisserie but I don’t trust the strength of the shell with the spine of the car ripped out. my sequence plan for each side is: 1. rip out chassis rail 2. Replace floor pan 3. Rip out frame rail and repair all rust in area and replace frame rail 4. Install new chassis rail once this is done the shell will be ready for the rotisserie treatment. I plan to build a rotisserie and then send the car for paint stripping and media blasting. No large flat panels will be blasted, they will be stripped by hand. Car will return in epoxy and remaining rust repair will be completed. Rockers, rear wheel arches, rear valance, rear slam, roof and cowl area. that’s my rough plan so far... Quote Link to post Share on other sites
240ZBUILTBYME 49 Posted February 22 Author Share Posted February 22 Sooo plan has to change.... lol Went and visited the car today, started making a plan for replacing the floors and on further inspection, the doglegs and surrounding structure are rustier than I thought. I cut out a hole in the dogleg to get a better look and found this is what I found. and it’s much the same on the other side. some of the inner rocker and inner reinforcement (panel wedged between inner and outer rocker) has rotted away. So to do the floors I need to sort all this out as well otherwise I have nothing to weld my floors to..... it’s like a thread pull that eventually unravels the whole jumper.... anyone let me know if I’m wrong. so I’ll plan to do majority of the rust repair before she goes for final stripping/ blasting. also found some pretty serious rust in the corner of my tool compartments... I have a cunning plan to remove the two skins that make up the tool compartments together so I can have room to repair everything underneath. But that is a whole other thread when the time comes... MikeFarkas 1 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
MikeFarkas 50 Posted February 22 Share Posted February 22 So, to paraphrase, are you taking a rocker panel off, then replacing the outside frame rail, the welding the new rocker panel back on, then doing the other side? If so, that sounds about right from what I have seen. I think CBR Jeff did a similar thing on his car. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
CBR Jeff 722 Posted February 23 Share Posted February 23 I replaced the outer rocker panel on both sides on my car. The inner panel or rails were in ok condition (not great but ok) I cleaned them up and fabricated some strengthening panels and added a sill tube to both sides to assist in support and add some side impact protection. From memory I used two sections of 32mm thick wall steel tube for the sill tubes. These run inside the rocker panel from the seatbelt mount in the B pillar to the bottom on the A pillar. Basically a side intrusion bar in the rocker panel. I was not game to take on the challenge of removing the entire rocker section and trying to get it all back together and correct with the equipment I had. I did this work off stands checking alignment along the way. I removed and replaced the floors once the shell was on the rotisserie as it was much easier then. Jeff 240ZBUILTBYME 1 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
240ZBUILTBYME 49 Posted February 23 Author Share Posted February 23 (edited) 2 hours ago, MikeFarkas said: So, to paraphrase, are you taking a rocker panel off, then replacing the outside frame rail, the welding the new rocker panel back on, then doing the other side? If so, that sounds about right from what I have seen. I think CBR Jeff did a similar thing on his car. Hey Mike What I will be doing is a little more complicated than just rockers, there are several layer of metal in that dogleg corner that will need to be replaced. I have studied Jeff’s thread at great length and will be doing similar repairs though I think my rust is worse Edited February 23 by 240ZBUILTBYME Quote Link to post Share on other sites
240ZBUILTBYME 49 Posted February 23 Author Share Posted February 23 15 minutes ago, CBR Jeff said: I replaced the outer rocker panel on both sides on my car. The inner panel or rails were in ok condition (not great but ok) I cleaned them up and fabricated some strengthening panels and added a sill tube to both sides to assist in support and add some side impact protection. From memory I used two sections of 32mm thick wall steel tube for the sill tubes. These run inside the rocker panel from the seatbelt mount in the B pillar to the bottom on the A pillar. Basically a side intrusion bar in the rocker panel. I was not game to take on the challenge of removing the entire rocker section and trying to get it all back together and correct with the equipment I had. I did this work off stands checking alignment along the way. I removed and replaced the floors once the shell was on the rotisserie as it was much easier then. Jeff Thanks Jeff. Side intrusion bar sounds like a good idea safety wise. I will be following your lead on most of the repairs. I don’t think I can do my floors on the rotisserie, as I am replacing engine bay frame rails as well which means replacing/repairing floors before frame rails can go in. To replace frame rails I need it on the chassis jig. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
MikeFarkas 50 Posted February 23 Share Posted February 23 4 minutes ago, 240ZBUILTBYME said: Hey Mike What I will be doing is a little more complicated than just rockers, there are several layer of metal in that dogleg corner that will need to be replaced. Indeed! There are 6 layers down there to get right - I did similar on my Dog Legs (although I didn't have to replace the frame rail). The biggest pain was that the first layer is the frame rail, second layer is the wheel well (which drives how far the final layer, the dog leg, sticks out). Then goes the B Pillar thing, then the rocker, then more B pillar, then rocker. If you get the second layer wrong (I was only patching, not replacing) then it can cause your rocker panel to stick out too far or not enough. 240ZBUILTBYME 1 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
CBR Jeff 722 Posted February 23 Share Posted February 23 13 minutes ago, 240ZBUILTBYME said: I have studied Jeff’s thread at great length and will be doing similar repairs though I think my rust is worse Yes it is.... :-( Jeff MikeFarkas 1 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
240ZBUILTBYME 49 Posted February 23 Author Share Posted February 23 (edited) I am putting together a comprehensive plan for doing the floors, doglegs, rockers and rear wheels arches. I will post here you all to critique soon. one thing I need to clarify is the sequence of the panels in the very corner of the dogleg. Everything is very rusted and difficult to distinguish. Might need the maestro of metal on this one @C.A.F. starting from the outside: 1.Outer rocker 2. Reinforcement plate/inner dogleg b pillar 3. Outer side of inner wheel arch 4. Inner rocker 5. Inner side of inner wheel arch is this right? Which panel shows externally in the section I have circled closest to the floor pan? I think it Is the inner rocker? Does the two inner wheel arch panels sandwich the inner rocker? Ryan Edited February 23 by 240ZBUILTBYME Quote Link to post Share on other sites
240ZBUILTBYME 49 Posted February 23 Author Share Posted February 23 18 minutes ago, MikeFarkas said: Indeed! There are 6 layers down there to get right - I did similar on my Dog Legs (although I didn't have to replace the frame rail). The biggest pain was that the first layer is the frame rail, second layer is the wheel well (which drives how far the final layer, the dog leg, sticks out). Then goes the B Pillar thing, then the rocker, then more B pillar, then rocker. If you get the second layer wrong (I was only patching, not replacing) then it can cause your rocker panel to stick out too far or not enough. thanks mike, but I’m confused lol i only count 5 layers in there... do you have any pics from your repair? Ryan Quote Link to post Share on other sites
CBR Jeff 722 Posted February 23 Share Posted February 23 Study the exploded views in the parts manuals in the members only section. It will help work out what goes in what order. Jeff MikeFarkas and 240ZBUILTBYME 1 1 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
MikeFarkas 50 Posted February 23 Share Posted February 23 Yeah - there's 5 from that angle. The 6th (which was buggered on mine) was the top/right over there, inbetween the door and the B Pillar. I'm not sure what its called, but its that nice flowing bit that flows onto the rocker panel. The Dog Leg spot welds onto that. This bit in this first photo... 240ZBUILTBYME 1 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
MikeFarkas 50 Posted February 23 Share Posted February 23 5 minutes ago, CBR Jeff said: Study the exploded views in the parts manuals in the members only section. It will help work out what goes in what order. Instructions? Instructions? We doan need no stinkin' instructions! (mind you, that would have been super nice to know before I had to reverse engineer it all...) gilltech, CBR Jeff and 240ZBUILTBYME 3 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
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