fly-s30 Posted December 25, 2012 Posted December 25, 2012 Are there any shops that can be recommended to do chassis straightening in Melbourne? The car is on a rotisserie atm so everything is accessible. Anticipated costs? Are there other ways to do this?...cost effectively? Read: At home! I was reading a Unique cars magazine about 5-6 months back, and there was this guy Australian in Malaysia who was restoring mustangs for the aussie market. He had a rolling frame with wheels, and IIRC, the chassis was mounted to the chassis on all-thread which could move the chassis at those points...like a jig. Would this work if the structure/cowls/rails were removed then re-welded to correct dimensional checks? Would it re-twist? Quote
benny Posted December 25, 2012 Posted December 25, 2012 tie it to a tree and flaw it.... in all seriousness most recommended panel beaters have some sort of alignment/straightening setup. I have heard of portapowers? being used to straighten chassis at home but best leave it to the pros. Quote
dat2kman Posted December 26, 2012 Posted December 26, 2012 Unfortunately, in these days of "chuck them away" there are less panel beaters with operating bidy/chassis straighting rigs. Mainly two types, a floor mounted system of pivot and pull with claws, using porta power type rams and chains, or, a rack ( mobile) with similar. Both will use trammel bars and pin points, and work to a book of measurements. By overstretching, with springback using the rams, and measuring for 3 dimensional, it is not difficult to get a car right. Go talk to some shops first, they may require the car to be at least rolling. No hanging panels makes their job, and your wallet, easier. Quote
Sirpent Posted December 26, 2012 Posted December 26, 2012 Hi There are two forms of car alignment available. The old method utilisise Jigs which are pre-fabricated brackets designed to bolt to a flat bed bench at specific bolt points, these are known as "Jigs" and they align to strategic bolt points on the chassis such as the towers, cross member bolt points and suspension mount points, unfortunately these went out the window some 20+ years ago and a company like "Car Bench australia" would deliver the jigs to shops based on a specific make and model for a rental period. These days new systems like "Car-O-Liner" have replaced these methods, they use universal clamps that can be adjusted to grip the chassis at differing points, as oppossed to tailored jigs, these systems are readily available in most modern shops, however you require details measurements of the chassis and the differing pick up points in order for the sysstem to use these as reference points for re-alignment. I did issue a complete set of S30 measurements on this forum about 2 years ago, and do have them saved somewhere unless one of the other lads has it available on hand to post here. Cheers John Quote
C.A.R. Posted December 26, 2012 Posted December 26, 2012 Blackwell Bodyworks in Pakenham come highly recommended: 19/, 25 Bald Hill Rd Pakenham, VIC, 3810 (03) 5941 6999 They straightened a 260Z belonging to a member on here - was a damn neat job! Quote
fly-s30 Posted December 26, 2012 Author Posted December 26, 2012 All very good points. Thanks for posting! This is by far the best forum full of facts with no attitudes. And its all from local fellas. Couldn't have asked for a better group! Quote
imackz Posted December 26, 2012 Posted December 26, 2012 Are there any shops that can be recommended to do chassis straightening in Melbourne? The car is on a rotisserie atm so everything is accessible. Anticipated costs? Are there other ways to do this?...cost effectively? Read: At home! I was reading a Unique cars magazine about 5-6 months back, and there was this guy Australian in Malaysia who was restoring mustangs for the aussie market. He had a rolling frame with wheels, and IIRC, the chassis was mounted to the chassis on all-thread which could move the chassis at those points...like a jig. Would this work if the structure/cowls/rails were removed then re-welded to correct dimensional checks? Would it re-twist? try ... http://www.zfactory.com.au/ Quote
Moderators Zedman240® Posted January 2, 2013 Moderators Posted January 2, 2013 Z Factory has always been run and owned by Rob Laughton, Z Worx was created and run by Warren, then sold to that other guy who killed it then ran it into the ground. He has some jigs that he uses to check if your zed is square in the bay and front end. Quote
imackz Posted April 15, 2013 Posted April 15, 2013 Z Factory has always been run and owned by Rob Laughton, Z Worx was created and run by Warren, then sold to that other guy who killed it then ran it into the ground. He has some jigs that he uses to check if your zed is square in the bay and front end. yes, Rob did the chassis on my 280zx ready for the V8 conversion, he is a fussy bugger sometimes but does a great job.. Quote
fly-s30 Posted June 4, 2013 Author Posted June 4, 2013 Finally at the stage of needing a panel beater now! Rotissorie is done and yep car is a shell so access is no probs Dat2kman . Sirpent, is there still a link to your write up on dimensions? Are the dimensions different from year to year? Thanks for the reference Lurch! Im getting a good picture of what this problem will end up costing. Going by telling me what their hourly rate is im expecting a quote upwards of $1200 min, plus rail sections if it comes to that....Damn Not that surprised actually. Imackz, yep spoke to Rob, and yeah i saw the cars in there are straight as. What was required for your chassis work? Cheers Darius Quote
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