gav240z

Makes this look like a bargain don't you think? http://www.shannons.com.au/auctions/lot/X9G4I7P3BR9CF4E9/

I sometimes have the same day dream lol...

If you look at the lower fender area it has taken a beating over the years and it was still a little dodgy looking and wavy to the right of that hole. You could see a tiny bit of filler there also. So rather than spend ages beating the thing into the correct shape and having to do tiny tack welds on the lower 90 degree part of the fender (the bit that gets crushed when people jack the car incorrectly) we decided to just fabricate a new section. I think the other reason was because we might need to do the other side also and as he said it's easier to create these sections in groups of 2.

Good work, are you planning to take this car back to bare metal?

So I'll let the photos do the talking.. I went to Bunnings and got a long crow bar, and an off cut of wood (2x4) and it came out so easily I was surprised, but that's physics for your Torque = L x Force So now the motor is torn down, apart from the Welsh Plugs and the crank breather shield. Time to clean this thing up. Any recommendations on the best way to clean this? Outsource it? Keeping in mind it would be best to use an environmentally friendly approach.

Yes the instructor said he can do it if I like, but I feel that's cheating. His preference is for Oxy / Acetylene I asked about MIG since that's what I have at home and he sorta frowned lol... I haven't had much time on the MIG so we will see, but there is actually more prep work to do anyway before I can weld it on, the metal piece behind the panel will need to be sanded down and rust proofed etc.. So we shall see, I might practice the MIG on some scrap metal first - I did try MIG years ago but I could definitely use some practice.

I'll start with this VW Bus. What do you think?

I guess it is more to do with context. I feel that leb spec us usually used in a derogatory way. Where as Jap spec is usually not.

I would prefer it if we didn't refer to it as "leb" or "kebab" spec please.

I'm aware that you can buy this patch panel on eBay for something like $80-$100 but I made this for free (aside from the fact that I paid for the course) but if you consider the fact that I get to use all these tools and get an expert to over see what I'm doing and advise on the process this is a much better way to go about it I think. I also know this patch panel will fit correctly since it's made to suit. Mark (the instructor) asked if the other side was rotten also (on the other fender) and I'm pretty sure it isn't but then again I haven't stripped it back to verify, he asked because he said it's often easier to make these things in pairs. However the hard part will be the welding, cause that's when I can mess it all up if I blow a hole in it etc.. Finding the time to do the course has been a bit hard but thankfully work lets me leave early on a Wednesday and I've always wanted to be able to do body work on my own cars so I'm enjoying learning these new skills, before it all seemed a bit daunting but now I'm actually looking forward to fabricating other sections also. The door skins should be tricky enough .

to quote Alan T. Not only have you created duplicate threads but you've not told us what you're after each time....

http://kiwimotoring.vo2.co.nz/clubs/view/constructors-car-club-inc Perhaps ask there? I think it is a custom.

So my first start on the body work of HS30 00150. I thought I'd start with the front driver side fender, it has rust in the dog leg section - which is fairly common really. The rest of the panel is good except it's originally from a 260z so it has the indicator in it. I'm going to be filling that in since the 240z's didn't have it. But more on that later. Step 1 was to strip the paint. Using a heat gun on the rear and a scraper I got the paint to bubble and then scraped it off. After seeing the bog in this section we expected to find more, but were surprised that it was only in that lower left hand side. The decision was made to replicate the lower section rather than just patch it up. So with that we used masking paper to create a template. The dolly seen on right was used to mark or scribe along the edge of the fender / paper and give us the outline. Before that though I also had to square up the lower lip on the fender (where people incorrectly jack up the car) to give us the correct outline of this lower 90 degree bend. We end up with something like this. The black circles are where I'll be cutting out the section for bolt holes etc.. Note: The extra metal around the edges will be used to bend around the edges of the panel. We put it through the roller to give it the correct shape. To get the 45 degree bend at the bottom we used this. The Jenny is used to create the bends or at least start the bends that will go where the wheel arch and lip folds over on the opposite side. Lurch can call me a hippy now . It's kind of like a can opener but it doesn't slice open the metal, rather it leaves a solid line where you can continue to bend at an angle. Good when you have to follow a curve (not just do a straight fold). Using a nibbler tool (1 of the guy's lent me) we sliced along where we are going to cut the rusted section off. You could use a grinder but this is quite good and allows you to go slow and create a very straight line. Although it is hard work and I was sweating . I couldn't slice it completely off because there is another piece of metal behind it. Mind you this is probably why moisture gets trapped here also and causes the rust in the first place. But this did allow me to remove the massive bit of bog that was stuck behind it. From this photo you can see why it's called bog, it looks like dogs doo doo alright. Then time ran out, so I'll continue on with it next week. I missed some of the steps here because I was busy with the learnin' but I'll see if I can take more next time. I have to say I really enjoyed tonight's class mainly because the previous classes were more practice and learning technique's but tonight I actually made progress on my own car and that felt great.

Dimitri told me his Z is running Mitsubishi 3000GT discs and R33 GTS-T calipers. Apparently a guy named Chris Wood has made a bolt on kit for the early Z. I'd be looking at something like that if you're worried about engineering the Wilwood's. FWIW I recall holding the Toyota 4 pots in my hand and thinking they were very heavy. Compared with an alloy caliper it's night and day difference in weight and if you're going to the expense and hassle of doing a brake swap you may as well go for the lighter unsprung weight - not just sheer stopping power. I know the standard calipers are cast iron heavy also but if you can get that weight down it's a huge benefit in my opinion.

Seems this post is also relevant. http://www.viczcar.com/forum/index.php/topic,7975.msg76380.html#msg76380

I will but I need a Tig Welder it would seem, only got a Mig. PS: Lurch thinks everything is easy, but this body work thing is the black arts to me. Although I am getting more and more used to it.

Looks fantastic, can't wait to get mine back to this condition. The side profile lighting with the 920 gold is amazing. Should look very period correct .

No progress on motor tonight because I took the front right fender off the car. I snapped 1 bolt unfortunately but considering how rusty mos of them were I'm happy I didn't snap more of them. Still gonna suck to get it out later. The reason I had to get the fender off is that I'll be hopefully working on it tomorrow during the Tafe class. It is actually a great panel only rust down near the lower rocker area. However the rocker itself hasn't rusted through. I'll try and post some photos to show how it turns out tomorrow. Camera ran out of battery tonight sorry no photos for now.

Looking good, I kinda liked the hot wire wheels on it before with the white writing on the tyres. As for engine choice ask the members here who have had a proper stroker built what they think? I like turbo's also but I think a well sorted stroker offers the original motor feel, a wild noise and massive amount of low down torque.

That is actually a little tricky to do over multiple layouts and devices but it is possible. A software upgrade would make it a lot easier though for everyone.

If you're willing to spend 2-3k on 1 yes, I've seen a couple of Yahoo! auctions.

I have been thinking about doing an April fools like this for the past couple of years with my red 240z, but I thought it would be too mean.

That is right, these are bluebird style ones. These are considerably cheaper than the S30 ones.

Hey George - you can do that with the other caps but not the center and rear caps. They are different. The other caps you can wiggle and tap with a mallet and loosen them up, then you insert 2 of the cap bolts (but don't thread them in) and pull them in opposite directions so 1 left and 1 right with each hand as then lift on the bolts to get the caps off. It's a bit fiddly, but with the rear and center caps you can't do it because of the way the crank counterweights sit there is no gap. The rebuild book says to use the bolt in the cap (it has a thread) and pull them out this way. Nissan apparently has a tool for this job. The hammer was a cheapy but still surprised I used that much force (Arnie would be proud), will give Dimitri's suggestion a go, gotta get a gasket scraper from Bunnings anyway. It's the only cap that needs to come off before I can remove the crank and have the block fully disassembled. I actually found this step harder than removing the pistons - as mentioned #4 slid out with no fuss. The good news is that the crank span freely, but the end cap bearings and rod bearings have some scratch marks in them, which suggests crap got into the oil. I'm not too worried about that though as the plan is to use the LD28 crank I have with the L14 or L24 rods .

Many years ago I bought a set of these callipers but after looking into it further didn't do the conversion. They pull up well because they are designed for a 4x4. But there are too many other trade offs in my opinion like the weight in the front end. You can improve stock brakes with a good rebuild, brake fluid and bleed and appropriate pads. But long term I'd invest in something like Wiwoods or some alloy callipers from a 300zx, Skyline or Rx7 for example.