philcas1987 Posted July 23, 2011 Report Share Posted July 23, 2011 Nice! Looks like a 4 door in there. 2 door was an after thought. Spot welds... 1 Quote Link to comment
Josh K. Posted July 24, 2011 Author Report Share Posted July 24, 2011 Thanks Phil! I decided the easiest way to proceed is to split the donor car into 6 pieces. L/R Rockers, L/R Quarters, Rear Light Panel, Trunk Floor. First step is get the driver side stripped and prepped, then take the driver quarter off the donor and weld onto the Project car. This way any mistake on the driver side (easy side) I can apply to the passenger side (nightmare). So far today I got the car leaned up (for easy access to the rockers) and ready to cut the rocker panel off. Here's the smashed up driver side rocker. Once the rocker is off I have to rework the body flange to be semi straight again before fitting the donor panel Quote Link to comment
Josh K. Posted July 24, 2011 Author Report Share Posted July 24, 2011 Done for the day.... Finished separating the quarter. Decided to make it easier to repair, I would take the whole rocker off. I have a lot of work ahead to straighten the rocker flange. I might just cut the whole flange off and weld a new strip in place, at least it would be flat and straight. It might be the easiest route. Got the flange straight enough to where I can cutoff the old rocker panel flange, then hammer the rest straight/or cut it all off.. Quote Link to comment
Josh K. Posted July 31, 2011 Author Report Share Posted July 31, 2011 Well I got the replacement driver quarter off. What a chore that was.... Still have to remove the rocker panel. Quote Link to comment
Josh K. Posted August 2, 2011 Author Report Share Posted August 2, 2011 I got a little extra cash so I ordered some supplies. Here's the list. Not much but it will keep my moving forward. Clecos Pliers 40 Clecos 7 piece hammer/dolly set Key to Metal Bumping book Rust Encapsulator Black - Quart I also bought a rear/driver side 280zx Power Slot Rotor. This will allow me to dial in the wheel spacer thickness and then machine the final spacer. I'm just waiting on pics and I'll be buying a complete 82 280zx rear brake/e-brake setup. Next is buy 2 more Golf Fenders! Quote Link to comment
Josh K. Posted August 2, 2011 Author Report Share Posted August 2, 2011 Full 280zx rear disc setup on the way, now I'll have the complete 280zx brake package all the way through! Quote Link to comment
Josh K. Posted August 6, 2011 Author Report Share Posted August 6, 2011 Got most of the donor panels off. Still gotta get the rockers tomorrow. Man these cars are easy to get apart but hard to not damage while doing it! Quote Link to comment
Josh K. Posted August 7, 2011 Author Report Share Posted August 7, 2011 All done stripping the donor car. Atleast this time I took every usable part before she heads to the crusher.... Quote Link to comment
hobbes_the_cat Posted August 7, 2011 Report Share Posted August 7, 2011 Yeah that's stripped! the steering wheel still looks good though... Quote Link to comment
datsuntech Posted August 7, 2011 Report Share Posted August 7, 2011 I wouldn't get rid of the stock struts, steering box or linkage either. You never know when it might come in handy. Brock Quote Link to comment
bonvo Posted August 8, 2011 Report Share Posted August 8, 2011 bout to say thats not stripped yet get back to work :P Quote Link to comment
Josh K. Posted August 8, 2011 Author Report Share Posted August 8, 2011 Yeah I'm gonna pull the steering components! I also forgot to remove the headliner rods from the roof, I'll need those for my project car! Quote Link to comment
Josh K. Posted August 14, 2011 Author Report Share Posted August 14, 2011 Had a nice vacation. Got back to a bunch of boxes Today I started on the driver side rocker panel. I got it trimmed up and all the holes filled. Here's the first fitting /pre-holes welded. Then I decided it was time to mock up all the panels. Tomorrow I will finish trimming and fitting the rear quarter and then keep trimming/fitting/aligning/welding patch panels, repeat.... Here's a slew of pics: I'm pretty happy with how it's going, just need to make it go faster! Quote Link to comment
Josh K. Posted August 14, 2011 Author Report Share Posted August 14, 2011 Back to work fitting the quarter. I had to move the door back a lot to get the door gap close. Here's the gap, kinda hard to see, I need to strip the door soon... Front quarter/ B Pillar: C Pillar: C Pillar and trunk seal area, still gotta pull these seams tight once everything is good to go. Next thing is pull all the panels, strip the insides and apply rust proofing. Then I can attach the rocker and start working my way back. Quote Link to comment
Josh K. Posted August 22, 2011 Author Report Share Posted August 22, 2011 I've been working on the rear 280zx disc conversion. The drawings from Dime Quarterly are definitely not made by a draftsmen... I'm starting over from scratch and making them out of aluminum. I'll post the CAD Drawings when I'm done. I managed to clean up and slap some eastwood rust encapsulator inside the rocker and behind the quarter. I also did some straightening and dent removal. I also re-hung all panels and pulled them tight with the clecos. I will have to spend a lot more time fitting/pulling/tweaking the panels to get the fit I want. It's definitely hard fitting up panels that were fit to another chassis at the factory... Still gotta repair the rear rocker and a patch in the front rocker. then weld it all up. Here's some pics: Quote Link to comment
Rustina 510 Posted August 22, 2011 Report Share Posted August 22, 2011 Clean Work dude Quote Link to comment
Josh K. Posted August 22, 2011 Author Report Share Posted August 22, 2011 Thank you sir! I'm trying my hardest! I'm going to make some pull clamps so I can pull the quarter forward and up. I'm not happy with it currently and this is the only way I will be!! You can see the gap here: This will also help flatten the shelf right under the quarter window. This is supposed to be flat and mine right now has a slight arc. Quote Link to comment
the510keeper Posted August 24, 2011 Report Share Posted August 24, 2011 WOW, that's dedication. Looks good. Quote Link to comment
Josh K. Posted August 27, 2011 Author Report Share Posted August 27, 2011 Coming from a guy that actually knows how to do this stuff, it's appreciated! Today is "finish the driver rocker" day! It's all mounted, just need to weld it! Had to make a patch for this area. Once it's welded I'll grind the bottom edge nice and straight. More to come. Quote Link to comment
Josh K. Posted August 28, 2011 Author Report Share Posted August 28, 2011 Finally something welded back on the car, not just tearing stuff off!!!!! I gotta say it was worth it to fix the rockers. Tomorrow I'll finish cleaning up the welds then drop the car back down and start working on the other rocker/quarter.... Quote Link to comment
Josh K. Posted August 28, 2011 Author Report Share Posted August 28, 2011 Forgot I needed to finish the rear rocker and lower quarter. It's easier to do this now with the car leaned up. The back edge of the rocker will be left rough until I start constructing the wheel wells. This will wait until the car is on the ground with the wheels back on. Here's this morning so far: Had to remove a section of rust. I love clecos!!!!! New patch panel from the old rockers... Quote Link to comment
Josh K. Posted August 28, 2011 Author Report Share Posted August 28, 2011 Finished the rocker. Ground and smoothed out the rocker flanges. DONE!! I have to replace the lower part of the quarter from the bottom row of clecos to the rocker flange. That's next. I made a panel pull clamp out of the old window hold downs.....It got the panel much tighter and I'm happy now Quote Link to comment
Josh K. Posted August 29, 2011 Author Report Share Posted August 29, 2011 Done for the day. Got the quarter fit up nicely. Decided to cut the lower section of the quarter off and weld it to the inner panel. This way I wont have 3 flange layers pushing the quarter out. Instead I'll just use filler to blend to the flange area. I'm cutting here: Now it's time to get the car on the ground and figure out how to lift the passenger side and not damage the driver rocker in the process. Quote Link to comment
Josh K. Posted September 3, 2011 Author Report Share Posted September 3, 2011 I got the car leaned up the other way so I can start on the passenger side... I welded up some risers to keep from damaging my nice new driver side rocker Here's the disaster that is the passenger rocker! Use this as reference for what the driver side looked like before the repair... This should be fun Quote Link to comment
Josh K. Posted September 5, 2011 Author Report Share Posted September 5, 2011 Decided to just cutoff the lower portion of the front rocker and save the lower rear. I'm also having to do some sectioning of the quarter on this side due to damage at the door seam on the donor panel. Her'es today's progress (not much..) Sorry for the bad lighting. Quote Link to comment
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