What it cost me to own a $500 car part 5

"StudyStudyStudy" (jesterjin) 04/20/2015 at 13:05 • Filed to: 240z, project car

5

12

So as mentioned, awkward kid I was. I once had to explain my hobby of modeling was not fashion modeling, but building car or robot models and such. Never really did live that one down very well.

Well when I watched car movies/animes/shows, the thing that I was most envious of was not the cars, but how the cars brought people together. I just love the camaraderie present as people would work late into the night and shoot the breeze while wrenching.

I got to fulfill that dream. Good friends really can keep your spirits up.

So when a friend was over helping me cut out the factory seat mounts, the sawzall wandered a bit and managed to strike the floor a few times.

Instead of denting like a decent floor, it just sheered basically around the patches I had spent months repairing. I used a pointed hammer to further prod and poke and found even a bunch of the solid looking floor was too thin. It was another head in the hands moment. The floor was just too far gone, and my attempt to patch it was a long exercise in futility. I should really have thanked him as I doubt that floor would have supported a seat for very long, don’t think that’s what I did though, sorry buddy.

Another heads in the hand moment. My friend told me that we can fix it again, that we could patch the holes, but I knew what had to be done. After months of patching welding on my back, dodging balls of hot metal. It was time to do what I should have done from the beginning.

I took the sawzall and removed the floor from both sides.

There would have been an obligatory flintstones shot had I not been so bummed out. I went out and purchased some more fabricating tools, a pneumatic flanger, compressor to power it, etc. And I wish this was a lie, but I had a new floor in in less then 4 hours.

As angry as I was that I had wasted all that time. The months of welding had not been in vain. I had learned valuable lessons on cleaning material prior to welding, welder settings, supply management etc. So when I noticed the engine bay rail had a bit of a gap between the wheel well, a hammer and welder made short work of that problem.

With the chassis starting to take shape it was time to address the parts.

Regarding parts and rust, it seemed the consensus was to sand blast anything that was sturdy enough to take it. So another trip to harbor freight for a sand blaster and a soda blaster just for the heck of it and a trip to the hardware store for sand and we would be in business.

Lessons learned:

Test the stuff you will use. If it can’t support your weight and you plan on sitting on it, fix it.

Sometimes you just need to clear your head and start over.

There really is a right tool for the job.

Friends, good ones, never mean harm (thought they may cause it). Look for a silver lining, but also don’t dismiss the problem in the first place, learn from it.

Costs:

150 - sheet metal for floors, 90* bends

100 - clamps, vice grips, magnets

130 - new spool of welding wire, refill on welding gas

50 - pneumatic flanger and hole puncher combo tool

20 - better metal cutting sheers

300 - two compressors

150 - sand blaster

50 - soda blaster

Subtotoal: 950

Total spent: 3055

*For anyone who has been following along. I apologize in advance, my intention is to release a post every weekday, but I just found out yesterday that the storage location where the car and all my tools are stored had flooded. I am in the middle of relocating and taking stock of the damage and in addition work will be picking up a bit. I have a couple posts written up that I should be able to release on time, but after they run out there may be a delay before I can get back to the daily pace again. Cheers.

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Nobi > StudyStudyStudy 04/20/2015 at 13:52

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Great read so far. Sorry if you’ve already addressed this, but how did you learn to weld? I’d like to get in on it myself, but don’t know where to start.

area man > Nobi 04/20/2015 at 14:12

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Me too!

StudyStudyStudy > Nobi 04/20/2015 at 14:25

2

To be completely honest, for me I learned from youtube, the side of the welder, and practice.

I had zero experience before I started, and was skeptical even when I did. I had worries about strength and integrity. When I was removing the intake manifold on the L28, the PO had welded on the heat shield via a really shoddy tac weld as he had broken the mounting bolt. It took me 5 minutes of prying and sawing to break that terrible/bubbly weld. Once I realized how strong even crappy welds are as long as they have good penetration, I looked up some videos and continued to practice. I had a lot of blow through in the beginning and found how to deal with that online, Project Hugo on youtube also has excellent fabrication and welding and that was very helpful with inspiration. There is an excellent film by a british gent that goes over sheetmetal work that is a great watch. The side of the welder also has settings and general guidelines so once you get the motion down it isn’t too bad.

I wouldn’t recommend it that way though. I would have progressed a lot faster if I had someone point out when I was moving to fast or slow and when to turn up the amperage. I helped two people and they went from booger welds to laying nice flat welds in about 20 minutes. There are some mobile welders that will teach, and some community colleges have some courses that they offer. My favorite advice is still to find someone who has a welder who you admire their work and ask them if they could spare some time. Bring their favorite beverage in large quantities or treat them to a meal or outright pay them. If anyone asks, I always say yes, it doesn’t take more than an hour or two and anytime I get to use my welder is always a good day.

Nobi > StudyStudyStudy 04/20/2015 at 14:29

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Awesome, thank you

StudyStudyStudy > Nobi 04/20/2015 at 14:34

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Sure thing, I can’t be the only person that thinks this way. Just need to find someone. If you can’t find someone then watch online and practice. There are plenty of things you can do without a welder like getting comfortable with dragging and pulling. When my co-worker asked if it was hard to weld, I asked her if she can write a cursive lowercase e. Learn how to do it forwards and backwards as well as the other motions with a steady hand and you will be well on your way.

http://www.spartanmechanics.net/Welding%20Note…

I really like the C and the circular patterns.

Manwich - now Keto-Friendly > StudyStudyStudy 04/21/2015 at 16:01

1

Well look at the bright side... it’s better that you found out about the weak floor now than finding out about it after the car was reassembled.

StudyStudyStudy > Manwich - now Keto-Friendly 04/21/2015 at 16:08

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Lots of time wasted, but miles ahead of literally dragging my bottom on the ground some random day. Still a bummer though :(.

Manwich - now Keto-Friendly > StudyStudyStudy 04/21/2015 at 16:13

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Well you’re also learning as you go... so there’s that.

StudyStudyStudy > Manwich - now Keto-Friendly 04/21/2015 at 16:15

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Silver linings

415s30 W123TSXWaggoIIIIIIo ( •_•))°) > StudyStudyStudy 09/02/2015 at 18:14

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How are the dog legs?

StudyStudyStudy > 415s30 W123TSXWaggoIIIIIIo ( •_•))°) 09/02/2015 at 18:21

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They were replaced, I think in part 6 or part 7 I’m not sure. Have yet to see a Z car that didn’t need them lol.

415s30 W123TSXWaggoIIIIIIo ( •_•))°) > StudyStudyStudy 09/02/2015 at 18:44

1

Seeing how the floor was I thought there was zero chance those were solid! Drainage was the main problem. My friend is blasting my grille and I’m going to repaint it soon, he’s also balancing my carbs, he owns a shop that specializes in Zs/Japanese cars, but he takes pretty much any car. He has a few, even a real Scarab Z, even though I don’t like V8ing a Z. You are pretty brave starting with a Z like that! I paid $6k for mine, it was in a shed and was all original. Its still been a pretty long road getting through everything, I still want to get to the electrical system, rally lights and have a resettable fuse panel/starter/fogs etc.. installed in a custom panel where the radio is. There is a guy who makes anything you want and CNCs the panel to fit wherever you want. I might even have a security sequence built into the switches to start it. I have a roll bar too but it doesn’t come forward, it just goes behind the seats and between the wheel arches.

I had the original wheels but one had a flaw so I had to replace them, I like the ones I have now, more like the Watanabes and the tires and handling is way better. You can see mid project with the dog legs unpainted. And my friends shop always has a few Zs being restored.