Project Theseus

[Noll]

Today's project was to fix the inner/outer wheelarch flange. Started by taking stuff apart:






Found this wonderful area underneath:




All cut out and nice:






And new bits in. Cut out of the replacement quarter and grafted in:

[Casey_z]

The ultimate self isolation situation

[Noll]

The ultimate self isolation situation

Pretty much! It's a rather unfortunate situation the world is in currently, but being temporarily laid off from one of my jobs means I have more time for the Z, and I'm not about to let that go to waste. I have pretty much everything I need in terms of metal etc, so no need to go out.

[Noll]

Welded all the layers back on that I had previously cut off, and mocked up the wheelarch:







obviously more repairs to do before stuff comes together for good, but I can start doing fitment testing now.

[Casey_z]

Bring back a helpful reference picture

[Noll]

Bring back a helpful reference picture

Thanks! I have that saved in my stash of reference pics, handy for both the metalwork side of things as well as when I need to eventually re-plumb all the evap.

[Noll]

Not Z-specific, but I found out about a 300-acre junkyard near my house that has a bunch of datsuns (and ladas!). Went for a poke around today, as they also have some volvos and other stuff I am in need of parts for.

they had no s30s, but a whole lot of 510's, 610's, 710s, etc. Only grabbed a few pics, would have done more if I had thought about it:








There's also this 2dr, which I am half-seriously considering getting as a project. obviously needs rockers, floors, yada yada, but the rest is just patina and the trunk stuff isn't that difficult of a fix:








Found a rx-4 as well, also a kinda tempting project idea:

[zedfoot]

What an amazing discovery. If I ever get out to visit, I'd love to poke around.

[Noll]

What an amazing discovery. If I ever get out to visit, I'd love to poke around.

I'd be happy to show you around! It is a pretty amazing place, 20km from my house and I never knew.

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My goal today was to get to a point where I could test-fit the new quarter. I'll let the pictures do the talking.









Still have a bunch of small patches to do before It can go on for good, but it is super nice to finally have the car looking pretty much whole again. Only thing missing is the taillight panel, which is next up after the quarter.

[Ont240]

Great to see your dedication to a long term project. Soldier on!

[Dr.Diesel]

Putting those panels back on is a huge step & gives inspiration & vision to the project. It must feel like a huge accomplishment for you to physically see it first hand.
I was noticing those two 510's sitting side by side that you had in your photos have the same identical damage to the rear trunk area. Almost like it was done intentionally to them where they are sitting.

[Noll]

Thanks guys! It is super nice to finally have it on the car and be able to see how it will look, that's for sure.

Dr.Diesel - yep! Apparently they accidentally reversed into those 2 with the yard's tractor while pulling something from one of the cars in the next row. At least that means I know it was a low speed impact, and happily the taillights both are fine.

[Noll]

Hey, looks like the forum move is complete . Re-post of my last post that didn't get carried across:


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Fixed the fuel filler area and filled in the passenger rear sidemarker today. The one small bit of my original rear quarters that will live on lol.








One filler neck holder was rusted, the other had a rusted flange but otherwise good, so I combined 'em:



Made a filler panel for the sidemarker:




pretty happy with how it all went. Minimal warping overall, so not much filler will be required. That said, it would be really nice to get a TIG for this sort of stuff on big panels.

[Noll]

Started putting on the inner arch yesterday, but stuff refused to fit right so I eventually got frustrated, swore at the car for a bit, and called it quits for the day. Came back this afternoon and decided the best way to proceed would be to remove the side pocket/taillight surround assembly so it could be a fixed reference point on the car to make the quarter fit relative to.

mocked it up:




Took it apart and removed this junk and replaced with good metal:






And cleaned up and welded. Did a whole lot of measuring beforehand to make sure everything sits where it should.










Still more repairs to do in it, but easier now that it's in a static location.


This is the reason for my current fitment woes; not sure how but the inner flange sits about 7mm too high and therefore pushes the quarter out. Should be simple enough to cut and weld in a strip to extend it down to the correct location, that'll be another day though.

[vvise]

crazy amount of work you do every time i come in here. super impressed.