the last few parts to be sandblasted and repainted
gosh that POR15 is wonderful stuff
looks good, eh? seems to have gotten a bit dusty
a little POR15 for the rusty bits
major rust hole left side - there was a metal plate directly over the rusty area. the metal in the rest of the frame channel is fine, which makes me suspect that water running down the inside of the wheel well sat in the small gap between the two pieces of metal and rusted it's way through.
and right side
a little POR15 on the inside to keep it from rusting further
freshly welded 1/8" plate over hole
the right hand side was a bit trickier to weld, for whatever reason
mighty Z car
my magnet forgot to shave for a couple weeks
rear battery box hole! I nearly pulled the classic cartoon 'guy cuts hole in floor around him and falls through' thing :)
now when I throw crap in the back of the car it ends up on the floor :(
mid battery box planning
the angle iron crosspiece which goes behind the seats between the rear fenders and forms the top edge of the mid battery boxes
a little plate on the end to spread out the attachment point on the fender
getting ready to weld in the crosspiece
look out or welder man will get you.
I think this setup will be as strong or stronger than original...
sheet metal (planning 22 gauge or so) will go up from the floor along the angled brackets, then bend and weld to the angle iron up top. the edges of the sheet will weld along the areas I've ground clean.
this is how an optima battery fits in... starting to see how it's gonna be?
picture this with the sheet metal in place and that nice red Datsun vinyl stuff on top
as you can see, this still leaves room for the seat
the THIRD motor adapter
with lots of anti sieze lubricant for good measure
adapter plate is ready...
..and hub is on.