Looking good Dave.

I'll be attempting to replace the sills on my Zed soon,
and am wondering how your finding using the Oxy?

I have the option of using Oxy or a Mig on mine...

_________________
Classic Auto Fabrications:
http://www.ozdat.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=38&t=31659

http://www.lescollinsracing.com/

I use oxy for all my panel repairs.

Mainly because I don't own anything else, and have never used a mig so I don't know any better

I find the oxy gives a nice "soft" weld that can still be beaten into shape to fix any warping that occurs. I've noticed in the past that mig welded panels seem to be "harder" and more difficult to work any further. Also, if you get the panels fitting together well with little or no gap between the bits to be welded, using the oxy you can just fuse them together with very little or no filler rod. No need for heaps of grinding back the weld bead before you can do any more finishing off.

Also, I lashed out a while back and spent over $500 on a top-of-the-line "Henrob" oxy torch. This makes it much easier to do a good job than the old CIG Colt torch I used to have.

I guess both have their merits, so whatever you're familiar with would probably be the best to use. I've used the oxy for years and am only now knocking out repairs I'm really happy with.

_________________
1970 ex Group A Rally P510
1971 P510
1972 180B SSS
1965 SP310 Fairlady
1966 SP311 Fairlady

Ahhh I was wondering if you have a Henrob.
I've been wanting to buy one for the last umpteen years,
but I've never gotton round to it.

Does it weld like they say it does?

_________________
Classic Auto Fabrications:
http://www.ozdat.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=38&t=31659

http://www.lescollinsracing.com/

I think if you practise as much as the guy who sells them and does all the demos then yes it probably would do everything they say.

I haven't tried the "welding the ring pull back on a beer can" trick yet, but can weld aluminium sheet quite successfully with it, and it goes great on car bodies. Heaps less distortion than I could manage with my old torch, and far less chance of blowing holes in thin sheetmetal. I keep meaning to try it on stainless to see if it will weld that like they say it will, but have never got around to it.

I also knocked up the rotisserie for my body shell out of 4mm wall thickness steel tube, and it managed that quite OK as well.

So yep, I'm happy with it. I was much like yourself - I'd wanted one for years, but the cost put me off. Now that I've finally got one, I'm glad I did.

_________________
1970 ex Group A Rally P510
1971 P510
1972 180B SSS
1965 SP310 Fairlady
1966 SP311 Fairlady

Finally finished the sill

Turned out pretty good, just needs a bit of bog to finish it off and I can move on to something else.

_________________
1970 ex Group A Rally P510
1971 P510
1972 180B SSS
1965 SP310 Fairlady
1966 SP311 Fairlady

Top work there Dave.

Pm me if there is any SSS bits you need, like the stainless trim that goes over the sills etc etc. I have a import SSS in pieces atm.

_________________
1975 P610/180B SSS ex PRC3 Rally car (parts car)
1974 P610/180B SSS (parts car)
1972 P510/1600 Currently sitting untouched
1977 P610/180B Wagon Daily Driver

Just starting to get back into the rust again.

Around the rear screen is starting to come along nicely.

Before





After. The only slight hiccup was that I melted the lead out of the joint where the roof meets the top of the quarter ( the shiny spot near the bottom of the photo) and it dripped onto my thong-clad foot

_________________
1970 ex Group A Rally P510
1971 P510
1972 180B SSS
1965 SP310 Fairlady
1966 SP311 Fairlady

Rear screen is finished

There's more patch than original metal around the screen now The bits in red are the patches.






Also got a bit bored with fixing rust, so I spent a bit of time on the "bling" factor - here's what a few hours of hand polishing can do

_________________
1970 ex Group A Rally P510
1971 P510
1972 180B SSS
1965 SP310 Fairlady
1966 SP311 Fairlady

Awesome stuff Dave!
That's a fair bit of fiddly welding there...

Oh, and I like your shiny bit too

_________________
Classic Auto Fabrications:
http://www.ozdat.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=38&t=31659

http://www.lescollinsracing.com/

Yep- I've been concerned about this bit due to its proximity to a large, flat panel - the roof. Managed to get it done very carefully and only had one area about 4cms in diameter in the roof panel itself that needs a bit of bog to raise it back up, due to the fact that I had to weld a section in on the flatter section of the roof in this area. A better result that I had anticipated.

The bit that buckled is circled in red, due to having to weld in the section in red that's "squared" (well, "circled" is a word...) The annoying thing is that there's a large structural member under this area, so I can't get in there to panel-beat it back into shape, bog will have to do.





I'm finally starting to get near the end of all the rust removal Only the left hand rear 1/4, a piece in the right hand roof, plus a few small random bits to go I'm hoping to be finished rust work sometime round Xmas or early in the new year.

And the shiny diff cover was the result of a few nights sittng on the lounge ion front of the telly with a bucket of water on my lap, lots of wet-and-dry paper of various grades, all finished off with Brasso !!! Should buy a polishing mop for the bench grinder one day

_________________
1970 ex Group A Rally P510
1971 P510
1972 180B SSS
1965 SP310 Fairlady
1966 SP311 Fairlady

looking good dave, glad to hear the rust is almost all gone that rear screen was crazy

good luck with it Dave gotta come around again and see how things are going

cheers

_________________
Ne one can restore a car it takes a real man to chop it I am able to do general fabrication work mild steel, stainess steel, rust repair patches, catch cans etc. pm or email me at cording_da_revhead@hotmail.com

Well, maybe not

Been working on the 1600 instead, getting it ready for datnats.

Just started back onto rust removal - here's the rear 1/4.

The odd shaped bit that I've cut out was a previous attempt at rust repair - using 3mm steel . No wonder its all straight sections welded up, with no shape to it at all.







Now all I have to do is weld it back up again Will post pics as progress is made.

_________________
1970 ex Group A Rally P510
1971 P510
1972 180B SSS
1965 SP310 Fairlady
1966 SP311 Fairlady

Had a bit of a holiday, been spending time on the 1600, and spent the last month cleaning up 7 large trees that blew over in the yard during the storm up here last month - so progress has been non-existant

Anyway, back into it recently, and starting to get somewhere with the rear guard - here's the almost completed inner section, all folded up by hand from new sheetmetal. To get the pattern that's pressed into the flat section, I got a bit of hardwood and routered the pattern into it. Then used appropriate shaped bits of metal to hammer the pattern into it (an old drill did nicely for the round groove )

I haven't cut the bottom to size, as there was nothing left of the original to work out were to cut it . I'll have to make up a template from the other side and go from there.

Old and new


Shot with FinePix S3000 at 2007-07-26

Trial fitment


Shot with FinePix S3000 at 2007-07-26

_________________
1970 ex Group A Rally P510
1971 P510
1972 180B SSS
1965 SP310 Fairlady
1966 SP311 Fairlady

Dave,
I have read your restoration story with interest.

Over the past 2 years I have taken two 180BSSS bodies to the metal recyclers because they looked like your body - perhaps less rusty, but rusted in all the same places. The rear window surround and parcel shelf were the parts that I thought looked easiest - by replacing with bits from a 180B Sedan!

Having seen your painstaking work, I am glad I bit the bullet and cut down my project list, by deciding to concentrate on restoring my 1600SSS (genuine). The Japanese built 1600 body seems to resist rust much better than the 180BSSS shell.

Good luck with the completion. Like you, I like the 180SSS body's frameless glass doors and overall entoumbed feeling when driving them. I owned two of them in the 1970s - both silver - really great cars.

_________________
RichardC
SSS016

Dave,

Fantastic Effort. I've been there just the same as you... Except that it took me 4 years
Damn, I hate it when the earth does that..

_________________
1972 Datsun 1600, S14 SR20DET Engineered (204rwkW @ 17psi.)
viewtopic.php?t=6579
#SR20Datsun @SR20Datsun