Hi all... New to board, and I already have a question. I bought my first Z car 3 weeks ago. It was a '73 240Z (basket case) for $300. When I found the head was bad, I looked for a new head. I wound up with a car in better shape, but with body/frame damage. The mounting point for the front cross member on the passenger side has completely rusted away Can I repair this? I have a welder, and access to metal. Should I bite the bullet, pull the head, and scrap the body? Any help is greatly appreciated!

 

Hi Accelr8---------------Ok you leave me puzzled to say the least------------240's are becoming more and more rare by the day-------------do not scrap--------repair----------Now you said the metal near the crossmember is rusted---------which crossmember???? the front one under the motor????? or the rear one that the transmission attaches to????

whichever way this is a common problem on Z's and ZX's due to battery acid and A/C drainage(more common on the ZX)---------Now for the 240's thier are easy ways to fix these things--------MSA I know for a fact carries a line of floor pan/rail replacement kits--------MSA also carries just the rail replacements-------------their is another company out there that makes these rails and floor pans but currently it has slipped the mind-------------I know that the rail kits have two sections one that runs under the floor pans(which would take care of the tranny area) and the other goes up through the up-kick(which is the section that runs from the front of the firewall up)---------Now you can either use one of these kits or make your own metal patches-------basically all you are trying to do is re-strengthen the frame so any added metal shall be a plus----------the frames on all of the Z's since they are uni-body in design are not made of thick metal-------------they are relatively made out of thin stuff(approx-------14 to 20 guage steel) this varies depending Z or ZX and to which portion is being repaired---------I personally did patches on my frame rails and up-kick since no one has made a kit for the ZX as of yet----------


If you need some more info just ask

LaterZ, 81 TURBO

 

Ahh, thanks for the info 81_Turbo. I already have an MSA catalog on the way, and I can't wait to get it! I think I may try to repair, but the area may be tricky. The affected area is where the front cross-member mounts to the frame. I didn't realize that the engine mounts to the cross-member and not to the body. I jacked the car up last night, and the entire a-arm assembly, cross member, and engine pulled away from the body as the car was jacked up, but the wheel stayed on the ground. The only thing stopping the entire assembly from ripping out was the front anti-roll bar. The alternator came to rest on it. As horrible as all of this sounds, I do not think it would be too hard to repair. I've been known to be crazy I'll try and get some pics this weekend