newb81280zx

My car didn't pass inspection due to the rusted out frame. So i see motorsport sells this repair kit:

http://www.zcarparts.com/store/merch...gory_Code=SBC1

anyone have any other ideas or anything they did?

81 Black L28E

your kidding me they will fail you for that.... thank god i dont live in a state that gives a **** and if they did i still would drive my ride ..i drive around all the time with out my hood off and no front plate and i see cops every day they just dont give a **** or just dont want to give me a hard time {small town i know most of them} ...that just sucks hope you get your **** fixed so you can get to haveing fun with your Z ...mabe if you scrubed it dont with some sand paper and primed it up beat out some of the dents under there mabe you will pass

jfairladyz

Yeah when I used to live in Nebraska, the county I lived in had no emissions but your car had to pass a physical inspection. They made sure it had no compromising damage, the vins matched the title, all mirrors and airbags are in place, lights and flashers are working. If anything isn't up to par, they wont register the car until you get it fixed!

zpeedracer25

I had to do that on my 1980 model when I lived in Colorado. I just fabbed in some 2X3 square tubing in the place of the old frame rails and it cost me only $25 and about 6 hour of work.

WildmaN

That is lame man, sorry to hear that. I never heard of something so gay! Yeah either to save money now, sand it and paint it to cover the rust. Or get the floor pans, and fix it right, that is a bummer man, what picky #ss b#stards!

newb81280zx

I am thinking of having some metal bent to repair the old frame correctly. What guage steel should I use? Yes these inspection stations are picky here in PA. I'll let you knwo how it goes. I just need to know what you guys think on what steel to use. Thanks

theramz

When you say "frame" I assume you mean firewall forward. The kit from MSA is the floors and the floor stiffeners only!

newb81280zx

No my car didn't pass because of rust right under the seats in what he called the "frame" I'm new to this whole unibody stuff... so how does this car stay together lol?

jfairladyz

It's unibody, which means the whole substructure of the car(excluding body panels) all form the structual part of the chassis. It sounds like you just need to replace the floor boards. Or maybe the frame rail running under the car. These are unibody, but they do still have a couple of integrated frame rails running down the sides of the underbody. The floor just adds rigidy to this. Oh, and keeps you in the car . I don't know what gauge the floorboards are, but since MSA carries them, they should be able to tell you. I'd just cut the bad part out, and then measure the thickness of the metal and get a replacement piece of steel and have it formed to fit the floor like you mentioned. Just make sure the welds look good because a) you don't want to fall through the floorboard and b) if they're as picky as you say they are, they might fail you for poor welds being unsafe. I'd make sure just for your safety, vibration will wreak havoc on bad welds, especially if they're under stress the way the floor boards are.

newb81280zx

its not the floorboards. its the rails supporting them. any suggestions?

jfairladyz

Take it to a body shop and see if they can give you a quote. If you can weld (and are confident in it) then just see if a machine shop or body shop can shape you a piece of metal to fit. If it's less than the replalcement panel (which aren't cheap, I think they're almost $300), then I'd just go that route.

zpeedracer25

I'm not sure what guage I used. I just cut out the old "frame rails" and fabbed mine in. I removed the old unibody "frame rail" almost all the way back to the rear suspension and all the way forward to wear it kicks up at the front suspension and welded it in. I didn't kut out all the old stuff. I actually tucked in my new rails at the ends into the old. The ends had good metal yet in my car so it made welding the new one in much easier. I could definetly tell the difference in how stiff the car felt after doing this. Wish I still had the car...I'd take some pictures of what I did.

SHADY280

The "frame Rails" On The Cars Are About 18 Guage, Standard Body Is 22 Or So. Frame Rails Are Easy To Fix Under The Seats, If It Goes Any Further Back Than That It Gets Tricky

newb81280zx

I got some rails bent for a fraction of the cost of what the rail kit was. Hoping to be done with it this week. I'll keep everyone updated