Project Avocado - 1971 1200 Coupe - USA

[S30Jay]

12" is a respectable size.

[njoz1200ute]

12" is a respectable size.

 

Lol  :rofl:

[Draker]

HA!

[njoz1200ute]

Today's outing.  Floor repairs.

 

Floor pans arrived from Australia.   I was not expecting to see them primed.   My original plan was to POR15 these.  Can POR15 be applied over primed metal?

 

The floor pans are large.  They are meant to run past the seat cross rail.   Since I decided that it would be too difficult for me to remove the seat cross rail, instead I decided to trim some of the floor pans off.

 

First I made a paper template.  Then I used the paper template to trim the panels.

 

I hand molded a lip on the back of the floor pan to later beat down in place over the existing floor.  Used a hammer and a brick to make this lip, my first time really shaping metal ever.  Looks easy on TV, but not in real life.   A lot of trial and error to fit and little adjustments here and there but it turned out great. 

 

Cutting the existing rotted metal out was a chore!   I had forgotten about the unibody underrail.   Luckilly after I drilled out all the spot welds on the underrail, the floor came up okay.   The key is to get all the spot welds drilled out, I had missed a few and it was near impossible without breaking the welds first.

 

Currently welded in the new floor pan..... to be continued.

 

[njoz1200ute]

Also, thank you Nissan for laminating rubber to these floors.   :devil:  :poop:  :devil:   Grinding it with my angle grinder is not my idea of burnt rubber.

[njoz1200ute]

I noticed a problem.   The passenger side floor rail is different than the driver's side floor rail where it meets the firewall.  The floor pans were not made to accommodate this.   They seem to be "one size fits all"

 

On the driver's side there is around a 2" gap between the floor pan and the floor rail at the firewall.

 

[Lockleaf]

Also, thank you Nissan for laminating rubber to these floors. :devil: :poop: :devil: Grinding it with my angle grinder is not my idea of burnt rubber.

Dry ice and a hammer is the simple solution to this. Even regular ice works ok, just leaves a puddle. The rubber gets rigid and shatters right up off the floor.

[KELMO]

Dig the 12" slots, have a set on my 1200. Did you figure out the blue and the yellow wires. I have a harness out of the car currently and it may be marked......or I can try and define them from the 2 assembled cars I have.

[njoz1200ute]

From the other forum:

 

 

 

* Yellow wires goes to the round buzzer
* Blue wire (always hot) is for Clock option
* Black wire is probably a ground (earth) wire

 

But thanks KELMO for the offer!

[njoz1200ute]

I made progress, slow progress welding the passenger floor pan in. There is a bit of a learning curve of course for me because this is the first time welding sheet metal. The rear passenger floor pan is done completely.

My setup




New grrrrrillle! (not new, refurbished) Fellow forum member gave me this Z badge about 3 to 4 years ago and finally got around to using it!




Here is a progress photo at 75% or so with the front passenger floor pan.






Here are photos of the completed floor pan. I welded the perimeter of the pan as well as filled in the spot weld from underneath on the floor rail/frame rail whatever it is called.










After complete I noticed a bit of a fitment issue with the part of the frame rail that angles up toward the firewall. The angle of the new floor pans does not match the angle of the frame rail. The passenger side has about a 1/16" growing to 1" gap where the floor pan terminates at the firewall. See below






The driver's side is about 25% done. First I cut the old pan out. This side was extremely reluctant to come out and I sprained my back trying to pry out the old floor pan. After it was finally out I chucked it about 25 feet down my driveway in anger/satisfaction!








Driver's side floor pan fitment. 






I have the same problem but much worse on the driver's side floor pan where it meets the frame rail/firewall. This side is only seam welded on the front and rear so it is not too late to cut the seams and fix it some how.

The gap is 1/16" to like 2" !!! How is this possible? Perhaps the mold for these floor pans is for a later model car, or my car is just abnormal, not sure.










I think the passenger side it is too late to address it with new metal. I was thinking of filling it in with seam sealer.

The driver's side I will need to cut the seams and beat the panel into shape, probably adding a separate piece of sheet metal to correctly match the angle of the frame rail. Unfortunate!!

[datsunfreak]

You might need to do a little of this...   B)

 

New grrrrrillle! (not new, refurbished) Fellow forum member gave me this Z badge about 3 to 4 years ago and finally got around to using it!

!!

 

[powerbench]

I just did my floors , and I'm pretty sure the floor section was not flat . It had a bit of a crown to the ground. I made mine out of an old hood to match the crown , then rolled it through the roller , and then metal braked it. I didn't have a shrinker /stretcher at the shop, so I just pie cut the edge and butt welded the whole thing.

[njoz1200ute]

Happy with the grille. Not happy with the bumper. I want a 1971 bumper for my 1971 car.

Progress.

Driver's side floor pan needed modification. I had to cut the pan short (orange line) and pound itinto shape to lay flat on the floor rail. Then I had to cut and shape some infill pieces to close the gap and seal the floor pan to the floor rail where it angles up at the firewall.

This took some praying and it worked. It all came together. Finished welding the driver's floor pan. Some areas I had to beat into shape from under the car.

Grind/wire wheel/sanded to clean up.




















I decided to jump on the POR-15 bandwagon. I followed the direction as close as I could. 2 coats of POR on all panels on interior side. Underside of the car still needs to be cleaned, and coated. I am going to wait and focus on putting back in the interior.





















I have brand new seat belts I bought. They are OEM for a military HMV Hummer. Going to fit tomorrow.

Can anyone identify these parts that were in a box when I bought the car????????????? 

 

 

[Draker]

Hey, those floors look much better! Nice.

[Trophy24]

Shims for door latches?

[powerbench]

Those are the shims for the back seat clasp....the black round thing is the cover for the front seat mech

[KELMO]

I will confirm powerbench's assessment. It it possible that I have a front bumper, but it is from a'72 more likely than not.

[njoz1200ute]

Build update.

 

Floor pans all seam sealed with Dynatron seam sealer.   I bought 3 tubes @ 19.99 ea and wound up only using 1.  I plan on using another on the underside of the car too.   Underside also needs to be coated with POR 15 when I get warmer weather.

 

 

Installed back seat and the metal clips from the last post (for catching the reclining rear seat)  

 

 

I was bought this eBay room light from Tawain or Thailand I forget.  It was wired totally different than the stock light.   I had to study the wiring on the original one and then make up some new wiring for this piece to actually work for the car.  Very frusterating since it was listed as  1200 part but clearly it doesnt work at all out of the box.

 

Here is my wiring job.   With the help of my father who does stained glass soldering.

 

Also cleaned up the crud on the dash that accumulated over the last 45 years.   Gave a looskie over the wiring and double checked everything.   I had some spare LED lights left over from the Vanilla Ice build and decided to put some LED lights in the speedo, temp gauge, turn signal lights, and the tachometer.

 

Painted the fascia gloss black.  Cleaned up the gauges and the gauge faces.   Painted the glove box lid to match.

 

Installed dash and rewired all the wiring and speedo cable in the dash.  Installed heater tubes.   Heater actually work now!!!  (no heat but blows air)  I need to replace the heater hoses that are currently bipassed.

 

 

Test fit the carpet and seats and seat belts.

 

Carpet fits okay.  Its actually rubber mats not carpet on second thought.   Ordered some generic floor plugs off ebay.  If anyone is wondering they are +/-40mm i.d.  I found some generic ones from China for $5 for 5 instead of the $30 each from Bprojects.

 

 

Summary.   

 

Engine starts and runs fine.  Electric fuel pump works.   Wipers, wiper washer, headlights, work.  Brake lights work.  Lower front lights work.  Side fender lights work.  LED lights work on the gauges except the fuel/temp gauge.  Room light works :-D 

 

Cigarette lighter does not work :-?

Turn signals do not work when lights are on :-? :-? :-?

Light on temp gauge/fuel gauge does not work :-?

Turn signal flasher unit makes a very loud and annoying buzzing sound.  :-?

 

New seat belts I bought which are US Mil issue Humvee 3 point retractable belts absolutely do not work with the stock mounting points.  I tried retrofitting a mounting point behind the rear side trim panels.  Still did not work.   I must scrap the 3 point belt for a 2 point retractable belt.   Pretty dissapointed.  Took alot of work and trial and error.  Now I also have to pull the seats out which were a pain the arse to install. :hammer:

[jrock4224]

Dry ice and a hammer is the simple solution to this. Even regular ice works ok, just leaves a puddle. The rubber gets rigid and shatters right up off the floor.

 

 

true story 

 

 

those caps are for the bucket seats and the clips i believe are for the rear seat ..... my blue car had a bucket of those as well... the tweaker was no help in identifying them ... 

 

my rabbit pans showed up ... man for 75 bucks eac and 25 bucks to ship from virginia ... im stoked ... 

[jrock4224]

i will text u a pic ... i cant post to the pb right now 

[datsunfreak]

[datsunfreak]

Sorry for the hijack.  ^_^

[jrock4224]

hey those are my pans lol 

[datsunfreak]

hey those are my pans lol 

 

No, they're my pans. They're just on your floor. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

:rofl:

[jrock4224]

they fit really nice