To see spot welds, or NOT to see......

[Vinnyz]

That is the question, aimed at my restoration friends such as Michael Young, Kevin Desirillo etc.

I personally hate the visible plethora of spot welds in the door jambs and engine bay jambs. On my 69' Solex car I figured I'd pose the question since i'd like it to be recognised as a strong stock contenter once restored. On my modified 70'....I'll stitch weld ,grind and get rid of all of them .

What do those of you who've judged "Best of show" or "strong contenders"... cars feel is required?

Body spot welds can/must be:

1)-Fully visible.
2)- Mellowed yet visible.
3)-Can be invisible/makes no difference.

How do you feel about the use of modern seam sealers to prevent water entrapment and passage along our many open gaps such as fender to engine bay jamb?

I also have noticed MANY nicely done cars that have done well even though the rear body panels have been body worked CLEAN of the factory vertical lines nearest the tail lamp sections.( A certain no-no).

Last stock query.....How do you feel about NOT color matching the door jamb latches and strikers and instead letting them be white or yellow zinced?

I'd like to stress again....not on a daily driver or non fully restored rotisserie build....but one for the heavily scrutinized and judged place winners.

[notoptoy]

Not to be weighed in terms of your question, but I personally think that the body colored strikers look like someone did a cheap paint job and was too lazy to remove the parts to paint. Even though it is stock, I think it looks terrible and I like when someone leave raw or plates them. IT just looks better to me. Again, only an opinion and not relevant to Concours judging criteria.
Case in point, on the recent ad for a 1600 in TX.

[bakerjf]

Not to be weighed in terms of your question, but I personally think that the body colored strikers look like someone did a cheap paint job and was too lazy to remove the parts to paint. Even though it is stock, I think it looks terrible and I like when someone leave raw or plates them. IT just looks better to me. Again, only an opinion and not relevant to Concours judging criteria.
Case in point, on the recent ad for a 1600 in TX.

+1

Do what makes you happy, and what you think is right. The fact is only a small percentage of owners know what/where all the welding particulars are, and zero percent of Concours judges.

[pebbles]

Agree with Notop. I prefer the door latch and fasteners clean as well. A judge may assume the door innards were restored.
The trunk trough on these cars can be nasty too. I dremmeled mine and seam sealed the edge for superior drainage, and nice appearance. Hand sanding a couple coats of High build primer smoothed it out nice.
OE seam seam sealer is hidious. A tiny bead is all you need.
I wouldnt fill the spot welds. Smooth the spatter and gouges. Hammer and dolly the contours. Todays high build primers will surely soften them. The lower aft corner of the door jamb can be ugly as well. I had to hammer, grind and add a little filler to get the scuff plate to sit flush.
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[Vinnyz]

I concur with your sentiments guys. I just didn't want to make my own judgments from previous restorations within such a niche group of repeat judges and get soiled at a roadster event. After all....why do MORE work and get a penalty?

[Alvin]

I concur with your sentiments guys. I just didn't want to make my own judgments from previous restorations within such a niche group of repeat judges and get soiled at a roadster event. After all....why do MORE work and get a penalty?

Are you doing a concours-style restoration? Wouldn't it be straightforward as building the roadster "as it rolled off the assembly line"?
Ihmo, that would be a build soley to impress judges, not yourself. Unless that's your thing
When I build model cars I always add the little details that nobody sees, like the underside...my feeling is that a concours-style resto for a roadster should be done to same level...

There is so much info from original owners out there to help

I'm anxiously awaiting your build thread!!!

ps...I too prefer the unpainted bits, even the front fender bolts!

[redroadster]

Ive been told ( by a Datsun DSM, others...they spent a month over in japan)
that the 311 was the last heavily produced car done by hand not machine handled or jig to jig , a man held the panels or crimped them together by hand then hit the spot weld button. I would rather see proof of a strong weld , but thats me ...it is what it is. a cheap... ahm..... affordable sports car

[Linda]

I think Nissan thought the car would not last that long, certainly not 50 years, so they put it together well enough, with some parts scrambling, and called it good .
Who knew?
Kind of like if you kept a Bud Lite can for 50 years and now it is worth some money....what??!
Linda

[Vinnyz]

Having mellowed out most all spot-welds on several 240-Z cars and a few massaged away fully.....I feel the mellowed out direction is the outcome most eyes would appreciate. After all, if a judged event scores low on this or even reliability improvements..such as stainless hardware etc. Who really cares.MAking these cars more durable and robust says more to the effort of caretaker than a car that's so stock it's bad.....in my opinion.

[Alvin]

Who really cares.MAking these cars more durable and robust says more to the effort of caretaker than a car that's so stock it's bad.....in my opinion.

I disagree. I think it takes the same, if not more effort to make a concours-level Datsun roadster. That means zero modifications in the interest of "reliability" or robustness. I applaud both caretakers that put in effort to make a factory resto, or a rest-mod.

Who really cares? Wouldn't that be you? I thought that was the point...scoring well with the judges...isn't that what you asked initially?

[Vinnyz]

Alvin, I actually wear a shirt that states "Life's too short to stay stock",lol. So I'm not kidding anyone if I don't admit manufacturing limitations,shortcuts and vintage minimums in quality mediums bore me to tears. I've done the concours level so many times on other marques that it always felt like I was just a copy cat of a basic tier of effort. I didn't find that challenging .

Oddly...it appears no one from our Solvang judges caught this thread to even chime in.

[Alvin]

Alvin, I actually wear a shirt that states "Life's too short to stay stock",lol. So I'm not kidding anyone if I don't admit manufacturing limitations,shortcuts and vintage minimums in quality mediums bore me to tears. I've done the concours level so many times on other marques that it always felt like I was just a copy cat of a basic tier of effort. I didn't find that challenging .

Oddly...it appears no one from our Solvang judges caught this thread to even chime in.

I'm with you man!


I thought "the people" were all Solvang judges.

[Vinnyz]

Alvin, I actually wear a shirt that states "Life's too short to stay stock",lol. So I'm not kidding anyone if I don't admit manufacturing limitations,shortcuts and vintage minimums in quality mediums bore me to tears. I've done the concours level so many times on other marques that it always felt like I was just a copy cat of a basic tier of effort. I didn't find that challenging .

Oddly...it appears no one from our Solvang judges caught this thread to even chime in.

I'm with you man!


I thought "the people" were all Solvang judges.

That is true......I guess I was encouraging those who've placed well with their cars in the past having been builders or owners of strong restorations of our cars would have chimed in.