"Mechanix Menace": An LS7-motivated, chopped and heavily modified 1973 Datsun 240Z

[chevyz240]

I haven't done much on the car the last few years, but I have at least done some virtual work!

The last weeks I have reacquainted myself to Blender. It was a few years since I used the software and there is a new version out so there is a lot new to learn (not my strong point) as well. I have forgotten almost all of what I knew a few years ago, so it´ll take some time to get up to speed. Nevertheless I have managed to render a decent picture of my Z-car! More will come!

[chevyz240]

My Z-car will be treated to a nose job, but compared to most human nose jobs, this one actually will be an extension of the nose.

SInce I will move the front axle forward between 100-150 mm (4-6 inches), the front tire would hit the headlight if I didn't extend the nose. The reason for moving the front axle forward is to lengthen the wheelbase to make the car less twitchy and to improve weight distribution. Another benefit of extending the nose is that it'll be lower and more aerodynamic.

Last Sunday a Swedish car magazine (Bilsport) came here to do an article (probably a small one) on my car, so I wanted it to look as complete as possible. In order to achieve this, I put the rear hatch and hood on. The car is mounted on stands, and the forwardmost prevents putting the headlight buckets on.

Therefore I thought, what the hell, this is good time to mock up the hood extension and extended headlight bucket. I went to town with cardboard and tape, and after a few hours I feel that I got a decent result! The hood is extended 60 mm (2.4 inches).

In my CAD model of the car, I haven't yet done this nose extension, but that is something I need to do, to see what it looks like from a distance. In the garage I can't get very far from the car, but so far I am pretty satisfied.

[andrewb70]

Glad that you're still working on this awesome project!

Andrew

[chevyz240]

Glad that you're still working on this awesome project!

Andrew

Thanks Andrew!

Yeah, it's not the world's quickest progress, due to different reasons! With this magazine article, I think I will get a kick in the butt to speed things up though!

[jetmech442]

Just saw this for the first time, and spent a good bit of my workday pouring over all the details. I sooo want to see this succeed. I love your Cad skills, and even the renders in blender(such a powerful tool). Even more impressive is your ability to pull it off. yeah it's taking a long time but most projects of this magnitude do, keep finding minutes to hack away at it . This was real inspiring to see this, please keep posting progress, and if you have any advice on how you got such a clean CAD model I'm all ears. I've been using Fusion 360 for about 3 years now and have tried photogrammetry, and SVG views I bought online, but each one has it's weakness. Can't wait to see this thing destroy the internet in 2021!!!

[chevyz240]

Just saw this for the first time, and spent a good bit of my workday pouring over all the details. I sooo want to see this succeed. I love your Cad skills, and even the renders in blender(such a powerful tool). Even more impressive is your ability to pull it off. yeah it's taking a long time but most projects of this magnitude do, keep finding minutes to hack away at it . This was real inspiring to see this, please keep posting progress, and if you have any advice on how you got such a clean CAD model I'm all ears. I've been using Fusion 360 for about 3 years now and have tried photogrammetry, and SVG views I bought online, but each one has it's weakness. Can't wait to see this thing destroy the internet in 2021!!!

Thanks a million jetmech442!

Your comment really warms my heart and gives me inspiration to press on! Good choice on how to spend a workday too!

Regarding CAD; I have used Siemens NX to model the chassis. And, as you said, I use Blender to model the body etc. In both cases I have "manually 3D-scanned" the body and roll cage using a cross line laser level, levels, tape measures, carpenter's squares, etc. If you have looked through the thread, you have probably seen this. This has taken hundreds of hours... If I would have had access to a good handheld 3D-scanner this could probably have been done during a day's work, or two... I have double checked some of the dimensions a few times, and in a lot of cases, I think I have a dimensional tolerance of around 1-2 mm. Length and width coordinates are the trickiest to measure. For me, the trick is just to be meticulous, precise and patient! For the background in Blender I have used free HDRI background pictures you can find online. I'll post a newer better render below!

I will definitely keep posting. If you like you can add me as a friend on Facebook. Sometimes I post stuff there, which may not end up here. I also post more pictures there, as it's a lot quicker than doing it here, plus I don't want to run out of file storage here!

My name is Henrik Schiölde (Schiolde)

I am actually developing the Blender model right now, as we speek! Like you say, it is a powerful tool! I think it's fantastic that it's free, and that there are so many online tutorials!

[chevyz240]

I realized I haven't posted the latest render I have made a while ago. There is still lots to do, like headlight buckets etc., but slowly I'm getting there!

For interested people, I have lot's of different versions with different body colors. You can search for "Mechanix Menace" on Facebook. Or check out my personal FB page; Henrik Schiölde (Schiolde).

[Motown 454]

This looks better than the one They're going to make. I always love seeing your updates.

[chevyz240]

This looks better than the one They're going to make. I always love seeing your updates.

Thanks Wayne!
Personally I think the new Z looks horrible, for a number of reasons.One being that the roof starts sloping down immediately after the windshield, which I really dislike. It almost creates an upside-down V together with the windshield, instead of them creating one gentle curve. Then again, a lot of sports cars have looked like that the last decade or so. Nissan says it's not coming to Europe, so at least they did one thing right!

[Motown 454]

I agree that's why I'll be watching this one lol

[chevyz240]

I am continuing the job of 3D-modeling my Datsun 240Z body. I thought it maybe could be interesting to show the full workflow in one post. I'll use today's job as an example. There are lots of other alternatives I use as well.

1. Measure the interesting part of the body. Today I made cardboard templates and used a tape measure to get the length coordinates, and a laser level to measure the height coordinates. Other times I measure both length, transverse and height coordinates.






2. Trace the template on paper.

3. Get the dimensions of the trace with the proper accuracy.





4. Sketch the template in CAD (I use Siemens NX).





5. Extrude the sketch to a proper thickness (in this case 1mm).





6. Place a coordinate system in the proper location in the template model to enable it to be added to the full body template CAD model.





7. Add the template model to the full body template CAD model and move it to the correct position.







8. Export the body template CAD model to an STL file.

9. In the surface modeling software (I use Blender), import the STL file.





10. Place the body template file in the proper position.

11. By moving the proper vertices in the body wireframe, modify the body model to better fit the templates.











It is a pretty tedious procedure, but fun! I have spent many, many hours doing this, but at least it is totally free, which a decent scan done with a good 3D scanner isn't...

Also, by doing this manually, I get a much better feeling for how the different body lines flow and interact, which will help me when I'm going to design fender flares, spoilers etc.

[jaybee]

Very cool car!

[chevyz240]

Very cool car!

Thanks John B!

[chevyz240]

I am loosely calling my Datsun 240Z ”Mechanix Menace”. The name had a central part in a strange dream I had some 35 years ago. When I woke up, I didn’t know what the word ”Menace” meant, so I actually had to look it up in a dictionary (some of you have maybe seen one…). So, I had a language lesson while dreaming!

I have been thinking about creating some sort of emblem / name plate for the car.
I looked through all the different text fonts in my CAD system, but I didn’t find any I liked. Until number 158! Boom, there it was: ”Magneto”! I checked, and there are 349 font to choose from…

I really like this one, partly because the bottom of the letters are flattened and lend themselves to an emblem application, plus I think it just looks good!
As with most things I get in contact with, of course I just couldn’t leave it stock! I changed the width scale and the shear angle. I then extruded the letters and printed them on my new toy, the 3D-printer, and I also made a base plate with cutouts for the letters. This was just a first test shot to see what it would look like in real life.




I thought it looked pretty good, but I felt the dot over the ”I” was too big and in the wrong position, so that had to be changed too. No stone unturned…
After looking at different style chrome emblems on the web, I then proceeded attaching a bar at the bottom of the letters (a bit thinner than the letters themselves) and chamfering the letters and the bar, which really made it look like an old school chrome emblem. I printed that one too.





After mulling it over for a while, I came up with the idea of enlarging the X and making it red. It kind of goes in the style of all the different ”R” and ”X” cars and bikes, where that letter is red (or another bold color) and usually bigger. I also hung the dot over the ”I” on the ”X”, instead of having a separate little bar attached to the ”I” letter. All the small things matter.






I think it’s a combination of classic looks with a modern, bold touch! You can say that I am eXtremely satisfied!
I am not 100% sure I actually will put any emblems on the car body, but we’ll see. I am almost certain I will put some on the valve covers though! With a red car, the red “X” doesn’t really pop, but if I put it on the black tail light panel, it’ll work. Maybe I’ll use the ones with the small ”X” on the fenders.

Anyway, that is a few years in the future… Maybe even more so now, as I really have gotten into a computer rendering groove!

More things are to come very soon!

[chevyz240]

In the latest issue of Bilsport, one of Sweden's largest enthusiast car magazines, there is a 4 page article on my little project! It's even on the cover, even though it's a small picture. The article is really well written with all facts correct. I am stoked! Due to copyright issues, I don't want to share the whole article, but at least I can show the cover and one of my renderings, which made it to the article (also pleasing)!

[Motown 454]

Congratulations on the ink.

[chevyz240]

Congratulations on the ink.

Thanks Wayne!

[chevyz240]

Previously I had planned to build a chassis jig when it's time to start building the chassis. I built one many years ago when building the chassis for my V8 twin-turbo chopped Volvo Amazon (122). It's quite a chore to get a stable and perfectly flat jig.

I started thinking about maybe using a laser level instead. My existing 2-plane version will not do. You need a 3-plane version to be able to get a line 90 degrees from the car's centerline. As usual when looking for new stuff, I made some pretty thorough market research, which pointed me to Limit laser levels. I found out that it's a Swedish brand, which is a plus. When calling them, they were really helpful and measured the laser beam width for me in their lab. Unfortunately 3-plane laser levels have much wider beams than 2-plane due to the design.

I decided to give their Limit 1080-G a try as it had pretty sharp beam edges.

Today I tried out a methodology I think can work when I start building the chassis.

The first thing I will do is to place a stainless steel ruler (or several after each other) along the car's entire centerline on the floor. It will be mounted perfectly horizontal. (In the pictures I have mocked up part of this.)

I then will place vertical rulers / scales on a few places within the car body, so at least one can be hit by the horizontal laser beam. I will probably use the bottom of the rockers as the zero point. These will be fixed well so they can't move around. In the pictures I have just taped one in place.

So if I for instance want to place a transverse tube at 100 mm length coordinate and 100 mm height coordinate between the rockers, I will place the Limit 3-plane laser so the longitudinal beam lies perfectly along the car's centerline ruler and the transverse beam hits the 100 mm length mark. I could then adjust the stand so the horizontal beam hits the 100 mm height mark, but then I run the risk of moving the laser level around, so I think it's easier to use my old 2-plane laser for setting the height. Then it's just a matter of marking where the laser lines cross on the rockers!

I think the best way to get good accuracy with the wider lines of the 3-plane laser is to decide on always using one edge of the lines.
Since the edges are pretty sharp, I don't think the width of the line reduces accuracy. Perfect!

We'll se how this works out when I start building. I think it will work fine, and I don't have to build a jig!

[chevyz240]

A few months ago I bought a couple of 3D printers. First I bought a Creality Ender 3 Pro and a few weeks later an Ender 3 V2 as well. One of the biggest reasons for doing this is to be able to print a physical scale model of the computer 3D model of the car I have been working on (on and off) for a long time. Another reason is to be able to print actual car parts.

As some of you may know I have a tendency to change my mind back and forth regarding lots of things concerning the car project, partly because it doesn't move forward very quickly, which gives me time to mull things over a lot. What I really would like to do is widen the entire car body and tweak some of the lines. This of course is quite a large project, so lately I have tried to shoot for wide fender flares on the existing body instead, and be content with that.

With me getting deeper and deeper entangled in the 3D printing world, I have come up with a new idea! I will create a new computer 3D model of the car body exactly as I would like it to be, and then I will 3D print a buck for the entire body (minus roof). This buck will be used to create forms that then will be used to create the actual body parts in fiberglass.

I will proably buy a larger printer, as with the ones I have, I would have to print around 300 pieces and then glue them together! With a Creality CR-10 Max for instance, that would be reduced to around 70 pieces. I have printed a little test piece to see what wall, bottom and top thickness I need, and what kind of infill (internal support structure) I need to get the pieces stiff and strong enough. A quick calculation shows that I will be needing around 100kg (200 lbs) of filament! And that the effective print time will be around 7 months, with one printer running 24/7!!!!!

The game plan is to print pieces that are 20-50 mm thick and glue them together. They will also be attached to a flat particle board or similar to get a strong, stiff and stable buck. Depending on the curvature of the part in question, the 3D printed pieces will be glued to posts, that in turn will be glued to the flat board. Otherwise, I would need to print very thick parts, wasting filament and time.

I think these bucks will only need a few coats of spray filler and some bodywork to get a good surface finish. With this method, it will be easy to get both sides of the car symmetrical. I will print in PLA, which prints easily and is cheap (relatively speaking), plus it is easy to glue. It is quite hard to sand, which normally would be bad, but here I think it is a positive property. If I get a good enough fit between the individual pieces, and they are precise enough, I will not need to sand the plastic itself, only the filler. To speed things up, I can use thick layers when printing, and just use an extra layer of spray filler instead.

The question is if I should go for this solution directly, which will save time and work to when the car is fully finished (as if it will ever be...), or if I first go with some simple fender flares on the existing body, and then do this after the car is drivable and has been registered, which will put the car on the road the quickest, but increase the time and work until it has reached the final finished state...

That part is something I can ponder for a while... Before I get to that, I need to build the chassis first!

Anyhow, I am really excited about the possibilities the 3D printing opens up!

For more pictures go to https://www.facebook.com/MechanixMenace

In the pictures, you can see a nice feature in Cura, the slicer (software that creates the code for the 3D printer) I'm using. I am using 3 gradual infill steps, which means that the infill gets denser the closer to the top you get, which is where you need the most support. This saves both material and time. As I have stated in other Facebook posts, I am super impressed with what these cheap 3D printers can do!

[jetmech442]

You sir, are my spirit animal lol! I don't know much about SEMA, but perhaps you should see if anyone knows how to get a booth, because your project was already over the top and 3d printing the buck would be so amazing -I think you'd steal the show.

Creality has the CR-30 on Kickstarter still for like 550$, it's a continuous conveyor belt 3d printer that can print infinitely long objects. I know it's not available yet, but perhaps it would save you a lot of gluing if you could print in long strips. Joel over on 3DPrinting Nerd has printed several very large swords and such to prove out its capabilities.

You may also look into an ultra-large 2mm nozzle (in lieu of the stock 0.4). This would help cut down your print time a lot, especially if you're going to hit them body filler afterwards.

Also, Teaching Tech has published a mostly automated version of calibrating your Creality in order to get excellent accuracy of hole locations wall thickness..etc. He published here: https://teachingtechyt.github.io/cal...on.html#esteps and stored the code on Github.

You may already know this stuff, if so maybe it'll help someone else following in your footsteps in a few years. Go get em bud!