Under the fender rubber

[tamo3]

Hi,

I just finished painting body and about to put parts together.

I try to find a sponge? rubber? under the front fender.

I could not find any resources about it.

Does anyone know the side of the thickness of rubber? or sponge?? of this fender support?

Thanks,
Tamo3

[EuroDat]

I used a piecs of 1cm thick armaflex insulation material. It was compressable and made the panel feel a lot firmer when I finished.

Armacell - Armaflex

You could probably pick up an off cut from some industrial air condioning company in our area. Here it costabout €30 per sq.mtr of 10mm thick sheet.
I might have a photo of it when I did it. If I find it Ill post the photos later.

Chas

[Mark Maras]

I too need the rubber under the fenders. My guess was about a 1/2" thick. I have looked at dbl. sticky weather strip a O'reillys that is about a 1/2" thick but my first thought was neoprene from a wet suit or maybe from a beer cozy cooler. Glad to hear about Armaflex.(thanks Chas) I'll try to find it here in the states. It sounds better than my ideas.

[jfa.series1]

Is this the fender seal you are looking for? I bought these from Black Dragon a few years ago - about $40 + shipping. They use a "S" clip to attach to the weld ridge.

[jfa.series1]

There is a rubber cushion or pad in that area, also available from BD if you don't want to make your own. I used high-density foam weatherstrip material for that pad.

Datsun 240Z, 260Z, 280Z, 280ZX & Mazda RX7 iCatalog - Black Dragon Auto

[EuroDat]

Hi Jim,

I think they changed the design somewhere between the 240Z and the 280Z. I browsed through my photo's, but couldn't find anything on the rubber. I did find some photo's showing the difference between your fender supports and the 280Z. The 240Z has one that I can see and the 280Z has three. See photo's. Hope you don't mind me using your photo.


If you are refering to POS 4 in BD catalogue. It is a small rubber strip about 50mm long 12mm wide and 6mm thick. It fits in the "U" section at the front end of the inspection lid. Well I had to glue it in or it would fall out because the bonnet just didn't reach it to hold it in place.


Chas

[jfa.series1]

Hi Chas,
Photos are there to be used, glad mine could help explain the differences. Quite possibly Nissan learned about the fender tops getting deformed from casual pressure and changed the support pad locations and number. The weatherstrip I used was probably about 5/16" thick and 3/4" wide. If I recall correctly I double-stacked it to get good support under the fender. The weatherstrip was adhesive backed. Even BD fails to show the 280Z version correctly.
Jim

[grannyknot]

Tamo3, as the guys have said above you'll probably have to make your own but
just be sure you use closed cell foam, you don't want that foam soaking up water and holding it.
Chris

[tamo3]

Thanks for the all the information.
Does anyone know where can I purchase such the closed cell foam online?

[Mark Maras]

I looked at my early 260.(The fenders are off during body work & paint.) It has 4 supports on top. The first is forward of the battery inboard of the rubber seal, other three are out board of the seal, surprisingly close together 14" near the shock tower & nothing forward. During the sanding & priming I found 4 spots in the top of the fender that match the supports. They had the factory pads on the supports. I wish I knew what the originals were made of or the thickness. I couldn't tell when I scraped them off. Also, these fenders are very thin. High spots in the sheetmetal can be knocked down with a knuckle. The wrong choice off the thickness & squishiness could be a problem especially if you have a dark paint job. Lumps or dips will show. Too busy sanding to have looked into options on the pads yet. Chris, Thanks, closed cell foam is a must.

[jfa.series1]

Thanks for the all the information.
Does anyone know where can I purchase such the closed cell foam online?

Tamo - most auto supply stores carry the closed cell foam weatherstrip material. Often it is available in various widths and thickness. Try Autozone, NAPA, or O'Reilly where you live.

[SteveJ]

Also, home improvement stores sell closed cell foam for pipe insulation. You have to know what you're looking for because there is usually open cell foam next to it.

[EuroDat]

be sure you use closed cell foam, you don't want that foam soaking up water and holding it.
Chris

Chris
That a good point to mention. Its the exact reason I used the Armaflex.

Can't remember if I used the 10mm or 15mm thick sheet, since I had offcuts of both and the 20mm from work laying around the garage. Even if you have some 20mm thick sheet its easy to slice with a sharp knife.
Chas

[AZ-240z]

Tamo3,

If you have a high quality paint supply store that sells to the trade, you may find just what you need. I bought about a foot of high density, close cell
foam rubber from my local supplier which was about 1 inch wide and 3/8 inch thick and had an adhesive peel off backing. This supplier sells all sorts of
universal weather stripping and bulk rubber goods.

I cut 4 pieces, each 3 inches long, stacked two together (so each pad was 3/4 inches thick), one for each fender. I could actually reach under the
fender and squeeze these pads into place, and they fit very snuggly for great fender support. I have a 1970 series 1 car that has just two fender
support pads located just forward of each inspection door, so don't know what you actually need for a 1975 280Z.

Hope this helps.

Dan

edit: In post #4 and the second picture in post #6 you can see the pads inside the longer rubber splash guard.

[redzedsled]

I located a Genuine Nissan fender seal that is the correct thickness for the Mud Guard flange and the Inner Fender Baffle flange. It is part number F3810-J0101 and is a direct replacement for the 240Z. It measures 20mm (3/4") wide and stands 15mm (5/8" high). It comes longer than what is required so you have to cut with a pair of scissors. It features a really tacky peel and stick backing that is removed before installation. It is very soft and compresses much easier than the closed cell foam tapes out there.

Like Dan suggested in the earlier post I too also used the closed cell foam tape for under the rear fender that is a little heavier duty than a standard closed cell weatherstrip and intended for RV and Auto use (see pics). The fact that is a little more dense is welcome to help support the front fender. It is 25mm (1 inch) wide and 11mm (7/16") high for your reference. I also used the same material for the front-most flange and it measures 4mm x 10mm or 5/32" high x 3/8" wide.

There is also a rubberized foam tape out there that is a little more expensive, and will not mildew. See pics below for your reference...

[CanTechZ]

All I can say is, wow!! It was very good of you to remove your fender so that we could have a look.

[tamo3]

Wow, redzedsled, your Z looks awesome! Thanks for sharing this info.

AZ-240z, I haven't tried paint shop yet. Since it's summer time, need to take care of kids and don't have time to work on Z staff until they got to bed.

I stopped by o'reilly Auto parts near my home on the coming back from work, but they don't carry closed cell form pad, neither at HomeDeopt. hope to find some other auto store soon.

[Mark Maras]

Interesting, I stopped by O'reilly's & looked at their weatherstrip this weekend. Most of it was open cell but there was a pack of closed cell adhesive backed on the shelf nearby. It was on the same aisle as the paint & bodywork supplies.You may want to take another look. Honestly, It looks made to order for the fender application. I'm going to use it

[redzedsled]

Try homedepot.com and enter the search "foam tape".

[tamo3]

I was looking around water heater section @ HomeDepot and could not find decent one.
Went to Door section and found some.



Make double decker hight is about 11mm

Thank you everyone for your help!

tamo3

[socorob]

Tamo, can you post the part number for that? I can't tell from the photo. Also, did you have to put 2 layers high?

[tamo3]

I think I got this one.

MD Building Products 3/8 in. x 10 ft. Black Sponge Rubber Foam Weatherstrip Tape-06635 at The Home Depot

And yes, it's double layers.

[socorob]

Thanks. I picked up some at ace hardware. They had up to 1/2' thick closed cell. My 78 also has a little piece of foam remnants stuck to the underside of the fender. Its against the top of the fender, all the way in the front by the headlight bucket. Follows the body line where the top turns down 90 degrees to go down the side. Its front to back, about 3/8' wide and maybe 3" long. I guess that was to hold the fender a little off the pinch weld that all the bolts go through?

[socorob]

Also it doesn't seem like the 78s came with the long strip that's #2 in the black dragon picture. After looking at 2 different 78 s that appeared like the fenders were never removed, neither one had it. I guess it was because at that point nissan was using the full size inner fender liner?