OldAndyAndTheSea

Well tonight, not the greatest of news, but not horrible either... I got to spray....But....A couple minutes after beginning to spray, the sun vanished (a lot sooner than I thought, whoops) and it cooled off quickly. This is what happens when you spray paint on a cold panel..... And then try to see if more paint will help the situation; Fun fact, it doesn't. Something I KNOW, however I almost always habitually try to "save it". I continued to spray the rest of the car with basecoat only. Luckily from initial inspection no defects elsewhere. However, lighting was poor at this point and I decided to wait and sand out the recoat lift/crackly cold paint defects in the morning, and spray once more when the temperature is up again. Looks like decent coverage overall, for the most part. I wont know for sure until I see it in the light in the morning. Some spots obviously need more, but I will wait til I touch up tomorrow. Hopefully, I'll have more luck then. Anything worth doing never comes easy. Days worked on vehicle to date: 37 Total money spent on project to date: $889

Entering the final stretch! Sprayed the black for the two tone on the bumpers this morning. Just got back from picking up the door. I'm currently waiting for the black to set up a bit more, then I'm going back out there to finish the prep on the unibody. My goal is to spray the rest tomorrow morning....Or even sooner if I can manage. More throughout the day....

as promised. Me likey. Some contrast. I didn't spray the black on the bumpers tonight... Mainly due to lighting/space constraints. I'll instead do this tomorrow morning, first thing. I have errands to run in the day, so that will allow the paint to set up long enough for me to continue once I return tomorrow evening. So close. Days spent on project to date: 36 Total money spent on project to date: $889

Thanks, I'm definitely starting to feel it. This passed week, especially, has been a long one. I'm certainly ready to enjoy the fruits of my labor. hopefully this weekend. But thanks for the kind words, I'm pretty excited to see it all come together. Anyways.... Went in today. Untaped the two tone pieces. They turned out surprisingly nice considering the abysmal prep work that went into them. Sprayed the driver's door. I'll pick it up tomorrow. And I loaded up the hood, and driver's fender, and they are now safely at home awaiting placement on the car. Today/tonight's goal is to spray the front and rear bumper with the black first (again two tone) Then tomorrow, I finish the prep of the body. and spray that. Along with the gray on the bumpers. Then I assemble the thing. So it's looking like maybe as early as Saturday/Sunday potentially for a drive. That would be nice.

Excellent work! I had always thought about making a shaved valve cover. It's nice to see it executed. Also, I'd look into hydro dipping it if you ever wanted to go super complicated on the graphics.

Hood painted. Ran it...TWICE. Haha! Luckily, I don't care. Driver's fender painted. Two tone bumper trim pieces painted. It would appear that I don't have to go to work tomorrow. That said, I'll most likely still go in, to spray the door, and possibly the rear bumper. It's coming together! Pretty soon I'll be able to pull the painted unibody out of the garage, and assemble the pieces. It's just like a big model..... A rusty. Piece of isht. Potentially dangerous model. I mean what could go wrong? hah! Then, it's only the driver's door, and finishing up the unibody (rockers mostly). Bumpers are just a scuff and shoot. Easy peasy. More this evening.

Tonight was fruitful. Both the driver's fender, and the hood are going in tomorrow to spray. some more of the same looking photos. Wet sanded... Days worked on project to date: 35 Total money spent on project to date: $889

I was supposed to spray these last night, however I brought the wrong black paint to do so.... That said, I got around to spraying the black pieces today. 4 of these pieces need to be a black/anthracite two tone, that's why there is good coverage on only half of some of them. Tomorrow I go back in, scuff the area to be gray, tape off the black, and spray. HORRIBLE picture quality, apologies. I am excited to see the contrast against the color. I'm going to try to finish prepping some panel tonight.

I got out to work most of the day today. Got the majority of the passenger side body work done. I intend on spraying the unibody sometime this week. I'll continue spraying these panels starting tomorrow. I'm hoping to drive the car by the weekend. Days spent on project to date: 34 Total money spent on project to date: $889

The fronts don't have an inner flare, and are really easy to cut. The rears do, so that's what I'm assuming you're talking about. Here are some pictures of my install. For reference. I, like most, used rivnuts. Took a couple cuts cut the tabs Weld it back together. Cover with paint.

Exciting!

Welcome to the ever exclusive no spark club, Hopefully you only have a trial membership I'm losing the dizzy and going EDIS on my 240 becayse my optical sensor died. C'mon tax returns!

Sweet! Yeah, pulling the dash is always super scary, until you do it, then you wonder why you even worried. It was way easier than I expected too. I'll be watching for the progress,

A couple more resources thrown in the mix. Eastwood.com for supplies and tools. YouTube.com for diy dent and paint repair. I found the channel: custom spray mods to have good information, and organized videos.

Door....Sprayed. And the hatch, loaded up, about to come home. We'll see if I can't prep another panel for tomorrow, however at this time, it's looking unlikely. We'll see....

Achieved my goal tonight. Passenger door... Prepped. Paint tomorrow, Same as before. Hatch comes home. Days worked on project to date: 33 Total money spent on project to date: $889

Yeah, I'm looking into these as well. Trying to figure out a shock rate for a 8-10 lb carbon hood. I'll report back, upon making any findings.

That's unfortunate...At least it sounds like you could get compensation in the long run, so it's just the time really, and the heartache.. Nonetheless, that situation is never good. But, be glad that you actually have SPECIALTY Z shops in your area.. And not only one, but multiple to choose from. So I still consider you lucky, regardless of bad experience. Where I live, no one will touch these cars. And I've had to teach myself how to do all of this stuff. So, when you're feeling bad about your situation, just remember, at that moment, I'm probably laying under my Z, in my unheated garage teaching myself to build my car(s), because simply, if I don't, no one will. I hope your situation improves. Best of luck.

Thanks! I love the color. Yeah in some lights it looks very olive/military green. The hue changes so much depending on the light, sort of like the silver of my 240, I think it's pretty. And yeah, I'm not going for the vanity mirror finish that I have on the nice car. For a daily, I want every day dings/dents/scratches to not be overwhelming to the eye, when they inevitably happen. Shiny and solid color is about all I care about. Haha. At least for this build. I'm right on track to having the car ready, as soon as the roads are available. I wish I could just paint it all at once. Spraying 5-10 different times opens up a lot of doors for problems to occur. But hey, beggars can't be choosers I guess. Hatch progress today. And some outside pics of the fender. Plus a little mockage. Before. And some outside pictures of the color. Pretty overcast today. I think she's purdy! On the car, teasing myself. Bad lighting. Gotta prep another panel tonight to spray tomorrow. Possibly passenger door. Not sure, we'll see what happens when I get out there. More to come...

First piece is officially sprayed. First impressions: I like the color, I think the car is going to look MEAN when it's all said and done. I turned the pressure up slightly, and I purposefully sprayed a little closer to the panel to put a little orange peel on the surface so the small imperfections of the panel are unnoticed. Plus it gives me a little material to sand/buff with should I become anal enough to change the surface finish. It's not Pebble Beach quality, but it's certainly fitting of a 650 dollar car. Take a look and let me know what you think. I'm pretty happy. The real test will be seeing it outside, but that won't happen until I go in tomorrow and see it. Now that I've confirmed I'm happy with the color, I will continue to prep more panels tonight. Hopefully something will be ready to spray tomorrow. We'll see. I'll update with more progress this evening, as it happens.

Yeah, I thought about a side exit too, once I saw where the piping had to be routed, haha. I'm digging the calf burners. It's real fun making your own exhaust, the first start up is instantly rewarding. Loving the updates.

Had better luck pulling the passenger's quarter window. Used an old low E guitar string since I couldn't find my normal go to wire. And some more blocking. You can start to see a real difference now. The passenger front fender will most likely be ready to spray tomorrow at work sometime. So hopefully I'll have an indication of what the car will look like by that this time tomorrow. Days worked on project to date: 31 Total money spent on project to date: $889

Here's the mid day update. I pretty much spent most of the time stripping anything off the car that could get unwanted overspray on it. Things like -side marker lights -door panels -interior panels (mostly) and carpet (mostly) -driver's quarter window - broke (whoops!) Yep. Broke the window. I was under a false impression that the window sealant was brittle, and the sound of what I thought was rubber releasing from the metal, as I worked around the glass with a hook, was instead glass telling me it was about to...... BAM! Haha! This is why I'm glad I have that second car. All because I was too lazy to use my wire. Passenger's will come out with a piano wire. Some guide coat. For those that don't know what guide coat is, I'll take a second to explain it. It's a super useful technique which can tell you exactly what is wrong with a panel. 1.) Using flat spray paint (in a contrasting color to the primer/panel you're sanding) 2.) LIGHTLY spray the panel, so it looks like someone sprinkled pepper all over the panel. Not too much, as this will cause needless sanding, and will inevitably gum up the sandpaper faster. 3.) Using a block, sand the work area. Wherever there is still black (or whatever color) spraypaint, you have a low spot, or some problem in that area. So that's what I did before I came in to eat. Guide coat applied, ready to sand upon my return to the garage after I grill up some steaks.

Cardboard is a hot commodity around these parts. Cheap too. Second half of the day update: Made some progress. Blocked, filled, reprimed. Rinse and repeat tomorrow. Welded the side molding holes on the passenger's door It's looking better each and every step. Time to relax a bit, and think about the new boat. :heart: Days worked on project to date: 30 Total money spent on project to date: $889

Mid day update: More body work. I know some of the pictures pretty much look the same, but I assure you, lots of little stuff is happening. The rear (the worst offender) is getting much straighter. Still needs a little bit, but it's close. Also, we just purchased a Moth (foiling sailboat) today!!!! I'm so excited I can barely sit still! Drinking a celebratory Corona, and heading back out to sand some more.