Z-TARD

Welcome back man! That 240 looks awesome, good price too. I paid the same amount for mine about 5 years ago. The T5 out of the 87/88 and later Firebird/Camaro should work just fine provided that the 327 you have isn't on crack. I think I sold one of those trannys to you about 2 years ago? The one with the V8 bellhousing on it should be in decent shape if you still have it. Last time I was at Pick a part junkyard down in Chula Vista about 3 weeks ago, they had a few V8 firebirds that still had the 5 speeds in them. Good luck with the new project, let me know if you need any help with anything. Mike

I'll have to go back to Dixieline Lumber and check if they have the hardener. I tried out the Valspar today in the airbrush, it seems to spray about as well as the Rustoleum when thinned out with mineral spirits. I also tried the Ace rust paint, with not so good results. For starters, their color selection is pretty limited, and they don't look like colors I'd put on a car. The yellow color is very pastel, like something you'd use to paint the trim on a house. It also says in bold letters on the back of the can "Not recomended for automotive painting". Thinning with mineral spirits didn't work very well either, as it seemed to seperate out once it hit the surface. So for what it's worth, I think the Ace paint is a waste of time. My chunk of test sheetmetal is primed, and if it's warm enough tomorrow I'll paint it using hvlp/rollers with the various paints. I'm still really happy with how the Rustoleum test spot on my car looks. It seems pretty durable, and the color is almost dead on with what I want. The only thing I'm curious about now is if the Valspar paint will be any better, and if bare metal is better than a primed surface. Mike

Please let me win Super Lotto! Please let me win Super Lotto! That car is amazing. I feel very inspired to go work on my own car after watching that video, and yet at the same time, I'm also considering just lighting it on fire, because it will probably never be as cool as yours. Maybe just replace my Z with a Chevy Avio and forget the whole thing.... I'd seriously recomend keeping a creation like that, but I understand the need to move on to new projects once one is completed. I hope whoever buys that appreciates the amount of work that went into it. Mike

I thought about doing that, but I think it would be better to test the paint on it's own, without any special treatment to see which application holds up the best. I'm honestly expecting failure here, I just want to see which technique holds up the longest under the pressure washer. I also picked up some Valspar rust enamel today at the local Dixieline lumber. Ace Hardware was having a sale today, so I checked that out too and found that Ace markets it's own brand of rust paint. I picked up a few small cans of that for the test as well. Hopefully when this is all done we can have some definitive answers as to which paint is the most durable, and how best to apply it. The Valspar paint directions say not to thin, but I'll probably have to thin it anyway to get it to spray well. I bought a few cans of acetone and mineral spirits, so I'll find out which works best for thinning Valspar and the Ace paint. Mike

Just bought a $40 HVLP detail gun at Harbor Freight today, I'll post details of how well it squirts out rustoleum within a few days. Mike

Nice! I wonder if thats available as a kit? I probably would have added the S30 rear quarter windows too, it looks a little odd with the stock SX glass. Mike

I'm moving into a place with a two car garage in a few weeks (Finally!), so I should be able to get a LOT more done on this thing once I get it on a rotisere. I'm hoping I can be ready for paint sometime this summer. It will be nice to have the extra heat to help things cure a bit faster. The ultimate goal is to have it ready for the MSA show in 2007, we'll see how that goes. I might be able to expidite painting of some of the body parts while the car is in the air. I should be able to get the doors, fenders, and rear hatch done shortly after I get moved in. I purchased a couple of one gallon empty paint cans that I can fill up with the final mix of paint. I still need to perfect the orange color I want. I'm thinking of just getting an orange from the produce section, taking it to the paint guy at home depot and having him color match it.....

Now that you mention it, I seem to remember an old episode of McGuyver where someone got gassed with cyanide. McGuyver was of course able to determine the cause of poisoning by sniffing the victim and noticing the smell of almonds. He then cured them by making them drink some chemical obtained from a one hour photo place in the mall..... Fortunately I've done all of the wet layup stuff with my garage door open. Plenty of ventilation I hope..... The Ebay seller I got my epoxy resin from is local here in San Diego, so I think I'll stop by and pick up an MSDS from him just to know for sure. Until then I'm just going to go on the assumption that this stuff does contain cyanide, and protect myself accordingly. Thanks for the heads up guys, Mike

I was in the garage earlier today, and found myself trying to scratch the test spot now that it has dried for a few days. My fingernail will absolutely not do anything to it anymore. I was worried that it would always be kind of soft and gummy like a lot of the rustoleum spray paint is, this stuff has hardened up pretty well. Not to be deterred, I then took my car keys to it. As anticipated, the keys go right into it, just like most other car paints. The paint flakes away in little tiny flakes just like real automotive paint does. The key only broke all the way through in a few areas though, for the most part it just dug in about halfway. This is pretty much all the proof I need. As soon as I'm done with all the structural stuff and body work I'm going to get a gallon or so of orange mixed up and have at it. Mike

Geez, this guy isn't banned yet? I might just have to take all my friendly advice over to "that other Z car forum" if this stuff continues.... Seriously though, I found a muffler for you if you do end up getting the Type R: Mike

Not sure about HVLP. I've never used that setup before, but this stuff shoots out of a standard setup better than a lot of other paint I've used. Cleanup with mineral spirits is really easy too. I'd say it's definitely worth a shot. Mike

Not sure if it will need primer or not, but sanding down the gelcoat is probably a good idea to promote better adhesion. I'd just scuff the surface with some 320 or 400 grit sandpaper just enough to give the rustoleum something to bite onto. It should be OK to use without primer, but I'd advise testing on a small spot first to see how well it sticks, and how well it covers. Pick the piece you care about least, and do that one first Mike

If it's a VLSD, the output shafts will be really hard t turn against eachother. It will feel like trying to twist apart a big lump of clay (Best way I can describe it...) You also wont see any spider gears inside it when it's opened up either. This is an R-200 VLSD short nosed diff out of a J-30, but it should look similar: Mike

More stickers? I am SOOOOO going to get this......

Well, for what it's worth I drive a total 90 miles every day to get to work and back. At that rate, a 2-3 mpg increase, no matter if its psychological, gynacological, trans-epidermal or endo-thermal pays for itself over the course of only a month or so. I got mine on Ebay (Where else?) for a whopping $35.00. And I STILL have it installed, probably more because I like the little CARB sticker in my engine bay than anything else. I think there is also a lot of validity in the Jeepshavecrappycombustionchambers theory. Mine gets exactly the same mileage weather I'm doing donuts in the church parking lot at 2:00 am, or cruising the freeway at 80 mph. I can only attribute this to sub standard combustion chamber design. Ok, discuss amongst yourselves.... Mike

My El Cheapo brand airbrush works perfectly at 25 to 30 psi. I also have a small automotive detail gun that I got at Harbor Freight too, which I think would be much better for painting an entire car than the airbrush. It's supposed to run off 20 to 50 psi. I'll try it out at 30 and see how well it covers. I'm sure that rollers would do the job just as well as a spray gun, but being in the Navy has really turned me off of paint brushes and rollers in general. There have been several occasions where I have either fallen asleep or passed out with either a paint roller or brush in my hand. Needless to say, I've done a lot of painting over the last 12 years. If I start rolling on paint on my Z, I'll probably fuzz out and get that thousand yard stare. Next thing you guys will see is pics of my car painted haze gray and covered with life preservers and fire extinguishers.... Mike

I thought it was the proffesional, but on further inspection it's the standard Stop Rust paint: http://www.rustoleum.com/product.asp?frm_product_id=18&SBL=1 The roller method would probably work just as well, and I may end up trying that out as well. For now though I'm having way too much fun with my $9.00 Harbor Freight air brush At some point I'm also going to try out a bigger automotive type sprayer to see how badly I can choke myself out with mineral spirit vapors. The airbrush is definitely not bad at all, if the larger guns are not much worse I don't really see a problem with spraying it in a garage.

The original Datsun chrome probably would not surpass more than about 200 hours salt spray test. Fords current standard for chrome plating calls for 240 hour salt spray: http://www.pfonline.com/articles/059801.html Comparing it to ZeroRust is kind of an unfair comparrison because Zero Rust is designed soley as a rust preventative. I'm sure it's durability would be compromised in many other ways such as impact, abrasion, sunlight, etc. DuraCoat seems to be the best stuff I've seen so far for all around toughness and ease of application. What really sold me on this stuff was seeing how well it holds up on a .45 pistol. I built my latest gun to have very close tolerances between the slide and frame, after painting with DuraCoat there is absolutely no play at all between the two. That means that every round fired will cause the paint on both the slide and frame assemblies to grind against each other. I do have some oil in there, but not a lot, and after several hundred rounds there is no discernable wear in the paint on the rail portions of the slide and frame. Mike

Since the weather has been much warmer out here lately, I've been taking the dash to work every day and letting it bake in the back of my jeep. Not a very scientific way to go about things, but definitely in keeping with my style. It seems to have worked, as all the resin has cured to a nice solid surface, albeit one that is irregular and full of lumps. I've started the un "F" ing process by knocking down all of the lumps with some 60 grit sand paper. So far this is going pretty slowly, but gradually an even surface is appearing from under all the lumps of crap I built up on it. Once I have an even surface, it will just be a matter of working it down with progressively finer grades of sand paper until it's smooth enough to polish. No pics yet, but as soon as I have something worth posting I'll do another update. Mike

The rustoleum stop rust paint should work on fiberglass just fine, not sure about the other varients of rustoleum. To quote the guy in the original moparts thread "This stuff sticks like crap to a blanket" Mike

First coat: Second coat sprayed: Dry: Glossy enough to make my ears look like air brakes in the reflection..... I mixed another batch of paint after the first coat, so the color is off a little. Needs a bit more red. Even at this early stage, I have trouble scratching it with a fingernail. Not impossible, but it takes a fair amount of effort. I have a third coat on it now, I'll wait a few weeks for that to fully cure and then do some serious durability testing on it. So far so good.... Mike