zero6zero

Thanks for the offer on the quarter section. I wish I would have known you a month ago when I bought this car. I have already started repairs on it. When I purchased the car the damage to the quarter was evident. I could see the 15 year old body filler under the paint. So I knew it would be messy. When I blasted the paint off I was shocked at what I found. The bondo in some spots was over an inch thick. But nothing I can't handle. The only part to the tail lights I have is the right black trim panel. As far as trading goes..... that's fine, but what could you possibly want from me.

280z. You don't have to give them to me. I can give you some cash for them..

i dont necessarily have my heart set on it, i do not care all that much for the look of the s30,originals, my car has no tail lights, and the driver quarter was mashed in pretty well right around the tail light surround, the vett lights have been done a million times. i guess i really wont know until i have a set in my hand. and able to look at them closer.

wondering if anyone out there has access to a 89-94 s13 240sx. I need to know how wide the tail light section is. the s30 is about 52 1/2 inches. if the s13s are pretty close I'm debating doing some quarter panel and tail light section fab work to get them to fit. my drivers quarter was beat up pretty bad and it needs extensive sheet metal work anyways. just a thought.

xylene. I have some of that. perfect. thanks zee going to try and spray it this weekend. I have some small nickle and dime size holes to weld up first. and are you applying carpet over this stuff. and or just the liner and some floor mats. curious how easy it is to clean. prob not very easy I would imagine

I'm definitely going to to go this route. thanks for the pics

wow. looks nice. what is ketone and what brand did you use. I have sprayed al's liner in the past.

anybody ever consider or actually spray a heavy bedliner like permatex or rhino liner on the floor of their cars. I'm considering this on the inside and outside of my floor. it seems it would be excellent corrosion protection and an effective sound barrier.

Palos you are definitely 100% correct about abuse from insurance companies, i agree the shops should get paid more. these practices over the years have allowed a biz, such as my own to greatly reduce the costs of overhead to stay profitable. good contract with materials supplier shop and tools paid for. my town 40k people 7 body shops in a 15 mile radius... most with a good history with talented workers. Its very competive. i could never charge 600.00 and expect to get the job. while a shop just down the road can offer equal quality for half or 2/3rds the price. Now as far as the way mitchell compiles Data. They do time studies, maybe not enough, or maybe not 100% accurate, but when it comes down it it, it is what it is. Im not claiming to be an expert, and i think we are getting a little off track with the original post. I will read the links you sent me, its always good to be informed. i do read all the body shop business mags i get in my mailbox and they sometimes refer to these same topics. Now back to the original question at hand.. Is 600.00 pricey? i think so. Can it be done properly for half the price? i promise it can! in anycase i wish slownrusty the best of luck.

while your doing all the work you should spray some 3m weld thru II primer on all your bare metal. its a rattle can primer that can be welded on, and it wont burn off. its not a miracle worker but is better than nothing when it comes to corrosion protection...

i would also like to mention that altho this is the price that the software came up with palos is somewhat correct with his true costs of bizz statement. this is not a lucrative job for a body shop. if all i did was these little jobs i wouldnt make much money. its borderline profitable. the idea is to do jobs like these to get a new costomer and keep an old one. if i did this job for you at 300.00 i would expect you to return to me with your insurance claim of 5 grand

When i got to work today i wrote an estimate for refinishing a rear bumper for an 83 280zx. it was as far back as my mitchell estimating software would go back. keep in mind, this was just a refinish estimate and not a repair R&I. this was written with my statefarm insurance profile. altho it came to be a little higher than i orginally told you, i was not far off, the way this estimating company gets these numbers, is by paying a body man to do the job 5 times, they then average the amount of time it took the worker to complete the task. standerd refinish quote is as follows 1. refinish rear ctr. cover 1.0/hr 2 refinish rear outercover 0.8/hr 3 refinish rear outercover 0.8/hr 4. clear coar 0.9/hr 5 paint&met. 112.00 6 hazd. waste disp. 5.00 3.5 hours @52.00 labor 182.00 additional costs 123.72 this is paint& met, tax and little **** gross total= 305.72 hope this helps, mitchell is a nationally accepted estimating program that multiple insurance companies use to write estimates, its not cheap software and is updated monthly i stand by this company Maybe where i live labor is cheap. i will admit, im not rolling in the dough, but im not exactly going hungry either. like i said early i think we have been open for 35-37 years, 3rd generation i am. i grew up in a body shop. i do not claim to be the best. and all shops are different.

I realize its not just paint and clear. the.price was reflective upon the price of what it cost to have the job done. 35 years we have been open for. id say that's long enough. where exactly is 600 dollars justified.... around here labor rates are 52/hour paint and materials are 32/hr. lets call it a 5 hour job 3.5 labor 1.5 paint and materials haz.waste disposal few bucks for flex additive, you you cant charge him for a quart if he doesnt need it. tax is cheap, its just on the materials hes at about 250 ish. and I did say depending on how much prep the bumper needs. I was assuming it was in decent condition. no.cracks or tears to repair... if you can honestly say you would charge him 600 to paint a bumper cover. try telling an insurance company you want that much to clean up a used part and paint it... I'm sure you will find they will laugh at you.. I have been painting myself for 7 years..doing collision work for 10. maybe you have been doing it longer. but 600.00 come on... remember he didn't ask anyone to R&I.who knows maybe I'm wrong.

rust removal... I.have used farm grade molasses mixed with water... mix it all in a big plastic tub. let soak. won't take off paint but will totally destroy rust.. cheap and effective... look up molasses rust removal on youtube. kinda neat... after that it will obviously need to be coated with.something. just another option for ya. I never heard of.the product you mentioned

thanks.

4-6 inches is.actually a little close for color. but not for clear.

I own and operate a body shop. that price is insane. a more accurate price is in the 200.00 range depending on the amount of sandng/ prep the bumper needs. sand well with 180 grit and remove any spider cracks this is very important to.make sure any cracked paint is removed right down to.the plastic. old paint that still has proper adhesion can be sprayed over. but remove as much as you can to minimize your paint thickness. any bare plastic will need to be treated with plastic adhesion promoter. but I.have side skipped this before if the bare spots are small. and I spray dupont products. it requires a value shade coat before base coat is applied. sand with.240 grit or 320 before applying value shade sealer. I would ask a body shop if you can buy sealer and its required catalyst separate. in the amount you.need to.avoid buying more.than you need. paint is fairly cheap. 30s buck a pint depending on.color. and 80-100 bucks a gallon for clear. a pint of.clear is.more.than enough with.a gun with a proper fluid tip. I spray with a sata rp3000digital with a 1.3 tip. at about 40psi its all it the wrist after that. keep the nozzle4-6 inches from the.surface adjust pattern and pressure accordingly. try not to hold the gun on an angle keep the fluid tip facing the surface and let go of.the trigger everytime you change sweeping direction to uneven buildup. painting is actually pretty easy. the other thing you may consider is maybe they quoted you on blending the adjacent.panels to.secure an.effective color match. find out.for sure depending on color you may find this ti be a fair price if blening adjacent panels was taken into consideration good luck. ask me anything you want. I.can even prob get you paint formulas and dupont product numbers if.you decide to use.their product.

i wasnt looking for a spoon feed.. i have searched, and searched again, i have even considered not posting at all with the idea in mind that Tony D would be the first to respond with."spoon feed me" and yet i have continued searching and found nothing, so you basically wasted my time, and yours, i have yet to find any threads where someone used a stock N/A block with and convert it to a turbo setup. they were all threads where a f54 block was used. im not asking what exhaust i need to put on it, what size turbo, or fuel injectors, to use, im asking if it could be done, so tomorrow i can actually get some work done on my car, instead of combing the internet for a week wading through all the L28e posts that are not really of L28e but rather l28et posts, if you would be so kind with your undisclosed infinite wisdom please point me to the appropriate section i would be more than happy to read the info myself and learn, but as far as it goes, your comment seems to be counter productive to the idea of a forum. im not a professional l28e engine builder and do not aspire to be. i was simply asking. for some information that you are obviously tired of giving.sorry for asking the same questions you have maybe heard a thousand times before but instead of being counter productive maybe point me to a thread if you know of one that can answer my questions... and to be honest, whats wrong with a spoon feed if someone just wants to build a car and drive it? maybe i have a time limit of getting this car rolling and do no have time to amass the knowledge you have absorbed over a 10 year run hear at hybridz. i dont have 10 years to build a car, or the cash to experiment. as per your comment, i will still continue to search, thanks for at least reading my post tho.

i have been perusing the internet for a few days, im 100% new to this forum, and to datsuns. i recently acquired a 76 280. i have stripped the car down to its most basic form, and am doing extensive body work. shaving sheet metal. antenna and the quarter emblems for example, all that stuff is pie to me. My beef is with the L28e i really dont want to run out and Buy a donor car 280zx. reason 1, i dont have the space for another pyle of scrap metal, and 2 i already looked for one locally and couldnt find one. My main question is, can i purchase a turbo p-90 head,turbo manifold,upgrade the fuel injection and ignition. and hook it all up to a aftermarket ecu I.E. megasquirt and and all other accoutrements make 300 hp with the block that is in my car. i refuse to do a v-8 swap. i already own a few v-8 cars. i have searched and searched, and all i have gotten was buy a 280zx engine, thoughts? go easy on me, My Goal 300hp max, with a L28e block . If not please school me to why chasing down a f54 block would be better.