Tuyen

Great to see you are making progress, was your Z rear ended before? There is a lot of holes in the rear which looks like it was from a dent puller. If you are planning on taking your car to MAACO i would suggest you stop by a couple of them and speak with the shop manager and make sure they understand what you want. I had a FC3S RX-7 before which was a similar to what you are doing, got the car sand blasted and it revealed a couple holes and dings which was previously filled in with bondo. I took it to MAACO and told the estimator i wanted to dents repaired before any paint was sprayed, when i got the car back no body work was done they primered and painted the top coat with the existing dents and the holes, i think they filled them in with a welder than grinded it down but you can clearly see small grind marks through the paint. The primer and color coat had runs in it which were not sanded down and the clear had a hazy look to it. Some areas had such a thick layer of paint i was having issues which reinstalling bolts ( which was not a big issue since i knew i was going to need to run a tap through to clean out the paint), but i also had clearance issues between panels. Do not hesitate to stop by some MAACOs and watch them work a little bit just to get an idea of their workmanship and to double check the work order and make sure it says exactly what you want. Im sure others have had better experiences with MAACO, but imo MAACO is a good budget body shop if you just want your car painted. If you want a quality paint job shop around, some body shops will paint your car and do the body work for a little more than MAACO if they are not busy and need the work. I look forward to seeing your progress some more, im looking for a new project myself. Thinking maybe an american car....

Did you use a oem/factory replacement sheetmetal (can you even buy those anymore?) or did you get sheet metal and cut and shape to fit? if so what thickness? 1/16?

Here is a pretty general outline of what needs to be done when making a mold. 1) Clean, buff, polish, wax the part. The mold will literally be a mirror image of your fender, so if you have any scratches and dents they can and will show up. So you want the best finish you can achieve. 2) Use a mold release wax, and put on 2-3 layers, this will aid in removing the mold. 3) Optional, apply a layer of PVA (poly vinyl alcohol), this is a liquid that dries into a thin film, its added protection from the fiberglass sticking, its also self leveling so it will fill in small imperfections. 4) optional, apply a coat of gel coat, this is usually a somewhat thick polyester gel coat, commonly sprayed on using a specialized gel coat gun, but can be brushed on. This layer will allow you to polish and wax the mold and gives a smooth surface to make a part from. Also take note of the shape of the fender, i believe a two part mold will be needed to make a fender. Imagine taking a large piece of cloth and wrapping it over the fender, now imagine that cloth getting hard, will you be able to remove the fender from it? you need a two part mold so it can be taking apart to allow the fender to be removed without damaging it. My friend who does quite a bit of composite work taught this to me, so i learned from watching him but never doing it myself. Alex731 has a build thread on his S30, and he mentioned doing some composite work, so maybe he knows more on the process.

Great thread and great work, have you considered maybe in addition to this thread maybe split up to sub sections and do a more thorough "walk through" of body work, mechanical work, suspension, electronics, carbon fiber (how about making an extra to sell? ), etc... The amount of work you are doing deserves multiple threads. i would also be very interested in seeing some suede/alcantara interior, i personally hated the stock vinyl interior look, look and feels too cheap. I'm also curious how much experience do you have doing something like this? Im not questioning your abilities, just impressed by the amount of work being done.

If you have never welded before then MIG is probably the easiest for you to learn most body shops use MIG cause its easier and faster. As far as which one is stronger many think TIG is the strongest, but when you buy filler material they will usually be rated in 60k or more tensile strength for stick, mig, or tig so they all have the potential for being strong. MIG will be fine for sheet metal body work since you will be grinder it down and covering it with paint, but i would suggest going with TIG on suspension. Car chassis and rollbars are welded using tig, the finish welds look better and cleaner, with a mig you will need to clean it up with a wire brush usually. I personally prefer a TIG, and i actually had a better look weld the first time i did TIG than the first time i MIG'd. Also if you watch videos comparing TIG and MIG you will notice discoloration in the base metal, the MIG always has more discoloration because of the higher amount of heat the base metal is subjected to, welders call this the HAZ (heat affected zone) and for large thick pieces of steel its not really an issue since there is so much material to dissipate the heat but with thinner sheet metal, so for someone less experienced it is possible to warp the base metal or burn holes through it. Also i would recommend you take a class before jumping into it if your unsure about it or atleast have someone teach you, welding is done with a high amperage short and it would be better to have someone watching you so you have one less thing to worry about.