Metallicar

Don't forget me too! http://forums.hybridz.org/showthread.php?t=95051&page=1&pp=10 trying to be modest, but the green is looking good. It actually makes grown men giggle when the look into the spray room and see it. I think that is a good sign anyway. I did decide to go with satin black instead of flat for all of the trim and hood. The hatch is now very green (well as very green as the rest of the car).

After a month of Sundays, I have only progressed this far. I still need to recoat all of the flat black pieces, spray the rockers black, and wet sand the green. I am undecided about the hatch being black What do you think?

It looks great! Another win for you and the homemade spraybooth! So how about some details like, air compressor, water/ oil filter, and spray gun used. What kind of lighting and did you just leave the garage door open or use box fans? How much time do you have in the primer process? block sand and final spray? Did you change out the plastic booth between primer and final sprays? I know I have a lot of questions, but I am trying to glean as much info from as many sources as possible. Thank you for sharing! I am jealous.

You guys have cheered me up! I promise to post some more pictures soon. Thank you for your kind words. Since my finding this forum, I have learned so much, been so inspired, and been so jealous of all of your great work and talent. I have spent many many hours getting the foundation work done for the paint. Really, I should spend some more time on a few spots that I am not really satisfied with. For me, choosing the color has been difficult. The Key Lime Green is a really strong statement. I guess it does seem suitable for me, since I typically drive non-conformist vehicles anyway. My current daily driver is a 1962 Willys Wagon. The itch to drive this car, after looking at it in the garage for two years is driving me crazy (more crazy). It sure will be nice to drive fast again! I found this on ebay - So why is green taboo?

Someone told me that bright green was a bad luck color for fast cars for some reason. Something about NASCAR, I think. Anyway, I have been blacking out all the chrome and stainless on my 2+2. I installed early bumpers and they are now black. The aluminum mags will be left bright and polished. I may flat black the hood, rockers, and cowl panel as well. I like the color combination. 2+2 cars seem not look good in some colors, so how about this one? Would you throw up if you saw this on the street? I was hoping it would be accepted as "old school" and not Rice. I found a few examples of 70's cars painted this green, though mostly "muscle" cars. So here is a test shot on a spare fender- I have thick skin, so tell me like it is.

This is exactly what you want! http://www.caswellplating.com/kits/black.htm I think[/img]

Here is another source: http://www.mcnichols.com/index.htm

Greyhound Bus Lines have been shipping packages for a long time. Yes there are some relatively minor inconveniences. You do need to take your package to the nearest Greyhound terminal to ship. When you are receiving, you can either pick up at the terminal nearest you or have a courier pick up your package. Greyhound does offer an intermediate courier, if needed. Going to the terminal, for me is about the same as going to the local UPS depot. More times than not, I end up having to pick my stuff up anyway at a local depot, so going to Greyhound is about the same as going to UPS. Check out the web site for ship quotes: http://www.shipgreyhound.com/

Ship Greyhound! They take large packages, up to 70 some inches. Very cheap and safe. I just shipped a pair of front fenders from Califonia to Philadelphia - $65.00 total.

You can get decent two part primer and roll it on. It will required a little more sanding when readying for the finish, but so what. You can use those high density rollers found at Home Depot. I also discovered (research prompted by 400HP280z's remarks about Rustoluem), that Rustoluem has an Industrial Line of Equipment Paint. Found it online at the http://WWW.Rustoleum.com . They have a Urethane line called 9400 System. Offered is an additive, 9404 Leveling additive for airless or roll on applications. They also recommend Rustoleum HS9381 Epoxy primer, under their 9400 system. Epoxy primer will seal out moisture, so it is a good choice as as fix and drive as you go project car. http://WWW.Grainger.Com has this stuff in thier catalog. I am sorry that I did not bookmark the catalog pages. Paint And Activator 1 gallon 5H958 Black 5H951 Activator Grainger Item: 7H607 Price (ea) : $168.50 The epoxy primer system is: Grainger Item: 7H602 Price (ea) : $74.35. The roll-on leveling add is: Leveling Additive 4oz Leveling Additive for 9400 Polyurethane Paint, 4 ounce Grainger Item: 5H953 Price (ea) : $5.47 They also have a clear coat kit. If they put this stuff on heavy equipment, certainly it should hold up for a rolling project car. I assume (oh boy) that one could wet sand the rolled on color finish, is this right? Anyone?

I should mention, the replacement title companys who provide lost title replacement generally do a search of the VIN to indicate any problems so far as a "hot" sheet. Then if it is clear they register the car in Alabama or Maine, (these state require no titles for elderly vehicles) then have you transfer the registration to your state. Any state will have to accept the registration from these states as a "Title". The base fee is about $250.00, but that still means you have to pay for the title transfer into your state. If you have a friend in Alabama, he or she could just walk it thru, minimizing the cost for a title. Good Luck I remember my dad used to do this all of the time years ago. He had the name and address of some small town Judge, who would provide the paperwork required for a small fee. You will get a plate also. Living in New Jersey, we would drive around in the Alabama tagged car for a year, until the tag expired. Lynrd Skynrd Rocks!

Do a "Google" Search. There are more than a few companies who can set you up with a valid title for less than $250.00

I think that these are good lookers! http://home.comcast.net/~hopharrigan/wsb/html/view.cgi-photo.html--SiteID-1343772.html http://home.comcast.net/~hopharrigan/wsb/html/view.cgi-photo.html--SiteID-1343762.html http://home.comcast.net/~hopharrigan/wsb/html/view.cgi-photo.html--SiteID-1343739.html

I think you may be interested in this thread: http://www.hybridz.org/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=19817&highlight= Jon

I remember seeing a post somewhere with a picture of one of these on a 260 2+2 Real Funky Added: http://www.crimsonstar.com/home/dz0.htm

Instead of a brush, I have used an"Ultra Fine" roller, found at Home Depot. They come in 2 sizes I think 3" & 6" long. Both are about 1 1/4" dia. No brush marks, or streaking left to deal with, which may fool the eyes into thinking that they are scratches. I called tech support about my intentions to do this, they said it is fine. They recommended I add about 10% more reducer to the mix. I have rolled the primer on the "hidden" pieces as well as on the top surfaces where I have been doing some body filler work. Areas I wanted to re-sand anyway. My project seems to be more protracted than I ever hoped. So many distractions from what I really want to spend my time on. By the way, the roller covers are cheaper (6 for 5$), than the cleaning material needed to clean the spray gun. As RacerX noted, much easier to clean up and cheaper too. Well, right there is what little knowledge of auto painting that I know. So far anyway.

Why not: 240 and early 260 Carbon Bumpers Carbon Bumper Strips for the Stock Bumpers Bumper Ends to replace the original rubber ones for the 280

Just looking around I found this: http://www.mcsrr.org/pressreleases/nhtsa01p.html It seems the exhaust problem is not limited to the Z car. I thought I would browse the web to see what solutions owners of other vehicles have done.

I have searched for an answer, but I come up empty. So I am turning to the group for some help. I know that many have installed various early bumpers on the 280 cars, but mine is a 2+2, so I have a "bigger" problem. I won a NOS 260 2+2 center bar on Ebay. It is just over 1" longer than a 240 coupe bar. I now would like to know if the 240 and 260 2+2 side pieces are different in physical size. Of course, I do not have the early 2+2 ends , I do have the 240 coupe ends. I would like to use the 240 ends if possible. I put the 240 ends on the new 2+2 bar and it looks okay on the floor. I have yet to remove the original bumper shocks from the car. I did not want to let the genie out of the bottle, if I can't make this work. I hope some one who reads this has the early set up and can compare to the coupe. Looking at the bumper, mocked up on the floor, it appears that the side pieces do not have the inside radius that matches the outside corner of the body, leaving a small gap. Is this normal? I found a decent pic of a Aussie 77 260 2+2, but I cannot really tell if this is correct. The front should present the "normal" problems as the coupe cars since the front for both types are the same. Thank you for your help.

After High School in N.J., I worked my ass off and I bought my first new car, a 1975 280Z. I was a real find as it was a left over in the dealers lot after the 76 models came out, but not yet in stock. The reason it was probably there, it was a California car with a cat. I smelled the exhaust then as I do now (in my newer car, a 77). Right from the lot, it smelled. It would smell with the windows down or partially down, especially strong during deceleration. Under warranty, the dealer had the service shop go through the entire car and check all of the seals, gaskets, and hoses. But they knew from all of the 240’s and 260’s, that Nissan still had a problem. Learn to live with it was all I could do. Last year I restored a 1980 Jeep CJ-5. After all of the time and energy I put into the beast, I went for a ride. Gezz, did it stink! Since it had a soft top, there was no way to tighten up the rear. So I did extend the tail pipe so it extended past the rear bumper, I started at about 4†past, which looked stupid as hell. It did fix the problem, though. I took a sawzall and trimmed the pipe one half inch and took it for a ride, still okay…. Okay so I kept at it and I finally ended up cutting too much off. So in the end the extension ended being 2†past the rear bumper. The truth is, I did part ways with the 75 in 1982, traded up to a new ZX (the 75 had bad cancer, but was a great runner, over 300K miles when I traded it). The ZX was a good ride too. It did not smell at all. Okay so when the ZX was due to retire as my daily driver, I moved away from Nissan, because I got snobbish. I did not like the 300ZX offerings, way too much mush. I like the feel of the road at the seat of my pants. Anyway, I am back in the game with a ‘77’. I bought it from the original owner, low miles but needs paint and body seals and gaskets. It has been a work in progress for me, now a year. Just in primer at this point. I expect that once the body is finished, I will still have the smell in spite of new rubber goods. So I think that all I can do; is try what I learned with the Jeep. At this point I am guessing that I will have a problem, based on my past experience with the 75. Now, it took you guys to point out to me that those holes in the rear valance may have some purpose in resolving the fume problem. That did not occur to me. Also the 77& 78 have the sheet metal filler just above the bumper. I was planning on installing a Euro bumper and trimming that ugly thing off. Shit, I am not sure what to do now. I guess I am going to have to experiment. Sorry for the long post. I hope someone can get something useful out of this. Added info: I just looked at some pics of my 75, it too had the slots in the rear valance. So now what?

Building a large oven is not much of a big deal, really. Take a look at the one in your kitchen and scale it up. 18 gauge sheetmetal, fiberglass batt insulation and some elements. The door hardware is very basic. You can figure the number of elements needed based on scale. Control could be as easy as a trip to your local appliance parts dealer. I figure I could build a 4' x 4' x 8' oven for less than $400. Sheet metal interior 2x4 metal studs from Home De-blow 3 -1/2" fiberglass insulation Foil faced! Sheet metal skin ( Maybe corragated for strength) Fire Rated Metal Door from Home De-blow or make a bigger door out of metal and wheel big racks of stuff in there. Do not put a locking door knob on this equipment. (damn kids) Hi Temp Silicone caulk for interior seams On the inside of the box, mount 4 broiler elements and control them all with a oven thermostat and a contactor. (Johnstone Supply) Connecting the power to the elements will require some care so the power connections are concealed and safe. Don't forget a light! I guess the problem for most would be getting the power from the panel to the box, or even having a panel large enough to feed it. Jon

I did alot of looking around about this myself, some time ago. I found that someone thought that a roof graft from a t-bar ZX would work. I don't know about that. Tha toughest part will be the weatherstripping of the glass top as well as the roof glass at the door. In my searching, I found kits to convert all kinds of GM cars to t tops. All very pricey. If you can find a donor car with good rubber stuff, then you are pretty well off. The only thing that I could add is, take a look at the convertible conversion kits fot the Z. Then mimic the body reinforcement strategy for the t-bar car. I am sure that others will chime in about the potential body flex. If you can weld, you can do this project.

ZHome has this info: http://zhome.com/History/240Accessory.htm It looks good

Thank you for your help. RacerX- It never occured to me to use a hose for the concave section. I will also try the tape trick for the door line. Tim240Z - Your car is amazing! I could not say enough about it. You gotta be proud of yourself. I have the 1/4 sheet rubber block with the pins and the semi round top. The thing is pretty tough. I just never tried to use the curved side. I will also go and find that 1/4" pad you suggested. The sponges that I have tried seem too soft or not coarse enough to cut the filler. strotter- I am working in a very comfortable garage, climate controlled. The light is not the best. I am working on that though. I did pick up a 2x250 watt floor lamp today. I have applied more primer over the new filler. blueovalz- I will try your method too. I am sure, that when it comes to sanding, you have served your time ( and a job well done). I will keep at it. I think by Christmas, I should be able to paint. I still need to finish the paint room. You guys are the best! Thanks again, Jon

Please offer some suggestions on sanding the gentle curves ands folds of the bodywork. I found on my Z, that the right rear qtr had been repaired once before. The sheetmetal work has a few dimples inside the valley over the rear wheel well. I filled with some Rage (filler) and find that I just can not seem to get the filler sanded down right. I have tried sanding sponges since they conform to the curve (with some pressure). Rubber blocks that I have found are flat and won't fit inside the valley. Another area I have trouble getting the line right, the high line in the center of the door skins. Of all places to get a door ding! It could not have happened in the flat area, right? Is this just a matter of technique, that I just need to finesse by hand? Any ideas? Thank you Jon