Marine1342

Just realized that the MSA sale ends today... I'm looking for a complete vinyl kit to replace the inside of my early 77 280z and the kit that MSA has on sale for the 280z is only the rear portion. The 240z kit they have on sale (not much more expensive, is the complete (both front and rear) Comparing with the blackdragon automotive kit for the 280z which runs $440, has everything but the price is a turn off (so's the color but that can be changed) My question is, does the 240z interior vinyl fit into the 280z, or did they change the dimensions of trans tunnel, wheel arches etc? MSA Sale - Interior vinyl kit I did a search on the interior forum and didn't find anything for viny/fabric swap. Granted I am pressed for time (sale ends today) and didn't do a complete 100% search, so any quick replies would be most appreciated. Thank you for the input and time, and I'll take any flaming or ass chewings

Oh boy.... Well let the flaming start!

Referring back to the OP, seeing as the pictures that were taken and posted up with him showing up his 'piece' the police might be more interested, particularly if it isn't registered, or stolen or what have you. Yeah the cops might not look too much into this seeing as it really is just a phone, but now there is a weapon that is being displayed and given the history of this post (i.e. stolen phone, who knows what else is stolen....) they might take a second look at it. Also did you notice the nice blue stain (pen?) on his shirt? Nothing says you're bad-ass like dressing up in tight pants, ranchero hat and a button up shirt that has a stain.....

Haha, how funny I had found them (SPI) a while back and completely forgot about them. They sell epoxy primer, which from what I've read sounds very promising to use. Only thing I'm worried about is the compatability with other paints. I was planning on going with Sherwin Williams for the base/clear coat but if it works with this, who knows.

This is that roller coaster that simulates you being in a drag strip or something like that? Cuz if it is, last time I went to Ceder Point (4 years ago) they had just opened it recently Line was 5 hours long so I skipped it but still looks like a mother....

Yup. Soda blasting is great for getting almost everything off, down to the bare metal, but it will leave a coating of soda residue on the surface (which has to be cleaned off prior to placing anything down) and it will leave rust untouched. Good for sheet metals or cars that just need to have paint removed, but in terms of helping to treat rust, its a no go.

Thanks for that tip palos. Guess its dynomat for me then.

Well soda blasting has its ups and downs. I had considered it (spent 300 on a soda blaster...), but haven't found anyone in this area that will do it for the price I found to have my car cleaned with Black Beauty. Plus, cleaning the soda residue after-wards, didn't fine a clear answer for that and I need to have it primed ASAP. So I figured lets do it how almost everyone does it, with abrasive blasting. Only problem I had was which primer I needed to use right after I had the shell stripped down to the bare metal. And I guess with the information I've gotten, best set up is to use an etching primer that has zinc, followed by an epoxy primer and then the rest of the steps. I've heard about the lizardskin but never researched it. Really as resilient as they claim it to be? That would be great to use that instead of the heavy dynomat, but then again I can get dynomat for cheap...

Ok Well what I will be having blasted will be strictly the shell. No hood, no hatch, no doors. Hood and Hatch might be replaced with Fiberglass for ease of rust issues, but that depends on several factors. Now the roof (since it is just a sheet of metal) outside has to be cleaned, and the company that is doing the blasting says that they work with metal thickness up to 22 gauge I believe. Anyways, I digress. The two other guys that took their Z there to be cleaned said they did a great job, adjusting pressure and nozzles for the appropriate thickness of the metal (solid to sheet etc.) What I mean by media blasting, and maybe I'm using the wrong term, the term wrong, or using it too loosely, but what I mean (and what I'm having done) is using a media to strip rust and/or paint off of the surface of metal via a pressurized air system. The media that I would be using in this case would be the Black Beauty (coal slag). So instead of using sand (as in sand blasting), it would be with BB. Again, not sure if I'm understanding you correctly on this, hopefully I am. To clarify: On the primer that you suggested; its an etching metal that is applied after blasting the metal. "You don't want to prime anything else until all metal work is complete" You mean don't prime anything else with epoxy primer until all metal work it complete? Then apply epoxy primer over entire car, covering the zinc etching primer? So steps would look like this: Blast metal and air clean Spray on Zinc etching primer on shell Cut out bad metal, grind back primer (for clean weld) and weld on new metal) Cover exposed areas with zinc etching primer Spray epoxy primer over car (and therefor zinc etch primer)

Clarification on things: The media that they will be using to blast the car (the shell) will with Black Beauty (fine coal slag), and they said that if they need to (and with my permission) they would use aluminum oxide, but only on the very bad rust spots/holes. That being said, the car will be media blasted with black beauty. Checked for dry ice blasting, no one around the area that does it and doing it myself wouldn't be doable. Thought about buying dry ice to remove the sound dead-ner on the trans tunnel, but then figured 8 bucks for a torch worked just as good. Palosfv3: What is the epoxy that you've been using or that you would recommend? I was thinking of going with an etching primer that Sherwin Williams recommended to me, I assume it has zinc and hopefully a good amount but then again when you assume things.... That Gibbs Stuff seams pretty freakin' cool though. Can you vouch for these claims Palosfv3? Gibbs Brand Oil Researched the POR-15 Rust Bullet Zero Rust thing, and still mixed reviews on it. Heard its great for 4x4 and off-roading, but that is not the case with this car. Maybe for parts underneath but paint compatibility is another issue with that. So epoxy primer (with zinc) seems to be the solution to laying a primer over bare metal? Now is it recommended to put down the zinc etching primer prior to the epoxy primer? If I'm miss-understanding something in these steps please let me know. I'm a body work and mechanical guy, this paint stuff is quite new (and confusing to me) Thanks again for all your help

I have finally found the place where I'm going to get my 280z shell blasted ($400-$500) but still haven't gone to them simply because of flash rust fear. Little bit of info on what's going on: I've stripped the car down to the shell, just recently finished pulling off the front and rear axle and putting it on a pallet with wheels. Structurally the car seems pretty good (granted this is before blasting....), only things that will need to be taken care of will be the floor pans, front engine rails and an outer wheel well. The car is going to be blasted with a combination of black beauty and some other sand media, then air blasted clean. The company that is media blasting it said that they can put down a coat of primer down to keep the clean metal from flash rusting, but the guy I talked to didn't recommend I use their primer simply because they use an oil based primer and further painting would not work well. So for the past almost three weeks I've been searching on this forum, painting forums, and calling S&W, debating on talking to NAPA, to see what primer they would recommend. All the answers I've gotten are very conflicting but what I've found so far is that once the metal is bare and clean you need to coat it so that it won't flash rust (duh), except S & W recommends using a self-etch metal primer and they said it helped to etch the metal and bites into the metal so that its well attached to it. Then epoxy or some other coating paint etc. Read online else that self-etching primer is only good for other layers to stick to the metal, doesn't offer good rust protection and that if the metal is already clean just put down epoxy and go from there. Others said just go to NAPA and ask for car primer and thats it. For those that have gone down to the bare metal for a restoration, what did you use or what do you recommend for the step after media blasting but before bodywork? I know that each metal reacts differently to different substrates and would like to know your guy's inputs on which step I should take from here. I'm not going directly to painting once its primed, since I do need to cut out and weld pieces. Also, the inside jambs of the roof and the roof are completely clean (no rust, although did find a comb from the 1970's judging by the color), so would it be best to have the blasting place not blast that area, since getting media out and getting it rust proofed in there would (at least seems to me) be a bit of a chore. I'll be posting pictures soon, and more detailed ones as soon as I get to go back out to the shop. Thanks for the input (helpful or flaming )

I second this. Claying a car does do wonders to the car's surface. Only thing I've found is that by claying the car, you take away everything on the surface (hold on don't panic yet) It cleans out the dirt, road grime, embedded crap and leaves the clear coat clean and exposed. Be sure to start the detail or sealing process from here or else you'll end up with worse paint than before further down the line (no protection i.e. wax, sealant etc.) There's a sealant I've been using on my cars, don't remember the name right now but it comes in a tin can and its supposed to be a sealant for car paint, you have to let it 'cure' in the sun. You can add wax or artificial wax ontop of that and it looks great. It's called Liquid Glass has a picture of an old corvette on it

Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery but then again the Nissan SX's are kinda their own cars and I don't think should be mixed with body styling of Z's, particularly the early gens And this imitation just looks like a wanna be for those that know what they're trying to copy and prolly something 'radical and unique' for those that aren't aware of what S30's look like. All a matter of perspective I suppose.

This thread was started to find a blacked out car to base ideas on..... The car is completely black. Maybe its just me, but doesn't seem to be any more ideas to be had....

Who started to sell the original stickers? Was is that justin guy who got banned? I like the simplicity of the sticker, the fit in the quarter window and the fact that it shows ones membership to hybridz

Would this include then cleaning the frame and putting a layer of sealant/epoxy or is the price just for blasting and dust off alone? Oh and I did a bit of searching and what people seem to be using to clean the baking soda residue off, without having flash rust come back is just liquid metal clean, and using a pressure blaster. I have some links if you want me to pm you them, but basically using some product called holdtight 102 (never heard of it), or aquaklean by kbs that sorta thing. The other companies names escape me. Not sure about aquaklean and the others but holdtight 102 said that it was reviewed by sherwin williams so more than likely it is compatible with sherwin williams paint system.

RE: RockChucker Not sure what soda blasting is running at, but I know that companies here in chicago will sand blast the frame of the z for under 1 grand. Maybe they're charging more because soda can't be re-used? IMHO sounds pretty high. Did you strip all parts off so just metal is left? Are they going to spray it with epoxy or some sort of coating when they're done?

I second the Soda Blast on cars. Especially Z cars. The metal on them is already thin to begin with and sand blasting on certain areas might end up doing more harm than good. The only problem with soda blasting is it doesn't remove any rust. Scott, you have any solutions to this? Everyone who owns a Z would want to safely strip the paint (soda) and remove the rust. I've seen soda combinations (soda with aluminum mix i think?) but haven't heard of anyone's story on how it went. Eastwood has these mixes and it ends up being the same price as a regular bag of soda. Another thing that you have to keep in mind though is that the soda residue leaves a small coating (which is good because it keeps rust off the metal, thus preventing flash rust) but the downside to this is that you can't put any paint/primer on it do to the fact that the soda residue will not let it adhere. I've heard of people using water to remove this residue (dissolves it) but then I imagine the flash rust would happen again (metal + water = back to square one) Read on other forums of people using a vinegar/water mix or just pure vinegar (lots of fizzing though) then coat it with primer/epoxy.

I know that BadDog's rails are meant to fit over the existing rails underneath the seat and ZeddFinding's rails are original replacement. So ideal set up would be Zedd Findings to replace and then re-enforce them with BadDogRails and sub frame connectors/extendors. Now where would one go and get the front frame rails? I know you can do Pete's method of cutting out and replacing it completely, ZeddFindings has front frame rails as well. Are these the only two places? Does BadDog have any?

az240z, if you're planning on keeping it stock then yeah just grind it treat it cap it. If you're doing and engine swap or even maybe increasing the engine power you might want to consider either re-enforcing the rails or extending them to the back frame. Or if you're going to push for a v-8 swap then do as pparaska did and tie in all the sub-frames together. Hopefully I'll start the front rail swap soon

Now my question on this pparaska, (we had emailed each other a while back, considering on doing the same thing) is the safety in this. The engine frame rails, from the information I've gathered is 3 sided box with the 4th side that completes is consisting of the wheel well area. I ] ----- [ I Pardon my crude drawings. You replaced it entirely with square tubing, measuring everywhere to keep alignment as close to original as possible. Now my safety question is this: What size thickness did you use on the square tubing, because the nice thing I can see about sticking with BadDog rails or even the front frame rails from Charlie Osborne of Zedd Findings is that in the event of an accident in the front, the thin metal will give way, whereas putting square tubing might just end up ramming the tube through the firewall and into your leg. Am I wrong on the structural set up on the Z, maybe not planning on adding enough re-enforcement, or that's just the way things are?

No they're not cheap but it does make the car look sleeker by allowing you to remove the side turn signals, possibly even the front. Check out the site though, they have some other interesting modifications for cars.

Just to let you guys know, the doors from VR are just hollow shells. No room or cut outs for windows, handles etc. If its for track only I'd imagine it works great, while still retaining the Z's lines, but for replacement or daily usage, you'd either have to fabricate something or enjoy not having windows.

http://www.thehoffmangroup.com/autoloc/product.lasso?prodinc=headlights Something like this? Closest thing I've found that actually looks good. Tried pulling up the link you posted and it didn't work

Yeah looks similar to the 240z, but the rest of the car doesn't really capture the s30 look. There was a guy on here who wanted to do a wide body on his Z, but instead of adding flares he went and added an extension of flat metal to the rear wheels and was able to gain I want to say like 3-5 inches of extra space. Came out looking nice last time I read the thread, and it didn't seem too complicated. But if you want a car that resembles the s30 closest I've seen that looks like the original Z.