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HybridZ

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Man this is a read!  Trials and tribulations dude!  Good to see you aren't losing focus.  And by finding a woman that supports your hobby will only keep you happy!  

 

That grinder incident is knarly....I have never experienced something like that, but I really pay attention to stay away from the plane of the blade.  Those things freak me out!  

 

Keep up the grueling work and it will pay off.  This thing will be beautiful!

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Man this is a read!  Trials and tribulations dude!  Good to see you aren't losing focus.  And by finding a woman that supports your hobby will only keep you happy!  

 

That grinder incident is knarly....I have never experienced something like that, but I really pay attention to stay away from the plane of the blade.  Those things freak me out!  

 

Keep up the grueling work and it will pay off.  This thing will be beautiful!

Haha thanks for checking it out man! and my wife is super rad, she definitely has helped me keep moving forward. on a side note, I'm going to be using a face mask when I use teh grinder from now on, it sucked when it happened but it could've been way worse so I consider myself lucky! 

 

thanks for the comments and best wishes, I just can't wait to drive it again!

 

back to the z,

I didn't get as much done today as I'd have liked, but I did get my cowl painted up! it was only now just sitting here that I saw a spot I missed in the interior shot I took, I'll go back over it tomorrow. it seriously is the worst, I used the blacktop coating from KBS coatings and it is all over my forearms, so now I'll rock it for a month until it falls off and takes my arm hairs with it. I'm just happy that part is over haha.

 

 

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I also keep thinking I'll be done with the bodywork each day, and each day I keep finding out that I will not be. I went to the store today and got more supplies, and I forgot to get hardener. that was really dumb.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Over the past week or so, it looks like so little but I've spent hours sanding and sanding and sanding. I can't tell if I just suck at bodywork or what but it's been a workout. My wife helped me sand my horns down and repaint them.

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I'm seriously so stoked on them, it just feels good to look at them and know they look as good as new and hopefully my car will follow suit!

 

here's a before

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and after:

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they look awesome in my opinion! as far as teh sanding I previously mentioned, I have one door done, the other door and the hatch almost done, 95% of the main shell done, the hood is started and I haven't yet started on the front fenders. It's exhausting haha.
 

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for now, That's all I got. It's sad to see it progressing so slow but it's better to do it right and slow rather than fast and wrong. 
 
more to come!
 

 

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  • 3 weeks later...

I realized after I finished my hatch that the hatch lock wouldn't work, the body filler was too thick, so I decided to start over on it as well as the rear bumper. Better to do it right now rather than wish I had done it after I have it painted!

 

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Way too think, I'm a madman!!
 

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So, here's to starting from the beginning again! Other than that, I bought a metal shaping tool kit from Harbor freight and I've been practicing my metal shaping skills! I feel pretty good about it, I got some good dents straightened out of my fender. not perfect but it's a start and I'm pleased. I also got my front lip from Jegs. Hard to beat $150, though I didn't read the description and was expecting fiberglass rather than polyurethane haha.

 

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also, who here has taken their battery tray out and relocated their battery into the back? I'm thinking I should probably do that. 1: my battery tray is pocked from the past rust and 2: I have no idea how I;d paint the underneath and 3: I want to relocate the battery anyways, along with a few other deletes from the engine bay for a real slick rick look! lets hear some of your thoughts!

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  • 5 months later...

It's been quite a long time since I've updated you all about the ole bugger!

 

I've got a bunch of work done. My brother straightened out the rear hatch fro me at his work really well. I made a slide hammer out of a five pound dumbell weight and a stick of rebar I welded into a T, then tacked it to my rear bumper and pulled out dent after dent. I then filled the holes and started to work on it. The interior is almost completely sanded, and I went through and stitch welded the entire car (except underneath, I've already painted it all but I figured what I did would do a good job. I also went through and had to scrape out the remaining sound deadener with a blade, then the tough to reach places I hit with a wire wheel.

 

I removed the battery tray and did fixed the holes there, then shaved the entire engine bay and also smoothed out the pocked area where the battery tray was.

 

I also sanded and painted the interior of the front fenders. I'll let the pictures do the talking, but I'm hoping to paint day after tomorrow!

 

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Oh, also,

I made a new fusebox from two 5 fuse fuse blocks from OReilly's, I had $15 bucks in coupons and it cost me 10 bucks with a few other items. I made the plastic piece by cutting up a front license plate holder from my wife's 4runner. it did the job! now I need to rig up the fuse backsides a bit but I'm hoping to make it work. My other fuse box lit on fire the last time I had the battery connected.

 

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Yeah, still in Washington. Car is back home. Although I did pick up a series 1 up here for parts recently. I really just need to pay someone to finish up the metal work on mine so I can move on to other things that I actually enjoy haha.

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Yeah, still in Washington. Car is back home. Although I did pick up a series 1 up here for parts recently. I really just need to pay someone to finish up the metal work on mine so I can move on to other things that I actually enjoy haha.

 

Seriously, my same problem! I'm trying to finish it all this week so I can be done with it and move on to putting it back together and actually drive the dang thing! haha, that's tight you found a parts car! you don't happen to have a driver's side metal headlight cone that you'd sell, do you? no worries if not, mine is just fiberglass and the front go in an auto accident back in the day, doesn't line up perfectly anymore. I think I could shape a metal one a bit easier.

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I need to double check the one back home, both that I have are in decent shape. If I can get this one home with me I could sell you one cheap.

 

If you're impatient there's an early and a late model 280z in a not so easy to find junkyard up in Preston if you're ever up that far. I took the passenger bucket off the 76 so there are still 2 usable driver ones to be had. I'm heavily doubting the cars are gone considering the guy that owns the yard works a full time job now. You'd have to find him on the weekend.

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I need to double check the one back home, both that I have are in decent shape. If I can get this one home with me I could sell you one cheap.

 

If you're impatient there's an early and a late model 280z in a not so easy to find junkyard up in Preston if you're ever up that far. I took the passenger bucket off the 76 so there are still 2 usable driver ones to be had. I'm heavily doubting the cars are gone considering the guy that owns the yard works a full time job now. You'd have to find him on the weekend.

haha I doubt I'll ever be in preston, I' may hold off on that headlight bucket or something!

 

 

 

Might look on ksl and try this guy for a headlight bucket?

 

http://www.ksl.com/index.php?nid=678&ad=41582526&cat=&lpid=

 I saw this as well, thanks for the link! he's been there for a while so he may be interested in parting things out.

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This week I've put a ton of time into finishing the prep for paint! had to strip a few things down, but I'm just about there!

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As far as the body goes,I'm finally getting to it!

 

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Painting is a nerve wracking thing, I really don't know how to do it but luckily I'm able to learn as I go. first coat of primer on last night, a whole slew of runs but luckily I'll be shooting the second coalt on the exterior tonight as well as the first coat for the interior. SPI epoxy primer, I've heard good things about it so I'm hopeful I can use the limited skills I have and make it turn out pretty well. We shall see! Wish me luck chaps.

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here are a few updates on the paint. It's beena  learning experience for sure. I've gotten the engine bay all painted and last night I shot a 2k primer over the car to finish it all up and black out some runs easier. after I block out this primer I'll throw another coat of epoxy over and depending on whether I have to wait for a full day (SPI's tech sheet reccomends a 24 hour wait), I'm hoping to have everything tonight. If I can get away with painting today I totally will.

 

I'm very excited to be at this point, it's been a long time coming. there are definitely imperfections in the paint so far, but I'm happy with what I've learned and accomplished! It's a cool project to have taken on.

 

Close up on color:

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engine bay shots:

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before 2k epoxy:

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after:

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Some more updates:

After painting the 2k primer, I sanded the entire next day and got things smoothed out, threw on another epoxy coat, and then sprayed the base and clear! It turned out overall really good I feel. Definitely not a professional job, a few runs here and there and some orange peel that I need to wet sand down, but overall I'm really happy with it for my first paint job! I think it turned out pretty good. 

 

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This week I am finishing wet sanding, then I am having the windshield  and hatch installed and then I'll install the rest of the windows and door internals, etc. Slowly the ole turd will come back to life!

 

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  • 1 month later...

A little update,

 

A while back I got my windshield and hatch glass installed, a place called precision glass in Layton, Utah gave me a good deal, and I was a bit scared to try and install myself after breaking one windshield already trying to remove it. Here are a few pictures of that!

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I also got my interior painted, rubberized undercoating from home depot. I was skeptical at this because of the dramatic price difference between this and undercoating you'd buy from sherwin williams, but it goes on nice and feels rubbery and solid after drying. My brother in law used it before and says it's good. I'll have to update after some wear and tear in the car!

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I also installed my gas tank door! the paint job on that is substantially better haha.

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Lastly, I bought a black dragon gasket kit. (http://www.blackdragonauto.com/features/z/ZRS1.htm) I'm just wondering how exactly to install the rear quarter window exterior gaskets. You can see that it's a U shaped gasket, with a longer stem on one side, shorter on the other. I'm assuming I glue it to the window trim, longer stem as the outer gasket and the shorter stem on the inside. Like this:

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Is this correct? Am I supposed to glue it to the car? Any tips are appreciated!

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