A tale of two Z's - NA vs Turbo

[jhm]

15 hours ago, MONZTER said:

For the Turbo car I decided to build my own wheels.  Ill CNC machine the center sections myself and have the lips and barrels spun for me. 

 

Really cool stuff....very nice.  I like the "refurb" on the front crossmember, as well!  👍👍

[Leon]

Fantastic! Excited to see how this project unfolds.

[MONZTER]

Been spending alot of time getting the chassis on the NA car cleaned up and ready for paint.  Its a super clean almost a no rust car, so I want to strip it completly bare, metal prep it, straighten the floor pans which are really clean just slightly dented from wrong jack points.  

 

I started out by stripping everthing off and making digitized and CAD files of all the tar flooring.  You can still buy it from Nissan.  I have a laser cuttter so I will use it to cut all the replacements.  It is an original paint car, so it was hard going in on it.

 

 

 

 

Next I put it on my rotissary I built for the Turbo car and got to work on stripping all the factory undercoating.  Using a heat gun, scraper and some mineral spirits did the trick but it took a long time.

 

 

 

All super clean original metal under the car

 

 

 

This is what it looked like under the front fenders BEFORE cleaning, so super happy

 

 

and even under the cowl all original paint

 

[flatout]

sir, your SoCal is showing, what a clean chassis,  starting with a chassis that clear sure would be nice. up here in new england we certainly dont get that. 

 

I browsed thru a couple pages. Great work. I'll have to make it thru all of them when i have a few minutes. love the design, prototype, create, mentality. 

[jhm]

1 hour ago, flatout said:

sir, your SoCal is showing, what a clean chassis,  starting with a chassis that clear sure would be nice

 

Exactly!  Well-said.  That's a great-looking underside - nice work, @MONZTER!

[Leon]

This continues to be my favorite build thread here. The meticulous attention to detail combined with fanatical, no-nonsense execution is what makes HybridZ so great and unique!

[jeffer949]

Just first class.   Hybridz isn't what it used to be but I check in every few weeks  just incase a legend like yourself made an update. Posting about this stuff takes time. Time I dont have currently as I'm Blessed enough to have a wonderful wife and daughter.  If I have time to write a post I should be working on something.   I make progress slowly but currently getting sidetracked setting up a cylinder head rebuilding shop in my garage.  But the plus side is I should rebuild my engine before i start doing other peoples!!!

[MONZTER]

Thanks for the replies and comments.  Time is always an issue, however Im at the age now where my daughter is 26 years old and working full time.  Been married 30 years so the wife is obviously understanding of my hobbies.  Hopefully continuing to make progress regularily.  Hoping more people come back to the forum and participate in the community.

 

Here is a picture of me and my daughter when she was probably 2ish years old, same car Im working on now.  I need to get her back in the shop for a new photo - Time flies

 

[MONZTER]

Since the frame rails were dented up pretty good from wrong floor jack positioning, I decided to replace them and this would also give me the opportunity to really get the original metal floors flat, and the metal shrunk and tight.  They were surprisingly clean inside.

 

 

This is the floor pan after removing the spot welds and frame rails.

 

 

After some wire wheel work, and metal prep acid wash with Scotch-Brite, I worked and shrunk the metal with a shrinking rod and them smoothed it with a shrinking disk.  Nice and flat getting it to what original would have looked like, leaving all spot welds and original deformations in place.  I then lightly blasted the overlap areas and applied Weld-Thru paint.

 

 

 

 

I then fitted the new frame rails, they took a bunch of work to get the correct shape and to match the original contour of the floor pans.  I then copied all the original spot weld locations and drilled 3/16 hole to plug weld.  I used several Cleco clamps to hold it in place and tight up against the floor pans.

 

 

Next I used my MIG and plug welded them in place

 

 

 

 

Finally I will grind smooth the plug welds

 

More after the weekend

 

 

 

[MONZTER]

Another productive weekend.  Unlike my Turbo chassis that has a late 71 build date, this car having a mid year build date has protection plates over the seat belt pockets.  But of course they were used by the PO to jack the car and dented them up.  I drilled out the spot welds and removed them, allowing me to straighten the dents and blast underneath them.

 

Before: 

 

After:

 

 

 

All sprayed with weld thru primer and ready for plug welding back on.

[MONZTER]

I also finished cutting the new Tar paper that will go on the interior floors and trans tunnel.  I have a laser cutter at work.

 

This is a Nissan part and still available as blank sheets.  Unfortunately, even though it is correct, it is expensive at $100.00 USD per sheet.  It took 6 sheets for the entire interior.

 

This is the material on the laser

 

 

 

 

 

After the metal is ready, I will epoxy coat it first then apply the sheets.  Unlike OEM that had bare metal under it, this should be substantially better at keeping water from getting under it and rusting the metal

[flatout]

Well that laser is pretty handy. 

 

you do great work. keep it up.

[jeffer949]

On 5/29/2026 at 10:49 AM, MONZTER said:

Thanks for the replies and comments.  Time is always an issue, however Im at the age now where my daughter is 26 years old and working full time.  Been married 30 years so the wife is obviously understanding of my hobbies.  Hopefully continuing to make progress regularily.  Hoping more people come back to the forum and participate in the community.

 

Here is a picture of me and my daughter when she was probably 2ish years old, same car Im working on now.  I need to get her back in the shop for a new photo - Time flies

 

 

Was not implying that the only way to get work done on a project is to not have a wife and daughter!!! I can see how that could have come across. Mine is 14 and will be a freshman this year. Ive got 4 years..... Then who knows.      As she has gotten older I've been telling the stories of her helping me in the shop when she was little. Her stepping into a drain pan full of oil in ugg boots that I promptly threw away with out telling mom,  Me hearing a pppsshhhh noise and I turn around to see her with a my blow torch pointed at her face,   Praise the Lord she didnt click the igniter   She would have been around 2 also at those times.  

[MONZTER]

Its been an exhausting month of hard work getting the chassis in Epoxy to move it back home before the end of the month.

 

Here is the process.

 

1.) strip all factory sound deadening/undercoating with a scraper, heat gun, wire brush.

2.) clean any residue with paint stripper and after-wash solvent.

3.) strip original paint from body with Citri-Strip paint stripper - again clean with after-wash

4.) remove interior tar paper with dry ice and liquid nitrogen.

5.) wash and clean entire body with Mastercoat metal prep - phosphoric acid rust neutralizer  https://nomorerust.com/collections/metal-prep-rust-remover-products

6.) sandblast all seams and overlop joints.

7.) brush Mastercoat rust sealer primer into all seams and nooks https://nomorerust.com/products/mastercoat-ultimate-permanent-rust-sealer-silver-primer-original-sprayable-slim-quart

8.) lightly blast the floor pans with white aluminum oxide until white metal

9) brush 3 coats of Mastercoat rust sealer primer on to floors

10) blast the internal frame chambers clean and blow out any sand

11) spray the internal cavities ( rocker panels, rear fenders, rear internal quarter, and front internal cowl area with Matercoat using a 18 inch long extended tip spray gun https://paascheairbrush.com/collections/extension-spray-guns?shop_consented_scopes=email%3Averified+openid+pay%3Asession_token+profile+shop%3Aaccount_uuid&shop_sign_in=true   using a 360 degree spray tip to coat all surfaces

12) sand the entire body removing any Mastercoat not reaming in pits or detents

13) sand the entire external body shell and underside with 180 grit and clean with wax and grease remover

14) lightly blast entire body inside and out until perfectly clean and lightly textured to promote adheision - holding the blast nozzle 12 to 15 inches away at 60psi with white aluminum oxide

15) hours blowing out the remaining grit

16) again using 360 degree long extension spray gun, paint all internal cavities and under sides with DPLV Epoxy Primer

17) Spray entire body inside, outside, underside with 2 coats of Epoxy

 

Ridiculous amount of hours 

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y-kogRrJYJU

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited July 29 by MONZTER

[MONZTER]

 

 

 

[flatout]

I think "exhausting month of hardwork" is an understatement. Great job. starting with a fresh slate is so nice but so much work. 

[calZ]

You want to do mine next? 

[MONZTER]

Before getting the top side and interior sealed up in 2 coats of white epoxy, I first hit the underside.  I chose to do it in black Epoxy to more follow the original paint where you could see the black though white overspray.

 

I first put down a full coat of the black again using my 360 degree extension  paint gun to get in all the difficult location like between the spare tire well and rear valance, then a normal 1.4mm tip gun.

 

 

After allowing the top to cure for two days I sanded out the bottom side and scuffed it well with Scotchbrite.

 

I then applied 2k epoxy seam sealer in all the original OEM locations

 

 

I then taped up the topside and put down a final coat of black

 

 

I then let that cure for two days before applying the Gravitex.  It is made by U-Pol the same company who makes Raptorliner,  Gravitex is better in my opinion for the other side as it is intended as a sound insulting stone and chip guard.  Its what you see on the rocker panels of German cars.  Goes on the same with an undercoating style gun.  Its a 1k product so I will need a sealer coat on top of it before finally paining the underside white in body color.

 

I really happy how it came out.  The weeks of metal work straitening and shrinking the original floor pans really looks good all finished.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[calZ]

That's the nicest looking floor I've ever seen. Incredible work. 

[jeffer949]

That is just beautiful.  As great as always to see your posts.