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HybridZ

racing stripes


Ferd/289

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Even with flat panels and good tape, a straight line is an "art". But add curves and bumps and what-not, and it gets even harder (especially with the hood center bulge). My first stripe job looked okay, but under scrutiny, it lacked the straight and smooth lines I wanted. This was why I took on the job of using a laser level to find the lines for me on my latest job. Even the most intricate of bodywork shapes can have straight lines with a laser level marking the way. It perhaps is a bit of overkill with the stock Z body, but it will help.

Aside from that, keys to straight lines are:

1) Constant tension on the tape, but not so much that the tape stretches (which then makes a bow out of a straight line), and at the same time...

2) After affixing the tape at one end of stripe, pull the tape out the entire length of the panel, then above the end point of the stripe, drop the tape down in a purely vertical motion with no sideways movement. Relax, don't tense up. If the start was not perfectly square with the stripe direction, then a curve will be at the very begining, but this can be pulled up and retacked after an otherwise straight line is completed.

3) Pull from the center of the tape and not from one side or the other (which causes the tape to bow out as well). Using the tape roll itself (properly squared up with the direction you are pulling) helps a lot here.

4) At the end of the stripe, start easing up on the tension until there is pratically no pulling being done on the tape at the end.

5) Most important...patience. Sometimes I'd spend 20 minutes on just one side of a stripe. Pay attention to what the tape is doing as you pull it in different ways and you'll soon learn how to manipulate the tape into doing what you want it to do.

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