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So, ya want your Z painted?


MusPuppis

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This is just an offer, if anyone is interested.

 

I'm in college for Auto Body repair and we have a live work shop, which means we take in customers cars and such. This gives me the chance to give something, however small, the Z community I've been kinda floating in for a while now.

 

If you want you Z painted and meet the basic requirements I'll list below, I can do it for you for no labor cost or fee of any sort. You buy materials or give me the money to buy them (we get a discount through school) and thats it.

 

Requirements:

 

1. Z in decent shape. Dents and dings are np, MINOR rust repair isnt a problem either but seriously rusted out or massively damaged cars we cannot take in. Gary doesnt want us undertaking restorations just yet. Minor body mods are also ok. Shaved antenna's, side markers, etc. Id be more than happy to do that,

 

2. Must be able to get the car to Somerset, Ky.

 

3. Must be willing to be without the car for a while. I work as fast as I can and I'll have one-two other hand-picked students on the car with me but due to a 4 day school week and the hectic work load as well as my over-all inexperience the project will take some time. If theres no real damage to the car, just dents and dings and you dont want anything huge done, it could be back in 3-4 weeks, possibly faster. Also, we break for the summer in May. As of me typing this we have 5 weeeks of class left, so it may be better for you to bring the car in after we start school again, otheriwse it will just have to sit while Im out on summer vacation. I'd be more than happy to work on it during that time but I wont have access to the shop and dont have a place for it at my house. Not to mention lacking a paint booth and such, hehe.

 

4. The car must be carried through from start to finish by me. Ie, I cant take a car in and do all the body work then give it back so you can get it painted. Gary wants us on end to end projects.

 

 

I think thats about it. The materials are your choise. As cheap or as expensive as you want. The way it will work is to contact me, via PM or phone (number to be listed below) and we'll schedule a day to bring the car in. I can give you the address and you can get directions from Map Quest or the like. When you bring the car to the school, Gary will come out and look over it and ahve me make a preliminary estimate, which he will critique, making what changes need to be made, then get a materials price for you. Also, keep in mind this is all materials. Right down to the razor blades and masking tape. Not just the paint costs. We have little to no budget, heh.

 

Also, please keep in mind I'm a student. I will do a very good job and it will hold up and look good for years but I am not a professional yet, so it will take me some time to do it and it wont be a show quality job.. But it will be as damn close as I can make it.

 

Anyway, I dunno if anyone is interested or not, I just thought I'd throw this out there to anyone who may want it done. I get alot of out this community and I just dont know enough to give back in any real way. So, maybe I can help out a Zer.

 

Contact me via PM or at 859-948-4752 (ask for John) if your interested and we can go over the details and see what we can do!

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That does sound intriguing! I have a 280Z which might perhaps be back on the road by the time that your autumn semester starts. Its condition is approximately of the type that you desribe (some rust in rocker panels, covered by POR-15 years ago, but otherwise generally rust-free).

 

Where in Kentucky are you? I'm about 50 miles north of Cincinnati, Ohio.

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Its just nice to be in a position to help out the community a little bit. I watch these forums constantly but I'm not able to help out much because for every question I can answer, theres two dozen poeple who can answer it better and giving mediocre or perhaps incorrect advice is pointless and dangerous, lol.

 

Rags is bringing a Z down to me to work on but when its finished up I'll see what my class schedule looks like and try and figure out when/if I'll be able to scoot another Z in.

 

Gary (my instructor) doesnt mind us bringing in our own work but he wants us working on a large variety of different vehicles, so after this Z is done I'll have to have a little cool-down time before I can get another one in.

 

Anyway, Big thanks to Rags for giving me the oppertunity to work on a Z (and from what I hear its gonna be a very very nice Z).

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  • 1 month later...
  • 2 months later...

Well it took me three months but I finally got the Black Pearl down to John and Brian's place ...........after a 12 hour drive. I have to say I was very worried about dropping the car off so far from him without knowing anything about John. But after meeting John and his pal Brian, my worries have been squashed. They remind me of myself 20 years ago! They have some very cool projects going on in the garage. I wish they lived closer as I'd love to be involved! Stay tuned for progress pics as the project moves along. And John, feel free to post the pics here as you wish.

 

Joe

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Thanks for the words, hehe.

 

Yeah, we have a few little projects going on, I think I have the next 18 years of my free time accounted for already. One of these days I'll have the money to get started back on my Z. Who knows.

 

I'll definatly get some pics ASAP and keep a little updated gallery here while we work. Should be hitting the shop Monday or Tuesday, wasnt able to secure a truck the first week, so we lost a few days. We hope to be in full steam very shortly and kicking ass. The car is really in great shape so I dont see it taking us very long at all to get it in primer and blocked down. The roof will need some work but I have a plan. All the while I work on the Z I have to stare at this damn Triumph front end thing I have to work on.. Im terrified of that, there is literally, not ONE SQUARE INCH of the damn thing that doesnt need something, whether its filler, new metal, sandblasted, metal worked, patched or just thrown away. *sigh*

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Wish I would have seen this a couple months ago. I have the perfect vehicle to fill your instructors "something different" requirement in my 1978 Jeep Cherokee. It's pretty much rust free but does need one lower rear quarter replaced and a little straightening on the lip of the front facia. This Jeep lived in San Diego all its life up until 3 years ago when I pruchased it off Ebay and drove it back to Ohio, and I've since been storing it in the winters.

 

FrontDamage.jpg

This shows the dented area of the facia (rusty area). Wouldn't be anything to pound out with the right tools.

 

PassengerQuarter.jpg

This shows the passenger quarter that has already had the lower section replaced. The drivers side will need the same treatment as it's developed a hole over the last year about the size of a bar of soap.

 

MyJeep_small.jpg

Full shot of the Jeep touched up in PhotoShop. Nearly 29 years old and still hasn't hit the 100k miles yet (getting close though).

 

I had planned on painting it this summer, but as always something else came up that took priority. Now I'm back to square one saving up my pennies again. :icon56:

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  • 2 weeks later...

Little update. The Z Rags brought down is in the shop and we're beating the hell out of it. =]

 

The roof is DONE! It was pretty wavy. Rags had done some filler work before it arrived but the car got rained on during the trip so I went ahead and backed the filler completely out. Its smooth as glass now though, came out very politely. Air file + Rage Gold = yay. The doors, hood, both fenders, hatch and buckets are completely done and ready for paint. Everything received a total of 8 coats of primer spread across 3 applications. A pair of 3 coat sprays we blocked out (car is going to be black so I'm making sure it is FLAT) and a final 2 coat spray I reduced slightly so it would wet out better, that coat was wetsanded, to prepare for color. we'll be using sealer of course to ensure color uniformity.

 

Space is limited in the shop and a large portion of the poeple milling about are idiots that I wouldnt let mix my filler for me, so I've been mulling over the best course of action when it comes time to paint the car and I think I've decided that we'll paint the car itself, hood, doors all removable parts OFF. then it'll get wetsanded and buffed out only then will I paint the fendes and such, that way, once they get painted, sanded and buffed they can be immediatly installed for safekeeping (its just not safe to leave anything anywhere in the shop for any real length of time, lol). This should allow us to buff every inch of every peice, reduce the change of burnthrough and allow a tighter quality control sort of thing.

 

Still do to:

 

Rust niblit on rear quarter

cut rocker seams

prep rear of the car

Begin long and drawn out process of priming and blocking.

 

Progress has slowed slightly due to the fact I dont actually have a home anymore, I'm out of school for a week or two while I try to find a place to live, but we're still chugging along at a pretty reasonable pace and even with the setbacks of late I expect to be done midish October. Again, I sincerely apologize for my personal life encroaching on the car's completion, but, we'll get her buttoned up!

 

ohh, random pic is of a (I think) '39 International we have in the shop. I'm not working on it sadly (I strongly disagree with how their doing alot of the work.. the yokels have control of the poor thing) but its still a cool truck!

 

 

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