were pre 1973s dipped in paint after assembly?

[bobbyc]

i have a 73 240 ive been working on for a while...as i took it apart i noticed that there was green paint covering every surface on the car...even in between panels...it had runs here and there...i assume it had been dipped in paint after assembly. i recently acquired a '72....it's stock and a little straighter than the 73 so i was thinkin about just working with this one. there was rust in a few of the panel joints and fender lips were gone (not a problem since i'm flaring it anyway)but i wanted to see how far the flakey rust went so i started drilling out the spot welds. i've removed both rear quarters and the rear roll pan so far....it appears that this car was not dipped after assembly. on the inside of the fenders and everywhere else the orange (918)paint job didn't hit, there is bare metal and light surface rust everywhere. has anyone else run into this? i've seen some nice restos on older zs...and it appears they were all just sand/media blasted...which wouldn't get into the areas i'm taking about. if in almost 40 years it hasn't accumulated more than surface rust i think i will be ok for the time i have this car...but it still bugs me....i'm thinkin i may just just get a wire brush after it...and the por15 it all...i just hate to cut corners, and sometimes that gets the best of me as i want it to be perfect...but it's seemingly impossible on this car.

[johnc]

i have a 73 240 ive been working on for a while...as i took it apart i noticed that there was green paint covering every surface on the car...even in between panels...it had runs here and there...i assume it had been dipped in paint after assembly. i recently acquired a '72....it's stock and a little straighter than the 73 so i was thinkin about just working with this one. there was rust in a few of the panel joints and fender lips were gone (not a problem since i'm flaring it anyway)but i wanted to see how far the flakey rust went so i started drilling out the spot welds. i've removed both rear quarters and the rear roll pan so far....it appears that this car was not dipped after assembly. on the inside of the fenders and everywhere else the orange (918)paint job didn't hit, there is bare metal and light surface rust everywhere. has anyone else run into this? i've seen some nice restos on older zs...and it appears they were all just sand/media blasted...which wouldn't get into the areas i'm taking about. if in almost 40 years it hasn't accumulated more than surface rust i think i will be ok for the time i have this car...but it still bugs me....i'm thinkin i may just just get a wire brush after it...and the por15 it all...i just hate to cut corners, and sometimes that gets the best of me as i want it to be perfect...but it's seemingly impossible on this car.

 

Nissan improved the corrosion protection on the S30s as the model years progressed. I don't know at what point in the model run each additional step was added to the assembly process but the 280Zs have a lot better base primer/sealer then the earlier cars.