deja Posted February 11, 2011 Share Posted February 11, 2011 What do you do when you have too much time on your hands? You modify the body on your 280Z of course. After nearly ten months of body modes and paint I am finally back on the road. I have learned a lot about body work and painting, mainly that I am not good or fast at any of this. I am still no expert by any stretch but I am better than I was when this project started. There are still some scratches in the paint even though I have color sanded it. I don't know if they are in the clear or were in the primer and are showing through the base coat. Half blind old people shouldn't do body work, LOL. Once again the "while I'm at it" thing caught me and I ended up doing much more than I had originally planned. This all started because I wanted 5 lug American Racing Torque Thrust wheels. But the wheel and tire configuration I picked were too wide for the stock rear fenders (225-50x17 Yokahama S Drives on 17x8 wheels). I tried rolling the rear fenders but that didn't work well at all! So I decided on ZG flares. But that meant I had to pull that ugly chrome strip off the side which meant I had to paint the car. I figured if I had to paint the car I might as well do all the things I wanted to do at the same time. Molding on the side skirts lead to molding on the flares which lead to molding on the BRE rear spoiler. I then changed my rear valance to look more stock instead of the custom one I had previously made, WHEW. I have always wanted front fender vents so I picked up some '71 Cuda fake vents and cut the fenders for those. It took many, many hours of sanding the car to get to bare metal. I had to redesign the skirts and ZG flares so I could use panel adhesive to help stabilize them for molding. After priming, filling, sanding, re-priming, sanding, more filling, more sanding, more primping and more sanding I was finally able to lay down the paint. For this I recruited a buddy that has done this before. The paint mixed by PPG is called Cyber Gray Metallic. Its used on the newer Corvettes and Camaros. The base was covered with 3 coats of PPG 2021 clear. The metallic elements go way past what you normally think of. There are blue, red, green and silver partials immersed in the dark gray paint. At different angles of light they give off different reflections and looks very cool, the attached picts don't do it justice. Of course the big question is "was it worth it". Even though these changes are all cosmetic I think so. I can certainly say my car is unique which is what I have always wanted. Besides it gave me something to do for 10 months, LOL. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rturbo 930 Posted February 11, 2011 Share Posted February 11, 2011 (edited) Love the color. I'm not really a fan of side skirts on S30s, but I'll admit, yours look much better than most since it looks like they were properly blended in, and are actually part of the car, instead of just an afterthought. Edited February 11, 2011 by rturbo 930 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PR280z Posted February 12, 2011 Share Posted February 12, 2011 I like what you did with the grille. Where are they from? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DREW RBZ Posted February 12, 2011 Share Posted February 12, 2011 Very nicely done...looks mean. Diggin the vents! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
deja Posted February 12, 2011 Author Share Posted February 12, 2011 That grille is a modified billet grille for an early Dodge Ram. No clue who made it, I found it used on EBay. I like what you did with the grille. Where are they from? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
deja Posted February 12, 2011 Author Share Posted February 12, 2011 Love the color. I'm not really a fan of side skirts on S30s, but I'll admit, yours look much better than most since it looks like they were properly blended in, and are actually part of the car, instead of just an afterthought. I like the skirts because I think they make the car appear lower. But when I first put the skirts on several years ago something didn't quite look right. I finally realized what it was. The door sat back from the skirts making them look like you said just an add on. I added a 1/8" to the bottom of the door so it the same height as the skirt. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nullbound Posted February 12, 2011 Share Posted February 12, 2011 Looks great, man! Love the color and glad you did the whole car the same color Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Warren Posted February 12, 2011 Share Posted February 12, 2011 BEAUTIFUL... See, Grecian Formula DOES work...hehehe Glad to see it Dale. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
deja Posted February 12, 2011 Author Share Posted February 12, 2011 Looks great, man! Love the color and glad you did the whole car the same color Thanks Ryan. I'm glad I took your advice on painting the whole car. It was a lot more work but worth the effort for sure. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
deja Posted February 12, 2011 Author Share Posted February 12, 2011 BEAUTIFUL... See, Grecian Formula DOES work...hehehe Glad to see it Dale. LOL. If Grecian would only produce hair................. I followed what you told me about using the panel adhesive. Stinky, expensive and messy stuff but I think it will a major improvement as far a stability goes on the fiberglass parts. I still used screws in addition to the adhesive on the flares. Of course after I redesigned mine to use the adhesive MSA comes out with glue on flares! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
m1noel Posted February 12, 2011 Share Posted February 12, 2011 Deja, been watching your car since I joined the forum. It's always been really nice but I think you made some terrific improvements. Mike Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
deja Posted February 12, 2011 Author Share Posted February 12, 2011 Deja, been watching your car since I joined the forum. It's always been really nice but I think you made some terrific improvements. Mike Thanks. You got yourself a nice ride there too. Its cool your's and your wife's Z's are the same color. I actually bought my car from someone in Idaho! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mike kZ Posted February 14, 2011 Share Posted February 14, 2011 Looks great Dale! Nice job! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DavyZ Posted February 15, 2011 Share Posted February 15, 2011 Looking better and better! Now just get out and drive it since the weather is getting rather nice Good work and I love the new color Davy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cygnusx1 Posted February 15, 2011 Share Posted February 15, 2011 Is that hood emblem reset into the hood? Looks cool! Nice modern touch. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
deja Posted February 15, 2011 Author Share Posted February 15, 2011 Looks great Dale! Nice job! Thanks. Its about time for you to organized another Atlanta Z gathering. I missed the last one and Ernie's party because of this project. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
deja Posted February 15, 2011 Author Share Posted February 15, 2011 Is that hood emblem reset into the hood? Looks cool! Nice modern touch. Good catch. Yes it is recessed into the hood. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
deja Posted February 15, 2011 Author Share Posted February 15, 2011 Looking better and better! Now just get out and drive it since the weather is getting rather nice Good work and I love the new color Davy I know that's right. I still have some odds and ends to finish, like putting the interior back in. But I am driving it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EvilC Posted February 15, 2011 Share Posted February 15, 2011 Car looks great! Glad you are happy with it. Been waiting a long time to see it done, well finsihed for now Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RB26powered74zcar Posted February 15, 2011 Share Posted February 15, 2011 I really like the color change. Also, it's good to see a pair of side skirts that look nice too. I have a pair I've been waiting to install, and now I'm not so skerrd to give it a go... Nice job deja!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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