jambing tips?

[ncz]

Way to go Ken, I'm not as far as you but right behind. Just got all stripped except for dash. I am going to pull engine this weekend. Couple of questions. Whats the trick to getting out the front and rear windows. I have a glass friend that says it will probably break!! Don't want to do that. Also are you painting the floor pans and rear deck with color or leaving it primer. I have thought about both, no reason for color but....... Also are you painting the engine compartment and under hood? How do feel about painting. I can spray primer but am a little worried. Of course if I F#$% it up then I just take it to the man anyway(after sanding the paint off!!)Great threads at good time to keep me psyched up!!! Wish I was driving instead of wrenching, buddy down the street with a 72 240 keeps driving by my house at full tilt when he knows I am under the car! Thanks again

[BadDog]

Tom,

Its not like you can save the weatherstrips anyway, so I just kept cutting 'em and cutting 'em with a box-cutter until enough was out of the way to remove the glass (preferrably in 1 piece) Then I used Naptha to get rid of the leftovers and adhesive before stripping the paint off....

This wasn't a ground-up, just a metal-up repaint (removable panels taken off, painted inside and out). Driveline, suspension and interior are intact.

IMHO if you've stripped and primed the floor pan and rear deck, color them. Maybe use a low-gloss clear if you're doing BC/CC, but depending on the system you're using their may be an activated basecoat you can use that doesn't neet to get topcoated (for non-UV-exposed areas). Might save a few bucks that way. I wouldn't just leave it in primer though.

Don't sweat the painting. paint some junkyard pieces and non-exterior panels (like underside of hood) first to get the feel of the paint system you're using. And if you do F*** up the final exterior shoot, you can probably just scuff it up and shoot another BC/CC over it if you don't go too thick. Decent paints with a decent HVLP gun are hard to screw up with proper prep. Just pretend you're a robot with your gun travel Metallics are the hardest to shoot, but I've found PPG and my Devilbiss gun are a little foregiving if I stripe or mottle the first coat of base (by not holding gun perependicular to the surface, uneven travel, etc.) by putting on a good 2nd coat an dmaybe dusting a 3rd. You'll only have to sand it all down to your bodywork again if you screw up 2 paintjobs and have too thick of a film build to apply a 3rd paint job

I'm not going to repaint the engine bay until I have to pull the motor for something. Hopefully that'll be at least another couple of years

-Ken P.

[ncz]

Thanks BD, thats why I love reading this site instead of doing my paperwork!!! I like the idea of an activated base coat, that would be perfect. I wanted the interior "right" but didn't want to do a lot of paint prep in there(after priming). My mechanicals were done a while back so paint is now or never. Normal rust areas except rockers and driver floor pan(great shape, can't believe!) Nobody believes it will ever live again, except for my two year old who will be the only person allowed in it when done. I like to fire it up and drive it around the neighborhood with no fenders or hatch, well, until I took the gas tank and differential out this past weekend!! Just good to see others going through the same stuff and get great tips. I know I'll have some more questions as this gets closer to paint day

[bryantatem]

DEFINATELY do not leave JUST primer. It will rust. It is not a sealant , it is made to sand easy and hide body imperfections. If you do not want to add color to say the insides of your car spray a sealer on top of the surface. Primer will trap moisture and allow for it to travel back and forth to the metal. This is why you might see a car on the road with a rusty new fender or rust popping out behind unfinished BONDO work.

[ncz]

Advice will taken, those areas will get a lot of wear underneath the mats, so that answers that!!! Looks like some sort of BC/CC it is!

[kenz240z]

Hi Ken,

I just finished refinishing the engine bay of my '73 240Z. The cylinder head developed a pitting problem and coolant was leaking into the combustion chambers of a couple of cylinders. The white, billowy, sweet smelling smoke tipped me off to the trouble, and it seems that I caught it before the engine suffered a lot of damage. So, out came the engine for a rebuild. With an empty engine bay I figured there was no better time to repaint it. I spent a month's worth of nights and weekends cleaning, degreasing, removing undercoating, and sanding. I primed it on a Tuesday after work, and sprayed the color coat and clear coat the next night. Now it is a bright and shiny orange, just like the rest of the car!

Anyway, if you have all of the jambs, underside areas, etc... all bc/cc'd then spraying the exterior of the car should be pretty easy. Begin by getting the tight areas, such as around the rear quarter window openings and A pillars. Then I would start at the center of the roof, down a C pillar, down half the hatch to rear quarter, across to the door, front fender, around the headlight bucket to the hood. Then switch sides and continue the other half of the hood, around headlight bucket and fender to other door, continue to rear quarter, remaining half of hatch, up to remaining half of roof.

Make a few practice "dry" runs with an empty spray gun in your hand, and with the air hose attached. That way you can find a way to "cover" the car without dragging the airhose across "new" paint.

One thought I've had about painting the underside areas of the front fenders involves painting the car in stages. Remove the front fenders, cowl and hood, but leave the doors and rear hatch on the car. If the door jambs and hatch jambs have already been painted then it should be rather easy to paint the exterior of the roof, doors, hatch and rear quarters. Apply the base coat followed by the clearcoat. Once the clearcoat has cured (wait a day or two, to be sure), install the fenders and hood and cowl panel. Mask everything from the windshield and doors on back. Mask the engine bay, but leave the top of the fenders, where the mounting bolts are, uncovered. Try to mask to the underside of the fenders. Then raise the hood, spray the back side of the hood and hinges and then just the areas of the fenders that will be under the hood, including the mounting bolts. Once the paint has flashed, close the hood and paint the exterior of the hood, fenders and the cowl. Repeat the same process when spraying the color coat. This should result in a look close to the factory, with the mounting bolts painted. Of course, the whole process could be reversed, meaning that the exterior of the hood, fenders and cowl is painted first, then the underside areas. Again, a practice run should help you decide the way to go.

Here I go again with another long-winded reply!

Please keep us posted on the results!

Ken P.

[BadDog]

Tom,

In the PPG lines, DBU is an example of a basecoat that doesn't need clearing. But again, its for "non-UV" areas only. UV exposure will yellow the paint over time if its not cleared. I'm not sure what products you're using, but they probably have something similar. Or maybe you could try a low-gloss clear on those areas....

-Ken

[BadDog]

Thanks for the tips, Ken, that was the kind of thing I was looking for. I needed a refresher to remind me spray the hard-to-reach areas first when doing the color (but not the clear because it has to flow). If all goes well I'll be doing it today :-)

-Ken

[BadDog]

I shot the whole car during ~4.5 hours yesterday morning until the afternoon. It came out about as well as I dared hope The first coat looked like garbage, and I waited 20 minutes to sand off a few boogers and rough spots. The 2nd coat looked much much much better, and I evened things out even more with a 3rd, waiting 20 minutes between coats so I wouldn't have any problems tacking off each coat.

The clear went on a little rougher than I would've liked for the first two coats. In the middle of the 2nd coat, I noticed a black streak on the rear vertical edge of the P/S quarter panel at the tail. My air hose must've nudged it somehow and left a 4" vertical mark. I should've stopped right there and waited then lightly sanded it off, but I panicked and tried wiping it off with reducer on a blue shop towel. It got rid of the streak all right, but took that edge down to the primer I kept clearing the 2nd coat, then did a 3rd around the back half of the car and then stopped for the day.

This morning I went out and did my best to feather sand that problem I created. I adjusted my gun to a pretty small spray pattern and touched up the corner with 2 coats of base. I cleared it twice and put a 3rd coat on the front of the car, which went on pretty smoothly. I did create a minor run on the D/S door though Good thing I have a set of nib files and run blockers

I'll have to try to do some cut & polishing tomorrow or this weekend after I smooth out that run and sand some orange-peel. Its been a fun process! I'll try to post some public pictures soon