Paint and Bodywork Suggestions?

[AChev]

I have a 1973 240Z with very mild amounts rust, the car spent almost its entire life in Texas. Although it does have the common rust in the front fender and cowel, and also in the floorboard. This winter I wanted to being bodywork and have the car painted, just have it undriveable the whole winter. I wanted to do the bodywork my self and take my time using a modern filler and do the best job I can, note that the body work is minor and in small portions. I also wanted to do the prep work for the paint job myself, as in disassemly, sanding and possibly priming. Then I wanted to take the car to a professional to have the final coat put on. But then I would have to put transport it by truck to have it painted because it would be disassembled. I thought about possibly painting the whole car myslef, but I thought that might be too far fetched, but I don't know. I am still all up in the air with this. I would like to take my time and learn a lot. I also would like to save money, although I want my final result to be good too. I am not sure what I want to do yet. If anybody could give some suggestions or advice pertaining to the topic , that would be great. Thanks all.

[Ed]

If you plan on keeping the car for a while, you want to do the job right. You need to cut out all the rusted metal and replace it with new sheetmetal. If you need new floors and frame rails use the ones from; zedfindings (not sure what the website is). He has the best around.

Make sure you coordinate with the body shop whom you have planned to do the final paint. Most shops won't guarantee their work if you use different products. Actually they probably won't even touch it if you bring it to a shop primed and ready to paint. Wait, Earl Sheib will.

You should be able to find plenty of info on this site on where to get replacement panels or anything else for that matter.

Good luck.

[jerry2636]

I did just what you are talking about starting about two months ago and am almost done now. I would suggest not going to far. Paint it the same color if possible so you don't have to paint all the little parts that are hard to get to. Thats takes almost as much work as painting the outside of the car. I took hood, front fenders and back hatch off which was required for changing the car from white to red. If you keep it the same color you can leave it together except the front fenders which will have to come off to weld in some patches where they rusted. You could do them on hte car but there are areas in back that need to be cleaned out and treated so the don't rust som more. Put them back on to paint the car.

The fenders were fairly easy to fix but get a cheap fender from the junk yard and do all your practicing on it and not your car. Things don't work right the first few times you try body work and welding. I also used it for patch material since I could find a curve to match almost any part I needed from it. (best $10 dollars I ever spent.)

I avreaged about an a hour or so a day on it and it is starting to look good now. I would recommend you use a base coat and clear paint system. I tried the single stage paint and it is to hard to buff out and remove all the scratches. I am still buffing.

The rusted out areas hardest to fix were the rusted out Dog-legs in front of the rear wheels and the battery tray area in the engine compartment.

It sounds like your car is in much better shape then mine was. I counted 31 dents in the roof alone not counting the dents inside of dents. So it can be done it just takes time and a lot of learning. Go to the Autobody forums and start reading. That has most of the info you need to for painting and body work. http://autobody101.com/forums/index.php?

Good Luck,

Jerry