Stripping and repainting

[RossT]

Right, tomorrow I start on my 280Z. It is white .... I want it black. I fully intend to strip it back to steel, fix what I find under the paint (and that could be a scary thing) then get it into a paint shop for the paint work.

Any recommendations on what to do or not to do? I will take the major panels off (hood, hatch, doors), but is it worth removing the front quarter panels? I am also going to pop all the glass out of it - any advice on how best to do that? (especially the rear side glass - I can't find any instructions on how to get those out and have rust at the bottom edge of each).

While she's a shell ... what are the must dos?

Thanks for any advice,

Cheers, Ross.

[Cuong Nguyen]

Hi Ross,

I have a '73 240Z which I have made a rotisserie to enable the car to be rotated 260 degrees whilst working on the body. This also helped greatly when it came to sandblasting, painting the underside and renewing the stone-chip material.

I strongly advise you not to sandblast any of the large surface areas such as the bonnet or roof as the pressure and heat which the sandblasting process places on these panels will warp them! You are far better paint stripping these panels.

[NickF]

Hello Cuong.

Do you have plans for the rotisserie. Would be handy to have one.

Possible to post for all to see?

Regards Nick

[carguyinok]

First on the rear 1\4 glass. There are four screws two on top two lower. If you have rust these are not going to be fun. I would say grind or drill the heads off the screws. Pull the glass out then deal with that rust. The glass will come out easy frame and all as one. I will put A photo in for you.

Front 1\4's PULL THEM. here. http://www.240z.org/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=3077

Read this it will help.

Black.

Please think about what you want. The darker the color the more flaws in the body pop out. You will also want A carwash at your house. Black shows dirt and dust more then any other color.

But A Z in black would look good.

[carguyinok]

pic

[Cuong Nguyen]

Hi all,

I don't have access to a scanner to be able to post pics of my rotisserie, although if any of you are interested you can send me a Private Message with your email address and I'll be able to email detailed plans for a zed rotisserie which another friend has built for his zed.

[mperdue]

Also send a PM to kmack - he's got plans in AutoCAD format that may work for you.

[RossT]

Thanks for all the useful replies - keep 'em comin'

.... another question. Inside the car I am planning to paint my new colour over the existing paint. Anyone got any advice on prepping existing paint for an overspray, or is it just not done:finger: !!

And another one .... the colour loaded rust kill primers that you can buy now (over here at least!!) - anyone tried them? Are they any good? Seems too easy to me!! But I may just be a suspicious sort.

Ross.

[Graeme Suckling]

RossT et al.

find attached some pics of my home made rotisserie, based on triangulated 65mm square ms tubing and 510 stub axles for the pivots at each end. It bolts to the rear bumper mounts and auxillary holes at the front of the chassis rails. Front bumper mounting points are too flimsy to use. Balance and rotation are . Email me if you are wanting construction details.

[Ivan]

I have a '72 240z which I have striped completely, I used a combination of paint stripper, rust / paint removal pads, heat gun + thin metal putty spatular (which took me a frigging long time to do). I had my doors and boot acid dipped.

If I was going to do this again I would acid dip the whole car, there's a couple of places in NZ that can do this, don't know any in the south.

I only brought the floor to bare metal inside (a common place for rust) and sanded the rest. Other places I had rust was the rear of the door sills and the boot frame. All rust holes or any bits of rust you can poke a screwdriver through get a panel beater to cut out and patch, watch these guys though, there are some dodgy panel beaters out there that just cover the rust with panels.

For the rest, I think POR-15 is the best rust stopper / prevention product, I painted this every where (except outside panels), even on the non rusty bits (use POR-15 metal prep first). Keyphos is a good temporary rust stopping product to stop surface rust while you are doing it, you just put some on a rag and smear it over the bare metal.

The bits of the interior that are stuck to the body ripped easy, this didn't bother me as I'm redoing the interior in tan leather but you should be careful pulling them off

I don't know if this was the best idea but I just cut out the front and rear windows, I'm hoping there are places that sell the weather stripping with the chrome bits in them or al least able to implant the old chrome bits (I unscrewed the 1/4 windows).

[EScanlon]

If you are truly looking at "stripping" the car down to it's bare bones in order to do a proper color change, then DEFINITELY take the front quarter panels (aka fenders) off.

There are at least 7 problem spots on the fenders that I can think of. All of these are a major PITA to deal with ON the car, and relatively easy OFF the car. And I am sure that others can think of additional items to this list.

1) The space directly under the headlight "scoop". Almost impossible to get up there and do a good cleaning job, let alone rust-proof if not rusty, or remove rust if there. Pull it.

2) On the fender just back of the headlight "scoop". Moisture gets trapped between the fender and the scoop. Many shops and back yard mechanics fail to use a bit of caulking there to avoid water staying there.

3) Area around front turn signal lenses (early 240).

4)The cup for the headlight. This is right in line for debris off the wheel, I'll bet it's rusty on the top half.

5) Fender "wing" that extends to the windshield just above the door, between the cowl and door. This is reinforced on the back with the support member that is visible when the door is open. Very little true rust-proofing done at the factory here, and it is susceptible to dirt and grit from the wheel well area.

6) The fender support just back of the wheel. This is usually NOT painted from the back side. If it rusts through you now have major problems. Back side is impossible to see from wheel side OR the door side. Only way of addressing this piece is to remove the quarter panel.

7) The front most section of the rocker panel. The cowl area "bucket" drains right on top of this. (stupid design) and is a prime and notorious problem rust area. Best open it up now to make sure you can fix what you might find.

Lastly, the non-hardening caulking (dum dum) and the closed cell foam fender support is bound to be shot, both need replacing on just about every car I've seen. They are an integral part of the weather sealing system and so often the first to be ignored and forgotten.

Another item that should also be looked at are the rubber fender seals.

In my opinion, these are practically worthless as seals, but they do try to prevent water from splashing up from the wheel and over the frame pinch weld and into the engine compartment. So, you might as well check them out.

So, bottom line, if you are doing all that other work you mentioned, pulling windshield, hatch glass, doors, hatch, etc etc, you would be woefully remiss if you did not pull the front quarter panels and fixed the problems that I can almost bet are there.

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