A few pictures to document my exterior refresh. The subject is my '71 240Z, #37705, 905 red. The car currently has just over 64,000 miles on it, and is rust free as it has been garaged its entire life, has seldom seen wet roads, no snow, and no road salt.

Here are a couple of before pictures. Bear in mind that the car looks much better in pixels (or from 10 feet or more) than it did in person. It had many small flaws. A couple of scrapes to bare metal, lots of rock chips on the nose, and 37 years of very small door dings. Not to mention that the 905 red has faded so much that it really looks like 110, the later orangy-red.

By far the biggest flaw (in my mind), was the aftermarket sunroof the original owner had installed in the late '70s. While it wasn't leaking (yet), I never liked it, even to the point of almost passing on this car because of it. In the end, I decided the rest of the car was too nice to pass up. But having the sunroof removed someday was always in the back of my mind.

That happened late last month. I won't go into details here, they can be found in this other thread.

Now that the roof was in primer, paint became a priority. So the very next day after I got it back from the roof re-skin, I began stripping it down for paint. Since the interior and engine compartment are great, those parts will not be painted. Door and hatch jambs will, of course. The color will start with a commercially available formula for 905 red, and then will be fine tuned by matching the underside of the tool compartment lids.

I paid the shop a short visit today. Only took one picture, as I don't want to be a pest. But progress is being made.

Great news! Looks like they'll be shooting paint and you'll have her back in no time! I've heard that shops actually prefer owners who come in and check on their cars, and that it actually helps keep things moving along! :classic:

  DougN said:

Great news! Looks like they'll be shooting paint and you'll have her back in no time! I've heard that shops actually prefer owners who come in and check on their cars, and that it actually helps keep things moving along! :classic:

I brought doughnuts or bagels to the bodyguy who did my car every two weeks for ten months. I'd hate to know how long it would've taken if I didn't:dead:

Looks like good progress, Arne. I assume the headlight pieces are getting done separately, but painted at the same time?

Arne the cars going to look great. Love the wheels (same as mine), make sure that they don't get primer over spray all over everything, it's a bear to get off after the final paint. I am still trying to get the primer over spray off after 25 years.

Good luck with the reassemble.

  DougN said:

Great news! Looks like they'll be shooting paint and you'll have her back in no time! I've heard that shops actually prefer owners who come in and check on their cars, and that it actually helps keep things moving along! :classic:

I figure painting will start sometime next week. I'm hoping to have it back by the end of the month. Canby is June 14-15, it's going to be a busy couple of weekends...

  xray said:

Looks like good progress, Arne. I assume the headlight pieces are getting done separately, but painted at the same time?

Yup, the headlight buckets and the Spook will both be painted separately, but with the same batch of paint (of course).

  mgood said:

Arne the cars going to look great. Love the wheels (same as mine), make sure that they don't get primer over spray all over everything, it's a bear to get off after the final paint. I am still trying to get the primer over spray off after 25 years.

Good luck with the reassemble.

I too like my wheels, if only they weren't so badly pitted. Once the body and interior are done, I'll have to start watching for a better set.

Looks like color will be shot on Friday, should be able to pick it up by the end of the month.

Arne,

I am on the same path as you with exterior refresh of our '71 240Z's.

I just posted one picture of my blue Z in the shop.

I finally got fed up with 37+ years of road rash and dings & dents.

I did have rust issues at the rocker panel in front of rear wheels ...... fixed twice previously but not the right way ....... this time I had new Tabco panels welded in.

I also pulled windshield and hatch glass.

Plan to paint door and hatch jams like you are doing but not engine compartment except for inside of hood.

Windshield comes out of mine today or tomorrow, prior to primer. In fact, I have a new windshield going in when it's done.

I am looking forward to seeing the final results of both these refreshes.