Exterior refresh of my red 240Z

[76Datsun280z]

Wow, she looks better than new, just like a new car!

Haven't tackled the interior yet, lots of dust to clean up in there before I can start putting it all back together.

That was the same with my car. When I got it back from being painted, the interior was coated in dust. You could make finger prints everywhere in there and had to blow it all out and vaccum everything.

[justinr54321]

Arne, nice work, and all I have to say is, sexy!

[Zs-ondabrain]

Now, the roof is right, the color is far less 'orangy' and is uniform from top to bottom, In short, it is an even better looking car now.

Hey now, Wait a minute, What's wrong with "Orangy"

Looks Awesome Arne. Makes me wish I had just rolled mine down the road and had a profesional paint it for me.

See you at the show,

Dave.

[helopilot]

Hey Arne,

I spent the last 2 days flying, get back on here and look what you have done..

I hope your wife hasn't suffered from your lack of sleep and caffine buzz. Great job can't wait to see it.

Phil

[Arne]

Well, as you have probably figured out, the car WILL be reassembled in time for Canby, so I will drive it. The only exception is that it is possible that I won't have a headliner in it by then, but that's about it. So any of you who will be at Canby will be able to see it in person than.

[Poindexter]

Just beautiful Arne! What a looker.

Except around here we call that color "Arrest Me" Red.

[Sailor Bob]

Looks great outside. How did you make out with the headliner?

[Arne]

I hope your wife hasn't suffered from your lack of sleep and caffine buzz. Great job can't wait to see it.

No, I have a great wife. She supports and tolerates my obsessions very well. She's seen me go through this before, and acknowledges that I'll probably do it again in the future.

Except around here we call that color "Arrest Me" Red.

Maybe. But I'm a pretty mellow driver for the most part. And I don't think it's any worse than beandip's "Arrest me" yellow, so as long as he's leading the pack...

Looks great outside. How did you make out with the headliner?

I've got both the stock headliner from the yellow donor car and a new headliner/pillar padding kit from MSA. Turns out that the pillar padding was not damaged in the process, so all I need is the headliner. I'm going to try to re-use the original since the MSA liner lacks the little perforations in the vinyl. That job is still a ways down the priority list.

[rtaylor]

Arne. Excellent! The car looks fantastic. The rims look really good on her as well. I know you are jazzed!

[Arne]

Actually, while they look fine in the pictures, the rims (along with the carpet) are the weakest parts of the car, visually. Some of the wheels are rather badly pitted, the result of trying to machine polish a set of wheels with non-uniform alloy. Lots of small soft spots that machine polishing turned into mottled pits and uneven surface.

After my wallet recovers I'll deal with the carpet. And I will need to start watching for a different set of vintage rims that I like. No hurry on the rims, the current set look OK from 10 feet or more, and are quite functional.

[Poindexter]

*snip*But I'm a pretty mellow driver for the most part. And I don't think it's any worse than beandip's "Arrest me" yellow, so as long as he's leading the pack...*snip*

Depending on what I'm driving- or almost any time I have passengers- I'm usually a mellow driver too. But luckily I found my dream Z-specialist mechanic- a former 1970 240 owner himself, and he got my car in such excellent shape that I can hardly stop from putting my foot through the firewall at some point in the day. Or all day.

PO had evidently had the fume problem- which was mostly caused by that right-rear vent pipe thing, (which I learned about from here and solved- kudos to all on that one!) but he must have thought it was exhaust- so he re-routed the exhaust pipe 90 degrees (and also removed the aft "muffler-like" thing) and turned the pipe out behind the left-rear wheel into the slipstream. This puts the tip just a few feet from my ears- perfectly situated to make for the most perfect acoustics! Especially when running up the local state highways which usually have a concrete barrier between the different directions of travel.

The resultant echo coming back into the driver's window is so amazing that even though I barely have a fume problem, I still retain the tip and the sub-standard exhaust just so I can listen to the music coming from the engine. That sound just feeds my right foot and I make nearly every off-ramp or back road into the Mille Miglia or the Nürburgring. I pick my spots and I'm safe but hardly mellow much anymore.

[DougN]

And I don't think it's any worse than beandip's "Arrest me" yellow, so as long as he's leading the pack...

Actually, I have always heard it referred to it as P***y Magnet Yellow