New paint ... Finally!!!

[jmark]

Very nice!

[mlaw7]

Thanks Mark!

I forgot about two other rust areas. Neither of them were evident until I removed the door seal and floor insulation.

The front edge of the driver's side door jamb had a rusted out area about 5" long that was hiding behind the door seal. It started a little lower than the door jamb switch and ran down toward the rocker panel.

Also found two more small rust holes in the passenger side floorboard. One is about 1/2" and the other is about 1/8". Both were completely hidden underneath the tar paper and weren't visible from underneath the car. At least to my untrained eye.

Funny thing is the driver's side floorboard is virtually perfect! Go figure ...

Moral of the story (as so many of us here have already learned): Inspect your Z car THOROUGHLY for rust!

While I'm sure they do exist, a true rust-free Z in original condition is very rare. These cars are way too precious to let any more succumb to the rust monster. Especially when it can often be fixed and then prevented from ever coming back.

Can I get a witness?

[mlaw7]

Since bringing my '78 home from the paint/body shop last month, things are moving along at a pretty good pace.

After all of the rust areas under the passenger side floorboard tar paper were discovered and fixed, the fun really began as I headed into the home stretch on this project.

First, I used the POR-15 (semi-gloss black) three-stage process on the floorboards, firewall and transmission tunnel. As there were a few rust spots beginning in the spare tire well, I covered that area too. All together I applied two coats of POR-15, which was enough for a lifetime! That is some really strong stuff!

Once the POR had a few days to cure, I began applying QuietCar soundproofing to virtually every piece of interior sheet metal I could reach with a brush.

Floors, firewall, transmission tunnel, cowl area behind the dash, rocker panels, doors, around and behind the speakers, front and back of the hatch riser, the entire area under the rear deck, including the two compartments behind the seats, spare tire well, rear quarter panel behind the antenna, interior taillight panel and inside of the hatch behind the vinyl trim panel.

Since I want her to be as quiet as a Lexus (or almost anyway), I applied four coats. The difference is striking.

Before this, the sheet metal throughout the car resonated with all kinds of loud and unpleasant sounds and frequencies. Now they're almost entirely gone.

After re-installing the stock Hitachi 4" speakers, I decided to connect the OEM Hitachi AM/FM unit to hear how the system sounds. Even my speakers sound louder and more focused. Needless to say, the car is much quieter on the couple of short drives I've taken her on. And this was without the rubber floor plugs, insulation, carpet or door panels.

It's kind of like going from a concert in an old concrete auditorium with sound bouncing around everywhere to a finely tuned vocal or drum booth in a recording studio.

At first I was going to leave it at that, since the QuietCar dries to a nice flat gray-black finish a little darker than the plastic taillight/license plate trim. After all, most of it will be covered by carpet or door panels other than the seat rails and under the deck riser.

IMO, a nice tradeoff for a quiet ride.

Then the other day I stopped at an auto paint store to pick up some SEM vinyl paint for my channel molding inserts. Truth was, I still missed seeing the burgundy paint in the rear deck area. So on a lark, I asked how much a pint of Nissan 611 paint would be with reducer and hardener.

$50.00 later I went home and got to work. Since I don't have an air compressor and the QuietCar finish shows some brush marks anyway, I decided to brush it on.

It's funny. She really seems happier to have her floors and deck painted burgundy as they were from the factory. And if she's happy, I'm happy ...

Here are some photos of the floors before rust repairs, after applying the POR-15, and after painting the interior sections. No QuietCar photos as that was the last thing I felt like doing after treating the entire interior four times in one week.

Will be replacing the heater control vacuum valve/hoses before re-installing the dash next week. I'm also working my way through a list of little things to address before putting the interior back together and hitting the road again.

[ZCurves]

I am going to do the same thing on my '78, and wanted to know how much of the QuietCar you ordered? I am considering spraying the material inside the doors and other openings, but I will be applying it to the underside of the rear rather than the inside. Did you coat the inside of the roof?? I am concerned the headliner wont stay glued. I am here is Houston, I would love to come and take a look! PM me if you would like to get together.

Andrew(ZCurves)

[mlaw7]

Hey Andrew,

I ordered two gallons and used just shy of one gallon for the four coats I described. I thought it was going to take more. At one point I actually thought of just applying more coats till I ran out.

Well, that idea was abandoned after the fourth coat!

I am actually planning to POR-15 the outer wheel wells with a few coats of QuietCar as the finishing touch. However, I don't think it would last very long as a topcoat there.

If I'm not mistaken, didn't Datsun originally paint the wheel wells the same color as the car? The wheel wells on my '78 appear to have what's left of the 611 wine metallic red finish. If so, then I'll opt for the original factory look and use what's left of the 611 paint I bought as a topcoat.

I did start to apply QC to the roof interior but then had the same thought as you about the headliner glue not sticking very well. So I stopped after applying a little bit. The headliner is actually going on tomorrow, so we'll see.

And just as an update, the dash is now back in together with a new heater control vacuum valve and hoses. Much easier to do this with the dash out!!

It was a very good thing I decided to do this now as it turns out someone at some point replaced one of the hoses and used the wrong type and size!! I only noticed the hose was leaking AFTER I ordered the new HCV and hoses.

It sure was nice to give Mr. Murphy a lick for a change!!

Rear deck is back together, luggage straps are back in and the rear carpet is laid in for fit. The rear deck carpet from Chester & Herod has vinyl trim around the strap cutouts that replicates fairly closely the vinyl inserts used by Datsun. I did however have to use a razor to cut the actual slits through the vinyl and carpet. It's by far the closest to the OEM look I've found and I'm very happy with it.

The door panels are back on as well as some of the interior panels. As recommended by Wick Humble, I bought a sheet of plastic drop cloth and cut out new liners for the doors too.

Here's a little trick I hope might be helpful.

I've always been bugged by the noise created by the free play between the interior door handles and linkeage rod. I have read various solutions to this but decided to simply try coating the pieces with QC.

It worked! There is no interference with the mechanism and even still a wee bit of free play but it is MUCH quieter! And now that the door panels are back on, the interior handles sound and feel a lot more solid. And no more rattling!