Bad news, good news on the tube plating.   Turns out that the local plating shop was not able to accommodate the tubes in their 5 foot long tanks due to the 'Anode configuration'.  So, I went back and picked up all the tubes and figured I would send them to Sav-On plating.  They are the ones that do my batch plating for the smaller parts.  They do a great job with very nice results.  So, after chasing down a large box here at work, I shipped the tubes off to the plater.   The good news here is that in spite of the added shipping charges, $75 each way, the cost to do all of the tubes using their rack plating set-up is just $165.  I was paying double that for my local plater on the long tubes and I did not care for their work as much.  So, turns out, I should get nicely plated tubes for just a little less than what i was paying my not so good local plater.  

Cleaning up the engine electrical harness here.  There was the usual dirt and oil, but also some orange overspray that had to be re-moved.  Replaced most of the terminals and yellowed covers with new terminals and covers from vintage connections: http://www.vintageconnections.com/.  Also, re-wrapped the harness with new tape.

What did you use for harness wrap tape? I redid my engine room harness a couple years ago and the stuff worked great, but it's a little too shiny. Too glossy.

Not a big deal since I'm not doing a real resto, but always wondered if someone else turned up a better option.

4 hours ago, Captain Obvious said:

What did you use for harness wrap tape?

I used the Scotch 33+ electrical tape.  First I cleaned the original wrap with paint thinner, let dry, then did the wrap with about 50% overlap.  I did remove some of the original tape that was in bad condition, but for the most part, aside from the dirt and oil, it was in pretty good condition.  The 'shinyness' of the tape was actually very similar to the original wrap.  In fact I had to pay pretty close attention during the wrap as it was almost indistinguishable from the original.

 

More pics from the paint shop.

On 2/27/2020 at 9:05 PM, motorman7 said:

More pics from the paint shop.

Looking at these pics - I have been doing body filler on my 240z for many weekends now, and it's amazing how this car is getting bondo in mostly the same places.  I mean, my car is nearly skim coated over all panels now, but areas that take more are similar to yours - below belt line on fenders, slightly above belt line on doors and below belt line extensively, touch up areas on quarter panels, only below the parking lamps on the left and right valances, etc. 

This car you are restoring is getting a fair amount of metal work.  Lots of hours go into that stuff.  Must be costing A LOT!  

Edited March 3, 20205 yr by inline6

Wow- fantastic work!

On 3/2/2020 at 4:38 PM, inline6 said:

This car you are restoring is getting a fair amount of metal work.  Lots of hours go into that stuff.  Must be costing A LOT!  

Yes, I didn't realize that the floor pan was so bad.  It was covered up with Dynamat on top and undercoating on the bottom.  The rust in the frame rails was obviously pretty bad as well and not visible until it was opened up.  For the previous restorations, the body and paint work was almost exactly 1/3 the cost of the total restoration cost.  For this one it will be more....almost half I am guessing.  Fortunately, the owner has a good number of parts on hand which should make things go easier.

Fuel and brake lines came back from Sav-On Plating. Parts look awesome and cost was very reasonable.

9 hours ago, motorman7 said:

Fuel and brake lines came back from Sav-On Plating. Parts look awesome and cost was very reasonable.

Very nice!  I need my lines done also.  Is what's shown in you pictures lines for more than one car?  I need to look back through your build thread to find what you did for prep on those.  Any tips to pass along before I ship all the lines out?  

14 hours ago, inline6 said:

Very nice!  I need my lines done also.  Is what's shown in you pictures lines for more than one car?  I need to look back through your build thread to find what you did for prep on those.  Any tips to pass along before I ship all the lines out?  

For prep, it was mostly wire wheel on the end fittings and any overspray that was on the tubes.  I used 220 grit sandpaper on the tubes themselves till the tubes were mostly clean. 

It's best if you can use a 6 foot box so the tubes only have to bend in half.  Bending into thirds because you only have a 4 foot box is tricky and not recommended.   the bends end up being where the engine to trans area is and there are lots of bends there already , so gets confusing.  Also, when you straighten the tubes, the plating will crack in the bend area when you straighten them.  You can touch this are up with gold paint.  With the bend in the tunnel, it is not super noticeable.

These tubes will be 'Rack plated' so don't send your bulk parts (nuts and bolts) with the tubes, send bulk parts separately.  There is a Lot charge for the Rack plating, so you can add a few extra tubes and it's essentially free. The tubes in the picture are for two cars.

Also, very thrilled with how the plating turned out.  Coloring, rainbow and brightness appear to be just perfect.

 

Got the exhaust manifold back with ceramic coating.  Also picked up an air galley from JDM-Car-Parts.com.  Will tap the ports and loosely install.  Will do final install when motor is in car.