Restoration of BringaTrailer 240z - HLS30-35883

[inline6]

On 3/3/2023 at 7:06 PM, Patcon said:

@inline6

Garrett,

I meant to respond the other day but must have gotten side tracked.

Flattening agent is really tough! It is basically silica or glass in solution that you add to your paint to make the finished surface not smooth. That gives the satin or semi gloss look. The problems come in though in technique. If you lay it on too heavy the paint dries out glossier. If you lay it on too thin it looks flatter. Really tough to be consistent. I have done some of this with catalyzed paint but lately I have just switched to rustoleum for the speed aspect. Even out pf a spray bomb the thickness wet changes the finished appearance.

C

Thanks for the info Charles.  The parts I sprayed just a week or so ago all turned out with a bit more gloss than I anticipated given the 10% of flattening agent I added.  Seems likely that what you indicated was in play.  I got lucky with these parts in this case.  I think the level of gloss is just a touch less than without the flattening agent.  And, I think that matches the original parts well.  The steering shaft and driveshaft, sprayed more than a year ago, are definitely duller, and the mustache bar is duller still.  

I think I will go with 10% again, let the solution sit for 10 minutes, and attempt to spray everything as I did last time.  I weighed the individual parts of the paint solution (paint, hardener, reducer, and flattening agent) using a digital scale.  So I should be able to reproduce my last effort (duly noting your info about not spraying too heavy).  If I can replicate those results from a couple of weeks ago, I will be happy.  I just don't want to end up with artificially glossy parts - in my opinion, that would be the result without any flattening agent. 

Also, the next time I spray paint on these parts, it will include all of the rest of them.  So, I won't be doing several batches.  The only reason I did this batch separately is that I had already blasted and primed them ages ago.  For the rest, all the blasting, priming, and painting is ahead of me.   

Edited March 9, 2023 by inline6

[inline6]

I set up for blasting parts on Saturday.  It was sunny and cool, great weather for blasting.  When I was using play sand, my blue tarp caught like 90% of it.  Switching over and using Black Diamond (coal slag product) for the first time, I noticed two things.  It is much more aggressive than play sand - Haha!  And, it travels a greater distance, so my tarp wasn't catching it all.  

 

 

As I said previously, the plan was to blast and prime and paint all the parts from that long list at once.  Right... good one.  The best laid plans...

I made good progress though, running through and refilling the pressure blaster 5 times over the span of about 5 hours.  So, now I have switched to doing blasting on weekend days as weather permits, and priming and painting in the evenings.  

The black diamond leaves quite a texture on the parts:

  

 

Stripping of paint and surface rust is quicker, but I didn't want to leave the texture this rough.  So, I am taking each piece and running it through my glass bead cabinet to smooth out the roughness:

  

Driveshaft u-joints appear to be original and feel like they are in great condition:

    

So, instead of all at once, I have a few phases of "production" - some parts still to strip, some stripped bare, some epoxy primed and waiting for minor filling of scrapes and nicks, and some painted black:

      

    

 

We'll see what the weather and this weekend allows.

 

 

[Patcon]

Yes, coal slag can be very aggressive but it does strip fast. The parts all look great

[siteunseen]

Black diamond works good on steel but the round glass beads are best for aluminum in my opinion. Both I bought from tractor supply.

I put my parts in a big plastic storage tub and that in the middle of my tarp. Bought a big strainer from walmart and reused the cleaned material. Worked good and saved me money on blast supplies.

 

 

[emccallum]

Really nice finish on the parts! I use a wire basket in my vapor blasting cabinet, works great for small nuts and bolts. If I could find a mesh shaker billiard bottle that would be the perfect tool. Just put the nozzle in the top and shake it around. 

[inline6]

On 3/15/2023 at 1:10 PM, Patcon said:

Yes, coal slag can be very aggressive but it does strip fast. The parts all look great

Thanks Charles!

On 3/15/2023 at 4:48 PM, siteunseen said:

Black diamond works good on steel but the round glass beads are best for aluminum in my opinion. Both I bought from tractor supply.

I put my parts in a big plastic storage tub and that in the middle of my tarp. Bought a big strainer from walmart and reused the cleaned material. Worked good and saved me money on blast supplies.

I have been re-collecting and straining the used material.  I like the idea of using a storage tub.  That would keep the media from traveling as far.

The weather looks sunny and cold today, good for finishing the stripping of paint and rust from parts.  I will attempt to finish blasting of all remaining parts today.

The struts have the remnants of what I believe to be a factory sticker:

    

Each of my struts have this same left over sticker residue.  It is narrower and longer than these:

https://www.zeddsaver.com/products/datsun-240z-strut-decals

Anyone know what they are/said originally?

The previous owner hacked the brake line support bracket.  I'll repair these before painting.

Edited March 19, 2023 by inline6

[inline6]

Found this post about strut stickers:

Wonder if there are any reproductions other than these:

https://www.zeddsaver.com/products/datsun-240z-strut-decals

 

[inline6]

I believe I finished blasting the remainder of my parts today.  It was cold... with wind gusts at times, which tried to lift the tarp up.  I pushed through though.  Next, I'll need to run many of the parts stripped today through the glass bead cabinet to finish them off.  

I welded metal in to repair the brake hose brackets on the front struts, and finished them with a 13" hand held belt sander.  Didn't get pics, but I will and will show later.  

I forgot to get scrap tube of the right diameter this week to use to press the old bushings out of the rear control arms.  I'll have to hold off on priming them until I remove those.  

Looking at the strut upper mounts, I observe that from the factory, the studs were not painted black:

Another thing, which I never noticed before, the studs have letters... or marks pressed into the ends.  Does anyone know what these mean?  I decided to lightly brush the studs with a brass brush and then tape them off before putting them in the glass bead cabinet.  I will leave them taped for priming and painting.  

    

 

I was going to strip the powder coated paint off of the Suspension Techniques springs, but I think I have decided against it.  I don't like the blue color.  But instead of stripping, I think I will scuff them with green Scotch-Brite and paint them black. 

 

 

Wish I could have sprayed primer on all these tonight, but I ran out of time, and the temp is supposed to hit 24 degrees over night.  Not ideal.  The epoxy primer needs 60 minimum for 8 hours to dry.  Hopefully, no surface rust will start forming before I have the time and the right conditions to prime and paint.
 

[dutchzcarguy]

Didn't read it all but just wanted to say.. the rear springs are the same but the fronts (i heard) are 2 different length's (and strength?) did you know? This was done for balancing out the weight diff. front L and front R..   So.. original there are 3 types of spring used on a 240z..

[emccallum]

Crazy cool weather overnight for the last week here in SC as well. I have been covering up the blueberries!

I wonder if those marks on the front strut tower are for assembly?

 

 

[inline6]

2 hours ago, dutchzcarguy said:

Didn't read it all but just wanted to say.. the rear springs are the same but the fronts (i heard) are 2 different length's (and strength?) did you know? This was done for balancing out the weight diff. front L and front R..   So.. original there are 3 types of spring used on a 240z..

About the rates, Katz posted info that decodes which spring goes on the front left and front right, one page back in this same restoration thread: 

 

These after market springs from Suspension Techniques are the same free length and rate for the front, and the same for the rear.  Interestingly, the rate for the rear is higher.  In my heavily modified Z, I run 250 pounds per inch rate in the front and 375 pounds/in rate in the rear.

56 minutes ago, emccallum said:

Crazy cool weather overnight for the last week here in SC as well. I have been covering up the blueberries!

I wonder if those marks on the front strut tower are for assembly?

I had already taped up studs for two out of four of the isolators before I noticed the marks.  I'm curious if there are others besides the "I" and "J" on the other two.  

Playing two soccer games (in the freezing cold) will prevent me from making much more progress on these parts today.  I had a thought about removing the bushings from the rear control arms, however.  I have flat sheet in .062".  I think I will make a round pipe of the right inner diameter.  Should take less than 30 min.    

Edited March 19, 2023 by inline6

[emccallum]

If you are talking about removing the rear spindles, I have a pretty good tool that I bought many years ago. Homemade by a guy, you are more than welcome to use, just let me know.