Restoration of BringaTrailer 240z - HLS30-35883

[dutchzcarguy]

Paintshops over here have a scedule, you go on a big board with all the other cars. So no weeks or month's later..

Once i was at a painter for my work long ago and there was a hobby car that one day should get painted.. the next year i came there.. it was still in the corner.. haha  but the owner had told them to paint it when they were low on jobs that needed to be done.. hahaha..

Lesson, never tell a carpainter it does not matter when he does it.. it never gets done!  (not that you did this!)

Your shop just does not keep their end of the deal.. pfff...  (They would have painted my last car i tell yah!)

[Patcon]

That's why I call it "paint jail". You never really know when you'll get out

[inline6]

Unexpected update!  Evidently "they had a window open" and I was told that if I wanted to inspect the work before color was sprayed, I needed to come next week!  Various things aligned - I had taken today off to travel to Charleston, SC for a soccer tournament... and John, the guy that put me onto these painters was itching to go flying today.  So, we flew to AL today and dropped in to check out the work they have done thus far.  I talked with the two guys who have worked on it thus far, and all is looking good. 

There is an issue with hood alignment, but they are hoping that when they install the hood springs, it will resolve.  They had to straighten the belt line in a few places, align the rear hatch, and they found a hairline crack in the driver side headlight housing, which they fixed.  I suspect I caused that crack the day before I delivered the car when I was assembling panels.

I asked again for "spray cards" of the 901 silver to be sent to me ASAP - next day or second day, as necessary.  As things stand now, they may paint the car before the close of business next Friday!  Or not.  We'll see.   

 

 

Edited May 27, 2023 by inline6

[inline6]

On Friday, I received an email stating that they were ready to paint the car, and the "spray cards" would be on their way today to me in the mail.   

I've been very busy the last several weekends working on my two rental houses.  Both of them became vacant at the end of May, and I decided to take the opportunity to address various things that each property needs.  I should be wrapping up that work soon and the car will be painted soon as well.  

Looking forward to getting it back.

[inline6]

I received spray cards on Thursday.  901 silver - a similar Honda silver, and 918 orange.  I went with 901 silver.  Maybe the car will get painted this upcoming week!

Edited July 2, 2023 by inline6

[inline6]

The body shop sent a couple of pictures.  The rest of the car may be done this week. 

 

 

I don't know why, exactly, they aren't following my instructions.  I mean, yeah, the instructions are many pages long, but specifically, I wanted them to spray the car all at once.  And, I didn't want them to remove the headlight housings for painting.  I think they know what they know... and don't want to depart from methods they think (or know) are best.  

I realize that they may not be equipped to spray the car all at once - paint can dry during the process and that can create its own problems.  Anyway, I am sure it will look nice when it is done.  I just hope it looks similar to how it looked when it was sprayed at the factory originally.  That is one of my goals.  

I also found these and snapped them up the other day.  I have original brake pads for the front, so it was nice to find these as well. 

 

    

 

 

 

[dutchzcarguy]

13 hours ago, inline6 said:

I didn't want them to remove the headlight housings for painting.

My painter told me those headlight housings are a pain in the a**e .. to paint right.. haha. As you have to paint upside down IN them.. (Oh well.. my painter .. he worked at his dads paintshop, and i think he still can't paint very well after many years.. 🙊 ( I did my own first paintjob in a paintboot on my own car ( the first anti rust layer) and only one drip and i immediately knew what i did wrong!)

Your painter did the right thing! As there is a rubber seal between those parts and half a mill distance or so.. if you keep them together you get a mess, separate painting is necessary..

[inline6]

I was told by the head guy at the paint shop that they spray the headlight housings separately because the clear coats will "bridge" the gap between the back of the headlight housing and the front of the fender, where the two parts contact each other.  

From examination, my car had been painted twice when I received it, once from the factory and one afterwards, in a gold color.  I can see, from examination of the disassembled parts, that the car was painted at the factory with the headlight housings bolted in place.  The paint surely did "bridge" the gap, to the degree that the number of coats of primer and paint at the factory could.  

I believe the concern by the paint shop with this repaint is that much more material is used during their paint application process, and as such, more bridging will occur.  I don't think color coats are an issue, but the clear coats are likely much thicker than the factory paint coats.  

Anyway, they are going to do it how they feel is best.  I just hope the paint doesn't "crush" and "move" (like it did in on one or two spots on my other 240z) when they bolt the headlight housings to the fender, as there will be a certain thickness of paint on both the fender front edge and the headlight housing back edge, and these will come into contact and compress when the headlight housings are bolted into place. 

Crossing fingers that they are completing the work this week, and that, if it matters in their shop, the weather cooperates on the day they spray the exterior of the body.
 

Edited August 30, 2023 by inline6

[inline6]

There has been some more progress at the paint shop. 

 

It looks nice from what I can see in these pictures.  

I see that they did as I requested with regard to painting the car without taping off the wheel wells and presumably, the underside of the floor also.  My intent was to attempt to replicate the paint done at the factory originally.  Those areas of the car received overspray as the primary body surfaces were painted. 

They departed from my instructions by painting the inside of the car and the outside of the car at different times, and by removing the hood, cowl panel, headlight housings, and fuel door.  Those, I assume were sprayed separately (or will be) along with the rear hatch panel.

It will be interesting to see the body in person.  I am curious to see if the surfaces "moved" due to shrinkage of filler/primer over the last 6 months.  Hopefully, it is straighter than when I gave it to them, as they certainly went over it as part of the work done.  I have seen over and over how painted fresh from the shop, panels are super straight, and then months later, they aren't due to shrinkage.  This car has had considerable amounts of time sitting, so hopefully there will not be additional shrinkage post paint having been applied.

I am looking forward to getting it back and starting the assembly process!

 

[inline6]

As the time is obviously coming when I will be receiving the car back from painting, I find myself thinking about reassembly.  I have been putting together a list containing "order of reassembly" which I will share soon. 

Over the past weekend, I got through another batch of parts that are black:  All of these parts were coal slag blasted, glass bead blasted, epoxy primed and painted black. 

  

 

   

 

  

  

 

   

 

  

 

  

I only have a few parts left that need to receive fresh black paint.  I will try to get that accomplished before the car chassis is back from the paint shop.

 

Edited September 6, 2023 by inline6

[Patcon]

What black paint are you using? Rattle can? 2k?

[inline6]

I am using Nason products for the black paint.  The paint supply place picked the paint code, some Hyundai non-metallic.  I can see about getting the code if you would like to have it.  I mix that with hardener and thinner and apply using a Devilbiss HVLP gun.