How to Paint a 240z Just Like Done Originally

[inline6]

I am soon going to get the 240z I have been working on for a couple of years painted.  It was originally 901 silver.  My plan is to have the painter paint it like the factory did it.  And so, I'd like to confirm how the factory did it, if possible. 

Why?

While doing the body work for the last many months, I have concluded that the fasteners that secure some of the body panels in place change the final shape of the panel.  A good example of this is the front fender.  There are two bolts that secure the bottom of the fender panel to the unibody.  Tightening those bolts down causes a slight distortion in the panel.  If you get the bottom of the fender perfect while off of the car, and then bolt it to the car, you will have more body work to do to get the bottom of the fender perfect again.  Additionally, I have found that aligning body panels is a task that takes several attempts before I achieve success.  I don't want to risk chipping paint while handling freshly painted doors, fenders, etc., and attempting to align, tighten bolts with wrenches, etc.  Therefore, my preference is to achieve correct alignment and fit while the car is in primer instead. 

So, I have these observations based on close examination of my car (production 6/1971) to share:

It appears to me that everything on the car originally painted in 901 silver at the Nissan factory was securely fastened in place when the paint was applied with two exceptions: the rear hatch and the front cowl panel.

I deduce this primarily from the following: 

Hatch panel:

There was no silver paint on the 4 large, phillips screws that secure the hatch panel to the hinges.  Additionally, it appears that the hinges were bolted in place on the body with the rubber hinge "seals" in place before primer and paint were applied.  I suspect that the seals, hatch hinges, alignment shims and hatch panel were installed at the factory and correct alignment was achieved.  And once properly aligned, the rear hatch panel was taken off by removing the 4 large phillips head screws that attach the panel to the hinges.  Then, the hatch panel was painted while off of the car.  This would greatly ease the job of applying paint in the top recess area of the hatch opening which appeared to have very good coverage on my car.

Cowl panel:

For the cowl panel, I note that the 5 phillips pan head screws that secure it to the car were not 901 silver.  They were bare plated screws.  And of course the black, plastic "receivers" which seal the body at the back of the cowl panel were not installed when the car was sprayed at the factory.  Interestingly, the dark grey primer that was sprayed over the entire car just prior to paint, was not covered in silver in the cowl area just below the cowl panel.  Examining the silver paint "overspray" from the factory in the cowl area (through the slats in the cowl panel), I believe that the cowl panel was loosely placed on the car body in its proper location, but without the plastic receivers or pan head screws to hold it in place, at the time the car was sprayed with color.    

The rest of the panels:

Other than those two panels, all indications (to me) are that the rest of the panels which were painted 901 silver were all bolted in place when sprayed with grey primer, and the 901 silver paint that followed.  All of the fasteners on the remaining panels were undisturbed after paint.  Also, I specifically noted a lack of coverage of both the grey primer and silver paint in the area from the top to the bottom of the front, inside surface (frame) of the doors.  In this same general area, I found a few silver paint runs on the doors and the hinges (bottom edge of the hinge springs especially). 

Other than the hood "alignment blocks", which are painted black, and were clearly installed after the car was painted, the hardware which attaches the front fenders to the body was finished with either in the grey primer (the fasteners accessed under the cowl panel) or finished with the 901 silver, indicating the fenders were bolted in place at the time that the car was sprayed with grey primer and then silver.

The back edges of the headlight housings (those on my car are fiberglass) were bare, white gel coat - they were not grey or silver, indicating they were bolted in place on the front of the fender at the time that the car was sprayed with grey primer and then silver.  The hardware securing the front left, right, and center valences had 901 silver on them indicating they were bolted in place when color was sprayed.  The hardware securing the front left and right inspection panels was 901 silver indicating they were bolted in place when color was sprayed.  The hardware securing the tool doors in the interior of the car was 901 silver indicating they were bolted in place when color was sprayed.

Here is a picture that reveals a lot when you look closely.  Note that the car had been repainted once in gold prior to my purchase of it.  You can see that the silver is visible "under the gold" in various places where the gold has departed, such as just forward of where the front edge of the cowl panel seats against the unibody.  Note where the grey primer is, and where it is not, such as the bottom left corner in the pic, which is where the fender bolts to the unibody. 

 

 

I'd love to hear from others on this topic.  Please share what you have found either consistent with my observations or otherwise!  Thanks!

Edited October 2, 2020 by inline6

[grannyknot]

8 hours ago, inline6 said:

There are two bolts that secure the bottom of the fender panel to the unibody.  Tightening those bolts down causes a slight distortion in the panel.  If you get the bottom of the fender perfect while off of the car, and then bolt it to the car, you will have more body work to do to get the bottom of the fender perfect again.  Additionally, I have found that aligning body panels is a task that takes several attempts before I achieve success

Like many Z restorations your panels will be much better fitted than they were when they rolled out the factory,  you have the luxury of time that the assembly workers didn't.  If you need to install a couple of shim washers on the bottom of the front fender to keep it inline then do it before the final paint.