Dave W 1971/240Z rebuild

[Patcon]

Will you leave the interior in primer or color it?

[grannyknot]

3 hours ago, Patcon said:

Will you leave the interior in primer or color it?

The interior is coated with epoxy primer so it's sealed, I'll clean it up and apply the tar mat right over top of that and the original insulation over that.  Yes, things are proceeding at a good pace, we are in a little warm spell at the moment for the next few days so it allows me to get the shop nice and warm, perfect for painting.

[Yarb]

Out of Curiosity what is the temperature in your part of the world?

[grannyknot]

7 hours ago, Yarb said:

Out of Curiosity what is the temperature in your part of the world?

I think we hit a high of +4 C yesterday and it is the same for today so that is about 40F, not toasty or anything but it's warm enough with all my heaters going to get the metal up to temp.  That temp also brings up the humidity so static isn't a problem.

[davewormald]

It's always hard to tell from photos displayed on monitors, but the colour looks great! It doesn't look as brown as the sample you gave me when I was there. How does it compare to the inside of the hatch lid now that it's on some car parts?

[grannyknot]

6 hours ago, davewormald said:

It's always hard to tell from photos displayed on monitors, but the colour looks great! It doesn't look as brown as the sample you gave me when I was there. How does it compare to the inside of the hatch lid now that it's on some car parts?

To my eye it is identical to the inside of the cubby lid.

I got the colour coat and 3 coats of clear on everything today and started a 4th coat but the gun kept plugging up, I tore it down, cleaned everything and tried it again, same thing. I farted around for an hour and half trying to get it working, cleaned everything 6-7 times and finally called quits, threw out over a litre of mixed clear.

Then I noticed the tiny little breather hole on the top of the gravity feed cup, plugged up with clear coat

3 coats should be more than thick enough to sand flat and polish.

 

[Patcon]

What do you do about overspray at the door edges to prevent blowing in on the door jamb?

[grannyknot]

6 hours ago, Patcon said:

What do you do about overspray at the door edges to prevent blowing in on the door jamb?

I should have taken some pics, I tape off the door and fender panel right at the edge, after spraying paint/clear I then remove the tape.  There is always a little lip of clear coat at the edge of the tape, I wet sand that 1/16" lip with 600, then tape the painted door jamb leaving that 1/16th" exposed, paint the rest of the panels and remove all the tape.  Again, there is another lip of clear coat, this time I leave it until it is hard then with a nib file take most of it off and the rest of the blending happens with the various grits, 1200, 1500, 2000, during wet sanding and polishing.

It's a pain to be sure, but I find the final finish is better than spraying everything at the same time. The only time I did spray it all in one go I found a I ended up with drips and spots where I brushed up against the just sprayed surface.  It also allows you the get complete coverage around the hinges from both sides, the factory sprayed it all in one go and the coverage on the front of the hinges was spotty due to the front fender being in the way.

 

[grannyknot]

This morning I followed @Patcon 's lead, pulled all the SS trim out of storage and got working on it.  I p/u a bag of Roloc type felt pads, some 1500 grit wet sand paper, green SS polishing compound and a tube of Autosol.

I used the 1500 grit paper for the first piece then realized the green compound was doing every thing the sand paper was doing and more, after the compound I took a second felt pad and loaded it with Autosol.  Just a few minutes on each piece with great results, this a lot safer for the operator and the trim than trying buff these out a wheel buffer.

I pulled all the brake and fuel lines out, will start making the new ones.

Masked off the entire car and got all the undercoating done today, 12 cans, that was followed by 2 cans of SEM cavity wax, great stuff, thin enough to creep between the spot welds 

[davewormald]

Not that anyone in this forum needs a reminder of how these things looked "in the wild", but here are a few shots of what the underside of the car looked like when I started poking at it in 2020.

Looking good. Thanks man!

[HusseinHolland]

@grannyknot Thanks for including the tips on restoring the SS trim finish. I need to do that to my door frames, both existing & the later ones I will be converting to later on.

Edited January 28 by HusseinHolland

[grannyknot]

6 hours ago, HusseinHolland said:

@grannyknot Thanks for including the tips on restoring the SS trim finish. I need to do that to my door frames, both existing & the later ones I will be converting to later on.

Thanks but the credit goes to Patcon.