Zedyone_kenobi

Well for better or for worse, this is my first attempt at a refinish job. I am very happy with the results.. Before: After:

Sounds like we are in the exact same ball park. W/O the vacuum advance I should be looking at 36 degrees. Which is about right I would think for a stock L24 with headers... BEFORE AFTER

Just got back my Dizzy from Advanced Distributors. It looks brand new. I am very happy with the appearance. I just need to put my old pertronix into this new distributor. The gentlemen at Advanced set me up to run 14 degrees static advance, and it should advance 22 degrees centrifugal. He wanted me to try to run it without a V/A. I will post pictures in a few.

UPDATE: I hit my wheel well with two liberal coats of clear last night. This morning I was pleasantly surprised that the color appears a shade or two darker and looks much deeper. The silver dried darker than pictured above overnight. The color is DARN close to my exterior color. So much in fact, I would challenge anybody to tell me it was not sprayed 15 years ago with the rest of the car. The directions on the can say I can wet sand with 1500 or 2000 grit, but it looks so good now, I may skip that step. I will take more pictures when I get everything bolted back on the car.

yup, the whole thing. It started to blow warmer air. So I was just looking for a reason to yank it and clean it all up. The flash makes the paint look brighter than it actually is. The match I think is pretty good. Well, good enough for an engine bay. I sprayed an extra valance panel and compared it to the body. I think it is very close, but not perfect. Lets call it 95% there. No surprise really. My exterior paint is 15 years old, and the engine bay is probably original. I am going to take off the strut bar and clean up that post. I will also look into getting some of those nuts plated. Good advice.

Right, I took a stab at filling the holes, and shooting it with a coat of 901 silver. Well as you can see the results are not exactly Pebble Beach..:stupid: So what am I to do, but sand it down and try again. This time I got more aggressive with my sandpaper. I started at 200, then 600, then 1500. I am getting happier as this goes on. What a long learning curve.. The surfaces are much smoother, and now I think I am ready for clear. I could sand and re-prime/re-paint forever, but what I learned is that this job is best done with the engine out. Next shots will be with a coat of clear, and then with the hardware installed!

Okay, I downloaded some pics as I have been working on them. As you know I tried my hand at some primitive body work. And I am both pleased and displeased with the results. First, my before pictures... This is the completely before picture before my optima died and I decided to replace my battery hold down to OEM and get new battery ignition wiring, which started this whole thing! First step is of course to remove all the extra nonsense that was in the way. I never did remove that strut bar, it just never seemed to be in the way to be honest. You can see the mismatched colors and spots and half a dozen extra holes where the AC stuff use to be. Now you can see my second coat of primer. I still had not filled in the holes at this point. All I keep doing is sanding, sanding, sanding. More and more, I think that this whole job should be done with the engine out of the car. I am trying my hand at this on the passenger fender, first, but I think I would like to do it all again, with the engine out. Add that to my do-to list right. Next steps are to fill in the holes. I decided to go with a tube application. Granted it is not the best, but it is sandable and comes recommended from a buddy of mine. It is called plastic metal. Made by Bondo. I have mixed feelings about using it, but I will give it a try and see where it goes.

Well as the summer heat subsides, the projects start to become more than twinkles in my eye. I am currently sort of fiddling with three. 1) I am painting and attempting to refinish my very rough passenger engine bay wheel well. It was filled with drilled holes and off color paint and 39 years of dirt. I am learning as I go, as a body and paint man I am not. Plus I am sort of half/assing it by not taking the engine out, so I am taking great pains to make it look like a quality job. 2) I have sent my european distributor to Advanceddistributors for rebuild. I am hoping to take advantage of the 17 degrees of static timing and really wake up my L24. As of September 1st, it has not come back from the shop 3) I ordered a new OEM shift knob to replace my tattered old one. But funny thing, the OEM one that came in Nissan packaging is an easy 1/4" larger in diameter than my stock shift knob. So I decided to sand my original one down and give that a refinish to see how it could come out. I may do the wheel next. ON the back burner for now are a tranny swap (type A for Type A), and the R/T slash Zsonthebrain diff mount. Also want to get some new rubber for my door cards and look to get my door buzzer fixed. So more to come!

THat was a bit coarse Gary, I would have said 650 and 19999, I mean, COME ON!

Okay progress has been slow,but today I took off the VIN plate and started polishing up the screws to put back in. I also did more sanding followed by my first coat of sandable primer. I will put this on in layers and work out all the scratches, nicks, I can. After I get it just right, I am going to hit it with several layers of base coat, and then some clear. Pics to follow.

I really like those wheels! You should polish them up

Just so you know, most wraps hold moisture close to the metal for extended periods of time. Add heat into the mix, and even stainless will break down after a while. Cannot say how fast it will be, but it does happen. Some subaru friends of mine had that happen to their stainless downpipes.

Just an update. I talked to the fellow this week about my dizzy rebuild. He is getting it on his bench before the end of the week and he will tell me what the euro dizzy is up to. I am looking forward to dropping that baby in there and running some aggressive advance curves.

copy that, saw other threads with tin foil used. Very good idea.

will do, pics to follow. I thought it was rivets. I will double check. Yeah, the engine is not out. I have a couple of projects planned in the next two months that I want the engine in for.

I have no idea!! I just bought one can of sandable primer, one can of basecoat, and one can of clear... I am taking pictures as I go, I will post them when I have made more progress.

I have decided to on the first bit of 'body work' I have ever tried (not counting refinishing my air cleaner). I am going to try to paint the engine bay fenders of my Z. They have long been scratch up from the dealer installed A/C hoses and canisters, etc. Plus it will give me a chance to really clean up the battery tray area. So far, I have removed everything from the passenger wheel well area. I mean everything but the VIN tag, I am going to leave that there and carefully tape over it. I have wet sanded the bejebus out of most of the area and I am working my way down to the frame rail. I am debating if I am going to remove the fuel lines or use a long brush to clean around them. Not sure. I have tested a small area of the touch up paint I ordered from http://www.automotivetouchup.com/ and it appears to be the real deal. I have an extra front valance that I am testing everything out on as well so I can see it in the sunlight. I think the color is pretty darn close to my 15 year old respray. Close enough for an engine bay anyway. So my first newbie question. I have half a dozen or so holes drilled in my fender for old A/C plumbing grommets, and places where the voltage regular had to be moved due to the compressor. What is the best way to fill in screw holes. Options that come to mind are: Small Welds Brazing Body filler JB weld (sandable if they make it) If I come across as a complete beginner at painting things I am. I know enough that prep is everything. Sand, clean, degrease, clean, use tack cloth, clean. Clean clean clean. If I do that, then my chances are better for a good result. So for a while, I will spend my time cleaning and sanding.

okay okay OKAY... I admit it. I did forget about the mustang II and the Fox body. Mostly the fox body to be honest. I am so ashamed!!

Okay, this is just, um... BEAUTIFUL... yup, my bumperettes are coming off.. SOON!

So much win in that post right there. I have said it for years to mostly deaf ears. The retro thing, is using the nostalgia of customers to sell a car. If you think about it, what are they doing really. Buy designing a car that looked mostly like a an older model.. you are telling that buyer.. "remember when we did not totally suck" The other big problem with going retro, is after that, where do you go from there? Do you follow all the previous years designs. Is the 2014 Camaro going to look like the 1970 Z28? You cannot evolve a brand for 35 years slowly adjusting it to the market and changing it, and then go full retro. You just cannot pick back up after the retro fad is over. GM, and Dodge have designed themselves into a box. The mustang however, has gradually changed and never really strayed that far from the original. The vette has done quite well too. And the pinnacle of design evolution is the 911.

I still need to do this. I will probably get around to it when I drop the tranny AND we are done with 100 degree days.

Great job Slingblade! Looking forward to your continuing improvements.

Imitation is the most sincere form of flattery.

congrats!!! great job!

If the car is all original, why ruin it with a stroker or V8 conversion. There are so few original Z's left. It is your car and you can do what you want, but cars that are converted to V8's are never brought back to original and that means one less Z car to represent the brand. Why not build up the L24 in it?