charliekwin

I did the inside of mine by sloshing around some water and a box of large nuts, then muriatic acid, then phosphoric acid, then acetone, then Red Kote. It came out nice, but it's nothing I'm interested in doing again. $100 sounds like a great deal!

I appreciate the votes of confidence It's a balancing act for sure. I've fallen victim to the "well, while I'm at it, I guess I can take care of this too..." and then the whole dang thing is in pieces across the garage (and office) floors!

Seller's wife wants to park in the driveway again?

Moderately productive weekend getting all the sound deadening removed. The dry ice worked great on the horizontal surfaces, at least that went easy. Sunday I tackled the vertical ones. First tried putting it in aluminum foil, which only kinda worked. Then used plastic bags, which was a minor improvement. Took a lot of contorting to get into some places, but managed to get it all chipped away with a hammer and screwdriver. Floor pans look good, too. I feel like I'm getting to the edge of scope creep on this part of the project. I'm tempted to remove the dash, since it would be easier to do the floors if I took it out out, AND there's also a dash available locally for a decent price that looks like it's in better condition. I'm a little worried that I'll have an entirely empty interior and a car that won't get on the road for months on end, which is how projects tend to die.

Thanks all for your suggestions. MasterSeries has a product line that, as far as I can tell, is the same basic stuff as POR15 (another moisture cured urethane) and has a kit that includes a satin black top coat all for $70. I think that's where I'm gonna go. For a while, I did consider going with a primer and single stage paint, if for no other reason than to get a taste of what I might be getting in to whenever I can get to bodywork and paint, but ultimately thought better of it.

I've Googled and read forum posts until my head has spun, and I still don't feel like I have a very good understanding of paint...nevermind all the contradicting advice from people with strong convictions My situation: I painted my gas tank with Eastwood's Extreme Chassis Black, and had some bad experiences with it (lifting, poor durability) that necessitate repainting the tank. I'm also re-doing the interior and have some surface rust on the floor pans and rear deck that I want to address. I'm hoping there's a paint out there that'll work well enough for those applications, be reasonably priced, and be fairly easy both to spray (for the tank) and brush on (floors). I was considering SEM Rust-Shield for the job, but their tech people said that it'll chalk and fade, won't attest to any kind of solvent or fuel resistance, and say that even with the hardener, isn't usually painted over for several months. My understanding is that those are characteristics of alkyd enamels, but I don't know if those are basic CYA-type warnings for people using the paints for extreme or off-label uses or if I should be using a moisture-cured urethane like POR15, or something else entirely. I'm in Southern California, so the weather is good almost all year round. I'm not terribly concerned with rust and the car (for now, at least) is usually garaged. Other than hot summers, there's no exposure to extreme conditions. Any suggestions?

It's been hard to find time lately, but I have squeezed in some time to work on the Z here and there. I dropped the tank a couple weeks ago to deal with that leak and ruined paint. The bright spot, I suppose, is that it'll be easy enough to strip, since the paint comes off in sheets! I emailed Eastwood looking for their suggestions and have yet to receive a response, so that's another strike. I've been doing a bunch of reading on paint options, and am leaning towards SEM's Rust Shield for the tank and interior, so long as SEM's people say it'll work. Speaking of the interior, I finally bit the bullet and started on that project. There was about 6 different carpet types in there and a whole bunch of nastiness under it, along with the requisite DPO work we all expect. Highlights include loose SAE bolts for 6 of the 8 seat mount points, 1 properly-tightened metric bolt, and 1 snapped off in the body. Good thing I didn't get in an accident! I hit one of the worst-looking parts of the floor pan with a wire brush, and it looks like I'm just dealing with some surface rust, so that's great news. I wasn't originally planning on removing the old sound deadener, but after watching some videos that show removal via dry ice, I've changed my mind -- it looks so easy! After that: clean, paint with Rust Shield, put down Raammat, MLV and closed-cell foam and a new carpet kit. Piece of cake.

Read the link I posted, which answers your questions, complete with detailed instructions and pictures of each step.

For holes that small, maybe consider using something like Sugru, a rubberized glue that will hold a shape and stick to most anything. Some people have used it for similar repairs: http://www.instructables.com/id/How-to-repair-holes-in-your-dashboard-with-sugru-/ Color matching is likely to be the most difficult part.

Those were the days! Great story.

Turns out I have a decent-enough picture of the springs. Minus the sleeves I put on the top and bottom, here's what should be included: As you can see, the front and rear springs are indistinguishable without the part numbers. Of course, these are for a 280z; not sure about the 240z.

Sure, here's a before and after. The second photo was taken before having driven the car after finishing the work. Here's another one I took today on my lunch break; sorry the quality's not great Actually, no, you should have a set of front and back springs. They look basically identical, but there's a white part number on the springs. Two should end in "VA", two in "HA". Those are the fronts and rears (vorachse and hinterachse), respectively.

I'm running the Stagg/Vogtland combination in my car, though I have a 280. I finished installing everything around the end of July, but with weather and life being what they are, haven't had much of an opportunity to even drive the car, let alone do anything fun with it, so all I have are initial impressions. Quick thoughts: I'd consider Brandcarparts.com to be a solidly average vendor. Shipping was a little delayed and communication limited, but was responsive when I had a delivery problem. Packaging could use some work. No missing hardware bits and everything went into place without issue. The drop on the 280 was a bit over 1" all around and I think it looks pretty good. No saggy rear end, either. Stagg + Vogtland + poly bushings + a seat that's completely shot = a pretty harsh ride. I'm okay with it, but if comfort is any kind of priority, you might want to consider another option. The shocks I replaced were 100% blown and I don't know what kind of condition the springs were in, so unsurprisingly, handling is now greatly improved, at least for around-town driving. I haven't been able to throw it around or anything, but I wanted a budget-friendly option that would work for some fun weekend driving. For ~$400, I'm happy so far.

I'm still a long ways off from getting an audio system in my car so I haven't done any investigation into the feasibility of this yet, so the following suggestion may be a non-starter, but I'd try the dashboard first. There are number of 3" wideband drivers out there that do surprisingly well. They're small enough that it might be possible to either drop them into the dash and have them fire off the windshield or stick them in the corner of the windshield to create a pseudo-horn. Cross over at ~120hz and use a 10" sub in the back to handle the rest. That, at least at the moment, is my eventual plan whenever I get that far.

I've been doing some reading (paint is something I know very little about) and I'm definitely looking at using some kind of catalyzed paint this next time. I liked the satin black look, but have also considered shooting clear over bare metal as well. I have a compressor, gun, and some minimal skill...none of which are good enough to take on a whole car, but will do fine for the fuel tank. I plan on emailing Eastwood to see if they have any suggestions. I'm half-hoping they might throw a discount my way for the experience I had with the other paint.

Not much of an update, but finally can get back on track after over a month. Moved back in August and have finally settled in and cleaned out the garage of all the boxes of stuff we shouldn't have brought with us but did. I'm pretty excited about the garage situation, because this is way more space to work in than I've had before. Still have about a half tank of gas to burn, then I can get to work on that fuel tank again. Story time: I got an unsolicited offer on the money pit yesterday. I was at the gym, but my wife told me that a guy knocked on the door and asked if the car was for sale. She told him no, but she could've at least asked how much he wanted to pay! Hopefully I won't have to get the "if you say so..." look anymore when I tell her it's a cool car and they're in demand

Agreed, the top coat instructions aren't especially clear, and I swear Eastwood has a few different instruction sheets with contradictory information about application timing. I was confused and emailed them a while back for clarification, and did what the guy said, but I just can't seem to make the stuff work for me. I've been looking at other paints and came to a similar conclusion about using a POR15-type product or a 2k automotive paint, but still trying to get a bettergrasp on it. All I know for sure is that I don't know much!

That's the worst part of it, the Eastwood paint I used (Extreme Chassis Black) is *supposed* to be fuel, solvent and brake fluid resistant. In my case, it hasn't resisted any of them. I'll be looking at other options!

Well...crap. Filled the car with gas and took it out to run a few errands last night. Walking down the driveway I thought to myself "Huh. Smells like gas out here. That's weird." On the way back up, one of the outdoor lights comes on and I see a puddle. Something is leaking around the filler, but it was too dark and late for me to be able to pinpoint what or where. I drained enough to get below the leak, so at least I won't have the fire department knocking on my door. The damage, however, is done: the gas sitting on the tank lifted the paint, so in addition to finding and fixing the leak, I also have to re-drop, re-strip and re-paint the tank. Wasn't exactly part of the plan. Of course this happens two days before we move.

It only took 4 months, but I finally got to put some miles on the Z last week! I bled the master cylinder last weekend (and re-bled the rest of the brakes), and that really helped with the pedal feel. The brakes aren't great, but at least are safe. Some betterpads will help, but mostly I think I just need to remember that brakes from 1978 aren't going to stop like modern ones do. Handling is greatly improved, and the terrifying oh-god-the-car-is-falling-apart-and-I'm-going-to-die noises it made going over bumps are, thankfully, gone now. Steering feels a little heavy and there's a bit of play. I don't know if it's in normal range, but I'll take a closer look at the steering rack. I'm sure it also needs an alignment, but I'll wait until the rear tires (which are not long for this world) wear out and then do wheels, tires, alignment all at once. I really want to get the interior cleaned up and put together so it doesn't feel like such a jalopy. I think that's up next, but that project will have to wait for a bit. The house we're in just sold, so we're moving in a couple weeks. Our new place has a big two-car garage with work space and tons of storage (awesome!), but we're paying a fortune in rent (less awesome!) so project car funds are going to be limited for a while. Best laid plans, indeed.

Drove it. Finally!

Count me among those who aren't aware PM sent, thanks!

It's some kind of miracle, I actually drove the car today. This morning, I went to Harbor Freight and bought a grease gun for the ball joints and tie rod ends. First time I've greased anything with a zerk fitting in probably 20 years! But naturally, nothing goes without problems. One of the half shafts has a fitting, so I figured I should grease that one too. Can't hurt anything, right? Not right. Snapped clean off. Back to the hardware store to get a screw extractor. For once, at least, the gods smiled upon me: it came out easily. Back to the same hardware store to get a screw to plug the hole. Local hardware store has everything except 1/4" - 28 machine screws. Special trip to OSH, then, and back to work. Bled the brakes, everything else goes back together without incident and the car is finally sitting on its own wheels! Overall drop ended up being about an inch all around, but it'll probably settle a bit more. I'm actually pretty happy with way it's sitting. The wheels are kind of a bummer. Just another item for the shopping list! Driving impressions: not many so far. I've only done a few very cautious laps around the block. Partly because I don't want to do anything too exciting until I'm convinced I put everything back together correctly and partly because the brakes felt awful squishy. I'm going to bleed them again tomorrow to see if that helps.

Last one for today, I promise! (Well, I really hope so!) So I'm greasing up the tie rod ends and ball joints to finish up the suspension work and notice there's a zerk fitting on the half shaft. I smartly think to myself that hey, while I'm down here, I should do that, too! And it proceeds to snap clean off because of course it does. I'm gonna go back to the hardware store and get a screw extractor and hope that gets it out (unless there's a better idea). The other side doesn't even have a fitting; just a screw where one would be. I thought I read somewhere that the 280z halfshafts aren't supposed to be serviceable anyway. If I can't get the fitting out and a new one in, any concerns about capping it off?

Thanks guys, all the pictures I've seen indicates that the levers are interchangeable, but even with all the info that's out there, it's been hard to find a definitive "yes it'll work." There's a 4 speed shifter on ebay right now that's a little pricey at $55, but they don't show up often, so I think I'm gonna grab that.