hls30.com

Hi and Welcome, be sure to register your original ownership with the IZCC at www.Zhome.com Will

Hi, Congratulations, and Welcome! There are several Clubs in your area! www.sfzcc.com http://www.customnation.net/OZOC.HTML To name but a few! Will

It Depends on what price is reasonable to you. Several years ago, I bought an Apollo 1000 HVLP setup($1200) that can paint a Z essentially without overspray-compared to a conventional spraygun. You can get good results with any quality gun with practice, proactice, Practice. Much like most tools, the more you tune it to your abilities, the better it will perform. A properly set up HVLP puts the vast majority of the paint on the car and not only in the air-and then the floor. The key to a great paintjob is the bodywork preparation. If the body is prepared correctly any paint issue you could have can be fixed after the fact. Choosing the right viscosity and tip are the key. Don't just match them to each other, match them to your painting style. What ever you get, shoot at least three gallons of water or thinner through it to get a feel for the weight and materials use of the gun, and to learn all of the adjustments and what they do. Then get a gallon of white of the same type of paint system you want to use on the car and paint anything you can find. The closer you get to actually painting a car (or cars) before you paint the important one, the better you will shoot it! I was surprised by the weight of the gun after refilling the cup once. Also an HVLP gun with a metal body gets hot while being used-the airstream used to paint with is also used to cool the motor-and that keeps condensation issues within the paint at bay-for high humidity areas. Even though I have shot several cars, before I shoot one I still shoot the entire car with thinner a couple of days before I actually shoot it, and buy a quart of white to shoot a parts car to re-aquaint me to the whole process. I don't shoot cars often, but I do have high expectations when I shoot one. There is a lot to know from personal experience-when the paint will run out of the gun-make sure you run out of paint at the end of a stroke(or stop before you run out), find out if the gun leaks at a specific angle, What are you going to do with the air hose to keep it from bumping your new paint, or tripping you as you move around the car, or when the hose stops a stroke cold when the hose gets caught between the floor and a tire, How much taping up do you really need to do to keep overspray out and off of those things you don't want it-like under the hood, on the weatherstrips... Get as much experience before you paint your Z as you can. There are also several books and websites on automotive painting-read everything you can find, but realize just like exercize, there is no substitute to actually doing it! Will

Stephen, Do you use the solder on self piercing taps, the bolt on design, or have you got a source for better? Will

Looks like we found the same toll road at different times! I'll look into the DOT approval in the next week or so. Will

Chris, It looked like it, but I didn't take a good look or feel. I'm headed back out there on Monday, and I'll give it a thorough examination. Will

Here are some current pictures of a Recently "Fully Restored, better than New" car bought from a "licensed Datsun Restoration Business". These pictures are of the corrective work required after the California/Nevada shop sold the car as being completely restored. I took the pictures on July 2nd 2009. They seem to fit the gist of this thread. WIll

Welcome! Looks like you did pretty well, be sure to check under the body kit, they were used to hide issues as well as dress up a car. Be sure to joing your local Z club, and if you are near the border, watch out for our Oregonian members-they have their own parts delivery network, and altogethere too good of a time!! On the Paint-the vin won't tell you, so your best bet is to look under some of the interior pieces for original paint on the inside of the body. On the Glove box, drive to a lock smith and let them pick it, then rekey it to your ignition key. Will

I have been working on mounts, and trying to link up skype wise with another member for a couple of week, and every time it looks like I have time set aside to get on the stick, something happens and the project gets shelved again. I will be working on them over the next few nights after the rest of the household has gone to bed. I have two sets, one motorized and one manual-the motorized ones are way too high, without removing the motorized tracks. As I get this together, I will take pictures and post them into this thread-and if time permits, maybe those of us who are interested can have a teleconference via skype or an apropriate piece of software. Will

I'll give most bolts a try, then how ever long it takes to move complete the next part(or two) of the project or so with PB Blaster, unless I am at a stopping point, then out comes the heat wrench. So far the only three things it hasn't worked on are a single spindle pin, and a brand new L20 head bolt that broke off at the threads-a reverse twist drill bit got it out, and an exhaust stud on a L24-had to have that one eaten out by an an Acme Disintegrator Ray operated by a Warner Brothers character(the guy at the machine shop was actually wearing a Tshirt with the WB ALien on it when he used the Ramadeh(?) machine eat the stud, left the threads perfect, chasing them was a smooth asbacking a running a tap back through a just taped hole! Will

Fill any tube with fine sand, close the ends tightly, and securely, and bend away-the uncompressable contents will not allow the volume of the tube to change, and thereby keep it from crimping-though bending it does take more effort. Will

A couple of companies sell prebent and DIY replacements for both classictube for one-theirs are stainless, and so are the fittings. http://www.classictube.com/products_clubflyer.asp Will

Alan, Not that this wil push you into it, but, when/if you get this done, I'll buy an autographed copy! Will

Dealing with Vietenglish, I will give them the benefit of the doubt... Will

Chris, Could be, I sent them detailed measured photographs of more than a dozen Roadster and Z parts, and collected NOS examples to ship them, but now the parts are shipped from the UK, and having them ship to more destinations definitely adds cost. Or it could be I was lured in to do their homework...being that nothing was actually made for me. What ever the case, at least they are available now. Do we have enough interest for a group buy? I want a set for my '72-though I have a NOS set for my yet to purchase Low Vin Will

Kats, Nothing like the right parts to make a difference! That tank looks great! Thanks for the switch! WIll

Dave, Welcome to the club. I'd be interested to see what you can do. When I contacted this company early last year, the price was just over $300 a bumper, but the parts were to ship from South Korea, and there were import issues to deal with. Now that the parts are bing shipped to the UK and then shipped out, I am sure the double shipping makes the difference. I did not hear from my phone call late Friday, so tomorrow morning I will make another call, and verify the import tax rate. Will

My personal thought is one car makes an event! If you enjoy participating, it is an event! The thing about that is if others see/hear you enjoyed yourself, you won't be alone for the next one! Will

Congratulations-cool Dad!, and welcome to the Z ownership club! Storage with out him knowing....got a buddy with an unused barn or silo? That's a tough one, since it will take some time and energy to straighten it out. Keep it a secret until the year before his license, then there is one hell of a birthday surprise, and an excellent Son and Pop project! Will...

Mike, Those are great prices, My local club gets just a little better(I got the console for $128 and change-and our club has no membership fee), and no shipping, but assuming this price indicative of the same percentage across the board, Kinda hard to beat that! Just goes to show shopping around can save some serious money! Next time I am up in Conyers, I'll have to stop in and see them-though I think the parts are coming from elswhere, I set up the same trade motion store a couple of years ago, and everything but the site was handled by them. Will

I still check my local dealer for almost everything 240Z or 300ZX-our local club gets an outstanding discount-and in most cases I get the part for less than I can find it anywhere else(though 300ZXclub monthly group buys are occasionally less expensive), with no shipping charges. It does not take much of a shipping charge to bring an item above the dealers full list price-add to that a shorter wait, and if you have worked any kind of a discount with a local dealer, you will get the best prices on new parts. For Example: My local dealer charges anybody off the street $190 for a 1977 280Z console. Zcarsource as an example: Sells a new 1977 console for $183.04, and adds flat rate shipping of $26.97 for a total of $210.01, MSA as an example: Sells the same console for $158.73 (before our club discount) with $28.79 fedex charges sells at 187.52 (171.65 with our discount) Black Dragon As an example: sells the same console for 189.99. with 27.75 flat rate shipping for a total of $217.74 The every day dealer price beats two of the three prices every day, with a 10% discount only MSAs club discount is better! Dealer List $190 Zcar Source $210 Black Dragon $218 MSA $188 MSA CZCdisc $172 Will If you have a local dealer, get your local club leaders to schedule a meeting with the parts and sales managers and ask for a parts discount! If you only get 10% you are getting a better deal that most vendors can offer, if you get 20% you beat them all, if you get 10% above cost, you are at dealer employee pricing. Will

That is a pretty red Z! Congratulations and welcome to the Z owning community! Will

Mull is a member here too, and many, if not all of those are linked in our archives as well. He has some serious skill! Will

Sounds like you have a fundamental harmonic issue at that point of attachment,and probably some previous accident damage that is causing it. Will

Along those lines, a review of the HTS shows that the bumpers should be import taxed at 2.5%. At the instruction of the Office of Tariff Affairs and Trade Agreements, US International Trade Commission, I have a call in to the local office of the Bureau of Customs and Border Protection to verify that the classification and rate I found are correct. I'll post that when it is verified. Will