CanadianGTR

With regards to the 150% comment, it was just an exaggeration. I was told to make sure that the paint was fully cured before applying a clear coat, the gentleman told me at least a week or two just to be safe. Thanks for all of the help. When I was feathering in the primer over the original paint I noticed that there was no clear on the original paint (it too is a single stage paint) so as long as I don't have a very heavy ridge from poor masking/painting I should be able to feather in with a good rubbing compound. Thanks again for the advice, I'll get some pictures up when it's all done.

I tried a quick search and didn't turn much up regarding single stage paints. I know my second question is pretty much paint specific and I'll probably need to ask the shop mixing it, but the rest I'm still kind of stuck on. First I would like to mention that yes, I am aware of the benefits of BC/CC over a single stage paint, but the rest of the car is single stage and I'm just touching up my rear end. I'll be using RM paint since they had the colour that best matched what's on there now (when they over-layed the chip on my paint I couldn't even tell it was there). First question. I'll be using a metallic paint, and since you aren't supposed to wet-sand a metallic, and you can't clear a single stage until the paint is 150% cured... how do I finish it off? Some polishing/cutting compound and a orbital buffer? Second question. Since you can't wet sand in between coats, I assume you have to spray a second coat pretty close to the tack/flash time of the paint. What sort of time frame would I have to shoot more coats? I know this is fairly dependent on the type of paint and how it's mixed, but there must be a ROUGH time-frame. Third question. How do you feather in edges over existing paint without wet sanding, will a buffing/cutting compound do the trick? My body shop guru is home sick today and I'm impatient for answers. If I figure any of these out before they're answered I'll post up what I find if anyone else has similar questions. Thanks in advance. EDIT: Probably worth mentioning that I'm using spray cans and don't expect a professional looking job, this is just temporary until the car is off the road for the winter.

Ah I forgot about the Route 66 meets! I'd almost feel bad coming out with the back half of my quarter panel/hatch looking like dark primer, while the rest of the car is in good shape. Sweet restoration you have going. I wish I had the facilities to do something like that. How long has it been so far?

Thanks for the warm welcome guys. Sorry for the lack of updates, have been busy working on the damned thing. I didn't get a "post grinding" picture of the rust but it was pretty bad in a few spots. I don't think I can salvage the hatch ledge and will probably end up just replacing the entire hatch just because it's a bit easier. The driver quarter is fine but the passenger quarter had some pinholes from the rust. I grinded off whatever I could while leaving enough material to work with and started to work on it. I hit all of the metal/leftover rust with concrete etcher and some rust converter, hit it with self etching primer and started doing some body filler. This is all just temporary until the car is off the road for the winter when I can get the arse end cleared up professionally. Don't think I did too bad of a job for someone who hasn't ever done any body work before - I guess it pays to be obsessive compulsive sometimes. Here are some shots of the primer after a good wet sanding, all ready for paint. The car has since been painted, but I was supplied with the incorrect paint code and it is WAY too dark, so I need to sand it down and hit it again with the PROPER colour (going to get my gas cap scanned to get a good colour match). As for the comments about Whitehead, the car was amazingly well documented and it has, according to the receipts, been up to Greg quite a few times in it's life once it came to Toronto from Ottawa/Winnipeg. Do you know what body shop they use? Discovery Auto Collision out in Mississauga is my shop of choice right now as they do a lot of work on the local road race cars. For an update on the rest of the car. I was digging through the documents that came with the car - receipts dating back to '75 - and found out some neat information about it. It has some random header on it, not sure where from, but it also has 240Z round tops on it. Which makes sense since I was looking at the carbs and was wondering how they could get much rounder! It's really nice to get a well documented car. The rims are compomotives and I think I'm going to get them sent out to be refinished with a black face/polished lip. I guess I need to renew my Ontario Z Car membership now that I have a Z again - signed up back when I had my Z32. Do Greater Toronto Area Z guys meet anywhere on a regular basis or have swap meets? Would be nice to meet some of you in person. Thanks again for the warm welcome. Cheers. - Justin

Little bit about myself. I'm Justin, a University student in Whitby, Ontario (about 30 minutes East of Toronto where I was raised). I've been into cars since I can remember and love working on them about as much as I love driving them. I've been on the forum for quite some time (Signed up back in May '05) from back when I was originally looking at S30s, but I never ended up picking one up. I had 2 R32 GTRs and a Z32 so I figured the time wasn't right for another toy. Anyway, I sold the GTRs about a year or two ago and just recently sold my Z32 so I figured I would finally take the plunge and pick up an S30. After a few weeks of road-trips to look at Z's - most of which ending with disappointment - I finally stumbled across a 1974 260Z on craigslist that was about 30 minutes from my house. The thing was beautiful and in pretty good shape (interior is a bit dirty, and there was some minor rust) so I picked it up and brought it home the next day. Here she is the day I brought her home: http://www.team-mischief.com/justin/260Z/8.JPG Just an impromptu photoshoot a few days later: http://www.team-mischief.com/justin/260Z/1(BW).jpg http://www.team-mischief.com/justin/260Z/2(Colour).jpg http://www.team-mischief.com/justin/260Z/4(Colour).jpg http://www.team-mischief.com/justin/260Z/SUPARPIC.jpg Today I decided it was time to remove the wing to find out how the rust situation was underneath it (there was a crack in the wing on the hatch and passenger quarter panel pieces) and here is what I found: I'm no professional when it comes to rust... I just know I hate it, and that it's bad. But I don't know how much would result in me needing a new quarter panel/hatch. The hatch looks like a straight forward job since it's just a flat piece that I can patch easily. But I'm not too sure about the quarter panel. Any input? Once I get the rust dealt with I want to get the paint stripped off the bumpers (I like chrome on silver) and get to work on some cosmetic things (new emblems, refinish the wheels, clean the interior, etc). I'm looking forward to finally be able to contribute to this forum that I've been reading/ghosting around on for the past 3 years. Sorry for the long winded introduction! Cheers.