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Hello All, Been active on the forum for just a little while now... bought a '73 240z down in San Diego a couple months ago to learn on and fix up. I've fixed a couple things on it, mostly electronic in nature, I removed the side and rear skirts this past week, and I'll soon be upgrading the nonworking windshield wipers to Accord wipers. Next I need to buy a rear bumper, either metal or fiberglass/plastic... i don't know yet which. I'm leaning plastic, and I'll paint it matte black. But I digress. My big problem to deal with in the near future is the rust on the car. Right now, the car has three really bad rust spots, a couple troublesome spots, and the rest seems to be superficial at the most. Also, the current pain job, while not the worst looking, is pretty ****ty. Uneven, textured and apparently just applied over the original paint, which was the yellow-green one. I'm a college student, so resources are limited at this point. I have some money saved from summer jobs, but not a lot of space to work in. This is important, because it means I can't put it on bricks and work on it the way I'd like to. Overall I'm not too concerned, because my car stays in a garage and is therefore safe from water or sun damage almost all the time, but I know this problem isn't going away, and some of the bad spots are in the door frame, which sort of worries me. I do live in a small town, though, so I'm not really sure what sort of prices I should be looking at, or if it would be worth it to drive it to LA or the bay area for a better deal. My conclusions so far are that i could: 1.) Wait. Not do anything until later. 2.) Pay somebody to take care of it (I'm thinking this will be the most expensive option). 3.) Take care of the current rust spots at a body-shop, then wait to paint until later to do anything more (would this even save me money?). 4.) Apply rust remover, then sealer of some sort and hope things don't deteriorate further. 5.) ???? Any advice, related stories or general thoughts on the subject would be much appreciated. Thanks! PS, the attached files show: The car as bought ($2.5k), what it looked like after skirts removed, then the damage from rust: both door frames (worse on the driver's side), under gas fill door, then some spots on the roof, and a crack in the metal on the roof as well. I should note they didn't look that bad until I poked around at them the other day to see what the depth of the spots looked like. [ATTACH=CONFIG]49991[/ATTACH][ATTACH=CONFIG]49990[/ATTACH][ATTACH=CONFIG]49980[/ATTACH][ATTACH=CONFIG]49988[/ATTACH][ATTACH=CONFIG]49987[/ATTACH][ATTACH=CONFIG]49985[/ATTACH][ATTACH=CONFIG]49986[/ATTACH][ATTACH=CONFIG]49981[/ATTACH][ATTACH=CONFIG]49983[/ATTACH][ATTACH=CONFIG]49989[/ATTACH]

I am in the process of of hanging plastic before i paint the underside. I dont have a painting booth so im hanging up plastic, it will work for what im doing for now.

I bought my '78 burgundy 280Z coupe in August 2008 after she'd been sitting for about 11 years. Sound familiar?? Since then I've had the engine rebuilt (with OEM Nissan injectors - a DEFINITE improvement over after-market injectors, but that's for another time and another forum), new clutch, brakes, struts, front end, wheel bearings, black Energy Suspension bushing kit, differential, 5-speed transmission and starter. Also had the gas tank cleaned and coated after super fine silt that had accumulated in the tank ruined the fuel pump, a few fuel filters and the injectors. There were also numerous electrical issues, mainly due to corrosion from 11 years of neglect. Amazingly though, the body is in great shape. Only a couple of very small dents and relatively little rust. Other than a cracked dash, the interior is really quite clean. The clock, antenna and OEM Hitachi radio even work. But as you can see in the attached photos, the paint is an eyesore! With a few exceptions, I've been driving her almost daily since January and daily dreaming of the time when I could get her repainted and back to her original glory. Well that time has come! I dropped her off at the paint shop this afternoon. Rust spots and dents will be fixed, the after-market sunroof replaced with a solid panel and body seams redone. She's going to be repainted in her original 611 burgundy with all new weatherstripping, POR-15 on the floorboards and chassis, soundproofing and carpet. New drivers side front bumper trim and straight rear bumper bar. I'll post more pics as the project progresses. There is definitely something special about a Z car!

i keep my 280 out in the country in my dad's garage, and most everything is cheaper out here, but this seems a little cheaper than normal. i went to a body shop called TCB Riveria in Quinlan, TX. the guy gave my car a cursory look and told me $2500 for both the body work and the paint, or $2000 if i do the disassembly myself. the engine bay has already been done. he says that he doesn't use bondo, he uses some fiber glass product. he said the paint job would involve painting all the door jambs and both sides of the hood, hatch and doors. he showed me a few albums of cars he's done, trophies he's won. he seemed pretty dependable. i'll be sure to look at his work up close before i make a decision, but does this sound too good to be true to yall?