My 260Z painted and assembled...finally!

[Zak's Z]

Hey, nice work. I was impressed before I scrolled down to the 'before' pics. Looks like you put a lot of detail and pride in that job.

[Bulldog Z]

Your car looks great!!! I like the gold color. Does it have metal flake in it? I just had my 73 240 painted about six months ago, and I am still jazzed about it.

[240ZX]

Congratulations on your hard work Lee. Looks great too! Sure feels good to have a driver again...yes?

Tom

[74L28Z]

BEAUTIFUL JOB!!!

Inspirational!

You really set the bar high---especially the interior. Best "worst case" before and after pictures of an interior that I've seen.

I really like the "small diamond pattern" vinyl that you used on the tranny tunnel. I haven't seen that before----where did you get that??

You should be rightfully proud of your work!!

Thanks for sharing with the rest of us the beauty of your accomplishment!

Jim D.

"Zup"

Thank you for the comments Jim, the tranny tunnel trim and rear shock tower trim was taken from another 260Z at the local pick-n-pull. I know the 240Zs used a larger pattern. I guess that was a 260Z only thing? Correct me if I'm wrong.

[74L28Z]

Nice work. One question, what did you fill the holes that were left behind when you removed the side moulding with, solder or body filler?

For the best results, I used a MIG welder to fill the holes on those side moldings, as well as the holes for the fender emblems and rear hatch emblems. Afterwards, I used a disc grinder to make it smooth and then used some body filler to take care of imperfections. I also undercoated the back side to prevent corrosion.

[74L28Z]

Your car looks great!!! I like the gold color. Does it have metal flake in it? I just had my 73 240 painted about six months ago, and I am still jazzed about it.

Hey Bulldog Z, it is a metallic, but not metal flake. If I remember right I believe the color Nissan called it is 304-Gold Metallic. One of the toners used in the formula was "fine aluminum".

I want to thank all of you for the comments, I'm glad to be a part of this forum. Very informative site, my questions are asked and answered before I can even post it. Talk about convenient!

[obxtrainman]

Nice job, the car looks great!:classic:

[mars23z]

Is that an MSA twice pipe system? I have one that I am putting on my 260z in the spring and was wondering what you thought about it ? (fit, sound etc)Your car looks great very nice job. Chris

[mars23z]

Is that an MSA twice pipe system? I have one that I am putting on my 260z in the spring and was wondering what you thought about it ? (fit, sound etc)Your car looks great very nice job. Chris

[Oiluj]

Very Nice Job!

[dat260]

Beautifully done! How did you collapse the bumper shocks.

Come and introduce yourself at HybridZ.org.

[74L28Z]

Is that an MSA twice pipe system? I have one that I am putting on my 260z in the spring and was wondering what you thought about it ? (fit, sound etc)Your car looks great very nice job. Chris

Hi Chris, thank you for the comments! Yes it is the MSA twice pipe exhaust. I had heard stories about the quality and fit, so I bought one to see for myself. I may as well do a short review of it now that you ask. The fit I will say could be way better, I had to adjust the pipes quite a bit before clamping them. Even so, they hang down lower than the factory exhaust and even the MSA premium turbo exhaust. So watch out for roadkill on the highways. Clearance is tight at the left rear tire, but will do okay. If you don't have much experience fitting exhaust pipes, you may want a muffler shop to help you. The sound is awesome, it has somewhat a Ferrari note, especially on acceleration. Definitely will get people's attention. Although if you were to drive it on the interstate for any given time, the noise level may bother you (Hey they're glasspacks!). It is not for everyone. Also the twice pipes are not aluminized, so they will rust right away if you don't spray a high temp paint on them. Even then they will still rust on the inside. A few years back, I tried the MSA 2.5" turbo exhaust setup on my '78 280Z before I sold it and loved the sound, except for the resonance around 2,000 rpm, it sounded terrific. The fit on these was tricky to install as well. Now that MSA has the premium turbo setup with flanges, I probably would have gone with that setup. I noticed the price of the MSA twice pipes went up about $30, to bad kit has not improved. Hope this helps.