Hey guys, I just got my three big boxes from Motorsports Auto today. I got all new interior plastic panels, carpet and pad, and vinyl. Anybody have tips on the vinyl installation? Any Sacramento area guys up for an interior installation party? Beer and lunch on me... Eventually, I want to order the seat kit as well but I thought I would start here and move to that.
Rob

 

I'm putting my interior back together now, from a bare shell, and for the vinyl installation. Here's a random assortment of tips:
-Be sure to spend the extra $2 or so and get good contact cement. They're not all the same. We're lucky to have a massive old-style hardware store here that has about 10 feet of shelf with dozens of kinds, so you always get the right one.
-Mask everything that you're not gluing
-Lay everything out ahead of time and actually practice how you'll apply the glue and move the part into place without sticking it to yourself or some random part of the car.
-More glue isn't necessarily better, but too little is no good either.
-Be careful and patient. As you've just noticed, new parts are expensive, and it's possible to have a glue-job go bad and ruin a part. Buying them once is a great restoration job. Buying them twice is an expensive pain in the butt.
-Get and use a mask that will take out organic solvent fumes. ~$30 at Lowe's Depot Square whatever. The fumes from the glue are fierce, and it's hard to glue stuff straight if your head is spinning.
That said, if you work carefully with good materials and follow the instructions (whether MSA or Wick Humble's book, or some other source), it'll come out awesome. You'll be amazed how good your interior looks!
good luck,
Dave

 

Thanks for the tips! Hey! Why don't I just pack this up and come to Boulder to get your help? I will meet you on Pearl Street right by the "Our Honored Dead" statue!!!
Seriously, did you have trouble ripping off the old interior? Did you have to remove old glue before applying the new?
Thanks again for your tips...
Rob

 

Sure! Sounds like fun! When were you in Boulder? Funny how many people know this place, considering it's kinda small. That's half the fun, though.
But, I wouldn't advise driving here from Cali just yet. Western slope just got hit with 10 inches of snow, while it was 70 here in town. Bad conditions for old Z's up high. Not as nice as your weather for driving, I'm sure! As usual, we didn't get any water here, it's been fairly dry. If we meet on Pearl Street we won't get any work done, we'll just end up talking cars and getting plastered at the Walnut.

I had very few problems removing the interior, but I had the FSM on CD for frequent reference, and used Wick Humble's book as a step-by-step guide. I'd note that the interior plastic is even more brittle than he warns (that book is a few years old now), so you have to be pretty easy on the parts.

I tried to save as many of the rivets as possible, but I still ended up with a fair number of broken ones.

Removing the carpet was easy because there wasn't any left from the PO (the car was in pretty poor shape). Several other parts were similarly easy due to their not being there or being so far gone that I wasn't saving them (like the door panels, unfortunately, they're really spendy if you can find them at all).

Removing the vinyl was easy, as the old cement had dried out and wasn't doing much. A little naptha and a blunt-edged scraper eased it off pretty well. I didn't have to save my headliner because there had been a sunroof, so we welded in a new roof from a donor and got a new headliner from that car, too. The new roof had a lot of glue on it, but you can get plenty off with naptha and a scraper (be careful not to press hard at all, if you deform the metal your roof will be dented outward). You have to use more solvent and patience and less just strength. The more glue and stuff that you can remove, the better, but my experience is that you don't need to remove every last scrap of glue as the foam backing can hide some minor irregularities. If what's left is small and/or pretty smooth with the base surface, it's probably fine.

Along with when you're using the glue, I'd use the mask with the naptha, too. Especially if your glass and doors and hatch are still in, they'll trap the fumes. It's really volatile and puts off a lot of vapors. Keep the cap on loosely while you're scrubbing so it doesn't all evaporate (it's cheap, but not that cheap). If you use it in enough quantity to clean things, it's in enough quantity to pose a hazard, too.

I don't know how far you're planning to disassemble yours, but if you can leave the wiring harnesses, dash, and vapor tank/lines in, you'll save a lot of trouble.
Would love to see some pics of the interior before/after, should look great!
Dave

 

Dave,
Just after I graduated from highschool in Minnesota my father was transfered by ATT to Denver right by Stapleton. I never lived there but I visited quite often. Boulder was one of my favorite places to go. This will probably **** you off if you have lived there all your life but I went to see Mork and Mindy's house. I am also a cyclist so Boulder is legendary in that way as well.

Thanks for the tips. I do have a hard copy of the FSM and the Humble book. I managed to find rivits and bought 40 of them NOS. My headliner is in good shape but my door panels are kind of faded. I have a buddy with an upholstery shop that says he can dye the panels to match the new plastic. We shall see how that turns out. My dashboard is toast but I will just put a full cover on it for now. Every once in a while a crack free one shows up for sale.

I will shoot pics. before and after...

Thanks for your tips...

Rob

 

I haven't lived here my whole life, just the last 9 years or so. Embarassingly, I haven't yet gone by the Mork and Mindy house. Maybe I'll cruise by it when I finish the Z. I always forget when I'm out on a ride or in that neighborhood to go see it. I hear the Stanley Hotel is kinda cool to go see up at Estes, too, but I'm only up there when we're on our way to go backpacking and we never seem to make the time. It's nice to meet a fellow cyclist and Z car devotee, as well! You're right, it's a great area for both (though your area of Cali is hardly bad in either respect).
Sounds like you're pretty well set to do that interior. I'm envious you found a hardcopy of the FSM. I've been outbid for those on eBay more than a few times. Such a cool old tech book. My dashboard has several down-to-the-metal-core-support cracks, so I'm going to go for the new material recover (probably these guys, www.dashboardrestorations.com, who oddly have an S30 dash on their page as an example of how bad a dash can be and still be restored).
Let me know how those panels turn out. I'm not sure how I want to work with mine, given NOS don't seem to be around for 78's. But I was never a big fan of the fake woodgrain/chrome strip anyway, so maybe just a good reupholstery job with some clean vinyl and some basic pattern would be good. If repro's ever become available I could always sub them in then.
good luck, and I'm looking forward to those pics. I'll try to post some more of mine if we ever finish our kitchen restoration. My latest is the 21 mos of body work in the gallery, and the before ones are in the Old Readers Rides gallery.
Dave

 

Dave,
I bought this Z from a guy in the nieghborhood who between he and his father owned it since new. The drivetrain is heavily modified with all the go-fast suspension and Nissan Comp LSD etc. Even has triple Webers on an E31 ported and polished by Gerolomy. The interior has been mostly removed for autocross and hillclimb events so I have just to reinstall the new. It came with the FSM and lots of NOS spare parts.
When I moved here 10 years ago I joined Davis Bike Club right away. I QUICKLY figured out that they were maniacs with events like Marleyville and such. Now I ride with the Sacramento Wheelmen and just have fun. Two very nice bikes in my garage. I was medical crew person for one of the Race Accross America women and she set me up nicely with a Raparto Corsa Bianchi and a Look Ti Team bike, both with full Campy. I don't get to ride as much as I would like but I live 1/2 a mile from our famous 60 mile bike trail with no road crossings that runs along the American River.
I will shoot pics as I make progress.
Rob

 

BTW, What color is your interior. My last Z was a '78 with the Butterscotch interior and I have quite a few parts left after the accident.
Rob

 

Rob,
Your current Z setup sounds great! Hard to beat a good condition car from first-owners, and that's getting really hard to find, especially with nicely done mods like those.
Installing new or NOS interior parts in such a great-condition car should be a piece of cake. It's the ones that have sat in cars and UV and aerosols for decades that are brittle (particularly the earlier, thinner panels). Some of my stuff just about disintegrated (again, it was already damaged anyway, so I didn't mind too much). Your stuff should be a lot more user friendly. Are you going with the stock interior taillight panel, or going the built-in speaker box route?
Yeah, the Davis guys are pretty famously insane. The Sacramento Wheelmen are no slouches, either. That's a lot of strong cyclists. Ditto on not getting to ride as much. Too many projects, work, etc. Great setups from the RAAM rider! Working RAAM crew is hard, you definitely earned the bikes! It's really a treat to ride nice stuff like that. I'm currently on an Ultegra equipped carbon Giant on the road, a Trek Y-frame mtb, and a homebuilt single speed. They're older now, but I really like the way they ride. I'll be bummed if/when I have to replace them. There's a mixup of about 10 other bikes in various states of being built. I turned wrenches in a shop during college and grad school, and worked for Schwinn for a year after graduation, before they went bankrupt. The bikes just kind of accumulated. Rocket 88s, 4-bangers, Homegrowns, Kinesis, and a really cool old western flyer cruiser tandem.
Have you had any luck with decent bike rack solutions on S30 Z's? I've tried a lot of them, and the Yakima steelhead-style roof rack seemed to work the best for me, but that's a lot of wind drag and noise at 85 or 90. I was wondering about some of the slipstream style racks. Judging from your signature, it looks like you may have had some variety of experience with car racks.
If I finish the kitchen this weekend (yeah, right), then I can physically get to the Z and the bikes, and hopefully finish a few projects. I'd like to be driving the '78 by midsummer, but we'll see.
I'd offer to buy those panels from you in a second, but my 78's actually a black pearl, so the interior's black, too. The body's completely re-done in a black pearl and I kept the original 638 paint code decal on there. I'm holding off on the pinstripes or louvers. Just never really liked them, but I can put them on later for full authenticity if necessary. Fortunately, it came with A/C, or I'd probably get broiled here in the summer.
Wow, must have been a pretty severe accident for your '78 to end up as a part-out. Glad you at least came out in one piece; what happened?
Dave

 

Dave,
My yellow '78 and I had been together for about 10 years. I think I had it apart at least twice. I had just repainted it in '69 Corvette Yellow and rebuilt the motor and I was doing an anesthesia residency in the Bay area. I drove it down for the day to show some of my fellow residents and I was on my way back on the 680 just approaching I80 when this idiot in a Trans Am came flying up behind me at about 90+. We were in rush hour on a 4 lane road with oleanders and armco between us and the two opposing lanes. I had a woman in a Camry next to me. Mr Trans Am is 4 inches or so from my rear bumper and backing off and coming on as if to scare me. finally I accelerate to pass the Camry and get out of his way but he floors it and trys to pass between us. He hits her and punts her into the rice field and spins me by tapping my right rear and then tagging my front as I spun. I watched his airbag deploy. I spun 4 times and came to a stop facing traffic. I had broken my steering wheel by bracing myself for the crash.
CHP arrested him and towed his car and told me I would have a copy of the report in a week. It actually took a month to get the report and find out his insurance info. Turns out he told his own company that it was a single car accident, no one else involved. His car was fixed before I ratted on him. I don't know how he thought he would get away with it. The Camry gal was airlifted to an ICU.
Luckily my car had been appraised for almost 11K and although they wiggled they paid.
I live very close to the bike trail so I almost never mount up but when I do I use the 4Runner.
Later,
Rob

 

Dave, I had known about the dashboard restoration service but I had thought that they were in the LA area. I looked up their website after you mentioned them and they are in Austrailia. I contacted them and the cost to restore my dash in current USD is $378.00 plus shipping both ways. I am going to look into how much to ship over the next couple days. Thanks for reminding me of that.
Rob

 

They're in Australia? Wow, didn't know that. There's an outfit in VanNuys (justdashes.com), and the dashboardrestorations.com guys' site says all work's done in Washington state. Are they the same as the Aussie outfit? I wonder if it's like the gas tank restoration guys who all seem to interface to the same 10 or so actual shops that do the work. I guess I'm luck in the sense that my dash is so awful that anything I do would look spectacular compared to it's current state. If you think of it, let me know what the shipping quote comes out to be. Really rough ballpark on ups.com's quote generator made me think it was going to be like $80 or so for me to ship to the Seattle area.
good luck,
Dave