audiofreak97

I don't know if this is the place to post this, but here goes...

It's taken a couple months (mostly working 2 weekends a month on it) but it's finally back on the road. Still have to do the final wash and polish, but that will be done just before the trip to California for the Z Car Nationals.

Here is the beginning, your standard N/A 280ZX (pay no attention to the turbo badges)


Started tearing it down...



Got a little creative...



Spent a little money on a fuel rail just for fun...


Did a little under hood cleaning


Painted...

audiofreak97

Let the Z get some fresh air...



Painted the rear bumper 2 or 3 times (don't ask)


Got it all put together...


Had to paint the rear bumper again...


And Re-skinned the door panels...


Finally got drive the Z again, and I love it. Just need to take care of a few little things, build a sub box, keep an eye on it and doesn't get stolen or wrecked then drive it to California for the West Coast Nationals

All pictures are here if anyone cares to take a look...
http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v2...0Construction/

NismoPick

Well done bro!!! We gotta do a cruise somewherezzz....

280zx2by2

woot, i love seeing 2+2's get some love!!!

NismoPick

Does the bottom edge of the door hit the side skirt lip? I never installed mine because I can't shut my door w/ them on...

audiofreak97

Nope, they don't hit at all. Even with the added fiberglass bit on the door...
Let me know when you are ready to cruise!

Hmm... did someone add a title under my name for me? hahaha

Philbert

looking good!

are you going to refinish the wheels at all?

Do you have more pics of the whole package? The front bumper looked great - would love to see the whole package on another 2+2

Also, how did you reskin the doors - what did you use and how did you apply it? Did you have to remove the old vinyl?

looks fantastic - rattle can or real spray gun?

audiofreak97

I'm going to do my best to clean the wheels up. I'm still trying to decide what wheels to get and what size.

I don't have any full pictures yet. I just started driving it again, but I will get some full shots this week or this weekend.

As for the doors, I pulled the browned grey vinyl off (came off real easy too!) went to some fabric store (I think it's called Jo Ann or something) picked up some grey vinyl and some headliner foam and glued it on using Loctite Spray Glue from Lowes. That stuff is awesome! Glued my finger right to the spray nozzel!

The paint is PPG paint. I don't know the name of it, just picked it out of a book. The paint sticker said it was manufactured by the Coors/Adolph Brewing Company, so that color . I tore the car down and put it back together, and my dad did the paint. He picked up a couple real nice guns to do the paint too... I just don't know what kind...

audiofreak97

Odd, double post...

snwbrderphat540

you did a nice job, i wish that MSA kit didnt leave that gap in front of it between the bumper and hood.

oh and what kinda paint did you use? single stage or double stage? cause it looks like single stage from how nicely it seems to have sprayed the first time lol. that or your just a really good at home self painter.

audiofreak97

Its a two stage paint. And yeah, I agree with you on the gap between the hood and bumper...

280zx2by2

lol do you think i chose "resident pest" (all be it fits quite well)

snwbrderphat540

you did a great job. i have a problem with spraying a smooth clear coat, any tips? mine always raises or turns into this VERY constricted orange peel that it takes days to sand through it smooth and sometimes comes all the way off. yeah... not sure why. might be the temperature i usually paint in. 50 degrees with the clear made for that temp but i wonder if it maybe drys to fast (since thats what you need for the colder weather) that or im mixing the clear improperly. any tips? cause it looks like your clear sprayed smooth as glass. this is what mine looks like after the clear spray





hope that you with a painters eye can see what im trying to explain.


if not you look at where the lights glare in the paint and you can see the "textured" surface show through there.

domsgarage

It looks like a lot of dust and what not got into it.

snwbrderphat540

nope ^^^^ def not, i always wipe down extensively with degreaser RIGHT before spraying and it was done in winter, pretty dust free in that season in the garage.

domsgarage

true.

you can see why id think that though. it looks a little grainy to me in the pictures.

the color is nice though. good luck with it.

snwbrderphat540

its gone haha. but i'll have another painting project coming up and don't want to encounter this EVER AGAIN!!!! but yeah i know what you mean. thats exactly what it looks like, someone threw sand under my paint lol.

KingDatsun1

looks a lot like my paint lol








yours is a bit darker

snwbrderphat540

mines a ford mustang shadow grey metallic i think was what it was called

KingDatsun1

mines a PPG gunmetal metallic OMNI edition (cheap) lol

painted the car for $300 in my driveway, turned out very nice.


I love that color.

my next Z is going to be matte black

domsgarage

matt black is easy.

just use a few coats of DP-90, dont worry about actual paint.

ive done this twice to two of my cherokees and it looks good.

280zx2by2

primer is not the best idea, there are flat/matte black paints that have UV protection and and that will seal out moisture, but primer is primer, it can be painted what ever color you want

but if your serious for flat black...

http://www.tcpglobal.com/kustomshop/ksflatz.aspx

domsgarage

the dp-90 is a sealed epoxy primer.

i did my first cherokee about 5 years ago and it still looks good, last time i saw it was a few months ago (sold it.)

im not going to debate paints though, i know there are flat/matte paints available, i just decided to go with the dp-90, i just did my jeep saturday in the same thing. I think it needs another coat, but it dried nicely.

That hot rod **** is way over priced.

280zx2by2

does dp-90 scratch? i want to do a s30 in a matte black and im not really worried about rust, but i don't want it looking more light gray than black

domsgarage

It can be washed with no issues.

Ive driven it up against countless branches, no issues.

Most of the time, if anything does scratch it you can rub it out with your hand.

The first time I did it, it dried shinny and i didnt want that so I rubbed it down with steel wool and the only thing it did was leave this white dust coating that i rubbed right off.

For normal driving and what not, its fine, I would recommend it.

The only thing I would say is that I think its one part hardner (get the slow activator) and one part dp-90, this time I used two parts dp one part hardner and it dried smoother and flatter.

This is the one I painted five years ago, I took the pictures mid summer last year. You can see how well it held up.