DIY painting?
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DIY painting?
Either I'm the only one who is jazzed about his Z again, or everybody else has theirs all fixed up already!
In the past few months, I've replaced the suspension, headlights, exhaust, and stereo. I still need to replace the rear seal on the transmission because it's messing up my new garage floor. After that's done, though, I'm going to be dealing with some cosmetic pieces.
1. The back deck carpet shrunk due to the window and tail light leaks (Oh yeah, I fixed those, too!). Does anybody know where to find that bluish/gray automotive interior carpet that silver turbo z's circa 1987 had?
2. Has anybody ever successfully repainted the front nose/apron themselves? How does a do-it-yourself approach look?
3. Instead of repainting the whole car, I also thought about using some big graphics kits. I'd love to know where you find those.
If you can answer any of the three questions, thanks!
Chukker in Colorado
In the past few months, I've replaced the suspension, headlights, exhaust, and stereo. I still need to replace the rear seal on the transmission because it's messing up my new garage floor. After that's done, though, I'm going to be dealing with some cosmetic pieces.
1. The back deck carpet shrunk due to the window and tail light leaks (Oh yeah, I fixed those, too!). Does anybody know where to find that bluish/gray automotive interior carpet that silver turbo z's circa 1987 had?
2. Has anybody ever successfully repainted the front nose/apron themselves? How does a do-it-yourself approach look?
3. Instead of repainting the whole car, I also thought about using some big graphics kits. I'd love to know where you find those.
If you can answer any of the three questions, thanks!
Chukker in Colorado
Gold Member
Joined: Aug 2003
Posts: 300
From: Chicago, IL
Hey, it'd be great if you could post some pictures of what you've done so far! Always cool to check out what other people are doing to their Z's, especially the rarer 87-89's.
1. In regards to the carpeting in the trunk, it's pretty normal for it to have shrunk over the lifetime of 15 years so I wouldn't even bother messing with it (I found some on eBay, but they were too darn expensive and not in that great of conditions!).
2. I did repaint the apron myself, but only the grey part that's on the bottom. That part is not very difficult, since it doesn't have to be shiny/smooth or match anything (not finished yet in the photo). The top part of the apron, however, would take much more work and it wasn't really needed on my car.
3. Around Chicagoland area, graphics could be found in many "Fast & Furious" type locations. Around rural Colorado...I have no idea! Besides, vinyl graphics are not cheap, so if I were to spend the money I'd rather get a new paint job on the whole car and solve problems 2 & 3 all at once!
1. In regards to the carpeting in the trunk, it's pretty normal for it to have shrunk over the lifetime of 15 years so I wouldn't even bother messing with it (I found some on eBay, but they were too darn expensive and not in that great of conditions!).
2. I did repaint the apron myself, but only the grey part that's on the bottom. That part is not very difficult, since it doesn't have to be shiny/smooth or match anything (not finished yet in the photo). The top part of the apron, however, would take much more work and it wasn't really needed on my car.
3. Around Chicagoland area, graphics could be found in many "Fast & Furious" type locations. Around rural Colorado...I have no idea! Besides, vinyl graphics are not cheap, so if I were to spend the money I'd rather get a new paint job on the whole car and solve problems 2 & 3 all at once!
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I could take pictures of the Z but it looks basically the same as it did when it was new. No wings, air dams or hood scoops! The thing I've enjoyed the most has been the suspension redo. The KYB shocks and the urethane bushings I installed (purchased from Motorsport.com) have really put some snap back into the handling. I didn't have a clue how trashed my front McPherson's were until I changed them out.
The car just looks a little tired and you're right about the paint job. The downside is I probably have to drive 50 - 70 miles to get it to a body shop that can do it justice.
As for the rear deck carpet, I'm going to change it out when I add the subwoofer for the stereo. I'll probably change out my head-unit for an XM setup since I drive over the mountains a lot and like the tunes. The stereo I have in it now is a Sony CD with a Minidisc changer. Each Minidisk (holds 6) can hold about four hours of music. I have it mounted on the deck right behind the passenger seat. The setup works great with my computer media files and I can build new mixes whenever I have the sequence of the old mixes memorized.
Your car looks very sharp. I am going to repaint the back bumper inserts again and the lower part of the front apron. If that looks okay, then I'll probably take off the side mirrors and paint them as well. I'll take some "before/after" pics and put them on the site.
The car just looks a little tired and you're right about the paint job. The downside is I probably have to drive 50 - 70 miles to get it to a body shop that can do it justice.
As for the rear deck carpet, I'm going to change it out when I add the subwoofer for the stereo. I'll probably change out my head-unit for an XM setup since I drive over the mountains a lot and like the tunes. The stereo I have in it now is a Sony CD with a Minidisc changer. Each Minidisk (holds 6) can hold about four hours of music. I have it mounted on the deck right behind the passenger seat. The setup works great with my computer media files and I can build new mixes whenever I have the sequence of the old mixes memorized.
Your car looks very sharp. I am going to repaint the back bumper inserts again and the lower part of the front apron. If that looks okay, then I'll probably take off the side mirrors and paint them as well. I'll take some "before/after" pics and put them on the site.
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