Zed Body Assembled

Quick post today. This past weekend, Boo, C and I put the hood, rear hatch and doors onto Zed, in that order. That's really all there is today, but we did learn some things, as we always do, along the way.

Hood

hood, door on

We started with the hood, not because we thought it would be easiest, but because it was the closest to the car, and we didn't want to trip over it. When I removed the hood to shoot it, the hood was open. Now, that sounds kind of obvious, but earlier, when I had it off, it had been closed. Back then, I could not get the mounting brackets to shift from closed to open position after I removed it. After all the prep work, I installed it to get the fenders and such to line up. When it came time to paint, I opened the hood and removed it vertically. I was by myself, but I figured if I scratched or dropped it as I removed it, it was not a big deal. For install, though, I needed hands to hold it steady or it would get scratched and that would have been super disappointing. I held one side and C held the other while Boo got all bendy, reaching into the engine bay with the bolts. Once they were fingered in, we lowered the hood (still unlatched) to put on the other panels.

Rear Hatch

hatch, door on

The rear hatch was the easiest of all 4 to install. C and I each held it aloft while Boo fingered on the nuts. The hinges were attached to the body, so they wanted to lay down in a way that we could not get to the underside to put on the nuts. C found some scrap foam and stuffed it under each of the hinges so they popped up enough to get the nuts on. The hatch still needs some adjustment to sit a little higher, I think, but I will probably wait on that until after I have the seal installed so I can get it where it needs to go. I figure I would have to adjust it after the seal goes on anyway.

Passenger Door

C and I planning

For the doors, I left the hinges installed against the car, and removed the bolts from the hinges into the doors. I did this for 2 reasons. First, and most obvious, the bolts that run through the hinges into the body are mostly covered by the fenders when they are installed... like they are now. With the body kit epoxied in place, those fenders are going nowhere. Second, the majority of the install wiggle is in the bolts the go into the car body. Once I got the doors where I wanted them before the last tear-down for paint, it is much easier to get them back where they belong with just the hinge-to-door bolts. Still, this is at least a 2-person operation: one holding the door (from the inside: protect the paint) and another threading in the bolts. I held the door, and moved it as requested while C did the threading. Boo, meanwhile, moved car-port supports and such out of the way.

Driver Door

The driver door was probably the hardest. Consider that the person doing the bolt threading needs to reach past the door from the inside, placing your head where the steering wheel is. Still, the process is the same: one person holds the door steady while the other threads the bolts. We took turns and after about 30 minutes we had the door on.

Front Bumper Adjust

bumper not yet adjusted

At this point, I cut C and Boo loose to get after their own Saturday afternoons while I fiddled with alignment of the various panels. I started with and got the hood square and evenly spaced on either side. I had to loosen the headlight bucket on the passenger side and push it outward, but otherwise the hood aligned relatively easily (read: 30 minutes). The doors latch, and they installed right where they were before, so I will probably leave them be until after the seals go in, like the rear hatch. Because of the nature of the latching mechanism for the doors, there really isn't very much forward/aft movement available, leaving just the height that you would really adjust. I am satisfied that the height is spot on, but once the weight of the glass is added, I may need to adjust them upward to compensate.

While standing back, admiring the front end, I noticed that the front bumper was much closer to the bottom of the passenger side headlight bucket than the driver side. It was a noticeable 10mm difference. I loosened the nuts holding the front bumper bar and tried to lower the passenger side or raise the driver side. It made very little difference (maybe 1-2mm). I had to loosen the front bumper brackets where they mount to the car and shim the driver side to make up the difference. They are exactly even now, but it took some doing.

Well, that's it for today. We have some housing things going on, so I'll probably go dark on the blog for a while. We had an unexpected opportunity to grab a small farmhouse on a large lot around the way. So, my time will be taken with home repair projects and then moving. Suffice to day, I will probably not be doing anything major on a car until winter.

Thanks, as always, for following along-

Zed Shot

Following the post from last week, I spent this past weekend getting Zed (1979 Datsun 280zx) painted. This has been such a long time coming, it is really hard to believe the painting is over. I may circle-back around and shoot some touch-up clear coat some day, but for now, the painting is complete. I have not color-sanded nor cut/buffed, but that isn't technically painting.... and I'm not going to do that for a while anyway. Unless I change my mind, cuz that never happens. About that painting...

Scrapping Booger Epoxy

base shot

I concluded my efforts the prior weekend with removing the clamps and confirming that the bumpers held in place. This confirmation was simply me tugging on them in various directions. Everything set right. Starting Saturday morning, I got after reducing the epoxy spread along the seams of the front bumper. Recall, I put that clear epoxy all over where you can't see, but wanted to make sure it really held to the fenders on the ends. So, I applied a bunch where you couldn't see and then ran a bead along the seam. this stuff sands off in boogers, so rather than suffer that again, as I did with the side skirts, I tried a different method this time.

Using the razor blade, I etched two lines, one a hair above and the other a hair below the seam. Then, using a piece of 320-grt sandpaper, I worked the edge of the epoxy until it lifted off a little bit. I grabbed that edge and pulled off small sheets that left a clean edge along the seam. This took far less time than straight sanding, and left a much cleaner finish. In the final picture below, you really can't see any evidence of epoxy peeking through.

more base

With the epoxy lines clean, I repaired some masking and performed my usual degreaser cleanse. Next, I set up for paint, laying down my air lines and mixing station, getting the supplies in place, etc. In the past, I did not get 100% ready, leaving things like lacquer thinner or a parts-cleaning brush in the garage. Inevitably I would have to open the garage door, letting all that stink into the house, just long enough to grab something. This time, I had my gun set up with the line drier, paint set out on a sheet of crap plywood, tarps on the ground, walls on the carport, etc before I even thought about mixing paint. Once I was set up, I took a break for food. Figure each coat takes about an hour, and I didn't want to be shooting hungry.

Shooting Base

Once fed, I wiped the car and the detached parts with a tack-cloth. I felt ready to go, but a little anxious after borking it the last time. I had the paint-correct activator this time though, so I was hopeful. Similar to the prior paint shoot, I mixed 20oz at a time, pouring most of the mixture into the hopper on top of the gun, leaving a little in the jar so it wouldn't drip out the air-hole at the top when I'm shooting at a sharp angle. Unlike the last time, I literally used a jar to mix in, versus a plastic measuring cup. The paint would stick to the plastic cup; it doesn't stick to glass. I pre-measured my mix lines (4oz for activator, 12oz on top of that for base), and simply poured in the activator to the first line and filled with color to the second. I hand shake the can of base for a few minutes before each session, and then shake it for a few seconds before each mix into the jar... because this has metal flake in it. I imagine, if this were just color (no flake), I wouldn't need to do that pre-jar shake. I want to make sure there's plenty of flake in each mini-batch.

hood base close-up

Because I failed to set up the gun correctly the last time, I was a little more sensitive this time. I had at least one coat still on the car, so I didn't need multiple coats everywhere, and I didn't have a full gallon left anyway. So, to set up the gun, I roughed-in the pressure by setting the pressure at the compressor to 30. I have read that there is some pressure loss down the lines, so rounding up a couple of pounds is better. I have a pressure regulator with a gauge at the gun plus the pressure control knob on the gun itself. I understand that necking down the pressure only at the paint-gun end of the hose will reduce the pressure, but the volume of air increases. So, by setting the pressure at the tank closer to your end-desired pressure, the volume will not meaningfully change when you lower the pressure at the gun by a few pounds. Anyway, with the pressure set, I hooked up my in-line drier, opened up the paint volume knob and started shooting test fans on one of the replacement hoods I got for ToyoTruck. In my last session, I used some cardboard. I don't know if this made a huge difference, but I figure test-shooting onto auto-steel is probably a better fan-test than paper.

Satisfied I was getting a fan that laid down without orange peel, spitting or thin spots, I set to shooting the arrayed parts (hood, tail gate and doors) and then the main shell. I had thought I had enough paint for 2 coats. I was wrong. When I thought I had enough for 2 coats, I shot the most important stuff first (omitting the door jams), and then did not have enough paint to get the door jams. So, after the weather seals are on, there may be a few spots in the door jams that don't have the coverage the rest of the car enjoys. Since I was out of paint, I just moved on. I figure I can get a rattle can of this paint (9mm metallic) from Eastwood if it really bothers me.

Shooting Clear

hood clear'd

I have read that letting your paint dry for up to 4 hours before applying clear coat is a good idea. Others have said you can shoot it as soon as the directions for the base say you could shoot another coat of base (like 15-20 minutes in my case). I decided that a little extra off-gassing / drying wouldn't hurt so long as I shot the clear coat within 24 hours of the base. Outside of 24 hours, the base needs a scuff for the clear to really adhere. I figured early Sunday afternoon was inside the 24 hour window, since it was now past 4PM. My other options were to shoot right away or wait a few hours and shoot after dark. I didn't like either of those, so I cleaned up the gun, and the work area.

Sunday morning started similar to Saturday afternoon. I already had the walls up and the tarps down. So, I just needed to set up the painting rig. I had chosen Eastwood's Low-VOC High Solids clear. The reviews were not as good as some of their other clear coats, but most of the complaints were about it's ability to flow out the gun. The advice was to include reducer, which I did. The standard mix for the clear is 4-parts clear to 1-part activator. I added about 1.5 parts reducer. Similar to my use of a jar for the paint to get my measurements consistent, I used a different jar for the clear. Otherwise, the process was the same.

rear clear, in the sun

The weather for both Saturday and Sunday was peculiar for the west-of-the-Cascades Pacific Northwest. The sky was overcast, which made painting much easier. When I shot a few weeks ago, it was very sunny. You would think all that light would make it easier to shoot, but it didn't. Seeing the fan and the paint lay down was much harder in all that light. The overcast skies created a flat light that allowed me to see the target and the paint (and clear) much easier. Weeks ago, I used a GunBudd to help me see. This time, I didn't need anything to see. I did, however, have to wait for the weather to warm up to 70*F. It's a really strange feeling, waiting for the air to get above 70* in August, but that's the world we're in, I guess.

front p-side clear'd

The clear laid down very well, and flowed out the gun without issue. I probably could have used a little less reducer, as I suffered a few drips and sags. Still, I was able to get 2 nice coats of clear before I ran out of reducer. As the clear dried, I became less and less concerned about the drips/sags and more pleased with the overall look. From the pictures, everything looks a little wavy, but I'm okay with that. Without the camera, I think it looks amazing and the difference in the way the color looks between sunlit and shadowed is remarkable. In the first clear picture of the hood above, you can see my elbow in the lower right corner reflecting off the hood. My arm is probably 5 feet away, and that's not a shadow (I'm actually facing west); that's the reflection of my arm. I think that describes how deep this paint can look once it's wet sanded, cut and buffed. Thinking of the imperfections, I know I can sand those drips down and the waves will sand flat. I have more clear, so I can re-shoot areas if I really need to. For now, I am going to let everything sit for a few days, and then start gingerly attaching the hood, rear lid and doors.

I don't know for sure what's next. Well, strip the masking, but maybe I'll clean the engine bay and then start re-installing the electrical stuff. Or do I do windows next? I don't know. I suppose the next logical step is to sort through the shed-room and figure out what I have and don't have. Let's not forget, when I inherited this project, it was a basket case. After all the painting, I still have boxes and piles of unlabeled parts. So, I guess the next step is to empty out the jigsaw puzzle pieces and start sorting.

That's it for today. Thanks, as always, for following along-

Orange Peel

Brief post today. For the tl;dr folks, after I let the paint on Zed (1979 280ZX) cure, I looked at it more closely. I definitely did not have enough pressure at the gun, leading to the paint not atomizing well... resulting in some nice orange peel.. pretty much on everything. Today's post touches on that, and then finishes with the bumpers getting installed.

Before I start, today is Boo's birthday. Boo, you are amazing. I am so grateful we found each other, I simply can't express. Your support for my car projects, and tolerance for the corresponding messes has helped make these posts happen. Your embrace of a "Let's See" attitude has opened doors I would not have thought possible. You inspire me. Congratulations on another trip around the sun; I am looking forward to the next annual trip together again.

Sand Sand Sand

rear bumper installed

Why say it 3 times? Well, I spent 3 days sanding all the orange peel off Zed's exterior. After trying a few different grit combinations to get the orange peel off, I found wet sanding with 120 grit and following with 320 (also wet) removed the orange peel most effectively. This was not fast, however. I put in 3 6-hour days to get the orange peel gone. Fortunately, I had put 3 coats of base on, so I didn't burn through to primer very much. I still have almost an entire gallon of base, so when I have another full day available (maybe next weekend), I can shoot 2 new coats of base and then the clear.

Even after a wet sand, there is a residue. I washed everything with a mild no-residue-leaving car wash and the garden hose. With our warm dry weather, the puddles dried up quickly. I will still need to do my usual de-grease, tack-cloth routine, but I am starting out from a much better place than had I not washed it. 

Bumper Installs

front p-side

With the car sanded and clean, I decided to install the bumpers. If I learned anything from the side skirt installs it is that they will not go on effortlessly. Had I shot the pain perfectly, I would still probably have something to fix with regards to the bumpers after installing them. Unlike the side skirts, though, they were not nearly as non-compliant.

My method was similar. I started with a nice coating of contact cement on both the inside of the bumper and the steel bar it was attaching to. Ditto for the side panels. Once the cement was set up, I applied some of the clear epoxy on top of the cement along the top and face of the bumper bar. I then set the bumper in place. For the rear bumper, I re-used the M4 bolts to hold it in the right spot as the cement and epoxy set. I held the front bumper in place with a pair of long clamps just in front of the front wheels. To make sure the front held well, I spread a thin layer along the top seam, like I had with the side skirts. I know I know... this stuff is "sandable" (read: not really sandable), and I'll be scraping boogers before I can shoot the paint. I am willing to accept that, if the bumper holds firm. In the picture below, of the driver side, you can see the seam marked with a shiny line. That will need to be minimized for paint.

front d-side

The next morning, I tested the hold. I could lift the rear end of the car by holding onto the bottom of the rear bumper. That's a win. For the front, I removed the clamps, and pulled the bottom edges (near the tires) away from the car. The fender flexed a little bit, but the bumper did not budge. I will be scraping boogers, but it will hold.

Well, that's basically it for today. It has been a very labor-intense week for such a short post. That's how it goes some times, though: work for almost 40 hours and have little to show for it. If the weather holds ,and I can carve out the time, I hope to be shooting this weekend.

Thanks, as always, for following along-

Zed, Block Party of 1

Brief post today. After completing the various projects on Hapy (1972 VW bus) and Oliver (1978 MGB), I decided the weather was starting to look promising for getting back after the paint on Zed. Today's short post is re-entering the world of body work.

Where Were We

Last Autumn, I seized an unseasonably warm dry day after rainy season had started to shoot some hi-build primer onto the shell and other removed body pieces. I thought this was the best way to protect the largest portions of the exposed steel from rust. My thought appears to have been spot-on, and the shell appears to have fared quite well. Consider that the shell sat outside all winter under a temporary car port.... until February when we were hit with an incredible ice storm. Power was out across the Portland area for days. I did not lose power, but Boo and I had to go out into it to save the cars parked under the car ports. The ice had been building up, and you could see the material starting to flex. So, we pulled the opaque plastic sheeting off the frames and instead covered Zed with a pair on regular tarps. I knew this would encourage moisture to gather underneath, especially as the ice melted away, but I feared leaving the primer exposed to the elements more. The car ports were restored and the tarps removed within a few days.

Assessing, Sanding and Re-Priming

even under the fenders

Now, months later, our weather is considerably more suited to outdoor play. With various grit's of sandpaper, I started sanding the primer, and looking for rust. I was pleasantly surprised to find very little. Before I could really get started, though, I spent some time cleaning Zed, and vacuuming everywhere with the shop vac.

I started with the front clip (valence in front of the windshield and the exposed sections which will be covered by the front fenders. There were no new rust spots, but the sanding took most of a day. I took the hi-build down as smooth as I could with 150-grit first. The primer was so rough, it took the sandpaper down fairly quickly. Once smooth-ish, I would shop-vac all of the dust and wet sand with progressively higher "grit", starting with 220 and finishing with 400. Once smooth, I cleaned the area with oil and grease remover and then shot the area with self-etching primer.

halfway around

Once my process was defined, I spent the rest of the weekend, and the next week (around my work schedule) working my way around the rest of the shell. Overall, the body withstood last winter's weather very well. Of course, there were many places where I sanded through the hi-build primer down to the bare metal again. I found a few (less than 5) surface rust spots that I needed to sand down to bare metal as well. Still, the overall condition was quite good.

And Then More Sanding

Once the shell was completed, I shifted to all the other body panels (2 doors, the rear tailgate and the massive hood). Those parts represent more than half of the entire car surface area, so I expected that I would be sanding for quite some time. I did find, however, that using a block did move the sanding much faster, but the block can also accelerate you through the primer. So, I am using a mix of the block through the larger flat areas, leaving the edges for doing by hand, or much more slowly with the block. This balance has been working. Also, I only dry-sanded, focusing on 220-grit with a quick pass with 400 (again, dry), out of concern that the hi-build primer would absorb water.

More Bondo? Why, Yes, Thank You

there are always more spots

The shell that sat outside all winter needed better priming, but the body panels that were stored inside all winter needed more body filler. I had thought the hi-build would help cover up more of my bodywork misses. Nope. So, once I got the hi-build down smooth, I went hunting for waves in the panels. I found a few, and returned to the Bondo-Sand-Bondo cycle (See Bondo Zed) . I do want to stress that at no point is the filler more than 1/8" thick; I have 1 of 2 issues continuing to appear: over-sand or under-apply. In either case, the result is a need to go at it again. Fun. Eventually, I will have the panels in a condition where my hand cannot feel wobbles in the panel and then I'll be done. At that point, I will re-shoot with the hi-build over the Bondo spots as well as re-shoot on top of the self-etch on the main shell (this will insure better paint adherence). And then, of course, sand where I shot. Whee!

That's really all there is to talk about. I expect there will be a break in posts unless I take a step away from Zed to do something small on one of the other cars or take a trip or something. So, if you don't see a post, you know why. Once Zed is genuinely ready for final paint prep, there will be a new story to tell, and I'll post on that. Whether we are celebrating US Independence Day or Hapy's 50th birthday before that... well... Let's See. I have discovered along the way that we are missing the front air dam thing that goes under the front bumper. And, I don't have a solution for the rear bumper yet, so I'll be thinking about how to fill those gaps in an interesting way as well. If the solution will require painting to body color (likely), then the actual application of top coat may move further into the future. Cool.

Thanks, as always, for following along-

You're Never Actually Ready for Paint

It's sort of like when you tell yourself that "maybe we'll take that trip next year". Or "maybe we'll do that bathroom re-model after the taxes are paid". "Maybe I'll go back to school after the kids are gone." Yeah. It's like that. What is? When you say "we're almost ready for paint". No, you're not; we have been saying "we're almost ready for paint" about this 1979 280ZX for almost 3 years. Today's post pulls the Zed out of storage and back into the workplace. First, let's remember some of the history of this thing.

Zed, a History

original CL listing

We bought it 3 years ago (come August) from a couple of guys who were turning it into a drift car. They made many dubious decisions like removing the center console, the little rear partition where the stereo speakers go, the sunroof (tack-welded and duct-taped on a piece of tin to fill the hole), the carpet, etc in the interest of dropping weight. They hacked up the ignition and wiring so the fuel pump, ignition and radiator fans are all controlled by switches. Of course, the switches don't match and they were installed kinda hinky, but they work. They did start with a great shell, though they painted a big purple V on the hood that just had to go. There is very little rust. In fact, there's hardly any anywhere on this thing. They did fold the driver door and fender, though. And, they did a top-end rebuild, so the valves still need to be re-gapped.

We bought a second 280ZX from a guy outside Seattle and had it towed home. This one was rusting apart, but it had a very clean grey interior, the center console and some other goodies, like original alloy rims. Our plan was simple: remove the interior, rims and other bits... then pitch the donor. The keeper would get a decent paint job (probably one that we'd do and learn how along the way), and then we would re-add all of the pieces. A replacement driver door was found during a separate trip T and C took into northwestern Washington. Unfortunately the yard was closing by the time they got there so they couldn't grab the matching fender. Oh, I almost forgot: this was my son's project. So, I was available labor, bur the decisions were his. The body parts were removed and hand-stripped either with chemicals or a grinder by C. Somewhere along the way, he either lost interest or became overwhelmed and the Zed was parked.

Out of Garage Storage
After shimmying along side the Zed, parked in the prime spot in the garage, for the next 2 years, I decided I needed to take more of a lead role. So, Boo and I pushed Zed back into the driveway. We are going to do everything we can to keep the Zed from returning to the garage in less than 1 piece. Zed hasn't been meaningfully looked at in months, so I spent a few minutes just getting re-familiarized with it. The fenders looks decent. The driver side has some small dents from where the fold near the driver door was hammered out. The passenger side looks straight. Both have a little rust along their bottom edges. The tailgate is solid, with some rust along the top edge. The hood is in great shape, showing no rust. A replacement driver door was originally a copper color, the outside skin had been stripped like the rest of the body panels, but the inside and edges were still copper. Overall, it felt like we could be fairly close to paint.

Still Not Ready for Paint

purchase day, passenger side

And yet, we're not. Over an exceptionally rainy weekend, I tucked into the 2 doors. I laid out cardboard, and starting with the passenger door, removed the glass, window controller and door latch mechanisms. Then, I re-sanded the outside with 100 grit and then 150 grit to get the skin smooth enough to an initial coat of primer, or filler if needed. The passenger door had a glaring imperfection at the door handle that I needed to bang out. Not having decent body tools, I made do with what I could pull together. In the end, I was left with a divot about an inch across (25mm) and about 1/4" deep. Because of where it is located, I can't get a good push angle from the inside. Anyway, I'll body fill that divot in stages so the filler dries correctly. I found some additional little pits that I can fill while I have the Bondo mixed.

The replacement driver door was in better shape, but it had a small horizontal outward fold about 6 inches from the bottom near the rear edge (front is front) that I couldn't see nor feel until I has the skin nice and smooth. That will be harder to get flat. I worked it with a rubber mallet, and that actually fixed most of it. There is, of course, more to be done before the doors are ready. These cars are so rare, the door rubber isn't available anymore. So, I am carefully removing the originals for reuse after paint. Once removed, the rest of the silver (passenger door) and copper (driver door) that would be visible after the door cards are returned will be sanded. Then, I'll do the body filler. Only then can I tape them for paint. Of course, the fenders (look at the driver fender in the original CL posting for an idea of the worst of it), the tail gate and the hood need similar attention... as does the remaining shell. So... it's gonna be a while before we're actually laying paint.

Ready is a State of Mind
In some ways, maybe this is like considering having a child: you're never actually ready for that either. Ultimately, you have the kid when you don't think you're ready, but maybe you actually kinda were; you were just scared. I think the same will be true of the paint prep. I painted houses for years, and if you are methodical and meticulous, you eventually get to the end. In both cases, it's about trusting yourself, and accepting that you're never ready and it's never perfect. At least not for your first few paint jobs... or your first few kids.

I can tell you that this effort will be consuming the next several weeks, and I have stopped all work on Hapy to make room to get this thing moving forward. I probably won't post much. But, then again, I have said that before and always managed to post anyway, so who knows? Regardless, thanks as always for following along.

Zed Progress Report

It has been a long stretch since I posted on the '79 Datsun 280ZX ("Zed") in my garage. Today, is your basic update.

Slow Paint Prep
I'll start with the not so great. Our final efforts last Fall to get Zed in a position for some progress on the paint did not really make a difference. The outer shell is pretty much in the same state: virtually rust free, but still not paint-ready. Not really even close. We were able to remove the tail gate and passenger door, though.

doors and tail gate off

The tail gate is held on by 2 hinges where each hinge has 2 nuts-on-studs on the gate and 2 nuts-on-studs into the body of the car. We removed the nuts on the studs protruding from the car. We'll separate the hinge from the tail gate later. The gate is held up by 2 gas-filled struts. These are original, and still hold the gate up very well. These are held onto a little ball-protrusion by a small bail. I flicked the bail to the side, removed the strut and then put the bail right back on again. I suspect these would be very hard to find items if we lose them. Before you remove the struts and then hinges, the electrical plug for the rear defrogger needs to be unplugged from the harness (rear end of the inside of the roof) and then fed back through the hole in the body. So, its: unplug/feed, remove struts, then hinges. Our install will be the reverse (hinges, struts, feed/plug).

The passenger door is pretty much the same thing, except the hinges are stacked vertically rather than horizontally. It is similar otherwise. We set a floor jack under the far end of the door to hold it upright while we removed the nuts. C worked the wrenches while I held the door steady. Once the nuts were loose, he unplugged the electrical, fed it through and then removed the nuts. One quick tug on the door and it was off.

Think Time
We spent quite a bit of time going through parts and planning our approach. Since the weather was pretty meh most of the times C dropped by, he focused on getting the carpets and seats cleaned. But there was a lot of time available to think about the project. For example, we have 2 sets of door cards, one set with some grey and one set that's all black. The all-black look pretty good, but they do not have window switch holes, they have manual crank holes. Do we want electric windows? We have the wiring, winders, even the switches. Maybe we put them in the center console instead of in the doors? Fortunately, there is plenty of time to think since the car is not in paint yet. We did decide, however, that finishing the paint makes much more sense than assembling any parts of the interior first.

Carpets

cleaned carpet test fit

As part of the slowly-moving-things-forward effort by C, he spent a considerable amount of time cleaning the carpets from the DonorZ. These are a nice grey color, but there were rust stains, cigarette burns and filth rubbed into them. C used a combination of baking soda, vinegar and dish soap to scrub the carpets. Then, he left them for a few months. When he returned, he attacked them with the power washer. They turned out amazing. The elbow grease was important, but I think the power washer did the bulk of the work. And it was fast. After they were washed, we hung them over patio furniture under an overhang (out of the rain) to dry. When wet, they didn't look like much, but after they dried, they actually had a little sparkle to them. Now, cleaning can't fix burn holes, so we thought we should put them in the car so we could see where the holes show up. As luck would have it, they appear under the passenger feet, but C will have floor mats, so they won't be visible most of the time. If we couldn't solve for the burns, C was prepared to dye the carpets black. I'm glad he is sticking with the grey. I think it will help the black parts of the interior "pop" more, and the interior will be brighter during our long dark and gloomy months.

Seats

C crushing it

Speaking of the black interior, part of the DonorZ collection of parts were the seats. When the car arrived, these seats had grey aftermarket covers on them. They look okay, but after seeing what was possible with the carpet, C dug into the seats. Using carpet and upholstery cleanser, mixed with a small-area carpet cleaning machine, C was able to do a similar transformation on the seats as he did with the  carpets (see the picture to the right). We were able to determine why the seats had a cover, though: a black mark about the size of a disc-golf disc was on the seat where the driver's backside would go. After cleaning, though, it was only slightly larger than a deck of cards. And, it wasn't as dark. Perhaps, with a little more cleaning, that black mark could nearly disappear. Similar to the carpets, wherever he worked, they cleaned up very well. We may need to spend a few more cycles on them, but they already look way better than before, and they are 100% original Datsun 280ZX seats. This velour material isn't available anymore, so if we can retain it, the car will hold more value... and it will cost us less.

That's really all that's happened over the last 8 months. C has been working very hard on getting through, arguably, the hardest year in US high school: Junior year. So, that should be his focus. Hopefully, once school lets out for Summer, he will be able to get this project moving forward. I know he wants to drive it, and he definitely enjoys working on it. And, he has really only gotten to do the inglorious parts (paint stripping and cleaning). Finding the time, regardless of how old you are, seems to be a common challenge. Once the work shifts to paint and assembly, I have the feeling that time will suddenly be more abundant. It usually is for me, anyway.

Thanks, as always, for following along.

Z Progress

It's been quite some time since I posted an update on the 280ZX project. Today, I'll catch everyone up. For my US former military readers, Happy belated Veteran's Day and thank you for your service.

Tear Down Blocks

shedroom

In my last post about the Zed in March (See Strip Tea Z), I described the tear down of the donorZ, and even posted the link to the craigslist sale of the picked-over shell. We found a buyer, a guy who rebuilds old 240's, 260's and 280's, and he knew there was some remaining value in what we sold him. To make the sale work, I had stripped lots of good stuff, and stashed them wherever I could find a place in the small garage. Mostly, these parts were set inside the keeperZ (Zed). This had the unfortunate side-effect of reducing the interest in working on the Zed. So, this past weekend, K2 and I emptied the Zed of all of the parts we were storing in there. This created a need to deal with the shedroom.

Shedroom

inspected

When it was conceived, the shedroom was a "couple months" solution (See 280ZX * 2 = Y). Now, over 9 months later, it has persisted. Boo and I decided that we needed to embrace the shedroom, and set it up better than the basic pile of parts on the floor that it had become. Otherwise, the work which has stagnated will never restart. So, similar to the interior of the Zed, we moved all of the parts out... into the hallway. Then, we installed a set of monster shelving and organized the parts onto it. This made the space much larger, and more useful... and allowed for all the other parts from the inside of Zed to fit. So, now we have the Zed empty of spares, and parked in the driveway (under a 10x10 canopy), ready to be worked on.

Auto Shop Class
K2 has started an auto-shop course in high school. This is the only such course available in the state of Oregon, and has a class size of less than 20, so it's kind of a big deal. Gone are the days of every high school having a shop like this. As I said, Oregon only has one. From this class, K2 is learning things that he is now teaching us. Included in this growing list of teachings is the multi-point inspection.

Inspection

stripped

K2 wanted to do some work on the Zed after we emptied it of spares. The auto-shop class is much more focused on mechanical than body or interior stuff, and he felt that doing classwork stuff would help him retain the teachings. So, he set to doing a full inspection of the Zed, recording his findings for us to evaluate. My sole influence was for him to write everything down, and not to filter anything out due to concern that we wouldn't want to do the fix. Similar to having the boys decide if a car was purchase-worthy, I want the boys to drive what is or is not in need of repair, based on diagnostics not cost or convenience. The list was pretty long, including the brake booster and radiator replacements, and a full tune up. That's totally fine. I tell them that money should only guide "when" not "if" something should be done. If it is a safety item and you can't afford to fix it, get a bus pass until you can.

Strip

Sunroof Returns

With weather changing, our window for getting the grinding done before winter arrives is closing. I don't think we're going to get the exterior paint-ready before then, but I think we can get the old paint off before pushing Zed back into the garage for body-fill. How we manage the sanding of that body-fill will be the adventure that follows. With K2's preference for mechanical, I expect he'll get after the tune-up and radiator replacement completely independent of the exterior work. After another weekend day dedicated to the paint, we have stripped the fenders, hood, driver door, rear quarter panels, and roof. All that's left is the rear hatch and the passenger door: both of which can be done on the front porch. So, we are ready for the seasonal rains and the winter that follows. We can figure out body filler along the way.

Sunroof

the grind

The early 280ZX delivered with a sunroof. The donorZ was a late 280ZX, and it shipped with T-tops. Our early model, however, arrived without the sunroof. The prior owner who made such memorable decisions as removing the less-than-one-pound rear speaker panel, gutting the interior for weight and hacking the wiring so the fuel pump and ignition were triggered by switches also decided to remove the glass sunroof and weld on a patch panel. And weld it poorly with gaps and burn-thru. To resolve the leaks, the seam was "sealed" with duct tape. Neat. I had a couple of hours on a Saturday, and the sky, while threatening, wasn't supposed to open up with rain for a couple of hours. So, I backed the Zed into the driveway. The duct tape removed with a razor blade, and within about 15 minutes I was able to knock the patch panel free simply by hammer a wedge into the spotty gap, focusing on the welds. I cleaned up the edge with my angle grinder and then switched over to my wire-brush. I cleaned up all the spots where I'd used the chemical stripper, removing the flash-rust that appeared in the time since. It is interesting how the steel wire brush stripping doesn't leave the surface susceptible to flash rust, but the chemical does. One more factor to include in the mental-math when I look at paint removal in the future.

That's it for today. Thanks, as always, for following along-

280ZX * 2 = Y

This math problem is actually a little harder than it looks. Simplifying this does not follow the classic, standard pattern, and today's post explains it.

Unobtanium

thank you WikiPedia

The 280ZX is an iconic car. Based purely on the hit rate on my posts that mention it, the car remains very popular. It was one of those cars that every boy wanted in the late 70's and early 80's. From 1969 through 1983, Datsun built 4 different versions of the Z (240, 260, 280 and then the 280ZX). None of these versions had a run for more than 4 years, though, so there are a limited number of them out there. Even within the 280ZX, there are differences between the early and late (series 1 versus 2) which you may see in the picture to the right here and some years had a 2+2 version which included a rear seat. Scarcity of the car aside, finding parts for these is an arguably greater challenge. Lots of the bits and pieces just aren't available anymore. For example, the car we bought had virtually no interior. The carpets can be found online, but none of the plastic pieces are made aftermarket. I can't blame the plastic-injection companies; there are probably just too few people wanting the bits and too many variations between the 4 major models. Finding other things like a window regulator, or even an ashtray are virtually impossible.

In our efforts to leave no stone un-turned, we spent a lot of time on eBarf. Those with parts know their scarcity and are charging a premium for them. Next, we try the pick-n-pull yards. Well, there aren't any 280Z or 280ZX donors in the Oregon / Southwest Washington yards. T and C drove almost to Bellingham to pull parts only to be disappointed with the yard management: they have the cars so close together you can't get the doors all the way open. T drove down to Sacramento to pull a replacement door, but most of the interior was so trashed, it couldn't be used for donor material. He grabbed what he could anyway.

Take 2 They're Small

C had started shopping around for rims shortly after getting the 280ZX. The ones that were on it at purchase were okay, but they were chrome-y flat-faced rims that looked like they belonged on a 1/4-miler. While they allowed the car to move around okay, he didn't like the look. The original rims are classic, and like so many other original parts, they are hard to find at a reasonable price. Usually you'll find 1 or 2 selling for $200US a-piece. If you want a full set of 4, you can find them for at least $600US, but at least one will be damaged such that it can't hold air, and they'll be scratched up enough that you'll need to completely refinish them if you want them to look nice.

While searching for rims, C found a car north of Seattle that had the original rims, but had rust, poor body repair and title problems. Based on the pictures, the interior looked mostly complete. So, he and T hopped in the trusty '87 Cherokee and drove off to take a look. A road trip filled with chatter, fast food and music sharing later they arrived at the set of rims with a car attached. It started right up, and drove around fine. Steering was pretty good, suspension not too soft or fluttery but once up to temperature, it won't restart until it's cooled down. Ha. (For those of us with old VW buses, this is a familiar "hot start" problem. It's so common the aftermarket online sellers offer a wiring and relay system to fix it.) A short negotiation later, they bought it. Since C doesn't have a license, we got AAA to tow it. This transportation ended up costing 1/2 of what the car cost (AAA only does the first 100 miles after that it's a cash business), but when I awoke the next morning, it sat in the driveway outside the door of the garage where the no-rust 280ZX lives.

Simplify
In theory, stripping a parts car could be a weekend of intense wrenching. In practice, it rarely works out that way. This ZX will probably be more on the "in practice" end of the spectrum. Our plan is pretty simple. We're going to video the engine running and post it on craiglist as a whole unit. We don't need it, and we suspect someone else does. We may keep the 5-speed, thinking it might be a good runner for the MG later on. Pretty much everything else we pull off will get swapped onto the '79: full interior, rims, power window regulators, power door locks, door handles, rear hatch (has the wiper and a good seal), power steering unit, hoses, steering rack, radiator and chrome bits. We may sell other things that we pull off along the way, but that depends on whether they're in decent shape. Anything else will be re-attached and part of what's sold to the scrapyard.

Shedroom
Reading that list, there's a lot of stuff coming off that car. If we're not going to turn around and slap them onto the '79, we need to store them somewhere. Aaaaand.... we're not gonna just slap them on. Instead, we're getting the '79 ready for paint first so that really means more parts will be coming off before parts go on. So, with 2 project cars already in the sub-sized 2-car garage and a driveway full of other cars... where do the parts go? Well... we just cleared out a bedroom for C, so he's decided to use that room as a shed where he'll sleep when he's around. There isn't really any furniture in there yet, so it kinda makes sense. It just seems a little nuts. Fortunately, it's only while the car gets prepped and painted. If all goes well, it'll be a couple of months. So, we're probably going to have a partially torn down 280ZX in the driveway and a steadily increasing pile of 280ZX parts in C's bed- or should I say shed-room until the car has paint which could not happen until Spring.

For those of us who dreamed of owning a 280ZX when we were boys, with posters on our walls, this concept is almost unimaginable: your room is not decorated with poster of your dream car, it is decorated with PARTS of your dream car. Need to sit? Take the driver seat from a '83 280ZX. Beware, they're kinda low.

EDIT: I just watched the season-ender for Mighty Car Mods (MCM) season 10. I've been an avid MCM viewer for a few years, but I was stunned to see that they picked up a Fairlady "Zed" in Japan. I'm sure with their resources, time, friends and skills, their Zed will be pretty amazing. I highly recommend watching Moog and Marty, if you haven't seen MCM before. Very fun.

That's it for today. Thanks, as always, for following along,

Zup date

Its been a few weeks of sporadic work on the 280ZX we picked up in October. Today's post covers some of the work that's been done thus far.

Oil

When we bought the car, the owner was pretty up-front about the condition of the car. He had the transmission gone through, put in a new clutch and rebuilt the engine. My first thought when I heard that statement was "yeah, right". When we looked the engine bay over, though, the paint tells the story: the engine block has been recently painted purple. The exhaust, intake and all other components haven't any purple on them. So, either he went through considerable trouble to make it look like he rebuilt the engine or he actually did. He did share that the valves will need their post-rebuild adjusting, so we'll have to remember that.

Still, any used car probably has old fluids in it. With a recent rebuild, engines need oil changes more often, so one of the first things C did was an oil and oil filter change. Good man. The oil was not terribly black and we did not find any little metal bits in it. Even the magnetic drain plug was clean. All good signs.

Hammertime

Once the oil was done, C wanted to get after the bodywork. The front driver fender had a pretty good dent in it and the driver door was bad dented badly enough that it wouldn't close properly. The fender was extremely easy to remove. There is a series of bolts along the top, like any other car fender, but only a few on the bottom and none along the door frame. Stunned, we had the fender off in a matter of minutes. C thought about the cost of a replacement fender and decided that trying to get the dents out was a worthwhile learning experience. So, he grabbed a framing hammer, set the fender on an old tire and started wailing on the dents from the inside of the fender. Now, that sounds pretty horrible, but the execution was actually pretty damn good. He spent about an hour working the dents down smaller and smaller until all that's really left are framing hammer markings. We will need to finish the fender out with some real body tools, but I think for his purpose (daily driver) he will be able to get it looking decent.

The driver door was a bear to get off because of the dent. We needed to hammer and pry-bar the lip just so we could get a wrench onto the hinge bolts. Still, with a 12mm crescent, the 6 bolts came off with relative ease and the door was soon on the ground. We sourced a replacement outside Sacramento, but for now the driver door opening is protected with a tarp while the new door is stripped. As you can imagine, our front yard looks stunning.

De-Purple

As you could see in some of the pictures, the prior owner wanted the accent color to be purple rather than the stock blue. So, he painted all of the blue areas a plum color. It may have been great for him. C hated it. So, he went at it first with my angle grinder. It created lots of dust, but didn't really take out much of the purple. So, he bought some aircraft paint stripper. Now, this is some nasty stuff, but it totally worked. The key was letting a first coat of stripper set up and then put a second coat on. Once that's set up, we could strip it off. Some areas we did one coat to get the clear coat and a second pass to get all of the paint. Either way, C stripped all of the purple paint off: passenger fender, driver fender, passenger door, hood and even the little bits on the rear quarters.

That's as far as C (with a little help and guidance) has gotten. His progress has slowed as he has decided to get a job to help pay for things. Since school is his first job, and hourly wages for new-to-the-workforce jobs are rather low, the inflow of capital will be slow, so the rate of improvement to the 280ZX will reflect that.

Thanks, as always, for following along. If you happen to have a cache of 280ZX interior bits, we're looking for those too-

Oh Gee, How bout a Z?

Today's brief post is about finding and acquiring a project car for my 16 year old son. To our former service men and women, happy Veteran's Day and thank you for your service.

Back-story

Not our Z: rust in usual spots

Long before my divorce, and re-marriage, I had made a commitment to my sons. I promised that when they were ready to commit to a car, the project that it represented, the time it would require, etc, that I would invest $1000US on something. When T was 17, we drove up near Seattle and got him a late 90's A4 (See Gotta Keep Moving). Well, his brother C has just turned 16, and while he doesn't yet have a license, he is now ready to commit. To be fair, $1000US bought more car 10 years ago when I made the commitment, but we've had pretty good luck, and good finds are out there. You just need to work that much harder.

Looking
C has been keenly aware of this money-for-car arrangement. Last Summer, I drove to Vancouver WA to look at a project 280Z, but the rust had affected too much of it. The body had large nasty rust holes in the rear quarters, rust pinholes in the rear lid and a couple of flat tires. The interior was kind of sad too, but it was complete. After a few minutes of looking, I knew it wasn't passing muster, so I walked on it. C was disappointed, but that didn't dissuade him from looking harder. He likes sports cars. So, he was looking at BMW's, Camaro/Firebirds and, always, Datsun 240/260/280's. We talked to lots of people, emailed more and drove by a few, and after a year we thought we may have finally found one worth looking at.

not our Z: more rust

Found
C found a 1979 280ZX project that had hit a hard patch. He had rebuilt the engine, fixed up the transmission and replaced the clutch. He had stripped the interior of everything but the seats and door-cards and slapped on fancy rims and tires with a plan to turn the car into a drifter. Unfortunately, while driving to the brake shop to get the brakes done, he was hit, damaging the driver door and front driver fender. The owner was working multiple projects and needed cash for the Mustang he was almost done with. Meanwhile, the 280ZX wasn't getting much focus and the accident had pushed away some of the love for the project. Listed at $1200, we figured the engine / transmission was probably worth the money. Add in the rims and tires and we could probably get our money back and more just by parting it out. BUT, if the frame wasn't bent or damaged in the accident, we could pop new body panels on there and make a car out of it. So, C made an appointment to go look at it on one of the final nice days of the fall.

That'll Work

C's Z

Since C didn't have a license yet, we brought his brother T with us. I decided to make this a learning opportunity for both of them by having them lead the conversation, inspection and test driving. We walked the car, searching for rust and weird frame issues first. The rust we found was surface stuff. The floors were perfect: no rust, and well protected. I thought they might have been replaced, perhaps by the person this owner bought the car from. We did our other look-sees as well, using all of our senses as best we could and then T took it out for a test drive with the owner while C and I stayed with the owner's friend and asked a ton of questions. T came back grinning from ear to ear. Clearly, he enjoyed driving it. Rather than get too deep into that, though, he jumped into giving us feedback: the brakes were good, same with the steering. Neither one impacted the other. Hard stops were good. Held firm over bumps. All the switches and dials work, lights, turn & brake signals too. I made the decision to let them make the decision. They had asked all the right questions, and got good answers. They wanted to do the build, so I shelled out $1100US cash, C signed the title, and the deal was struck.

Homing

not our Z: interior trashed, but complete

The appointment was in Newburg, which is around 30 minutes from my place. Since the boys made the decisions, they got to drive the new project home, while I followed in the chase car. That little car has some get-up-and-go. They turned the corner from the side-street onto the 99W and simply took off. They didn't speed; they just arrived at the speed limit much faster than I did. We stayed together, though, and they pulled all the way into the driveway and under the awaiting canopy. The smiles on their faces remained for quite some time after the engine was turned off. I think this is going to be a fun build.

Since we got it home, C has been over a few times and has made some headway. I'll post on that soon. Thanks, as always, for following along-