What did you do to your Z this week?

richiep

richiep

Club Member
Took the red Z out for its first foray into the wild of 2024 on Sunday. Started relatively easy (compared to some past springs!) and was all good running-wise. There are niggles to deal with though - loose bits and rattles in the interior, the fact that, although in decent condition due to low annual mileage, the tyres are getting on a bit (that is an understatement!) and really should be replaced, the clutch slave is a bit dodgy (the pedal needs pumping a few times after its been standing before it actually starts to work, although it is then fine)... The most irritating development though is the bonnet; for many years, the bonnet has had a few small areas of microblistering/solvent pop on it. It's been on a long-term to-do list as a result. However, in the past few weeks, me not having zipped the car up in its Carcoon for winter in the barn has caught up with it. I noticed on Sunday that most of the left side of the bonnet is now covered in microblisters, really spoiling it. There's also a few on the wing tops. Essentially, the only way to deal with this issue is for the affected area to be bare-metaled and resprayed, so given the area in question, colour, and need to blend into adjacent panels, its going to need the bonnet, scuttle, top halves of the wings, maybe the headlight scoops repainting. UGH.

Given time and money, I suspect I'll end up tolerating the flaws until the autumn, while figuring out what to do. This is where the downside of a long-term project taking up the home garage kicks in, along with having more cars than I presently have the time to work on to the degree I'd like.

On the plus side, I'm starting to develop a plan with respect to painting Project Dixie - likely in May-June. And the Celica just needs a couple of sessions one weekend fitting the adjustable suspension and then enjoying for the rest of the year. The big bore twin cam planned for that is on the backburner (again, time and money), so I'll get around to it eventually. The wimpy single cam will have to do in the meantime!
 
uk66fastback

uk66fastback

Club Member
That’s a shame about the microblistering. I always thought it was down to some kind of damp problem with the initial prep/primer. Are you saying the conditions were dry but it still had the problem develop?
 
uk66fastback

uk66fastback

Club Member
As regards what I did to mine, I charged the battery back up to max after starting the car the other week … I’d like to go bring it home on Sunday if the weather’s decent …
 
richiep

richiep

Club Member
uk66fastback said:
That’s a shame about the microblistering. I always thought it was down to some kind of damp problem with the initial prep/primer. Are you saying the conditions were dry but it still had the problem develop?
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It's pretty much always a time-delayed result of something not being quite right when the spraying was originally done, so in the case of the Fairlady Z, when the bonnet was painted in 2006. Maybe humidity/temp in the booth was off, flash time wasn't properly observed, etc. Condensation has the habit of bringing it out years after; I suspect the changeable weather, combined with me having put a cover on it recently, and the fact that the barn isn't 100% dry, especially at this time of year, just caused it to finally go big-style. I've been expecting something like this to happen - should've got ahead of the problem though! There's no microblisters anywhere else on the car other than the bonnet and a few on the wing tops; it's obviously just exclusive to however those particular panels were painted.

It's reminded me of the importance of just waiting until we have decent warm weather before I paint Dixie though. And erring on the side of caution with flash times, especially given the non-heated nature of my DIY booth...
 
candy red

candy red

Club Member
richiep said:
It's pretty much always a time-delayed result of something not being quite right when the spraying was originally done, so in the case of the Fairlady Z, when the bonnet was painted in 2006. Maybe humidity/temp in the booth was off, flash time wasn't properly observed, etc. Condensation has the habit of bringing it out years after; I suspect the changeable weather, combined with me having put a cover on it recently, and the fact that the barn isn't 100% dry, especially at this time of year, just caused it to finally go big-style. I've been expecting something like this to happen - should've got ahead of the problem though! There's no microblisters anywhere else on the car other than the bonnet and a few on the wing tops; it's obviously just exclusive to however those particular panels were painted.

It's reminded me of the importance of just waiting until we have decent warm weather before I paint Dixie though. And erring on the side of caution with flash times, especially given the non-heated nature of my DIY booth...
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Personally after looking into spraying problems DIY spraying never works looks good for a couple of years and then boom micro blisters. Everyone is great at the job they do every day ,then we think we can spray no offence Richie 😳 I can build houses can I spray NO best left to the professionals with proper booth and temps and extraction not relying on warmer weather only my opinion :leaving:
 
uk66fastback

uk66fastback

Club Member
The thing is, the first thing people see on classics is the paint job, not the engine, interior, the fit of that panel you took two days over ...

If the car is a driver, then fair enough you can get away with a bit here and there but if you're restoring a car to concours - and any spray job where the whole car is being done, should be concours in my view, you can't paint it yourself, so I'm with Candy ... I've seen too many jobs go wrong over the years where people with decent equipment have had a go and the finish has been, well, lacking ...

But if people want to paint their own car that's entirely up to them ... you pays yer money (or not) ...

The last car I had painted professionally - in 2012-13 - the finish was perfect. How can you do this yourself - I don't understand ...


DSCF3450.JPGetc.
 
richiep

richiep

Club Member
In the case of the red Z, that WAS a professional paint job - still no guarantee that there won’t be some form of issue eventually. And given it’s taken nearly two decades to suffer an issue, it’s done pretty well.

As for the project - perhaps I want to paint it myself? Partially because I enjoy learning new practical, creative skills, partially because I trust my own perfectionism and attention to detail more than I trust other people’s, partially because at the moment I don’t want to carry further debt on the project getting it pro painted. If I balls it up, that’s on me.

I guess we’ll have to see how it turns out…
 
Rob Gaskin

Rob Gaskin

Treasurer
Staff member
Site Administrator
candy red said:
Personally after looking into spraying problems DIY spraying never works looks good for a couple of years and then boom micro blisters. Everyone is great at the job they do every day ,then we think we can spray no offence Richie 😳 I can build houses can I spray NO best left to the professionals with proper booth and temps and extraction not relying on warmer weather only my opinion :leaving:
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So Derrick, from memory you have a spraying mate (Wiggi?) which helps. Your 280ZX paint is amazing. I THINK Rich is capable of a very good job because of his skills and attention to detail. He might get satisfaction from it too (or frustration), I have done many years ago.

How much would you pay Derrick for a professional to spray your car?

It just seems so expensive however I do understand that most people have limitations. I couldn't build a house, build a computer or plaster etc.
 
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richiep

richiep

Club Member
Microblistering anecdote: recently I noticed my daily runaround 2004 Civic TypeR has some microblistering appearing on the left rear quarter panel. Now I know that the car has had its rear bumper repainted at some point, but there is no evidence that such work extended to the quarters, so it would seem that the bubbling is “baked in” so to speak from its factory paint job. Just highlights how stuff can happen given a myriad of factors.

Another anecdote: after spending some time with the red Z at the weekend I realised that the engine bay paint job I did on Dixie is far better than the pro one on Red. Probably because I spent considerably more time on prep and wet sanding/buffing than a commercial body shop would spend on that area.
 
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