What did you do to your Z this week?

uk66fastback

uk66fastback

Club Member
There’s no doubt the time and care spent on the prep of a job - in whatever field - will pay dividends down the line when the job is finished. Even painting a windowsill well involves mostly prep …
 
Rushingphil

Rushingphil

Club Member
richiep said:
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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I fully agree! Looking at the finish in your engine bay, you are more than capable of getting an excellent finish on your body. Plus it might give me a bit of much needed confidence to have a go at mine one day :)
 
candy red

candy red

Club Member
Rob Gaskin said:
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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Yes Rob your right I did have a mate spray my 280zx in a candy paint unfortunately he didn’t do mates rates 😟 it was a fantastic job when it was done considering the number of coats of paint without the primer there were 11 layers to apply and it did look amazing but I’ve had a few problems with it recently which need sorting so like Richie say things are never always perfect even if professionals do the work 😌


I’m not saying for one minute that Richie won’t do a fantastic job on his because I know what he’s like and the attention to detail in all the things he does and admire him for tackling his own painting :bow: I know I would not do it myself as depending on what type of paint your using you could be looking at nearly 2k alone especially if it’s a candy or 3 stage 🤔

As for when you was spraying cars Rob was that with cellulose paint in a rattle can 😂😌🤓

As for what I would pa a professional to paint my car that’s a hard question to answer ,I think probably between 5-7k bearing in mind apart from the roof all my exterior panels are new so no filler required and everything lines up great thanks to Andy (APS ) again depending on what paint system you go for 🤔

I’ve got someone who’s going to paint my car when I’m ready there’s a spray booth about a mile away from me that they’ve said we can use for just the cost of electric,it’s probably cost the garage 25k to install .and my painter has said it would be good enough to do the inside of the car and engine bay but not good enough for the exterior panels a good spray booth will proper regulated heating and proper extraction between 70-90k so you don’t have to rely on having warm dry weather that’s my point nothing to do with Riches capabilities 🤓😛
 
Rob Gaskin

Rob Gaskin

Treasurer
Staff member
Site Administrator
candy red said:
Yes Rob your right I did have a mate spray my 280zx in a candy paint unfortunately he didn’t do mates rates 😟 it was a fantastic job when it was done considering the number of coats of paint without the primer there were 11 layers to apply and it did look amazing but I’ve had a few problems with it recently which need sorting so like Richie say things are never always perfect even if professionals do the work 😌


I’m not saying for one minute that Richie won’t do a fantastic job on his because I know what he’s like and the attention to detail in all the things he does and admire him for tackling his own painting :bow: I know I would not do it myself as depending on what type of paint your using you could be looking at nearly 2k alone especially if it’s a candy or 3 stage 🤔

As for when you was spraying cars Rob was that with cellulose paint in a rattle can 😂😌🤓

As for what I would pa a professional to paint my car that’s a hard question to answer ,I think probably between 5-7k bearing in mind apart from the roof all my exterior panels are new so no filler required and everything lines up great thanks to Andy (APS ) again depending on what paint system you go for 🤔

I’ve got someone who’s going to paint my car when I’m ready there’s a spray booth about a mile away from me that they’ve said we can use for just the cost of electric,it’s probably cost the garage 25k to install .and my painter has said it would be good enough to do the inside of the car and engine bay but not good enough for the exterior panels a good spray booth will proper regulated heating and proper extraction between 70-90k so you don’t have to rely on having warm dry weather that’s my point nothing to do with Riches capabilities 🤓😛
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Derrick, quick reply - cellulose in a single garage, no specialist kit. I'll give a better reply over the weekend. I'm away on holiday atm.

My point is that these days restorers seem to want an Aston Martin paint job. Are we getting carried away?
 
IbanezDan51

IbanezDan51

Well-Known Forum User
Are you building a show car or using it Rich?

I’m happy enough with mine that I painted myself, and I’m really picky with paint.

I am confident you’ll do fine and you’ll be able to stand back at the end of the day and say you did it. You’re welcome to loan my Sata guns if needed.

Honestly I’ve seen some shoddy jobs come from some professional places so give it a go yourself.
 
richiep

richiep

Club Member
IbanezDan51 said:
Are you building a show car or using it Rich?

I’m happy enough with mine that I painted myself, and I’m really picky with paint.

I am confident you’ll do fine and you’ll be able to stand back at the end of the day and say you did it. You’re welcome to loan my Sata guns if needed.

Honestly I’ve seen some shoddy jobs come from some professional places so give it a go yourself.
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Both really - it's being built to be used, but it would be rude not to show it given all the time, effort, and money that will have gone into it! Will it be a concours-standard paint job? Probably not, but I'm aiming for it to more than stand up for itself, given the amount of prep and finishing work I have/will put in.

Also, the garage spray booth is undergoing some upgrades before the car and panels get painted. I recently acquired two 20" filter-equipped box fans from the USA (120V so running a step-down transformer!). These will both be mounted in the up-and-over door and switch the booth from a positive to negative pressure setup, giving much stronger extraction. I found, when doing the engine bay, that having the big 24" fan on the intake side and a smaller filter as a passive exhaust without any kind of fan pulling fumes out was too inefficient when spraying clearcoat. It took too long to clear the overspray cloud. The new approach will create a strong exhaust pull, hopefully solving the problem. Also, the particular fans I bought are designed with a 20x20x1 interchangeable filter within the housing, which is perfect as many fans lose efficiency when you add a filter against them. That won't happen with these and I can switch the standard paper filters they came with for paint booth-type fibreglass ones. The booth is getting fully re-lined with new plastic too so it will be all nice and clean. As for heating, I may well add some form of infrared lamp/s in there if I can find something suitable.
 
IbanezDan51

IbanezDan51

Well-Known Forum User
richiep said:
Both really - it's being built to be used, but it would be rude not to show it given all the time, effort, and money that will have gone into it! Will it be a concours-standard paint job? Probably not, but I'm aiming for it to more than stand up for itself, given the amount of prep and finishing work I have/will put in.

Also, the garage spray booth is undergoing some upgrades before the car and panels get painted. I recently acquired two 20" filter-equipped box fans from the USA (120V so running a step-down transformer!). These will both be mounted in the up-and-over door and switch the booth from a positive to negative pressure setup, giving much stronger extraction. I found, when doing the engine bay, that having the big 24" fan on the intake side and a smaller filter as a passive exhaust without any kind of fan pulling fumes out was too inefficient when spraying clearcoat. It took too long to clear the overspray cloud. The new approach will create a strong exhaust pull, hopefully solving the problem. Also, the particular fans I bought are designed with a 20x20x1 interchangeable filter within the housing, which is perfect as many fans lose efficiency when you add a filter against them. That won't happen with these and I can switch the standard paper filters they came with for paint booth-type fibreglass ones. The booth is getting fully re-lined with new plastic too so it will be all nice and clean. As for heating, I may well add some form of infrared lamp/s in there if I can find something suitable.
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I always had issues with extraction with clear in the old fashioned unheated booth at my dads place we use to have. So hopefully your fan system works better than that did. It never caused any problems with dry spots just had to wait awhile between coats for it to extract/settle.
 
fae821w

fae821w

Club Member
richiep said:
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!
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Ritchie, in your post you mention having to pump the clutch as you suspect a dodgy clutch slave cylinder. Would this be likely the fault
my 280zx has also developed? When it has not been used for some time, the clutch pedal is on the floor and needs a few pumps to bring it up. After doing this there are no problems. There is no fluid drop or leakage.
Andy.
 
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Huw

Huw

Club Member
fae821w said:
Ritchie, in your post you mention having to pump the clutch as you suspect a dodgy clutch slave cylinder. Would this be likely the fault
my 280zx has also developed? When it has not been used for some time, the clutch pedal is on the floor and needs a few pumps to bring it up. After doing this there are no problems. There is no fluid drop or leakage.
Andy.
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Might be worth just checking the carpet behind the master cylinder. I had a similar problem, was a weeping master cylinder. It was weeping inside the car down the firewall behind the carpet. Not saying yours is, but worth a little look.
 
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richiep

richiep

Club Member
fae821w said:
Ritchie, in your post you mention having to pump the clutch as you suspect a dodgy clutch slave cylinder. Would this be likely the fault
my 280zx has also developed? When it has not been used for some time, the clutch pedal is on the floor and needs a few pumps to bring it up. After doing this there are no problems. There is no fluid drop or leakage.
Andy.
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Could well be. I need to diagnose once and for all what’s causing it; I’ve got a replacement slave cylinder as that struck me as the most likely target.
 
fae821w

fae821w

Club Member
Huw said:
Might be worth just checking the carpet behind the master cylinder. I had a similar problem, was a weeping master cylinder. It was weeping inside the car down the firewall behind the carpet. Not saying yours is, but worth a little look.
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Thanks for the tip Huw, I will take your advice and have a look.:thumbs:
 
uk66fastback

uk66fastback

Club Member
Finally, after 928 days away, my car is back! Looking forward to getting it in the garage and tinkering with it once more … got one of Sean’s exhausts to get on and a few other jobs … and some new tyres.

Just before it left to come home …

IMG_2434.jpeg

And back home. I’ve done a total of 25 miles in it since I bought it in July 2015, a disgrace!

IMG_2438.jpeg

IMG_2437.jpeg
 
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Healey 12

Healey 12

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