This 240Z came ashore from Japan in Virginia Beach in the Fall of 1970 before making its way to Powhatan, Virginia...where it was raced through the 1980s. It was later found in the early 1990s stored in a barn with no engine or interior...and most importantly no rust. When I bought it in 1996 it had a paint job in an early Porsche 928 color called "Moonstone". But by 2015 the finish look pretty ragged and the rust gremlins were finally appearing. So I decided to restore and repaint it myself in my driveway. I can't cover every aspect of painting a car but here are some brief highlights. Part two is on the next page.
BELOW: I started by taking the trim off and and as much of the non-body items as possible.
To strip the paint I decided against using chemicals and went with the old school method of sanding the paint down smooth and primering over.
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BELOW: I removed the taillights and bumpers. The car looks very sad and rough now.
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BELOW: I cut the rubber around the windshield and rear hatch with a box cutter. The glass popped right out.
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BELOW: The original fenders were shabby so I decided to replace them with a pair of NOS factory versions I found. The car frame under the fenders was in good shape. But I did a thorough rustproofing in this area. Without fenders the car has a fun go-gart look.
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BELOW: I removed the doors to prep and paint the jambs. The hinges loosen behind the kick panels which is how you can adjust and realign the door. A great tip to reinstall the door is to screw a threaded stud into one upper and lower bolt hole in the door. You then slide the door onto the hinges. This will save your paint and prevent any gouges. Easy and no fuss.
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BELOW: I cut out the original rocker panels on both sides and spot welded in a pair of Tabco replacements. Note how I cut out the edge of the door jamb so the rocker would slide under. This took some grinding to get right.
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BELOW: the doglegs were rusted so I drilled out the spot welds to remove them and used Tabco replacements again.
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BELOW: These are the NOS fenders before I replaced the rockers.
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BELOW: the hood had a dip on one edge which looked like like someone sat on it years ago. This is a correct use of body filler and a long sanding board. I finally resorted to chemicals on the hood because the paint was so baked on.
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