kenz240z

Hi Ken, I just finished refinishing the engine bay of my '73 240Z. The cylinder head developed a pitting problem and coolant was leaking into the combustion chambers of a couple of cylinders. The white, billowy, sweet smelling smoke tipped me off to the trouble, and it seems that I caught it before the engine suffered a lot of damage. So, out came the engine for a rebuild. With an empty engine bay I figured there was no better time to repaint it. I spent a month's worth of nights and weekends cleaning, degreasing, removing undercoating, and sanding. I primed it on a Tuesday after work, and sprayed the color coat and clear coat the next night. Now it is a bright and shiny orange, just like the rest of the car! Anyway, if you have all of the jambs, underside areas, etc... all bc/cc'd then spraying the exterior of the car should be pretty easy. Begin by getting the tight areas, such as around the rear quarter window openings and A pillars. Then I would start at the center of the roof, down a C pillar, down half the hatch to rear quarter, across to the door, front fender, around the headlight bucket to the hood. Then switch sides and continue the other half of the hood, around headlight bucket and fender to other door, continue to rear quarter, remaining half of hatch, up to remaining half of roof. Make a few practice "dry" runs with an empty spray gun in your hand, and with the air hose attached. That way you can find a way to "cover" the car without dragging the airhose across "new" paint. One thought I've had about painting the underside areas of the front fenders involves painting the car in stages. Remove the front fenders, cowl and hood, but leave the doors and rear hatch on the car. If the door jambs and hatch jambs have already been painted then it should be rather easy to paint the exterior of the roof, doors, hatch and rear quarters. Apply the base coat followed by the clearcoat. Once the clearcoat has cured (wait a day or two, to be sure), install the fenders and hood and cowl panel. Mask everything from the windshield and doors on back. Mask the engine bay, but leave the top of the fenders, where the mounting bolts are, uncovered. Try to mask to the underside of the fenders. Then raise the hood, spray the back side of the hood and hinges and then just the areas of the fenders that will be under the hood, including the mounting bolts. Once the paint has flashed, close the hood and paint the exterior of the hood, fenders and the cowl. Repeat the same process when spraying the color coat. This should result in a look close to the factory, with the mounting bolts painted. Of course, the whole process could be reversed, meaning that the exterior of the hood, fenders and cowl is painted first, then the underside areas. Again, a practice run should help you decide the way to go. Here I go again with another long-winded reply! Please keep us posted on the results! Ken P.