EScanlon

By the way, the reason I recommended a meter instead of just a light is that the light is very susceptible to resistance. The more resistance the harder it is for the light to light up. I've checked a couple circuits with the light that said "open" only to discover when I used my meter that there was SOME connectivity. The ONLY way I've ever known to check a defroster was to plug it in to 12v and then mist the surface with a water spray bottle. Stand back and wait. When it finally starts evaporating the water along the lines you'll know which lines are active and which are not. I mention this, because my hatch glass has all but two lines working. Unfortunately, one's on the left and the other is on the right. That means that the resistance check between the halves is about equal, which led me to believe I had a completely functional grid. By the way the resistance check is done, again with the meter. Find the Resistance check (the one with the OMEGA letter, the symbol for Ohms), then check the first connection spade with the opposite side of the window. You'll find the interconnecting stripe that ALL of the lines merge into. This is the shunt at the bottom which allows the grid to be a LOOP circuit. (i.e. the current goes in one side and returns on the other without intermediary connections) Check the Resistance (Ohms) from one connector to the connecting stripe and compare the value with the OTHER connector. This will give you the overal resistance for each SIDE of the circuit. If the numbers are very close together, then the individual sides of the circuit are equal. Meaning: The number of grid lines and their individual resistances MATCH (closely) the corresponding lines on the other side of the circuit. Whether they are ALL intact is another question. (see my third paragraph in this post). Does my grid work? Relatively well when I've used it. We've not had ice or snow, but we did have SOME frost on the windows. (Besides, anyone driving their car in SNOW or worse yet, ICE should be used as a snowshovel, you're asking for it.) In that case the frost was melted relatively quickly (2 miles at 25mph and 3 miles at 35mph). Now, the continuity and resistance check only tell you if the resistance grid is closed, and it says nothing about the SUPPLY. Now you need to check the output portion of your fuse-box for voltage. This is what your system is providing the accessories AFTER the fuse. Disregard taking the measurement at the battery, what you'll get there is the POTENTIAL for the circuit. Measuring at the fuse box you get the ACTUAL voltage immediately after the fuse box. Next when you check it at the point of connection, in this case the two little wires coming out from underneath the Dome Light Plastic Finisher, you'll know what the switch and it's associated wiring are using up. If the difference is over 1v then you have to check your connections. You CAN disassemble the switch. Be careful as there are a couple small items (spring and domed contactor) which fit into the toggle, but many times the problem is there. As a closing note, remember that the Z has one of the easiest and simplest electrical systems as far as vehicles are concerned. There aren't 2,000 different relays and sensors and ...... to cloud the issue. Yes, it is complex, but it is NOT impossible to understand it. Hope this helps.

Zcar.com is usually good for a good chuckle. Sometimes a side splitting, breath taking, roll around the floor while the cats and the spouse are convinced we're having some sort of mental attack. The search capabilities of the AVERAGE user there are ...NONE. So many times the SAME OLD questions come up, but what is interesting are the NEW answers being thought up by young teen-age boys who haven't even scuffed the plastic on their driver's license. Rube Goldberg and Magiver would be amazed at some of the inanities there. Believe me, some of the replies are simply too funny to be read in one sitting. Sadly, some of the replies are just so plain stupid as to remind one of "Jackass, The Movie". There are a FEW individuals over there whose input far outweighs the lunkheads though. 2¢

Careful, the only way to determine voltage or resistance accross any ONE of the wires / strips is to isolate it from the rest of the circuit. Since the only way to remove it from the circuit is to CUT the tape that is NOT what you want to do. Referring to the units with the vertical lines. The wiring connects at the top of the glass and the two halves of the grid are connected at the bottom to each other. Take a general continuity METER not a light and connect it to the two terminals. If you get a tone or the needle deflects telling you that you DO have continuity (i.e. a closed circuit) then you know that AT LEAST ONE wire going down and one going up are good. No tone or indication, then the grid is shot on that one and needs to be repaired. I'll check my books for a testing procedure. 2¢

I live in Vancouver, Wa also. If you give me an e-mail maybe I can swing out there to look at it. However, a couple things jump out right away. The 71 Z's did not have 5 speed transmissions as far as I know. Someone else please correct me on this, but that indicates a transplant sometime in it's past. Check underneath the carpeting on both footwells. Also check the floor pan from below. Have seen rust show up on "rust-free" vehicles there. But at $4500 that isn't necessarily a bad price if all you mention is true. Enrique Scanlon

George: No worries! Just don't do it again. As far as the Z is concerned, it's a pretty impressive animal on it's own. When they ask, tell them "It's Rare, so rare that only the people who truly love it know what they are." That should do it. Later....

Fellow members of the jury, tribunal, esteemed members of the Grandiosely Illustrious Order of Z//Zedd; I submit to you the above quoted offense. I further submit that the offendant be flogged. Whether physical, verbal or by messages. The crime is one of desecration. To admit to BE WILLING to say: I'd tell the girls its a classic Ferrari Nothing further need be said.

I'm going to take a real dive bomb on this one, but since I can't FEEL the metal, and I'm resorting to 2D images, as well as the different light intensities amongst monitors. I find that it fits an accident I saw on another car some years ago. IF, the "crease" has a distinct RIDGE (i.e. edges similar to the Grand Canyon walls; sheer edges/corners), then I believe you may have Butt Hood Collision. Now, don't laugh.......or at least not much. A friend of mine took another car, (I don't recall the make / model for the life of me, only saw the car once) to a body shop to have the hood repaired. It seems that a girlfriend of his had SAT on the leading edge of the hood, right at the ridge, and since the car had been sitting in the sun for a while, the metal was HOT!. The girl had "dropped" onto the hood, wearing only a bikini. Having relinquished her body to the mercy of gravity when she contacted the hood, she CONTACTED the hood. He swears he heard "meat sizzle". She IMMEDIATELY smacked down on the fenders and kicked down on the ground and literally JUMPED up and OFF the hood. Interestingly enough she didn't get burned. Unfortunately the hood had gotten creased. The metal was at it's most expanded state from the heat of the sun. When she impacted on it, the whole hood was literally BULGING outwards from the supporting frame. When her weight hit the metal, it INVERTED the bulge of metal for just a short instant. Long enough to cause it to impact the radiator support seam and causing this ridge in the metal. When she got off, the metal returned to the correct configuration with the hood metal creased but the supports not damaged. For whatever that is worth. The hood had this kind of damage.

To my eyes, I don't think this is indication of sheet metal problems. I agree with Kmack on this one. Looks more like paint wear thru than metal bending. Take a look at the reflection on the hood FROM THE SIDE! An irregular reflection will show up a wavy hood. 2¢

The stork is the turn signal lever. I believe you may have referring to it as a STALK like in a flower stalk, one of those funny words that make it sound as if an "R" instead of an "L", is in use. However, on the Passing Light Switch you are addressing, I don't recall the U.S. 240's having that switch and relay. In those days, most American drivers would have been totally befuddled by it. Even today, I've had people ask how I flashed my headlights only, in my Acura or Subaru (those cars have the passing light relay). (George, hope I didn't offend you with that.) FWIW Enrique

Sorry to hear about the accident, glad you're alive and on the mend. That above all, is the MOST important thing. On a separate note, before you "total" the Z, you might take it to a qualified Uni-Body Frame Shop and get an opinion and, if they feel it is repairable, an estimate. Yes, the damage is bad, but unless it looks like a boomerang from the top, it may very well be salvageable. As others have said, in the long run, even if you cannot find another of the same model of car, it is better to be ALIVE! Good Luck and Best Wishes for a speedy recovery. Enrique Scanlon

Although there is a strong stereotype of WOMEN being bad drivers, I find it isn't ALL women. I personally get out of the way of YOUNG women driving their boyfriends "souped" up ricemobile. These girls truly believe that they're driving a vehicle that can tackle the Baja 500, Indy 500, the 24 hours of Le Mans AND can dent a Bradley or an Abrams Tank. The last couple of accidents I came accross, where an ambulance was required and the Fire Department had to cut them out of the wreckage were Young Women Drivers. The second category of incredibly BAD drivers, were FAT WOMEN, regardless of age. If you can't see a neck, and they're driving, more than likely they drive like they walk. After all, even 200+ pound men get bowled over by some of these barrels of lard, and they drive accordingly. Typically, I've found that they drive Mini-Vans, although I have seen a few in SUV's. 2¢

You'll need to remove the hood. Some people claim that you can reach up to the latch from underneath the engine, find the little lever and pull on it to release the hood. Unfortunately, I don't see how you could do it without the arms of an orangutan and a couple extra wrist joints in it. I did it (twice even) by removing the bolts at the front holding the hood to the hinges. First mark the bolts holding the hood onto the hinges on the hood bracket. You can reach the hood bolts from behind the grille and below. This is so you can relocate the hood where it is supposed to be mounted to without having to fiddle with a bunch of adjustments afterwards. Then place a 2x4 piece of wood to prop up the hood as far as it can go without damaging either the hood, cowl or latch. Next reach in there from the sides of the hood, with a 10mm wrench (socket is too tall) and remove the bolts holding the PIN onto the hood itself. Don't waste time trying to get the hood latch mechanism itself, it has a safety catch that locks the pin to it. Once you've got the pin off, the hood is totally released. Be careful when removing it OFF the car as they are bulky. Get a friend. Fix your cable, and do yourself a favor. I got this from a Roadster owner. Add a SECOND cable that goes in through the firewall, so that should this ever occur again, you have a back up. Remount your hood using the bolt marks made and replace the pin at the top. Hope this helps. Enrique Scanlon

Ok, the problem appears to be that the valve is "chattering" or not allowing the water to flow into the heater uniformly. Please correct me if I'm wrong. If that's the case, then you're becoming aware of the cycling because of the warm / cool / warm not being a constant. Since the heater gets it's water from the engine block AFTER the pump starts moving it around, a long shot would be to check your thermostat. If the thermostat is cycling open and closed because you're right at the temp that it's set for, your heater will do the same. Kind of far fetched I'll grant you, but the valve and cable are strictly a mechanical linkage and I can't imagine the amount of vibration you'd need to have the heater control valve stutter. 2¢

As far as painting the gauges, yes, I mean the "CAN" that they're in. If you'll look closely, sometimes you'll have a gauge with some pale greenish white paint that's starting to peel off. That's what I repainted with the brightest white paint I could find and I'm real pleased with the results. As far as putting colored bulbs, don't forget that there's a green lens that covers the bulb and tints the light. As far as making white face gauges, there's been a couple posts where people have scanned in the stock gauges and then used some picture editor programs to change the background color. You can also buy vinyl inserts. FWIW

I seem to recall that the 77 and higher Z's had a vacuum operated heater control unit. Check to see if this is the case and then check your vacuum hoses. 2¢

In my experience, the bulbs tend to "darken" with age. New bulbs will do a definite improvement in the brightness of your instruments. If you had the instruments out, I would recommend that you open them up and repaint the interiors of them with a bright white paint and check out the huge difference that makes. The INSIDE of the gauges have little green lens covers where the bulbs insert into the gauge. Be careful of painting the lens. You can also check to find higher wattage bulbs, I believe the old ones were 3.2w and you can get 4w from h4lights (not sure of his e-mail address), or you might find them locally. Probably the BIGGEST thing to make sure of, is that the BULB itself is not too big in diameter, or it won't fit inside the housings. I use a Sylvania 53. Hope this helps.

I received an e-mail from mdbrandy and he mentioned finding this article on another website. He mentioned that it had been helpful to him, and felt it might help others. So, in the hopes that it will, here it is. The double line spacing between paragraphs is in case you print it out and use it as a checklist. Enrique Scanlon ============================================= I did this years ago, on another 240Z. Working mine up to that point in it's recovery. Since the first z was disassembled in a haphazard manner, (fixing one thing only to discover ANOTHER thing needed fixing which in turn.....ad nauseaum. Sound familiar?) I'll address your question from what I discovered upon reassembly. (Anyone else get annoyed with "Reassembly is the reverse of these steps" found in so many manuals that DOES NOT warn you that you might royally screw something up if you do not ....?) I would recommend removing the seats first. They are one of the bulkiest items in the car and removing will greatly facilitate the rest. This should now give you access to the seat belts, remove those. Also remove the parking brake vinyl boot. After the seats, and all carpeting, front and rear, remove the center console. You could also remove the steering wheel, even before removing the seats, all it takes to remove it is to remove the horn pad (just pop off), then remove the center nut holding the St. wheel in place, give a pull on the steering wheel and it should pop right out. At this point you should be down to just the vinyl on the hump, and the plastic side panels. Since you can now address the dash with little obstruction remove the dash. Please note, this is kind of tricky if you've never done it before, most manuals give a very generalized description and don't mention some of the "hang-ups". Fist remove the dash embelisher at the top of the dash. There are 5 Phillips Head Sheet Metal Screws holding it to the dash. These should unscrew fairly easily, if they don't be careful since the sheet metal "nuts" on the brackets can be stripped quite easily. If they're tight it means you have some rust there, and you don't want to strip the phillips head. Take your time doing this, a magnetized screwdriver will help you to NOT loose screws down the defrost vents. After the embelisher, BEFORE you go crazy removing the bolts / screws holding the dash to the firewall, Reach behind the dash, on the drivers side, to the left of the Steering Column, and follow the speedometer cable up to the speedometer. The cable is attached to the speedometer via a collar, unscrew the collar and remove the cable from the speedometer. Next, on the kick panels, disconnect the wires to the door plunger switches, and in order to avoid confusion later, just REMOVE the relays and flasher switches affixed to the kick panel and leave them ATTACHED to the wire harness. They'll just hang down for now. Also disconnect the dash wiring harness from the Body and Rear Harness' behind the glove box. Next, remove the air vent handle brackets from the bottom corners of the dash, and then remove the bolts holding the lower extreme corners of the dash. Since the center console was removed earlier, you should have easy access to the two bolts holding the center of the dash to the hump. Since you are probably flat on your back at this point, go ahead and disconnect the heater control cables at the Heater Box (2 on left side), and the Water Valve, and Main Vent control. There is a total of 4 cables. You'll need a short Phillips for these. Disconnect the hoses leading to the defroster ducts by removing a screw at the base of these that hold them to the Heater box. Depending on whether the spring clamp at the duct / hose connection is still in place, you might or might not be able to pull on the hose and remove it from the defroster duct. Don't pull too hard as these pieces may be brittle due to age. Disconnect the Heater Blower Motor from the Switch, either at the switch or at the heater, also remove the power wire. At this point, if you want, you can remove the Heater Control and Center vent plate from the dash, but it isn't entirely necessary. I would recommend doing so, since the chrome panel can be quite fragile. Remove the screws holding the fuse box in place, and disconnect the wiring going to it, so you can pull out the wiring from around any obstructions. Drop the steering column, since the 4 bolts holding it in place also hold the dash. At this point, the dash should have ALL the electrical connections disconnected, the heater cables disconnected and speedometer cable. Look underneath and make sure you haven't forgotten anything. Don't forget to check your turn signal and seat belt / door open buzzers, these might be attached to the steering column support bracket, remove or disconnect to free the dash. At this point, the only thing holding the dash in place, are those 5 bolts visible from the top of the dash. The two outermost are tricky, use a swivel, and if possible a magnet insert so you don't drop them down. Remove all these. The Dash will now be ready to remove. Raise the Dash from the hump gently, and at the same time, pull it towards you. It should slide out easily, any difficulty is usually because of a forgotten connector. Once the dash is moving out, lift it away from the firewall, and ease it out the door. If you are planning to remove the blower housing, be aware that the top of it is gasketed to the vent opening with plumber's putty. It is kind of gooey and might startle you. This is a flexible gasket used to seal the vent / heater flapper box to the body. Be EXTREMELY careful with the connecting duct to the heater core, this duct takes a square opening and transforms it into a pie shape, since it is immediately downstream from the heater resistance (used to give you a little bit of heat when you use the defrost) it WILL be brittle. If you tear / break this, you'll have to locate a replacement. If you remove the Blower Housing first it will make it easier to access the Heater Core Hose connections. The Main Heater Box with the Heater Core inside will have to have the water hoses disconnected. I found a couple of those rubber wine bottle corks and used them to cap the line as soon as I removed them, note that you WILL lose some coolant, so put lots of towels underneath where you will be working. Now, remove the heater box mounted on the hump. At this point, the car is mostly bare up front except for the vinyl on the hump. It may be that the vinyl is already separated or separating from the horsehair beneath it, or the horsehair form the hump. In either case, to remove it and to avoid further damage on the vinyl, look at how this is affixed to the car. Usually it is bonded to the "horsehair" underlayment which is also glued to the transmission hump. To remove this, I recommend a scraper 3-4" in width, and then begining at the bottom of the hump, whether passenger or driver your choice, slide your scraper underneath the horsehair and while lifting, use the scraper to sever the bond between the horsehair and the hump. You will no doubt find that you will be "tearing" the horsehair, the scraper is to limit the amount of tear. On some cars, the adhesive will be shot and it will be real easy to remove. Note: The reason for removing the Vinyl AFTER the Heater Box is that part of the vinyl goes over the hump BEHIND the Heater Control Console and UNDERNEATH the Heater Core Box. The front of the car should now be down to firewall, foot pedals, and floorboards. Now, going to the rear of the car, remove the rear light plastic cover, then each of the side panel plastic parts. These have a rivet with a spreader pin going through them. The book says to push the pin THROUGH the rivet and then remove the rivet body. The main problem with this, is that you might loose the bloody little pin and find that you have to buy new rivets. Since I had a bag of new rivets that's what I did, but if you don't have replacements, a friend of mine suggested drilling a real small hole in the pin, and then using a small (really small) sheet metal screw, screw it into place and then PULL the pin out. I guess you could probably find some good glue and glue a nail head to the pin also. Whatever method you use, those rivets HAVE to come out to remove the plastic panel pieces. One method I have used to recover and reuse those pins works, but only after you've gone through the car the first time and CLEANED and I mean really cleaned inside the plenums. By cleaning inside the plenums, I mean stuck a vacuum hose in there and gotten rid of all the schmutz that can/will have accumulated there since the car was new. One car I had had over two handfuls of cigarette filters stuck in between the metal pieces, talk about your smelly mess. Once the plenums are clean (or as clean as you can get them), you can just push the rivet pin through the rivet, remove your panel, and then using your vacuum hose and a girl's knee high stocking taped on the end of your hose (as a filter/net) you can then retrieve and re-use those pins and rivets when you put the plastic panel back on. Once you have all the plastic panel pieces out, you should have ready access to the headliner. Here I would recommend you pause. If there is a reason, and a GOOD reason to remove the headliner, then do so, but if you are just going for a complete repaint, there is rarely a reason to remove the headliner. It is much easier to mask it off than to replace it. A good reason would be that you discovered rust THROUGH the roof panel or door / hatch openings, and you are effecting repairs. I would recommend removing the visors, and rear view mirror. Well that's it, I know this post is long. If anyone can add / correct anything here, please do so. For What It's Worth / 2¢ P.S. (heh heh) Reassembly is a reversal of removal

Guycali: The document you linked refers to PRODUCTION and SALE of leaded gasoline. Unless you put up a sign in front of your garage that says LEADED Gasoline For Sale, I don't think you have a problem. In my quick reading of it, it addresses that leaded gasoline is still permitted for certain uses, BUT does not specifically address individuals adding additives to the gasoline in their vehicles. Looking at it another way, if the addition of a lead substitute to gasoline were in fact illegal, would you still be able to go to your local Automotive Supply Store and pick up the little convenient bottle? I don't think so. 2¢

Check to see if this radio uses GROUND as the Common Negative for all the speakers. If so, then check the grounding strap to the radio. I've seen radios where the Ground to Negative for Power was assured via the wiring, but the Speaker Ground was through the chassis mount. In those cases, you need to make sure that the radio chassis IS grounded properly. That may fix what you've posted. However, IF the problem is internal to the radio, specifically the volume control switch, then there is a possibility that the switch itself has either been shorted, lost connection or has gotten corroded to where it isn't functional but in a few positions. Try turning the volume knob up and down several times before you turn it on. SOMETIMES that's enough to scuff some of the oxidation off the volume switch so that it will operate properly. Other times, it doesn't. Hope this helps. Enrique Scanlon

Replacing the whole floor pan is a heavy chore that requires some serious welding and shouldn't be your first method of attacking the rust. The rust you are showing isn't good, but from what little you are showing there, it would be irresponsible to say that it indicates that the whole floor needs replacing. The Tar Paper is still in place, that may indicate further and more serious rust underneath, or not. I would first remove the seats, and tar paper. That would allow you to evaluate the metal alone. If there are holes, and cracks and other undesireables, then yes, replace the floor. A couple rust areas, where the rust hasn't gone through the metal, and no critical support areas are affected? Wire brush and a good rust preventative paint. Or Sandblast and POR as another method. Some rust areas where the metal has given way? If the holes are large, cut and patch the floor. You could use POR and their power mesh, if the holes aren't big. If you decide that replacing the floor is the only way of doing this, then you do need to be aware that it will take some careful cutting of the present metal, and that you will need to FIT these into your car. It won't be a cheap proposition for you to just take it to the welder and say, here's the new metal, replace the old. You might be looking at a $1000 bill. Give that a thought. Enrique

The speakers I was referring to, 5-1/4" are the ones behind the plastic side panels. The ones you would be able to see through the punched holes. The only way you would have TWO speakers, would be if you had a later year (72+) car that had either been ordered with the STEREO option, or one that someone had retrofitted with the second speaker. The wiring harness for the radio and speakers was NOT set up for stereo speakers. Usually the second speaker (Left side) would be added by connecting to the first (Right Hand) speaker. The original speakers had a small magnet and their depth would be nor more than an inch or so past the cone depth. So you're looking at maybe 3" in depth total. I don't know how much deeper you could go on the passenger side, as the fuel tank vent hoses go through the same area. I suppose that if you push and pull the hoses you could probably get a 5" deep co-axial in there, but that would probably start getting a bit tight. The speaker box that MSA sells, is a REPLACEMENT for the Inside Tail Light Finisher. I've not seen one, but the premise is that it locates a pair of 6"x9" speakers where you currently have the access holes to your lights. Myself, since I went with the stock radio, I just bought a pair of Radio Shack speakers and put them in there. Heck, I didn't even get co-axials. Then again, monaural sound, only two buttons for FM and a very directional antenna don't add up to a very high quality sound system. But, I'm not looking for High Fidelity sound in my car, I like the ride, the music just needs to be background. 2¢

If I recall what an old trucker told me some time back. When you're going down the hill, you're forcing the engine to continue to turn over, via the transmission. This maintains the engine speedd as you close the carburator to decelerate, however the vacuum generated by the intake cycle through each of the cylinders, still pulls air THROUGH the carburators. That SMALL amount of air pullee by each piston is still enough that the air / fuel mixture that gets sucked in, small that it may be (remember you closed the carb), is still very rich. As it gets sucked through, and eventually it fills the exhaust manifold. At that point it now has enough air / fuel to ignite the first time that one of the cylinders IS able to fire. Remember, ignition essentially stops if you reduce the fuel / air mix going in to the cylinders, and now there isn't enough combustion time for the spark to ignite what little fuel there is. So the exhaust is now primed and when it backs up enough, one of the cylinders can actually fire. The now hot gas exhausting, ignites the mixture in the exhaust manifold, you get B A N G ! Now the system is cleared, and ready for new priming. If you continue going downhill, with the carburator at a lower setting than what is needed to accelerate the car or just maintain speed, you'll repeat the above cycle. In Mexico, trucks use this all the time to coast downhill and INCREASE the detonations. It's kind of a "macho" thing, the more your truck backfires down the hill showed how much power you had to accelerate. (I rode the buses a lot when I lived in Mexico.) Those guys would "spike" the downhill by oscillating their gas pedal. Get the rhythm right to the speed of the bus and the hill and you could literally make your truick play a tune. Did I mention I had to ride a LOT of buses when I lived in Mexico. Heck, the SCHOOL bus ride was 45 to 70 minutes EACH way. Now, it may all be hogwash, but the "peseros" and the Ruta's would routinely make all sorts of "barking" or finger pulling sounds at each other by using their buses. Thanks for allowing me to reminisce. Enrique

I seem to recall that I used some screws from my R/ C boats. The thread pitch is something like extra extra fine, and unfortunately the hole is too small to actually get a thread gauge in there to check it. I'll see if I can find which screws I used and report back.

The speakers in the back of the car were 5 1/4" Round, with a Square Base. If you still have the mounting rings, they should have some studs to hold the speaker through it's diagonal screwholes. 2¢

Don't worry, I think I hold the title to the longest replies crown. You DO need some sort of buffer, whether orbital or high speed. Problem is that with either one you're basically doing a high speed sanding with very VERY fine sand. You can burn through the paint with either one, and you can leave swirl marks. What other option do you have? Repaint the car. A lot of people use the orbital to buff it out, it takes longer but is more forgiving than the high speed which can literally rip the paint off the car in one careless slip. Since the painter is willing to look at it to fix it even AFTER you got in there and (sorry) may have mucked things up, I'd let him. He can probably do it quicker and easier than you will. For free even? GO. I'm also of the type that likes to get things right, but if I've paid someone else to do it right, I like to get my money's worth. FWIW