Yes, a number of folks know and I'm shite at keeping schtum about work being done to my Z.

 

In an ever increasing quest to have the cleanest Z I could possibly create, I have become more and more fussy with how things look resulting in me going back to a more original look. So over the past few months I have been buying up more and more original new OEM parts; dispensing with my 2-din Z Thirty Two fascia and replacing it with a brand new OEM one were the first steps, a rare DIN cubby with door from Richard Smith, all new centre console plastics, re-foaming the seats, all sorts of other things and many brand new exterior pieces.

 

Spurred on from JP's awesome example and Andrew's take on OEM+ and idealistic car plus deep knowledge, my Z is going back to the paint shop next week for some major surgery. I've been let down time and time again by poor quality workmanship from the various bodyshops I've used (which has been both stressful and upsetting) and this time around, I've decided to go all-out, get more new stuff and have the car stripped of what's already on there and repainted properly.

 

Not content with trying to find somewhere locally to me and getting let down as previously described, I've elected to use Kraftworks near Chelmsford who are some 3 and a half hours from me and a trailer is being sent next Friday to pick it up!! Some folks may have heard of these guys as they are the very same paint shop that did Joel's car who many have seen and love (myself included).

 

I was lucky to get hold of a brand new OEM 89-93 spoiler (still boxed), so that's going on....and because I thought it would be great idea to de-wiper and de-aerial my car whilst being in a terrible mental state following a nasty relationship breakdown, I made some silly mistakes and welded up stuff that I really shouldn't have, I have decided to go back to how the car once looked (my Z originally came over from Japan with no spoiler, so it's never had this fitted in my ownership) and despite liking the 99-spec, I think the original looks a lot better, at least on light coloured cars like white and silver and more befitting of the car's age (it's a 1991) and the rest of the body. Gary (GSC60) very kindly gave me a non-welded tailgate with no rust on it (VERY hard to find these days). I have a brand new wiper arm, seal and all the gubbins to go back in it. The aerial hole is being re-instated and that's going back in.

 

I argued with myself on what spoiler to go with for a while; having made up my mind on the TwinZ Type 1 as I love the style and have never seen a decent quality copy of the original, I went with what I thought was my only and best option, that was until a brand new original one was found, still boxed! AndrewG and myself, I think, took the last two available from Nissan, they've been NLS for about a decade in the US and I had thought they weren't available here either (Thanks for your help Ash). The quality of original spoilers is fabulous, they're very tactile and fit like a glove, something cheap fibgrelgass replicas just don't do, there's also a way of protecting them against spoiler-rot found in older cars (thanks to AndrewG for that one).

 

I'm very excited. The rest of the car will look almost the same....except for one thing...the paint!! I'm totally done with pearl white paints. They can look nice, but almost all of them look cream/beige in off-light situations and that has started to bug me. The rear quarter of my car is a very slightly different shade on my passenger side for reasons unknown and the previous paint shop just couldn't rectify it; some keen beans may have noticed that when they've seen the car in person! Trying to rectify damage or repaint areas with pearls is an utter nightmare as you end up chasing the paint round the car in an effort to blend.......soooooo......the new colour is going to be a metallic white which is a paint I'd not really known about but had wondered whether one existed. It turns out quite a few do and I've had the colour chips through today of those that I'm interested in comparing. The beauty of these new metallic whites is that they lay like a traditional metallic so you don't have that pearl mid-coat that is the thorn in my side. Metallic whites don't look beige or off-beige/cream out of direct sunlight, yet they still sparkle in the sun like a pearl coat, some more than others. It's almost like a modern take on QN0 which is a pearl white used on 94+ Z32s, but with half the maintenance and a better look.

 

Although mine's in good condition, a new t-top bar is going in and rear screen top trim and other new things are going on. I have boxes and boxes of new Nissan parts.

 

The colour - Jaguar's glacier white metallic as Nissan don't do anything similar. I looked at a VAG metallic white also, but this didn't have much metallic in. So the Jaguar colour has been chosen as of today! It's a stunning colour and really quite subtle. Range Rover also use this same colour code (2201/NAK) under the 'Yulong White' moniker. I thought about a straight-white, but I owe it to the car's origins to keep a special finish on it.

 

Here are a few images of the colour in various lights.

 

 

 

 

Edited March 3, 20178 yr by Funkysi

Another great club build :thumbup1: loving the updates Andrew and Si.

 

Likewise.....:thumbup:

 

It's no secret that I've always loved this car - and it's going to emerge better than ever, that's for sure!!

I love following this, it's great to see people restoring these cars to such a high standard, keep the updates coming Si and Andrew:thumbup:

This Z is looking mighty fine [emoji7]

 

 

 

 

 

 

Lower charge temps, higher braking power!

 

In the booth, gives you an idea of the finish straight out of the gun:

 

 

 

 

 

Edited May 25, 20178 yr by Joely P

Thanks for posting the pics up Joel. Very happy with it, it's not far off of being complete. Main body has been wet sanded and polished to a very high standard, panel alignment to be done next. The boot and a number of other parts were painted earlier today, just the bumpers to do and it'll be ready for the long haul back to Somerset. It's already the best it's ever looked and it's still in a load of pieces!

With the car due to be trailered back down to Somerset on Friday, I'm just left with a few detail bits to do.

 

Posted this before but dropped off my headlight brackets off to the powder coaters a few weeks ago. They were great rust-free condition but the shitty single stage wet coating Nissan painted a number of things on the car with when new doesn't weather well and is hard to maintain the finish. Since you can't get these parts either I decided to get them refinished.

 

As you can see they were fairly clean..

 

 

 

Finished and fitted to my brand new headlights. All the little screws that hold all the brackets were binned in favour of some identical stainless steel versions.

 

 

#details

#showroom #coty #cotuk

All coming along very nicely indeed!

Magnificent :drool: This is going to be to good to drive Si.

Haha! Well, I can't wait to have it back so I can put it back together and drive (in the dry in summer months only...as per normal)! :)

Love it. I find the final reassembly with new/refurbed parts and new fasteners so satisfying.

 

Did the new headlights come with new rubber surrounds?

Love it. I find the final reassembly with new/refurbed parts and new fasteners so satisfying.

 

Did the new headlights come with new rubber surrounds?

 

Ditto to that! I can't wait to get it back!! I already had a lot of new fastenings and fixings on it, but have plenty more, the weatherstrips especially I'm looking forward to fitting. New rear top trim on the tailgate is on and I have a new targa hook sat here waiting to be fitted. I love the detail stuff.

 

No, the headlights didn't, however mine are in exceptional condition and I've started wiping them down with G101 in a 1:1 solution, and they're coming up like brand new. I have new nose panel rubbers too for comparison and they're looking the same in terms of finish, so I'll leave them I think. I've just got myself new headlight foam seals which I'll fit before fitting the headlights, that should make things look a little more fresh too.

Ah, new targa hook. I fitted one last year and I was amazed at how nice the finish on it was. Shame to fit it to the car really.

 

I too have a new set of weather strips ready to go. It's bits like them that will really make the car feel like new.

 

I have to say, I couldn't stomach shelling out that much for the rear screen tailgate trim (if it's the one I'm thinking of) luckily mine was in great shape.

 

I just checked out czp and the headlight gaskets are showing as going out of stock, one more thing for the list I guess

Yeah the finish is incredible. I'm going to layer up the wax coatings on it before I fit it. The plastic bits I had no idea were gloss, just like the rear screen top-trim, it's the same finish! ;)

....and now home. I don't have any pics of it other than this one, but I'm happy with what I see. It was delivered to my house on the back of a transporter a few hours ago but unfortunately I'm at a speed awareness course..... Frustrating!!

Cant wait for some detailed pictures. Good luck with the course ;)

Pull your finger out, we want to see her fully dressed!

Yes yes! I've built the tailgate up and the fitment of everything is awesome! I'm having a rest now, rebuilding the mirrors tonight and the front end tomorrow before a going to a classic car rally (which I should have been in - with Jon Bentley) and a polo match - this weekend has been full-on!

Love it [emoji106]

I as I'm sure many do on here wish we had the money to do what you have Si your a lucky man ,looking forward to seeing the old girl

Front end mostly aligned/fitted up. Pretty pleased with it so far.

 

This car needs a professional photoshoot when it's done.

Is your moustache black Si or the stock graphite colour?