Osty1

By the way, cellulose is no Angel should you be breathing it in. A good mask a plenty of ventilation and 2K all the way. The other bonus is that 2K hardens quicker as it is a faster chemical reaction.

I know you are on a budget mate, and its going to be hard to convince you not to use cellulose however, you are possibly about to still spend a few pennies on something that in my mind will be false economy. I was a painter by trade and never would you use single pack cellulose on a vehicle other than on a chassis of a lorry or similar. As Si has said, in short it will not stand the test of time and will degrade relatively quickly compared to 2K. If you are still going to go down this road consider a compatible lacquer to help protect the cellulose base coat. As for the sanding, paint should cover 1200 grit no problem, but as the metallic parts will gather and darken in deep scratches I would even consider 1800-2400 grit on those areas (the paint will stick, it is still 'keyed'). Anyway, good luck mate and updates please.

Well done Steve61 for managing to 'sneakily' display your car at Snetty, very crafty but certainly looked good amongst the other retro cars on display. A particluar Z31 caught my eye, amazing detail and the fellow is also from Norwich. Where were you Al, we were hoping to see the beast??

I'll be going to this Al but without the Zed mate. Are you displaying your Zed or just going for a day out? I hope you're well buddy!

I didn't know you could play the guitar Si!:surrender:

The base coat looks pretty good there Ted considering you are painting the bloody thing on your drive again :scared: haha. If I were you, I wouldn't apply the lacquer to the whole car at once if you have to do it outside. Mask off and do a section at a time and try to shield it from the elements and the insects that seem to be attracted to wet paint, and plenty of tacking before you spray. Looking forward to the finished item. Classic and Sports cars by the lake-6th September, I hope its ready by then?? I bet Denise is really happy that you have managed to change the colour of your driveway gravel from Buff to Metallic grey!:devil::ohmy: I hope you are both well mate, catch up with you both soon, keep it up!

Happy 5000th Post Si, + the others pre-leaving for a bit ;0) Your car will look great which ever interior YOU choose. Both are in keeping with the style and age of the Zed. You know what you want to do otherwise, why did you purchase velour? Go on, do it! A few hors work and you will soon see if you like it or not. Hang on to the leather for a while until you are sure that you are happy. You could also do what my wife does and have a winter and summer wardrobe,lol. It will still look great mate whichever but...............dibs on the leather haha!

Go to 600 now, give it a good paint over with primer and once dry key the primer with 1000/1200 grit then paint, done.

Due to work commitments there's no point in putting my Zed on the road this year, so I thought it would be a good opportunity to do all those small jobs and detailing that I've been meaning to do for the last couple of years however, I had run out of 'Vavavoom' and inspiration to pull my finger out! And then I read this post again! Cheers.........JaiKai, I can't wait for the morning, my Zed is rolling out!!!!!!!!! Great post, great work, great dedication and a great big kick up my ass to pull my finger out!

Ok mate, don't keep us in suspense! What are you polishing out of interest, hope it's something from the ZED ;)

Ahh, big A left his job then. Next time I'm over your way I'll pop in for a brew and make sure you are all set up correctly for the big paint job, remembering I was paint finisher/sprayer before the Queen employed me and I still spray for the lads and lasses in the RAF, if they can afford me lol.

Loving it Ted and good to see you have persevered with the old girl! Candy red Zed it is then, it's going to look good mate. Are you likely to get it finished and back on the road for the summer mate, if so you'll have to join me at the Bury car show! Also isn't it about time we got a few pictures of our red Zeds next to the Red Arrows, I did promise you and your missus a day out to RAF Scampton. Give me shout if you need a hand with anything matey.

Yes mate we can and should definitely look at meeting up in the Essex region especially as it is where I grew up. I spent many a Saturday night cruising Southend seafront in my old rs500. Well worth keeping an eye on the London/South East region for meets as well as EA as I know their REO covers a lot of Essex and they have had meets at the Halfway house in the past. If you have any ideas where to meet or car shows that we may be able to attend, post a new thread in the EA region and we can start the ball rolling. It would be good for us Nor/Suf folk to convey down south and put a few miles on the old girls.

Yeah Steve, another will be arranged soon. A bit like Spin and plenty of others on here, it's bloody hard to commit to anything when the company you work for can hold you to ransom e.g. your job! I am working on a couple of things for the summer for the EA region however, summer can be just as frustrating when trying to organise a get together. Hats off to Al for trying to get this off the ground, unfortunately as you know from previous times, very quickly the numbers dwindle. Keep it up though because when they do work and people show up, they can be a great day out as proven before. Well done mate for trying!!! Just a little note for the future, I recommend leaving the meeting/events invite in the dedicated events section so that everyone can easily navigate to and from the post and other members from further afield can see what's going on in neighbouring regions; kinda what it's there for.

Glad you're not leaving them red, I was almost certain you wouldn't but thought I'd check. Thanks for the advice on the upper arms reference the price; I need to replace both on my car and was looking at OEM but this now looks to be a better option. Cheers bud!

Ooooh, you've some nice bits there Si. Are you going to leave the shocks red or paint them? I fancy the z1 upper suspension arms, do you recommend them over other non OEM replacement parts? You'll have to take some pictures with your new set-up once completed mate.

Nice one mate. Surprised that Snetty haven't included it in the web events calendar. Should be good for a cheap day out!

Al, I can't find anything about the Masters Meet/event on the Snetty home page or on the Masters Race series page! Is this definitely happening on the 29th?? Cheers mate.

You're doing well there Al, keep it up mate. If I am back from Wales I will defo be there, either in the Vectra....errrr yuck or with the wife in her mx5.....errrr not so yuck but not a zed. Keep me posted mate (pm) as I am extremely busy at work at the mo and cant spend much time on the site. Well done, Tony.

26 years of the Zed and still people are uniquely finding ways to professionally modify their cars, brilliant and very tasteful and not a sticker or Halfords bag anywhere to bee seen. Let this be a lesson to all the MAX power followers out there; this is how to modify a car.........simply brilliantly! Well done guys, look forward to seeing this in the flesh/metal!

Still not quite home yet buddy! Not too sure if i'll be bringing the Zed out of hibernation as I only managed to cover 230 miles in her last year! Too much going on at work and too many people being forced to leave! We are having to do the same job with a lot less people. If I'm around, I'll come along in my daily! Well done for trying to organise an event mate catch up with you soon.

Another tip that has worked time and time again for me is to soak the trim and retaining clip area with silicone spray or WD40 lubricant and slide away!

Well said Tom and totally right. Welcome to the nut house mate and once you have Jap you never go back!

......& I hope Santa feels your stockings full of Zed parts. Sorry I've not been active for a while, but I have been active in another part of the world on behalf of the queen ;) looking forward to the New Year and some Spring meets. Have a good one and safe travels.

I certainly do Gary, why else would I have a red Zed. Before we get too carried away I am not a display pilot but am a tech verifier for all 22 Group Hawk aircraft in the RAF. This gives me the opportunity to test process and programs on the Hawk T1 and T2. The T1 include the Reds. This is why I flew the infamous Mach loop the other week. It's interesting to see people looking down on you taking photos as you whiz past at 450 knots. I'll post some video you might like when I'm back on my desktop pc. It's a shame you are so far away as I'm trying/going (depending on security) arrange for a few members in the EA region to come up to Scampton for a day out and photo shoot with the Reds. Don't shoot me down you RAF lot who are on the forum, we all have a job to do,lol.