789 replies to this topic

[Grandad]

Hi All

Our next event is 22 Feb and I need to have another wheel alignment done to add more caster but I don't want to drive round town on sticky race tyres so collected the old stockies from Whittie the other day, the last time I tidied them up was ten years ago so they're not looking as sharp as I want them to.  The car was delivered new in England meaning that the stockies have done time on English roads so were quite degraded when we got them but with enough determination, man hours and material they came up quite well.


Fast forward ten years and this is how they look.



This is the worst.


I figured that because I clear coated them it would be a simple enough job to touch up the black then wipe the clear off with gunwash, give the alloy a quick hand polish then reapply the clear, job done, after all Murphy's nowhere to be seen so first up is a quick wash to remove brake dust then give them a round with my favorite KIWI.




I masked the tyre and cut loose with the gloss black.



So far so good now for a quick wipe with Gunwash a quick hand polish and we're done, enter Murphy, after ten years the clear has well and truly cured and took significant effort to remove then the alloy didn't want to know about hand polishing, suddenly it was a major Autosol machine polish again.



With the machine polish done it was time for some more gloss black followed by a Gunwash cleanup then finally a coat of clear.



Here's the finished worst wheel next to the second worst.


And finally a direct before and after comparison.



It's really interesting that the old 14" rims fitted with balloon tyres actually have a greater rolling radius then the 16" rims fitted with low profile tyres.


When I get all four done and fitted I'll post a pic.

Cheers.
Dad.

[George]

Great job! Would look smashing on the car.

[peter t]

As always another top job from the master. Can't wait to buy whatever mag this will feature in.

[PB260Z]

Hi

That wheel looks amazing, if you don't mind me asking roughly how many man hours did it take ?

Cheers

PB

[nizm0zed]

Hi

That wheel looks amazing, if you don't mind me asking roughly how many man hours did it take ?

Cheers

PB

Not really a fair question, as he is no ordinary man. 

[Whittie]

When we did them the first time we logged about 20hrs a piece

[Grandad]

Hi
That wheel looks amazing, if you don't mind me asking roughly how many man hours did it take ?
Cheers
PB

Hi PB and All

Thanks for the feedback.

The latest polish took about three hours but it was the worst wheel and I did a couple of things twice so I'm thinking the rest won't take quite as long.

When we did them first time round as Whittie said they took ~ 20 hours a piece because they were quite badly pitted and required substantial sanding before any polishing could begin, we were new Zed owners at the time so our enthusiasm was high but I'm not sure I'd do it again I think I'd rather but some good used ones that don't need as much work.

This is what we used.



Cheers
Dad

[George]

Do those wheels have a name? What are they worth in average to good condition?

[Grandad]

Do those wheels have a name? What are they worth in average to good condition?

Hi George

I'm not sure they have a name they're stock 260Z mags.

Cheers
Dad

[George]

Yeah I think you're right. I've just searched around for a bit and every reference I found was that, a stock mag. Did they only come on the 260's or were they available for the 240's as well?

Really impressed with your results.

[Lightmaster240z]

No just the 260

[Grandad]

Hi All

After a four year hiatus we have both renewed our Cams licenses and entered our first competition event which is round one of the local Speed Event Series next Saturday so there's still a bit of pressure to get the car right but it's good pressure.

Here's a link to the SES http://thenewspeedev....net/documents/

At 9.30 tomorrow morning John Fowler will give us the extra 1 degree of caster that I asked for last time but he wouldn't do until he saw the car with guards on so he knows there is sufficient wheel clearance then it's off to scrutineering, the Guy I'm taking it too has done the car lots of times so it will be interesting to see his reaction to it now.

Did a bit more on the film today and will continue with it during the week as time allows, when I was researching this stuff the high priced people told me you can't just attack it with a Stanley knife and scissors, it must be computer cut but another guy said that a Stanley knife and scissors work perfectly well so as there's no computer pattern available for these cars, that's what I'm using, when the backing is on you can see that it's not perfect but when it's applied it becomes virtually invisible.

The front two guard vents are exposed to stone damage from inside so get the film.



Cheers
Dad

[Grandad]

Hi All

The wheel alignment went well we now have the extra caster I was after and John's "Wanneroo set up" which is a touch extra neg camber on the left to allow for the clockwise circuit.

The scrutineer wasn't available yesterday so I took the car in this morning and it flew through as expected although because I haven't done this for so long I had completely forgotten stickers like battery and tow but there on now.

I've been driving round with the stock wheels on and must say that as everything on the car is now muscle assisted the hard tyres certainly make it easier to drive but the aggressive look and feel are gone and it doesn't attract as much attention which I guess is a good thing.

Here it looks like a well maintained (almost) stockie.


Bring on Saturday.

Cheers
Dad

[77260Z]

Love the builld, you've done so damn well with it! What paint did you use for the chrome trim and locks/door handles etc? It looks great but I'd imagine it would have to be pretty tough for door handles and locks or it would be gone pretty quick.

[Grandad]

Hi 77260Z

It's all gloss black powder coat much harder wearing than paint, the powder coater was reluctant to do the locks because of small springs in the mechanism so I said let's just give it a go at my risk and it worked a treat, the plastic light surrounds had to be painted because they would melt in the oven.

Here's some before and after of what we did.




Cheers
Dad

[77260Z]

Thanks for the pics mate. I think I might be going down a similar route, I really like the look of the black trim.

[Grandad]

Hi 77260Z

Thanks for your interest in our re-build.

These are sensational little cars with a great body shape and an admirable sporting pedigree and although frowned on in some quarters as being Japanese they are increasingly being recognized as genuine classic cars so from here on I can only see them going up in value.

The trim on the other hand is fashion and that comes and goes, when these cars were new chrome was in fashion but that changed, black or no hi-lites became the fashion but now chrome appears to be making a bit of a comeback.

I really like the body color/black combo stealth look that we've achieved but if in future fashions change or Whittie decides to return the car to a more factory look, gunwash will do it in almost no time so if you want to go for the black look then do it just make sure you don't damage the underlying trim by sanding or preparing it in any way other than with something like gunwash.

Cheers
Dad

[Grandad]

HI all

I've been preparing for the Speed Event tomorrow and have re-fitted the 16" Rotas on the front, while the stock 14" are conservative and great for the commute, the 16" Rotas are Tuff and eye catching.


A bit more protective film and re-fit the film protected mud flap.



And now for a little teaser, we are out to set a new Speed Event Series class 3D Wanneroo Long Circuit lap record which currently stands at @70.565 and is held by a 260Z.

Kicks or Kisses, tomorrow will tell.

Cheers
Dad

[PB260Z]

Good luck in bettering the old mark of 70.565
Look forward to hearing by how much

[Whittie]

Our previous pb in this car is a 71.8 which we could do consistently before the restoration.

Our skill has no doubt dropped off, and it's a brand new car to learn to drive, however, the goal I set myself when I started was to do a 66. I don't think we'll do that today, but I've no doubt the car is capable. Time will tell, we'll let you all know tonight!

The event runs 12-930pm so maybe tomorrow for most of you folks