Side Chick Project: BoneZ Painting

BoneZ is an old girl. 2012 Nissan 370Z Fairlady. 210,000 miles on the clock. However, I love her, she’s been a great car, and still runs very well.

She is certainly showing her age, but that’s ok. We can fix that with a fresh paint job. I’m also doing some extensive suspension work and leather interior, but I’ll post about that at a later date. I will say, there is a surprise coming, so stick around until the end. 

First thing’s first. This is the color we have chosen: House of Kolor’s Lapis Blue Pearl with Ocean Blue FX Kosmic Sparks.  I asked AI to draw a picture of what it could look like.  Pretty shweeeeet!  We shall see.

The House of Kolor cans have started to arrive. Let’s see, we got a couple flavors of pre-paint cleaner, check. . The adhesion promoter, primer/sealer, clear coat, right on. The Ocean color is in a sealed bottle, but I was able to seek a peak through the seal. The darker Lapis Blue looks cool. Mixed 3:1:1, I’ll have 1.67 gallons of sprayable clear. I will try to hit it with 3 coats initially, do a 600-grit color sand, and then finish it up with 2 nice flowcoats. I’ve never used that technique, but it would produce a very nice final look for a daily driver.

LET THERE BE AIR

Okay, it’s time to get started. First things first, I need to build the air-moving system. I picked up this fan that supposedly moves 8,300 CFM. It seems to make quite a breeze. I’ve built these frames that fit into the doors, one for intake and one for exhaust. Paint arrestor filters will be placed over the openings. The neighbors are eying me with suspicion.

“What is that feller up to?”

ON THE FIRST DAY HE MADE A BOOTH

Well, it’s a booth of sorts, but it’s what I got. My main objective is to give myself as much room as possible, and keep overspray off my walls and floor. However, before that happens, I have five years of crud to clean up. Much thanks to my better two-thirds for helping me.

JOHNNY 5 DISASSEMBLE

What’s that old saying? “It’s going to get worse before it get’s better.” That appears to be the case. However, you have to tear it down before you can build it back up. I was going to take the fenders and door handles off, but it seems too fiddly to be worth it. I thought of other “creative” ways to do what I want to do with them in place. But oy, whatta mess!

THE ART OF ABRASION

We are getting close to spray time, but first, we need to perfect the bodywork. It’s fill, sand, and prime time.

THE MASKED AVENGER

I can’t lie folks. I hate prep work. However, I know without proper prep, the paint job won’t be its best. You can paint a turd, but it will still look like a turd… maybe a shiny turd though.

JAM OUT!

Stray time, y’all! First, I’ll start out with hitting all the jams.

Next, move on the everything else. Time to destroy the garage!

AND IN THE END…

After much work, and much reassembly, this is what we have. Oh, remember I mentioned a big surprise at the end? My lovely wife bought me a set of Morimoto headlights and taillights.

And this brings this post to an end. However, look out for the next post, as I have a time-lapse video I’ll be posting of the entire job. It was fun. It was a lot of work. But now, I rest.

For Reference: Airkewld Chassis Build

I’m posting this here as my aspiration for a rolling chassis.

I’ll be a happy old man if I can get my chassis to look like this. I think I can. It only takes money, right? Here’s a list of installed parts from Airkewld themselves.

Stage 2 PRObuilt Beam – https://www.airkewld.com/Stage-2-PRObuilt-Air-Ride-Beam-Complete-2202-p/2202.htm

GEN 2 BAD Series Disc Brakes – https://www.airkewld.com/Classic-VW-Front-Disc-Brake-Kit-4150G2-p/4150g2.htm

PRObuilt Transaxle – https://www.airkewld.com/PRObuilt-Transaxle-Performance-Short-Axle-2310-p/2310.htm

GEN 2 BAD Series Disc Brakes for the rear – https://www.airkewld.com/Classic-VW-Rear-Disc-Brake-Kit-4700G2-p/4700g2.htm

PRObuilt Pedal Assembly – https://www.airkewld.com/OEM-PRObuilt-Pedal-Assembly-Service-1450-p/1450.htm

Seat Belt Anchors – https://www.airkewld.com/Seat-Belt-Reinforcement-Kit-p/2707.htm

Chassis Inspection plate – https://www.airkewld.com/Chassis-Inspection-Plate-Kit-2701-p/2701.htm

Stainless Steel Chassis Fastener Kit – https://www.airkewld.com/Complete-Stainless-Chassis-Fastener-Kit-2920-p/2920.htm

Six Shooter – https://www.airkewld.com/Six-Shooter-Clutch-Adjustment-Nut-p/2820.htm