Datsun 240Z Restoration - Moment of Color (Part 01)

In this video I'm continuing the restoration on my 1973 Datsun 240Z. In the last video the car was blasted, primed and also high build primer was applied.

After a few weeks of curing the high build primer it was time to start preparing the car for the final paint job. The complete car and all its parts were block sanded. To see low spots better a dry guide coat was applied. Sanding is needed until all low spots are gone, but you need to stop sanding once you reach bare metal. If there are still low spots after that, means it needs body filler. Sometimes also a few light hammer hits could also help. On all the spots with body filler and bare metal was epoxy primer applied. Doors, fenders, hood and tailgate looked still a bit rough after that step. That's why another coat of high build primer came on for the final fine sanding with 320 grit. After this step the paint had 2 months time to properly cure before the actual paint job. During that time I applied seam sealer and sealed all gaps and everything where water could get trapped. I also installed sound deadening on the inside of the car. It's extra made to be painted, this way I'm having it like it was original.

Right before the paint all surfaces were fine sanded with 400 grit. First the chassis was on the rotisserie to apply the undercoating. Then the car was painted underneath, inside and the engine bay. First one closed layer of the right grey shade was applied, after around 30 minutes 2-3 coats of base coat was applied. I choosed an original Datsun color: Datsun 920 Safari Gold. The color was adjusted a little bit to have more pop, the original one was a bit pale and too brownish. To finish the paint job, two nice coats of clear coat were applied. The car then came off the rotisserie to paint the outside. Once the chassis was done all the remaining parts were painted. For the rear panels, spoilers, grille and wheels I picked a nice anthracite called Daytona Grey. All these parts were covered by a matte clear coat. The dark parts fit very nice with the mustard yellow ones in my opinion, they have a very nice contrast.

This was such a big journey to come to this point and I'm very happy to finally have the car painted. It took 48 days of work for all the work you can see in that 13 minutes video.

I hope you like my work and enjoy the video.