Just bought a 1981 datsun 280zx, paint is oxidized, need help, UPDATED

[BobyYoo]

Hi all,

Im new to this forums, but i have spend alot of time reading the forums.

I just bought a datsun 280zx 1981, the paint is original, the owner said the car was never driven in winter. As you can see below picture, there is alot of swirl and the paint seem to be badly oxidized. It is only the hood, roof and trunk of the car that is oxidized. The side of the car still shine.

I was wondering if the paint can shine again or do I have to repaint the whole car.

I have never worked on a car with bad paint like this. The only thing I did to my other car was polish and wax by hand.

If it is possible to make this thing shine again, which product would you recommend.

I have in my possession the scratch x and the nxt wax. I was planning on using the scratch x OR the color x and then use the crystal deep polish, and then wax it with the nxt wax. Also, plan on buying the g100 or the porter cable polisher to do it.

here are the picture taken in my garage, because it is winter out here and my car stay inside.



With Flash


Close-up pictures, note, the white thing is just the light reflexion on these pictures below





The two white spot on the top of the hood is the wax residu, the previous owner applied somekind of wax to show me that we can still make the paint shine again. here are some picture of the close up residu and it seem to shine a bit.

[BobyYoo]

Re: Just bought a 1981 datsun 280zx, paint is oxidized, need help, PICS!!

since it is an 1981, i guess there is no clear coat on this. So it should be a 1 stage paint?

[Superior Shine]

Re: Just bought a 1981 datsun 280zx, paint is oxidized, need help, PICS!!

A repaint is in order.

[Mike Phillips]

Re: Just bought a 1981 datsun 280zx, paint is oxidized, need help, PICS!!

We agree with Joe, when paint looks like what the paint on your car's hood looks like, there is nothing that can save it except to repaint.


Welcome to the Z-owners club...

[BobyYoo]

Re: Just bought a 1981 datsun 280zx, paint is oxidized, need help, PICS!!

it is that bad , it is only the hood that have those badly swirl, the other parts is just oxidized, but not so much swirl compare to the hood.

i wanted to keep the original paint, and keep the car original.

i guess i will have to check for painting price. or just painting the hood... hmmmm

[Mike Phillips]

Re: Just bought a 1981 datsun 280zx, paint is oxidized, need help, PICS!!

You might be able to save or at least improve the non-hood panels, but the hood is past the point of no return.

Remember this saying, like many things in life, car paint is the same idea...

"You don't know what you can do until you try"


If you have any Meguiar's polishes, for example M80 would be a good choice, take and rub them some onto the fenders or doors and see if they improve a little. If they improve a little with a little rubbing, then chances are good they will improve more with a thorough cleaning and polishing using products like Meguiar's cleaner/polishes and pure polishes. Definitely try to stick with the M80 if you can as it has a lot of rich polishing oils to restore the old, dead paint with diminishing abrasives to clean off oxidation and stained paint. Do a little test spot and see what you can do.

[romulus]

Re: Just bought a 1981 datsun 280zx, paint is oxidized, need help, PICS!!

My good old days at college... I used to own one just like yours; same model year, and 2+2. The only differences are the rims and color. It looks like you have an 82-83 rims. Mine had the "cross" just like Mike's. One way to verify if the car has been driven in the winter, is to check the vent grill where the wipers are located. This particular model year has tendency to rust badly in the midle of the grill. If there is a little rust, the claim from the previous owner is valid.

Regarding your questions. I am sort of leaning towards the advice from the experts. But if you want to give a shot, try color X as you mentioned and do a test section by hand to see how will turn out. See link.

http://meguiarsonline.com/forums/showthread.php?t=88

From the pictures it seems that the paint is not cracked so you may be able to salvage it. If not, at least you will have a good all in one wax.

[BobyYoo]

Re: Just bought a 1981 datsun 280zx, paint is oxidized, need help, PICS!!

thanks guys.

I really want to try to save the original paint as much as i can. I don't want to spend money on paint job this year. I have other priority and i have too many cars to take care of. For sure a paint job in the near future.

I dont know about the rims, but the owner said it was original and also said the tires are original from 1981. It is hard to believe, but they looked old.
I will try scratch x and color x to see which one works out better, and I will buy the M80 as Mike suggested.

Mike is that your Z ?? what a beauty, those were my favorite year 1970-so on... but they are so hard to find in canada. I was lucky enought to find the 280zx in good condition. Most of the time they are rust bucket.

here she is when i took her home, parked behind the younger brother skyline and then i wash her right away to get rid of the salt.

[BobyYoo]

Re: Just bought a 1981 datsun 280zx, paint is oxidized, need help, PICS!!

Mike you changed the picture of the z from last night... hehe nice

[Mike Phillips]

Re: Just bought a 1981 datsun 280zx, paint is oxidized, need help, PICS!!

Mike you changed the picture of the z from last night... hehe nice

Yeah, the one I posted last night had a TV from the 1950's sticking out of the back and kind of took away from the beauty of the body lines... this one...



Joe aka Superior Shine gave me this antique TV during the Support Our Troops events,








Here's a better shot...




It's pretty rare to find these in good condition any longer, wherever I drive this people always come up and make comments or ask questions, here's the most common one,

"I haven't see one of these for years"

[sneek]

Re: Just bought a 1981 datsun 280zx, paint is oxidized, need help, PICS!!

wow Mike, I didn't know you had a Z.

http://www.canadatrader.com/result/detailinfo.aspx?ID=17122847&pgno=1&srt=1

:P I was looking at this one. It's not too expensive, so I could keep my gen7 and still have a sporty car. the only problem is the " Description : RESTORED BODY AND PAINT." LOL

"1970-so on... but they are so hard to find in canada"
they have one in Alberta, it has a 300ZX engine in it, but its $10,000.

[Mike Phillips]

Re: Just bought a 1981 datsun 280zx, paint is oxidized, need help, PICS!!

I will try scratch x and color x to see which one works out better, and I will buy the M80 as Mike suggested.

There's no polishing oils in the ScratchX, the Colorx is a complex blend of chemical cleaners, diminishing abrasives, protection ingredients and possibly some polishing oils, we would have to check on this to be sure, this is why we recommended the M80 Speed Glaze.

It's a cleaner/polish that contains diminishing abrasives which you're going to need to clean and remove some of the dead, oxidized and dirty/stained paint while at the same time the rich polishing oils will penetrate into this single stage paint and help to bring out the richness of color which is what you, (and everybody), wants out of their car's paint.

After washing the car and then claying anything smooth, paint, glass, chrome trim, etc., next take a microfiber applicator or a terry cloth applicator, or even a piece of terry cloth and apply the M80 to this and then put some passion behind your pad and rub this old paint out. Carve out a small section at at time, about 16" square to 20" square or so...

Base the section you work on by the shape of the panel


"Let the panel be your guide"


Work the product in really well and then wipe it off, don't let it dry. Inspect the results and possibly repeat this for each section, you should be able to tell if a second application is improving the results.

If you want to do everything you can to try to salvage this paint, and you're seeing good/great results from the M80 Speed Glaze, then go over the entire car with a well worked in application of #7 Show Car Glaze. Again, apply, work in and the wipe off.

For both the M80 and the #7 you can work section by section, panel by panel before wiping off, the idea is that these are products that don't need to dry.

After you go over the car with the M80 Speed Glaze, apply a coat of the Gold Class Wax, use the liquid and really do a good job of pushing the wax into the paint. Allow this product to dry before removing.

[BobyYoo]

Re: Just bought a 1981 datsun 280zx, paint is oxidized, need help, PICS!!

sneek, that seem a good price if the car is in good shape. I bought mine $2200 cad

Mike, thanks for the tips, I'll try that.
I have the nxt tech wax, i will probably use that instead of the gold class wax

btw Mike, is your z have the original paint, or was it repainted??

[Mike Phillips]

Re: Just bought a 1981 datsun 280zx, paint is oxidized, need help, PICS!!

I have the nxt tech wax, i will probably use that instead of the gold class wax

That'll work, the important part is the M80/M07 steps...

btw Mike, is your z have the original paint, or was it repainted??

Repaint. It's not a bad job, not a great job, they were very thorough as far as nooks and crannies, but you can see some shrink back into the prep work in some places.

It doesn't appear to have ever been wrecked, we've looked it over very carefully. It's also rust-free, it only had 60,000 miles on it and we were told it was garage parked in either Arizona or Northern California all of it's life. It had a Rats Nest in the heater box and the heater control valve for water flow was leaking so everything was taken apart to remove the rats nest and replace the heater core and control valve. In the process the vinyl dash disintegrated.






We're looking into an aftermarket air conditioning unit before buttoning up the dash and installing a stereo.

Very fun to drive and 22 miles per gallon.

[Setec Astronomy]

Re: Just bought a 1981 datsun 280zx, paint is oxidized, need help, PICS!!

I remember shopping for Z's in the early 80's and all the 240's were just rusted away or had already had a crummy repair done (tastless flares and spoilers or a bad backyard job).

Mike, I like the liberal use of Meguiar's Deep Pile Chenille Wash Mitts to protect that TV!