Hi all, just putting everything back on my road car. Still need to put the glass and interior trim back on. Then get it registered. Be a few weeks before it is out and about.

Have posted more photos at Yahoo, Datsun owner's club of Tas. Some of race car and rally photos at the Mountain Stages rally, Launceston. Getting ready for the next rally 16 April in Burnie.

Nice!

What color is that??

Looks good! Can I ask how much it cost and how much body work was
needed beforehand? Was it bare metal? .... Trying to get a handle on
what i'm likely to be up for with my own car.

Cheers, Neil.

Hi, its 2 pak, PEUGEOT colour called rouge corail, Debeer brand, 700 series (hardier, used on trucks) 4 litres, have about 1 litre left. It has come up very well. Wanted orange as that was its original colour, but didn't think it would come up this good.

Cost me all up $1050 to spray the car. Think break up was something like $750 materials (roughly $250 paint, $250 2 pak primer, $100 sand paper, $50 misc), $300 for Kerry to spray the car. However I was very lucky in that the spray painter let me use his facilities for 3 months, was very flexible and all he did was spray the car. I did all the preparation myself, sanding, filler, masking up and he told me what to do. But he did all the spraying.

The car had a lot of crows feet all over the roof, pillars and back guards. This required aggressive sanding almost to bare metal, taking me about 3 days hard work to get those parts back to near bare metal. I used course sand paper to cut through the crows feet.

Generally the car was reasonable straight, especially the front and rear panels. I only took areas back to bare metal that needed it. The doors were average and the boot lid had been taken to with a grinder, but it was the best boot lid I had. Bonnet was ok, but needed sikaflex underneath where the stability bars were coming apart.

After bogging up small imperfections and trying to get it reasonably straight, Kerry sprayed the car with 2 coats of 2 pak primer. This filled in all the harsh sanding marks and made finding dents easier.This 2 pak primer is fantastic as it is easily sculptured. Then I bogged up any further imperfections then it was sprayed with 2 pak primer again. Then it had its final sanding, down to 400 grade.

We decided to take off the doors, bonnet, boot lid to make it easier to paint inside the doors and around the boot and bonnet area. Taking off the doors especially is a pain, but the only way to really get a good job (especially if you are altering the colour from the original by a significant amount). All windows, rubbers, handles, etc were removed until only bare metal doors were left (although we left the door mechanism on).

I have probably spent about 100 hours on the car. Very hard work, makes you really appreciate panel beaters and the work that they do. I didn't mind doing the work, but I would think twice about doing another one. Wouldn't surprise me if a bodyworks company would have charged over $5000 to do the same thing.

Bought new rubbers - 4 x doors, front windscreen (needed replacing as had a big scratch), boot about $250 all up.

Car has a fairly standard 1800 with SUs and better suspension and roll cage. Also been fully seam welded. Will be my road car for the moment. Here are a few before and during photos.

Thanks for the comprehensive summary Hat off to you as I'm not sure I'm up for/to all that hard work... even the first time!! and your car came up rellay good. Was thinking of just giving it to a panel/spray shop as I'm sure they would do a much better (and obviously more expensive) job than me. I hate that sanding sh&t!!! Its just I've heard some horror stories..... peole paid good money and got a crap result!! I reckon I would be happy to pay the extra as long as it ended up top notch. No guarantees though, I guess I need a recommended panel beater in melb.

Thanks again for the info.

Cheers, Neil.

No worries. Its a toss up whether I would do the preparation again. A lot of hours and that bloody sanding! Boring. Depends if you have the time and how much you get paid by the hour. In many cases, it can be cheaper in the long run to get a professional to do all the work and pay for it by working longer hours in your job, if you can. Don't think panel beaters get paid much for those long hours.

Best of luck anyway.

Awesome work Mark

It looks the goods.