Painting uprights

[the_one]

I am contemplating painting my rear uprights and some other random parts under my car because they are corroded. Does anyone have tips or things I should keep in mind? Are there any special painting/prep strategies that work better than others? Thanks.

_one

[West]

What do you plan to paint it with? Consider having it brushed/polished, anodized or powdercoated. That depends on how corroded they are, if its seriously corroded replace them, a $10 junkyard item isnt worth risking your life over. Even consider doing the 300zx upright swap, although that requires z32 rear brakes as well, and 300zx mounts on your struts/coilovers.

[Sway500]

I heard that the 300zx upright is the same as the S13 upright, and if that is so would it be possible to keep the S13 upright and swap everything from the 300zx upright to the S13 upright and have the brakes functional (e-brake included) and the 5 lug hubs?

[West]

Yes, you will need the uprights, hubs, calipers, rotors, ebrake line, e brake conversion kit. Plus the mount on the bottom of the uprights for the struts is different the the 240 so you will need something for that. The best way is to have coilovers such as JIC that allow you to replace the mounts and you can use the 300ZX lower strut mount with the rear 240sx coilovers. I know I am missing some stuff here so I will just link you to this article, IIRC it covers everything about this.

http://www.sportcompactcarweb.com/projectcars/0211scc_projsilvia/

I considered doing all this, but with HICAS I am SOL for the time... plus I cant afford coilovers just yet... besides the D2's :(

[[email protected]]

I believe that if you are using the upright you do not need a e-brake conversion kit. Other than that every thing you have listed is correct.

[Flybert]

If anyone is interested in doing this conversion, I have some Z32 uprights for sale. $40 and they are yours.

[sykikchimp]

I believe that if you are using the upright you do not need a e-brake conversion kit. Other than that every thing you have listed is correct.


?? elaborate? do you mean using the upright, and keeping the stock 240sx calipers, and rotors?

[West]

?? elaborate? do you mean using the upright, and keeping the stock 240sx calipers, and rotors?

I'm 99% positive you can’t do that (Correct me if I’m wrong). I’m not sure if the mounting is the same for the calipers on either upright. Someone with Rear Z32 setup should know this.

What he is implying is mating the stock EBrake line with the drum brake line without the EBrake Conversion. From what I have seen from others doing this it doesn’t look trustworthy, but seems to be working fine for them.

Besides for you it would be easy. Just get the TTZ Uprights, JIC Z32 Rear Lower Strut Mounts, Z32 Rear Brake's with Brake Line and you're set. Read the article more, you will see how they crossed the rear brake line across the undercarriage and avoided the need for a E Brake Conversion Kit.

[sykikchimp]

I had read that article several times, but I was curious as to what exactly he meant. You are probably right.

I don't really want to use z32 rears. What with my obnoxious need to maintain a certain brake bias. I fear I'm just going to end up buying something a lot more custom and adjustable. :-P

[Sway500]

If you look at dousan's pics of his rear brake setup he doesnt have the lower shock mount for the z32 he has the lower mount from the s13, so my question is can I use the S13 upright but swap everything from the z32 upright to the s13 including the 5 lug hubs.

[shinhed]

You can use the rear Z drum/disc brake, lug conversion with standard S13 uprights and you can used standard S13 rear brakes on the lighter Z32 uprights.

Edit:

I've never seen uprights corroded enough to need replacement but, if you're anal over the smallest things (like myself) you should sand it down, thoroughly clean and degrease it, use a metal pre-primer like Resto Motive's Metal-Ready and paint it with a paint made for metal (I recommend industrial grade Rustoleum hammered finish spray paint).

I used the same procedure on my subframe and my gutted interior except I used Por-15 on my interior and industrial grade Rustoleum on the subframe.