Most of these cars have been through multiple owners who probably just painted right over rust patches and old repair work whenever something looked rough. After 50 years on the road, your Z could easily have 4, 5, maybe even 6 different paint jobs stacked on top of one another.
My hope is that I can help you balance speed with your budget. If you play your cards right, you'll cut weeks off your rust removal timeline and also expose every last bit of corrosion that's been hidden underneath - all so you don't waste a single drop of primer.
The multiple layers of paint and primer usually just cover up some pretty nasty problems. The floor pans might already be rusted completely through, the battery trays could be gone, and the frame rails may have been slowly falling apart for who knows how long. Strip everything down, and a professional media blasting service will cost you $1,500 to $3,000. But they'll get the whole car down to bare metal in under 12 hours.
Here are the fastest ways to strip your 240Z down to bare metal!
Table of Contents
Check Your 240Z's Condition and Paint
Before you start reaching for any tools or chemicals, take a step back and see what sort of project you have on your hands. Your 240Z probably looks pretty decent when you're standing a few feet away from it. The truth is that the condition of the car is usually hidden underneath those layers of paint.
A lead paint test is important for any car that could have been painted before 1978. Hardware stores sell EPA-approved test swabs for about $15, and the process couldn't be easier. You just rub the swab on a place where you've already scraped away a bit of paint and watch for a color change. If the swab turns red or pink, lead paint is present, and this changes everything about how you'll need to handle the rest of your project.
This next part is where the process gets interesting. Take an awl or an old screwdriver and use it to probe all the common problem areas on the car. Press hard into the metal around the rear wheel wells first. These areas are notorious for collecting water and road salt over the decades. Then move down to the rocker panels and make your way to the frame rails. The metal should feel strong and resist your probing. If your tool pushes through like you're poking warm butter, or if the metal just crumbles away, then you have rust problems that need to be fixed before you even think about touching the paint.
To see how many times your Z has been repainted over the years, look for a place where the paint has already chipped away or sand down a small edge until you hit bare metal. You can count the different color layers just like you'd count the rings on a tree. Some 240Zs have had 5 or 6 full paint jobs layered on top of one another. Each layer you find represents that much more work you'll have when you strip it all away.
Nothing is more frustrating than spending an entire weekend grinding away old paint just to find out that the floor pans underneath have completely rotted through. It's much better to find these problems now while you still have time to either source a different shell or mentally get ready for plenty of metalwork.
The Safety Gear You'll Need
You need a P100 respirator for this job, and I can't stress this enough. The old paint on your 240Z most likely has lead in it, and once you start to grind that paint off, you're supposed to be wearing the right respiratory protection. Those cheap disposable masks from the hardware store won't work - they're useless for this type of work. Since you're going to be at this project for well over 40 hours, you want to get yourself a half-face respirator that has replaceable cartridges. Comfort turns into a big factor when you're wearing something on your face for that long.
Your angle grinder needs to have variable speed control, and there's no way around this. The 240Z has these thin 20-gauge steel panels that are notorious for warping the second they get even a little bit too hot. A single-speed grinder just runs way too fast, and it generates heat so fast that you won't have time to react before the damage is done. Variable speed control lets you dial the RPMs back and actually keep the metal at a manageable temperature as you work on it.
Ventilation is very important for this project. You're going to need at least 500 CFM worth of exhaust fan power to pull all that dust and those fumes out of your garage space. Open doors will certainly help the situation, but they won't do nearly enough by themselves. Without adequate ventilation, the particles you're creating are just going to hang in the air for hours and hours.
Quality flap discs and wire wheels are worth every penny, so you should buy the better ones right from the beginning. The 36-grit flap discs will chew through the paint and primer fast, and they do it without gouging up the metal underneath. The twisted wire wheels are great for the tight corners and seams where the discs just can't reach. The cheap versions will clog up with paint after about 10 minutes of use, and then you'll spend more time swapping them out than actually making progress on your car.
Your ears need protection as well. Angle grinders run at over 90 decibels, and that's loud enough to cause real permanent hearing damage after only a few hours of continuous exposure.
Fast Paint Removal with Power Tools
Mechanical removal is by far the fastest way to strip paint from a 240Z, and it's not as scary as you'd think. You'll need a 4.5" angle grinder with some 36-grit flap discs for the main panel work. The smaller size grinder makes a real difference here because it lets you get into the curved areas around the transmission tunnel. A 7" model will just bounce around in those tighter spaces and make your life harder.
The best strategy is to work on the flat surfaces first. A cross-hatch pattern is what you want to use as you're grinding because it helps keep the surface nice and even. Lots of restorers make the mistake of just going back and forth in straight lines. But that's how you create waves in the metal. Once you have waves in the metal, you're committed to body filler work later.
Plan on spending about 3 to 4 hours on the hood if you can stay focused and keep a steady pace. The roof is a bit quicker at 2 to 3 hours since you have one large flat panel without too many complications. Each door is going to need roughly 2 hours of work because you have to be careful around the door handle areas and the body lines that give the Z its character. Once you've knocked down all the paint with your 36-grit discs, it's time to switch over to the 80-grit for the final passes. This smooths out the scratch marks and leaves you with a surface that's ready for primer.
When you run into some spot welds or old seam sealer, switch to a wire wheel attachment. The flap discs will just skip right over that old sealer without doing much. But the wire wheels will dig in and get the job done.
I'll be honest - your hands are going to be tired after about an hour of this work. Make sure to take a break every 45 minutes or so to stretch out your fingers and shake out your arms. Marathon sessions will wear you down fast when you're motivated and want to push through. But a weak grip will cause mistakes.
Chemical Strippers Work Best in Corners
Chemical strippers are the only workable option when you have to work on impossible corners and tight spaces on a 240Z. Door jambs and rain gutters are classic problem areas where a grinder just won't fit without causing damage. The engine bay is full of dozens of little crevices, brackets, and wiring clips that all need attention.
Aircraft Remover and CitriStrip are probably the 2 most popular options out there, and they each work great when you know what you're doing. The main aspect with either product is patience. You want to apply a thick coat and then just leave it alone for at least 15 to 30 minutes. That wait time is when the work happens - the chemicals need those minutes to actually penetrate and break down all the old paint layers.
Once the paint has softened up nicely, you should reach for a plastic scraper instead of metal. Metal scrapers will gouge the soft steel on your Z. Plastic scrapers cost next to nothing, and they won't damage the surface underneath. Gel formulas are worth the extra cost because they actually stay put on vertical surfaces. Your A-pillars and door frames need a product that's going to cling there long enough to work - not something that runs down onto the floor right away. The chemicals work their way into all the awkward angles and vertical sections since the thicker consistency keeps them in place.
One step that gets missed way too much is neutralizing the stripper after you're done. Any chemical residue that's left behind is going to come back to haunt you - it'll literally eat through your new paint job months later. Whatever neutralizer the manufacturer recommends, use it generously and wash everything down completely.
Chemical strippers will probably run you about $100 to $150 for the areas where your mechanical tools just won't fit. Going with the chemical-only approach would probably cost you $500 or more, and you'd still be scraping away at the goop for days on end. Using the 2 methods together gets the job done way faster.
Time to Protect Your Bare Metal
Once you strip your 240Z down to bare metal, that exposed steel is already at risk for rust. The clock is definitely ticking at this point. Bare metal and moisture don't play well together, and in humid climates, you can watch an orange film develop across the surface in just a few hours - that's how fast it happens.
The best strategy is to work fast after each section gets stripped down to bare steel. Most professional restorers know they need to get some type of protective primer on there within 24 hours of the metal exposure. SPI Epoxy has earned a solid reputation in professional restoration shops for a reason, though PPG's DP series works just as well if your local supplier carries it. These 2 primers create a chemical bond with the steel itself and build up a protective barrier that prevents rust from even starting.
Sometimes you just can't prime immediately, though. Maybe you're still busy with metal work on another section, or you're stuck waiting for parts to show up. A light coating of WD-40 can protect the bare metal for maybe 2 or 3 days at maximum. It's not the best strategy, but it beats letting the metal sit there completely exposed.
The preparation steps between the metal stripping and the primer application matter more. Start by wiping the bare metal down with acetone - this removes any leftover oils or residue from the stripping process. Then brush on a metal prep product like Ospho that converts microscopic rust particles that you can't even see yet. Indoor storage for the stripped panels really helps if you have the space. Even a basic garage that has ventilation protects the metal better than leaving the panels outside where morning dew can settle on them overnight. I've seen plenty of restorers who strip their cars down in a planned way in sections for this exact reason - they'll finish one quarter panel completely before even touching the next area. It minimizes the amount of exposed bare metal at any given time.
Build Your Dream Car
The first time a grinder touches your Z's old paint is something that sticks with you. Every layer of paint you strip away tells a part of the car's story, and sometimes what's hiding underneath makes you see just how well these Japanese cars were built in the first place. When you restore a Z, you learn patience in a way that few other projects can teach. After 3 hours on a single fender with your arms aching and dust everywhere, the reality of 19 more panels ahead of you really sets in. The whole restoration suddenly feels much bigger than it did at first.
After walking dozens of owners through their first big strip job, what always strikes me is the way everyone eventually settles into their own preferred approach. Media blasting wins over some restorers completely once they see the pristine condition of their floorboards afterward, and others really like the almost meditative process of systematically working their way across each panel with a DA sander in hand. Most likely, you'll try all the methods we've talked about by the time you finish the job, and that's actually a great benefit. Different situations call for different tools, and each technique will prove itself very useful at some point during the project.
The physical labor that goes into stripping paint builds a bond between you and your car that just doesn't happen any other way. You become intimately familiar with every small curve and every factory weld and yes, sadly, every hidden place where rust has been quietly doing its damage over the years. The payoff comes once you finally take a step back and see nothing but bare metal reflecting your shop lights for what's probably the first time in 40 or more years. Those hours of sore arms and dusty clothes suddenly feel worthwhile when you realize that you're looking at a completely blank canvas ready for whatever vision you have in mind.
After all that hard work to get your bare metal completely prepped for primer and paint, you're ready to think about what else you can do to really make your restoration stand out. At Skillard, we make custom parts for just this reason - they're specifically designed for the 240Z, 260Z, 280Z, and any other classic Datsun that you are working on. Our aluminum door cards are noticeably lighter than stock, and they still look sharp, and our modern center consoles actually add useful storage and functionality that keeps your interior looking like it belongs in a vintage Z. The spoilers we make give your car just the right aggressive look without going overboard.
We also produce bumpers that keep the classic style you want, but fit way better than any used parts you're going to find anywhere else. Every part in our catalog was developed specifically for these cars because the team at Skillard is just as obsessed with them as the rest of us are. Visit Skillard.com to see our full range of products and find the exact parts that'll help you build the Z you've been dreaming about.
