Rear Valance or Fangs blacked out
 

After the car meet yesterday, I was inspired to make some changes. :tup:
This DIY applies to the front fangs or the rear valance, I did the Fangs the same way about 10 months ago and they seam to be holding up great.
This mod should cost you about $25, and roughly 3 hours of your time.

Materials needed.

1. Krylon Flat Black paint
2. Rustoleum Matt Clear Coat Paint
3. 220 grit sandpaper
4. 320 grit sandpaper sponge.
5. Painters Tape
6. Plastic Trash Bags


Clean everything off real good with windex or similar cleaner.

http://www.the370z.com/members/minic...ance-start.jpg

Mask Off the areas, make sure to get an even line in the valley of the valence.
http://www.the370z.com/members/minic...nce-masked.jpg

Have your 7 year old lightly sand with 220 grit then finish off with 320 grit while you go get a beer or beverage of choice.
http://www.the370z.com/members/minic...-labor-lol.jpg

Wipe off with a rag saturated in rubbing alcohol and dry with micro fiber cloth. Apply first coat of flat black, wait 20 min then apply 2nd coat of flat black.
http://www.the370z.com/members/minic...-fisrtcoat.jpg

Next, apply first coat of clear coat, wait 30 min, then apply 2nd coat of clear coat. Wait 20 min then start to remove the masking tape slowly.
Your done :tup: It started to get dark, so I'll try and get some pics during the day and from different perspectives.

http://www.the370z.com/members/minic...e-finished.jpg

Some pics with the JDM fog light installed
http://www.the370z.com/members/minic...heels-rear.jpg

http://www.the370z.com/members/minic...eels-rear3.jpg

hahaha too funny....did u grab a 16oz or a 22oz while your 7 year old did this mod for you? haha

Yeah, I grabbed a 14oz, but it was missing 2 ounces :p
inside joke

lol

:roflpuke2::bowrofl::roflpuke2:

I got it!!

Painting your Rear Valance, so easy a 7 year old can do it!

Yeah, I couldn't find any cavemen :icon17:

One of the Best DIYs for the Buck
 

For members who have actually seen Minicobra1's Z, his fangs look factory done—no kidding. He's beaten the system with a few bucks, and the results can easily pass as Nissan's own. Not only that his solution has withstood the test of time and many road miles very well. :tup:

Looks really good Braden. Do you loan the kids out for laundry and house work? :p

Thanks :tup: Yes, didn't you see the sign in the background :ugh2:

ahaha, oh man, that's fked!

^What a good Dad, No Smoking around the kid!:rofl2:

I wish I had a seven year old to help with mods. I guess I could have one in a little under 8 years from now if I start working at it...:rofl2:

:icon18:

HAHAHAH lol thats too funny... Lets play a game? Who can sand down the paint better hun? you can go first :stirthepot:

Yeah, she did her first oil change a month ago :bowrofl: No really, got to keep her involved while she's still interested, she loves to do projects and help out.
My older daughter just hides in her room, I could never get her to do stuff like this.

Updated first post with some pics of the JDM fog light installed. I think it looks better now, the black really helps to accent the light, and the other way too.

I will try this soon :)
How's the paint holding up?

Good write-up. I did this last weekend. Super easy and cheap.

This is awesome stuff. As soon as it quits being a sauna outside, I'm all over this.

Finally did it! I actually painted the (already) black portions of the front bumper and the chin spoiler to make sure it all matched.

http://www.the370z.com/members/370za...-my-z-lake.jpg

Looks good zapper...! Did you do the rear as well?

all these grey 370's with the blacked out fangs and valances/skirts etc look sweet!

OP, your Powder coated Nismo wheels look awesome and match the car perfectly.

i think the new in is to wrap it with the 3M CF sheets. both front fang and rear valance.

Sure did. I don't have a direct shot from behind though. Both look great and I could not be happier on how it looks.

Thanks for the write up did my rear today in satin black, I think I might do the fangs in flat black, I may redo the rear flat black as well. I did not add clear coat yet didnt have time.http://i828.photobucket.com/albums/z...i/IMG_0009.jpg

I kinda like it in flat black without the clear!

I just finished doing both the fangs and the rear valance. Two people, two hours. Most of the time was spent taping everything out. I'll know tomorrow if I got paint in the wrong places. Pics once the weather is nicer.

Great write up, very helpful.

How long after the final coat do you need to wait before driving the car?

I've taken off all the tape but I'm waiting about a day and half before I drive it. Its looking good so far.

Nice

How has the front fangs held up to the rock chips OP?

Here's a couple pics. Still need to do a little bit of touching up. It looks really good.

The guy across the street started mowing his lawn and was kicking up dust, so I drove down the street to a parking lot and finished spraying on the clear coat there. I waited about 30 min to dry, then drove off and never looked back :-)

I've had it done for almost 2 years and 20k miles, no more rock chips or damage then the original surrounding paint. :-)

Great thread just did mine today. Thanks for showing us how its done.

Finally gonna try this over the weekend.

Car looks great.

We have some warm days coming in. I'm going to get started on mine. Great thread and kuddos to all that posted your pics.

Thinking of doing this now....maybe :stirthepot:

How do you mask a straight line in between the valance and bumper gap?

use a lot of patience and try to do short sections along the curve and long strips around the straights. Also make sure you sand in side that edge good because you dont want the paint to peel off when you take the tape off. Here he sanded after he taped which is a better idea then what i did which was sanding before. I had to be carefull not to take the gloss off the parts i didnt want painted. For a clean line, I suggest using the blue tape that says edge lock or something like that. Regular blue tape sucks imo and I have to touch up some parts. Keep some paint thinner handy just incase you mess up. You can dab a little on a cloth and wipe it right off if you have over spray somewhere.