Hey everyone, just wondering if i can get some advice on what is the best way to go about preparing my 1200 for repainting...

It has minimal rust and bodywork to take care of and only the doors need painting in the interior. Also, does anyone know around about how much time I can expect the car to be off the road?... Maybe its more economical for me to pay a shop to do it all for me? Thanks!

spend lots of time preparing it, lots and lots of time, three quarters of a paint job is preperation. prep prep and prep, go out to your library and have a look at some body prep books, have a read and then decide whether you want to do it youtrself or if you want to pay to get it done.

A professional can do a clean (no substrate damage) ordinary external respray in about 40 hours.
As Team_Dat says three quarters is Prep mostly rubbing & cleaning, rub & clean, rub & clean, rub & clean.
Always get a quote & try to see some of their similar price point jobs if using a body shop. Ensure what you are paying for is what you want.

There are very, very few dumb questions.

We ask questions to find out ourselves or to query the original statement.

Just keep on with the questions!

it also comes down to weather you can paint it your self? do you have the skills and equipment? The equipment you can hire but the skills come with practice and advice from those in the know. Besides its always good to practice on a ford or something that way if you stuff it up it doesnt matter.

Don't worry about how long your car is going to be of the road.
That is the least of your worries.
My 1200GX is currently in for a repaint.
At the moment it is a month and a half of the road.
Ok. I must admit the guy is very busy.
If he worked only on my car it would have been finished by now.Get a quote from as many people as possible.Check out how their previous jobs look and if possible speak to these people to find out if they are happy with the job.
Everything that can be stripped on the car must be stripped. This is very important.My car is stripped by the doors,bonnet,boot,windows,front left and right pannels above the wheels and little stuff like the badges and stuff.All must be prepaired 100% before the job.While it is being resprayed, buy new rubbers and replace all rubbers.
Where the rust is,clean it up 100% and use the rubber paintable stuff they use on the back of utilities to prevent from rusting in the future again. As the other datsun fans said: "Preparation is the key to a successful paintjob."
If you do not have the experience to do it, like me, rather let it be done by someone and go and do a frequent inspection.
Don't forget to take photos of the whole process. Hope this helps.

Don't strip around the top of the doors where the rubber and rain channels are..it's too hard to cleanup, unless you choose to lightly sandblast it, and soon after that put undercoat on.

It's hard work knowing what to do, find someone to do the paint, then do the paint stripping etc yourself. This is what I've done, I'll know in the next couple of weeks if this worked ok for me.

Chris

cool thanks everyone, I'm definately going to do the stipping etc. myself, and the roof gutter etc. has to be done cause there's surface rust there, but I'l get it prof. painted. The problem with it being off the road for so long is that it's my only car, so I might have to borrow a car for a while but thats ok.
One more question, some cars' windscreens break when you take them out (like fords..) do 1200s have this problem? is there any other stuff i should be wary of when removing for difficulties reinstalling? Chrome strip are sometimes annoying... Ford ones are made to go on once and you have to break the mounts to get them off... stupid really...

My car is being done by a spray painter.

I did check this out yesterday with them as my car is halfway reasembled now.
My front and rear windscreens were cutted out in the rubber around them.They then cleaned out the part where the windscreen was. I bought new window rubbers as they of course cutted the old rubbers and I could'nt use them anymore.
The new rubbers are not adapted for the chrome strips that were fitted at the factory.
So my rubbers are without the chrome strips front and rear. It is a bit bad but nothing I can do about it now.
I think you are also going to lose those strips.
The window came out without any problems.Remember. It is a Datsun.

If your rubbers are not too hard or perished (like mine ) then you can usually get them out without cutting them, just needs a little care.
Mine didn't have mouldings so it didn't matter , although the new rubber I have in has the lipping on the outside to enable mouldings to be refitted.