Feeling gutsy Mark? Once you clear it, set it in the sun for a week, block it with 600(carefully...don't want to break through to the base) removing all the orange peel and the dirt, then clear it again. If you're REALLY gutsy you can over-reduce your clear and get very little peel which makes cutting and buffing easier.

 

yeah, that's the way SPI describes the "perfect paint job" I'm thinking about doing it that way.

http://www.southernpolyurethanes.com...ct%20paint.htm


great link

 

Nice link. It appears that you've done your homework. Again, well done and an excellent approach. I think it should be a sticky...but that's just me.

 

thanks. After all my glee yesterday, the reality set in that I haven't sprayed the clear yet on a vertical surface. When I piled it on yesterday it looked fantastic, but I don't think I can get away with that much on the doors, fenders, and quarter panels

I'll have to find someway to practice to get my gun speed down. I guess I can spray some posterboard with base coat, and then lay the clear on top of it

 

It's a bit different, but I'm sure you'll be fine.

 

Spent quite a bit if time today putting some parts back together that I had painted with black epoxy.

That headlight bar took forever to take apart and clean up, but it was worth it.

 

Well done dude. It's those little things that really make it stand out.

 

cars still looking great, i'd like a grand total once your all done with this "rebuild" i definetly wanna ground up rebuild my bird, need the cash first haha

 

can I just say that wet sanding the car with a long block is the dirtiest, hardest, and most tedious thing I've done to this car yet?

 

Just think, to get it completely "flat" you could've done it twice already with dry 180. You're doing the final block with 400 wet, I'm assuming? It's worth the trouble.

 

I probably skipped a step. instead of sanding it down with 180 and then putting the guide coat on, I put the guidecoat on, and am sanding it down with 180 now. I'll follow it up with 400 before I put the sealer on

It took me most of the morning, but I got the roof done. It was the most challenging part of the car because of all the filler I had to use. hopefully the rest of the car will go better and faster

 

It's up to you but you may want to use 180 dry. If you're doing it wet and using your fingers to hold the paper, it'll can be very rough on the digits. I suppose the upside is that you can maintain your job as a spy because your fingerprints will be sanded off. As a side note, the best guide coat is the $.98 spraybomb black at wally world. Doesn't cover worth a shyte and sands off easily.

Edit: As long as you didn't break through the primer, I would skip the sealer step as it attracts dust for those of us shooting in a less than optimum environment. IMO it offers no positive qualities other than making your car all one color before the base, and you can use your last coat of primer for that.

 

it's funny you mention that. I did the drivers side wet, and it was a nightmare. took forever, difficult to keep clear, went through a ton of paper because I don't think what I had was technically wet or dry. The paper wanted to curl and fall off the flex longboard, so it was hard to keep it on there. it's a good thing I have very large hands.

did the passengers side dry, and it went much better. the paper lasted longer, it didn't clog like I thought it would and it was faster. I probably used half the paper

for a guide coat, I used the same gunmetal grey rattle can that I had originally painted my car with. I had an extra can, and I'm certainly not going to use it anymore, so it made a decent guide coat.

 

if anybody here is thinking of painting... do yourself a huge favor and DON'T SKIP THE GUIDE COAT. I can't imagine getting the body right without it. yes, I did think about skipping it, but I'm so glad I didn't

here's the picture of the surface of the roof (which had quite a bit of filler on it) after spraying it with three coats of high build SPI primer, and then misted with a Gunmetal grey rattlecan to use as a guide coat.
As you can see, it's not a perfect surface, but that has more to do with the roof than the gun. I didn't see any of the infamous "urethane wave" that so many people talk about, even when block sanding with a long board
here's how it started

after a little sanding

finished product!

 

Looks great Mark!

 

i second! and dude texascat2 do you actually have any badges like that, that would sell like hotcakes around the site

 

They cost too much to make, you are talking about my profile pic I'm guessing! Been round and round trying to get some made but with all the colors in it.......high dollar!

 

kevin from metaltags did the roundup decals, and they were photographic quality. the number of colors didn't matter. he's local for you, do you know him?

 

yess i was, and thats a bummer, if you ever did get any made i'd want to be the first one to buy one

 

Local for me Mark or kmcn47?

 

local for you.

 

took three days, but I finally finished sanding today. went over the whole car with 180 sandpaper on a long board, and then went over it again with 400 on an electric rotary sander. found a few high spots I'll have to shoot with epoxy before I put th sealer on, but it's getting closer to being ready to paint

and I also put the fenders back on the car. Hope to get the hood on tomorrow when I have more people here at the house to help me handle it

after that... it's time to clean the garage. there's so much dust in there that job might take a couple of days.

still thinking I might be able to spray base coat and clear next week

 

today I put the hood on with a little help from my wife and family..



then i decided that I needed to paint the area at the front of the engine bay. I would have look inferior next to the rest of the paint when I was done, so it needed a new coat of base and clear. I'm so glad I did it. after I was done, I called my wfie out to look at it, and she said "can I touch it? it looks wet" I told her it was perfectly dry, and the rest of the car will soon look like that. we're all getting excited

 

 

 

Mark--good to see you doing this, a lesson. Thursday I got an estimate of $1250 to touch up my paint and clear the whole car from a friend who owns a reputable body shop--good grief--then another friend I'm helping build a V8 S10, who knows paint and body, offered to guide me through what you're doing, do it in my barn. He saw every defect I've been trying to point out to paint guys, told me just what to do--I'll have to disassemble like you're doing to get it right. I hope to make that October meet you mentioned.
That red side stripe looks bitchin', makes it your car.

 

Despite the heat, I'm spending as much time as it takes in the garage cleaning. I've got to blow out all the dust that has collected all over the place, sweep, and then wipe and wet everything down. After all that is done, I'll go over the car a few time with wax and grease remover.

If I can get all of that done, I'm probably going to spray the sealer right before bed on monday, and then get up tuesday morning to spray basecoat.

 

Got to put my car up on blocks then take off the nose, figure that out, Thursday or Friday. Talk about dust, I'll be spraying in my barn with a dirt floor--locals say no sweat, just sprinkle it with water first. We'll see.

 

what about a large tarp on the floor? Weigh it down with some paint cans or something

 

Mark--Good suggestion--I've got about a square mile of blue tarp material from friends storing junk in my barn over the years. We run a cherry picker back and forth on a sheet of 3/4" plywood--real high quality West Texas dirt, by the way, mostly blow sand known for getting into everything, perfect grit for sandblasting, prepping bare metal for paint, abundant, cheap.

 

Just finished putting the sealer on. I used a mix of grey and black epoxy to create a coat that is very close to the color of my base. Should help coverage.

Base goes on in the morning!

here's some pics from tonight

 

When sanding, you should dry sand with 180 grit. Then reapply 1 or 2 coats of primer, let sit in the sun a couple of days to fully cure, then wetsand with 400-600. If not, you run the chance of sandscratches showing up. sealer is designed to cover only as low as 400 grit scratches. if you go from 180 to 400 or 600 there is still the chance that it didnt get all the 180 scratches out. it may not show up right away either may take a couple of days or even months once the clear shrinks. very prominent with metallics, such as yours. Also use some elmers spray glue to help keep the paper sticking to the block when you're wetsanding.

I know you've already painted, but just some tips for anyone else checking this out. Not saying you did anything wrong, just trying to help. Hope to see ya at the texas roundup next year, hopefully mine will be done by then
-Christian

 

well, I did the 180, then the 400, then the sealer, so I'm certainly hoping I don't show any scratches, that would be unfortunate

 

Mark--Where's your rear bumper? Did you get it, too?

 

it's on the car, hanging a little loose. I had to open the garage door to spray it

 

So that's every painted surface sprayed with the same material in a short time frame--amazing prep. Are you going to put the wheels back on it and roll it out into the sun for a few days as suggested? Seems like a good idea, take advantage of this natural oven.

 

I let the high build primer shrink and cure for several days before I sanded it. With sealer, you're supposed to spray your base very soon after you apply it. Most do it within an hour, but I decided to do it the night before the base

 

OK, I see--the above suggestion was if you sprayed two more coats of primer over the sealer, dry in the sun and then sand; I need to read more closely.
Get some rest--base coat tomorrow morning, wow!

 

got the base on. turned out pretty nice. I spotted some flaws in my prep as I sprayed it, I'm not sure how much they will show up after the clear is on, but at this point it's just going to have to be good enough

you can drive yourself mad trying to get everything perfect



I was hoping to stripe this morning before it got too hot, but I didn't make it. I'll have to try tonight after the sun goes down, or early tomorrow morning before I spray clear

 

Looks real good! There is no such thing as perfect! Great thread!

 

Looks great--were you able to get the passenger side the same, that close to the wall?

 

Yeah. It's not as close as it looks.

 

You are definitely blazing a path for others to follow.

 

Hopefully it's not right off a cliff

 

No no no--it's the path of automotive righteousness, to near perfection. My cousin in Calif. does shoebox Chevies, said no body shop will ever satisfy so sooner or later you've got to learn to do it yourself, accept your own tiny imperfections--and here you are showing the way. As soon as I can find a '77-'78 Subaru hood so I can rob its air vents, I'm tearing my Camaro apart, too.

 

looking good Mark!

make sure wet that floor before you lay down the clear, aim the gun at the dry dusty floor and pull the trigger by accident one time = tons of dust in the clear. I made that mistake

 

thanks for the reminder! i meant to do that today, but for the clear it's even more important

 

watch your time between when you sprayed the silver and when you're gonna spray the stripes or clear. Usually the max is about 18 hours i believe, but that's at 85 degrees. gonna be a lot shorter at the 110 degrees plus we had today. Don't want any problems with peeling. There's some stuff you can spray between the different coats that'll help it stick better. blending agent maybe? Different paint manufacturers call it different things. And how many coats of the silver did you put down? I think I can see some slight tigerstriping in the hood, or that may just be reflection of something

 

I might respray the hood and roof if I see a liitle striping. I
Could do one coat in the morning before I spray clear

 

I've been following, and I was looking at the clock the other night (when you were saying you were going to spray the base) and thinking to myself, "I bet he's spraying base right now."

Looks like you were.

Car looks great, are you SURE you want to put stripes on it?? It does look great as is.